Categories
in portugal links and ideas

felicidário

(everybody has already mentioned it, but just in case my non-portuguese friends haven’t seen it yet…)

felicidário is an illustrated online calendar with daily definitions of happiness for the 60+… but not only! :)
it’s a fantastic project, filled with delightful drawings by several portuguese illustrators. here are some of my favourites:


5th may: happiness is a kiss

3rd february: happiness is to send a postcard

1st march: happiness is to fly a kite

check out the rest of the year, it’s really charming! i wish they would print it as a desk calendar…

Categories
links and ideas photography

shoes and breakfast


the breakfast and shoes projects are two similar photographic essays. they both aim to capture the details of strangers by sharing their photo, along with what they have for breakfast, and what they wear on their feet.
the result is a colorful mesh of portraits and a precious insight into anonymous lifes, both well worth the visits.


Categories
links and ideas

we cannot not change the world.


“We cannot not change the world. Isn’t that odd?

We are used to believing the opposite, that we cannot change the world, being the humble individuals we are. However, we either reinforce or change the way things are around us with every little thing we do. We establish and change the social world we live in every day. We call that social design.

We as people cannot escape acting in relation to other people. Even if we choose to live alone on a deserted island, that is design of our social reality. The social world is created as a result of the dynamics of all our individual actions.
We cannot not be social. We cannot not design. We cannot not change the world.”

from the social design site.

social design site is a place filled with projects that sparkle curiosity and deserve our attention, for one reason or another. they are catalogued as intriguing, web, cultural or art based, related to social philosophies, social experiment, systems for living or modern artifacts. they make us reflect on our surroundings, on the way people connect with each other and with the world.

and now, postcrossing is there too, side by side with names like treehugger, we are what we do, free hugs or miniature earth. and that makes me really proud. :)

Categories
in the netherlands links and ideas

down by the sea

“every year on the small dutch island ‘texel’ there is a poetry competition, the best two poems are carved into truck tyres (by hand) and the poems are then written in letterpress all over the beach during the summer…”

the image and text are from mestudio.info and you can check out the rest of the pictures there. the whole idea is so cool!
the last few days the sky has actually been pretty blue for most of the time, making me dream of nivea, a sunny beach and my tanned skin a bit salty by the end of the day.
probably, the nightmare of any chinese girl. eheh… speaking of seaside…

threadless has teamed with blik to transform a few of their winning designs into wall graphics. they are looking mighty good. i guess that’s the bad side of this life of rented houses – not much creativity ends up on the walls. maybe one day, we can buy a lighthouse in new zealand and use this pirate infested waters print on the bedroom. that would be neat!

Categories
in china links and ideas

humidity = 100 %

i’m currently in love with so many threadless tshirts that it’s going to be hard to pick a few to order. there’s sounds of the sea, and camouflage, and bobshopping… good thing the dolar is so low these days!
plus i found a website that gather coupons for using on thousands of online stores – now isn’t that a great idea? if you’re thinking of buying anything on an online shop, make sure you pay retailmenot.com a visit first and check if they have any promotions, such as free shipping or a discount. uncle scrooge would be proud. :)

speaking of sounds of the sea, the other day i found this page about a sea organ built in croatia… strange concept: there are some steps by the sea, carved in stone, with pipes underneath. the waves come and blow the air through the pipes, producing a variety of sounds (you can hear them on their website). the chords are harmonious in their own way and make this place by the adriatic sea a special spot for locals and visitors. if only croatia was closer…