Los Calaveras by Jose Posada

There's a dark, comic magic in los calaveras, the animated skeletons who drink, dance, dress up, sweep the streets, race their bikes and basically carry on like there's no mañana.

El Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead (Nov. 2) is always associated with Calavera de la Catrina (above), a zinc etching made by Mexican illustrator Jose Posada in the late 19th century.

Nowadays, she's emblematic of the Mexican holiday to honor dead loved ones, but that wasn't originally the case. Catarina, along with the rest of Posada's merry skeletons, were once newspaper cartoons designed to poke fun at the rich and satirize the politics and class struggles of Mexican society.

As a man of the people, Posada published his politically charged illustrations as booklets or 'penny chapbooks,' to rouse the literate but poorly educated lower and middle classes. Today, examples of his chapbooks have been republished and are available at Amazon. Aren't his drawings amazing? Cheers to Posada and todos los muertos.

Happy Halloween

Here's a cute spooky haunted house, complete with a meandering skeleton, that we discovered up on the Blue Bison website. Their drawing can work as screensaver, and it's available for download at their site.

Lizzie Allen Wallpaper

Bustling street scenes in London and New York are the fodder for Lizzie Allen's quirky, colorful wallpaper. The UK-based designer hand screen-prints each roll and catches the vibrant goings-on of city life: jazz concerts in the park, great architecture, hotdog stands, harried commuters trying to catch up on the news. As her website suggests, these would be ideal for a 'feature wall,' although a few samples would also make for cool framed art.
@ Lizzie Allen

Volf Design

Danish designer Carlo Volf has such a fresh, inventive way of re-thinking furniture. While his Flying Carpet sofa (above) and Stick chair (below, and remember to sit carefully) illustrate that, we especially love his storage concepts.

He's created the Inside Out cabinet (our favorite) which has couple of visible pockets (great for flowers, stereo equipment, sculptures) while the rest can be kept out of view. The fabulous Zip bookcase would be perfect for a home office. When your workday is done, just zip all your paperwork and work clutter away. Very smart, right?
@ Volf Design

George Nelson Lamps... Now In Color

Room & Board now has George Nelson's iconic Bubble lamps in color. The large criss-cross Saucer comes in a soft teal/gray shade, the criss-cross Cigar is available in wheat and both colors were developed exclusively for Room & Board. The lamps -- which are hallmarks of mid-century modernism -- look great in all kinds of rooms, mainly because their resin shades emit a wonderful glow.

We're so thrilled to see the color options. We've always loved these lamps, but haven't gotten one yet because the white seemed too stark and modern for the many earth tones in our home.
@ Room & Board, from $359

Hi*2*Lo: Crystal & Marble Lamps

High: Rock Crystal Lamp @ Anthropologie, $2,200 (without the shade) and Belgravia Table Lamp @ Circa Lighting, $2,100

Marble and quartz crystal lamps -- left in their naturally dramatic state -- have so much presence that they could easily become the focal point in a room. In that sense, splurging on one of these striking beauties could make a room. Then again, if spending $2K on a lamp sounds totally nuts, there are far more affordable options.


Low: Rock Table Lamp @ West Elm, $149 and Pierre Accent Lamp @ Crate & Barrel, $149.

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Even though posting examples -- but not prices -- of similar lamps goes against the whole Hi*2*Lo idea, we couldn't resist telling you about these. They're part of the Empel Collection's Yellowstone series. They're custom-made and priced on request... we suspect that if we have to ask, we probably couldn't afford them. Still, these are beautiful, as is the entire collection.

Simplified: Workplace Boosts

Is it time to spiff up your desk or upgrade your cubicle? We needed a boost on this end, and went e-trolling for appealing desk and office tools to add a bit of panache to our work premises. We expect them to revive our productivity levels too ... or at least our mood. Here are a few favorites:
Above: What's For Lunch Spinner @ Blue Ribbon General Store, $6

1. Pop-up pencil cup @ MoMA, $30. 2. Mr. P tape dispenser @ Greener Grass Designs, $18. 3. Morris memo holder & clip @ Monkey Business. 4. VW bus iPod speaker @ Urban Outfitters, $150. 5. Magnetic desktop darts @ Urban Outfitters, $10. 6. Hacked! USB port @ Amazon, $36. 7. Eraser matches @ Blue Ribbon General Store, $6


1. Desktop cleaning truck @ MoMA, $7. 2. Computer and book dust brushes @ NYBG Shop, from $25. 3. Giotto Rocket Blaster shoots air to blow off dust and debris @ Amazon, $8. 4. Keyboard brush @ Fitzu, $99

1. Whitelines notebooks (with a white grid) @ Amazon, from $5
2. Note to Self pad @ Greener Grass Design, $12
3. A mouse pad/notebook from Rhodia @ Vickery, $6.50
4. Sliced Bread Notebooks, a loaf of notebooks for grocery lists and more @ Burak Kaynak
[via 2Modern Design]

Munkii Vintage Bookshelf

Modern and classic. Silhouettes and cut-outs. Glossy white and reddish-brown color combo. Eco-friendly. Is there any hot trend that Singapore-based designers Munkii missed when they designed this fantastic bookcase? In fact, we think they've done this so well, it'll stand the test of time once the trends are played out. This is one of the few pieces we'd be proud to put in any room of our house. In our minds, it's a bit of a masterpiece.
@ Munkii
[via Design Milk]

Antique Tables by Nada Se Leva

These wonderful side tables are from Brazilian design team Nada Se Leva. These are part of their Antique collection, and has that great playful, modern style that is not all antique. We wish could read Portuguese for many reasons, and one of them is that we'd able to tell you much more about the tables and the company.
@ Nada Se Leva
[via 2Modern Design Talk]

Artist-Drawn Tea Towels

We have no idea when tea towels became collectible canvases, but Third Drawer Down has an impressive number of artists making original silk-screened linen towels. Shown here are designs by Trivia's Pursuit by Karla Pringle, Can We Dance by Camilla Engman, Enriqueta and Fosca by Gina Thorstensen and Family Portrait by Carolyn Alexander.
Honestly, we can't imagine using any of these to dry a skillet, but we might consider framing one or two and hanging them on a kitchen wall.
@ Third Drawer Down, $40

Hand Shadow Wallpaper

There's something magical about seeing two hands morph into a swan or bunny rabbit. Paper Boy Wallpaper captured the magic with their Handmade Wallpaper. It comes in two shades: gray and black and plum and silver. Good stuff, huh?
@ Paper Boy Wallpaper, £100

Posters by ISO50

We're in love with these retro-inspired posters from ISO50. It all works for us: The strong but faded color combinations, the funky fonts and the vintage feel. They've got a bunch of others, along with a 'poster set' deal. (Buy three or more, and the price drops to $14 each.)
@ ISO50 Shop, $17
[via SeeSaw Designs]