Category — Design

Dorophy Tang is a Chinese designer/illustrator whose work mixes traditional Chinese style influences and vintage elements.

She has just worked with camera makers Lomography on their Diana+ model. A very cool film camera, the Diana+ features a plastic lens that produces dreamlike photography with adjustable aperture for shooting wide angle imagery at a very low cost.

The intricate designs on the camera are quite similar with the work she did for Adidas, undoubtedly her best known work.

Via WickedHalo

Technorati Tags: Adidas, design, Dorophy Tang, illustration, Lomography, Diana+

Wasara is a new line of disposable paper products that are inspired by traditional Japanese forms and aesthetics.

More on Wasara.jp

Via SwissMiss

Technorati Tags: design, disposable paper products, Japan, products, Japanese forms, Wasara

Hong Kong artist and designer toy legend Michael Lau recently released some new vinyl figures.

More on HighSnobiety

Technorati Tags: designer toys, Hong Kong, Michael Lau, vinyl figures

Mini Cooper used a nice idea to take its brand to the Beijing Olympics with this customised rickshaw. Looks good enough to use all year round.

Via TheCoolHunter

Technorati Tags: 2008 Beijing Oympics, cars, design, Mini Cooper, rickshaw design

Any Adobe Photoshop software-welding artists intending to orientalise their work might find free oriental brushes useful.

The Web Resources Depot lists a collection of free oriental Photoshop brushes for you to download and use, as well as some vector images to include and manipulate.

The collection includes Chinese dragons, Japanese, Chinese & Arabic texts, people, houses, mosques & various figures.

Check them out at Web Resources Depot

Technorati Tags: Adobe Photoshop, art, design, free oriental brushes, illustration, free oriental Photoshop brushes

The Chinese are copying themselves this time with these retail editions of The Birds Nest and Water Cube designs!

A bit bizarre to say the least, but we shouldn’t be surprised at any attempt to cash in on the Olympics. I just wish they would sell real Birds Nest dishes and sports editions of bottled water.

Via Core77

Technorati Tags: Beijing, Beijing National Stadium, Birds Nest, China, retail design, Water Cube

Coke merchandise for the Beijing Olympics includes twelve trading pins designed by two Chinese artists - Tim Tsui and Alice Chan.

They’ll be available at the Olympic Village but I’m not sure about anywhere else.

Via VinylPulse

Technorati Tags: 2008 Beijing Oympics, Alice Chan, badges, Coca-Cola, designer toy scene, Tim Tsui, trading pins

This is the closest I will probably ever get to an olympic medal. The Official website of the Beijing Olympic Games displays the designs for their medals.

The medal for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is designed with inspiration coming from “bi“, China’s ancient jade piece inscribed with a dragon pattern. The medals, made of gold and jade, symbolise nobility and virtue and are the embodiment of traditional Chinese values of ethics and honor, sending forth a strong Chinese flavor.

The medals are 70mm in diameter and 6mm in thickness. On the front side, the medal adopts standard design prescribed by the International Olympic Committee. While on the back, the medal is inlaid with jade with the Beijing Games emblem engraved in the metal centerpiece. The design inspiration of the medal hook derives from jade “huang“, a ceremonial jade piece with decoration ofb and “Pu“, the reed mat pattern.

Noble and elegant, the Beijing Olympic Games medal is a blending of traditional Chinese culture and the Olympism. It gives the winners of the Games great honor and acclamation as recognition of their achievement.

From the Official website of the Beijing Olympic Games

Via Surfstation

Technorati Tags: 2008 Beijing Oympics, China, design, Olympic medals