MIKAEL CARLSON - AVIATOR

Mikael Carlson loves flying. So much so that he's dedicated his life to not only flying commercially, but building aeroplanes...from scratch. Yes, from scratch. A great story about someone doing what they love. Discovered via Perfect Fools, a studio with branches in Amsterdam and Stockholm who are in my opinion putting out some truly phenomenal work. All of their recent work for Converse is amazing, in particular the Converse robotic shoe screen featured in Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid and Milan.

HOMEGROWN : JORDAN METCALF

I've long been an admirer of Jordan Metcalf's illustration and design and had a chance yesterday to browse some of his recent work published on the Behance Network. Particularly like the series of illustrations he produced for X Games 2011. His line work is faultless, his typography is outstanding and honestly it's great to see a local getting some international, in this case much deserved, recognition. See more of his work on his Flickr page here.

MOOKI NOODLE BAR

There's a new noodle bar in town and let's just say the food is face-meltingly amazing. Mooki Noodle Bar opened at 190 Brand Road opposite Corner Cafe on Monday and has been cranking every night since. I can't emphasise enough how much I enjoyed my meal, other than to say I got a bit weepy, and must have congratulated the chefs at least four times...each. I ordered the pork with udon noodles and ginger red chilli sauce. It was perfect. Just salty enough and just hot enough and a decent size portion too. Meals range from R19-R45 for starters, R40-R50 for mains and there's a banana tempura for dessert at R29. They're open Monday to Saturday 11 till 9. Check out their site or call them on 031 811 9199.

THE BURNING HOUSE

The Burning House poses this simple question. If your house was burning down, what would you take with you. I love the way the author of this site has taken something that is already prevalent on the net, namely snapping collections of personal objects, but created a platform for some really interesting stories to be told. These images off the first few pages caught my eye. Read the stories behind them here. All images from theburninghouse.com

HOMEGROWN : BRUCE MACKAY

Bruce Mackay is a Cape Town based illustrator and designer. He's pretty flippin' talented. The images above are part of a series he produced for the Winter Wonderland Exhibition which is currently on at Salon91 Contemporary Art Gallery in Kloof Street, Cape Town until the 6th of August. He's produced work for clients including Nike, Cell C Adidas and Verb. See more of his work on Flickr and even more on Behance. All images courtesy Bruce's page on Flickr. Pop by both and tell him you love his stuff.

RICHY, ROCHELLE, ROSS AND JEN

Four of the coolest people I know live on the other side of the world. Hong Kong is now home, and has been for a while, to four of my super talented South African mates. Richy and Ross are designers turned tattoo artists. Rochelle, Richy's wife is a photographer and Jen is also a designer who's now teaching wee Asian kids in a local school. I thought I'd put up a little shout out as I was browsing all their sites and blogs and getting a little emotional. I miss these guys. Ross and Richy own a tattoo spot in Kowloon called Star Crossed Tattoo, but they also have individual blogs showcasing their work. Richy's stuff here and his photo-a-day blog here. Ross' blog here. Rochelle's work is displayed here and Jen might have a blog but I'm not sure of the address. Let me know Jen-Jen. The photography above is from Richy and Rochelle's sites.

PIANO HANGER BY FELD

You know what it's like. It's been a long day at work. You arrive home and the last thing you feel like doing is rifling through your cupboard to find a coat hanger to hang your stuff on. No?...that never happens? Is it just a guy thing? Well this item of pure genius above is designed to be a coat rack, but is a far more stylish alternative to throwing my clothes over my bedroom door. Perfect for small spaces, this nifty piece folds flat when not in use. Read more about the Piano hanger by Feld here. Discovered via swiss-miss.

HOMEGROWN : DESMOND LOUW

It's tough trying to make a name for yourself in photography when South Africa is heaving with photographic talent the likes of Desmond Louw and his wife Toni. They made a recent trip to blast from the past little town Matjiesfontein ( let alone Phuthaditjhaba ). For foreign readers I'm afraid I won't be able to convey here quite how to pronounce that. Naturally they snapped away and made some friends too, which is not hard in a town like this it seems. See more from there trip here. All photos by Desmond Louw.

BAGS FROM LAYERXLAYER

Some superbly well made and carefully crafted tote bags from layerxlayer. Quilted by hand and assembled with an impressive amount of specifications, these bags are so much more of an investment than a simple purchase. These pics show some of the quilting process that goes into making a bag, this one in question being the Olive Waxed Canvas & Indigo Cinch Tote. See more on layerxlayer.com. Discovered via the 189.com. Oh and they're also on Flickr if you're there too.

JESSICA HILLTOUT

It's been about a year since the World Cup turned this country into one huge flag-waving mass of soccer hysteria. I made a concerted effort to resist getting caught up in the consumer pitched marketing and buy-something-you'll-never-use-again-mentality...except for the car flag, but that was practically a necessity. I did however recently buy a book titled Amen by Jessica Hilltout. Brimming with amazing photography the book launch coincided with the World Cup, but is by no means a gimmicky buy strictly for tourists seeking a momento of their time here. Travelling part of her journey in VW Beetle, Belgium born Hilltout traversed Africa documenting grassroots football at its most pure. The more I think about it, I think soccer may be the greatest game ever invented.

GREENPOINTWORKS ACAPULCO CHAIRS

Inspired by the beach town of the same name, there's something distinctly African in these handmade Acapulco chairs from Brooklyn, New York based company Greenpointworks. Featured above is the indoor only chair with leather cording which is available in a range of natural colours and below that is its vinyl cording sister. A redesign of a chair prolific to Mexico, these chairs use locally sourced American-made materials.

OTH AVENUE

Really cool styling, photography and art direction on these ladieswear looks from Montreal based webzine OTH Avenue. Developed in conjunction with stylist Jay Forest, Oth Avenue is a platform to highlight local talent in fashion and local must visit shopping destinations. Read and see more of what they're about on their site. All images courtesy of othavenue.com