Welcome to the wonderland that is the work of photographer Julia Fullerton-Batten.

Building on her growing rep as one of fine art photography’s rising stars, her photo series Teenage Stories landscapes are populated with seemingly indifferent giant girls. Even if you could forget the flawless technical execution in her photographs, the study of that sort of ho-hum teenage banality really pops to life when you imagine one of these bored girls squashing your car with her massive Havaianas. The juxtaposition of the reality of adolescent inner-turmoil against this Alice in Suburbia non-reality makes for an endlessly fascinating play in her work.

I want one of these in my living room. Looking to bring a little new-wave pizazz to their understandably high traffic Heathrow Terminal 5, British Airways commissioned UK art and design studio Troika to create “Cloud.”

Suspended in the air between 4 escalators and 2 concourses, the 5-metre long digital sculpture is covered with 4638 individually controlled flip dots. A mirrored silver on one side and opaque black on the other, a computer controls the sculpture creating an almost organic, living skin. The versatility and subtlety of the movement is amazing, almost hypnotic. Besides the obvious allusion to flight, the shifting surface of “Cloud” was also inspired by the flipping schedule signage that was commonly used in airports and train stations in the Seventies and Eighties.

While we know how much you love Mimobots, we wouldn't recommend buying them flowers or replacing your sweetheart with one this Valentine's Day. However, if you're on the market for the perfect gift to show your tech savvy significant other just how much you care, a new Mimobot may be just what cupid ordered. Luckily, our friends at Mimoco have a brand new line that's ripe for the giving. FriendsWithYou is the newest entry into the mimobot Artist Series '08 and contains six adorable characters, so you'll have plenty of options when it comes warming up the circuits of your lovin' spoonful's heart.

Most people look at a junkyard and see piles and piles of trash that's well past its prime as a useful inanimate object. They'd rather not rummage through tires and busted up radios hoping to find useful gems. That's where Beth Fuller differs from most people. The recent graduate of Brooklyn's Pratt Institute has proven that beautiful things can be made from junk with her Junkture Table. Fuller's creation showcases a magnesium wheel rim straight from the junkyard, that hovers several inches off the ground and casts mesmerizing shadows below, to serve as the unique centerpiece to this striking furnishing that effectively turns Urban Junk into Urban Chic. The Junkture Table is designed with sustainability in mind. All materials are locally sourced, reclaimed, 99% recycled and/or 100% recyclable. So the next time you're wondering what'cha gonna do with all that junk in your trunk, perhaps you should take it to Beth Fuller before you bring it to the dump.

I love this desk by Carlos Motta, which looks like it’s been partially drilled into the floor. It’s not one of his newer works, but it’s a sample of the expansive and non-stop imagination that this Brazilian furniture crafter and architect has hidden up his sleeve. His rocking chair, the Astúrias, starred in last month’s Brasilia Design Expo and is masterly constructed with wood planks joined together to form a solid panel of the chair connected to the rocking base. It’s rustic in a modern way and altogether pretty neat even if placed inside an apartment in the middle of a big city (ahem, Heather, let me know if you want me to put this on the next cargo ship out to NY). Motta grew up on the beach in south Brazil, where he would turn the pieces of wood the ocean carried ashore into viable, functional pieces. His career path’s led him to create mostly things your tush would appreciate (see the curvy, low-slung Cuica above) with the odd desk and cabinet thrown in for good measure. Go become his newest fan.

Plenty has changed over the last 25 years. Why, in 1983, people drove “ground cars” and spoke to each other over the “telephone”. How quaint. While those trends of the past may have faded into oblivion one thing has remained constant, The Nike Air Force 1. In honor of the sneakers’ silver anniversary, people all over the world are celebrating. Some are holding parades while others are naming their children Nike; some people, like the Wilson Brothers design team, have come up with a more creative way to channel their love for the shoe. How so? They've created a traditionally, lugged, steel–framed fixie inspired by the sneaker mainstay as a way of showing reverence the past while keeping up with current street trends…sort of like the AF1 has continued to do. Their blazing bike creation aptly named the Air Force 1 “Silver Service” has been added to the curation at Dover Street Market which celebrates 25 years of the iconic Air Force 1. So if you find yourself in London, definitely go check it out.

Via Format

Subjects like clogged nasal passages, STDs and ingrown toenails aren’t exactly topics you can break bread over. Mold, then, without having to explain, is a no-no ice breaker. For example, mold jokes just don’t fly. Television programs used to love to horrify viewers to nausea level with stories of people who lived with mold in their houses for years as if they were just an annoying family member who didn’t like to leave his room to socialize. But if you had invited Yoshiaki Ito to an evening get-together, you might prefer to serve just gin and tonic, because Ito’s preferred topic of conversation is the type of fungi you don’t find in classic Italian recipes. Ping Mag’s Make, the new web extension of its magazine which heads into the Japanese rural areas to interview people who create anything from umbrellas to handcrafted fountain pen nibs, published yesterday an irresistible article with Ito, aka “Dr. Mold,” and how he came to develop a super cleanser with alkaline that removes mold more effectively than any other product on the Japanese market. By the end, Ito makes a convincing case that mold is as interesting to study as it is to battle. Not convinced? The photos above are microscope views of mold, which you could venture to say look pastoral, beautiful and even tranquil.