MONOCHROMATIC

There is just something about black and white - Garth

INVITING STYLE

Clever wedding invites

THE SCRAPALICIOUS SHOPPE

My sister Andrea is about to launch her new business venture, The Scrapalicious Shoppe. I designed the logo for her.

Watch this space for developments - Mart

BLACK TIE INVITE

Invitations to events are crucial as this is the first taste of what guests will get to experience at the event. So it is important to get the tone right!

The above invitation designed by Daniel Carlsten is simply amazing. In Carlsten's own words, "For the celebration of Acne Paper's 5th issue — the elegant issue — I constructed an invite reflecting the dress code of the event".

Now who do I speak to to get an invite - Mart

FINGERPRINT DELIGHT

I love this idea so much: Colourful thumb prints and your guests doddles is a wonderful modern update to the usual guest register at a wedding. This idea can also be used for birthday parties or even a family reunion - Mart

TIME FOR ALESSI

The Italian brand ALESSI and the Seiko Instruments Inc. (SII) have jointly produced a new collection of ALESSI watches.

Watches in the collection derive their designs from the inspirations of distinguished international architects and designers of commercial and industrial products, all well known to ALESSI, and SII brings those inspirations to fruition in the form of exciting new watches.

The styles and methods of each designer, and the originality of ALESSI are reflected in the distinctive character of each series.

These watches are available at Spilhaus - Garth

CLEVER WEDDING INVITE

(click to enlarge - it's worth the read!)

I am a huge fan of design using typography. This wedding invitation's design relies on typography to create an eye-catching invite that stays away from the conventional wedding invite design of floral prints or hearts. What makes this invitation so personal is the couple's story.

I love this idea - Mart

ARE YOU CHICKEN?

On Thursday we are going to eat Chicken Licken and play poker at Delia's. To make this event official I decided to design a simple invite. Clearly I have way too much time on my hands - Mart

IF YOUR HEIRS WON'T FIGHT OVER IT, WE WON'T MAKE IT

A Jonathan Adler Teacup

I have always been an admirer of Adler's work - Garth

About Adler
According to Wikipedia: "A potter by trade, Adler sold his first designs to Barneys New York in 1993 and opened his first retail store in Manhattan in 1998. His company has since expanded to include eleven retail stores nationwide, a thriving e-commerce site, and a wholesale business boasting over 1,000 locations worldwide. Adhering to the company motto "If your heirs won't fight over it, we won't make it," Adler has developed a unique style that mixes modernist forms with bold colors and groovy graphics. Offerings include decorative objects, tabletop collections, bath accessories, bedding, candles, furniture, rugs, pillows, and lighting."

PLUMEN 001

One of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint is by switching to energy saving light bulbs. It uses 80% less energy than the traditional light bulb and lasts up to 8 times longer - which means your electricity bill will be considerably less and of course you are helping save the environment.

The only draw back is that these bulbs are not stylish, but fear not, the Plumen 001 is the world’s first designer energy saving light bulb and will make your lights a feature in the room. The name comes from plume – a bird’s show feather, designed to attract attention to a bird’s prowess and beauty. The Plumen 001's designs do the same for the energy saving light bulb.

Unfortunately the Plumen 001 is currently not available in South Africa but according to their website their are plans to distribute this light bulbs globally. Watch this space - Mart

TAKE A SEAT

Verner Panton (13 February 1926 – 5 September 1998) is considered one of Denmark's most influential 20th-century furniture and interior designers. During his career, he created innovative and futuristic designs in a variety of materials, especially plastics, and in vibrant colors. His style was very "1960s" but regained popularity at the end of the 20th century; as of 2004, Panton's most well-known furniture models are still in production (at Vitra, among others).

Panton was trained as an architectural engineer in Odense; next, he studied architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi) in Copenhagen, graduating in 1951. During the first two years of his career, 1950-1952, he worked at the architectural practice of Arne Jacobsen, another Danish architect and furniture designer. Panton turned out to be an "enfant terrible" and he started his own design and architectural office. He became well known for his innovative architectural proposals, including a collapsible house (1955), the Cardboard House and the Plastic House (1960).

Near the end of the 1950s, his chair designs became more and more unconventional, with no legs or discernible back. In 1960 Panton was the designer of the very first single-form injection-moulded plastic chair. The Stacking chair or S chair, which would become his most famous and mass-produced design.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Verner Panton experimented with designing entire environments: radical and psychedelic interiors that were an ensemble of his curved furniture, wall upholstering, textiles and lighting. He is best known for the design of a German boats interior, now a famous museum.

He is also known for a hotel in Europe that utilized circular patterns and cylindrical furniture. Additionally, Panton is well-known for his innovative design work for Der Spiegel, a well-known German publication in Hamburg - Garth

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

One of my all time favourite city's in the world is New York. V magazine's September issue celebrates this vibrant and colourful city. The pictorial featuring well known New Yorkers (taken by Mario Testino and styled by Nicola Formichetti) makes me long for corn dogs on 5th Avenue.

Lady Gaga looks amazing on the cover. I was a bit surprised to see that Sarah Jessica Parker was not among the New Yorkers featured especially since Sex and the City put New York on the glamour map - Mart

BLIK ON BABY

This is the story of Blik, the world’s first removable wall graphic company. But before Blik became the internationally acclaimed design company they are today, it started as just two people looking for something different. One night while Scott Flora, an architect extraordinaire, and food writer Jerinne Neils, were debating whether to paint or wallpaper their walls, they realised that neither option was really what they wanted.

The problem was, what they did want didn’t exist. In addition to that, they quickly discovered that there were very few alternatives to this whole paint/wallpaper conundrum. Looking to end the tyranny of limited options, they decided to do something about it. And that something was Blik. Soon, the oppression was lifted, and people were liberated to try something unique, different, and a lot less permanent. Welcome to the newly renovated world of Blik - Garth

*Blik is a recipient of the Product Design Distinction Award for Furniture from the I.D. Design Annual.

**Along with Apple, Pixar, Google, Nike, and others Blik was a participant in the 2006 National Design Triennial at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

BE FREE WITH E

It's a slow Friday so I am busy backing up work (a designer worst nightmare!) and I came across this proposed magazine layout I did to pitch to e.tv. The project was shelved but I still think that the design was fantastic and of course that is me being objective.

To check out some of my other design work click here - Mart

MUSIC TO MY EARS

So I am a bit of a brand whore and am not ashamed to admit it. I love anything Apple and have good reasons for it - their products are sleek, stylish and compliment my lifestyle.

Apple has just unveiled their new iPod nano's with Multi-Touch — "the same technology that makes iPhone, iPad and iPod touch so amazing". Your music is now just a swipe away.

For more information click here - Mart

I HEART ELLE

ELLE is one of my favourite magazines. The South African version keeps pushing the design envelope and is filled with interesting content. It is great to see this local version being able to compete with its international counterparts. I do feel though that their fashion shoots can be more cutting edge. Below is one of my favourite fashion spreads that was featured in the November 2008 Italian edition of ELLE. It is simply exquisite.

Perhaps Lady Gaga drew her inspiration for her look from this shoot - Mart