Muji Funny Face Stamp Set

The Muji Funny Face Stamp Set is a nice way to start some doodles in your notebooks or on someone else’s paper when they aren’t looking. 

 

Zuny

Zuny creates adorable animal-shaped leather accessories such as book ends and paper weights. I was initially drawn to the whimsical animals purely for their aesthetic, but was quickly delighted by their website as well... which is equally playful. Then, like the icing on the cake, I discovered their packaging! Zuny worked with the design team at Bonanza Brand Marketing Group to create miniature worlds for each animal. Whether it is a forest, grassland or ocean animal... each one comes with a little environment to call home. The creative use of die-cutting and the bright color palette really brings these designs to life. This is the type of product and packaging that just makes me smile.

Green Marker

Love these page markers and simple packaging, design and sold by Yuruliku Design.
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Student Spotlight: Luxury & Pencils

Swann Marchon, a third year student of School Arts in Geneva sends in one of her latest projects:
Making a package for 12 HB pencils gray. A luxury product and simple to place on any desktop."

Studio Kluif’s Art & Fun

3 things I like about the Hema art-supplies packaging (above) designed this year by Studio Kluif, below.


1. In each case, the product contained within was used to illustrate the outside. (Their 2002 ballpoint pen carton, on right, also does this.)
An obvious idea, perhaps, but seldom attempted and seldom done with
such aplomb. Using the product, itself, to communicate its own use, is
a good, ethical move. Like putting your money where your mouth is. So
to speak.
2. And speaking of mouths, the two boxes above are another example of the “open mouth” packaging window trend, although in this case, we’re not talking food packaging.
3. Multicolored products naturally lend themselves to rainbow arrays. There something about colors, organized according to spectral order, that appeals to both sides of the brain. I think.
(See also: The Dieline’s earlier Studio Spotlight: Studio Kluif)
boxvox

Hold On Tight Shelf

Hold On Tight Shelf by Colleen Whiteley, good idea!

Nest Paperweight by Tomoko Azumi

What a lovely little paperweight by UK-based Japanese designer Tomoko Azumi. Laser-engraved twigs are embedded within the crystal glass, creating varying views of a seemingly haphazard bird’s nest that appears to float within the solid glass object. I love how the dimple on top makes it not only a paperweight but a placeholder for small things as well. Nice touch.
Nest will be on display at Maison et Objet starting tomorrow, January 20, along with several candle holders that Azumi designed for Monna Studio (you can see them here, here and here).


Source: Tomoko Azumi’s newsletter

pencil dice by Sebastian Bergne

Pencil Dice by Sebastian Bergne “The simple addition of dice markings to a six sided pencil makes all the difference. A little something to help you pass the time, entertain the children or even make decisions.”

Source   |   Price: £1.50   |   BUY

DesignTide Tokyo 2011 | See Oh! Ribbon

This week we’re be bringing you some of our favorite picks from DesignTide Tokyo, which is running from October 29 – November 3, 2011. Click here for all our stories on the exhibition.

images courtesy excite.ism | click to enlarge
I love these bookmarks that wrap over the binding and then drape across the book. It’s the undertaking of Cement Produce Design, a brand that produces and curates a hodge-podge of designy items from  iPhone cases and ceramic bowls to web design and advertisements. This is their first time they’re participating in DesignTide and they seem to be off to a good start!

Foolscap Sketchbooks

A sketchbook designed by Foolscap...
Check out their other cool stuff here

Literature Bookends by Kollaborate Design

Literature Bookends from Kollaborate Design, made out of die cut sheet metal. Its fold increases strength and durability. A nice addition to your bookshelves!

This bookends is made out of 1mm thick steel. Other than its decorative purposes, this bookends is design to withstand weight of more book than conventional bookends. Its fold increases its strength and durability.
Enjoy!

 

To purchase this bookends, you cab contact them at info@kollaboratedesign.com

Leaf Letter by Eding:Post

Graphic design studio Eding:Post has announced that Leaf Letter, a joint-project between themselves and Neo Green, a retailer of planters, books and other green paraphernalia, has gone on sale as of March 1, 2011.

D-Bros now has a store

If you are a fanatic of Japanese stationary then you have certainly heard of D-Bros, known for, among other things, their kudamemo fruit-shaped memo pads. As of February 25th, they now have their own brick-and-mortar store located within the ecute department store adjacent to Shinagawa station.
In addition to many of their gorgeous designs being available for purchase, what’s special about the new store is “STAMP it,” a participatory project in which visitors can choose from numerous stamps to custom-design their own stationary.

How to make a very Long Pencil, Lesson #3

On one hand we have the Continuous Pencil where the stub is fashioned to fit into a wooden stick to lengthen it. And on the other hand we have the simple 1 + 1 = 1 Pencil, where a plastic tube connects two stubs to make one long pencil. In Lesson #3 we have To Be Continued, a plastic extension with the added functionality of a sharpener. Once again designers iterating the need to use a pencil to it’s very last bit and I totally agree with them.

Designers: Cheng-Tsung Feng & Bo-Jin Wang

to be continued 60sec from Feng,Cheng-Tsung on Vimeo.

Wordy and Doodlely Ammo

Ortie Design is proud to introduce the first object of their poetic-offbeat catalog. Bullet is a pencil in natural beechwood, with a graphite lead HB, in shape of M-16 bullet. Your life at work is hell? Your neighbors get on your nerves? Unsheat Bullet for a series of vengeful doodles… Or leave it carelessly lying around your desktop, in a conspicuous way…

Designer: OrtieDesign

No Ordinary Ruler

I have been reading message boards for people who suffer from visual impairments and one discussion topic I found was how difficult it is to use rulers. The problem, especially with centimetres and millimeters, is that while the numbers on a ruler can be made bigger, the unit of measurement is fixed, so reading millimeters if you have problems with your sight becomes difficult.
Check out the New Rule. The solution is to have bigger numbered, higher contrast measurement bars that a sliding pointer runs along, displaying the millimeter measurement as numbers on a wheel inside the sliders housing. An arm inside the slider rests against the track and clicks each time it passes over a tooth in the track giving tactile and audible feedback of each millimeter although the designer admits the track would need more teeth than the prototyped version shown here. The second innovation is one edge folds over on a hinge. This turns it into a calliper so that accurate measurements can be taken quickly and easily. This was intended to make it easier for someone with poor sight to measure marks on paper as well as objects.
Designer: Product Tank

ie-tag by Naruse Inokuma Architects

A fascinating exercise in the visualization of memory and time in product design.

Ie-Tag (House-Tag) was part of the exhibition, “Earth: materials for design,” which took place at the Miraikan in Tokyo over the summer. The post-its, created by Naruse Inokuma Architects, are made from the recycled wood of homes and buildings that were torn down. Once used as the material of a home, the wood was recycled into stationary, maintaining it’s original shape but in completely different form.



click images to enlarge




They are apparently in negotiations now to commercialize the product and are shooting to get it on shelves by sometime next year.