An eye for design: Alexandra Koumba's evil eye jewelry

When you find something that works, you run with it, and designer Alexandra Koumba certainly has with her eye-motif line of jewelry.

I've always loved expressions of this timeless charm from the Mediterranean and beyond.

A friend of mine has an entire wall covered in different "evil eye" designs collected over the course of her travels, but some of the most striking pieces are dangling charms like these.

 
Check out Alexandra's entire line at the i4D shop on 1st Dibs.

Legos in Tunisia

The fanciful Lego mansions I constructed as a kid might've looked a little like this......if, as an 8-yr-old, I'd  had a design degree, a penchant for futurism, and a mega-sandbox to play in.

 Dar Hi is the brand new block-work retreat in the desert town of Nefta, Tunisia designed by quirky-cool French architect Matali Crasset. It uses all local materials, is eco-friendly, and a little weird, in that this-is-cool-can-I-actually-sit-on-it? kind of way. 

 Love it or hate it?

 Lots more pictures on DesignBoom and Creative Greed. Read more about it in this WSJ Article.

Photos via DesignBoom and Creative Greed.

Some reading recommendations on Words Without Borders

While the latest issue of Words Without Borders is well into its December issue, the editor there asked me to follow up my translation of Dutch-Moroccan author Fouad Laroui's short story My Father's Antenna for the November issue on literature from the Middle East with some reading recommendations for North African emigré writers.

Here's the short list -- would love to hear what others I might've missed!

P.S. The standout of the November issue was Mummy and Honey, a short story by Shahriar Mandanipour,
the author of Censoring an Iranian Love Story. It's beautifully translated, sensual and dark. Dive in.