Modern Residence By Thomas Laurens de Bakker Centers Around Unusual Staircase.

Thomas Laurens de Bakker is an Amsterdam based designer with great knowledge of production techniques and building materials. He has been running multifaceted design and building projects since 2000 under the name Thomas Laurens.


above: Industrial designer Thomas Laurens de Bakker

His self-described design style is that of contemporary design with organic influences and he feels that "environments should support the multitude of human emotions we might experience in our lives and give us room to find comfort for each state of mind alike."

One of his designs is this private residence, a two story home with an industrial minimalist appearance whose focal point is a very unique staircase:








Kitchen:


Bath:


Upstairs, the wood and brushed steel staircase has a glass enclosure:





Bertelmanstraat 61
1075 LV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
info@thomaslaurens.com

Saran Wrap Wigs & Dresses by Kate Cusack

You may have seen one or two of Kate Cusack's wigs making the rounds on various design blogs, but those are only part of this artist's collection of fashions made from plastic wrap. Kate uses very unusual materials in her costume designs, window displays and sculptural and wearable creations. Her recent and unique line of Zipper Jewelry has been getting some nice press and recently featured on Ecouterre were her Saran wrap wigs shot by photographer Kriistina Wilson.


above: Kate Cusack, photo by Tony Gale

Her saran wrap wig designs include those styled after ornate 17th century wigs and she even created a multi-tiered wedding cake wig. As you will see in the following images, she has also designed dresses using saran wrap and bubble wrap.

Please note that I have manipulated the following photos to remove some of the color saturation that made them difficult to see the details.

Saran wrap wigs created for Tiffany's 2002 window displays (including the one at the beginning of this post):





Her "I do" wedding cake wig made of saran wrap:




Another Saran wrap wig and gown:

She made a bubble wrap dress as well:

See more work by Kate Cusack here.

Mod Miniatures & Videos for Chillout Sessions XI & XII

above: An homage to Frank Lloyd Wright & Neutra in miniature graced the Chillout Sessions XII CD and a California style hotel with a lagoon graced the cover of the Chillout Sessions XI CD

Designer Andrew van der Westhuyzen of Collider has created album/CD covers and designs for Australia's Ministry of Sound for years.

For music compilations, Chillout Sessions XI and XII, he combined several of my favorite things - music, architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, Swimming pools, and miniatures. The results are little worlds of escapism that when photographed and filmed up close have a tilt-shift look.

The models were shot close-up along with supers pointing at the figurines naming various artists on the albums for tv promos (shown later in this post).

Chillout Sessions XII:








video promo:

stills from a longer video promo:  
Chillout Sessions XI:

The video promo:

Chillout Sessions XI photography by Sarah Nguyen and cinematography by Brycen Horne You can see Andrew van der Westhuyzen's previous designs for Chillout Sessions 7 here. and his design for their Ministry of Sound Annual 2006 here.