If Artists were Architects...

Barcelona-based illustrator Federico Babina has something of a preoccupation with architecture, creating series of illustrations on architectural alphabets, the architecture of cinema and more. I recently stumbled upon this one, named Archists, which imagines a city of buildings designed by famous artists in their trademark styles. A simple concept which is delivered in Babina's trademark charming style, click through to see some of my favourites.

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!

Sandra Suy

I recently stumbled upon the work of Barcelona-based fashion illustrator Sandra Suy over on Australian blog Limeshot. Suy's work instantly won me over, with her ability to mix intricate drawing (she's clearly a very skilled draftsperson) with blocky printed elements and other textured details. And triangles. I'm a sucker for brightly-coloured triangles. Check out her range of editorial and personal work over on sandrasuy.com.

Martí Guixé

While reading a recent-ish issue of Icon Magazine I came across the work of Martí Guixé for the first time. This Catalan 'ex-designer' has for over 14 years been exploring one of the world's biggest mass-produced products: food. Through exhibitions, installations, conceptual projects and prototypes, all gathered together in the 2010 publication Food Designing from Corraini Edizioni, Guixé has reimagined how food is composed, presented and ultimately designed.

Here's the Heads Up #11

(Jim Field's apple from 50/50 Grow)

Ongoing:
50/50 Grow, a digital orchard
The boys over at Studio Aad decided to plant a digital orchard in aid of UNICEF's East Africa appeal. The idea is simple: designers, photographers and illustrators contribute an image of an apple, and you can 'water' one of them by giving a €5 donation. In return you get a high-res version of the image(s) you've chosen (the one I picked, above, is currently my desktop wallpaper).

Villa Julia

Still coming over all Spanish, I couldn't leave out Estudio Mariscal. Headed by designer Javier Mariscal, they work in product, interior, web design and more. One of my favourite projects of theirs has to be Villa Julia, a series of cardboard houses for children that you can colour in as you see fit. Oh to be a 7 year old with rich and design-savvy parents...*sigh*...

Jaime Hayón

The Camper stores in Tokyo and Barcelona (pictured above) are just some of the projects within Jaime Hayón's extensive portfolio. Spanish-born Hayón is known for his opulent, often over-the-top design, making him the ideal person to become the art director of Lladró ceramics, a position he uses to reinvent naff and put a new spin on those tired ornaments most of our parents have at least one of in their homes. In particular, his Re-Deco range for Lladró seems to do so by simultaneously making them more tasteful and more cringeworthy - how he managed it, I may never know...

Camper

(Image via Camper)

Spanish company Camper make some of the comfiest shoes around, without skimping on character. There's always a nice pair or two to be found in their stores (I think the mens and children's ranges usually come out on top), but it's possibly the stores themselves that are their crowning glory. I've visited a couple branches, most recently the branch in Palma on Mallorca, and rich colours, playful graphics and statement lights almost always feature. Pictured below is their flagship store in Tokyo, which seems to bring together clean Japanese minimalism and Mediterranean liveliness effortlessly. Designed by the Spanish superstar Jaime Hayón, who's been in partnership with Camper for a while now, designing stores as well as shoes, there'll be more about him to come.

¡Ay Caramba!

After a week or two of busyness-induced silence followed by an unexpected extension of my holiday in the Balaerics (thank you, Eyjafjallajökull - the funniest named volcano I'm aware of), I'm finally back to blogging, hooray!

Firstly, a look at some of the things I've been coveting while in a villa in the mountains in Mallorca:

Awesomely naff tiles. Every house should have some, but maybe not quite as many as there were here: