In my Principles and Theory course, my professor proposed the question:

How useful is the Internet as a tool to formulate (my judgement) your theory of design?

As student, I had the full semester to mull this over and find an answer that made sense to me.

I immediately figured I would conclude, YES, as I use the world-wide web everyday for work, as well as personal enjoyment.  The hard part was trying to figure out exactly HOW using it contributes to my work as a designer and the influence it has held over me.  I think of it as influencing me overall, which then feeds into everything I do…including design.

There are two aspects to how I’ve broken it down:

1) Internet as Encyclopedia for my hungry mind.

Sites that contribute to this aspect:

Wikipedia 

Bernard Tschumi advertisments

Atlas Obscura

Alexander McQueen books, as well as Isabella Blow, Daphne Guinness and the like…

Amazon

Refinery29

New York Times

Films like Valerie and Her Week of Wonders

Criterion Collection

2) Internet as Visual Stimulation for my eager eyes.

JJJJound

poetic, as well as visual interest from JJJJound

Google Images

Google search: Hermès orange

Online Magazines :

Decurate Magazine

LONNYMAG

Fashion Gone Rogue

influence from fashiongonerogue editorials

Bonus: Social Media use

pinterest

community sharing: I love Chloe Sevigny’s guest bedroom

“Taken to its extreme, the pleasure of space leans toward the poetics of the unconscious, to the edge of madness.”

the rare bird shares her beautiful and BOLD Manhattan Apartment in the June issue of Arch Digest.

“I don’t care what people think…I learned a long time ago…I was 19 and had a very traumatic experience….and I learned that I have to go to bed with myself at night and that I have to please myself…and as long as I don’t go out of my way to offend anybody that I love, upset my mother or my husband…I’ll do my own thing. And if the public doesn’t like it, it’s their problem, not mine.”

this is just fun and the colors are more than swell.

Green Idea – The Island Planter from Woolly Plants.

See more Green Ideas, from moi…

here.

I’ve got a new blog up dedicated to 101 Green ideas, products and information on a sustainable {while still being fashionable, mind you!}, existence.

Check it out———————->http://aestheticgreen.wordpress.com/

It’s also for a class project, so help an art student out and get to reusing, recycling, & reducing!

What is it exactly? From the website:

PechaKucha Night was devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public.
It has turned into a massive celebration, with events happening in hundreds of cities around the world, inspiring creatives worldwide. Drawing its name from the Japanese term for the sound of “chit chat”, it rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds. It’s a format that makes presentations concise, and keeps things moving at a rapid pace.

The session consisted of 8 different topics and presentations.  The last an international presentation from Gary Chang via Hong Kong.  His presentation, “The Transformer House” opens your mind about what a small space can transform into over a lifetime and with many functions.  Check it out here:

http://www.pecha-kucha.org/presentations/14

Chang has been featured by the NYT in January 2009 – 24 Rooms Tucked Into One.

READ it and check out more images of his insane pad.

I just took a fun walk through Payton Turner’s special and magical Greenpoint home via Refinery 29 and now I’m hooked on her illustrated and stickered wallpapers.  Each is unique and made to order.  Her designs bring back all my Lisa Frank sticker filled days.  I’m inspired to try something out myself….

The hand drawn dandelion creatures paper kills me.  I can picture it in a formal dining room…with a vintage stuffed Boar’s Head to tie it all together.

To take a peek at her lovely home go here…………………<3<3<3

More from her website go here……………########

One of the many joys resulting in being in a masters program for interior design is a little moments of mental release.  After a grueling day of Revit and Color Theory finals, going to a book store and scouring the shelves for the books that catch my brain and set it free and re-inspire.  priceless.

On such a day, I discovered what I think I can safely call my design Idol.

Madeleine Castaing. A film is in the works and thank heavens.

“ÈVES, France
FANS of no-flaw decorating and meticulous housekeeping, brace yourselves. The French decorator Madeleine Castaing saw beauty in plastic flowers, considered the straight pin an essential decorating tool and loved leopard-spot wall-to-wall carpet.”

Still largely unknown in the United States, she is renowned in France for her eccentric personal style, for her high-profile friendships with Jean Cocteau and Chaim Soutine, and for creating rooms that her followers describe as closer to art than decoration.

“She had a mad eclecticism that was very 19th century in concept but that managed to be fresh and unstuffy,” Mr. Redd said.

To learn more___________________> here.