|Paper sculpture called Nightmare. Artist Anna-Willi, Australia. Via TCH

|Just back from a wonderful week of canoeing under the cliffs of Etretat, France. If you ever go to Normandy do not forget to visit

|Their playing with illusions is rather a means to investigate new forms than a goal in itself. According to the artists the return to material objects

|Click here for a free portrait by Melbourne-based illustrator Benjamin Hammond Via Cool Hunting

|Click here for Old Spice man Mustafa answering 180 Twitter and Facebook questions within 24 hours.

|Sometimes design comes close to art. Design You work for them

|I love Fiat’s most innovative 2-cylinder turbo motor. The 900 cc TwinAir is as green as a car could be. With a 85 hp motor

|Mini released this concept car called Spiritual in 1997. The outside looks much like the Fiat 500…the inside, with a 60 hp, 800 cc 3-cylinder engine

|From Landor: ‘A brand is an experience, that is why a FedEx envelope gets opened before anything with a postage stamp.’ Landor Australia did an excellent

|By using the French medieval process of boiled leather Tortie Hoare won the New Designer of the Year Award 2010 in the UK. I specifically

|Click here and here for two fantastic ads made for the old fashioned brand Old Spice with actor Isaiah Mustafa. Advertising Wieden + Kennedy, Portland. Award Grand

|After a stroke my father’s leg sometimes refuses to do what it should do: walking. But my father refuses to use his motorized Spartamet. I

|I just heart all bottles at jointhepipe.org are sold out, thanks to the NRC-article, hurray! Click here for a well-animated explanation of their efforts.

|Thanks to Alex Scholing

|Click here for an amazing site on illustrations. Photo L Sarah Applebaum Photo R Lisa Dahl

|They are all over Amsterdam, these bright posters for the final exam show at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy of Fine Arts, Amsterdam. Graduation Show From

|Waterproof Jimmyjane is a famous designer’s answer for some wet fun. Design Yves Bohar with Ethar Imboden. Award Idea 2010 (Silver)

|Extremely light and sharp final exam piece at The Royal Collage of Art, London. No waste material, stackable and because it is cut from of

|Simple ideas often are the best, like this shower-mirror, ready for shaving. Fog-free, because the warm water heats the mirror’s surface from the inside (2010

|NRC magazine is going for a summer stop (untill August 28th), so for now this is my last column on a ‘Smart Thing’. The Bamboo