Claire Moyle pairs conceptualism with design in her series of works called The Spectacle of Utilitarianism. Above is the Spotlight Utility Mat that is a mat in the form of the shadow of an object that is highly used and useful. The folding chair comes into play again when Moyle envelopes it in 1800 mini lights, indeed turning it into a spectacle, but limiting its usefulness. The Utility Lamp sees a chandelier become spot lighting a scant few inches above the floor, painted “farm equipment orange” and the Studio Seat is a stool salvaged from an art studio that has been refinished to show off the layers of oil drips. Moyle hovers between artist and designer and we are curious to see what direction she takes next.

+ clairemoyle.com

We featured more shots of work seen at Art Basel Miami Beach during this second holiday week at Art MoCo. Spencer Finch’s colourful fluorescent installation got the week off to a festive start while ending the year with panache.

The New Year opened with sparkle - all sequins, shine and attitude.

And then the need for peace and calm overtook us and we were grateful for the Study of a Fallen Bird by A. Balasubramaniam.

Blue and red don’t always make purple. Not if Kay Rosen has anything to do with it.

And we were enthralled by Jaume Plensa’s salute to family, so apt this time of year.

The holidays started this week at Art MoCo with an Art Basel Wrap Up, a peek of our favorite moments and memories, one of which was the Die Collector Scum painting by Merlin Carpenter.

We made a quick virtual jaunt to Santa’s Ghetto in Bethlehem to share the peace.

Then back to Miami for more wallowing in this year’s Basel. Yoshitomo Nara’s Puff Marshie was a high impact piece at the Convention Center. Imagine this baby in a gleaming white kitchen or spare loft space.

This embroidered cash register receipt from Schipol by Gabriel Kuri struck us as a unique way to keep organized.

And we end the week with a beautiful piece by Cerith Wyn-Evans.

I received a lot of great gifts this year, but perhaps the one that captures the Christmas spirit the best was this shirt from Rosaloves.com. If you haven’t heard of Rosa Loves before, you should definitely check it out. Not only do they have some great designs printed on American Apparel t-shirts, but [...]

In keeping with the holiday spirit I thought I would finish the week off with one more Christmas post. This one comes via treehugger. Designed by Australian Designer Buro North, the “X-Mas Tree” is the first contemporary artificial Christmas tree I have ever seen. Instead of trying to make it look like [...]

Making your Christmas tree look just as modern as the rest of your house just got a little bit easier. CB2 has some great modern Christmas tree ornaments this year at a great price. Most of them are priced between $2-$4 with the one big exception being the 8″ disco ball looking one [...]

OK do it yourselfers, get out your favorite scissors and construction paper, it’s time to get going. Everyone knows that the best kind of affordable is the free kind. Here are two great projects that you can do that will cost you almost nothing. I found the pop up Christmas card on Curbly [...]

Art Deco was primarily a design style, popular in the 1920s and 1930s. In simplified terms, the Art Deco movement can be considered as the follow-up style on Art Nouveau - more simplified and closer to mass production. The Art Deco movement was dominant in fashion, furniture, jewelry, textiles, [...]