Bloom Society

Hollyhocks

'... The mother loved them years ago;
Beside the fence they used to grow,
And though the garden changed each year
And certain blooms would disappear
To give their places in the ground
To something new that mother found,
Some pretty bloom or rosebush rare—
The hollyhocks were always there.  ...'

- Edgar A Guest

Alcea, commonly known as hollyhocks, is a genus of about 60 species of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae. They are native to Asia and Europe.

For prints (watermarkless!): Here 

Illustration: ©Alison Day Designs

Verse via: All Poetry

Partridge Prance

"On the first day of Christmas

my true love sent to me:

A Partridge in a Pear Tree... "

The first in a series of TWELVE printed cards illustrating The Twelve Days of Christmas: here
Season's Greetings,

Alive without Breath

Tell me, O Octopus, I begs

Is those things arms, or is they legs?

I marvel at thee, Octopus;

If I were thou, I'd call me Us  — Ogden Nash

An octopus in a bowl? 

No, this is a 3-D creation of Sinapore-based artist Keng Lye - modern-day illusionist, who's work emerges as the result of pouring resin into a bowl, layer by layer and then painting it in great detail with acrylics.

The technique was originated by Riusuke Fukahori. How it's done, watch this. 

This is one of a series called Alive without breath. Other equally beautiful examples can be viewed here.

Source: This is Colossal

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'.

Via DesignTaxi

The Whisper

Campaign McCann Worldgroup India for Penguin to encourage people to buy their  audiobooks. Featuring well known authors, for example, Shakespeare, whispering into the listener's ears in the form of headphones. For the other two, follow the link: DesignTaxi

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