Going out Est for Eames

I recently got the chance to speak to students at Humber College all about what I do, as well as my thoughts on design, and, other than the fact that they must've thought I was bonkers, I did find time to beg them to please try their best to not buy knock-offs. I'd much rather see a vintage piece, or great affordable design (hello, Ikea, Habitat and West Elm!) in an interior, rather than a sad looking fake Barcelona Chair.

So this week I was super-duper happy to check out a brill new online mag from Australia called Est Magazine, which had a great feature comparing a fake to a real Eames DAW (that's Dining height Armchair Wooden base to you and me). Click here to look at the mag, and to read all about design integrity vs. a ripped-off copy, and have a boo below at the 4 looks Est stylist Amey Rosenthal put together, photographed by Toby Scott, of the real thing. Traditional, Family, Old & New, Corporate - Do you have a fave? And thanks too to Natalie Walton's great blog Daily Imprint for the intro to Est!

A little bit of B&W

This a.m. - before I headed out to give a talk to design students at Humber College (thx again Jo!) - I discovered the snap below of an Ikea dining table that had been tricked out in a black and white checkerboard. I have to say, I like the look. The hi-contrast combo of b&w seems to be one of those trends that's on the rise again (or did it really ever go away?), so it's kinda fitting that recently I got to play around with the clean and minimally styled Olympus XZ-1 that just happens to come in a lovely white-lacquered body with black detailing. Gorgeous? Yes. And for all you photography wonks out there - It comes fitted with a super-bright built-in 4x Olympus iZUIKO lens, the first ever built-in Zuiko lens on a digital camera. Oh, and just in case white isn't your thing, the XZ-1 is also available in matte black. [Image 1: Ikea/Livet Hemma]