Gore Design Co. has made a name for itself since its 2004 inception by creating design-forward, environmentally responsible products for residential and commercial application. Today I earmarked Gore’s Erosion Sink for when I build my first house. It may be the digital cartographer in me coming out (that was a former job of mine), but I love how Gore uses contour lines to step down the elevation of this sink into the off-set drain area. The sink is made of concrete — as are many of Gore’s designs — which is “organic, timeless, a true reflection of nature’s beauty.” I find myself falling for concrete more and more as a sustainable and aesthetically pleasing building ingredient– it’s a material for which the possibilities are endless.

Via Apartment Therapy

We see a lot of great design work coming from students, and the Olive Martini Glass is a prime example. Beth Fuller designed it this past Fall for one of her grad school industrial design classes at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Because students are best at describing their own work, I’ll let Beth tell you about the design: “The Olive Martini Glass is inspired by the martini’s iconic counterpart: the olive. Both the form and function of the glass showcase the olive. Its base is reminiscent of the shape of an olive and is designed to be held comfortably in the palm of the hand, while there is a hole in the lip of the glass to accomodate olives on a toothpick, as both a garnish and a unique decorative element.” Beth… I know you probably aren’t mass producing these yet, but you must let me know when that day comes! Can I pre-order some?

As Josh mentioned earlier today, The Sundance Film Festival is going on in Utah right now. Yes, it’s hyped beyond belief, and yes, you can see a lot of the action online. But I thought it’s also worth mentioning that the X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival is going on along side Sundance this year, from January 19-22. I am a huge fan of action sports films of any type– I get excited to see athletes pushing their boundaries to the utmost, regardless of what sport they’re in. I especially recommend viewing snow-sports titles ‘Slednecks’ and ‘Push‘ if you are in Park City this Saturday (schedule here).

Many of you know about Tom Judd’s successful quest to illustrate one page per day for an entire year. Well, Jeremiah Palecek had the same goal, but he is a Czech painter specializing in nerd art. To Jeremiah, ‘nerd art’ means pixelated paintings, 80’s video game art, and other nerdy forays. I have to admit, I really enjoyed browsing his work– I came across a wealth of familiar portrayals– things like the Gmail log-in box (which I see 97 times a day), and the Konami cheat code for Contra (both pictured here). Jeremiah’s paintings will make you chuckle and feel nostalgic– all good art doesn’t have to be prolific, does it? As long as it creates a favorable feeling in my gut, I’m all about it. As an added bonus, on Jeremiah’s blog, each painting is accompanied by an entry written by Jeremiah that explains what each painting means to him; he gets pretty personal in his descriptions. If you are interested in purchasing some of Jeremiah’s paintings, email him from his blog. I may have to outfit my little nerd den (a.k.a. home office) at home with some of his work!

I have been looking forward to the launch of Hello Delicious for some time, and want to congratulate Lilly and Jose for creating a great site with great goals and lots of promise. Hello Delicious is not just an online gourmet food store– it’s on the cutting edge of what’s new and what’s next in food. You will find novel and quality food, beverage, and kitchenware products, handpicked by the Hello Delicious crew and their loyal food-hunters. If you have ideas for them, leave your ideas on their blog, ‘The Dish,’ and who knows, maybe your food find will make it onto their ’shelves.’ Lilly and Jose will be at Fancy Foods Show in San Francisco from January 21-23 looking for the newest and best products, so if you make it to the show, keep an eye out for Hello Delicious and let them know I sent you.

Sundance Film Festival kicked off last night in Park City, Utah– swarms of people head to one of the coldest, most conservative and lack-luster cities in the world (minus the skiing, but there isn’t even snow there yet). They all pile into make-shift movie theaters, bump elbows trying to get into the hot parties and bump their head jumping up and down trying to get a better peek at Natalie Portman in a crowd. But wait! The entire film part of the festival is available for you to watch and download as they become available online! I kid you not, you can go watch Sophie Barthes film Happiness, right now– ticket stubs not included.

The idea of using clothing as a storytelling vehicle is not new. Neither is charity through clothing. But you combine the two, invite guest artists (James Hancock is the first) to participate, and have full disclosure of your business costs and profit margin and you have me listening. I recently received the first of a monthly series of t-shirts from the Swami Safari line from Australia. Each shirt tells a story (both visually in the design and with words printed on the inside) of a spiritual man named Swami and his adventures while he takes a much needed vacation after teaching his disciples in the Himalayas. Not surprisingly, a child from India is supported by the project and a dollar from each shirt is donated to help the efforts. The shirt is extremely soft to the touch and the front design is printed in what feels like a quality process. The printing inside is done with a silver ink that reminds me of a Sharpie used for autographs. It features a Norse Mythology story. It is a bit difficult to read so I am hoping they’ll have the story online or optionally will send it in a nicely formatted email to their subscribers. It’s refreshing to see such forward thinking in an otherwise boring fashion segment. I applaud them for their candidness, originality in execution, and for choosing India as a focus for aid. If you are interested in buying the first shirt (one per month), subscribing (have them sent to you automatically), or checking out their accessories (none at the moment, but they’ll produce one quarterly), head on over to Swami Safari today.