Coup de coeur pour la décoration 3D et ces modèles en porcelaine. Une idée du designer Daniel Pirsc et de son studio basé en République Tchèque. Un nouveau concept de décoration murale disponible en 3 formes : avions, goutes d’eau et croix.
Site et boutique en ligne.
Cologne 2009: German designer Johannes Hemann exhibited designs from his Storm Furniture collection at IMM Cologne 2009 last month. (more…)
(Photos: The United States Mint)
We once knew someone who was so frustrated by pennies that he promptly disposed of any that he received. We couldn’t relate. But perhaps the anti-penny pincher will reconsider now that the coin has gotten a makeover to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln‘s birth. The first redesigned penny in 50 years enters circulation today. It features a log cabin on the tails side, emblematic of Lincoln’s Kentucky roots and designed by Richard Masters. And the fun doesn’t stop with log cabins (it never does)! That’s just the first of four new designs to look out for on 2009 pennies. The other three depict Lincoln’s formative years in Indiana (a rail-splitting Abe designed by Charles Vickers), his professional life in Illinois (designed by Joel Iskowitz), and his presidency in Washington, D.C. (designer Susan Gamble‘s poignant scene of a half-finished Capitol dome). A new design will be issued every three months, which means that you have a new penny to look forward to every quarter.
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Architectural historian, educator, and curator Bruce Ambler Boucher (pictured at right) has been appointed director of the University of Virginia Art Museum in Charlottesville. March 1 will be his first day on the job. Since 2002, Boucher has been the curator of European sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago. He also happens to be an expert on 16th-century Italian architect Andrea Palladio, which just might have helped cinch the director’s job, as Thomas Jefferson (UVA’s founder) was a huge Palladio fan. “I look forward to joining the University of Virginia both because of its great reputation and because of the opportunities that its art museum offers,” Boucher said in a statement issued by UVA. “The museum is an important part of the Jeffersonian ideals of this university, and it will be an honor to work with the museum’s excellent staff in determining its future path.”
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Art student Hongtao Zhou from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has constructed furniture made from ice and snow on the frozen surface of Lake Mendota, Wisconsin, USA. (more…)
Four hundred years after the Dutch first staked their claim on a patch of land east of the Hudson River under the guidance of Henry Hudson, they’re returning to New York City in the form of the New Amsterdam Plein and Pavilion to commemorate the event. Designed by Dutch architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio, Amsterdam, the monument at the Peter Minuit Plaza at the Battery will play host public markets, provide seating and shade and a sizable food court and information center for the public. Van Berkel is best known for his work on the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, the design and restructuring of the Harbor Ponte Parodi in Genoa and the Moebius house. Handel Architects LLP will serve as associate architect, working along with the Netherlands-based UNStudio.
A gift from the Netherlands Government scheduled to open later this year, officials expect the 5,000 square-foot plaza to draw five million people yearly—it’s a natural hub for transportation with crisscrossing bicycles, subway lines and buses, as well as pedestrian traffic.
It was 11 September 1609 when Hudson sailed through the river West of New York City. Dutch settlers followed, christening much of New York City’s map—Breukckelen (Brooklyn) and Wall Street (De Wallen) as well as major thoroughfares such as Amsterdam Avenue.
Activities will take place throughout 2009, commemorating the Dutch and New York connection. A “Harbor Day” celebration will take place on 13 September 2009 to commemorate Henry Hudson’s arrival on the Dutch vessel “Halve Maen,” which New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has declared an annual event. Amsterdam will host New York Nights 1-6 April 2009, exactly 400 years after Henry Hudson left the land off of the North Sea. Hudson’s arrival in New York will be celebrated 8-13 April 2009.
Using scare tactics, Greener Gadget Top 50 Semi-Finalist Standby Monsters, designed by Rachel Turner, freaks us into switching our gadgets from standby to the off position.
The International Energy Agency estimate that between 5 and 15% of the world’s domestic electricity is wasted by gadgets left on standby. Scary, eh? Standby Monsters are packs of small, sticky-backed lenses with a reflective internal surface. They are designed to be stuck over the standby lights on gadgets at home – turning them into little pairs of glowing red eyes. They give us a little extra emotional nudge to remind us to turn our gadgets off properly – especially when we head off to bed.
Like this design? Wanna vote for it or leave a comment? Check out this entry or the entire Greener Gadgets TOP 50 Gallery and help determine the TOP 10 for live judging at the upcoming Greener Gadgets Conference.
The result of years of research in salons, on photo shoots and in labs, leading hair stylists developed Umi Products’ line of haircare kits for mixing and layering to create a variety of styles. Each kit is a product duo geared towards different effects (volume, texture, curl, etc.) and packaged in modern white boxes that slide open to reveal a pop-up card indicating the ratio of product to use.
The brand is dedicated to achieving the best hair products on the market and we can’t disagree so far—even the scents are subtle and pleasing.
Umi Straight makes the Cher look possible. With just a few drops of Umi Sliquid and D fuse, the need for a straightener is almost obsolete and frizz is noticeably reduced—few products out there have impressed us more. It’s all but guaranteed that this product will cut your styling time down and won’t be surprised if you’re hooked after just one use.
Another one of our favorites is Umi Extend, which contains Umi Base Spray and Umi Powder, a great way to extend hair styles for an extra day. A dry shampoo, a few shakes of powder drastically cuts down on greasy hair and revives it with a subtle scent of fresh spring air, also adding control for more elaborate styles.
For those looking to amp up hair with curl and volume, there’s an Umi Kit for those purposes too. The curl kit comes with a creme for flexible hold and the same D fuse from the straightening kit to seal cuticles and prevent frizz. It’s probably more heavy-duty than average products for curly hair but those with less kink will find success just by using less product.
In the volume kit, a detangling spray acts as a gentle conditioner while the volume spray is amazingly non-sticky (it contains no alcohol) but adds a nice lift.
Visit Umi Products Online Shop to purchase. Prices for the kits start at $25.
We can’t help but admire the maniacal gleam in the eyes of Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, but we wanted no part of the Kindle—the company’s briskly selling e-reader—until Candy Pratts Price recommended we check it out (when we chatted with her last Fashion Week, she had The Story of Edgar Sawtelle queued up on hers). Alas, the wireless device sold out in November, but now Amazon is launching the Kindle 2, which eliminates the pesky reading part entirely.
The slimmer, lighter, faster Kindle (yours for $359) debuted earlier this week and starts shipping later this month. Among the new features are a text-to-speech function that will read you UnBeige posts (and anything else you want). Not everyone’s happy about that, however. According to the Author’s Guild, the new feature may infringle upon authors’ audiobook copyrights. The Telegraph deftly summarizes that, “The row centres on whether a text-to-speech reading of a book falls under existing copyright laws, or whether it constitutes an whole new medium.” Watch out, Author’s Guild, because Amazon is becoming something of an expert on gray areas: the Kindle 2’s screen boasts “16 shades of gray for clear text and even crisper images.”
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In addition to the 3D display hacked from a Wiimote that netted Johnny Chung Lee 7+ million views on YouTube (and a blog post from us) last year, the homebrew technology superhero posted another, slightly lesser known Wiimote hack wherein he turns a projection of a computer screen into an interactive whiteboard. For fans of his other stuff, it’s a must view, even if it garnered just a paltry 2 million hits:
For interactive technology specialists, this is perhaps the most intriguing of Lee’s demonstrations. Portland-based Tinder Labs was inspired enough by the implications to start experimenting with it themselves, and shared the results with Core77. Tinder partner Richard Fox showed us the prototype they set up in their office, using two Wiimotes this time so that multiple users can mess with the screen simultaneously without blocking the tracking ability of the unit’s camera:
Tinder’s interest in the technology, and the direction in which they’re attempting to extend Lee’s concept, is in using it as a long-distance collaborative tool. Like many design studios, Tinder relies heavily on the whiteboard as a tool for exploring concepts with clients and collaborators, and hopes to create a scenario in which multiple parties in multiple locations can all work on the same large screen simultaneously, reducing the need for long-haul travel while still affording the rapid exchange of ideas physical proximity allows.
Interesting idea, and one they’re hoping to perfect and start applying later on this year. Follow their efforts on Tinder’s blog here.
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