Never thought I would ever really be fascinated by moss…but somehow that all changed as soon as I came across Mosser.
Mosser is a small glass terrarium filled with a simple round moss ball crafted by NY based designers Jennica Johnstone and Noah Atkinson, who I found out by speaking with them, personally cultivate, jar, label, package, and ship all units individually. They are very easy to care for and only need to be sprayed once every two weeks with filtered water.
Here are a few words and images Jennica and Noah were kind enough to share with us about Mosser, how it was conceived, what goes in to producing each unit, and a few ideas we can hopefully expect to see in a near future:
Mosser is about capturing simplicity and and keeping it alive in ones space. We recognize the need to have something natural at your fingers tips in this day and age.
The project had a very natural and unplanned start, one day we just decided to make a terrarium and not much has changed since that first one. There was no point in the beginning were we thought that we would end up creating a brand and selling these things.
Keeping it simple is key. Let the moss shine, it is such an intriguing plant. Its one of the oldest plants on earth and it can tolerate so many elements, yet it is rootless.
For the future, we would hope to have different customized containers to hold the moss, maybe a wooden base with a glass lid or a rectangular glass container.
Jennica and Noah have also launched a new project by the name of Co/Labs which intends to bring the design community together in many different ways.
Great work by Manuel Sepulveda, better known as Optigram, who is a London based graphic designer, art director, and record label owner (Citinite) responsible for many of Hyperdub‘s record-sleeve designs. He’s also apparently worked with Warp and Planet Mu. Really enjoy his use of color and geometric patterns.
My good friend Alek Fin introduced me not too long ago to the Nervous Structure installations, while he was conducting some research on alternative ways of doing projections for his live show, and I’ve been hooked ever since (I one day plan on having one of these set up perminantly on one of the walls of my workspace or house).
Nervous Structure is a series of site-specific, interactive installations consisting of string and fabric structures illuminated with interactive computer graphics that react to the presence and motion of viewers and was developed by Annica Cuppetelli and Cristobal Mendoza:
Annica Cuppetelli (USA) and Cristobal Mendoza (Venezuela) are artists and collaborators focusing on the creation of site-specific, multimedia installations that address issues of space, interaction, and materiality. Their installations combine traditional craft and common materials with interactive video projections and computational design processes, and they address the formal qualities of a given site while creating an immersive and participatory environment. Cuppetelli obtained her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2008, and Mendoza at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2007. They are based in Detroit, MI.
What you are observing above is basically this (as described by Jon-Kyle Mohr):
Sound frequencies are displayed as they are heard. Lower frequencies are mapped low (bottom) to high (top). Brightness is determined by amplitude.
Sweeping tones and rhythmic patterns create intricate structures. The circular form is in memorial of dead formats; the CD, MiniDisc and others. R.I.P.
Andrew Ohlman, who also happens to be a member of the Cargo Collective team, compiled a Quartz sketch which does similar things called Circular Spectrogram.
You can download the Circular Spectrogram application here to create your own visuals (currently only available for Mac users).
I’ll admit I’m easily excited when it comes to fine woodworking especially if it involves great design, add some furniture into the equation and I’m hooked. I stumbled onto Matthew Hilton today and I believe I have a new favourite designer.
I’ve been having a good deal of fun editing on my iPhone lately and its even spilled over into some of my design work. I recently discovered a great little app called Grid Lens (well worth checking out), and created a custom grid for myself of skinny columns (Some inspiration from this painting) and took a sequence of photos of a white wall… It turned out like this (see image above).
I figured I was onto something and brought it into Image Blender (another invaluable app) and started layering it. First horizontally and then diagonally. I ended up with this:
This got me pretty excited, especially because it started with a photo of a white wall… I then layered it over another photo that I mirrored for more symmetry and ended up with this:
I find accidental creativity to be some of the most exciting, especially when it comes together quickly, when you almost cant keep up with it.
A few more examples of the same technique:
I am working on a logo right now and I figured this is great application to try out this same technique. I did it all in illustrator but the inspiration came from a $2 app.
Tools that fit in my pocket fit much better into my life.
All images by Seth Hardie
Find me on Instagram here: @hallwood
Happened upon this set of satellite program photos. Unfortunately there’s not much information to them, but I did find that there are a couple of gems like this to be seen here, and check out the rest of this set here
