HBL Book of the Week: Still Life

Still Life: Inside the Antarctic huts of Scott and Shackleton by Jane Ussher (Murdoch books, 2010) documents the Antarctic huts which acted as expedition bases for Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton from 1895-1917.

Paper taxidermy by Anna-Wili Highfield

Anna-Wili Highfield

WGSN-homebuildlife loves the intricate paper sculptures of Australian artist Anna-Wili Highfield. Each piece is made from cotton paper, painted then sewn together and held in place with copper pipe.

Daydreaming With... St Michael's

The Heretics' Gate by Doug Foster at Daydreaming With... St Michael's

Revellers at this month's Camden Crawl, the annual north London indie music festival, may have been surprised to find an immersive art installation right in the middle of the sunshine-fuelled chaos. DJ, producer and curator James Lavelle chose the event to launch 2011's edition of Daydreaming With..., which each year showcases a range of creative experiences based on the crossover between art and music.

HBL Analysis: Vitamin Design

Zirkel table by Vitamin Design

German furniture company Vitamin Design specialises in ecologically-friendly, solid wooden furniture. WGSN-homebuildlife takes a look at its latest collection.

Angry Birds in Lego

Young designer Chiukeung transformed the characters from the popular smartphone app Angry Birds (one of the nominees for the interactive category of the Brit Insurance Design of the Year Awards 2011) into Lego toys. The game's virtual characters are brought into the real world to the delight of the app’s young fans.

Subscribers can read more about the current role of animals within design in our Whimsical Fauna report.

HBL Blog of the Week: Designeast

Designeast

Designeast is a blog devoted to showcasing design from central and eastern Europe - founded by product designer Martin Žampach when he became frustrated at the lack of English language coverage of the topic. Disciplines covered range from product and industrial design to jewellery, fashion and interior, with stories usually updated daily.

HBL loves: the focus of the blog on an area that is often under-represented in design journalism.

HBL Analysis: Shira Keret

Mortar & pestle #4 by Shira Keret, made from sugar & spice and silver

Bezalel Academy of Art and Design graduate Shira Keret has designed a series of objects called Paraphrase, each of which corresponds to a written text which serves as the essence of the object. WGSN-homebuildlife's favourites from the series are the collection of five mortar & pestles, constructed from fine materials including oak, porcelain, brass, glass, sugar and spice, silver and carrara marble.

HBL Analysis: LTL Architects at Memorial Sloan-Kettering

An interactive wall designed by LTL Architects is featured in the lobby of Memorial Sloan-Kettering, New York City's renowned cancer treatment centre. The large wall has holes with random, lighted planes that alter depending on where the viewer is standing, and was modelled using Rhinoceros 3D software.

WGSN-homebuildlife subscribers: read about the other tech-art installations to make our top five here.

HBL Exhibitions: New Olds

Fixie lamp by Dag Hunted; photo by Inbal Marmari

Design Museum Holon's new exhibition, 'New Olds: Design between tradition and innovation', highlights the work of contemporary designers whose practice involves reinterpreting motifs from the past.

Kola & Trippla by Inno

Kola rocking chair by Mikko Laakkonen for Inno

Finnish design brand Inno has launched a new collection of products, including the Kola rocking chair, designed by Mikko Laakkonen, and the Trippla coatstand by Harri Korhonen.

HBL Events: photos from Urban Fog

Urban Fog

Having blogged about the impending opening of pop-up architectural installation/tea house Urban Fog two weeks ago (read our original post here), WGSN-homebuildlife visited the event this weekend to experience it for ourselves.

HBL Retail: Picnicware

Pedlars

With Britain basking in a heatwave for much of April and good weather due to set in all over the northern hemisphere next month, WGSN-homebuildlife takes the opportunity to explore current trends in picnicware - from boxes and hampers to tumblers, plates and cutlery.