We came across Nori Morimoto’s light sculptures and were floored by their beauty and simplicity. Beyond their raw aesthetic value, Nori's creation of wood sculptures from sustainable sources adds a couple extra gold stars to his name. It is nice to see some progressive design getting back to its roots– literally. Now if he could only strike a deal with IKEA to get these out of the wild and into my living room!

Via Inhabitat

We are all excited about the new iPhone, announced yesterday– 3G, GPS, Push (everything) and light on the wallet. So light on the wallet, in fact, that you’ll be able to get a nice carrying case for it. Fortunately, the designers at Want Design already know exactly what you… eh… want. They just put out a really crisp black leather iPhone case with a zipper. Its pretty safe to assume that the iPhone 3G is going to be pretty widely disseminated and that there will be a lot of crap accessories hitting the marketplace– everyone wants a piece, as it were. Safe to say, you’ll be looking for something that will stand out from the crowd. Peep the case (and a big sell) over at Jake.

The word “blanket” represents far more than a piece of cloth that keeps you warm at night or the bizarre nickname for Michael Jackson’s pseudo-son. It’s also a groundbreaking online publication that serves to “uncover new, emerging and established designers/ artists/ photographers, showcase their talent and give them a vehicle for self promotion.” In the spirit of that mission, the folks behind the online artist colony of sorts that is Blanket Magazine have just released a limited edition collector’s edition poster featuring the work of fifty-six artists from all over the world. The poster cleverly resembles a patchwork blanket wherein each individual square features the designs of a specific artist. Included in the melange of masterworks are creations by the likes of Andrio Abero, Jesse LeDoux and the Spear Collective’s own Jesse Hora. Every limited edition poster arrives in a distinct sleeve with an origami fold that houses a reference guide to all of the poster’s fifty-six contributors. So if anyone asks you about any part of your fancy new decoration, you’ll feel warm and fuzzy about knowing thanks to your ability to give a dissertation on each artist.

We recently had the pleasure of dining and drinking at Vanilla, a new London restaurant blending high-end design with upscale food. For those of you in the know of London restaurants, Vanilla was created from the ashes of Firevault— also known for its decor as much as its food.

Vanilla works on a color scheme of whiter than white. It takes you back the second you walk in the door. The bar feels like an eloquent bath– an eloquent bath of champagne. Which is fitting because the first thing you will see on the menu are vanilla champagne cocktails. The neat thing about a design scheme relying on white is the lighting possibilities. Vanilla runs the entire lighting system on LEDs, so the mood can be changed at the rotation of a dial letting different reds, blues, and greens bounce from the white.

Manager Matthieu Destandau has put his heart and soul into creating the restaurant from every detail of the placement of the LEDs, to the gorgeous food on the menu. If you get a chance to check it out, tell them we sent you– they’ll take good care of you. Can't make it to London anytime soon? Have a look at a few more photos after the jump.

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Distil Ennui: To extract the essence and beauty of life to appease world weariness a.k.a. the portfolio site of New York-based photography duo Alex & Cocco. They’ve approached the art of photography from the perspective that “avoiding an over dependency on post production starts with a great shot.” All of their shots are organic in the sense that they’re presented ‘as shot,’ rather than ‘as photoshopped.’ There’s something refreshing about photos that rely on their own laurels– images that are snapped not at the ‘right moment,’ but rather at ‘a moment.’ The messages within these photos are derived purely from the viewer’s imagination, not from a sort of force-fed, incontrovertible moment in time. I think you’ll enjoy browsing through their site, as I have.

Though art is truly in the eye of the beholder, sometimes our brains can lead our eyes to a certain conclusion. An artist's reputation, how hot the gallery is that they're showing at, or a good review, can all predispose us to liking something we may not have if we'd seen it without any context at all. Do you really like that Picasso, or do you just think you should like it... because you know it's a Picasso?

That's the exact question being confronted at the recent multi-media exhibit "Untitled, Anonymous" sponsored by the London-based office of ad consultancy agency Naked Communication. Everyone working at Naked, from the founding partners to the cleaning staff, was given carte blanche to create a piece of art. They were free to choose whichever topic and medium they wanted. The works were put on exhibit without any info: no artist, no title, and no explanation. Each work had to be considered purely on it's own artistic merit. A week later, a special online gallery was launched revealing who had done what and why they'd done it.

"Untitled, Anonymous" stripped the act of viewing art down to its purest form and allowed people to judge and interact with each piece without any bias. If you liked what the cleaning lady did more than the creative director, why should your opinion change once you know which artist did what? After that, perhaps the ultimate goal of the exhibit was realized: if your opinion did change, then what does that say about you?