Color Me Christmas! 10 New Pantone Christmas Ornaments.

I've been waiting for these for awhile. Almost made them myself last year. Finally, Pantone Universe has come out with Christmas ornaments made by Studio Badini Createam for Selab. So far, I can only find them at Seletti, but I hope they'll be making their way to the US soon. Made of glass, the Pantone Xmas Balls are available in ten different PMS colors.

Last minute update: Although, according to Seletti, these will not be available until Christmas of 2012 - you can find limited numbers of these for sale online now at charles and marie and Colette












Don't forget there are many other fun Christmas-related Pantone items like wrapping paper, cards and bags and Christmas inspired Pantone Posters




For more information on the Pantone Xmas Balls and where they ship, go here.

Beautifully Crafted Wood Eyeglass Frames from a Carpenter and a Designer in Italy.

Italian carpenter Doriano Mattellone and designer Matteo Ragni have a love of wood and its properties, so together they began W-eye with Antonio Stella, which sells wooden eyeglass frames suitable for optical or sunglass lens.



Each lovingly crafted pair is constructed of seven sheets of wood interlaid with two sheets of aluminium to make them both structurally sound and flexible.




A digitally controlled cutting machine is used to create the contours and then each pair is sanded by hand. The frames are then branded and varnished and upon request, can be custom etched and numbered by a sophisticated laser system.





All W-eye models are available in nine types of wood. European wood species include Maple, Ash, Cherry and Walnut. African wood species include Wengè, Mahogany, Ebony, Zebra wood and Sapelli wood. Their most recent collection includes colorful wood stains.




Photo Credits: Still life by Luca Corvatta, portraits by Enrico Suà Ummarino.
Every pair of glasses can be full, or made from one type of wood, bifacial (two types of wood, inner and outer) or multicolour (mix of types of wood, inner/outer). The wood used comes from certified forests managed according to environmental sustainability criteria.

New for 2011:
Their newest collection, just released last month and not yet on their website, includes colored stained woods for a more vibrant and playful look:







Go here for the location of their shops or contact them via e-mail.

A special thanks to Elmanco for bringing these to my attention

The Extruded 3D Art of Yuki Matsueda

Japanese artist Yuki Matsueda brings art and signage to life by taking complimentary elements from the image, extruding them off the background and encompassing them in acrylic.




















The artist:

See more work by Yuki Matsueda here