Minimal Universe

Minimal Universe collect posts from our favorite minimal-related blogs listed on the right.
  • saving ink — One (App) at a Time*

    saving ink — One (App) at a Time*:

    Fantastic post from Anna Spysz about being forced to do with less after her Macbook Pro logic board died. It’s a nice reminder that one can really surprise themselves with how little they really need and how, in fact, “less” may have certain advantages over “more”. I love this part:

    After the initial frustration subsided and I came to terms with the fact that I will be MacBook-less for over a month (and bought this sweet adapter to watch my iPhone videos on my TV), I’ve found that this forced single-tasking is both extremely difficult to get used to, and ultimately far more effective. It’s been a constant struggle with my own, easily-distracted brain, that I’d tried to wage with less success using tools like Isolator or Think on my very multitasking-capable laptop. Now it will be a struggle to maintain this focus once my own computer is back, but I think this experience has given me the motivation to truly give it a go, now that I’ve seen just how effective single-tasking can make me.

    You don’t need a focusing app to focus. What you need are new habits, and no app can really give you that.

  • yin yang mac (via Taylor Ross and Connor Horenn)



    yin yang mac

    (via Taylor Ross and Connor Horenn)



  • Edits by Edit

    It has taken him a year of his life, but his Edits by Edit project is finally complete.

    NYC-based creative technologist, designer and art director Nitzan asked 12 designers from around the world to represent a musical genre using just one shape and one type.

    This resulted in an eclectic A1 poster series full of brilliant ideas, all of which are now for sale.

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  • T-Shirt Sales Closing Wednesday

    Short version: If you want a Minimal Mac T-Shirt, click that link up there in the menu and order one sometime before Wednesday at 11:59am.

    Long version: I’m having some fairly major surgery next Monday. I have some disk degeneration in C5, 6, & 7 that is causing bulging into the nerve space. It has caused me to be in various levels of constant pain from my neck down my right arm for over four years now. I’ve finally run out of non-surgical options to treat it so, the knife it is. I’ll spare you the gory details but for at least a couple of weeks after I’ll be unable to perform my normal bloggly duties.

    Therefore, I’m going to close up the sale, tally up the order, and get that sent off to the printer so you have some hope of getting your t-shirt in 2-4 weeks.

    Thanks in advance for your well wishes and understanding. Your patience will be rewarded. The shirts will be great.

  • My services as a security consultant

    My services as a security consultant

  • Minimal: Find your own Way

    Minimal: Find your own Way:

    mnmal:

    Before Buddha became enlightened he searched enlightenment by following different masters. Each one promised him that if he followed his way he would find what he was looking for. Buddha starved himself, lived a live of poverty and did other things as he was told by his masters. After several years he realized that none of this was going to give him what he was looking for, so he picked ideas and notions from the different ways he followed in the past and started following his own way. He attained enlightenment.

    I came to realize that minimalism is the same. You can follow different masters, but at the end of the day you will have to follow your own. Take ideas and tips and incorporate them into your own Way. Learn from it, make it part of your life and pass it forward.

    I don’t know how I missed posting about this but it looks like my friend Uri has decided to shut down his Minimal tumblr and put all of his energy into his wonderful new project Pack Light, Go Fast. The new project is another dear to my heart, minimalist and lightweight travel. You should check it out.

    Also, Uri is a pretty swell guy. A lot of people don’t know but he is a freelance Security Consultant. I reached out to him recently for a security related problem and he went above and beyond the call of duty for a client of mine. You should hire him if you ever have a need.

  • Toba

    Over here in Europe we already faced early autumn storms and the days getting shorter and shorter. Perfect weather to stay inside, close to the stove, with a good book.

    Italy based company MCZ operates in the indoor heating sector and created Toba. A minimalist pellet stove made of steel with a ceramic or soapstone front. The top and base or made of black powder coated aluminium. The ceramic front is available in the following colours: white, red, soapstone, black, bordeaux.

    Toba
    Toba
    Toba

  • Calendar 2011 by SILNT

    Calendar season is now officially open!

    Felix Ng of Singapore design studio SILNT is kicking it off with his minimalist Calendar 2011. Originally made for the designer’s personal use, the calendar’s unorthodox horizontal format is ideal for marking project schedules and counting down to the deadlines.

    The calendar measures 820 x 297mm and typeset in Akzidenz Grotesk. It is printed on 150 gsm Curious Particles Snow Paper in an edition of 250. Buy it at SILNTs web site.

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  • Lines

    I think the most successful artists that work with sculpture and installation are those that address and involve their work in a highly considered conversation with space. In my opinion, there are few others who do this as well as Fred Sandback (1943-2003), an American artist who was renown for his strictly geometrical yarn sculptures, prints and drawings.

    Writing about his first experiences using yarn, Sandback says:

    The first sculpture I made with a piece of string and a little wire, was the outline of a rectangular solid—a 2 x 4 inch—lying on the floor. It was a casual act, but it seemed to open up a lot of possibilities for me. I could assert a certain place or volume in its full materiality without occupying and obscuring it.

    And on the use of straight lines:

    The line is a means to mediate the quality or timbre of a situation, and has a structure which is quick and abstract and more or less thinkable, but it’s the tonality or, if you want, wholeness of a situation that is what I’m trying to get at.

    Much like the work of Margaret Roberts, Sandback’s work proves how drastic an intervention of something as subtle as string can have on the perception of space.

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  • Griffin Technology was kind enough to send me their new AirCurve...



    Griffin Technology was kind enough to send me their new AirCurve Play for iPhone 4 for review. I thought a video review was most appropriate so that one can get a sense of how it sounds. Enjoy.

    P.S. Price is $19.95, a fact I could not remember during production.

    P.S.S. Yes, I’m aware the iPhone version is reporting it requires Flash. I’m not sure why. I’m using the iOS compatible embed and it plays as expected on the iPad. If anyone has any bright ideas please send them my way.



  • On Line

    Belgium-based architect and designer Bart Lens from Lens°ass architects designed a new track lighting system called On Line.

    It consists of recessed and surface mounted LED fixtures, and uses magnets to connect the various types of fixtures to the track.

    Constructed using abstracted geometrical forms makes these fixtures blend in with the architecture. Giving a very minimal visual impact on the surrounding space.

    On Line will be produced by Eden Design.

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  • Dan Flavin

    Dan Flavin (1933-1996) was one of the founders of minimal art. His breakthrough use of light has been emulated not only in art but in design and architecture. One of the most important figures in twentieth century art.

    He has produced sculptural installations made from fluorescent light bulbs of varying lengths and colors. His sculptures illuminate everything around them, they wash the walls with colors, reflect on the floor so the entire space seems painted.

    Minimal art is clean, industrially produced and serially repeating. Flavin’s work set the stage for much of the experience-oriented installation work that continues today.

    I really like the interrogation and emotion you face in front of such installations because everyday life objects are made extraordinary.

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  • Stupidity is NOT security

    In this twitt Patrick Rhone states what will happen if his daughter is ever treated this way by the TSA. Here’s a direct link to the video, judge for yourself:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TCHSGvNwRY

    I agree with Patrick. I wanted to add that if that happens to my daughter I, having been trained in a Recon Unit, with a black belt in Aikido, several years of Krav Maga, complete intolerance for stupidity and hatred for stupid people, I will break that security guy’s everything and he/she will not touch anyone else, the entire life.

    This is NOT security, this is stupidity, plain and simple.

    I am all for security, i am willing to put myself and my family through a lot for security and i am sure not all the people at the TSA are stupid, however there are limits. Frisking a little girl like this woman does to this girl won’t stop a terrorist. The sooner you realize this, the sooner the TSA will actually start doing things that will protect us.

  • "Lessen your choices and your actions will quicken as well. You will not have to take the time to..."

    “Lessen your choices and your actions will quicken as well. You will not have to take the time to decide which tool to use because there is only one.”

    - Patrick Rhone (via minimalmac)

  • "Lessen your choices and your actions will quicken as well. You will not have to take the time to..."

    “Lessen your choices and your actions will quicken as well. You will not have to take the time to decide which tool to use because there is only one.”

    - Patrick Rhone

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