Kitty Face

Take a look at the caterpillar of the Chinese Bush Brown butterfly - a native to the rainforests and deciduous forests of  Japan - which  nature has amusingly given a face similar to the popular cartoon character 'Hello Kitty'.

Static Seaweed

Now here's a fabulous use for all that plastic floating around in the seas. Re-purpose it into one of these tar-coloured seaweed stools.

Design Squish

Talk to the Hand

Talk to the hand... courtesy of communication Co. O2 ... The gloves are Bluetooth-connected and contain a speaker unit embedded in the thumb, with a microphone in the pinkie. 

Not happy with that handy innovation, how's about the even dafter potential shoe option? As my son so rightly said: "What happens if you've just stepped in dog poo and someone calls you?"

And... next generation - under the skin?! ;)

DesignTaxi

June - July Connections

Here's the June - July issue of the Connections. 

My last issue, as I head off into the freelancer sunset - enjoy!

All issues of Connections can be viewed HERE

Alison Day Designs

Cool Parade

Recipe

Following a crafty link from Facebook, I was led to a page on a website called Buzzfeed, praising old style crafts, things that Grandma would have made; techniques which are being carried on by today's creatives from the handmade revival: crochet quilts, bathmats and matching loo seat covers, doilies, and Barbiesque dolls wearing flouncing skirts - concealing air freshening chemicals beneath their crochet folds. 

OK, ... so I strip back the link to its base, and come up with a cool parade of fun flavoured popsicles ... a myriad of flavours and colours - and - in the immortal words of Jose jalapeno, in a Jeff Dunham comedy sketch- 'On a stick!' 

It's hard to make a choice from this royal parade, but amongst them are vitamin filled and fruity, as well as what can only be described as 'cocktail on a stick,' due to their obvious alcoholic content. 

Recipes are included - now the only question remains to be asked - will the sun shine long enough for it to become Popsicle time, and if so, where ever you are in the world - which would you choose?

Recipe

For more flavours: here

© Alison Day Designs

May Connections

The May issue of the Connections is out, follow the link to read more!

View all issues HERE

Design & Illustration: Alison Day Designs


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Wild Wild Wood

Amber Jean, has been declared one of America's 'Woodworking Greats' by WOOD magazine. Having taught herself to use a chainsaw in her early 20's, she makes the most amazing creations in wood, whilst other ideas are destined to become cast  in bronze. 

The wild horses bed has a lovely feel to it - the combination of galloping horses, and the more subtle flow of the wood - still recognizable as trunk and branch. They are both the antithesis and complimentary of each other; the bed comes alive, but seems a peaceful enough place to slumber away the hours. 

The same flowing movement can be see in her bronzes sculptures, which are beautifully detailed and original castings; rendering shows an obvious love for animals.

A Career in Your Suitcase

“Hands up who would like a review copy of the 4th edition of A Career in Your Suitcase? … ” read the tweet next to its thumbnail, of a composed looking Jo Parfitt sitting next to a colourful pile of books.

“I’d be happy to review!” I waved back into cyberspace.

Shortly after that, the revised and updated fourth edition of A Career in Your Suitcase, a collaborative work by Jo Parfitt and Colleen Reichrath-Smith, appeared in my inbox.

For the expatriate family, a new posting to another corner of the world can often be seen as a lucrative move for the family. This, however, doesn't always take into consideration the plight of a trailing spouse, who may often find re-adjustment more difficult to cope with. She, or in some cases he, will often have to leave behind a career in full swing, and, if upon arrival there is no organized employment or a permanent position available, some of the sparkle of the new host country may lose its allure. Without prior knowledge of a country, its language, or a solid network, the initial experience can be unnecessarily distressing, especially when embarking on a search for new opportunities.

Start again? Yes, you may be disgruntled that all that hard work you’ve put in, to reach where you are in your career is literally going to be swept away, but once you’ve made the move, with a little bit of determination and self-analysis and a copy of A Career in Your Suitcase you can start along the road to self-re-invention. The career you will create will not only be suitable for that posting alone, but one that can continue to travel with you, remain current as well as engaging, and will only need  tweaking and updates now and again.

A Career in Your Suitcase is a collation of information by its authors, from more than twenty years of living abroad, into a comprehensive directory filled with: advice, tips, exercises, references and soul searching. This can be used as a starting point on which to build a portable career. One that has the advantage of being adaptable into an international career, and is perfect for use within the global community, as well as utilizing Internet and social media communication to the full.

Whilst reading, you are actively encouraged to participate: ask your circle of friends and family to support you with advice, or summarize your strengths and weaknesses; analyze your past, your family, and follow Internet links to discover hidden personal characteristics, which will ultimately help to build a fuller picture of who you are. It is, however, suggested when doing exercises from the book that you note down thoughts, answers, or make lists, using a pen and paper instead of a computer. This may sound laborious, but there’s a reason for it – physically writing uses the creative half of the brain (right), as opposed to the analytical half (left) when a computer is used. By doing this, you will tap into the creative in you, patterns will emerge, and you will discover actual capabilities along with what your subconscious desires really are.

For some, the process may be simple when it comes to re-inventing skills, thinking out of the box, or updating qualifications. Whilst for others, the journey may be a little longer. A Career in Your Suitcase gives you the opportunity to make a more in depth search to discover your inner passions, which can then be developed and nurtured. Why not try and pinpoint the gap in the market and provide the solution? Should inspiration not be forthcoming, it is suggested that volunteer work could be an interim and rewarding choice. This will allow you the space and time to think about your next move, and, more importantly help with cultural integration, as well as the start of building a new network of friends.

An expatriate myself, living in The Northern Netherlands I wish I had come across this book earlier. The process of repeatedly adapting to one’s situation is a theme I know all too well, regardless of whether you speak the language or not. Changes in my circumstances always came as more of a ‘knee jerk’ action as opposed to being actually planned. With this book in my possession, I find I am not alone and will be able to make more informed choices in the future.

With an already insecure work climate, and in Jo’s words: no career is for life anymore, A Career in Your Suitcase is not just for the mobile expatriate, but is relevant to anyone wishing to take part in finding their direction, discovering new opportunities and realizing their goals comfortably, all the while contributing to the much needed transformation of the global working environment as a whole.

Want to discover your true passions and take the world by storm? 

© Alison Day Designs

Website: Alison Day Designs
Blog: Alison Day Designs

Walk like an Egyptian

Me? - I'm walking like an Egyptian: http://youtu.be/3OMxC7te5Ks
What about you?

Come Buy With Me

Spring will have definitely sprung...

Alison Day Designs will be appearing at the Design Market: 11.00 - 17.00 Sunday 7 April on the Grote Markt, Groningen. Joining about 50-ish other stall holders offering their imaginative creations for sale.

So... if you happen to be in the area, why not drop by for a look, and who knows you may find something you just can't leave without!

Alison Day Designs 

Pyramid Hacienda

Continuing with the Vertical Gardens theme I champion,  I found this rather ingenious design for one that not only maximizes space, but is quite attractive too. Featured by Green Renaissance, its construction looks a relatively easy design to replicate if you are handy (and so inclined).

A wall brightening and more organically shaped solution is the pot tree, where pots can be interchanged, as well as reorganized to get the desired effect.

The lettuce wall, however, I think is ingeniously simple. It is a good use of vertical space in order to grow ecologically friendly and pesticide free crops, hands stay clean, and it serves as a decorative divider in the planning of a landscaped garden. 

If you want a bit of inspiration when it comes to construction, take a look at the Florafelt growers from Plants on Walls  - they are created using recycled plastic bottles and an indestructible nylon non-toxic fibre. Once the plants have 'settled in', the effect is amazing!

Howzat - Connections

View this issue HERE

View all issues of Connections HERE (editor, designer, illustrator: 2006-2013)

Alison Day Designs

Hanging Ladies

Unlike their exhibition, where they were hung in a single row, finally: 9 Women are hanging on my living room wall, as I had envisioned they would when I created them. 

To view them up close and in more detail, see them on my website here

©Alison Day Designs

Porcelain Favours

Funny how things go sometimes... 

Not being a great lover of newspapers (I generally only see them as fodder for papiermaché pulp, and my artistic creations), I was surprised recently, when in a Dutch local rag (Nieuwsblad van het Noorden), I came across a photo of a 19th century porcelain dog - a Staffordshire Spaniel to be exact - a popular ornament in the Victorian era. The article was entitled: 'Turfstekers en Hoerenhondjes; - 'Peat cutters and Whore dogs'.

Nothing remarkable in that, I hear you bark? Well, co-incidences of co-incidences, I have recently inherited a couple of said beasts, which now sit proudly, if somewhat arrogantly with spoilt little expressions, facing each other from the corners of adjoining book shelves, in my living room.

It is interesting to discover that throughout history, Spaniels (the living ones), have been the pet of choice with royalty. Ladies of the court would often hide them under their skirts to keep their legs warm. Apparently, a black and white, toy, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, was found under the skirts of Mary Queen of Scots, shortly after she was beheaded, in 1587.

By the 1720's onwards, the porcelain variety began to be manufactured in Staffordshire potteries, with their popularity increasing throughout Queen Victoria's reign. As a result extra labour - children - were hired to keep up with demand; they helped in the decoration by painting on the whiskers and splotches on the spaniels backs. Generally made in pairs and with no two Spaniel faces alike, the Staffordhire Spaniel became:

...the quintessential Victorian bourgeois status-symbol knick-knack: no mantelpiece was complete without a pair of spaniels standing guard.

Apart from their obvious decorative appeal, Victorian brothels would put a pair in their windows, pretending that they were in fact a porcelain shop! 

In modern day windows, hearsay has it that how the dogs are placed is of particular interest to potential clientele - If the dogs face each other, it is a sign that the husband is in the house; if they have their backs to each other, well I think you can guess the rest...

©Alison Day Designs

Prawn Crackers

In existence since 1969, the Seafood Market Restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand, boasts excellent cuisine, a seating area able to accommodate 1500 people, and a 50 metre long counter displaying all the seafood possibilities. In their words: If it swims we have it.

This is dining on a large scale with the guarantee that your meal is totally fresh. Upon entering,  you first select your fish or seafood - live - from fish tanks. This is followed by choosing salad, vegetables and wine. Pay at the check out, pass on how you would like you food to be cooked, then wait at your table to be served. Also, no monosodium glutamate!

Although I am myself, admittedly a great lover of seafood, and the freshness with which the fare of this restaurant is served appeals, one can't help but wonder, with over fishing the world over, whether this idea is actually sustainable with regard to world fish stocks.

As for the catchy one-liner, ... I'd say watch out mermaids!

Roaming Gnome

Had to laugh whilst watching the BBC this morning, when an item came up about a chap in Devon, who has created a Gnome Sanctuary.

Finding gnomes a cheerful and entertaining lot, I believe he started with just a few dotted around in his garden. Once word got out, however, he found himself inundated, and the preferred choice of people who had either tired of their gnomes, or no longer had any use for them, during a move.

Arriving in various states, some need careful restoration or a re-paint, but all are adopted, and given an appropriate place in the Gnome Sanctuary. 

So, if you're ever in Devon... 

FYI: National Gnome Day is March 1st!

Pension Odyssey

Straight from the horse's mouth... fancy spending the night in a replica Trojan war 'orse? 

A Belgian boutique hotel in Durbuy : La Balade des Gnomes Hotel gives you just that opportunity, with ten themed rooms .

This one comes straight from the Odyssey, or maybe you'd like to choose a Troll's lair!   Via: DesignTaxi

Certainly beats the shameful idea of sneaking horse meat into products destined for supermarkets and public consumption. Whatever next?

Get off your horse and drink your milk
 - John Wayne

Be Mine

Wishing you all a happy Valentine's Day!

© Alison Day Designs

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Mechanical Wonderland

Possible design and creation by Henri Maillardet, in 1820. Similar to a live caterpillar, this jewel studded pre-electronic metal creature can crawl from one point to another on a flat surface. Take a look at the video:

The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice.

`Who are YOU?' said the Caterpillar.

This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, 

`I--I hardly know, sir, just at present... at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.'

Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

Via: DesignTaxi

Runway Reversal

Some rather disturbing images at the end, but thought provoking nonetheless!

Created by: Ogilvy & Mather Beijing
Via: DesignTaxi

Let there be light!

Via: DesignTaxi

Sea Me Now

Take a look at a surprising collaboration for a fashion shoot - The majestic and imposing forms of the sea's largest fish, the shark whale alongside the mermaid-like mannequins. 

By including  the shark whale, photographers  Shawn Heinrichs and Kristian Schmidt aim to raise awareness about the environment and conservation.

Via: DesignTaxi

Tricycle House

Made from plastic and looking like an accordion - Tricycle House is a new temporary housing idea for people living in China, and who are unable to afford their own house of piece of land, on which to build a house.

the units are not only expandable but can be added to other houses. and there are a variety of options on how to furnish the interiors: stove, sink, bathtub, water tank, as well as a bed which can be transformed into a dining table.

Accompanying accessory Tricycle Garden, is the perfect compliment, providing a mobile front lawn with trees, or a vegetable patch.

Via: DesignTaxi 

         & Tuvie

No Noise

It is 1909, & the retail store Selfridges had the original idea to create a Silence Room where busy shoppers could "retire from the whirl of bargains and the build up of energy" ... 

Fast forward to 2013, and they are doing it again as part of their No Noise initiative. 

Supported by a selection of recognizable brands, products and fashion items, which have been de-branded in order to emphasize quiet, in an increasingly noisy world where we are continually bombarded by information and over stimulated by advertising.

Via: DesignTaxi