6 Money-Saving Tips to Create More Investing Cash

To kick-start your investment plans, you need cash reserves. The best opportunities come and go quickly, and if you don’t have cash on hand to strike a deal, your investment career may possibly stall before it even had a chance to really start. Solid budgeting and a savings plan are the most straightforward ways to build your investment fund. However, if you want to accelerate things, look at your current resources—and expenses—for ways to free up and create more investing cash. Chances are that you have more funds (or access to more funds) than you even realize. This post is

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Business Photography and Lighting with Kate Zimmerman Turpin

The following post is brought to you by Squarespace. Our partners are hand picked by the Design Milk team because they represent the best in design.

Ask any professional photographer and they’ll tell you, using the right kind of lighting is key to capturing the underlying mood, tone, and setting of every photo they’ve ever shot. If you’re curious, just have a look at some of the images you’ve taken on your own smartphone and they’ll tell the same story. Building your own business is a lot of work, much of which revolves around how it will be perceived by your customers – creating a strong launch, mastering your online brand, and having a powerful logo design are just a few of the pieces. But then there’s the photography element, a true visual imprint of just what it is you’re putting out there into the world, and it needs to be on point and done right the first time around. Get some help looking like a pro from the get-go with Squarespace and their award-winning site templates. Their easy to use platform allows you to create an impactful, stylish, and easy-to-manage online presence so you can share your brand with the world.

Kate Zimmerman Turpinis an Austin-based photographer with a focus on product, food, interior, and fine art photography known for her strong use of natural light and shadow. She knew from a young age, even through seasons of insecurities and doubt, that being a photographer was what she was most comfortable with and wanted to spend her life doing. I fell in love with photography when I was around 12, following my baby brother around the house and convincing him to pose like the subjects in Sally Mann’s or Keith Carter’s images. I became obsessed with the darkroom in high school and then decided to study Fine Art at the University of Texas,” Zimmerman Turpin said. With the help of Squarespace, she’s been able to create a stunning portfolio site that showcases her best photos and helps to acquire new clients.

Zimmerman Turpin honed in on the niches of food, still life, and travel photography simply because she enjoyed working quietly and on her own, something I think many small business owners will be shaking their heads yes to. She says, “I liked playing with compositions, making them balanced or unbalanced, experimenting with textures, and doing it at my own pace.” While her favorite category tends to change with the seasons, Zimmerman Turpin currently favors still lifes in her personal work and interiors in her business.

As with any creative medium, Zimmerman Turpin uses different approaches to achieve the lighting look required for the various types of photography she specializes in. “For food and product, I always like to set up next to a window, usually in the morning or evening. For a more moody look I like having only one window as a light source, and blocking off the rest of the window light to create deep shadows. If I’m looking for a soft look, I’ll set up a white sheet over the window to soften the shadows. For spaces, I like to photograph when the natural light is at its best in each room. As for travel, I like to wander around in the morning, late afternoon, and evening to avoid harsh light,” she said. There’s also plenty of room for experimentation, usually involving full sunlight or interesting shadows.

While Zimmerman Turpin’s photos are undeniably beautiful, sometimes hiring a professional isn’t in the budget for a small business, so we asked her for a few tips and tricks to use when shooting on your own. “My first bit of advice would be to achieve the achievable, keep it simple. If you’re doing product photography, find a clean backdrop you can keep going back to and put it next to a window for consistent light. Remember, less is more – don’t over style. And don’t over edit with too much of a filter!” She recommends using only natural light and turning off all other light sources in the space, getting as close as possible to your light source (aka window), and using a reflector for the best end results.

However, some projects are going to require a pro, so if you’re looking to spend money wisely what should that go towards? Zimmerman Turpin suggests saving your dollars to use for your site’s photography. An impressive banner or cover image makes a huge first impression and will be well worth the professional photography investment in the long run.

We love Squarespace’s site design customization options and price point, and their users do too. “I chose my design based on the suggested designs for photographers. I wanted a clean gallery format on most pages so I didn’t do any personal customization, but I did play around with creating new pages and then adding a gallery on them. It gave my site design a slightly more organic, less organized look which I prefer,” said Zimmerman Turpin. Squarespace helps her run a stronger, more streamlined business from end to end and offers an aesthetic that aligns with her photography. “I love how I don’t have to spend a lot of time and money on hiring somebody to create a design that works for my business. Squarespace already has the clean and minimal look that best accentuates my photos.”

Ready to get to work on that branding? Take the first step and create a website or buy a domain name with Squarespace. Use coupon code DESIGNMILK at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.

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Friday Five with Maarten Baas

Maarten Baas is a German-born Dutch artist and designer that graduated from the Eindhoven Design Academy in 2002 and has since gone on to be dubbed one of the most influential Dutch designers of modern times. His graduation project, entitled Smoke, references the charred pieces of furniture he produced which caught the attention of Marcel Wanders’ Moooi, who quickly scoped them up and presented them at Salone del Mobile in 2003. Despite his early success, he continued to produce work that stayed true to his ideals and signature aesthetic, including designs for brands, such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Swarovski, Gramercy Park Hotel, and more. His work, which can be found in many permanent collections, like MoMa, Victoria & Albert Museum, Les Arts Decoratifs, San Francisco MoMA, Die Neue Sammlung, Stedelijk Museum and Rijksmuseum, effortlessly flows between art and design, while flirting with a touch of rebellion and even more playfulness. Read below to see his Friday Five picks, where’s he’s chosen a children’s book, a unique flower, and quote that makes you think.

1. “I like it, what is it?” – Quote by Anthony Burrill
I like the fact that it turns around the tendency of defining something first before liking it. The fact you accept that you don’t know what it is, but you like it anyway makes it very open minded.

Photo source unknown

2. Strelitzia
It’s a crazy flower, unlike other harmonious, symmetric sweet flowers. It’s a kind of punk thing, which has everything in it – a hard shell, with a soft beauty in the inside. The beautiful colors are asymmetric, and, if you grow them, there is a hidden flower inside that you have to coax out.

Photo still courtesy of Andrej Lovrić

3. Skate Parks
The decor is a highlight of architecture, with halfpipes, ramps, and other obstacles, which are being used to jump, slide and turn. The actors are boys, girls, men and women of all ages. The story seems like a utopia, yet it happens for real, right in front of you. It’s a story about a society, where everybody is equal, where people experience something beautiful together, where they challenge themselves and go further, step by step. With genuine respect, people can watch somebody who does amazing tricks, and at the same time, patiently, someone is being helped to take a ramp for the first time. People are constantly falling, but they just stand up and continue their practice, driven by an intrinsic motivation to develop. Like this, a never-ending movement is created, in which all individuals together develop as a group. After half an hour watching this park, you’re inspired to move on. Life is a skate park, just choose your way.

4. Museum of Art Brut, Lausanne
I’m very much inspired by Art Brut, as it shows art in the purest form. From a genuine force to create, people make what they need to make. It’s not a choice, it’s necessity.

5. The Very Hungry Caterpillar
This book has been inspiring from my youth. The book, as an object, is very nice, with the holes in the pages and the incredible illustrations. The story itself is all about a little caterpillar following its most basic intuition (eating), which is rewarded at the end by becoming a beautiful butterfly. The title in Dutch is “the caterpillar who had never enough”, which is much more negative in my mind. For me, my creative process is driven by intuition, which I believe makes my work unique. With this in mind, I prefer the English translation, which frames the story in a much more positive light.

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Introducing Wall Hangings from Society6

Society6 has an abundance of ways to help you add original art from popular and emerging artists to your home. Now, they’ve found a way to add texture and dimension to your home with the launch of their new wall hangings! The wall hangings are crafted from yarns in varying textures and patterns and are a modern alternative to more traditional tapestries like macrame. They’re available in two sizes and come with a wooden dowel and cotton yarn for easy hanging.

Need some shopping inspiration? We picked out eight of our favorite designs that look fun and unique as wall hangings in a home:

Indigo Mountains wall hanging by SpaceFrogDesigns

Black and white giraffe wall hanging by Alemi

Color Beauty wall hanging by Explicit Design

White Sand Blue Sea – Alcohol Ink Painting wall hanging by Elizabeth Karlson

 

truce wall hanging by Sarah Brust

Arrows Monochrome Collage wall hanging by ARTbyJWP

Record Collection wall hanging by Cassia Beck

Path to my Heart wall hanging by Nautical Decor

In an ongoing effort to support independent artists from around the world, Design Milk is proud to partner with Society6 to offer The Design Milk Dairy, a special collection of Society6 artists’ work curated by Design Milk and our readers. Proceeds from the The Design Milk Dairy help us bring Design Milk to you every day.

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Listen to Episode 62 of Clever: Ingrid LaFleur

In this episode of Clever, Amy and Jaime talk to Ingrid LaFleur, an artist, curator, pleasure activist, cannabis advocate and founder of Afrotopia, a creative platform that looks for ways to implement afrofuturist principles. She is also a very emphatic and supportive native of Detroit. In fact, in 2017 she ran for Mayor and created a plan of action that included radical thought, innovative ideas and solid brilliant logic. She’s doing the work, gently and joyfully crafting a future of conscious co-liberators, decentralized power and decolonized minds. Listen:

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Stay tuned for a new episode of Clever in two weeks! Don’t miss an episode: Subscribe to Clever on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify or use our feed http://clever.libsyn.com/rss to subscribe via your favorite podcast app.

Follow Clever on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And most importantly, please spread the word to anyone who you think would like it.

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Can You Flip Houses in a Hot Market?

I have been flipping houses for over 15 years in good markets, bad markets, and everything in between. A lot of people have said you cannot flip houses in today’s market. They say that prices are too high and that you can’t flip in a seller’s market. I think that you can flip in any market if you know the fundamentals of house flipping. I will admit it was much easier for people to flip houses right after the housing crash because there were so many foreclosures and short sales available. But, you do not need short sales or foreclosures

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Graham & Brown Launches Wallpaper Collection with Brian Eno

British wallpaper manufacturer Graham & Brown enlisted one of the most iconic figures in music to lend his creative magic to a collection of wallpaper that recently launched in the US. Brian Eno, a ridiculously prolific founding member of Roxy Music and frequent collaborator of artists like David Bowie, U2, Talking Heads, Coldplay, and more, has always dabbled in other mediums so it’s really no surprise he’s landed in the wallpaper arena. He created two bold prints, Flower Mask Blue Wallpaper and Flower Mask Jade Wallpaper, where he cleverly layered his own original designs with archival patterns from Graham & Brown.

The Mask series references abstract expressionism through its energetic graphics and vibrant color palettes which shift as you step away from it. The patterns will definitely add a dramatic statement to any wall complete with a cool story behind it.

Brian Eno says:

I think of wallpaper as ambient painting – an area of interior design that changes the atmosphere in a room. I really responded to classic floral designs and also those with West African roots from Graham & Brown’s archive, resulting in a dynamic layering of pattern to create the collection – a kind of music to be played on walls.

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Omer Arbel Launches New Objects as OAO Works

Omer Arbel, designer, artist, and creative director of Bocci, recently launched a new brand for the objects and curiosities he’s been creating on the side for the last 13 years. Along with his work for Bocci, the Vancouver and Berlin based Arbel creates work under his own name and is taking it even further with OAO Works (Omer Arbel Office Works). The platform will showcase works that are more niche and don’t fall under any particular category.

Described by OAO Works:

Some of the works resist simple classification, while others are by-products of more targeted investigations. Still more are results of very particular relationships, narratives, and collaborations.

31.3 Polygon Glassware is a series of 31 glass pieces that are made to be configured into any number of compositions. The collection is the result of looking into the five-fold tiling problem and ancient formulas from traditional Czech glassmaking. Their alternative to five-fold symmetry are pieces made in three particular shapes that can be arranged to get the same result. As for the colors, they’re the result of old Czech formulas, some dating back to the 1600s. Each set of 31 pieces is completely unique and their arrangement and use is up to its owner.

The 84.2 Copper Mesh Glass Vases are made when a bubble of colored glass is suspended inside of a copper mesh basket and then dunked into hot clear glass. Air is then blown to help push the colored glass through the mesh leaving it suspended within the outer layer of glass.

The 19.2 Overspill Brass Vessel explores sand-casting brass and instead of getting rid of the overspill, it becomes a part of the piece creating a juxtaposition of textures.

The 64 Beeswax Candles form when solid and liquid forms of wax and water interact to form the organic shape. The candle is cast within ice to protect it until it reaches its location where it can then be melted. The form is too delicate to move so once the ice is melted, the candle should be in its final destination to be burned.

71.2 Electromagnetic Accretion Jewellery forms when copper wire parts are repeatedly dipped into an emulsified nickel solution where it comes in contact with an electric current. Over the many times the process is repeated, the pieces start to grow and are turned into jewelry – rings, bangles, necklaces, brooches, and earrings.

Five of the works from the inaugural 2018 collection were displayed during NYCxDESIGN at De Vera.

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6 Lessons I’ve Learned from People Who Retired Young with Rental Income

I’ve interviewed dozens of people who have reached financial independence with rental properties. Some started with high salaries, others made low or average incomes. None had trust funds. Like everyone else, they had little or no experience when they bought their first property. They learned from online courses, from mentors, from reading books and blogs. And they learned from doing. Each story is unique, but as I interviewed more of these successful people, several recurring themes began to emerge. Here are the patterns I’ve noticed, among the people who achieved financial independence within just a few years of starting their quest. (This post was

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Society6 Gets You Ready for the Dog Days of Summer

Today marks the official first day of summer (yay!) and with that comes official beach weather. To get you ready for future dog days of summer, here are 10 of the newest beach towels to hit the Society6 catalogue:

Hot dogs and lemonade beach towel Selma Cardoso

Surf girls beach towel by Tasiania

TOUCAN tropical toucans beach towel by Magic Dreams

Here comes the sun beach towel by I Love Doodle

Orange Harvest – White by Leanne Simpson

beach – summer love II beach towel by Ingrid Beddoes photography

Summer Sunset beach towel by Cascadia

Mid Century Modern Geometric 04 Yellow beach towel by The Old Art Studio

Crisp cut swim by Helo Birdie

In an ongoing effort to support independent artists from around the world, Design Milk is proud to partner with Society6 to offer The Design Milk Dairy, a special collection of Society6 artists’ work curated by Design Milk and our readers. Proceeds from The Design Milk Dairy help us bring Design Milk to you every day.

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Let’s talk about cones

Best of NeoCon 2018

NeoCon has once again come and gone and this year’s show marked the 50th year of bringing the latest and greatest in the commercial design world to Chicago’s Merchandise Mart. The show presented a host of innovative textiles and workspace offerings that can and will change the landscape of offices and other commercial settings for years to come. Brands are spending more time focusing on noise reduction, privacy, and comfort, with aesthetics and ergonomics playing a key role. Check out below to see some of our favorite finds at this year’s NeoCon.

KnollTextiles also launched a new collection of wallcoverings by Trove. The Atmosphere Collection comes in several variations, each with a watercolor-like feel, including Cascade (below).

Ghislaine Viñas launched her first-ever textile collection – the Curious Crowd collection with HBF Textiles where she was inspired by sea slugs and jellyfish. The colors, patterns, and shapes are reflected in the collection of six designs, which include Ms. Quilty, Captain Bubble, Sir Stripe-A-Lot, Sister Solid, Madam Dottie, and Mr. Dimple.

Left: Mini samples of the carpet tiles \\\ Right: Examples of the many possibilities

Shaw Contract partnered with Form Us With Love on Inside Shapes, a collection of carpet tiles that go in a whole new direction. The collection comprises four tile shapes that come in 12 colors, which means the possibilities are endless. If coming up with your own pattern is too much, you can always go with one of the 17 premixed options available.

Another release from Shaw Contract is their PET Resilient product line of sustainable flooring that’s made from 40% post-consumer PET plastic, which means there are 16 recycled plastic bottles per square foot. Palette is the first collection and it features digitally printed surfaces, including the terrazzo-inspired one above.

The Scandinavian Spaces showroom was designed by Ghislaine Viñas and it was a visual delight, especially this custom wallpaper she created for the back of the space.

Five Cities by Ellie Malin for Designtex 5×5

The Designtex 5×5 collection was made in partnership with Crypton and it featured five contemporary artists who were asked to design a pattern to be digitally printed on Crypton fabric. Each of the five patterns comes in five colorways.

CrissCross by Kapitza for Designtex 5×5

BitDrift by Phillip David Stearns for Designtex 5×5

Social Dance by Elizabeth Atterbury for Designtex 5×5

Line Variations by Arturo Guerrero for Designtex 5×5

Herman Miller is set to launch the Cosm task chair this summer. It was designed by Studio 7.5 and it’s just as comfortable as it is visually appealing. We especially liked this coral-ish/red color.

We also loved this vignette in the Herman Miller showroom which featured some of their iconic pieces wrapped with their new Overlay sub-architectural walls by Birsel + Seck.

BuzziSpace launched Cory Grosser’s BuzziMood – living moss wall panels that help absorb sound while bringing greenery inside.

Cross Cut is a rug from Maharam that was designed by Hella Jongerius who brings a new approach to rugs with geometric cutouts.

Equilux is a new textile series from LUUM which features layered grid patterns that were inspired by light that passes through geometric facades.

Arc-Com presented a lot of new textiles with geometric patterns in striking color palettes and we couldn’t choose just one favorite.

Benjamin Hubert designed this privacy chair for De Vorm with a compression molded shell made from PET Felt, a felt made from recycled plastic bottles.

DARRAN unveiled ThinkingQuietly, a 4-person workstation made from an acoustic material comprised of recycled plastic bottles.

Teknion will be launching the tn Storage Collection in the Fall and it consists of a series of desktop and wall-mounted storage organizers in fun colors.

Danish firm Norm Architects designed a series of furniture for OFS Brands that includes sleek seating with curvaceous silhouettes.

In addition to new commitments to sustainable practices, Interface launched a collection called Visual Code, which includes this high-pile tufted design called “Overedge” that gives the look of a homey throw rug but with easier installation, and the durability and safety of a carpet tile.

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