Not sure how we missed these on release but a heads up from Arkitip was most welcome. Peter Mendelsund designed editions of classic Franz Kafka works. Mendelsund, art director at Pantheon Books, part of Knopf Publishing, had always hoped to design covers for Kafka novels and talks extensively on his website about the ideas and decisions behind the bold imagery he carries through the set. Under the Schocken Books header, another Knopf off-shoot, he manages to distill key themes running through the son of Prague’s work, into beautiful, deceptively simple designs.

“Whenever I’m asked (and I’m asked with some frequency) which authors I’d most like to design jackets for, I always say Kafka ..There’s just something about Kafka- and this something is so very hard to pin down.” Find them at Amazon.

Michael Kluver’s design studio hews to what he calls “journalistic design,” which involves using “words, imagery and three-dimensional work” to comment on the world. Here, he reports on the way we sit with the re-imagining of four iconic chairs by Eames, Rietveld, Brewer and Mackintosh. The collection is called “Just Chairs,” and the cheekiness doesn’t stop there, for you see, each design has been wrestled back into the parameters of the most basic chair form imaginable. Each one is the same height, width, depth and angle—a design trick Kluver hopes will demystify the past and ask “important questions with regards to the future.”

So will we go back to sitting in rigid upright seats? Impossible to say. One thing is for certain, however, we won’t be sitting in any of these. The only things for sale here are 100 sets of prints of illustrations of the chairs; perfect for framing and admiring from a comfortable spot on your couch. (nalden)

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In a bit of news that almost makes us want to drink some Diet Coke, fashion icon Diane von Fürstenberg lends her sensibilities to the low-calories soda for some bottle wraps that celebrate her knack for moving prints.

Following in the footsteps of old Karl Lagerfeld—who designed a series of bottles last last year (and who supposedly dropped 90 pounds in 2001 by drinking only Diet Coke and eating steamed vegetables)—Fürstenberg’s collector’s edition comes with four bottles and is priced at a bubbly $30. One-hundred-percent of the proceeds go to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health in support of The Heart Truth program for women’s heart health research. The beverage inside still tastes like melted Styrofoam.

A full look after the click.

How many reading this remember hunting down copies of Deadline back in the day? In the States it was a pain in the ass. Mailorder was usually the best option but even then, it took some months for those back issues to crawl off a boat from the U.K. The covers took me in. Imagine being 15 years old and seeing this slightly butch punk girl on the cover with a cigarette in her mouth… I definitely did not gravitate to it for any other reason. But truth be told, once inside, the discovery of the Tank Girl saga. Those new to Tank Girl can skip the movie and go straight to the current graphic novels.

Step into the late 90’s and the first Gorillaz record which had that very familiar comic art style of Jamie Hewlett. I was pretty much sold.

Today, ABSOLUT delivers their latest artist collaborative, part of their city series with ABSOLUT LONDON featuring the art of Mr. Hewlett, who takes on the history of London’s fashion scene over the last 200 years. On the bottle you’ll find all those scenes represented: the dandy’s, the punks, the mods, and our favorites, those terrace riding 80’s casuals.

50 total bottle of ABSOLUT LONDON will go on sale starting March 1 at Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. Good luck, collectors.

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Hats off to Grain & Gram for this great little video offering a look at the workings of accessories favourites MAKR. Founder Jason Gregory skates, sews and sketches his way through the film and, with the help of his bearded associates, creates those totes, wallets and keyfobs we love so much. All crafted in their Florida studio – unsurprisingly one of those perfect spaces that makes you go ‘ooohhh’ –  this is a behind the scenes look at a small company making big waves. An interview also accompanies the film, we recommend you check it out.

More from MAKR in our archives.

Marc Newson touches everything. His latest design work is in the form of a camera with the launch of the Pentax K-01 interchangeable lens system digital camera. The Pentax K-01 features 16 mega pixels of love, the ability to shoot 1080p at 30fps (you get a full 60fps at 720p), and the ability to use any Pentax K-mount lens. The ISO runs the range from 100 through 25,600 is is out of control if you ask me. Pentax say the K-01 camera shoots “gorgeous noise-free imaging in any lighting condition.”

The real win for those who only care about how much eye-candy they can chew out of their camera-neckwear is the choice of colors: Newson yellow if the big one but for those who prefer black or white or both, you have those options as well. Those hungry for the Pentax K-01 can pre-order now online for $899.

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OEN uncovered this fantastic photoset from João Canziani. A look at the home of  American architect Ray Kappe, an expert in sustainable design and lecturer in Southern California. The incredible surroundings are framed by huge windows and complimented by a whole lot of wood and multiple levels. This isn’t one of those polished show homes full of Barcelona chairs and obtrusive lighting. This place is lived in and clearly loved. Beautiful images showcasing this knockout house.

Click on.

Some days we get worked up in a genuine tizzy over the surplus of clever font stuff perpetually oozing from the crevices in the Interweb. Other days we wish everything could just be left in American Typewriter. This collaboration between London design studio Johnson Banks and Ravensbourne, a digital media university in the U.K., doubles down on the zeitgeist obsession with typography by turning the alphabet into a series of conceptual sculptures. In that sense, perhaps they are tripling down. Whatever the numbers, the letters are interesting. The jumping off point for each piece is a font that beings with its parent letter (A is Akzidenz Grotesk, B is Bodoni, C is Courier …). We’re taken with E, F, J, L, S, and T. O gets an honorable mention for looking like a vaginal take on Superman’s house. - jt

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Kevin Lyons made a bin with Colette. Oh yeah. Vipp lend their iconic pedal-bin to the pen of Mr Lyons who duly covers it in not so scary blue monsters. He describes it as only he knows how: ”I love to imagine my little blue monsters running wild through Colette each night. Dancing, playing really loud music, snacking at the water Bar, reading fashion magazines. They yell and giggle in French and eat baguettes and party all night long.”

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This is Colossal fill us in on the Luminarie De Cagna, an incredible structure that featured as part of the Light Festival in Ghent, Belgium. Hitting somewhere between a manic Christmas tree and Tron, onlookers gaze in wonder and possibly lose the use of their retinas.

“The festival was host to almost 30 exhibitions including plenty of 3D projection mapping, fields of luminous flowers, and a glowing phone booth aquarium, however with 55,000 LEDs and towering 28 meters high the Luminarie De Cagna seems to have stolen the show.”

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