Last night, the Claire Oliver Gallery opened Norbert Brunner’s new show, Smiling Broadly to the delight of many. Indeed, the show is about delight in every facet imaginable. The predominant theme is about uplifting messages, self-affirming at minimum and world-changing at best. The messages, ranging from “don’t wait, start now” to the ever timeless “imagine” are all written out in Swarovski crystals, placed on three separate layers of glass and spaced out so the only way to read them is head-on.

The artist explains it this way:

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Made it out to Common Pitch NYC the other night at Brooklyn Bowl, Williamsburg’s hip spot for shows, bowling and drinks. The event was fun, sure, but it also highlighted some great startups with great missions.

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Everything about the Moncler Fall/Winter 2012 fashion show in Central Park celebrated sophisticated winter wonderland: The trees surrounding Wollman Rink were bathed in bright, festive colors, a gospel choir belted out New York, New York, to start the show and professional ice skaters painted the ice in wisps and swirls of red, white, blue and gray. The light dusting of snow and biting cold helped set the scene and the hot chocolate and spiked apple cider helped keep the warmth in, if just for a few extra minutes.

Moncler certainly knows how to stage a spectacle:

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Thanks to Carol Emert of fog melt for her article about REALiTREE! It was great to discuss the project with her, and we’re glad she called attention to an awesome initiative that served as powerful inspiration for us, Tidy Street in Brighton, England where residents were given home electricity monitors to help reduce their energy use. A local artist painted the unfolding infographic on the street to track their progress and participants ended up cutting their energy bills an average of 15%. Read More

What happens when a curious cat falls for a flashlight on a waxed floor? Exactly what you think would happen, but it’s nonetheless entertaining and slightly sad (worth the 13 seconds it will take of your life).

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We appreciate anything that helps us procrastinate if it is both A) free and B) entertaining, and bonus points if it can fall under the guise of “productivity” / “learning.” Enter Kern Type, the site that makes a game out of adjusting a word’s kerning (spacing between letters). As OCD type geeks, we love this, and even more so since we can “justify” (pun intended) our playing it as “professional development.” Our only qualm is that there aren’t more levels so we can waste more time learn more!

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We love all things magnetic and applaud innovative experimentation, so we think these “Gravity Stools” are a cool idea but are unfortunately and decidedly Fugly. Dutch designer Jólan van der Wiel created the volanic-rock-looking stools using magnets to pull apart a molten mix of plastic and iron filings.

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We’ve unfortunately never come across real unicorn poo (we hear the elusive creatures try to steer clear of Manhattan), but luckily Instructables user Kristylynn84 has and has been able to recreate the magical droppings in the form of terrifically colorful and delicious-looking cookies. While you may never be able to catch or, much less, see a unicorn, we’re guessing a good amount of the artificial food coloring in these will stay with you forever! More photos and links to instructions after the jump.

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We have a longstanding belief that cats are conspiring to take over the world…and will in due time. Case in point: they are now infiltrating a once incongruous realm, makeup. French label Paul & Joe Beauté has a new cosmetics collection that features cat-embossed eye shadows and lipsticks shaped like kitties wearing mini top hats. Top hats! It seems the felines are slowly gaining control…under the clever guise of cute and novel accoutrements…

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We think that pretty much explains swissted, the ongoing project by Mike Joyce, NYC graphic designer, but in case you want more… Read More