A friend pointed me to this New York Times article today, and I just had to steal some photos and place them here for posterity and aspiration. This apartment kinda puts the ‘guh’ in ‘gorgeous’ for me.
At a mere 178 square feet, Zach Motl’s Brooklyn apartment is way fantastic. Now, I don’t live in a shack by any means, but I’m envious. And if I was good with maths I could tell you, in shock, just exactly how many times Motl’s space could be replicated and fit into my own loft in Los Angeles. Sweet jiminy… I’d almost trade it for something cozy, antique-strewn and lovely as this. He’s done real good. As much as there is something to be said for staging in photographs, I do believe that Motl lives a neat life very similar to what the pictures portray. He’d have to.
There is nothing wrong with a studio apartment; I’ve had one. It’s certainly about creativity and what you can make of a space that is all your own. And then there’s just general taste, which leads me to want to befriend this dude. I’m so inspired, with books covering almost every surface (in a version of planned chaos) and pockets of color everywhere. Impressed—and jealous, and in love.
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On a romantic reel of black and white The Department of the 4th Dimension (or, Dpt4D) unveils short films dedicated to exploring “the interaction between design and storytelling.” As you can tell from the stills, there’s no shortage of style in the project, the first series of which takes us inside the walls of Venice, California’s beautiful Intelligentsia coffeehouse. It’s impossible not to jones for a cuppa joe after viewing. Dare you.
Intelligentsia, born in Chicago, is easily one of my most favorite coffeehouses in Los Angeles. There are two; the original sits in Silver Lake’s rough-around-the-edges Sunset Junction, while the second is the aesthetically stunning Venice location Dpt4D chose to shoot their videos.
Below the fold, you’ll find videos 1 and 2 in the 3-part series. They roll out in delicious detail, covering the finer points of making a killer ESPRESSO or SYPHON brewed cup of coffee. The third, as yet unreleased, looks to honor the CAPPUCCINO. If I wasn’t having a love affair with coffee before, I certainly am now.
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Once upon a time in a land far, far away, I turned a sweatshirt into a laptop cozy. It was an easy DIY project, a cheap and customizable alternative to the more expensive store-bought laptop sleeves. I used it for a long time, many trips to the coffeehouse or flights to anywhere. Then, this summer, I retired my homemade sleeve and purchased a different one—typewriter style—from the MOMA store. I’m hardly sick of it yet, but if I were, I’d trade up to the new ohmygosh glorious BookBook laptop case.
Maybe I can just have both?
BookBook by Twelve South is an ingenious idea. I’m always game to disguise high tech in an old-fashioned way. These hardback cases come in weathered red or black and look remarkably like something forgotten at the back of the stacks. I’d love to slip my laptop inside, throw it in my bag and go. The pulls on the zippers are even designed to look like bookmarks.
Twelve South makes accessories strictly for Mac, which is just the kind of classicist snobbery that I can appreciate. Creative design is creative. File this one in the WANT section.
