I am mesmerized by ‘Bubblegum‘, a whimsical and colourful installation by Merijn Hos and Renée Reijnders. The piece features 50 balloons around one metre in diameter that “shine, float and bubble” across the large water expanse Weerwater in Almere, Netherlands. At night, LED lights are inserted into the balloons to create a magical hue-filled glow. I love that no photograph of this installation will ever be the same twice as the balloons dance across the water in a million different ways…

(photographs via merijn hos and renée reijnders)

One of my favourite things about colour is that stunning combinations often appear in the strangest places and an inspiring palette can truly be found anywhere. I recently came across this chart for washi tape and decided it made a perfect tropical colour palette with pastels, mid-tones and neons working seamlessly together in saturated summer brilliance…

(photograph via organdie)

A beautiful campaign for Artisan Make Up Paris captured by French photographer Ludovic Taillandier. Fingers crossed the campaign expands with more images as I just love the burst of brilliant powder against a face with neutral make-up. Colourful cosmetics are a rather inspiring medium, don’t you think? If only this was how they were applied on a daily basis…

(photographs via ludovic taillandier)

I love the colour-focused styling of these culinary stacks by Dutch design duo Raw Color. The still life photographs were created for the opening of Martin Creed’s revamp of the iconic Sketch restaurant in London and feature disassembled ingredients of dishes from the new menu. As culinary creations are really layers of flavour and stacks of colour and texture, the styling is both smart and beautiful. Perhaps we could do away with word-focused menus and just use striking photograph to select our meals…

4th image: Sweet chilli paste, filo pastry, foie gras, sesame seeds, green apple, pink radish, celery leaves, spring onion
6th image: Parmesan cream, goat cheese, coconut, beetroot sauce, lobster, squid Ink, black Olive Jelly

(photographs via trendland)

I love this exuberant branding for Dan Arisa, a Spanish musician and per­cus­sion­ist. Barcelona-based designer Alex Dalmau created the sherbet-hued identity and I think the exclamation point fits just perfectly for a drummer. Like a typographical “hi hat” perhaps? Love the branded drum sticks and musical noises on the letterhead too. More musicians need fabulous personal collateral methinks…

(photographs via alex dalmau, spotted on designworklife)

How on earth did it become Friday so fast? I have clearly slacked off on creating my palette of the week. A selection of colours that grabbed my attention yesterday are in this still life shot by fantastically talented photographer Johnny Miller. From dusty lavender to vibrant cherry red, the colours work seamlessly together. I love how the hues highlight that summer items can have a richer, more autumnal palette outside of the expected colour combinations.

(photograph by johnny miller)

Spanish photographer Lola Guerrera created her series ‘Nebula Humilis’ in the deserts of Mexico and I love the juxtaposition of harsh, neutral rock formations and soft, vibrant plumes of coloured smoke. The red image really feels like a magical volcano, don’t you think? (p.s. I am a huge fan of this coloured smoke movement in art. Take a look at my other two postings on the subject here and here).

(photographs via lola guerrera)

We all know how ubiquitous neon, colour blocking and big florals have been lately. In fact, remixed and modernized 1980′s design don’t seem to be slowing down in any product category. In my post this week for Rena Tom’s site, I focused on four 80′s/90′s trends that are gaining steam and visibility: marble, brass, metallic colour and oxblood. I was inspired by an episode of The Golden Girls, an 1980′s classic full of design begging to be re-imagined and tranformed. Will these four trends become formidable in modern design/retail much like neon hues have? We will have to wait and see. On a side note,  I am loving how well oxblood mixes with different colours from cornflower blue to vivid magenta to soft pastels! If you fancy a read plump with images, take a look at my post here.

(photographs via neapolitan, mjolk, samma, apartment therapy, designworklife, american prom, opening ceremony, euro style lighting and kleidersachen)

My second guest post on yellowtrace focuses on the most beautiful kindergarten I’ve ever seen – the Educational Centre En El Chaparral in Granada, Spain designed by Alejandro Muñoz Miranda. Colour windows were added to communal spaces like doorways (leaving classrooms with clear glass) so changing weather and seasons could inject the white space with gorgeous coloured light. Can you imagine going to kindergarden somewhere so magical? Check out my whole post and more images on yellowtrace.

(photographs by Fernando Alda via Dezeen)

Every desk can benefit from some fun-shaped neon sticky notes, right? I love these Silly Notes Page Markers by Suck UK. The tiny sticky notes can be used to mark a place or scribble a wee note. I wouldn’t mind creating my to do list on a vibrant spaceship or dinosaur…

(photograph via suck uk)

It may sound random but I have a thing for home art installations involving spools of thread. I have been enamoured with Douglas Coupland’s for quite some time (3rd image) as he made a pure white wall come alive with a tailor shop-inspired installation of industrial thread spools. I also love the old wooden sign full of small thread bundles at the home of Zoe Bissell and Bryan Buryk (top image). Last but not least, the wonderful apartment of architect Chau Truong which features a black wall of thin shelves holding vibrant spools of thread and varying lengths of thread. Truong says, “every time the door opens or closes, the motion causes these thread ends to swing uniformly like leaves in the wind.” Colourful, architectural, artful and very happy-making.

(photographs via new york times, design tripper and new york times)

This lightbulb typography sculpture by Brighton-based designer Kyle Bean stopped me in my tracks this morning. The piece was created for a Time Magazine ’10 Ideas’ feature and manages to be both industrial and delicate. It is a great play on the “light goes off” element of idea creation and makes me want to see an entire installation playing with light bulb typography…

(photograph by victoria ling via kyle bean)