Student Work – Mara Rodríguez & Catarina Pinheiro from Lovely Package® . The leading source for the very best that package design has to offer.

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Student Work – Mara Rodríguez & Catarina Pinheiro:

Designed by Mara Rodríguez & Catarina Pinheiro | Country: Spain
“Dogs&Drops is a dogcare brand which takes care of our pets and keeps them clean and happy. We represent the dogs with and element of humour that will appeal to owners. We kept the look of the packaging clean to give it a hygienic feel, and paired that with bright colours to make the brand look young and fresh.”

wicker furniture from the family love tree- from Design*Sponge by Amy Azzarito

wicker furniture from the family love tree:


Growing up, each of my two sisters and I had our own style for our bedrooms: mine was a dusty pink with a floral border and a white iron daybed (with trundle!), my baby sister’s was a brighter pink with a white spindle bed and my middle sister had a pale purple room with a white wicker headboard and matching wicker desk and chair. Every time I see wicker furniture, I’m transported back to those rooms. But this furniture from Australian company The Family Love Tree has a decidedly modern take. Designer/stylist Katie Graham’s furniture is inspired by both her tropical second honeymoon in Bali and her ’70s childhood surrounded by handcrafted screens, macramé hangers and funky rattan furniture. She pairs her furniture with bright fabrics — vintage saris from India and modern botanicals work hand-in-hand. The result is happy, sunny and fun. See it all here. — Amy Azzarito

Fun Animal-Shaped Gadgets from Design*Sponge by Stephanie

Fun Animal-Shaped Gadgets:
Aside from the furry live dog I share a space with, I love incorporating animal design in my home via pictures, sculptures and even gadgets. (I currently own the owl kitchen timer pictured below — just too cute.)
So I’ve rounded up some fun animal-shaped gadgets on My Life Scoop this week. Click here to read the full post, and please share your favorite animal-shaped gadgets so I can add to my menagerie. Enjoy! — Stephanie

Student Work: Þorleifur Gíslason: Børk Identity and Products from design work life by Courtney

Student Work: Þorleifur Gíslason: Børk Identity and Products:
As his final project at the Iceland Academy of the Arts, Þorleifur Gíslason developed Børk, a creative studio focusing on surface pattern design. As part of the project Þorleifur created the identity and collateral for the brand, as well as a series of surface designs applied to wrapping paper and prints. You can see a few details of the project below, but be sure to head over to his site to get a closer look at the rest of the final materials, as well as the process.

Waldo Trommler Paint from Lovely Package® . The leading source for the very best that package design has to offer. by Lovely Package

Waldo Trommler Paint:

Designed by Reynolds and Reyner | Country: Ukraine
“Objective: In 2011 Reynolds and Reyner finished two huge projects redesigning international brands of paints. After that they were asked to develop a new visual identity for a small Finnish company which was planning to enter the U.S. market. Without the past, unlike the majority of existing brands in the segment, but believing in the future, the key to access the market was a package design. “We don’t just need – we must! stand out” – this phrase has become the basis at work on a new brand identity.
Process: How to create a brand that stands out? We need to find the design solution that hasn’t been used by any of the competitors. At the same time showing the main features of the company – friendliness, quality and innovation. WTP is not just a manufacturer of paints – it’s an assistant, always ready to help, suggest and defend from the hassles and problems. Repairs with WTP is simple, convenient and fast and this is what in it’s simple design.
Results: No doubt, WTP is the most friendly and remarkable brand of paints on the shelf now. WTP has no corporate colors – it have the corporate identity, common for each design element – from business cards to packaging. Every item is bright and memorable combination of colors and objects that all together form whole the entire brand. The next step is to prove that the product is as high quality as its outer shell. But this is another story.”

AWESOME. A. Heirloom- from enormouschampion : making stuff in brooklyn by enormouschampion

A. Heirloom:

A.Heirloom logotype & packaging

We worked with the wonderful couple behind A.Heirloom to create a new logotype and packaging for their widely popular state shaped cutting boards.

Full box & detail

The challenge with the packaging was to develop a single box design that could house all the different shaped boards. The solution was to have a periodic table of state shapes. We couldn’t be happier with the experience and finished results.

Hello California

Full Moon Sticky Note from Better Living Through Design by Katie

Full Moon Sticky Note:
It’s a sticky note in the shape of a full moon! For those of us that enjoy most things lunar, it’s an add-to-cart no brainer. As you can see from the photos, the moon is printed on tracing paper, which allows for some transparency. Each pad is 20 sheets of Full Moon Sticky Notes.


Dimensions: 2.8 x 2.8 in.

Weight: 0.46 oz

Material: Tracing Paper

Super Skin from TheDieline.com: Package Design by Gina Angie

Super Skin:

Packaging designed because 'even super heroes need protection from the sun’s harmful rays.'

Mikell Fine Iles: The Parks of the World Infographics from design work life by Courtney

Mikell Fine Iles: The Parks of the World Infographics:
The Parks of the World is a series of striking infographics designed by Mikell Fine Iles. The series was developed to compare various characteristics of the large urban parks he visited throughout 2011. Get a closer look here.






via Quipsologies

Dawn Vachon Ceramics via the design files

Dawn Vachon Ceramics:

Handcrafted cups by Dawn Vachon - slab-built, stoneware clay with various stains and clear glaze.

Plates, bowls and cups by Dawn Vachon -  wheel thrown stoneware, straw coloured scalloped glaze.

Dawn Vachon in her Brunswick home studio

We discovered Melbourne ceramicist Dawn Vachon via Instagram!  True story.  Instagram is our secret new research tool – watch out!  If you can avoid the ubiquitous cafe latte and pet pics there are some gems to be found!  Kidding kidding… (kind of).

Anyhoo Dawn Vachon.  What a talent!  I have immense LOVE for those super sweet teacups up top (blue / pink / white)… there’s something special about those just slightly wonky shapes and joins.  Also love the flecked stoneware clay and unexpected details – like handpainted polkadots and imprints hidden secretly on the underside of each vessel.. cute!

Ms Vachon is Canada-born but Melbourne based, and therefore has an extremely great accent.  As you are reading her responses to our questions below, imagine a friendly Degrassi-esque twang for the full effect.

Hi Dawn! Tell us a little bit about yourself and your craft.

I graduated from Emily Carr University in Vancouver, Canada with a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 2008, and moved to Melbourne shortly after. Upon migrating to the Southern Hemisphere it took me a little while to reacquaint myself with the world of ceramics again. This ‘ceramic drought’ finally ended when I was invited to compete a one-year residency at the Incinerator Arts Complex in Moonee Ponds, which finished this time last year. Now I spend my days either making fruit pyramids and kale forests at an organic vegetable shop in QV markets, making glazes at Northcote Pottery, or working with clay in my home studio in Coburg.

What path did you take to become a ceramicist?

I was working as baker in my early twenties and  loved being creative in this manner, but disliked that everything I made got eaten straight away! So I decided to go to art school to explore something that I could sink my teeth into that was less ‘delicious’, and ended up discovering ceramics.  My creative crisis was averted – I was able to produce work that was great to eat off, but not to actually eat!

Has the film Ghost has tainted the world of pottery and ceramics forever!?  Can you give us an accurate insight into this world – what stages and processes are involved to create one of your incredible works?

The other day I heard someone ask “which clay did they use in Dirty Dancing?” Hilarious! I don’t have a kiln or a car,  so my situation may differ from many others, in that I take my work to and from the kilns (at Northcote Pottery) with my bicycle and trailer.

I implement varied techniques that are dependent on what I am making at the time, but briefly here’s the processes involved when I construct serving platters: Wedge clay; center and throw clay on the wheel (this would be very tricky with Patrick Swayze’s hands in there!); allow the piece to dry out enough to flip it over (could take from one to several days, depending on the weather); trim up the bottom using sharp tools and the wheel; cut and smooth the top edge to create the ‘handles’; when dry, pack it onto the bike and take to the kilns; once fired, bring back to the studio; sand item smooth where necessary; dip into a big bucket of glaze (which I usually make from raw materials); bring it back to the kilns for a final firing; before finally bringing it home and sanding it again where necessary.

Dawn’s studio shelves

What are you experimenting with at the moment?

I’m currently experimenting with adding coloured stains to clay. This concept is not new, having been masterfully pioneered by ceramicists including David Pottinger, it’s just new to me. In my uni years I used to spend ages glazing each piece, waxing and inlaying multiple glazes. I still do a bit of that (for example the pieces with the speckled brown scalloped tops) but mostly I’ve been simplifying my glazing partially due to the rough way that I transport my work to the kilns. So in looking for new ways of adding colour and interest to my pieces while still keeping the glazing simple, I tried colouring the clay body itself and having each section of the cup be a different colour. And? I like it!

Dawn has a sweet though sparse little blog over here.  You can buy her beautiful pieces at SMALLPieces which is at Northcote Pottery (which is actually in Brunswick East, go figure).

She could do with a couple more stockists I reckon…!  Get on it people.

‘Cups with nubs’ by Dawn Vachon - wheel thrown with pinched nubs and multiple glazes.

Ceramics by Dawn Vachon.  Left – serving Platters, wheel thrown and altered, stoneware, clear glaze inside. Front / right – stoneware bowls with scalloped glaze and sweet details underneath (note Dawn’s signature stamped on the underside of each vessel with vintage letterpress pieces – ‘dAWn’ !)