Why Street Art Matters

Some city councils get it, others don’t. Tapping the creative talents of street artists, illustrators and graphic designers is an effective and cool way to make bland public spaces, old buildings, bridges and car parks new again, and to freshen up the concrete jungle.

It is also an effective way of keeping graffiti away. Plus it draws attention to the building or structure as “potential” not as something to be hated. Maybe it will even bring a buyer, a new occupant or additional creative ideas about how to revitalize the building? Anything but the current dilapidated state of abandoned spaces!

Street artists and muralists bring with them vibrant and a new perspective that architects or designers may not have. This does not mean that millions need to be spent to upgrade the buildings immediately, all you need is vision, courage, local creative talent and some colorful paint like these perfect examples here. Our subscriber list reads like the Who-is-Who of city councils around the globe. So here’s a challenge to you: You need to step up and change the face of your city. There are way too many ugly, run-down buildings, bridges, tunnels and walkways that can be completely transformed into exciting and fun environments with some creative input.

Contact Access Agency so we can help. – Bill Tikos

Makoto Tojiki – Light Sculptures

Japanese artist Makoto Tojikil is fascinated by light. He uses it in ways that create amazing illusions and out-of-this-world experiences in a subtle, inquisitive way.

But what we love most is the way his No Shadow pieces – large animal and human sculptures made of strands of light – evoke a sense of playfulness, awe, possibility and wonder. We find ourselves unable to stop staring, unwilling to leave the area of influence of the magical, somehow celestial beings and creatures.

Tojiki was born in 1975 in Miyzaki, Japan, and graduated from Kinki University in 1998 as an industrial design engineer. After a stint designing home appliances, he launched his artistic career full-time in 2003. Of the No Shadow pieces, he says “An object is seen when our eyes capture light that is reflected from the object. If we extract just the light that is reflected from ‘something,’ are we still in the presence of that ‘something?’ Using contours of light, I try to express this ‘something.’” We envision all sorts of opportunities for brands to use this type of sculpture at events, launches, stores, showrooms… – Tuija Seipell.

Pointillist Power

Pencils, pegboards, pins, pixels — we’ve been fascinated for a long time by the notion of creating big things from tiny parts. Hiding the image in plain site. Creating pointillist art with physical objects.

So whenever we see yet another iteration of this idea, we pay attention.

Apparently, Stockholm-based photographer Philip Karlberg has also been twirling his pencils for some time, and now all that toying has resulted in a photo shoot for Plaza Magazine.

Karlberg’s six famous sunglass wearers were created using 1,200 sticks and photographed over six days.

From top: Karl Lagerfeld – Jackie O – Lady Gaga – Johnny Depp – John Belushi

We envision using something like this for an eyeglass or sunglass brand, a movie theatre, an optometrist office. The fertile pointillist idea continues to fascinate us every time we witness the power of tiny components exploding into huge impact. – Tuija Seipell

FieldCandy Tents Designed To Stand Out

FieldCandy tents do not give you camouflage protection in the natural setting, nor do they help you blend in with the rest of the crowd at the campsite. FieldCandy tents are designed to stand out.

When we saw the first images of these limited-edition designer tents with their cool flysheets, we had to really stop and think. Is it true that no-one else has manufactured these types of tents for sale before? We have seen individual pieces displayed as art, but we had not seen anything quite like this.

It was one of those moments when you think: Why have all tents always looked pretty much the same? We customise everything else, why not tents? And even more remarkably: Why have we been satisfied with those boring, standard tent colours for so long?

So, through a two-year development process, Jersey, UK-based FieldCandy has created what we did not know we needed. Until now. They selected a group of 20 or so artists and designers – photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, branding and advertising designers – to create designs that were then transferred to the ultra-light, waterproof flysheet that covers the two-person tent.

They now offer more than 40 different designs by 18 artists. The designs are grouped in several collections. In The Legend Collection, for example, includes Terry Pastor’s black design with psychedelic guns and Philip Gatward’s blue and yellow parrots on a grey hued background.

On the FieldCandy website, a counter next to each design indicates how many of that design are still left. Each tent comes with a label that shows the edition number and the design name. Prices range from $430 for the black FieldCandy signature tent to over $1,000. FieldCandy ships around the world The tents are available exclusively through the website. – Tuija Seipell