The project is a competition that Havana Club are running based on the theme of ‘Inspired Ingenuity’; a reference to the spirit of the people of Havana, who pride themselves on their ability to create what they need from what they have. The competition is taking place over the first six months of 2011, challenging artists, musicians and other creative talents to takes the everyday and turn it into something special. A winner will be picked each month, and the final winner will win a trip to Cuba. The project is being run through the Havana Club Facebook page To help promote the competition, graphic design studio Intercity commissioned three artists to create a piece of work that takes the everyday and turns it into something special. Title: SNEAKER SPEAKERS Artist: NASH Sneaker customiser Nash responsed to the brief by transforming a pair of all-white Nike Air Force 1’s into a fully functional set of ‘Sneaker Speakers’. Nash was a perfect choice for as we see sneaker customisation as its own form of Inspired Ingenuity. Read an interview with Nash here. Title: INGREDIENTS Artist: CEMAL OKTEN Symbolising Cuba’s love of music, product designer Cemal Okten has used everyday objects to create something greater than the sum of its parts. The fully functional headphones are made from a tin can, a coat hanger, a piece of rope and two corks. Title: PICNIC TABLE Artist: I HAVE POP™ Founded by Jurjen Semeijn, Amsterdam-based I Have Pop™ is known for its innovative ideas and multi-dimensional projects. For this street art installation they appropriated the fences from a local roadworks site and constructed a picnic table in the park. See the video of the I Have Pop™ piece here. The Identity: Intercity also created the Inspired Ingenuity logo, using objects from around the studio including a ring-pull, polystyrene packaging, a fuse, a paperclip and a coat-hanger.

Great us of old school 3D style specs here completed by Demian Conrad Design for the Lausanne Underground Film & Music Festival (LUFF). The project was a long process that took severals months but the result is pretty astonishing. The Challenge: create 2 levels of readability, a “mainstream” level and an hidden “underground” level. See and read more about the project here

TOJO is a new design shop which has recently opened in the foyer of The Lighthouse, based at Mitchell Lane in Glasgow. TOJO represents a modern collection of products and objects, focused on design. It is an essential resource for Architects, Designers, Corporate and Private Clients, they select and supply modern furniture, lighting and accessories. TOJO is driven by an enthusiasm for design and it’s benefits and is a dealer for the following fantastic brands: Vitra, KnollStudio, MARK, Cherner Chair, Swedese, Blastation, String, Lightyears… and more! Visit the shop for a range of stock instore and also visit there new website and online shop for more information. The TOJO brand was designed by Glasgow based Graphical House.

New Australian shop Print-A-Porter has travelled the globe in search of some of the most beautiful, quirky and distinctive vintage original and reprinted posters to ever grace your walls. Add a bold splash of colour from the likes of Cuba, Russia, the former Yugoslavia or Israel, with brilliant, affordable graphic artworks from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. From one-off originals and hard-to-find collectibles to hand silkscreened limited edition reprints you will find them all there. Im a particular a fan of the 1969 Charlie Chaplin on Wheels and the Cuban film poster Lucia from 1999. Worth checking out if you have a few pennies left after the festive period!

Following on from the great Lawrence King book Art & Sole, Design agency Intercity have setup the new Art & Sole blog and are commissioning a print series based on the theme of Art & Sole, the first of which is by the fantastic James Jarvis (See top). Visit the blog here.

Design Symposium North hits Liverpool in 2010 with an action packed programme featuring some of the most renowned figures in the design industry. This years lectures feature James Bull of Moving Brands and Adrian Shaughnessy of Shaughnessy Works. Both will be talking about their inspirational careers and showing work from past and recent projects. Jonathan Kirk, DBA consultant from, Up to the Light will also be showing how small agencies can punch above their weight. Aspiring creatives and students will be treated to a full day of top tips on how to break into the industry at a series of education-related sessions run by the D&AD and the DBA which will include lectures, portfolio surgeries and workshops. Find out more and signup to get involved here.

Loz Ives has just launched the all new Because Studio website. Based in Preston, Loz is another of the rising independent studios and has a great range of work and clients. The new site showcases some new work along with a some previous projects all of which have been re-shot for the new site. I particularly like his new self-initiated ‘Favourites’ Posters which have a series of typographic choices which you can customise by scratching off the silver ink to reveal your favourites.

Since the demise of Borders earlier this year Glasgow has been without a source for a wide selection of contemporary and independent magazine publishing. Whilst there are outlets providing limited selections of publications, there is no decent place to purchase a wide variety of contemporary reading material in the city. Glasgow, as a city rich in culture and creativity, deserves a provision equal to the flourishing networks for publishing and distribution of many other European cities.

GmbH hope to change this. GmbH will open at The Modern Institute, Osborne St Glasgow, as an outlet for a wide range of magazines, journals and periodicals sourced from across the world. Focusing on bespoke publishing, art, fashion, design, film and music as well as covering lifestyle, culture and affairs. For further information and announcements, please join the mailing list.

www.GmbHshop.com

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14-20 Osborne Street Glasgow, G1 5QN

Open hours - Monday—Friday 10am—5pm Saturday 12 noon—5pm

Preview Friday 8th October 4pm – 9pm Opens Saturday 9th October 12 noon

Derek Welsh is a designer and maker of contemporary furniture and bespoke interior projects characterised by the simplicity of angled lines and unique structures. He has just launched a new website crafted by those lovely chaps from Graphical House. If you have (quite a few) spare pennies, there is some beautiful stuff.

Lovely branding project completed by Demian Conrad Design for historic mythical and historic brand GABBANI in Lugano. In Ticino Canton (Switzerland), Gabbani is synonymous of quality and a point of reference for its “fine food” and hospitality. Now also bar, restaurant and hotel. A brilliant example of working with a historic brand, taking cues and references from it and developing a new and contemporary identity and graphic language to support. All the applications across packaging and print are lovely.

mythical and historic brand GABBANI in Lugano. In Ticino Canton (Switzerland), Gabbani is synonymous of quality and a point of reference for its “fine food” and hospitality. Now also bar, restaurant and hotelmythical and historic brand GABBANI in Lugano.In Ticino Canton (Switzerland), Gabbani is synonymous of quality and a point of reference for its “fine food” and hospiNow also bar, restaurant and ho

Some lovely new work from Sydney based Naughtyfish. Really like the ‘Lawn Chair’ created for the ‘Re-Loved’ exhibition part of Sydney Design 2010. Also check out the lovely Eye Saw catalogue which is available to purchase at the Naughtyfish Shop and the fantastic Moonlight Cinema work continues to evolve and delight.

I received an email from Daniel at Glasgow based Graphical House about some news and work updates including projects for UWS,  furniture designer Derek Welsh and a simply gorgeous new GH studio promotional piece which I have luckily just taken delivery of a couple of copies. If that wasn’t enough the guys have also been busy creating the new Graphical Shop where you can purchase various lovely items designed by the GH guys which is well worth checking out.

Glasgow based Mister have launched their tasty new website and added a host of lovely recent projects including a recent Roses Gold Typography winner for the book ‘Urban Art and Architecture in Liverpool’. As well as all of this, Mister have been keeping themselves very busy with a exciting new collaborative project called Creative Everyone which is launching later this summer.

Theres a few doing the rounds at the moment with the World Cup nearly upon us. This is a lovely typographic wall chart designed by David Watson of  TrebleSeven and is all for a good cause with all proceeds raised going to Soccer Aid | UNICEF. The poster is available to buy directly from here – its only £7 + £3 P&P. Alternatively Magma all also selling it from their Clerkenwell / Covent Garden Shops. Go on, get one for the studio wall and do some good at the same time. See more images here.

Further to last weeks post about the Malibu By U competition. Nathan from Intercity has got in touch again to share some of the fantastic work created by three selected artists – Jimi Crayon (First), MNKY and Pinky Tesfay as part of the live art events which took place this week. The artists created their own version of Malibu By U and Malibu’s Facebook page will be providing regular updates on all the artists involved and where their work can be seen.

The project is still running and is supported with a digital gallery –  where people can either upload a photograph of their creation or create their designs directly onto the bottle using a range of tools. The best three entries will win a trip to locations such as Rio, Vegas or Barbados.