All Nothing: Poetic 1978 Animated Allegory about Mankind's Greed by Maria Popova Frédéric Back’s beautiful short film about harmony and the tragic entitlement of our species. French-born artist and activist-filmmaker Frédéric Back got his professional start in Canada in the 1950s, where he was asked to draw still images promoting moving pictures at Radio-Canada’s graphics department. Possessions, like happiness, are always eluding our grasp. The following year, while working on another film and applying a coat of fixative to a drawing, the fumes got into Back’s right eye. Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people say it’s cool. Share on Tumblr Destigmatize Regifting by Maria Popova How to give and receive with honesty, love, and no guilt. The season of giving is upon us — a time to receive a lot of stuff we don’t really need from people we care about, give them stuff they don’t really need in return, and do it all graciously, dancing a dance of feigned stuff-needing. I asked the lovely and talented Josh Boston, mastermind behind the current Brain Pickings redesign, to design a regifting icon, pattern, and stencil stamp. [ download hi-res PNG ] [ download vector file ] [ download hi-res PNG ] [ download vector file ] [ download hi-res PNG ] [ download vector file ] The stencil font is Bandoleer from indie type foundry Mad Type by designer Matt Desmond. You can use the regifting graphics to make your own giftwrap, either by printing them on paper, or by making a stamp or stencil to use on basic monochromatic wrapping paper. That’s it, you’re done. In 2011, bringing you Brain Pickings took more than 5,000 hours. Share on Tumblr
Dropping Knowledge - Table of Free Voices This Awesome Urn Will Turn You into a Tree After You Die | Design for Good You don't find many designers working in the funeral business thinking about more creative ways for you to leave this world (and maybe they should be). However, the product designer Gerard Moline has combined the romantic notion of life after death with an eco solution to the dirty business of the actual, you know, transition. His Bios Urn is a biodegradable urn made from coconut shell, compacted peat and cellulose and inside it contains the seed of a tree. Once your remains have been placed into the urn, it can be planted and then the seed germinates and begins to grow. You even have the choice to pick the type of plant you would like to become, depending on what kind of planting space you prefer. I, personally, would much rather leave behind a tree than a tombstone.
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