Pop-ups!

I obviously love design and making things. I also just as obviously love the whimsical-while-still-elegant nature of Japanese creations. So, PingMag, "The Tokyo-based magazine about 'Design and Making Things'" obviously has me hooked hopelessly and forever in its clutches. It is yet another wonderful eye candy-filled site to consume what little free time I have left.

What may not be as obvious is that I had an impressive collection of pop-up books as a child that I ruined from over-use. To this day, I have only one book from my childhood collection—the only book that somehow managed to survive because it wasn't about monkeys or dinosaurs.

And so, I now present one of the best features I've seen yet on PingMag: Welcome to the amazing world of pop-up books!.

Flour Figurines

"'Flour Figurines' are a type of popular folk art [that] can be traced back to the Han Dynasty (206 B.C to 24 A.D). Made from a sticky rice powder and strong flour, the figurines are shaped with scissors, combs and bamboo needles. Most figurines are historical characters from operas and legends or they reflect local customs and traditions." Via Spotlight on China.

Snakes on a Tie

Hand-screened Snakes on a Tie. Pretty awesome.

Street Fashion

Today, I present you with links that chronicle street fashion. It's like people-watching, but from the comforting glow of your computer monitor.

The Sartorialist: Everyday New York street fashion with well-thought critiques from the author and what works and doesn't work about each person's outfit.

Hel-Looks: My uttmost favorite site that I have spent hours and hours browsing. The photos are of energetic people in Helsinki, Finland.

London Street Fashion: The "interactive" interface annoyed me, but it's packed full of pictures for each "neighborhood" in London once you figure out how to navigate through the site.

STHLMstil.se: Street fashion direct from Stockholm, Sweden. Use the red arrow on the bottom-left of the screen to navigate to more pictures.

Stillinberlin: Fashion of ordinary people in Berlin.

The Clothes Project: Homey Singaporean fashion with a focus on the people beneath the clothes.

Face Hunter: Those crazy, crazy Parisians.

Meet CutE: Focuses on hipsters in Shanghai.

Tokyo Street Fashion: Tokyo fashion divided up by the more noted neighborhoods.

And now, a fashion-related quote from The Manflesh: "You know what I really like? Shorts with hard zippers!" He pauses to demonstrate the loud sound of the purported hard zipper. "Yeah! Isn't that manly!"