Icon Buzz - Designs & Arts

The Ten Thousand Things blog has a fun rant up, admonishing some fellow designers for being cocky divas who need to take it down a peg. Though we’re certainly all not arrogant asses (at least not 100% of the time), I suspect that everyone knows at least one person this rant could apply to—especially if you’ve braved the New York art school trenches…

Read the rest of this entry »

Created by industrial design student Joonas Saaranen, the Reppo II backpack features a built in pair of full-range speakers and an amplifier, so you can kick out the jams as you walk down the street. The only thing better would be if that big black patch were a subwoofer. Of course, that might shatter your vertebrae if you turned up the volume too much.

Saaranen’s concept design has gotten as far as a functional prototype at this point, but he hasn’t revealed if he’ll ever have them produced en masse. In the mean time, if you happen to be in Berlin, Germany (where Joonas currently resides) and hear someone coming down the street wearing this bad boy, offer up the mad props he deserves.

Read the rest of this entry »

Made from lightweight neoprene and breathable air mesh, the main compartment of this BUILT laptop backpack accommodates 12″–17″ laptops with room to spare for books, folders or other essentials. Two additional smaller compartments provide storage options for your other necessities; one conveniently located directly on the shoulder strap for easy access.

Read the rest of this entry »

Danish 26-year-old art student Nadia Plesner designed this T-shirt depicting a Darfurian child holding a Louis Vuitton bag with a Chihuahua on his shoulder.

The message is that the media covers meaningless things like handbags and Paris Hilton’s pooch instead of the issues that matter.

So Plesner dressed a Darfurian child like Paris so that maybe, just maybe, the world would pay attention.

Louis Vuitton sure did!

In February they slammed Plesner with a copyright lawsuit demanding $20,000 a day for each day she continued to use this image and reimbursement for legal fees.

Plesner refused to stop using the image, and on May 30 she’s scheduled to meet with Louis Vuitton in Paris with her lawyer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Inspired by her grandmother’s needlework, Frédérique Morrel was upset that it was discarded when she passed away. This has been her motivation for salvaging vintage tapestries to create 0ne-of-a-kind soft furnishings and accessories. Frédérique Morrel products are a mix of needlework themes: idyllic alpine scenes are juxtaposed with old masters or cartoon kittens. The lunchbox above is a clever take on typical fast food containers, and there is a great cabin-chic lamp after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »