12 Most Wonderful Sofas

1 Pixel Sofa

The fabric for the Pixel Sofa has been picked up by Danish manufacturer Kvadrat, based off of a concept by Cristian Zuzunaga, a Royal College of Art graduate. The contemporary couch is sure to grab everyone's attention by virtue of its wide spectrum of colors.

2 Swimming Pool Sofa

This intriguing concept sofa design was made for an advertisement campaign of Piscine Castiglione, a swimming pool design firm.

3 Bocca Sofa

The iconic 1970 lip-shaped sofa is based on Salvador Dali's famous Mae West sofa of 1936. The erotic lips of this great Hollywood actress inspired Dalí. A special installation by the master shows the image of the face of May West. It's available only in red, of course.

4 Coliseum Sofa

Created in the shape of the famous Roman Coliseum, this sofa seems like a confortable rest place for gladiators.

5 Coffin Sofa

Call them coffins or couches, this pieces of furniture are worth $4,500 each. Designed using recycled 18 gauge steel coffins; the raw material was gathered from local funeral homes based in Southern California. Against the health and safety law that doesn't allow funeral homes to resell used coffins, these coffins were sold to public as the idea of recycling sound quite interesting. They cannot be used for burial purpose.

6 Tiger/Cow Sofa

Rodolfo Rocchetti of "Tappezzeria Rocchetti", a master upholsterer from Rome, made this incredibly creative pieces of furniture.

7 The Double Decker Sofa

Where do you want to sit? Napoleon versus Napoleon 1999, by Kuno Nuessli in collaboration with Sven-Anwar Bibi.

8 Harrod's Stuffed Animals Sofa

This fun couch made of stuffed animals is displayed at one Harrods store.

9 Sila, The Yoga sofa

The word Sila is a yoga expression, which means to sit cross-legged. The design intends to bring the tranquility of meditation to a modern, dynamic environment. Sila was created by Eridani Saleh with the desire to create a piece of furniture that is grand and dramatic, which represents the solidity of traditional construction and practice while offering a playfulness and new type of relaxation.

10 Wave Seat Sofa

Remember the story about Goldilocks and the 3 bears? While the bears were out, she helped her way into their house trying everything until she found the perfect fit. In hindsight she was on to something. We all want products designed custom just for us. The Wave Seat, by Jung Hoon Rhee, eludes to this old axiom and makes it possible thru the magic of nanotubes.

11 Songololo Sofa

The Songololo Sofa was created by Haldane Martin, a south african furniture design company based in Cape Town. Their furniture pays close attention to its sustainability, using green materials and processes whenever possible.

12 Groovy Banana

Yohanan Siskindovich's rocking couch design looks almost as fun as its wildly entertaining name, Groovy Banana. Siskindovich throws in the ol' "magazine rack" bonus feature, but we'd also shove blankets, books, dog toys, remotes, or even younger siblings in there--bring 'em along for the ride. A roll-up pod pad sits atop the Banana as to provide the utmost comfort whilst you rock.

Gina's Phoenix

In late June, I ran into Gina in Penn Station and complimented her on a tattoo she had on her back. At the time, she was wearing something with straps that covered part of the design. I gave her a flier and she remarked that she had just recently discovered the site through this post on the tattoo of Julie Powell.

Alas, like so many folks to whom I give fliers, I didn't receive any emails or photos. But a month passed and one day I was pleasantly surprised to see an email from Gina, with the following photos of her phoenix tattoo:

I'll let her explain the rest:

"... I had completely forgotten [about sending in the photo] until I found the picture I took for you on my camera... This was done by Junii at the Diamond Club in San Francisco. [Bill Salmon, Junii's husband, is the studio owner]. She does amazing line work.  She's also incredibly conscientious about design and her clients.  For both my tattoos, she spend a lot of time talking with me, looking at the 20 pictures I had brought in of bits or aspects of what I wanted, then went off and did her own research, always coming back with exactly the right drawing.

This one - I got it after a really, really difficult year. So, obviously, not the deepest symbolism - just wanted to remind myself of the possibility of renewal."

Thanks to Gina for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Alex Shares a Floral Tattoo, Roots and All

Sometimes I see tattoos before I see people.

Back in July, for example, I approached a guy on the West 4th Street subway platform to ask him about this tattoo on his right forearm:

It was only after I said hello to him that I realized he was someone named Alex who lives in my neighborhood in Brooklyn.

In fact, Alex had a tattoo featured here back in 2009, after I stopped  him in the laundromat.

This floral tattoo is a representation of how a flower overcomes obstacles and pain to lay down roots, rises up, and blooms.

He draws the comparison to life, as nothing comes without hard work and bypassing obstacles.

The tattoo was created by Shon Lindauer at Thicker Than Water in Manhattan. Shon is the same artist that did the tiger on my calf. Other work from Thicker Than Water has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Alex for once again sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday!

Kevin's Gravitational Tattoo

I love word tattoos so I couldn't help but stop Kevin at Barnes & Noble earlier this month. He had this tattoo inked on his inner right forearm:

He explained that he enrolled in school not knowing for sure what he wanted to do. He was on a path for a career in finance, but also has a keen interest in art and graphic design.

He says that the tattoo is a reminder that, although gravity is all around us, and pulling us toward the status quo, he should stay true to himself and never give up his interest in art.

He had this done by Betty Rose at Red Rocket Tattoo in Manhattan. Work from Red Rocket has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Kevin for sharing his Gravity with us here on Tattoosday!

Travis and Another Perspective of Ganesh

People who are familiar with being featured here on Tattoosday know that there is a process, in which I generally go chronologically, and it often can be several weeks before I post their work.

But there are always exceptions.

Take, for example, Travis, who I met on Monday near the corner of 32nd and 8th Avenue waiting for a bus.

Under normal circumstances, you'd have seen Travis's tattoo in September but, the next day, I got the following mysterious tweet: "@Tattoosday post pictures of that guys tattoos- you were talking to him yesterday outside MSG plzz! *stalker*".

What?

Well, a little bit of digging, and I discovered that the source of the message was Hannah, who appeared last month on Tattoosday here. And since I'm a sucker for my fans, I'll gladly oblige and share Travis's tattoo with us here today. Here it is:

Travis's tattoo depicts the Hindu deity Ganesh. However, unlike this Ganesh tattoo, this one has a twist.

Travis explained that one of the common beliefs is that Ganesh was born with a human head, but that he was beheaded as a boy, and his head was replaced with that of an elephant. He obtained a third eye so that he could make sure he was never betrayed again.

Travis says that he often feels "too aware" of others, to the point that it detracts from his enjoyment of life. Thus, his tattoo of Ganesh has him literally slicing off the third eye, wielding a sword with his trunk, which metaphorically translates to Travis "cooling out" and being less aware so that he can enjoy life more.

The "F.I.A." on the banner stand for "Fuck It All".

Travis has eight tattoos, which includes a full sleeve, all by artist Brad Stevens at Dare Devil Tattoo in New York City.

Thanks to Travis for sharing this interesting interpretation of Ganesh with us here on Tattoosday!

Idiot and Stupid parents in the world

We all know that parent’s love is the strongest filling in the world. And that’s a scientifically proven. But everything on the world have a good and a bad side… These shocking pictures are proving the bad side of parent’s love. After these photos what we can say is: poor children and reconsider the sentence “The Heart of Parents Rises Above Time and Space…”

Small World, Tattoosday-Style

I have a few days off and was buying some milk at the grocery store when an older gentleman in line behind me complimented me on the tiger tattoo on my calf, which has been well-documented here, in this initial post, and subsequent ones.

The gentleman asked who the artist was and mentioned his son was an artist as well. "Who?" I asked, and he told me, Mike Perfetto, aka Designs by Michael Angelo in Brooklyn. I gave him a flier and he introduced himself as Ralph Perfetto, our Democratic District Leader here in Bay Ridge.

I know you're likely thinking, "Nice story, Bill, but is it really that much of a small world coincidence?" Actually, yes, because my backlog had brought me to posting a couple of tattoos on Peter, who I had last seen at the Matty No Times benefit back on July 17. One of those tattoos, you guessed it, is by Mike Perfetto.

Let's take a look:

Pete also shared a tattoo on his leg by legendary Brooklyn artist Tony Polito. As you can see, Pete has quite a collection of ink, and he takes pride in the work he has from "old school" New York artists tattooing in the American Traditional style.

Pete explained that "Old Calcutta" was a nickname for Tony's shop from the early '80s to the mid '90s because of the high intensity atmosphere of the shop and the people who were there.

Thanks to Peter for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday (again and again). Peter has been working hard at New York Hardcore Tattoo on Stanton Street. They have recently remodeled the shop and are working hard on producing quality art on the denizens of New York City. Be sure to stop in and meet their crew.