In honor of the New York City premiere of Where The Wild Things Are it seems appropriate to give a nod to NYC by featuring this sweet pizza pouch as an accessory. The wallet is creepily realistic and comes with a delicious mixture of pepperoni, mushroom, green pepper and onion toppings. There might also be some sausage on there! Beats a Mets hat any day.
What’s this? A Decomposition Book, you say? Awesome! Produced by Michael Roger, the notebook is a neat reversal of the classic grade-school composition notebook. The pages are 100% post-consumer-waste recycled paper and printed with soy ink, which makes it easier to recycle a second time. The book is aesthetically as well as ecologically pleasing: the cover is designed to look like stylized faux wood grain, the sort of thing you might encounter in a Hollywood set designed to resemble a rec room circa 1967. And last but not least, each notebook saves approximately 1/200th of a tree, 3 gallons of fresh water and 1/3 lb of solid waste. Yowza.
Haven’t you always wanted to cuddle with a tree? We’re nuts about these pillows, which are knitted to resemble Cottonwood trees that have been nibbled down by beavers. Just imagine how satisfying it would be to construct a giant log cabin fort out of them: so satisfying.
What an adorable way to bring nature indoors!
One of the hardest things about childhood is coming to terms with the fact that adults control everything. Pretty much up until your pre-teen years, adults determine where you go, what you do, when you eat and whether or not dessert is an option. The consolations are few––which makes them, of course, all the more important.
By “consolations” we mean small-scale triumphs and tiny deceits. Things like these Ceramic Crinkle Cups from A+R, which look like disposable Dixie cups that mom might scrape off the kitchen floor after a birthday party but were actually made by Netherlands ceramicist Rob Brandt in 1975 as a comment on our consuming culture. Give the set to a kid for his birthday and he’ll treasure the visual trickery it wreaks.
Then there’s LACMA’s Sarcophagus Backpack, which is a ladybug-hued replica of a tomb from the 21st Dynasty (about 1070 – 945 B.C.). You wouldn’t mistake this for an actual relic––it’s far too cuddly for that––but the likeness is deeply satisfying to tote around on your back. It carries the additional pleasure of being an accessory that a non-awesome adult could NEVER pull off, which, as all kids know, is always a sign of quality.
For “Cheeseburger in Paradise”, an entry in the Gowanus Studio Space Jell-O Competition, artist Rachael Morrison crafted a fast-food dinner that included a walnut and vanilla gelatin bun, vanilla gelatin cheese, lemon-lime gelatin pickles, coconut gelatin onions, cherry and cherry cream gelatin tomato, and pistachio gelatin lettuce. The french fries are vanilla gelatin with tomato flavored gelatin ketchup. Even the Coca-Cola is gelatinous, made from a black cherry coke flavor with coconut gelatin ice cubes.
As a fitting cherry on top, the entry is named after the Jimmy Buffett song that celebrates a harsh cheeseburger craving. Yum. Nothing like Buffett to stoke the appetite.
It’s the trope that never dies. Humans are eternally stoked to find that things aren’t what they seem. Trompe-l’œil is appealing in any format, whether it be 17th century Viennese frescoes, t-shirts printed to look like tuxedos, meatloaf designed to look like birthday cake or candles crafted to resemble sushi.*
What happens when you combine eye-trickery with wit and a nod to sustainable design? Strictly 21-st century inventions like the We Are Happy To Serve You cup (above left), a no-nonsense ceramic vessel that replicates the classic NYC deli cup.
Unlike the disposable originals, the faux-cup has a solid weight to it, and it’s fun to register the surprise when you hand it to a friend who expects the flimsy paper original.
On a similar tip there’s also MoMA’s tote bag (above right), a sturdy item designed to look exactly like Charles Stillwell’s Flat Bottomed Brown Paper Grocery Bag, which he patented in 1883. Up close MoMA’s bag is made of synthetic material, but from afar it looks like an oddly supple grocery bag. Carry it as your own personal secret–an illusion to reveal to the chosen few.
*We’re using a loose definition of trompe-l’œil, here. You know what we mean.
Spike Jonze’s feature film rendition of Maurice Sendaks classic story Where The Wild Things Are has hit movie theaters worldwide.
The film represents years of work from hundreds of different artists, writers, photographers, musicians, actors, and creators of all degrees.
This place has been established to help shed some light on many of the small influences that converged to make this massive project a reality.
Site designed by Landon Metz, developed by Ricky Irvine, in cooperation with Matt Rubin.
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