On a very rainy Monday here in Vancouver, this photograph by Sërch is making everything seem brighter. The world needs more rustic hot pink staircases, don’t you think? Love how the light is bouncing from the pink wall to the white one resulting in a beautiful shade of light pink. I don’t know where that staircase ends but I imagine it is something pretty magical…

(image via sërch and spotted on buddha interiors)

I have posted about the sublime embroidery work of Evelin Kasikov before but with every visit to her website, I am reminded of Evelin’s immense talent and am inspired to post again. A project that I just love is her Stitched CMYK Colour Chart. Embroidering the cyan/magenta/yellow/black or CMYK colour model required in colour printing, Evelin creates a handmade printing process that charts colours combinations by an interval of 25%. Designed for the Digital Soirée event at Central Saint Martins, this piece is a beautiful fusion of meticulous handmade design and the technological aspects of printing. I can’t wait to see where Evelin takes her fantastic CMYK embroidery talent next. Perhaps a completely embroidered Pantone guide?!

I don’t know why I have always had a fascination for step ladders. Maybe it is all the potential for fabulous design in the ladder and chair mix. With that in mind, I’m going to go ahead and crown Step by Iacoli & McAllister the most gorgeous step ladder I have ever seen. Fashioned after a 1920′s style step ladder, the mix of matte black, brass and pink washed oak is a sublime fusion of Art Deco and modern design. Hmmm… Maybe I need a step ladder focused blog?

Given my now full-fledged obsession with modern embroidery and typography, I pretty much yelped when I saw these gorgeous embroidered business cards by designer Nina Gregier. She decided to create the textured cards in reference to her latest project – fuchsia embroidered type. One glance at that project and I fell in love with Nina’s woven letters. They are so full of imagination, geometry and bold colour. Wow. The colours look amazing next to the black paper. Don’t you wish more business cards were tactile and hand detailed? Even the back of the threads on the flipside of the card is beautiful. I will visit Nina’s website regularly to see what handmade brilliance she dreams up next!

(cards spotted on lovely stationery)

I saw the Cubes Perpetual Calendar in the MoMA online store was instantly smitten. Oy, the vibrant CMYK colours on a handsome black base. Have you seen a more attractive calendar? Love the brilliant use of space as months are printed in different directions to make six cube sides turn into 12 months. Great design, full of colour and good for the environment? I am in love.

I spotted these rings on the Beso Beso website and stopped in my tracks. What is the source of such glimmering, richly saturated hues? It appears to be “sparkling Brazillian semi-precious miniature-crystalline amethyst stones”. That is one stunning shade of magenta. Of course nature is responsible for it! (love the geometric shapes as well…)

(photographs via beso beso; to shop, go here)

Holy. The Orishiki Clutch by Naoki Kawamoto is more work of art than handbag. Orishiki is a union of the world “Ori” taken from the paper folding art of Origami and “Shiki” taken from the traditional Japanese wrapping cloth named Furoshiki. Created from a single piece of material with triangular origami-fold inspired segments, the vibrant magenta fold lines and glossy faced end result are stunning. I think if this was my clutch, I would have to carry it around empty as it would be next to impossible to stop folding and re-folding it!

(photographs via the modern life)

Companhia Athletica, a gym chain in Brazil, created this calendar to inspire clients to stick with their workouts. As each month is ripped off the calendar, a more fit form is revealed. I love how the colourful paper edges overlap and give the whole piece a topography idea. A really clever and engaging design idea that doesn’t even need one word of copy to get its point across. Perhaps, with this bright calendar hanging on your wall, it would be harder to miss a gym visit!

There are few things as effortlessly full of joy and innocence as pink cherry blossom trees or Japanese sakura. Their symbolic use on the cover of the March 28th issue of The New Yorker is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. A moving cover by Christoph Niemann.

(image via how magazine)

Coloured smoke bombs exploding in nature seems to have become somewhat of a photography trend lately. While there are plenty of images and techniques out there, I don’t think many compete with the stunning work of artist Filippo Minelli. Filippo’s ongoing Silence/Shapes series features brilliantly coloured smoke against peaceful almost generic nature backdrops. The final result is spellbinding scenes with striking juxtaposition of colour that I could stare at for hours. Hoping there are prints of these gorgeous photographs available soon or I might have to continue researching smoke bomb building!

(thanks for the link Catriana!)

These photos are a year or so old but I find myself returning to stare at them almost weekly so I thought I would make my obsession official by posting them here! Most perfume ads are pretty boring – either still shots of the perfume bottle or some variation of a beautiful model or celebrity living a fabulous, good-smelling life. For the launch of the Marc Jacobs Lola perfume, photographer Joshua Scott wanted to break that mould and simply capture the essence of the perfume. As Joshua has said, “we designed a series of images to represent intangible qualities the perfumes possesses… to photograph the product without actually photographing the product but rather the ideas and emotions that combine to create the product.” Using glitter, feathers, bouncy balls and confetti in the colours of the perfume bottle, Joshua certainly captures the playful, joyful and exuberant spirit of Lola. I love this refreshing and artful take on a perfume ad and hope it is the start to more innovation in the genre. How magnificent is the colour palette!? The first photo featured of dazzling, vividly-hued glitter exploding into the air is definitely one of my favourite photos ever.

(images via joshua scott)

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)

Sarah Illenberger is a Berlin-based artist and photographer that constructs such whimsical and joyful pieces. Watermelon, with its bright green exterior, hot pink interior and striking black seeds, is the perfect medium for this colourful photo. A piece of melon becomes a happy pink raincloud. I love it!

(image via sarah hillenberger)

One of the most vibrant holidays, Valentine’s Day is bursting with bright shades of red and pink. Red is the warmest of all colours. As such, it represents the height of every emotion – extreme anger, violence, passion and in this case, love. As pink is red with white added, it often represents a friendlier and sweeter approach to l-o-v-e. Roses are the traditional Valentine’s gift and what colour roses one is given has been used as a symbol in many plays, movies, books, songs, etc. Red roses are the ultimate symbol of romance and passion. They are an unmistakable symbol of “I love you” so buy them only if you mean it! The price and demand for red roses during Valentine’s Day increases every year – cementing their place as the true symbol of Valentine’s Day. Pink roses have several traditional meanings depending on the shade but overall, they convey gentler emotions than red roses including admiration, joy, grace and gratitude. Whether you are buying flowers or not, Valentine’s Day colours feel full of love and happiness because they are the warmest colours in the spectrum. It is a day full of red and pink eye candy for those who love colour!

(images via pj taylor, alex pinto, mayalee)

There must be something about today that just screams for more pink images. Upcoming Spring maybe? In any case, I love this photo by Florian Hildebrandt and how it makes standard post-it notes into a piece of textured, layered art. I think I need to dig around in my office supplies now…

(image via yay everyday)

Photographer Oliver Schwarzwald uses colour in such a dynamic and bold way. I just love how his mind works. The colour palette is beautiful and so brilliantly constructed. I’m not sure these photos would be as eye-catching without the grey sheet or the richly textured clothing choices. The white car topped with gifts in all shades of pink sort of blows my mind!

(images via oliver schwarzwald)