ROOFTOP GARDEN - DURBAN

Every now and again you have a weekend that makes all recent weekends seem completely rubbish. I had one such weekend a few weekends ago. Travis and Maike from welovepictures were up from Cape Town for a wedding and Casey of Streetscene Tours and siblingmine had a rare weekend off. Judd and Jeannie of Corner Cafe being there as well, recommended we take a trip on Durban's People Mover buses to Addington for a swim, and then on to this rooftop garden he'd heard about in Monty Naicker Street ( formerly Pine Street ). What I saw there was honestly one of the highlights of the month, if not the year. Initiated by the Architecture Department of the eThekweni Municiplaity and overseen by facilities management company Drake & Scull, a rooftop in the city center has been converted into an organic garden, complete with worm farm, grey water facilities and solar panels. Part of a larger plan to green up the city center rooftop by rooftop, the garden is a breath of fresh air, literally. They've even taken to planting cabbage and spinach in the adjacent taxi rank flower beds for the use of informal traders and taxi drivers. Last week during lunch I took workmates Gazza, Greg and Diff to snap a few shots. Thanks to Gazza for the pics.

IPAD GIVEAWAY WINNER

To the others that entered thanks so much for the interest and comments. Would have loved to have given away one to each of you but alas!...there can be only one winner. So Vixen get in touch with your details and we'll send you super kiff prize on its way.

LOCAL LADS PICK UP A LOERIE

Congrats to my mates Kevin Parry and Greg Davies of In the Beginning for their first ever Loerie Award. This is truly a great achievement considering they've only been on the scene for a short while, and were the only Durban agency to win this year. They picked up a silver for their work for Ardmore in the design mixed media campaign category. The agency was briefed on translating the renowned ceramic pieces of Ardmore Ceramics into a range of mediums, including silk scarves, fabric design, furniture design ( couch and ottoman), as well as tableware. The couch in particular was nominated for the Most Beautiful Object in South Africa award, and has been featured in Visi Magazine and the Sunday Times, and travelled to Milan for the Talking Textile exhibition. See more of their work here. So proud!

SWELL ACCESSORIES GIVEAWAY

It's giveaway time and I've got a cracker of a free gift for some lucky sod out there. I was recently contacted by Swell Accessories who make a range of products from iPad covers to nifty iPad cushions for easy bed reading and browsing. All their products are available through their site and until the 8th of October 2011 all readers are entitle to a 15% discount on all products using the code K8QJ2EY2NYME. As shown above the prize is a hard cover book casing for an iPad2 ( 16GB, 32 GB and 64GB ). The one I'm giving away is in a black synthetic outer and inner finish with a sculpted bamboo tray that retails for R800. They have been custom built to allow easy access to the volume rocker, the orientation/mute switch, the lock button and the headphone jack. The speaker grill is not obstructed and has been built to actually enhance the volume and clarity of sound. The cases also have a series of magnets in the trays, which holds the iPad firmly in place. Apart from having sleep/wake functionality, the case also closes with a magnetic catch in genuine leather. The cases all have a black outer but are available in a range of colours on the inside including black, red, burgundy, navy, apple green and bright blue. Custom colour cases can be made to order and company logos can be embossed. To enter simply leave a comment on this post with your thoughts on the product or little bit about why you'd like to win, or just say hello. It's a simple as that. The giveaway offer will run from today the 14th of September until midnight on the 28th of September, and the winner will be announced on Monday the 3rd of October. The giveaway is valid for anyone living in South Africa and once I've drawn your name I'll contact you and send your awesome prize on its way. If you know of anyone that may be interested in winning forward them this link. Good luck guys.

INKLING - THE TRAILER

Ever wish you could take a sketch you've just finished and copy it, as is, straight into an editable format on your computer. Well, that's the wish of many, and to a degree that is achievable. The thing is you have to tweak the various levels, up the tolerance and fiddle with a range of indecipherable settings. Well that's not the case any more.

THE VERY BEST OF BEST MADE

So I've been a bit quite on the blogging front of late. In fact I think my last 3 posts all started like that. So I'm going to get straight into it then and not bore you with minor details. There have admittedly been some changes, namely my chin and face now sport a new beard. I've been cultivating said chinwig for a few months now and it's grown to a sizable and manly showpiece. So in light of my increased manliness I've compiled a collection of items I think would go well with my new face. Of course an axe is in the mix. It satisfies my inner lumberjack. Read all about what they're doing over at bestmadeco.com

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.

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.

PING PONG PERFECTION

Crafted from environmentally farmed teak and customised with a drawer that holds four custom handmade bats, this ping pong table by James Perse has to be the ultimate addition to any bachelor pad or office.

THE BICYCLE CAP

The Bicycle Cap by peSeta for the New Museum from casa peSeta on Vimeo.

If you're into bikes and you prefer hand crafted items over mass produced goods, then you'll love this love story of a bike and a sewing machine. Spanish brand peSeta produced a special series of limited edition bicycle caps for the New Museum of New York City.

BRUNNO JAHARA

Browsing through a recent issue of Wallpaper I found these pieces of furniture that function as both tables and storage units. Made from scraps of wood found in Brazil's favelas each piece is named after a shanty town in Rio. See brunnojahara.com for more.

WOZELA

Got any crazy ideas of how we can put the hundreds of now unused vuvuzela's to use. Submit your idea here, or have a look at some of the other humourous submissions.

DRAINSPOTTING

Remo Camerota documents Japanese manhole covers. He's even published a book about them. Read more here or order the book here on Amazon. Found via Trendland.

HOVERBOARD

As a kid I had a long list of most desperately desired toys. Grey Skull Castle was always number 1. Until now. Hoverboard by Nils Guadagnin. Discovered via designyoutrust.

HOVERBOARD - NILS GUADAGNIN from nils guadagnin on Vimeo.

DEMAKERSVAN

It's been quite some time since my last post (today has been one month exactly) and this is my attempt in spite of current demands to get back to regular posting.

Translated as "themakersof", Dutch trio Demakersvan is comprised of brothers Jeroen and Joep Verhoeven and Judith de Graauw. With a highly enviable and crazily fast rise to stardom in their related field, the group seem to have miraculously maintained a humble attitude regarding their new found fame, and all this at 29 years old and straight out of college. Read more here on Behind the Scene.

JOHNNY LOCO

For a while now I've been trying to check out the Johnny-Loco site but have had hassles for some reason (url error). But today, my friends I hit a bit of luck.

So I have a question for anyone reading this. When last did you ride a bike. I think the last time may have been when I was in London in 1999. I might have ridden one since, oh yes the little cycle race in 2002. Well anyway, in my opinion not much beats hitting a long, slow hill on a bike. It really is such an awesome experience. So to those whining about the soaring fuel price. Hop on a bike the next time you head down to your local café for some bread and milk. See my choice above. The Classic, City, Extreme and Cargo Beach Cruisers.

MADE IN CHINA

A while back I posted about some bamboo products I found while browsing. Well, the informed will know that bamboo is growing in preference to other mediums, across the board, from furniture to lighting and more. Last year a bunch of Israeli students from Shenkar College, took part in a bamboo toy workshop in China hosted by HaPe international Ltd. One month later and these are some of the results. Discovered on DesignBoom.