Fantastic posters for Kibon ice cream by designer Renata El Dib. Love the clever rolled edge hinting at ice cream cones. It’s amazing what a two-sided print and some iconic neapolitan colours can do…

(images via renata el dib)

Watching the Oscars and its red carpet of fashion has to be a high point of February. What colour trends emerged victorious on Hollywood’s biggest night of the year? I would say winter white was the runaway style choice. Other trends focused on various shades of red, blue, green, neutral and gold. I can’t remember an award show with less black! To be honest, I was a tad disappointed with Oscar 2012′s sartorial showing. I guess I just loved the fashion of last year’s show and wasn’t overly enamoured with many of the dresses selected this time around. That being said, I loved Emma Stone’s raspberry-crimson Giambattista Valli, Michele William’s coral-red Louis Vuitton, Penelope Cruz’s blue-grey Armani Privé, Tina Fey’s deep blue Carolina Herrera, Viola Davis’ emerald Vera Wang, Maya Rudolph’s plum Johanna Jonson, Cameron Diaz’s buff Gucci, Octavia Spencer’s white Tadashi Shoji, Meryl Streep’s golden Lanvin and Milla Jovovich’s sparkling Elie Saab. There were plenty of fashionable gents (and a mini-trend of navy tuxedos) but my very favourite was Christopher Plummer’s dapper midnight blue tuxedo complete with black trimming and a handsome Order of Canada pin. Now that’s true style. What was your favourite?

(photographs via harper’s bazaar, elle, the province and instyle)

I have posted about the work of Elisa Strozyk before or, to be more specific, gushed about her incredible talent for wood design with a fabric-like soul. I was visiting her website a couple of days ago and spied these spectacular Coloured Wooden Rugs. Elisa attaches dyed wood to a fabric base and the result is a dreamy wooden textile. These beauties have only fueled my daydreams that Elisa will one day open a shop of her work. I would be more than happy to camp out for a few days in order to nab one of these gorgeous carpets…

(photographs via elisa strozyk)

I always love the creative (and often handmade) ways T Magazine, The New York Times Style Magazine, interprets their classic logo for each cover design. I definitely need to do a ‘colour hero’ feature on the whole inspiring series soon. In the meantime, the new Fall 2011 Travel issue has a fantastic cover featuring plants that shift in colour from a season of bright green and chartreuse to a season of bronze, orange and brown. Created by landscape designer Judy Kameon and photographer Erik Otsea, it is a gorgeous texture-filled piece of design showcasing nature in all its colourful glory. I can’t really tell you how often my dreams involve creating a T magazine cover…

(images via cover junkie)

I hadn’t really thought about it until today but it is quite amazing how many shades of brown you can achieve when toasting a piece of bread. For his series ‘Toasted’, photographer Henry Hargreaves created large-scale portraits of pop culture icons with hundreds of pieces of toast. The level of detail and eye for subtleties of hue are quite astounding. A glimpse at the level of work can be seen in the last shot where toasted crumpets are being meticulously arranged to create a portrait of Pippa Middleton. I may never look at a piece of burnt toast the same way again! (Bread toasted by Angela Barrow and Osvaldo Ponton)

(from top: Marilyn Monroe, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Che Guevara, Jim Morrison and Pippa Middleton)

(spotted on feature shoot & smilepanic)

The beauty of wood grain never ceases to amazing me. I love how each type of wood has unique characteristics, patterns and, of course, different colours. Vicky from Asher Jasper created these Hardwood Building Blocks to not only give children a natural toy to learn from but to teach what makes wood different from colour to smell to texture. Talk about inspiration imagination-wise. I love the design and the stamped wood name. I wouldn’t mind a set myself to keep as wood colour swatches and general examples of beautiful design!

(to purchase, head to the Asher Jasper Etsy store.)
(photographs via asher jasper)

Kraft paper, bold typography and colour coding? This wonderful package design for Reishunger, a small rice brand in Germany, has several of my most favourite design elements. I absolutely love the colourful labels at the top of the packages which allow for quick rice variety recognition at the market and feature some whimsical rice grain illustrations. One of the best packaging designs I’ve seen in a while.

(photographs via the dieline)

I recently came across these brilliant ads for FedEx. Love how the natural texture of a building becomes a world map and the clever window parcel passing! The earthy colour palette is also a smart way to insure the vibrant purple and orange of the FedEx logo shows up as the white package remains the focal point. Such a marvelously effective advertisement.

(via the inspiration room)

There is something magical about sea glass and the journey required to turn sharp chunks of clear glass into smooth, matte works of art. American artist Jennifer Booher combs the beaches of Maine for beautiful cool-toned glass and arranges her collection into gorgeous spectrums of colour. I love how these photographs highlight the beauty and endless hues of sea glass. I am more than inspired to go on a beach walk as soon as possible!

(images via jennifer booher)

The stunning images above may look like fabric or paper but they are actually wood. Crazy right? German textile designer Elisa Strozyk created a flexible wood surface that could be hand or laser cut into pieces and then attached to a textile base. Elisa’s methods were born from research into creating wood with textile attributes and ways to make wood as flexible and easy to manipulate as possible. I like the way Elisa describes her design: “the outcome is a material that is half wood-half textile, between hard and soft, challenging what can be expected from a material or category. It looks and smells familiar but feels strange, as it is able to move and form in unexpected ways. The potential of the carpet is its flexibility. It can be rolled up and transported easily.” I love the shadows and dimension created as different shades of the beautiful wood colour dance across the piece. I don’t know if these breathtaking designs will ever be available in a store but if so, you will see me at the front of the line with a giddy look on my face!

(via strictly paper)

It’s amazing how colour-blocking can turn ordinary objects into fantastic photo subjects. Love this styling and photography by Gothenburg-based design studio Kontor Kontur. I would like most of the colourful office supplies featured!

(via seesaw)