***We suggest you buy tix ASAP if you’re even thinking about going to this***

If you’ve been under a rock for the last decade and you haven’t heard of Tomato UK that’s all the more reason to go to this event. Tomato UK is an Art / Design / Music collective consisting of many members including Karl Hyde and Rick Smith, of Underworld who all but created the sound track of the nineties.
Tomato members Michael Horsham, Dylan Kendle, and John Warwicker will cross a continent and an ocean to share their secrets on all aspects of art ranging from commercial print to music and sound to architectural design. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet and gain insight from an amazing group with valuable experience with cross-platform art. Horsham will present a general selection of work, Kendle will present film work and Warwicker will discuss process – Tomato’s philosophy and approach to making work.

Tickets are available from AIGA Los Angeles.

Los Angeles based Taalman Koch Architecture recently brought their signature prefab system to the world of pop-up stores. This month a 240sf Pop-Up store was set up for the Palm Pre phone. The small glass building appeared at the Americana in Glendale and was later disassembled, moved to the Grove in Hollywood, and reassembled a single 24 hour period. The entire project was designed, fabricated, and erected in less than 5 weeks. The structure will be on display at the Grove through the end of the month.

Taalman Koch is perhaps most famous for their itHouse. You may have also seen their work at Space 1520, home of the Hennessey + Ingalls design bookstore in Hollywood.

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This seems like a really interesting idea for those who prefer a bit more nature in their back yard. Following many of the eco-friendly trends in landscape design, this new style of chemical free pool is starting to catch on. While we certainly don’t mind the lack of irritated eyes, green hair, dry skin, and weird chemical smell inherent in chlorine pools, we are sold by the look of a pool lined with cobble stones and a cool inviting jade color. The big question now is, where’s the jacuzzi version of this?

We were a little skeptical of how this works, but we found a nice diagram you can see after the jump.

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We first heard about Slow Home at this year’s CA Boom design show. We have since been following Canadian architect and Slow Home creator John Brown’s daily lectures on construction/demolition, real estate, and architecture. Taking his philosophy from the ever popular “slow food” movement, John often compares urban sprawl to fast food excess. He stresses the importance of quality products over mass production and emphasizes making better choices about how and where we live. Through daily exercises Brown’s site tackles common issues faced when updating and remodeling. The site features room by room design breakdowns, case studies, and an extensive archive of past exercises. Inspired by this site, we can now attempt to tackle some of the more ominous design challenges facing LA living with a little more confidence.

We love these Peekaboo Candle Holders by J Schatz. They come in seven bright colors including red hot, sun yellow and orange peel. Simply place a tea candle inside and adjust the hanging height to suite your décor.

We found this lingerie style lighting to be pure romance. Designed by Josephine Repetto of Manjaca as an allusion to her 5th wedding anniversary, the 5ans is shaped like an engagement ring (but with a lacey shade instead of a diamond). The lace is also available in black or gray at Manjaca.com

The perfect seat for your favorite princess. The Tendo Mushroom Stool was designed in 1961 and received the first award at the design competition of Tendo Mokko Co. Ltd. It wasn’t until 2003 however, that this gem was produced for the market.
Made from 100% mahogany and standing at 17.9″ Diam x 15.16″ H, this stool also makes a nice table when topped with a piece of glass. You can find them at Tortoiselife.com.

We are so in like with this Perillo lounge chair by german designer Martin Ballendat. Apparently we werent the only ones, as it took the people choice award at the Orgatec trade show in October. This clean and simple design uses one seamless pieces of plastic for the back rest and is available au natural or with a hardwood finish.

We were recently introduced to this architecture book written by Matthew Frederick. It’s a collection of architecture principles and thoughts broken up into 101 digestible pieces. Think of it as an architect’s cheat sheet. You can pick the book up here. Thanks for the heads up Steve.

All too often we see modern architecture presented as an unattainable luxury. This book shows projects with modest budgets of $120 or even $51 per square foot. In doing so it fills a gap left by most architecture books. Don’t be suprised if you end up building one in the woods and take up writing design manifestos. You can pick it up here for $26.