“That’s nice wallpaper… is that a… ?!!… oh!” British artist Jonathan Yeo has released a range of wallpaper through Lazarides Gallery. If you’re familiar with Yeo’s work (many of you have probably seen his iconic portrait of former President George W Bush made up from cuttings from pornographic magazines) you’ll know that on closer inspection of his work, and indeed his wallpaper, you’ll be surprised at what you find. The perfect wallpaper for provocateurs!

Find the wallpaper at Lazarides

Don’t drink & doodle! The summer months are upon us, and warm evenings call for Rum! But what if the warm summer nights & rum cocktails get your creative juices flowing? Malibu have the answer! A newly released limited edition Malibu by U bottle provides a pared down version of their iconic white bottle, giving you an opportunity to express your creativity.

As their marketing material words it, “The all-white Malibu by U bottle acts as a blank canvas for limitless self-expression that can be customized to celebrate any occasion – from bon voyage parties, to an unforgettable ‘thank you’ gift, birthday celebration, a keepsake from a graduation party…” blah, blah blah.

Listen. Essentially what this bottle does is let you drink and doodle. I mean, customising the bottle for your friends sounds nice and all, but it’s much more fun to just drink cocktails, break out the maker pens & see what happens. Which is what I did. Behold my my masterpiece! Okay, so it’s not great. It started as some kind of grotesque face, whose eyebrows then turned into clouds & sunshine and raised hands. It’s kind of strange what a few cocktails will make you draw.

You can create your own virtual Malibu by U bottle online at Malibu by U. The site allows you to create your own virtuial Malibu by U masterpieces and enter an online contest for a chance to win a trip for four to Barbados, but, in my opinion, it’s not as fun as drinking and drawing doodles!

It’s time to barter for some art again! Following on from last year’s successful Art Barter London, the Art Barter event is now headed for Berlin. Taking place between June 24th — June 27th 2010, Art Barter Berlin will showcase the work of 26 Berlin based artists, both emerging & established.

For those not already familiar with the concept of Art Barter, the event revolves around the idea that artworks will be acquired by individuals through alternative means to money. So it’s not a case of the person with the biggest chequebook winning the art, it’s down to what you as an individual have to offer in exchange for an artwork; it could be a back rub, or it could be a delicious home-made cake! Some of the exchanges that went down last year included everything from 3 months of psychotherapy (hopefully from a trained psychotherapist!), to website design, to 30 hours of French tuition.

The catch is that you don’t know which art work belongs to which artist until after the show’s end. You barter for the work you value, and are willing to barter your own skills for, rather than judging work on an artist’ reputation or possible financial gains. Personally, I love the ‘I Love You’ artwork shown in the image above. I don’t know who the artist is, but if I make it to Berlin, I’ll certainly be bartering my skills in the hope of owning it!

Artists involved: Jonathan Monk, Jason Dodge, Uwe Henneken, Saâdane Afif, John Isaacs, ?Wolfgang Ganter, YudiNoor, Isabelle Graeff, John Kleckner, Ilona Kalnoky, Sophie Holstein, Stefan Rinck, Haralampi Oroschakoff, Evgeni Dybsky, Jeremy Shaw, Clémence Seilles, Charlotte Dualé, Stephan Balleux, Melissa Frost, Alejandro Moncada, Sergio Roger, Yukiko Terada, Ludwig Kreutzer, Ricard Ricard, Pete Wheeler, Kate Bellm.

Venue: Ground floor of the .HBC Project Space, Karl-Liebknecht Straße 9, 10178 Berlin, Germany.

Dates: June 24th: Launch Night, 6pm-late, with DJ Jet Letts & drinks served by Absolut Vodka from 6-9pm June 25th— 27th. Open to the public, Fri/Sat 11am-8pm, Sun 12-9pm.

Find out more at Art Barter.

I’m not religious man… but if there is a heaven, I hope they have macaron shops like the Theurel & Thomas interior by Anagrama. I mean, just look at it! It’s nothing short of heavenly.

See more work by Anagrama.

Art-Star Spangled Banner. In January 2010, Polo Jeans Co. Ralph Lauren commissioned over 51 of Europe’s most exciting young contemporary artists to customise large 3D stars made from the finest American denim.

With the iconic Stars and Stripes flag for inspiration, each young artist was tasked with creating something totally unique: beyond the shapes and sizes of the Art Stars, the only limit was their imaginations. When are the stars are auctioned later this year all the money raised will go to Teenange Cancer Trust.

See the works at Art Stars.

Bon Anniversaire, Record Makers! The fantastic record label, Record Makers was formed in 2000 by the band Air and their associates. Which means that this year Record Makers celebrates their 10th anniversary!

To celebrate the occassion, they’ve released a free iPhone app featuring a special soundtrack by Sébastien Tellier and Mr. Oizo. The app invites you to create your own artworks by mixing together various combinations from the great drawings by Mrzyk & Moriceau.

If you can find one of the 3 special combinations in the app, you could win a week-long stay in Paris at the hip Hotel Amour, the entire Record Makers discography, or a selection of other great prizes!

See Record Makers for more details.

“Creative Life, Documented & Archived.” I’ve just been alerted to a great new website called The Creative Lives which provides video insights into the lives of today’s contemporary artists.

The Creative Lives is a documentary project aimed at inspiring people to create their own work by giving them a view into the world of today’s contemporary artists. Each documentary not only shows how these artists create their work, but also attempts to find out why they do what they do and who has helped or inspired them to get to where they are.

Visit The Creative Lives.

A cool blast from the past. Way back in 2007, I mentioned Tiago Da Fonseca’s ‘Bedtime Stories’ project. Now, with Valentine’s Day approaching, the first commercial edition has just been launched, printed with the Brothers Grimm story ‘The Sleeping Beauty’: the timeless once-upon-a-time fairy tale romance.

London-based designer Tiago da Fonseca proposes a different take on reading in bed which will please book and cuddle-lovers alike. ‘Bedtime Stories’ is a duvet cover that literally reads like a book: each page adds or removes a layer of comfort to each side of the bed. More pages make you warmer and comfier, guiding you and your partner into a pleasant night…

Tiago da Fonseca explains: “What’s more appropriate for Valentine’s Day than to cuddle with your partner in a warm bed while lulling him or her with a romantic story?”

‘Bedtime Stories’ includes 2 lightweight synthetic duvets + polycotton kingsize duvet cover (to fit 230cm x 220cm). Currently available in red cover only. Price £105 + delivery.

To more info & orders, visit tiagodafonseca.com

Burritos, Lamps & Design. Founded by Mark Irlam and Tom Tobia, Something From Us is one of those creative teams that seem to effortlessly apply their creative skills to any number of activities.

They’ve recently completed the delightfully colourful interior for the gourmet burrito restaurant in London, Poncho No.8.

They’ve also designed the super-cool looking Wired Lamp (available to buy from their website.)

They’re definitely a design practice to keep an eye on, so check out Something From Us.

Chocolate + Design; what more could you want from life? If you’ve ever visited the wonderful London Tea Shop, Teasmith, you’ll have experienced the amazing interiors work of Jonathan Clark Architects. And, if like me, you’re left wanting to see more, then check out their latest work for renowned British chocolatier, William Curley.

One of the main ideas behind the design of the interior was to think about chocolate in terms of it’s origins and how it is procured – designing a predictable dark brown interior to ‘represent chocolate’ was something we actively avoided. This resulted in features such as the gold leaf artwork for the corner banquette depicting cocoa trees and the three-dimensionally arranged hessian clad padded panels behind the counters to reference the hessian sacks that cocoa beans are packed in at various plantations around the world.

Find out more info, and see more images at Jonathan Clark Architects.