google ad sense 728 x 90

Modernist Healdsburg Home With Pool on West Dry Creek Road by Dowling Studios.






This lovely modernist 3,500 square foot custom home with detached carport and a swimming pool in Healdsburg, California has expansive views of the Dry Creek Valley.



Designed by Julie and Leslie Dowling of Dowling Studios, the modern home with double sided indoor/outdoor fireplace is positioned atop a knoll on an 8 acre site.






The steeply graded property is lined with fir and oak trees and has a private driveway leading to an open hilltop site with panoramic views.



The Central great room opens to the pool and covered patio with expansive vineyard views to the south.



The bedrooms on the north and west sides of the home face more wooded views. Sustainable design was a high priority and every attempt was made to use the most energy efficient systems and materials.







The beautiful project was completed in July 2011.

Julie and Leslie Dowling:

all images and information courtesy of Dowling Studios

It's Called Photoshop, Not Angelina Being Goofy.




The above right image has been making the rounds on the internet with hundreds of thousands of people believing it was an actual pose struck by Angelina Jolie the night of the Oscars. Let me put the rumors to rest. The image was merely a copy, flip horizontal and paste job on Photoshop from an original Getty photo - artist unknown.

The original photo:


The altered photo, by yours truly:

In case you were wondering.

My Little Pony + Origami = Fred Butler's Womenswear for Autumn Winter 2012.





Accessories designer and prop stylist Fred Butler just showed her latest collection at London Fashion Week. Crazy and colorful, it pushes the envelope with fashions and accessories I'd never consider wearing, but might make great props and styling for an editorial or event. With wacky origami-like structured textiles and colorful knitware, it's a bit like My Little Pony meets Fractals.








The following designer profile and interview is courtesy of London Fashion Week

Designer name: Fred Butler

Origin: Colchester, Essex, England.

Career highlight: “Winning New Gen sponsorship!”

Design background: Fred studied at the University of Brighton and worked with Shona Heath and As FOUR (New York), before setting up her own label.

What are your design signatures? “Wearable sculpture, intricate textures, material manipulation, graphic shape and pattern, strong colour contrast with black and white highlights, iridescence and metallics.”

How would you describe the Fred Butler woman? “Anyone who enjoys enhancing their look with an exciting addition to an outfit.”

Three autumn/winter 2012 inspirations: “Getting cosy, quilting and layering.”

What does 2012 hold for your brand? “Spreading the colour further.”

What is your favourite decade in fashion? “The sixties.”

Where do you go in London to seek artistic inspiration? “I go to my yoga class because it's a chance to switch off; that's when I find my inspiration.”


above: fashion and accessories designer Fred Butler (photo by Mishkin)

www.fredbutlerstyle.com
83-84 Berwick Street
London
W1F 8TS

Fish For Font Lovers. Stylized Wooden Koi Hand-Printed With Type Characters.





House Industries is offering beautiful stylized wooden Koi hand-printed with air-dried inks in a variety of prints using their own type designs. Characters such as ampersands, letters and brackets are printed on the objets d'art in a mid-century modern style.





They are unable to guarantee the availability of specific dye and pattern combinations. Please email your preference and they will try to accommodate your request.

8 x 4 in, (203 x 102 mm)
1.375 in thick, (35 mm)
Hand printed with air-dried inks
$75 each
buy them here.

PURE* Computers and Amplifiers. High Tech With High Style from Amsterdam.




Four years ago, I wrote a post on these unusual ceramic encased computers and amplifiers from Plush Department. Since that time, they have updated the technical specs so that the computers and amplifiers have up-to-date capabilities like BluRay, VOIP and video conferencing.

Together with Dutch designer Vince Vijsma and Cor Unum Plush Department created the first PURE* ceramic computer cases. The PURE* line extends into many colors and metal coatings such as bronze, platinum and pure gold. This is actually one of the big advantages of ceramic as a base material. PURE*s are cubic in shape with friendly rounded edges that integrate perfectly into any style environment - only the port for entering a DVD or CD remains recognizable as a tech interface.

The PURE* Computers and amplifiers are available in Delft Blue, White, Black, Bronze, Gold-plated and a special edition by Graffiti artist Zender, all shown here.


PURE* Delft Blue


The Koninklijke Delftsche Aardewerkfabriek (Royal Delft Pottery) “De Porceleyne Fles Anno 1653” N.V. (Royal Delft) is the leading producer of authentic Delft Blue ornamental earthenware and modern earthenware. The Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles is the only remaining factory of 32 earthenware factories that were established in the 17th century.



Plushdepartment’s PURE is a piece of modern earthenware with a retro authentic view. Plush Department gave De Porceleyne Fles the assignment to create a motif that really fitted the shape of the PURE* and a Dutch design look. Very recognizable all over the world, but never seen on a computer, ever.

The Plush Department PURE* Delft Blue numbered, signed and certified by the Royal Porceleyne Fles and are rare collector items.

PURE* Gold
126 grams to be exact. The factory has to be emptied of all workers since gold is a heavy metal and only trained people are allowed to handle it under this conditions according to Dutch law.



In the Netherlands there is one such person. The gold layer is a 100% gold glazing, there is no dilution of any kind. It is actually one of the purest forms of the rare metal.




PURE* Bronze
Many cultures produced works of high art using bronze. In Africa the bronze heads of the Kingdom of Benin, in Europe; Grecian bronzes typically of figures from Greek mythology. In East Asia chinese bronzes of the Shang and Zhou dynasty - more often ceremonial vessels but including some figurine examples.



Bronze was significant to any culture that encountered it. It was one of the most innovative alloys of mankind.




The bronze glaze comes alive in every lighting situation, a unique quality hardly found in any other material.


PURE* White
An object of excellence combines form and function.




The big advantage of ceramic is the sheer endless possibilities one has with glazing.
Because of that it is possible to create the perfect color for each interior design.

PURE* Black



PURE* Zender


The modern artist Sander Pappot, also known as Zender, is based in Amsterdam and well known for his multilayered art that is very hip and stylish with retro influences.




Zender used to be part of the underground Amsterdam graffiti scene and known for his own unique style. Nowadays he runs his own graphic agency and has clients worldwide.




Plushdepartment asked him to go back to his roots again, and gave him a PURE computer and amplifier to handpaint in his own streetstyle.

About the computers:
The Plush Department PURE* computers are built for high definition media usage. With a PURE* you can watch BluRay disks, DVD’s, listen to CD’s and MP3's and present your photo’s and video’s. The Plush Department PURE* computers can also automatically “rip” those disks to your hard drive for easy access later on.

The PURE* computer is also perfect for each form of communication like email, chatting, voice over IP and video conferencing. Of course you can use your PURE* also for surfing the internet and all the office applications that you usually use.

Combine the PURE* computer with the PURE* amplifier and you possess also a audiophile sound environment. The combination enables you to replace all those HiFi installations, set top boxes and the half dozen remote controls one needed up to now with more possibilities and better image and audio quality.

The ceramic casings:
Cor Unum is the Dutch company that is world famous for their ceramic production for artists. Their mission is to produce the most beautiful pieces of earthenware, drawn by the national and international respected designers of today. Quality without compromise, technical expertise almost without limitation. All to provide their clients with the pleasure of enjoying ceramic art at the highest level. When Plush Department started the search for the case producer, no other company dared to touch the design, since square forms are extremely difficult to create in ceramic material. It took one year to realize the PURE* cases.

Computer Technical Specs:
Inside the Plush Department PURE* lineup you will find balanced highend components. Each selected part is chosen for it's excellence in it's field. Some parts even had to be developed like the PSU which is designed by the electrical engineer of ichbinleise.de.

Processor: Intel Dual Core 2,93GHz with Hyperthreading this CPU is very powerful yet very energy efficient.
Motherboard: Intel P57 chipset hightech board of superb quality.
Graficcard: High Definition 1080P with DVI HDMI connection
Harddisk operating system: INTEL SSD 80GB X25-M G2 Postville 240MB/s very fast SATA II interface.
Harddisk datastorage: 2TB (2000GB) with fast SATA II interface.
Memory: 4GB (2x2048MB) highend Dual Channel RAM.
Sound: 8 channels with HD audio and Digital SPDIF
Network: 10/100/1000 Gigabit LAN connection including a fast wifi N solution.
Connections: 8xUSB 2.0, LAN, eSATA and WiFi.
Optical: Bluray player CD DVD writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

All this makes the PURE*computers very powerful and reliable and enables you to work fast, enjoy emerging graphics, store thousands of files, MP3's, data, photos or movies. You can easily connect to other computers in your network.You can play at home or online.

PURE* computers contain the same technology that you find in the ikbenstil.nl computers. Ikbenstil uses the best available cooling technology to create extremely silent highend computers. At the same time those computers are very stable, energy efficient and fast.

Because of this technology it is possible to use Plush Department computers in every living or working space.

Amplifier Specs:
What do you look for in a power amplifier? Bet it's the sound. The amplifier modules used in the PHONO are designed from the ground up for true fidelity by Hypex Electronics.

Features
Flat, fully load-independent frequency response
Low output impedance
Very low, frequency-independent THD
Very low noise
Consistent top performer in listening trials including class A and SET amplifiers
Runs on unregulated +/- rails
Pop-free start and stop control
Differential audio input
Overcurrent and overvoltage
LM4562 National buffer op amp
Audiophile capacitors

Technology:
The amplifier modules circuit is based on phase-shift controlled self-oscillation, with only a single voltage feedback control loop taking off at the loudspeaker terminals. The control function is constructed fully out of passive components, with only the comparator standing in for gain.

Item Symbol Spec Notes
Output Power PR 180W 4Ω, THD=1%
Distortion THD <0.1% typ Po< PR/2 <0.008% typ Po=1W Noise Un 30uV typ Frequency Response <10Hz-50kHz +0,-3dB Output Impedance Zo <20mΩ f=1kHz <150mΩ f=20kHz Efficiency η >92%
Supply Ripple Rejection PSRR 65dB Both rails



Plushdepartment

Visit them at:
The Plushdepartment Store
Dukdalfweg 30
1041BE Amsterdam
The Netherlands

E-mail: info@plushdepartment.com
Telephone +31-20-3301345

Please donate

C'mon people, it's only a dollar.