I DARE you - ASCII business cards

We are all familiar with ASCII, ranging from a smiley face made of a colon and a parentheses to more complex designs of bunny rabbits (for example).

DARE, an award winning creative agency, actually found a useful purpose for this type of computer art, using ASCII to create portraits of each card holder. Not only does this provide a 'wow' factor to recipient, but also serves as a visual reference, making it easier to remember that moment and time and conversation the recipient had with the card holder. 

_     _
                   _
                   /_/_      .'''. 
                =O(_)))) ...'     `.
                   \_\              `.    .'''B'zzzzzzzzzzz
                                      `..'
                
                            /|      __  
                           / |   ,-~ /  
                          Y :|  //  /    
                          | jj /( .^  
                          >-"~"-v"  
                         /       Y    
                        jo  o    |  
                       ( ~T~     j   
                        >._-' _./   
                       /   "~"  |    
                      Y     _,  |      
                     /| ;-"~ _  l    
                    / l/ ,-"~    \  
                    \//\/      .- \  
                     Y        /    Y*  
                     l       I     ! 
                     ]\      _\    /"\ 
                    (" ~----( ~   Y.  )   

Wool buddies!

For months, I have been excited for the cherry blossom festival in Japan town. I imagined the scene would be serene with cherry blossom petals floating from the sky while silent onlookers observed traditional seasonal ceremonies and sipped cool green tea. Instead, I found Japan town blocked off to traffic, streets filled with Sapporo stands, spam sushi and lots of cool art stands. Yes, the Cherry blossom trees were beautiful, but Wool Buddies stole my heart.

Jackie Huang began making hand made owls, penguins, dinosaurs and much more, soon after the birth of his daughter. The pieces range in size, from fitting in the palm of your hand, to a 7 foot tall giraffe! If you choose you can buy these cute critters already made, or buy a kit and make your own! I, of course, could not resist and purchased an owl felting kit.

Although the kit was labeled as 'easy' I am already scheming up my next needle felting project: a life size deer or goat bust mounted on my wall.

To find out more about wool buddy and Jackies work, click here.

Jaim Telias - wood chandelier

Jaime Telias will be showing this folded wood veneer pendant lamp at Milan Design Week 2011.

The Ale Lamp, made out of wood, reminds me of an origami tessellation or a satellite dish unfolding in space. Although a paper replication with be flimsier than a wood form, the piece would be easy to replicate by folding and pasting repeating origami forms. A sewing machine - sans thread - could be used to create the perforated spaces allowing the light to seep through.

Check out more of Telias's designs after the jump.