Industrial designer Justin Porcano has a way of turning inanimate objects into items of mass sex appeal. Whether we’re looking at his exquisite furniture work or some of his product creations, we often can’t help but fall in love at first sight. It’s no wonder clients such as Target and Dell have lined up to work with his Oakland based company, Upwell Design. Even with corporations clamoring for his services, Justin finds the time to continue to churn out quality designed products that, along with artistry, always do an astonishing job incorporating function into their form. His latest samples, an artist’s penbook for the designer on the go and incredibly sleek lightswitch wallplates, certainly uphold that tradition and are most definitely worth a look.

As an attendee and devotee of TED I was admittedly a little skeptical and thought SNAP was going to simply be a miniaturized version. Guess what … it is! But that’s not all bad actually. In fact, it’s a compliment. Mix, in a veritable who’s who of the “Organic Mafia”, a dash of some brilliant creative folks, a collection of academic thought leaders, a pinch of mainstream brand voyeurs who are diving deeper into Green-land, a teaspoon of “new economy investment bankers,” and finally some marketing agency peeps like myself and you have the makings of an interesting collection of people. I found myself inspired by Daniel Pink (always fun), Paul Stamet’s hypothesis that mushrooms could help save the world resulting in the biggest standing ovation of the day, Daniel Pinchbeck’s psychedelic discoveries and enlightened ‘neosphere’ thinking, Vanessa German’s poetic brilliance and more. So far Steve Demos’s vision of putting together a cultural elite gathering is paying off and inspiring some great conversations which went well past closing time last night at the St. Julien Hotel’s buffet. Hopefully today will deliver more of the same.

Brooklyn-based artist Samantha Hahn is prolific to say the least. She illustrates for Glamour and Craft magazines, designs T-shirt and stationery patterns, blogs as Maquette when fashion and photography inspiration strikes, keeps a sketchbook for lovely female forms when she feels like drawing (which is almost hourly). Oh, and teaches art to third graders full time.

Earlier this year an agent at a trade show told Hahn she should limit her work to a single craft in the name of brand building. She said she wasn’t ready to not be all over the place. The daughter of a freelance illustrator, Hahn says she thrives from working with her hands and describes her drawing-based endeavors as intertwined. All of which only benefits aesthetics and detail-minded folks who are fans of her colorful sailor women plates, hand-lettering, and all that falls between.

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Our blog-friends over at core77 did a great job of covering London’s Design Festival while we were traveling, but we want to tell you about about the existance of Urban Gnomes making their debut at the festival. Vitamin Living has taken the gnome out of the flowerbed and put them in the city. As many of our readers will know, life is rough on the street (and pricy, as these gnomes are £50), but these little guys are more adept at the hussle than your traditional red hat and white fuffy beard gnome. Have a look at the Vitamin’s online store.