Hasta La Ideas

We’re back from a few days in Miami Beach attending the IDSA 2009 Project Infusion conference. Here’s a handful of pictures that touch on the breadth of the experience. More pics in the Flickr pool.

Although there was no giant robot at the Core77 party (see 2007) it was still a great time, with a lot of intense conversation, some of the “No, I love you, man!” variety.

Oh, of course. South Beach. A guy in a Formula 1 (or similar – car experts? anyone?) street-legal Indy Experience car pulls over on Ocean Ave. so his passenger can chat on his cell phone. Conspicuous consumption taken to a new level.

It’s fascinating to see how Twitter is changing conference interactions. We tweeted our dismay that there was no job board (since we arrived with fresh printouts to post), someone repeated that concern from the podium, and eventually one appeared. D’oh! for not having one from the outset but woo-hoo for being so responsive. By the end of the conference, the job board was far more packed than this photo shows. Packed with people looking to hire.

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Ah, the lax attitude towards safety testing in 1940s America: Three wheels and no rollcage, just a helmet!

The photo is from the U.S. Army’s testing trials of the Davis Divan, an ill-fated foray into three-wheeled motoring from the 1940s, as reported by The New York Times. The story reads like Tucker…with one less wheel.

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Benjamin Hubert, the UK-based designer who’s only three years out of school but already has an eponymous design firm and industry accolades, has won the “Best New Product” award at London’s 100% Design show for his Labware line of lights, made from mouth-blown glass.

Click on over to Hubert’s site to see photos of both prototypes and the real deal going into production at the glassblowing factory.

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(Photos: Prada)

Multi-dimensional event spaces grow up so fast these days. It seems like only yesterday we were welcoming the Prada Transformer into the world, nestled beside a 16th-century palace in Seoul, and now it’s time to bid the Rem Koolhaas/Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)-designed structure a fond farewell. Yesterday, the Transformer made its final flip, rotated by crains onto its circular base to host today’s “Student Takeover.” The program showcases and celebrates the transformation-themed design ideas and artwork of Korean students.

On the luxe leather heels of the fashion exhibition, film festival, and art installation hosted by the Transformer over the past five months, the student program is an effort to engage with the host city by making the structure “a place for debate and open-minded discussion; inviting innovative students to communicate ideas freely and contemplate the future of art, design, and the society in which it exists,” according to a Prada spokesperson. The work exhibited was created by 130 Korean art, design, and architecture students. They spent two weeks in a workshop-style environment led by OMA’s Alexander Reichert, design architect on the Transformer project, hatching the products of their takeover, from redesigned Prada Transformer flyers, pins, and t-shirts to plans for overhauling the architecture. By day’s end, the structure is expected to have been painted on, wallpapered, covered in graffiti, and torn apart—just enough “to create a new spatiality that engages with the students’ content” and serve as the venue for a final, blow-out party.

Previously on UnBeige:

A quick note that I will be joining Project H’s Emily Pilloton, Metropolis Magazine’s Susan Szenasy, and Cooper-Hewitt curator Cynthia Smith for a panel discussion at the Cooper-Hewitt on Tuesday, October 6th as part of the NYC launch party for Emily’s book, Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People. Things will start off at 6:30, and the panel will be followed by a reception and book signing. Register for the event via the Cooper-Hewitt site here ($10 members and students/$15 non-members).

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