Bentobox is a visual diary by Swedish designer Bengt Brummer. It brings together thousands of images collected from across the internet, including photography, architecture, fashion, art, objects, materials and nature.
Bengt arranges the images by hand, using colour instead of subject to connect them. A photograph of a building might sit beside a piece of fabric, a sculpture or something found in nature. The images may have little else in common, but the colour makes them belong together.
At first, I assumed some kind of image analysis was doing the work. Software could easily sort the images by their dominant colours, but knowing Bengt has arranged everything himself makes the site far more interesting. You begin to notice the judgement behind each transition and the choices that stop the collections from feeling mechanical.
When I look for inspiration, I often search for things that are close to whatever I am designing. Bentobox pulls me away from that habit. I can browse without looking for a particular answer and simply pay attention to colour, composition and texture.
I could quite happily move from one colour collection to the next without finding anything I can point to and say I will use. That is part of what makes the site so good.