I hold my hands up and admit it! I’m a complete fan-boy for Martí Guixé. There’s so much good work that I could talk about, but his “Food Design” is so clever and humorous that it deserves to be highlighted.

Guixé as a Food Designer builds edible products that are ergonomic, functional, communicative, interactive, visionary but radically contemporary and timeless.

Cookies with decoration that indicates how to eat them, hands-free lollipops, pie-graph cakes that indicates the ingredients of the cake in percentages, it’s all genius. The man takes the term “designer” onto a whole other level.

Find out more about Martí Guixé and his “Food Design”.

‘Gypsy’ probably isn’t the right word. It’s just that it slips off the tongue better than ‘Eastern European’. Whatever you want to call it, there does seems to be an emerging trend for all things gypsy/eastern european. Apparently, “Gypsy Holidays” are the hip new short-holiday experience. There’s even a major US television series currently airing following the lives of a family of travellers called The Riches.

However, it’s music where it’s really having a big impact. There’s the “Gypsy Punk” of Gogol Bordello that’s been around for a while, but it’s the newer eastern-european folk influenced artists that are ticking all the boxes for me. Check out the slavic radiohead stylings of Beruit, or other eastern-bloc tinged artists like DeVotchKa, A Hawk & A Hacksaw or Matt Elliot.

Quick! Buy yourself a battered caravan, before everybody wants in on the trend!

Animals in clothes? From what I can gather, designer Hella Jongerius is showing work at the Zero Compromise exhibition at Galerie Kreo in Paris from April 21st until May 26th 2007.

I’m intrigued by the Rhinocéros wearing a shirt! I’ll try and get more info on the exhibition and work involved, but if anyone is in Paris and will be going to the exhibition, drop me a line and tell me about it.

Sometimes Art baffles me. I have no idea what some art is trying to say, but it still looks cool. A good example is the “We’re treating each other just like strangers” exhibition by Meredyth Sparks at Galerie Frank Elbaz.

Flick through the exhibition images and you’ll see what I mean.

I’m mesmerised by this design. I can’t stop looking at the Mamma chair by Patrick Messier. It’d fluid form reminds me of something, but I can’t put my finger on what. It’s beautiful, but there’s something about it that scares me. I think it’s the fact that it kind of looks like a tongue that worries me.

See more designs by Patrick Messier.

I’m not really a fan of patterns However, occassionally I see simple designs that I like. Anna Magdalena Johansson’s simple patterns such as her woodgrain pattern are a good example.

See more work by Anna Magdalena Johansson.

Simple ideas always please me. I love the simple flow of the Sila & Mesa by Anan Thompson. It’s unbelievably expensive for such a featureless item, but they do say, “less is more”.

See more great stuff at Hidden Art Shop.

The summer isn’t far away. If you work in an office without air-conditioning, the summer months can be a bit of a sweat-box. So, I’ve been looking for stylish solutions, and I think I’ve found one. It’s a bit child-like in it’s design but the Ventilux Fan design by Zetsche & Konigbauer is definitely interesting.

Available from NonPlusUltra.nl.

New collection by Calle Henzel. I know I’ve mentioned Calle Henzel before, but Jude (thanks jude!) emailed me about the new collection which is better than ever. Plus, I’ve just learnt that Calle henzel is a man; for some reason I assumed that he was a woman. Strange that.

See the Calle Henzel Collection.

Did you have a den as kid? I’m sure most peope built a private little den with their friends when they were kids, but as you get older, there aren’t as many oportunities for having your own secluded little space. Which is why I think the Alcove Sofa designed by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec for Vitra is such a great idea. According to the sales blurb, “A sofa can go beyond being merely a piece of furniture and become a room of its own within a room.”

So if you’re looking for a small spot of seclusion in your own home, you could go with the Alcove sofa. However, if you were really keeping it real, you’ld stick a cardboard box on top of your existing sofa and write ‘Fort’ on the front! Cheaper and more authentic.

See more work by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec