What the hell is art ?!

This morning I was trying to find a suitable place to store some Christmas presents and the only place I could find was my old den or "shack" as we used to call it. A small hut out in the bottom of my garden where me and my friends spent many hours drinking, smoking, gossiping, dancing, sleeping, you name it we've done it in that 6ft square room. Going back out there and seeing the graffitied walls and the empty beer cans made me feel something very strange, it touched me and made me think. To me this was the best peice of artwork I'd ever seen.

The English dictionary describes art as "the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance". This is all good and well but to me that definition is just a bunch of words.

Urban dictionary however, describes it as "The purpose of art is to create an emotional response in the person that is exposed to that art". I completely agree with this definition and can easily relate to it. Although we didn't have any intentions in creating such an emotional peice of work it certianly has become that and I hope many other people can look at their own lives and see that art doesn't have to be in a boring gallery.

Alphabet furniture by DDB group - LOVE IT!

Designers today are always taking products to new levels and finding different ways to develop them. But why make things differcult when you can make them easy? That is exactly what DDB Group have done with their new flat pack furniture range.

The Singapore based design group have created a modular flat pack furniture set where you simply connect the letters to create the product you want. For example, to create a chair you use the parts C-H-A-I-R (see photo).

Each letter is made from plywood and coated in matte black paint. You can buy each piece of furniture for around $290 which I personally think is a bargain!! Simple, modern, unique furniture at it's best.. And it's cheap!

The art of communication - or the lack of..

Today's society is prodominatly surrounded by social networking, texting, and the occasional emailing. There's no denying it, it's everywhere. I know what you're thinking right now 'great another blog/article about how we lack traditional communication skills'. However, I'm actually planning on justifying it and hopefully going to enlighten you on why I spend 99.9% of my time glued to my phone.

Texting allows us to quickly, quietly, and reliablly send a message to someone else. It can help arrange plans or days and nights out, which is very handy because we all have that one friend who is ridiculously hard to get hold of! My personal favourite about texting though is that it's a simple way of just showing someone you are thinking about them. Who wouldn't like a little 'good morning' message or a 'sleep tight' text?

Facebook is also another great way of keeping in touch. It allows us to be apart of peoples lives who we otherwise may not have chance to be. The most common example I can give is when your friend move all over the country to different universities. With the help of facebook we can stay in touch and know that they are having a good time. Another, more personal, reason why I enjoy spending my time on social networking sites is that it allows me to keep in touch with my cousin who lives in Singapore. It means that we can chat and leave messages no matter what the time difference.

So yes, we may be losing the ability to express out feelings face to face but texting and messaging really can help us communicate and stay in touch where we couldn't before.