The Living Wall

Obviously green technologies are everywhere these days and for good reason. One of my favorite new trends is the appearance of living walls. Abroad, Parisian botanist Patrick Blanc has been popularizing this new art form through his work on the CaixaForum Museum, which has attracted tourist from around the world to view the wall shown below which houses over 15,000 plants.

Patrick Blanc's verticle garden at Marches des Halles.

Oulu Bar and Eco Lounge in Brooklyn

Thus I was excited to see a smaller version of the living wall on apartment therapy today (see the two examples above). Crafted by the always delightful Flora Grub, this smaller option provides a vertical garden which could fit in nearly any setting. And if you haven’t checked out Flora Grub Gardens yet hop in your car or alternate form of transportation and check it out today. You won't regret it!

--whitney

Systematic Landscaping

After my attempt to visit the California Academy of Sciences today was thwarted (once again) by impenetrable throngs of schoolchildren on Spring Break, I took my consolation in a stroll around the west end of the Academy, to enjoy artist Maya Lin's permanent installation, 'Where the Land Meets the Sea'.  Fabricated out of stainless steel wire, the suspended sculpture is a representation of the underwater topography that spans from Angel Island to the Golden Gate Bridge.

I must admit, I hadn't thought about Lin's work too much since seeing her captivating show last winter at the DeYoung.  But my ill-fated attempt to visit the Cal Academy was the perfect reminder of just how much I adore her work.  Her pieces are kinetic, yet at the same time gracefully still.   And I am blown away by how she manages to combine the mathematical and the organic, using data sets taken from the natural world as her inspiration, and creating mathematical models which are anything but dry and technical-- they seem to dance with the distilled energy of the natural forces they represent.

So I suppose not all was lost today.  I'm off to enjoy my waning weekend, so I'll leave you with a few more compelling pieces of Lin's.

--Gillian

Daily Door

Stairs

While most of you are familiar with my door obsession I do have another guilty pleasure: stairs. Apparently, I'm not alone in my stair fascination - the first two images are from one of my new favorite sites stairporn.org.

We're Back! And hungry for more great finds..

After a too-long "brief" hiatus, the ladies of the Light are back in the blogosphere, with an amped-up appetite for the undiscovered good things that are all around us!

Jumping right in...

This new find got me really excited: For the epicurean with a taste for the ephemeral, there is the brand-new Kitchenette SF.  From 11:30 to 1:30 Monday through Friday, stop by the pop-up kitchen at 958 Illinois St in the Dogpatch to pick up your lunch.  It's cash only, and the menu changes every day (check their website the night before), featuring amazing and innovative lunches made from all organic and sustainably farmed ingredients from local farms.

The chefs are a group of friends with an impressive pedigree: veterans of Chez Panisse, Foreign Cinema, Betelnut, all coming together to create a project that really puts the "here today, gone tomorrow" ethos of seasonal eating in the spotlight.

Happy on-the-go munching...

--Gillian

Daily Door

Time for class

I stumbled upon this vintage school desk while perusing the ever so magical Factory 20 website and got instant goose bumps. I had one just like it in the 1st grade where I would store my pencils and reading workbooks. I was going to post a bunch of school house nostalgia pics but decided I liked the simplicity of these shots instead…