With the onslaught of outdoorsy knits like Fair Isle dominating this season, I was seriously beginning to wonder if that would be the only option available for toasty swaddling. Blessedly Original Fake has unveiled their fall/winter 2009 scarves and they’re delightfully curve-ballish. Granted, they fit in just as snugly at the chalet or ski resort but THANK GOODNESS they’re not emblazoned with panoramic views of pine trees because quite frankly how dullsville was all that arbor getting? God bless KAWS.

So I know the concept of the pop-up shop has become so ubiquitous as to have lost some of the renegade appeal but I have to admit I am stoked to announce the new Phaidon pop-up store that will be in New York City’s soho area come November 2nd. It’ll be there for three months featuring a litany of beautiful books that the British publisher is kind enough to bestow upon us and even though some of their hard-back tomes are so exhaustive as to be punishingly heavy I encourage you all to buy one of my FAVORITE Phaidon books of ALL TIME—A Day at elBulli.

Holy smokes, it’s a collection of photographs that chronicles EVERY SINGLE MOMENT with genius chef Ferran AdriĂ  during a day in arguably the best restaurant in the world, elBulli. Seriously, poring over the pages is like taking a brain vacation. They say you eat with the eyes and on this book you will GORGE.

There’s something so gloriously Sin-City-goes-to-the-big-screen, Frank Miller-ish about this Craig “KR” Costello collaboration with Mini that was fittingly unveiled for a show in Hamburg at the Viscous Gallery.

Fittingly in the sense that it’s always been the viscosity of Krink that gave it so much appeal and what reminds me so much of chiaroscuro comic book blood. Amazing.

Philippe Starck x LaCie. Really, why get ornate with unwarranted floral descriptions? They’re predictably elegant and available in 430GB or 500GB in the mobile drives and the desktop comes in in 1TB and 2TB capacities. They are available now. Run.

November 7th is a big day. Not only is it the day in 1917 that saw Lenin seize power from the Tsarist regime, it is also the day this year that sees the opening of a show at L.A.’s HVW8 Gallery featuring works by artists Michael Leon, Kevin Lyons, and Geoff McFetridge. Here is an amuse bouche-sized sampling of their wares to whet your appetite even if amuse yeux makes way more sense.

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This video, entitled VideoGioCo is created by Donato Sansone of Torino, Italy. Sansone did all the visuals (DP, editor, illustrator etc., yes, he is a very talented person) and his pal Enrico Ascoli did all the audio (sound designer, music producer etc., also, yes, hugely talented). Together they make my eyes enormously happy. This happiness can be yours after the jump.

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Yōkai Daizukai is a guide to yōkai—the demon, spirits, or monsters—of Japanese folklore illustrated and authored by horror manga master Shigeru Mizuki, creator of the celebrated GeGeGe no Kitaro series.

This compendium, which includes 85 of the monsters, features not only a description of each and their role in historic mythologies but cuts away to reveal their organs in glorious detail.

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Edrem is a trio of French artists whose work can be seen on their blog as a collection of “quick, black & white impulsive drawings.” The cartoons are simple, rife with potential for nostalgia (since they harken back to super old-school, lo-fi animations) and not entirely unlike prison tattoos. But while they look elementary or facile, each drawing is either a joke bomb or loaded with social commentary… or about farts.

Danish designers GamFratesi have created a desk called REWRITE that is presently on exhibition at The Danish Museum of Art and Design. The dome-like enclosure creates an intimate and hopefully productive atmosphere for utmost concentration. While it is still in the prototype phase with luck REWRITE will become available stateside, more specifically New York, where writers must thwart numerous distractions like fears of plagiarism and H1N1.

Independent British “design circus,” La Boca, is based on London’s Portobello Road and among very many things they do like hold exhibitions allover Europe and stateside and count just about every record label among their happy clients, they also have a delightful blog.On it they have posted a marvelous clip of Powers of Ten, a 1968 short documentary written & directed by no other than Charles & Ray Eames.

In 1998 it was selected for preservation in the US by the Library of Congress for its historical significance and is completely soothing and ever so slightly completely mind-blowing.

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The Art Convenience Store pop-up shop world tour continues and with its descent into Shinjuku department store Isetan comes this immensely wantable box of Ginbis Animal Crackers from Jun Takahashi’s UNDERCOVER label. They are available at Cliffedge and will likely be gone in three seconds as this is an EXCELLENT idea.

Designer/artist Bas Van Beek has made a new series of vases entitled Hyper Hybrid in collaboration with European modern interior design company Pols Potten. Van Beek who makes demands on his website that you “cancel your Wallpaper and Frame subscriptions and subscribe to DAMn!” also writes sprawling and thoroughly incredible essays on how Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal is a “Reagan-era politico-social commentary” and the way in which it toooootally applies to product design.

In short, he is awesome.

These “Hybrids” are not so much an elegant coming together of genetic ideals, but a seemingly clumsy mash-up of two things that don’t go together. The results, like the above “Wolf Watering Can Vase” are absurd and hilarious.

British clothier PPQ have collaborated with the three-striped demagogues of excellent ready-to-wear, adidas originals, to bring you a tight and two-toned collection that is highly covetable for this fall and winter.

More visuals after the jump!

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For Dutch Design Week, Dutch designer Chris Kabel has won 15,000 euros for his SEAM chair and SEAM bench design that are both entirely comprised of polypropylene fabric with edges or “seam finishes” that appear to be serged. The prize was granted for innovative use of materials and the potential ecological benefits of being able to create a rigid, molded product from a single recyclable material.

Controversial British artist Damien Hirst is at it again with a series of 50 painted plastic skulls. Available for purchase at Other Criteria, these glossy craniums are a far cry from his $100 million diamond encrusted “For the Love of God” skull but are nevertheless worth wanting. There are three variations—Hallucinatory Head, Hypnotic Head and Transcendent Head.