Alessi Turns The Nativity Into Cutest Christmas Ornaments Ever.

I must confess I never thought I'd see a baby Jesus ornament that I thought was cute. I was wrong. Italian company Alessi has created a line of 12 new Christmas ornaments, 10 based on the old testament's Nativity scene and 2 decorative ones, that include everything from an adorable Baby Jesus to a darling Donkey.

Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, a ram, a cow, a donkey, the Three Wise Men, an Angel, an Elf, and a Shooting Star and are individually hand decorated blown glass ornaments designed by Marcello Jori for Alessi.













The 12 ornaments are available individually or as the following 4 different sets.

Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, donkey and cow:


The Three Wise Men:


Angel and Shooting Star (or Starlight):


Elf and ram:



buy all 12 of them here

or the 10 Nativity ornaments here

A Sol Lewitt Modern Art Yarmulke For Artsy Fartsy Jews.

Not that it's on the top of everyone's shopping list, but it ain't easy to find an interesting Yarmulke or kippah (the skullcaps that are worn by Orthodox men or other jewish men in synagogue or during prayer). Most of them are the familiar navy blue velvet with metallic stitched stars of David or, if you want to be a rebel, there's the creepy colored hippie-like crochet ones. Once upon a time Jonathan Adler carried a pretty cool one, but he no longer carries it nor is it sold anywhere else.

But now you can be sporting an original piece of contemporary art by the late Sol Lewitt on your capi (that's Yiddish for 'head').



This four-panel leather kippah features a digital print of the Star of David that is inspired by the ark doors Lewitt designed for the Connecticut synagogue Beth Shalom Rodfe Zedek in 2001.



Lewitt co-designed the Connecticut synagogue with architect Stephen Lloyd and the synagogue tried repeatedly to translate the radiant, geometric design the artist made for the ark doors into the convex form of a yarmulke. When the design was finally achieved it sold out almost instantly and since then there have been six more editions including this one which is the 7th and final.



Each edition varied in trim color and the color of the inside fabric, but all shared the same six-pointed star design, a common motif in the late artist's work. The 7th edition design features a bright blue trim and a gray interior with the edition details in gold lettering. It is an open edition.

$36, buy it here

Pentagram's Custom Signs Make Picking Up Dog Poop A Religious Experience At Manhattan's Famous Cathedral Saint John the Divine.

Michael Bierut and designer Jesse Reed of Pentagram have created a series of heavenly signs for New York's well known Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine that gently remind visitors to curb and leash thy dogs on Sunday, Oct. 6 (today) for its annual St. Francis Day Blessing of the Animals.



Funerals of many notables have been held at St. John the Divine, such as Soprano's star James Gandolfini, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, writer James Baldwin, inventor Nikola Tesla, musician Dizzy Gillespie and puppeteer Jim Henson.



Visitors will encounter a new set of commandments designed for the institution, which employs the custom font Divine, a redrawn version of Frederic Goudy’s 1928 Blackletter.


above: The font, St. John The Divine, was created exclusively for Pentagram to rebrand the Cathedral by typographer Joe Finocchiaro in 2009.




Throughout the past few years, Pentagram has been refreshing the identity of Manhattan’s Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine. Their relationship with the Cathedral, an extraordinary New York institution, goes back fourteen years. They designed its previous identity in 1999.



Shortly after 9/11, the Cathedral was severely damaged by fire; a painstaking seven-year restoration followed, and the interior was reopened to great acclaim last November. The updated identity, which has been slowly introduced over the past years, builds on the success of the reopening.


above: The updated identifier pairs a drawing of the Cathedral's rose window with the name set in Franklin Gothic.

The Cathedral’s identifier juxtaposes a drawing of the rose window (shown below) that dominates the building’s western wall with asymmetrical sans serif typography. The signature is complimented with a new version of Frederic Goudy‘s blackletter text from 1928, which Goudy had based on Gutenberg’s 42-line Bible.



In a process that paralleled the Cathedral’s detailed interior restoration, typographer Joe Finocchiaro “repointed” Goudy’s letterforms to ensure crisp reproduction at large sizes.


above: A comparison of the letter P in Goudy's original blackletter, left, and redrawn by Joe Finocchiaro for the custom font Divine, right.

The signs will be a permanent addition to the Cathedral grounds, a popular spot for walking dogs in the neighborhood.


above: The church also holds many exhibits. Dog Bless You: The Photography of Mary Bloom, opened there last month and will be on view through winter 2013. For more information on the exhibition and photographer Mary Bloom's evocative portraits of Cathedral friends both four- and two-legged, visit here

Related links:
Pentagram
Joe Finocchiaro
Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Architectural history and images of the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine
Construction of the West Rose Window

The Three Most Modern Nativity Sets You've Ever Seen.

For the past few years I have been compiling my shopping picks for modern Christmas Decor (including Nativity Sets) on This Next.com.

Rosh Hashanah At Your Fingertips. High Holiday Manicures and Nail Decals.

above: Rosh Hashanah manicure courtesy of Midrash Manicures

In honor of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, why not celebrate with a manicure? With the traditional symbols associated with the new year: the Shofar, apples and honey, pomegranates, wine and the whale on your nails, you are in touch with both style and tradition.



above: Rosh Hashanah Manicures by Shlomit Gueta

Don't have the time or the talent to paint your nails? Midrash Nail decals makes it easy:



buy them here.

L'Shana Tova!

In Praise of Pop Culture. Re-Imagined Religious Virgin Mary Statuettes.

Five years ago, I first introduced you to artist Soasig Chamaillard and her "Appartitions", repurposed religious statuettes of the Madonna (a post in which the photos have been recently updated.)



Since that time, the project has been ongoing, despite the controversy over her work, and Soasig has continued to take existing figurines of the Virgin Mary and re-imagine them as pop culture icons like Star Wars' Obi Wan Kenobi, Hello Kitty, Super Mario, Sailor Moon, My Little Pony, A Beauty Pageant Winner, Power Rangers, Vampires, Cowboys and Indians and even Astronauts. They are only getting better. See for yourself.

Hello Mary:


Nouvelle lune (New Moon):


Vierge de couleur (Holy color/Paint By Numbers):


Marie Rockstar (Rockstar Mary):


Sainte Force (Holy Force):


Super Marie O (Super Mary O):


Sainte Moon (
Holy Moon):


Sang Pitié (Bloody Mercy):


Disparition (
Disappearance):


Sainta Claus:

Nouvelle Bible (
New Bible):


Sainte Lumière
 (Holy Light):


One:


Sioux Marie
 (Sioux Mary):


Sainte John (St. John after John Wayne):

Rainbow Land:

Sainte Miss:


Holy Pocket:


My Little Mary:


Force Rose et al (Pink Power Ranger et al.) Power Rangers:


Vierge au petit robot (Virgin Mary with little robot):



For the prices and availability of statues contact info@galerie-albane.com


Art paper posters, like those shown above, in limited series of 50 copies are signed and for sale through the Albane Gallery website.

Books:
"Apparitions", édité par la Galerie Albane
Format : 28x21 cm, 56 pages
Prix : 25 euros
Buy it here

"NouvellesApparitions", édité par la Galerie Albane
Format : 30,5x20 cm, 66 pages
Prix : 25 euros
Buy it here

Soasig Chamaillard

Don't Forget to see her earlier Apparitions here