A Different Kind of California Roll. You Can Live In This One, A Cool Modern Prefab.

A pre-fabricated house designed for the desert by Christopher Daniel of Violent Volumes - The California Roll House, 2011.



The following text was written by the designer of the structure and is reprinted here:
At times, the simplest form with least manipulation from its original form can offer visual amenities and adapted solution to the context. California Roll prefabricated house takes this methodology to create its morphological adaptation to its environment : desert. Homogeneous exterior material which provides high grade of energy efficiency and reflects heat from the sun covers the entire surface except for glass panels which is electronically controlled to change its transparency.




Modularization of every structure members and finish materials are maximized to provide mobility with rapid assembly and disassembly on site.



To sustain its challenging structural stand, carbon fibre truss frame under neath the exterior material holds the entire architecture. Hydraulic powered automatic doors and security system is used for main entrance door which allows less spaces to operate the door mechanism. California Roll house features these latest technologies applied to architecture which breaks the boundary of product or vehicle design and architectural design which brings more mobility to living spaces.



Plain surface on the ground extended from exterior surface provides paved area for out door activities which requires flat and artificial surface different from desert sand surface. As well as surface on the ground, inside of exterior shell is covered with fibre reinforced plastic panels.




Modularized skylights and windows along the exterior surface can be placed at desired location to light its interior space to meet resident’s requirement from his own usage of the space.




Passive and subtle control of privacy of bedroom area is provided by curtain divider and bookshelf with translucent midpart.



These parts allows the residents to have sense of privacy by delicate visual hints over as well as providing lights through.



Overall, the privacy in California Roll is controlled rather passively with resident’s awareness than tight blocking of spaces in-between.




Main Entrance/ Front Door
Since the main entrance is on the sloped wall, the door mechanism should be designed in unconventional way. Adopting ideas from automotive design industry, hydraulic powered automatic door controlled by number lock panel is installed on the sloped wall as main entrance to minimize the space required for operation to avoid contact with user while in operation. When the door is fully open, the clearance height is up to 2 meters.




The door opens into two pieces, the upper piece lifts up over head, and the lower piece unfolds onto the floor for visitors to step on. When the door is completely closed, the material on the outside of door continues with the material of the exterior surface to achieve conformity and hide the entrance.

Automatic main door mechanism diagram:



Architectural plans:






Architect/ Designer Christopher Daniel:

images and info courtesy of Christopher Daniel and Violent Volumes

QR Code Greeting Cards Become the New "Mix Tapes" and Send You to Spotify Playlists.

above: A series of greetings cards that when scanned with a QR code reader direct people to themed music playlists within their Spotify Premium smart phone app.

Once upon a time, the "mix tape" was an overture of intimacy, of sharing, a gesture to show you cared by sending someone your own personal musical playlist as a message. Now, Stupid, a collective of young creatives in the UK, have designed greeting cards with customized artful versions of QR codes (they call them QR Images) that when scanned, lead you to specific playlists on Spotify, making them the mix tapes of the new Millenium.

How it works:


The Cards:

above: Music for art lovers

above left: Music for Cooks; above right: Music for Monsters

above left: Music for Geeks; above right: Music for Love

Stupid is presently in talk with various UK companies about producing the cards en masse, but for now, if you'd like one contact them directly here.

About Stupid:
A collective of young creatives who want to work on interesting and challenging projects. With their mix of creative disciplines they hope to do most projects entirely in house allowing them control over the entire creative process. However when they do use outside specialist talent they make sure it's someone very special with an inherent ability to think stupid.



WTF are QR Codes and what is Spotify?
If you're not at all familiar with QR Codes or Spotify, and the above post sounded like a foreign language to you, learn about both at the links below:

• How QR Codes work
• About Spotify

Two Beautiful Bottles and Two Short Films For Bottega Veneta's First Fragrance Launch.

Italian brand Bottega Veneta, long known for their stylish and beautifully crafted leather goods, has launched their first women's fragrance with films by Bruce Weber and Christian Weber and with two different but equally beautiful bottle designs; one for the Murano Parfum and the other for the eau de parfum.




The Films:


Captured by Bruce Weber under the artistic direction of Bottega Veneta's Creative Director, Tomas Maier, the first film for the scent features Nine d'Urso, the muse of the fragrance (and Natalie Portman doppelganger):



the print advertisement:


The second short film created for the launch of the brand's new women's fragrance, was made in collaboration with the photographer and director Christian Weber (also under the artistic direction of Tomas Maier and no relation to Bruce Weber).



This film, The Scent (shown below), is a visual journey which tells the story of the fragrance:


The Eau de Parfum:
Bottega Veneta, the eau de parfum, evokes the suppleness and sensuality of the house’s renowned leather goods. The fragrance, a leathery floral chypre, marries the olfactory language of the Venetian countryside—fresh meadows, mown hay, flowers, earth, and wood—with the gentle richness of leather in a creation crafted with the meticulousness of a master artisan.

The Eau de Parfum Bottle:


The Bottega Veneta bottles combine soft, rounded curves and powerful shapes, a smooth outside and an intrecciato texture on the bottom (reminiscent of their well-known leather weave):


The colors on the eau de parfum bottle are signature Bottega Veneta: a brunito cap and collar, an ebano logo and a skin colored leather ribbon clipped with a brunito butterfly:


The bottle itself, inspired by Venetian glasswork and the traditional Italian carafe, designed with an eye for timeless lines and resonant juxtapositions, is in every way a vessel of harmonious simplicity and perfectly balanced contradictions.

The Murano Parfum:
Composed by renowned master perfumer Michel Almairac, the Bottega Veneta fragrance reveals its signature character from the start. The structure of the fragrance is unique, a fine mesh of extraordinary raw materials whose individual scents are woven together to create a supple and harmonious whole.

The Murano Parfum Bottle:



The Murano bottle is a particularly pure expression of the quality and craftsmanship of Bottega Veneta. The flacon, designed by Creative Director Tomas Maier as a vessel for the parfum, is an object of timeless sophistication and contemporary functionality. The bottle is made of exceptionally fine glass hand-blown by artisans of one of the leading glassworks on the island of Murano.

A full line of scented products is now available, including perfumed shower gel and body cream:


Bottega Veneta

More Fun Ways To Wipe Your Bum. On A Roll Designer Toilet Paper.

above: On a Roll 'Contaminated Area' toilet paper

It's a trend that is becoming as prevalent as going to the bathroom itself. More and more companies are designing decorative and novelty toilet paper.





By now, most designers and web surfers are familiar with the brands shown above by Renova, Paper & Design and Paper Sensations, but I recently came across On A Roll designs by Worldwide Co.

The designs are a little more clever than just seasonal colors, pattern or butterflies and Santa Claus. And with bright graphics and colorful imagery, they'd make a great gift for just about anyone.







Buy them here


To purchase the other brands shown in this post, you can visit the links below:
Just Toilet Paper
The Designer Toilet Roll Company
Renova Online
or make your own custom toilet paper here

Bodies We Want. All The Athletes In The Buff from the 2011 ESPN Body Issue.

Because Google Ad Sense has deemed this particular post in violation of their strict policies regarding nudity, it has to be viewed on our Tumblr site instead at :

https://iihih.tumblr.com/post/167475444394/bodies-we-want-all-the-athletes-in-the-buff-from

Thanks for your understanding.