Several years ago we were fortunate enough to see the second Eames Lounge chair to roll off the assembly line. (It was at the Eames house in Pacific Palisades; the first one went to director Billy Wilder for whom the chair was created.) The other day we stumbled upon this “highlight reel” of the making of the chair. While it would be nice to see the whole process, we suppose it might get a little boring. So we’ll do with this clip.

What a treat! We recently had the opportunity to speak with WSJ columnist, author (The Substance of Style and The Future and its Enemies), and Editor-in-Chief of DeepGlamour.net Virigina Postrel. She had called to ask about hiding lamp cords for a new book she is working on, and we were happy to oblige. After our wonderful conversation, she asked if we would like to do a Q&A on her site, Deep Glamour. We were thrilled at the offer, and had a blast doing it. The article was recently published on their site, and we hope you’ll check it out!

DG Q&A: Interiors Stylist Adam Fortner (DeepGlamour.net)

Mike Doyle is new to the world of Lego MOCs (MOC = My Own Creation; i.e. a piece not from a Lego kit), but we think his artistry belies that fact. Doyle decided to focus on abandoned houses (one of our favorite subjects) after a visit to Legoland inspired him to begin making his own pieces. He opted for a monochromatic color scheme because multi-colored pieces can seem a little “cartoony.” Take a look at his site for more detailed shots of the piece above, along with some information on how he created it. Also be sure to check out his other brilliant piece, “Two Story with Basement.”

Three Story Victorian with Tree (Mike Doyle’s Snap)

Feral Houses is a project that grew out of the Sweet Juniper blog. The owners (who go by the sweet names of “Dutch” and “Wood”) live in “the most dangerous city in America” also known as Detroit. Dutch, a former lawyer whose real name is James Griffioen, noticed packs of feral dogs roaming the streets, which started him wondering about the thousands of abandoned houses in the city that are returning to the wild as well. He began documenting a few of them, and the photos are sad, eerie, and amazing. In the spirit of the Ice House (which we posted about here), James turned urban decay into art, and offers prints of two of the houses (including Feral House #13, above) for sale on the art-for-everyone site 20 x 200. Since his initial post, James has documented a second round of houses, and there are some amazing images. We hope he offers a few of these for sale as well, we’d like to add them to our new collection. Check out the whole posts of images at the links below.

Feral Houses (Sweet Juniper)
(More) Feral Houses (Sweet Juniper)
James Griffioen (20 x 200)

Dan Grayber creates small machines that only exist to hold themselves in place. Which we suppose is what takes them from being machines to being “art.” Johansson Projects in Oakland, where his pieces are on display, explains: Dan Grayber isolates machinery from its usual role of fulfilling human needs through placing it in an eternal mode of self-perpetuation. His safety-orange powder coated objects endlessly assure their survival through completing the simple and essential task of holding oneself up. These sculptures, which create problems as they solve them, exude a sovereign elegance, the dignity of not having to justify themselves to an outside source.

While we love his pieces like Untitled (Cavity) Mechanism #2 w/ Glass Dome (above) for its juxtaposition of materials and style (modern metal, concrete and rubber with a classical glass dome and wooden base) Grayber also has some larger, room-sized pieces on display at the gallery.

Also, view a video of Grayber installing one of his glass-dome-enclosed machines after the jump.

Machine Vitrine (bldgblog) [via]
Dan Grayber
Johansson Projects

Today, an enigmatic animated short by a group of artists and animators who call themselves Les Manèges (The Merry-go-rounds). The movie, Un Tour de Manège (A Turn on the Merry-go-round) is computer-animated, but the movement, colors and textures are astounding and somewhat unusual for the form. Be sure to check out a “making of” video that shows parts of the whole process. And if you like this one, check out Garuda, another short film by some of the same artists.

Un Tour de Manège (Vimeo)

Axis Maps, creators of infographics of the map variety, released their typographic map of San Francisco late last year. The map recreates the streets, parks, neighborhoods and even the ocean in pure typographic goodness. The details are pretty incredible, and the result is a piece of art that would be enjoyed by both cartography freaks and typography geeks in equal measure. They offer poster-size prints for $30, as well as other, smaller sizes for your viewing pleasure. They also have a Boston and Chicago map available, and are working on both NYC and DC.

Typographic Maps (Axis Maps)

We’ve always enjoyed dance, and the graceful way dancers can move and pose their bodies—holding their arms or legs just so—is beautiful to behold. But dancers can also do amazing, athletic feats as a result of their years of training. Dancers Among Us is an ongoing project by New York photographer Jordan Matter which captures those ideas and exaggerates them by placing these artists/athletes in ordinary situations doing extraordinary things. He photographs these amazing movers in everyday or even iconic situations, but instead of fitting in, they stand out in stark contrast to their surroundings and remind us how truly talented they are. As in the image above, there’s even a bit of humor, poking fun at some New York institutions. Check out many more photos in his gallery.

Dancers Among Us

We’re not sure where to begin with this amazing story.

In 2007, 20-something real estate agent John Maloof bought several boxes of negatives at an auction. What he discovered is a trove of hundreds of thousands of negatives (including 20-30,000 undeveloped rolls of film) by Vivian Maier. After moving from France in the early 30s, Maier worked in New York and eventually ended up in Chicago; not as a photographer, but as a nanny to several families on Chicago’s North Shore. When she wasn’t working, Vivian went everywhere with a camera around her neck and may have been the most accomplished (and completely unknown) street photographer of the mid-twentieth century.

We won’t go any further with the details (Maloof is still trying to find some of them himself). But do yourself a favor and check out the blog where Maloof is posting about the process, as well as many of Maier’s photos. We’ve spent a lot of time working with photos and photographers, and these are some of the best images we’ve ever seen, even from famous professionals. We’ve posted a few of our favorites after the jump. Also check out the YouTube video of a Chicago Tonight story about the story.

Vivian Maier – Her Discovered Work

YouTube – Vivian Maier, Chicago Tonight

Kids: practice your handwriting. You never know when you’ll be called on to write a faux grocery list on the wall in someone’s pantry.

We just came across this photo from a long-ago shoot that never got published. (The magazine folded.) But the owner of the magazine used one of the photos for this how-to for organization. (Although reading the text, we’re not sure if they’re using this as an example of what to do or what NOT to do…) Either way we’re glad it got used.

This grocery list really embodies what we love about styling. We know this sounds a bit out there, but it’s a peek into what actually goes on in a stylist’s brain. While there are definitely plenty of happy accidents, when decisions have to be made, they need purpose…so we create a story. And we have to consider the details:

We can’t remember if the homeowners already had a grocery list on the board, but a real one would look too real, so we had to make a fake one that would look real enough. Follow us? On top of that, we couldn’t just write a plain old grocery list (though we started there with “milk” and “butter”) but we imagined what these homeowners would have on their list. We wanted something aspirational (brown rice versus white rice suggests these people eat healthily…or at least don’t follow the norm) and we wanted to suggest their location, which was here in Austin, so we added avocados…which suggest healthy eating and a southwestern flare). We can’t remember why we added dish soap. Probably because we needed some ourselves.

So six words on a wall are actually much more than that. It all happens pretty quickly on set, and sometimes the thoughts aren’t even conscious or fully fleshed out, but they’re there.