1920s Routefinder

“Satellite navigation (SatNav) is a lot older than previously thought. In fact, it’s even decades older than man-made satellites themselves. This fantastic contraption, called the ‘Routefinder’, showed 1920s drivers in the UK the roads they were travelling down, gave them the mileage covered and told them to stop when they came at journey’s end.

The technology – a curious cross between the space age and the stone age – consisted of a little map scroll inside a watch, to be ’scrolled’ (hence the word) as the driver moved along on the map. A multitude of scrolls could be fitted in the watch to suit the particular trip the driver fancied taking.”

Source: Strange Maps

Naoto Fukasawa + juice

“I imagined that if the surface of the package imitated the colour and texture of the fruit skin, then the object would reproduce the feeling of the real skin” – Naoto Fukasawa

Tixinda + Nike

Tixinda for Nike

The unbelievable Tixinda team knock is straight out of the park with their Mayan stylings. The colours, lines and a spirited take on traditional art keep me going through these hot summer nights.

The Big Picture + art without commentary

"As part of the Danish and Nordic Pavilions' exhibition by Elmgreen & Dragset as curators/artists, a "body" floats in a pool outside a home which is being "sold" at the Biennale of Venice on Thursday, June 4, 2009."

A London artist once explained to me that art often doesn’t take on meaning to the artist until its completion – the press releases and exhibit handbills are composed solely for those who seek explanation.  If this is true, why do we care so much about what art ‘means’?

The Big Picture gets it just right with their coverage of this year’s Venice Biennale installations. The glossy photojournalism is almost as satisfying as the minimal commentary.

Coca Cola + classic

Vintage Coca Cola can

Vintage Coca Cola can

DJ Stout + Marlboro

DJ Stout's cigarette packaging prototype for the St. Petersburg Times

“Today President Obama signed new legislation that will heavily restrict the nicotine content and marketing of cigarettes, including the requirement that colorful ads and displays be replaced with black-and-white-only text. For a piece in its Sunday Perspectives section, the St. Petersburg Times asked DJ Stout what cigarette manufacturers like Marlboro might do to follow the new marketing rules. […] Stout suggests that to comply with the crackdown, tobacco companies should embrace the restrictions and make cigarettes look truly dangerous. This, of course, will still appeal to a core group of smokers.”

Irina Troitskaya + Russian dolls

Irina Troitskaya's set of most strange animals

Irina Troitskaya + River Styx

Irina Troitskaya's Norse Tale

Irina Troitskata's Norse Tale

“Two illustrations inspired with the legend of the River Styx”

Source: Irina Troitskaya

Exactitudes

76. Praise – Amsterdam 2006

Mike Meiré + Street Food

"Coffee wagon" from Argentina