moss pencil by bangkok-based I’m curio,
red dot award winner 2008
I’m curio’s product description:
‘the fluffy green jacket plays wit its haptic appeal. curiously, the viewer immediately takes this pencil into his hands’.
and here we have the chocolate pencil by me.
I think I deserve the red dot improvisation award 2009
matylda’s product description:
‘the temptation make you pick up the pencil and put the chocolate in your mouth. curiously, the user can use the pencil afterwards.’
everything is said in the headline. is that necessary? does anybody want flower ornaments in their bathtub?
so, the tub is called igloo I-crylic bathtub by bangkog-based bathroom design team (what an innovative name). It won the red dot product design award in 2008 and the product description says that the flashing leds have a therapeutic and aesthetic value. (it makes me nervous) I get the concept and the fact that they used a special translucent acrylic sheet and integrated led’s at the surface. but if designers do so, please think about simplicity.
today I have been at the red dot design museum in essen, germany. I totally like the idea of a secure usb stick but this product is an overkill. the 007 usb flash drive by taichung-based duck image is waterproof, the product description promises 3 security levels and while looking on the picture I’ve started to think about the bike lock I still need to buy. the stick has won a red dot award in 2006. maybe in 2009 someone wins an award for a data storage with voice identification?! wouldn’t that be great?
concrete – the trusted construction material. my academy in maastricht is a concrete building. maybe one of the reasons why I feel so comfortable there. I like the hard and massive appearance of concrete buildings.
the southbank centre london, europe’s largest centre for the arts is one of my other favourites. next to the barbican. (see my previous post here) the southbank centre consists of the royal festival hall, the hayward, queen elizabeth hall and the saison poetry library. the entire complex is build in the 50ies and located at the thames in southbank. It’s close to the tate modern, which openend in 2000 and is another cultural enrichment in bankside, at the thames.
beautiful 1950s Ivory bakelite telephone – a classic. more black telephones were produced in the 50ies. bakelite is the first plastic in the world invented by belgian-born chemist leo baekeland in 1907.
this is a great project. ok, its about 1 year old, but I still like it and I will also in the future.
this is a book about the results of martino gamper‘s 100 days 100 chairs project. the london-based designer has collected discarded chairs found on the streets of london (he got some of the chairs also from friends). he reconstructed them and created unique pieces within 3 months. the chairs looks like designs that should get the title: ‘form follows spontanity’ – an evidence that innovation can be formed through existing objects.
tom astrella is a london-based designer. despite still dabbling in product design, tom’s dedication over the last 3 years has been designing footwear for puma‘s high end fashion ranges. he is not just a shoe creator, but also a shoe collector. with about 60 pairs of sneakers in his arsenal, he is still constantly looking for more treasures to squeeze his dainty size 46’s into!
the trailer to gary huswit‘s (producer, director) documentary about industrial design is out!
I’ve contacted him in august because I would like to organize a screening here in maastricht, netherlands. he got directly back to me and let me know that they are actually planning also some screenings in colleges and museums. yeah!
so I saw the trailer today on the official blog. and now I should get back to him and see if we can make a screening possible… I’ve really enjoyed the helevetica documentary and I am sure that I will love objectified. my heart beats for documentaries!
the 90-second spot features jonathan Ive, naoto fukusawa, dieter rams, karim rashid, jasper morrison and others
see my previous post here
thanks to everybody for all wishes I’ve received. for all emails, text messages and calls. keep in touch in 2009!! lalala
ok, call me lazy or believe that I am human – I have been sleeping, watching dvds, eating (everyday an egg and bacon sandwich) and hanging around in the last 10 days. some people would do amazing things while being in london but I’ve preferred to stick to do ‘nothing’. the only fucked thing happening to me is that I’ve lost my wallet on new years eve. I forgot it in the cab. I guess I just had to much mc donald’s food on my lap. a pakistan cab driver is now 50 pound and 30 euro richer and has surely sold my drivers license to a desperate 17 years old who wants to get into a club. lucky me…
tomorrow I go back to maastricht and I will be back ‘to blog’.
the amazing eggs and bacon sandwich. I really love english food!
no post since 5 days.
time for a little christmas break. everybody needs some holidays.
me and my family, breakfast on the 25th december. we always look like total twats. especially when we wear our christmas caps.
another restaurant opened in london town. the inamo. I’ve read that people call it new pan-asian bar and restaurant. (yeah, life isn’t complicated enough)
the soho-based restaurant has a feature: virtual menus which have to be navigated via table-top projections. each table has its own projector. basically you order your food (nice pictures are a visual help of choice) by your own and for the rest you can change the graphics on the table, see what the cook is doing, order a cab (if necessary) and see where the next club is. great interactive table which might be helpful by a boring date. (mine wasn’t)
oh, another major point to mention (for beer lovers like me): they just have one sort of beer which isn’t fantastic.
inamo – view from outside
checking out the interactive table
last week I went to the royal college of art in london to take a look on the work in progress show which is held twice a year. the show includes models, early prototypes and conceptual design work from the college’s courses in design products, design Interactions, Industrial design engineering and others. here are a few of the projects (I didn’t took many pictures), which will be further developed for the final show next summer.
writing in public by kieren jones
after the book launch I am still engaged by troika‘s work. one of my favorites by far is the digital sculpture for terminal 5 at heathrow airport in london. the piece is five meter long. it’s surface is covered with 4,638 flip-dots controlled by a computer. on one side they are black, on the other side shiny silver.
I love the flick-flick noise as the cloud changes color. reminds me of the sound of the old departure boards in airports. unfortunately this video doesn’t has sound though.
