It’s been another non-stop year at Quickonline which involved some great projects with some amazing clients that we really enjoyed working with! We look forward to do more good work together in 2012.

To everyone we’ve had the privilege of working with this year, have the most festive of festive seasons.

Shop will re-open on January, 4, 2012

Here at Quickonline we have a lot of appreciation for beautifully handcrafted items – whether it be a piece of furniture, a tailored jacket or a messenger bag. Recently I have noticed many laptop bags moving away from the hi-tech look and rather making use of organic natural materials.

Some inspiration from around the world.

This bag is from the brilliant Wood & Faulk website. This is one of my favourite blogs and they have any amazing handcrafted products. Do yourself a favour and have a look at their Northwesterner bag range. This one above is the mini version made from canvas, heavy duty leather and metal studs at the bottom. Made in the USA, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like they ship to SA yet.

These cleverly designed laptop bags are by Hard Graft a European company also specialising in hand made leather and wool products. They have a brilliant collection of bags and travel essentials. They also ship to anywhere in the world – yay!

Last, but definitely not least we have our own Cape Town based store for laptop sleeves and bags: Dark Horse.

You can buy one of these handmade hemp and genuine leather laptop sleeves for R270. The interior boasts beautiful diamond stitching with padded lining.

Go have a look at their new store in Kloof Nek Road.

Happy Shopping.

My favourite new discovery is Google Art Project! I have spent endless hours on it.

You can explore museums from around the world:

Discover and view hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels:

Even create and share your own collection of masterpieces:

Simply select a museum from the homepage and then either choose ‘Explore the museum’ or ‘View Artwork’. Once you are in the main site use the drop-down menus or the side info bar to navigate between artworks and museums. Finally create and share your own collections online.

Have a look on here.

This simple little online tool, Rorschmap, uses mirrored and flipped google maps to create interesting kaleidoscopesque images.

Visit Rorschmap

There seems to be a trend in finding a balance between nature and technology and although it may seem like these two could never possibly be in harmony, I found some beautiful exceptions to this presumption.

Meet 2 companies doing amazing things with wood and digital:

WeWood is an Italian company with a avant-garde approach to sophisticated sustainability.
They create watches made from 100% natural wood.

They had the following to say about their products:

Completely absent of artificial and toxic materials, the WeWOOD Timepiece is as natural as your wrist. It respects your skin as you respect nature by choosing it. Your WeWOOD Watch breathes the same air that you breathe and may awaken memories from another time and place. Your WeWOOD Watch records your sensations and shares your experiences as the perfect natural mate, whose story also becomes yours to wear, smell and feel.

Have a look at their website here.

Then there is Miniot who have created the most beautiful ipad2 covers with magnets in to keep it nested against the glass surface of your ipad2.

It is our passion to merge good design with wood. Wood is the only natural renewable source, and to us certainly the most beautiful. For ages, people have used wood to make great creations. We humbly add our branch to that tree.

Check out some more of their products here.

Wooden iphone covers have also made an appearance with some designs included below. Not exactly sure which companies make them, Miniot has some and then you can also buy them on this website.

The Wood Camera iPhone Case uses the natural strength of wood to protect your phone and an old-school camera engraving to up your photo-taking cred.

When Vibram first launched their 5 fingers, I was super-keen to try them out. I never managed to get hold of a pair though. Their new product-site for the Bikila has converted me, and I’m heading out to find a pair this week. VISIT SITE  /F.

Via The Inspiration

Our ethos of design & build is also found in another industry that we greatly respect – architecture.

Dallas based A Kagan Company have a passion for designing, planning and building distinctively modern single family homes and multi-family living environments. They are committed to the art of style, comfort and space expressed through modern architectural residential design.

This development is called Dwellings and it came about because company owner Alan Kagan noticed a lack of quality modern/contemporary design in uptown Dallas.

I strive to offer a level of customized amenities you would not typically find at this price or design level: Privacy. Open floor plans. Real hardwood flooring. Granite and marble finishes. Stainless steel appliances and custom cabinetry. Spacious closets and storage. Private balconies and yards. Security. And of course, great design.

He continues:

My goal is simple: Always offer affordable modern design. Always design a product that is different from others you might see. Always stretch the boundaries. Always build each residence as if I would live there myself.

I love this design and the clean lines and I think that this could work just as well if adapted for offices … hint hint to any Cape Town architecture firms who wants to give it a try.

Have a look at their website here.

Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard that I have been using for the last year and have been enjoying it immensely!

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the interesting & beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards  for all kinds of things i.e. to plan their weddings, decorate their homes and organize their favorite recipes. I use it as a reference for things that I love or am inspired by.

Some of my boards below include:

I highly recommend that you check it out – go to their website and create your own.

We happen to have a super office space to connect/file/store/work/meet with awesome new music streaming from around the world all day. However seeing that most of our inspiration comes from the people around us, we find it crucial to also visit the “Coffice” on a regular basis. This would be any of a selection of venues that serve good coffee/food/beers/wines, offers fast broadband, and feel like home. Here’s a couple of our favorites.

One of our most frequented spots has to be &Union. They offer good food, coffee and real beer.

Another would be the appropriately named, Field Office. With good coffee and doubling as furniture showroom for local designers Pedersen + Lennard

And Finally a coffice which we would very much like to visit, the renowned Ace Hotel in New York – offering one of the best communal working spaces.

For every company, project, person, and even every meal there is the beginning. The creation story. Ours happened a couple of years back, in 2006 when we decided the Web is the place for us. We started a web agency that has been through a couple of growing-up phases. From the safe toddler years, to the teen years of risking a lot and being all over the place. We have now reached a space where we can thrive delivering great Design & Build work as a boutique web agency.

Our creation is an ongoing process, and a journey where we’re advising hundreds of clients while being guided by the innovation throughout the online community. This site will be our new creation story. Written piece-by-piece, one website at a time.