I don’t know what’s more charming about [Art]ifact, the latest book from Hong Kong-based art publisher viction:ary, that it seems like a legitimately great coffee table book of full clever reuses for household items, or that its description on viction:ary’s website may have been done with Babel Fish. Let me elaborate on both points. First the book: subtitled Re-recognizing the essential of products (see second point), [Art]ifact presents some re-purposing (a deflated basketball used as a fruit bowl) and some re-imagining (half of a bathtub turned into a chair). I enjoy these ideas and I think 312 pages of them would be great to have in my living room.

Now, the bad copy writing. Here’s the first sentence of the book’s description: “Obviously, it is about innovative product design that dare to go beyond the conventionality and bring a total havoc to our perception.” I’ve seen some bad Chinglish in my day, and this is by no means the worst, but it may or may not add to many enchanting qualities of the book itself. You be the judge.

Related: Our viction:ary Archive