Battery-Powered Home

Thanks to Engadget for noticing this tech! Panasonic and Sanyo are developing a lithium-ion cell designed to power a home for a week.


The home use storage battery, scheduled for a 2011 release, is a way to store electricity generated from solary batteries that now do not allow long-term storage. The system may also be coupled to a system that tracks electricity usage on the home's TVs. More info from Physorg.com.

A Quiz on Taste

Thanks to BoingBoing for the tip on this modern furniture quiz: Donald Judd or Cheap Furniture? (by Graydon Parrish and Mikhail Simkin), which challenges one's ability to tell priceless designs created by minimalist sculptor Donald Judd as furnishing apartments that also contain famous abstract paintings from cheap flat-pack furniture from big-box establishments. I didn't get a perfect score, but I was close (I blame IKEA's "woods" for my errors). How about you?

Save the Date

Cliff Fest, Oak Cliff, November 14th, 2009

From "Oak Cliff People", 6/26/09:

‘Cliff Fest’ Planning Begins
New festival will take cues from Taste of Addison
By Silver Hogue
Staff Writer
http://www.peoplenewspapers.com/ME2...E75FD51480D8A7D

The wheels are turning on one of the biggest festivals to hit Oak Cliff’s Bishop Arts District....Cliff Fest.

The event, which is slated for Nov. 14, will be a showcase of all things Oak Cliff and is being modeled after Taste of Addison, a food and entertainment festival held each year in the suburb north of Dallas.

“I want it to show the best of Oak Cliff,” Sheri Mathis, event coordinator for the Oak Cliff Chamber of Commerce. “All the things people don’t know about — the artists and galleries that are out there that people don’t know about, the restaurants, the neighborhood feel of it.”

Another awesome fixture

Love Le Soleil, a suspension lamp from Vincente Garcia Jimenez debuted by Foscarini (the makers of Ferrucio Laviani's SuperNova, another of my loves) at Euroluce last week. For more of the story, go here.

Flipside shower

A new way for gadgets to make it to the shower....Kohler's Flipside hand-hel shower has a rotating nozzle that provides a selection of four different streams. For under $130 you can play with something nice and shiny which is only slightly evocative of a select-a-stream garden hose nozzle.

Gizmodo seems just as impressed as we are.

Recycled Lamps

I'm always a fan of new lighting thoughts, and this recycled wine bottle lamp puts a new eco-spin on illumination.

Jerry Kott handcuts and polishes recycled bottles to create light sculptures. Colorblock table light fixtures have a weighted, distressed aluminum base with a switch on the cord. 3-color blocks are $150, 4-color blocks $280 at re:modern. My only eco-wish: LED bulbs!

Grange House, England

Harrison Varma is an ten-year-old architecture firm in London "specialising in the creation of individually crafted, contemporary, luxury homes built to the highest standards". The luxurious, modern designs have a unique interaction with their environment, whether it's an in-town block or a cottage lane.

XRay Film Lamp

Thanks to Haute Nature for finding this creative, reused item! I'm seeing an IKEA hack in the future....

Sawaya Maxima

This chair has a topologically folded single-piece seat made of polyurethane. Available as a chair, a barstool, and a lounge chair among other forms from Sawaya & Moroni, it has true visual appeal, though I can't vouch for the comfort test.I'm not the only design fan captivated by Sawaya's design tastes. Both Metropolitan Home and Maison Francaise featured his Milan apartment recently (see this blogger's great photo spread!).

10,000 Visits

What started in 2006 as a way to catalog design finds that caught my eye has gotten a few eyeballs! Thanks for stopping by and sharing my little list of nifty things!

sustainable modern architecture

The Chestnut Residence in Newport Beach, California (architect Dan Heinfeld's personal residence) incorporates low VOC paints and no-paint plasters, recycled terazzo floors, and a cool roof/solar array system to provide power with the aim of being a sophisticated modern sustainable home.


Inhabit has a full write-up on the property and its integration of green building strategies.

Cedars Open Studio Tour, 11/22

Save the date for this artsy weekend event: the Sixth Annual Cedars Open Studios tour. The weekend event in the Cedars neighborhood south of Downtown features open house opportunities to see artists and their works.

The day is planned to conclude with a sunset performance art piece titled “Decorating the Tree” by glass blower Jim Bowman.

A review of the 2005 tour is posted at the DallasArtsRevue site.

Event Details:

When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 11/22/2008

Where: The Cedars

Cost: Free

http://cedarsopenstudios.blogspot.com/

Wolfson's "Origami" Chair

"The Origami series looks at an abstraction of penetrating, folding, layering and juxtaposition of surfaces - static versus dynamic forces; a static moment of suspended action, frozen from a manual of folds."

Phillip Michael Wolfson, a Cornell-trained architect, is known for both his design and sculpture works, with his unique use of shape and lines. More commentary and more pictures are available at Dezeen.

The Biombo Chairs by Daniel Milchtein convert from screen to seating in a few easy slides. According to original Design Milk posting, the wood veneer chair, built over a hinged wood structure, when is not in use is a folding screen (Biombo). The surface of the seat can be engraved with a graphic image that transforms it into a decorative object when folded flat.

Windpower Outdoor Lighting

This really caught my eye (and it's only £99.95!):

"The Firewinder® Wind-Powered Outdoor Light is a sculpturally designed outdoor light, which harnesses the wind to create a beautiful upward spiralling light every time the wind blows. In the daylight and when the wind isn't blowing, the product looks unobtrusive. But at night and when the wind blows, it creates a silent wind-powered firework show, illuminating an amazing 'never-ending' and completely mesmerising twirl of light.

Tom Lawton inspired and developed this funky garden feature, the Firewinder®, in the UK, in the hope that it would help people think about the invisible beauty, awesome power and endless resource of the alternative energies that encircle us. Tom's dream is that the Firewinder® will be adopted as an international symbol of sustainability throughout the world. "

Disassembled Household Appliance

This set on Flickr (user brittnybadger) is from a senior thesis project at the Hartford Art School.

"this past year...i took apart used cooking/cleaning appliances, and arranged their interior parts very systematically on a white sheet of bristol board. my intention was to explore the hidden "brains" of these appliances; allowing us to view these everyday objects from a new perspective."

Unique gift findings

The Bubble Calendar ($29.99)



Flat flowers for small spaces

Art Conspiracy, 6/21

The art conspiracy group does it again. At 8pm, Saturday 6/21 at Sons of Hermann Hall they will feature another iteration of SEED with several bands and artists participating. For $5 you can listen to the sounds of Matthew and The Arrogant Sea, Beauxregard, Spector 45 and Pet Hospital.

There will be an artwork auction including some one-0f-a-kind moleskine journals. Since the end of May, 15 artists including Kim Cadmus Owens, Marcus Striplin, David Hopkins, Diane Sikes and Tina Medina have been filling up page after page of Moleskine journals with drawings, paintings, photography, lyrics, observations and more. During the SEED event, the journals will be auctioned along with original work from additional Dallas artists.

Oak Cliff's Future Boom?

According to this release today, over $2 billion in development plans are in the works for Oak Cliff, just north and east of the Bishops Arts district, in striking distance of the Trinity River project.

Incap Unveils Full Scope of $2B Plan for Dallas
By Connie Gore

Incap's Vision
DALLAS-With 300 acres of entitled land now ready for development, Incap Fund is pulling the cloak of secrecy off its plan after two years of market speculation and limited details. The $2-billion build-out is a vision to reshape the landscape of Oak Cliff.

"We had a blank canvas for master planning," says Alan McDonald, managing director of Dallas-based Incap. "Now we're starting to take offers on this." Incap has divided the assemblage into four districts, investing $240 million into the land acquisitions, scraping roughly 2,000 apartments and prepping the dirt for resale, he tells GlobeSt.com.

Incap has nearly 100 acres of the ready-to-go mixed-use land under contract or under negotiation, with closings set to start in July. The dirt is bringing $30 per sf to $35 per sf, McDonald says.

Kessler Woods Plan
First out of the chute will be an 8.93-acre sale to Dallas-based Sky Modern Homes, which will develop 96 zero-lot line homes and row houses as the third phase for its Kessler Woods, according to McDonald. The developer is getting the sites of the Acorn Tree Apartments and Gulf Latin Church along West Davis Street.

In October, McDonald says Gus Woehr of Dallas will buy four acres for an 80-unit residential project. Woehr's site once held the Kings Highway Apartments in the city's oldest conservation district.

Closing in November will be 4.3 acres that once held the Chateau Crete Apartments along Stevens Forest Drive. McDonald says the development partnership is Beck/Holley, with Dallas-based Beck Group at the forefront of the deal.

Another 10.15 acres near Methodist Hospital will be sold in November to a national homebuilder. The hospital controls another 5.44 acres, also earmarked for development. McDonald says he can't release the homebuilder's name due to a confidentiality clause, but the build-out plan calls for 200 multifamily units, 200 senior housing apartments, 150,000 sf of medical office and 150,000 sf of retail.

A 4.9-acre site at 1836 W. Davis St., once Cliffwood Apartments, is being marketed to retail developers for $32 per sf. McDonald says the vision is to create another eclectic shopping district like Knox-Travis. Another 5.34-acre tract along Cedar Hill Drive also is being marketed.

The lion's share of Incap's land assemblage is earmarked for a sustainable mixed-use urban campus spanning 100 acres. Marketing begins next month. The Westmoreland urban campus tentatively calls for 200 single-family lots, 400 townhouses, 1,800 condos in mid-rise towers, 4,800 apartments, 450,000 sf of retail and possibly 30,000 sf of office space atop some street retail.

The urban campus is "the largest undeveloped tract in the inner city," McDonald says. And, he quickly points out that it's just 3.5 miles from Downtown and Uptown.

McDonald says Incap's tracts aren't contiguous like other massive redevelopments that he's undertaken in Dallas. "But, the unique part of these tracts is they are in the most fabulous neighborhoods in the city and the oldest ones in the city," he says. Many surrounding homes were built in the 1920s and 1930s. "They are little jewel boxes," he says. In the past five years, he says the various neighborhoods have transitioned from an aging population to the Gen Y age crowd, spawning eclectic emerging pockets like the Bishop Arts District.

Incap's land bank is situated within the 589-acre Davis Garden District Tax Increment Financing District. McDonald labels it a "new generation TIF" because it is so broad-based and focused on residential redevelopment, including affordable and seniors housing, unlike TIFs of Downtown and Uptown. Interstate 30 is Incap's northern boundary; Davis Street, southern; Methodist Hospital, eastern; and Pinnacle Park, western.

But for the veteran McDonald, the assemblage is another opportunity for him to reshape a Dallas neighborhood like he did with projects in Uptown and Knox-Travis.

Typical Site View
He says the second-story view from all the assembled tracts will be the city skyline, the Trinity River and the to-be-built Calatrava bridge trio. "That's the view corridor from every single site on the second floor," McDonald stresses, "and it's unobstructed because of the Trinity River's flow. The river is coming back with the Calatrava bridges and town lake plan and it connects to the original neighborhood that was the birth of Dallas."

Dallas Farmers Markets

Not all markets are as "dealer"-loaded as the downtown sheds of the Dallas Farmers Market. The Dallas Morning News has a good summary of the options in the Metroplex, but here's the list:

CITY OF DALLAS FARMERS MARKET: Daily, 7 a.m. to

6 p.m., year-round. More farmers, including organic, sell on Saturday mornings than any other day. Also pasta, beef, Alaskan seafood, pastured meats, cheese, eggs, butter. Many small markets buy local produce from farmers at the Dallas market. 1010 S. Pearl; 214-939-2808. If you are going to the market for a specific item, call 214-670-5879 for availability.

COLLEYVILLE FARMERS MARKET: Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Season opens in March and closes at Christmas. 5409 Colleyville Blvd., Colleyville; 817-427-2333.

COPPELL FARMERS MARKET: Saturdays, 8 a.m. until sell-out. One of the area's best small markets, with farmers (including organic), pastured meats and chicken, Gulf seafood, Alaskan salmon, cheese and more.

455 W. Bethel Road (between Denton Tap Road and Freeport Parkway) in Old Town Coppell; 972-304-7043; www.coppellfarmersmarket .org.

CORSICANA FARMERS MARKET: Tuesday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to sellout. Season opens Saturday and closes at the end of September. Run by Navarro County Farmers Market Association. State Highway 75 Business at Sixth Avenue, Corsicana; 903-874-2670.

COTTON'S PRODUCE MARKET: Monday through Saturday, 6:30 a.m. to

5:30 p.m. Mom-and-pop stand that shops the Dallas Farmers Market for local seasonal produce. 4200 Broadway, Garland; 972-240-8810.

COX FARMS MARKET: Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to

7 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. A small natural-foods market that sells local produce in season as well as locally produced meats and pastured chicken. 1026 S. Main, Duncanville; 972-283-8851.

COWTOWN FARMERS' MARKET: Saturdays, 8 a.m. to sell-out. When season gets going, may add Wednesdays. Besides farmers, it has an artisan bread baker, coffee beans, natural granola. Part of North Central Texas Farmers Markets. The market's Fresh Line tells what's going to be at the market and any changes due to weather. Closes after the first fall freeze. State Highway 377 at Southwest Boulevard, Fort Worth (east side of Weatherford traffic circle, parking lot in front of Texas Outdoors); 817-462-1426; www.simplyfreshfw.com.

DENTON COUNTY FARMERS MARKET: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 7 a.m. to sellout. Season opens Thursday and continues through Sept. 15. Farmers from Denton County only. Fruit, vegetable, herb and flower show in mid-June is open to all growers; cash prizes. Mulberry at Carroll, adjacent to Bayless-Selby House Museum; 940-891- 0051.

EDEN'S ORGANIC GARDEN CENTER: First and third Saturdays of each month,

9 a.m. to noon. Small organic farmer's market with eggs, meats, chicken, plus fruits and vegetables. For products such as meat, it's best to order in advance through the vendor. Get the contact number or e-mail from Eden's, 4710 Pioneer Road, Balch Springs; 214-348-3336; www.edens organicgardencenter.com.

FAIRVIEW FARMS MARKETPLACE: Tuesday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to

9 p.m. Year-round produce market with produce from local farmers through October. 3314 N. Central Expressway, Plano; 972- 422-2500; www.fairview- farms.com.

FRISCO FARMERS MARKET: Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. or sell-out, through first Saturday in September. 6048 Frisco Square Blvd.; 214-538- 8161; www.friscofarmers market.com.

GEORGIA'S FARMERS MARKET: Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Starts bringing in locally grown produce this weekend or shortly thereafter.

916 E. 15th St., Plano (east of Central Expressway); 972-516-4765.

GRAPEVINE FARMERS MARKET: Thursday and Saturday 9:30 a.m. to sell-out. Season opens May 24. Part of North Central Texas Farmers Markets. 325 S. Main St. (behind the gazebo downtown); 817-410-3185 or 1-800-457-6338 (toll-free).

GRAND PRAIRIE FARMERS MARKET: Thursday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to sellout. Opens May 22, with grand opening May 24, and continues through Nov. 1. Part of North Central Texas Farmers Markets. City Hall Plaza, south side of city hall, 317 College St.; 972-237- 8000; www.gptx.org.

LAKE WORTH FARMERS MARKET: Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Run by Fletchers Produce with several local growers. 7601 Jacksboro Highway at Surfside Drive (on Azle side of the bridge); 682-238-7864.

McKINNEY FARMERS MARKET: Saturdays 8 a.m. to noon. Local produce (including organic), pastured meats, chicken, eggs, farm butter and more. In Chestnut Square Historic Village, about three blocks south of the main square at McDonald and Anthony (park in lot on McDonald); 972-562-8790; www.chestnutsquare.org.

OLD TOWN LEWISVILLE FARMERS MARKET: Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. or sell-out, through Oct. 27. Wayne Ferguson Plaza between Main and Church streets; www.cityoflewis ville.com. (Old Town Business Association)

RIDGMAR FARMERS MARKET: Sunday through Thursday,

8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Year-round market operated by Parker County peach and vegetable growers; Cowtown Barbecue inside. Selection includes local produce.

900 State Highway 183 North (across from Ridgmar Mall), Fort Worth; 817-246-7525.

RUFE SNOW FARMERS MARKET: Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Year-round produce. Shops at Dallas Farmers Market for local fruits and vegetables. 6871 Rufe Snow Drive, Fort Worth; 817-281-4313.

WAXAHACHIE DOWNTOWN FARMERS MARKET: Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Opens May 31, closes Oct. 18. Local farmers plus organic gardeners, kitchen tools and more.

Franklin Street between Rogers and College on south side of Ellis County Courthouse. 972-937-7330, ext. 198.