Product Design - Incase MacBook Sleeve

Needing a way of getting my MacBook to and from home during the Christmas break I nipped into the Apple Store and picked up this faux-fur-lined neoprene sleeve by Incase.

Toys - Hello Kitty x Sesame Street

As soon as I walked into Kiddy Land in Tokyo I spotted the Hello Kitty x Sesame Street section. From what I understand this colab is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sanrio, the makers of Hello Kitty, and the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street and the collection of plush dolls, lunchboxes and stationary is only available in Japan.

I'm honestly torn on whether my niece will get this Cookie Monster Hello Kitty doll, or something else, for Christmas.

Toys - Toy Story 3

Back in October I made my second trip to Japan and again visited Kiddy Land in Harajuku. The main five-storey store was closed for renovation so they've moved to a smaller store round the corner temporarily.

Toy Story 3 was still epically huge at the time (watched it on the plane, it didn't disappoint) so a fair chunk of the store was dedicated to Buzz and co so I picked up this set for my nephew.

On a side note: Kiddy Land were apparently responsible for introducing Valentine's Day to Japan.

Music - Porn Sword Tobacco

Following on from a previous post about the Watts Towers in LA I stumbled across a producer called Henrik Jonsson who, under the verging-on-the-ridiculous moniker of Porn Sword Tobacco, records some really nice ambient music.

Product Design - Eco Coke Bottle

I'm hugely impressed by Andrew Kim's well thought out design for an eco-friendly drinks bottle.

Some people have been quick to raise issues about the square design such as it's potential inability to handle the pressure of carbonation and whether consumers will accept the switch away from the trademark contour bottle.

I think people are perhaps focusing too much on the Coca-Cola aspect, a good example for the prototype, rather than the other potential brands and drinks types.

The thing is....................................... Andrew's only 19! Unreal potential.

Architecture - Watts Towers

Situated in the Watts district of LA, the Watts Towers took Sabato "Simon" Rodia thirty-three years to build.

With no pre-conceived design, the towers were constructed from steel pipes wrapped in mesh and decorated with pieces of broken glass and pottery.

Along with the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge the Watts Towers are a National Historic Landmark.

Rodia features on the cover art for The Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' (next to Bob Dylan).

Source: Wikipedia

Wardrobe Addition - BAPE Village Camo Scarf

Tried to find the Bathing Ape Village Camo scarf when I was in Japan a month back.

None of the four BAPE stores in Tokyo had it in stock, luckily the European webstore had it.