The obsession with vintage items during recent years has escalated even further into a trend for Steampunk items, ranging from clothes to household items.

Steampunk is a juxtaposition of science fiction technology, and the Victorian era of the 19^th Century when steam power was still used.

It still retains the concept of owning a one-off item, like vintage and antiques, but presents this with a twist of modern technology.

There is a current influx of these items, so we have picked out the top 3 must-have gadgets with a Steampunk theme…

Steampunk Mechanical Rotary Smartphone

This particular gadget probably sums up the Steampunk concept more than any other, combining the most up to date technology with processes from the past. The user of this phone can feel the intricacies of both modern and traditional design with dual-operating methods. It has a phone dial at the back as well as a numeric keyboard on the phone – showing a direct comparison between the emerging dominance of touch screen technology and traditional methods.

Colorfly Media Player

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Video games have often been dogged by criticisms not only because of their partiality to be of a violent nature but also for the ‘sedentary’ lifestyles they cause.

Given the rampant critique of video games, referring to such entertainment as art rarely holds much prevalence. Although at E3, the annual video game conference and show held at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the almost one-sided debate to whether video games could possibly be considered art is a closed-question, as the gallery-style exhibition is dedicated to proving that video games are most definitely art.

The “Into the Pixel” exhibition is now in its eighth year and comprises of 17 images that were selected out of hundreds of submissions. All the images have been created for video games and include subjects usually associated with video games such as spaceships, dragons and monsters, as well as more abstract images that would not look out of place in an Andy Warhol exhibition.

The video game images on display at the LA Convention Center have been created by a variety of electronic design companies ranging the major companies such as Sony to smaller independent games manufacturers.

Talking about video games emergence as a form of art, Tyler Breon, whose image “Cronos Battle” is displayed at this year’s E3, said:

“Video-game art, like other emerging art forms, needed time to earn wider acceptance. You look at all kinds of media that were new – anything that’s new, people aren’t really comfortable with initially.”

The same way in which comic books are now considered a form of creative expression and art after years of derision, Breon believes video games are moving within the same realms as other genres of art that started out to be considered crass and even vulgar.

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As its name suggests, ‘Benchmarks: Seven Women in Design’ is a unique exhibition which explores a ‘benchmark’ phenomenon of women making their mark in the world of graphic design.

The exhibition is being shown at the Center Gallery at Fordham University Lincoln Centre in New York until August 15 2011.

This refreshingly progressive exposition includes the work of Louise Fili, Paula Scher, Eileen Boxer, Lucille Tenazas, Gail Anderson, Carin Goldberg and Elaine Lustig Cohen, and explores the graphic designers’ illustrious and prominent careers.

This unique portrayal of women in what has traditionally been considered a male-led industry began as a senior project in Abby Goldstein’s graphic design class, has been curated by Goldstein alongside Lindsay Reichart, an art history major.

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The name ‘Sunken Gardens and Carnivores’ is bound to spark interest and intrigue and no doubt that was the intention of the Swedish photographer Helene Schmitz latest exhibition. ‘Sunken Garden and Carnivores’ is being shown at the Centre d’ Art et de Nature, Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire until 3 November 2011.

The artist’s inspiration for her extraordinary exhibition came from a journey she to South America in 2010 in the footsteps of Daniel Rolander, a neglected and forgotten Linnaean apostle.

Schmitz’s interest was ignited when she visited a butterfly farm in the middle of a jungle which was run by a Dutchman. The owner’s attempts to uncontrollably restrain an insatiable nature, to fame a section of a jungle in order to breed butterflied, fascinated her.

The Sunken Gardens and Carnivores displays a series of photographs which question the “underside” of nature whereby man, with his desire for domination and control, does not find comforting. In her striking and vibrant photographs, Helene Schmitz breaks the notion that it is man who dominates the world and instead it is nature that ‘dominates, encloses and devours.’

Part of the exhibition shows Schmitz’s photographic appraisal of the botanical gardens of Sweden for the last two years. The images, mostly portraits of carnivorous plants, again explore the relationship of tension between nature and cultures.

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With a cartoonish, youthful and playful aesthetic, big buttoned Boop furniture has really made its mark on modern home furnishing and interior design. Designed by Note Design Studio, the Boop collection combines a simple and minimalist style with bold, solid colours, rounded silhouettes and big buttons that oozes an ambience of comfort and fun.

The collection includes a swivel chair, armchair and settee and is not only the perfect décor for the light summer months but could also be a fantastic way to brighten up those long and dark winter evenings.

Note Design Studio is a Swedish design company who first designed the Boop furniture as part of the company’s Margin Notes collection. The Boop family was developed further by Note Design Studio which dressed the furniture in monochrome suits and synchronised the colour of the upholstery so that it would brighten even the dingiest of living rooms.

The Boop collection is the latest of a string of ‘fun and playful’ furniture to arriving on the design scene.

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