Happy Holidays - and a Personal Note - from If It's Hip, It's Here.

I want to take this moment to write something of a personal nature, which I very rarely do in my blog.

First and foremost, I want to wish a very Merry Christmas to those who celebrate the holiday and my warmest wishes to everyone for a happy holiday season. I would be remiss if I did not take this moment to thank all my wonderful faithful readers and especially those generous ones who have donated money to help me keep If It's Hip, It's Here going. A few folks went above and beyond, donating as much as $50.00! It warms my heart that anyone has enjoyed the blog enough to fork over even a dollar of their hard-earned money to support it.

I truly hope that this blog continues to inspire and educate you. It brings me great pleasure to expose others to all the artists, creative and interesting things I discover. I began the blog in December of 2006 and have since published over 3,900 posts and 40,000 images. I have never missed a single day since I began the blog and I will continue to try to provide you with unique content not found everywhere else - and yet still feature what is popular and current.

Just when I think the blog is consuming my life (which, for the most part, it does) and I am about to give it up for lack of sleep, lack of income and lack of a life, I receive a nice note from some random person somewhere in the world who tells me that they look forward to reading the blog every morning with their coffee and that it makes their day. That reminds me why I do it. And why I will continue doing it.

This year, I intend to overhaul the blog with a redesign and direct url. Making it easier for you to search the archives and delve into the posts via categories. I may have to stop blogging for a few weeks to get it right, so I hope you will stay with me and be patient and return once it's up and running again on a new platform. I will be sure to give you a heads up at that time.

I hope you and your loved ones have a happy, healthy and fulfilling holiday season.



Sincerely,
Laura

Artistic Animated Alternatives To That Boring Burning Log - Yule Log 2.0.

First off, I hope you are having a very Merry Christmas. To add to your festive day of good cheer, egg nog and annoying relatives, here's a charming project that encompass the holiday Spirit.

Yule Log 2.0 re-imagines the traditional Yule Log through a collection of short films by illustrators, animators, directors, and creative coders. First televised in 1966 by WPIX-TV as a gift to viewers, the Log has since burned itself into our hearts. Curated by Daniel Savage and built by Wondersauce, the site features the imaginative work of many artists. I have chosen to share most (41) of them with you here.

Andrew Stubbs Johnston - Eames Yule:


Bianca Meier, Michael Fuchs and Daniel Leyva - Candy Christmas:


Brian & Brad Hasse - Splash:


Brett Renfer - Web-Log:


Cesar Pelizer & Ganz Toll - Anybody Home?


Chris Lohouse - Poly for Pyros:


Conrad McLeod - Yule Bonfire & Forest Friends:


Colin Hesterly & Yassir Rasan - Cozy Christmas:


Damien Correll - Reruns:


DIA - History of the Yule Log in 30 seconds:


Emory Allen and Alicia Reece - Cold Night, Warm Light:


Erica Gorochow - 2013 Roast:


Eric Epstein - Virtyule Reality:


Erik Karasyk & Benjamin Gray - yuLED:


Frank Chimero - Christmas Spirit Fingers:


Greg Gunn - Yule Log of Love:


James Curran - Yule Jog:


James Zanoni - YULECRAFT:


Jeroen Krielaars - Open Haard:


Jesse Benjamin - Vince Guaraldi's Living Room:


Jerry Liu - TBD:


Joe Russ - The Cabin and The Woods:


Joshua Catalano - Orange is the Warmest Color:


Joshua Goodrich - Deer Seer:


Julian Glander - Yule Globs:


Laura Alejo - Tio & Flames:


Lee Gingold and Jordan Bruner - Thermophile:


Mathew Lucas - Swissmas:


Matthias Hoegg - Yule Log Gate of Consciousness:


Patrick Finn and Patrick Macomber - Tis The Season:


Paul Windle - Lords of Logtown:


Philip Sierzega - The Luna Park Hearth:


Robert Loebel - Octopusmas:


Ross Philips - Technicolog:


Salih - LogOS 7.0:


Seth Hulewat & Matt Delbridge- Broke Ass Christmas:


Shane Griffin - Orestes:


Skip Hursh - Untitled:


Tricia Desjardins and Daniel Savage - Shhh I think I see santa...:


Will Anderson - L O G:


Yussef Cole - Battlefield Hearth:


To see the animated Yule Logs created by Animade, Charlie Whitney, Chris Kelly, Hush Studios, JK Keller, Josh Parker, Jorge R. Canedo Estrada, Keetra Dean Dixon, Kyle Sauer, Leta Sobierajski, Lucas Redfern Brooking, Lucas Zanotto, Matt Delbridge, Nick Hum, Script & Seal and Yvonne Romano visit here

Suck UK Gets Creative And Builds SantaBots For Their Clients' Christmas Gifts

Here's a fun example of a creative corporate Christmas gift. In an effort to send a big thank you to their favorite partners and distributors, Suck UK of London took the chance to send out Christmas gifts with a difference.



This year they decided to send a present that demonstrated the fun, creativity and interaction users have with Suck UK products. Taking a break from sending typical chocolates and wine, they used one of their own new products as inspiration: the Robot Nutcracker!



The office became a real Santa’s Grotto as staff sanded, painted and prepared the robots by hand, transforming each into a Nut Cracking Santa-bot.




The robots were given beards, shiny red coats and topped with Santa hats; creating a bright red army of festivity.



Along with a special gold-sprayed walnut, each Santa-bot was placed inside a black gift box and tied up with red ribbon- ready to send in the Christmas post!





Once delivered, the recipient is invited to follow Alice in Wonderland-style notes like ‘Crack me’, to twist the nutcracker key and break the Willy Wonker-esque golden walnut. Inside the walnut shell is a miniature USB stick with a note to ‘Watch ME’, enabling the receiver to view their video Christmas card with a difference:



Well Done, Suck UK!

Animated Christmas Gifs By Various Artists Bring The Holiday To Life.

Christmas Gifs is a festive showcase of animated gifs created by an international group of illustrators, animators and directors; a project curated by Ryan Todd and built by Enjoythis. Some cute, some funny, some stylish, others twisted. They have a mix of illustration styles, yet all add a little fun, and talent, to the holiday.

Here are several of my favorites, in no particular order.

The Christougenniatiko Dentrophobic Bauble by Supermundane:


Chris Robot by UpstartThunder:


Magical Santa Henshin! by Khctang:


Santa's Little Hopper by Versus :


Happy Birthday by Ross Phillips:


Way Home by Cento Lodigiani:


FORE-ther Christmas by Animade:


Väterchen Frost by Finally:


ROUND Christmas by Vagoom:


The Gif That Keeps On Giving by Kristian Hammerstad:


Santa's gotta gun by Jack Hudson:


Sprouts alone by Matthew the Horse & Amy Mackay:


Snow Angels by Tom Mathieson:


Christmas CanCan by Malika Favre:


Merry Saturnalia! by Stephen McNally:


Christmas Puddinged by Rumpus:


Losing Sight of the Holidays by Will Bryant:


Santa's Coming by James Wignall:


To see all of the animated Christmas Gifs, go here

The 18th Annual Designer Christmas Trees From Les Sapins de Noel des Createurs, Part II.

The non-profit organization, Les Sapins de Noël des Créateurs (The Designers Christmas Trees), has been raising funds with its prestigious charity event for 18 years. Every December, renowned personalities from the world of fashion, design or architecture, bring their talent to offer their unique take on the traditional Christmas tree. I have shared with you many of their previous designer Christmas trees here, here and here



Yesterday was the first half of this post featuring trees by Agent Provocateur, Ali Mahdavi, Chantal Thomass, Christian Ghion, Dali Parfums, Damien Da Rocha, Diane von Furstenberg, Didier Ludot La petite robe noire, Dior, Élie Saab, Emilio Pucci, Esmod Paris by Ioannis Guia, Hermès - Petit h by Pascale Mussard, Hervé Van der Straeten, Francis Kurkdjian, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Jean-Claude Jitrois, Jean-Jacques Ory and Jean-Paul Gaultier - so if you missed that, better check out those trees as well.

Now, for the second half of the Designer Christmas Trees for the 18th Les Sapins de Noel des Createurs (shown in alphabetical order).

Kenzo Takada:


Laurence Torno:

Louis Gérin and Grégory Lamaud - Les Garçons:

Louis Vuitton:


Massato:

Maxime Simoëns:

Olivia Putman:

Patrice Gardera:

Philippe Soussan (shown with the artist):

Pierre Hermé:

Ruben Alterio (shown with the artist):

Sonia Rykiel:

Stella Cadente:

Stella McCartney:

Stéphane Rolland:

Thanos Kyriakides - Blind Adam:

Yannick Alléno:

Yiqing Yin:

Zahia Dehar:



The only images missing are those of  images of trees by Francis Kurkdjian, Mathilde de l'Écotais and Wooyoungmi.

Be sure to see all the trees on yesterday's post if you missed that.

Their vision of the traditional Christmas tree was displayed during a free exhibition, from the 4th to the 8th of December, 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, at the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild, 11 rue de Berryer, Paris, France. The pieces were then auctioned off on the 9th of December via an on-site and online charity auction and amassed 78,500 euros. The profits will go to la Fondation AVEC, pour la Vie, Espoir contre le Cancer

images courtesy of the following:
http://lessapinsdenoeldescreateurs.org
http://lespatouillesdebout2fee.over-blog.com/categorie-12217789.html
http://lesgarconsauxfoulards.blogspot.fr/2013/12/18eme-edition-des-sapins-de-noel-des.html
http://www.misterandmisstrendy.com/2013/12/les-sapins-de-noel-des-createurs.html
http://www.stylinco.com/blog/les-sapins-de-noel-des-createurs-2013/#lightbox[group]/0/
http://www.maryosbazaar.com/2013/12/08/les-sapins-de-noel-de-createurs-2013/