What a great looking backgammon set!   I need to own this and play it in the summer on the patio while sipping mint lemonade.

Apparently based on The Royal Game of Ur, played in ancient Mesopotamia, backgammon look-a-like boards were also excavated from sixth and seventh century Indian ruins!  Will someone please teach me how this works so I can finally play this game?

Crazy amazing collection of mid-70′s logos on flickr.  I’ve been meaning to get these up for a while…  I was obsessed with these when I found them… Enjoy.

I am working on a design project at the moment that has me wrapped up in Mexican roadside iconography. As a Latin American myself who has traveled pretty extensively throughout Central America and the Carribean, what stands out the most from my tropical roadtrips are the classic handpainted signs – Rotulos – that are sadly starting to be replaces by modern, inexpensive computer printing. Until recently, most signs in these third world countries, even corporate ads for Coca-Cola and Corona, were painted by hand.  It’s a business that has thrives in some parts of the world for hundreds of years…

I read an article recently about the fading trade, that is still hanging on in many parts of Mexico. According to the author…

A Se Vende or Se Renta (“For Sale” or “For Rent”) sign with an accompanying phone number can be painted on your façade for under $200 pesos (less than $20 US). This includes materials and the meticulous lettering styles that the artist in question learned at a special school in Mexico City. Hand-drawn signs are cheaper, according to the painter, but many Mexicans prefer to use the more modern services as they think somehow they must look better.

Really?  Um.  Nah.

Amazing images from André Courrèges‘ heyday in Assouline‘s beautiful tome.  Why no one has re-taken this bull by the horns is beyond me.  Maybe some things are better left alone.

Remember these?  I had so much fun with Fisher-Price Little People.  I’d love a massive clear fishbowl full of these on our coffee table.  The new ones aren’t nearly as cool.

These everyday New York City images by Yoanne Lemoine are what my world looked like as a kid growing up in Queens.  It’s funny how this French chick is so into this stuff.  These photographs capture all the things that made me desperate to get away, but now feel kind of bittersweet.  Europeans are always obsessed with things like this.

She also made a bunch of videos about “young New Yorkers” – none of whom are from New York.  Not so into those.

James Lileks chronicles the hideous homes my generation grew up in with Interior Desecrations.  I hate dating myself, but this may explain certain psychological issues children of the seventies are prone to.  You just can’t have an accurate grip on reality when you’re surrounded by stuff like this.  Lileks’ commentary that accompanies each shot is absolutely hilarious…

Note how the drapes coyly admit a view of the outside world, which is substantially less yellow than your room. You might be able to go outside some day and see this strange non-yellow world for yourself.

I actually dig the kitchen.

Get your own copy HERE.

I’m lovin’ George Nelson’s swag leg home desk.  His whole swag collection is pretty sweet (more pics after the break) but this one is top of the pile.  

Swaging – using pressure to taper and curve a metal tube – is a signature of the range that he designed for ease of transortation and construction. Apparently the legs come off quite easily for shipping but are incredible strong.  You just gotta love these mid-century utilitarian minds.  Never was some chrome tubing so soft on the eye.

I’m not a huge fan of his wall clocks or marshmallow sofa, but Nelson’s work for Herman Miller was forever perfect, especially the two other non-swag desks coming up below…

Available at the MoMA store and Sam Flax.