A Chunk of This City's Soul

Launched last week, Ireland's newest stamp celebrates Dublin as a UNESCO City of Literature. It features a short story written by Dublin teenager Eoin Moore as part of the Fighting Words creative writing programme. The stamp was unveiled at the Fighting Words Centre in the north city centre, a place founded by Sean Love and Roddy Doyle and beautifully designed by Grafton Architects to house creative writing classes and workshops for children and teenagers. See Eoin pictured below with our literature-loving president, Michael D. Higgins at the unveiling in the centre. Eoin's story evokes Dublin's energy and pulse, and eloquently describes the particular way the city has of brimming with history while spilling over with life: simultaneously being old and new, looking to the past while being full of youth. As someone living away and missing Dublin more than just a little, this story really touched me and the part I love best is:

Every High King and scholar, every playwright and poet, every politician and every rebel, every merchant, student, and busker who ever set foot in the city holds or held onto a chunk of this city’s soul; every one of them stepped to the city’s heartbeat. I listen to the streets at night and I can feel the city’s lifeblood pumping through me; I can feel myself flowing through it.

Lamps by Vicara

Portuguese company Vicara produce a small range of lamps and tabletop objects in a variety of materials such as cork, ceramics and even cardboard by a number of different designers. Their latest lamp Nata comes from Gonçalo Campos, whose work has been featured here before. Nata cleverly repurposes ceramic tableware moulds to make a cup-shaped lamp that sits on its handles. Another of their highlights (no pun intended) is Cartonado, a flatpacked cardboard lamp designed by Fábio Afonso - scroll down for images of both and a short video of Cartonado.

Bags by Laura Spring

Glasgow-based textile designer Laura Spring creates bold, fun accessories using bright geometric prints. I first fell for her work when I came across her Weather Collection. Launched in 2011, The Weather Collection takes its inspiration from everyone's favourite talking point, placing patterns of windmills, umbrellas and the sun on a range of suitcases, rucksacks and totes (pictured at the bottom). More recently she's created a great range of duffel bags using a simple linear screenprinted pattern (above and below), and she launches them in a wider range of colours and sizes at Pulse 2013 this weekend in London. Check out the short video at the bottom giving a glimpse into her process.

You're All Just Jealous of my Jetpack

Last week I headed along to Analogue Books for a talk and signing by cartoonist and illustrator Tom Gauld. Scottish-born Gauld has just published a collection of cartoons drawn for the Guardian newspaper called You're All Just Jealous of my Jetpack, and a group of about 20 people squeezed into Analogue on Thursday evening to hear a bit about Gauld's work over a beer. The cartoons featured in the collection are all drawn to sit on the letters page in the Guardian, so always take their inspiration from the comments and complaints of Guardian readers. Though their starting points come from readers' rants, they sit really well out of context and are really funny all in their own right. See below for the cartoon that the collection's title comes from, and read more cartoons over on Gauld's tumblr page. The book is available in store in Analogue and from other retailers listed on Gauld's site.

Life Story

Last Saturday was Record Store Day, and after visiting my nearest record store in Stockbridge I went for a wander in the Edinburgh neighbourhood known for its charity and vintage shops, boutiques and cafes. My second favourite find of the afternoon was a Phaidon book on modern architecture in the Shelter bookshop on Raeburn place - it's a massive and beautiful book and only cost me £8! But as great as that sounds, I stumbled upon something even better: Life Story on London Street. A design shop run by textile designer Fi Storey and designed by Adam Storey, Life Story is a bright and airy space containing a great range of clothes, accessories, stationery and homewares all clearly selected with a careful eye.

Make Works

Though I was aware of the existence of Make Works for a little while, it wasn't until I read an interview over on Sync with founder Fi Scott that I realised just how cool a project it is. Aiming to help designers and artists make work, Make Works will be a directory of manufacturers all over Scotland, connecting creative people with materials, processes and prototyping opportunities so they can produce their ideas right here in Scotland. The Make Works team (Scott, fellow designer Vana Coleman and friends from the Edinburgh Film Company) are currently planning a summer-long road trip. Taking a VW van equipped with all the writing and recording tools they need - plus surfboards - they will travel all over Scotland visiting manufacturing facilities of all types and sizes, gathering information on each. Through interviews, blog posts and videos Make Works will ultimately gather an online directory of places and ways to make in Scotland, giving manufacturers an online presence and giving creative types the gift of clear, useful and usable information about how and where to make their work.

Deskstructure by Héctor Serrano

Italy's Seletti has long been producing ceramics with character, and one of its more recent ranges comes courtesy of Spanish-born London-based designer Héctor Serrano. Deskstructure is a set of ceramic containers for your pencils, pens, paperclips and all those other items that need storing and sorting on your desk. It comes in three varieties - a ship, a city and a warehouse - each glazed in white with a brightly coloured stripe around the bottom. The Deskstructure set can be configured in a number of different ways, giving you the chance to build your stationery city whichever way you want!