NAVIGATING ALONG THE NOT-SO-WELL-TRODDEN PATHS

Underpasses, walkways, secret paths, hidden thoroughfares. The best places in the urban jungle are the ones that not everyone knows about. A shortcut to here, a longcut to there. And when you discover one, you smile at the happenstance thoughtfulness towards your inner ‘meanderthal’ footwalking nature.

DOES SWEDEN HAVE BAD WEATHER, OR DO YOU HAVE BAD CLOTHING?

I made this to illustrate a phrase I heard upon arrival in Sweden. It goes something like “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing”. It is very apt and very true, and none more so than a mother out for a walk with her daughter in the biting rain.

NEW BILLABONG T-SHIRT PRINTS

This image is from a collaboration I did with Billabong NZ for some tee prints. Photos were supplied by the super talented photographer CPL. The images feature two of New Zealand’s nicest breaks, Whangamata and Raglan.

Buy one here or here.

More images can be found here.

“TO KNOW TRUTH. TO MAKE BEAUTY. TO DO GOOD.”

This piece was inspired while reading through some Marty Neumeier text, as i am often want to do. He was discussing the finer points on what is it that makes good design well, good. Here is an excerpt:

“In other words, we want the same things from design that we want from our fellow humans. When we combine ethical virtues with aesthetic virtues, we get good design. The ancient Greeks framed this ideal in the context of knowing, making, and doing: “To know truth. To make beauty. To do good…”

LINK

WHEN FORM OVERCOMES FUNCTION

Found this decaying signboard ‘ut på landet’, north of Göteborg. The side you see faces away from the road, and the other ‘road-facing’ side, held nothing at all on it. The cars fly past this area and there is no footpath to be seen, so the questions begs to be asked, who is the sign for?

If you think about signage in general, and the job it is supposed to do, then a sign obviously has to have a function at one time or another… So if the main purpose of a sign is to serve a function, this one’s had slowly slipped away with the weatherings of time.

Times changed and changed it, in turn it’s function decayed, as did the wood. No one had the heart of course to take it down, the hole it would leave in the area would be near embarrassing to it’s immediate surroundings, which i guess is a function all of it’s own.

PEERING AT THE SWEDISH LANGUAGE THROUGH THE MIST

I was recently fortunate enough to graduate from SFI, or “svenska för invandare” as it is also known. Being an immigrant/invandare can at times be hard, but dealing with a completely new language can really stretch your brain, albeit in a good way.

I have recently taken a new step in my search for additional Swedish language skills, that being reading books that might keep me turning the page. The author I have chosen to take me on this journey is Lee Child, as he has not let me down in the past.

While I do understand most of what I read, I liken the experience to the above picture. Everything comes through a little bit mis-coloured, a little bit out-of-focus, a little bit mysterious. I have given up on the lexicon these days, hoping rather for word revelation through context to aid me.

It also reminds me heavily of ‘Chief Broom’, and his spells in the mist within the classic book ‘One flew over the cuckoo’s nest’ by Ken Kesey.

The thing about learning a language is that while you’re learning it, the mist gets clearer all the time. The funny thing is once the mist clears a bit, you see yet another row of trees behind it.

MEET JACK. JACKDAW CROW TO BE PRECISE.

This bird is one of many that roost in and around where I live. They are surprisingly big. Some look bigger then some chickens I’ve eaten in the past. Four and twenty jackdaws baked in a pie anyone?

TOITOIS ARE NOTHING BUT WRITING TOYS

Many in New Zealand know the unique shape and form of the Toitoi. You’ll find them just about anywhere. They resemble giant quills, waiting for someone with big enough hands to come and dip them in some ink, and begin a giant lengthy piece of prose to send to their other giant compadres.