Never crash

(click to enlarge)

Vintage Qantas Koala pencil,

no doubt given away to lucky kids visiting Australia back in the 70's.

Found hiding in a desk drawer at an estate sale.

Boat Basins and Swap Meets

Sun-bleached lobster claw, sun-bleached old Cape Cod t-shirt, typewriter case stuffed with paints, and more old LL Bean bags.

Ciao Chow

Our old Mr. Chow matchbox, front by David Hockney, back by Ed Ruscha, finally depleted despite my 35 questions to Linda, "You're not using the Mr. Chow matches, are you?"

Ceci n'est pas une pipe

Decorative-only connection between the hot and cold taps in an old Portland mansion's kitchen. Neat idea. 

.0:-)

Bruno Munari's faces, from Dot Zero magazine #1, 1966.

Layout by Massimo Vignelli.

Going Green

Nesting ceramic hedgehogs, Marimekko panels, lilypads,

and other green things on a shelf in our green bathroom.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The 1940 Book of Small Houses

A few pages from The 1940 Book of Small Houses, a treasure trove of International Style. 

Above, for a competition between modern and traditional styles put on by LIFE magazine, Frank Lloyd Wright presents his modern Usonian "good time space" to the Blackbourn family, who, out of four families in the competition, are the only ones to choose a modern house. From the book: 

"The Blackbourns like both houses. The traditional house includes everything they were sure they wanted. They chose the other house. "It is completely different," they say. "It is the only house of its kind in the country. We chose Mr. Wright's design entirely on its own merits." The Blackbourns are now convinced that they want to live not as they have always lived, but in the manner made possible by the modern house." 

Kudos to them. Below are some other designs, including two by Richard Neutra, one which came in second place in a Ladies Home Journal contest, and another which merited only an also-ran in an American Gas Association contest. If you're ever thinking about building your own house, this is an excellent book.

Click to enlarge them all.

another LIFE modern house not chosen, even with the awesome ping pong room.

Are you ready for some football, task lamp?

Superbowl Sunday project from the book Wary Meyers' Tossed & Found

Patrick Rylands fish

Yellow plastic fish bath toy designed by Patrick Rylands for Trendon Toys Ltd in 1970. Our son's favorite toy to stare at, auspiciously, ...or I suppose because it floats about an inch in front of his face while he's in his Tummy Tub, or maybe because it was his mom's when she was little. Winner of the Duke of Edinburgh's Prize for Elegant Design, 1970.

More on Patrick Rylands- including a little Spiel Naef and Creative Playthings connection-from the January 1970 Design Journal magazine (via the awesome VADS) (click to enlarge):

See more at the VADS Design Council Slide Collection

Bazaar 69

...and 68. From an estate sale in Ct. Including some rare leg spreads by Guy Bourdin, a neat feature on Danish children's fashions, hippie stuff, space age stuff, Russian peasant stuff, that awesome clear hose, and a newborn Anderson Cooper is the bizarre of the Bazaars in an altogether ooky photograph by the late great Diane Arbus.

Landscape, 1971

Frederic Church, meet Domebook 2.

Vintage Gregory Backpack

25 cents at a church sale. 

Nice removable fannypack (not allowed- Linda)/ bike bag. 

Made in San Diego, 1978

Brutalism & BMWs

Brutalist pegboard- notice how the lights can be moved to any hole.

Above, from Suzanne Slesin's 1987 book "Japanese Style", including Toyo Itoh's awesome ping pong courtyard, Tadao Ando's supercool partially bermed brutalism, and Kenji Hongo's vertical bunker with its 1978 BMW 530i parked in the rock garden garage.

Below: the cover of next month's Brutus Casa (from Japan). Related? Probably not, but those older BMWs do go nicely with giant slab architecture.

Read more about the cover house above over at What We Do Is Secret

Aiuto!

1968 Alfa Romeo Ambulance, with matching machine gun-toting jeep and motorcyle, from the always awe-inspiring inventory of fantastico automobili at Fantasy Junction. If you like cars, this is the place for you (though if you're a millionaire it'd be even better); and for the design aficionado the photo documentation is intense, down to the last little switch, button, logotype, valve, toolbag, etc.... - you'll be there for hours.

Below, a beautiful Ferrari 250 GT from 1964, and the Hobbiton Dashboard of a 1966 Bizzarrani Strada.

Are you a Mod or a kitty?

Since garage sales in Maine have gone into hibernation for the winter, we're vicariously yard saling through my parents in Florida, who recently sent up this great Harry Gordon Poster Dress from 1968. 

25 cents, from a yard sale in Key Largo (below). I don't think it was ever even taken out of its packaging, but soon it will be framed and up on our wall!

Here Comes the Son!

The newest and best addition to our house!

Fletcher Alessandro Ogden Meyers was born 4 days ago,

weighing in at a whopping 11 lbs.

Linda (ouch!) and baby are home and doing great.

Above: with his placenta doppelganger Bagpuss.