Designtide Tokyo

DESIGNTIDE TOKYO is a trade show conceived with the vision of continually proposing new products,
scenes and ideas. While focusing on interior design..

Friday Photo: Dexters Dream House

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(Photos: Antoine Bootz)

crystal skulls.jpgAs we put the finishing touches on our Charles and Ray Eames Halloween costumes, we wanted to leave you with this Friday Photo from the Metropolitan Home Showtime House of earlier this fall. A group of designers that included Richard Mishaan, Pentagram’s James Biber, a team from Surfacedesign (James Lord, Roderick Wyllie, and Geoff di Girolamo), and the dynamic duo of Christopher Coleman and Angel Sanchez transformed a pair of Tribeca penthouses into a parallel universe inspired by six Showtime shows. In honor of tomorrow’s ghoulish goings-on, we’re focusing on designer Marie Aiello‘s multi-room tribute to Dexter, which stars Michael C. Hall as a darkly lovable serial killer. Aiello, who began her career as a television producer, avoided the obvious (blood-red chintz, a bordello chaise, splatter painting) in favor of sophisticated spaces that wink at the passions of their would-be owner. Upon closer inspection, the chic living room (above) reveals a hearth surrounded by a DNA-themed pattern of mirrored tiles and a pair of glittering Swarovski crystal-encrusted skulls (inset), while the Trove photoprint on the back wall is a blurred close-up of Dexter’s face. Our favorite touch? The 1953 Vladimir Kagan rocking chair, a mix of swooping curves and scarred upholstery.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Quote of Note | Lillian Bassman

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“The women who intrigued me had the most beautiful necks and the most reponsive hand movements. At one point, I found El Greco, and that elongated look became my way of seeing.”

-Photographer Lillian Bassman, whose work is on view through November 28 in an exhibition at the Staley-Wise Gallery in New York City

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Dezeen’s top ten: watches and clocks

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This month’s top ten features the ten most popular stories about clocks and watches from the Dezeen archives. In first place is The Clock Clock, a digital clock made of 24 analogue clocks that spell out the time with their hands, created by Swedish designers Humans since 1982. (more…)

Alexandre Duret-Lutz: Wee Planets

by Adrienne So

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French photographer Alexandre Duret-Lutz creates his wee planets from everyday panoramas. Using eight of his own photos—six horizontal, one of the sky overhead and one of the ground—Duret-Lutz fuses them together using stereographic projection software and various open-source digital retouching tools.

The effect is eerie and precious, as well as offering a new perspective on the view of planet Earth. Visually stunning, Duret-Lutz’s photos not only mesmerize their audience, but also send a reminder of how small the earth really is, prompting us to take better care of it.

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Prints are available at Imagekind, starting from $15. The prints on his Flickr site are also under a Creative Commons license, and thus free to download and print yourself.

See more images after the jump.

No Mas: Rumblevision

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In celebration of the 35th anniversary of what is arguably one of the most historic sporting events of all time, NYC label/agency No Mas created Rumblevision—a set of three animated short films reinterpreting the fight between Muhammed Ali and George Foreman.

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Infamous quotes from the fight such as “I’m so mean I make medicine sick” and “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” narrate the artistic films, each with its own active theme. David Rathman’s short called “Zaire” really speaks to the tone of the fight, coined “Rumble In The Jungle” for it’s African location, while Jerome Lagarrigue’s “Round Zero” adds a Spanish twist, envisioning each of the boxers as bulls pitted against each other, moving fluently around the ring. In James Blagden’s playful version, aptly titled “Godfather of Soul vs Great of All Time,” Muhammed Ali takes down James Brown, who dances his way back to life.

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Created in conjunction with Muhammed Ali Enterprises, the celebration also includes watercolor paintings by David Rathman and soon limited edition prints of stills from the films, alongside Muhammed Ali-inspired apparel.

Three Questions For Five Burton Riders

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CH recently had the chance to catch up with some of Burton‘s best boarders when they passed through NYC to help promote the brand’s new HD snowboarding flick “
The B Movie
.” (Download it from
iTunes
or get a copy from
Burton
or
Amazon
.) We asked them all the same three questions and naturally they supplied some rather entertaining answers.

What was your biggest fail?

Mads Jonsson (below, right): I broke my arm during a contest earlier this year. It was snowing a lot, I was just warming up, and that was it for the rest of the season. It makes me more excited to get back.

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Jussi Oksanen (above, left with Jake Burton): When I was 19 I tried riding a pipe and had a pretty big fall. I broke my collar bone, wasn’t the biggest crash I had, but it was like holy crap! Before I was just like a little kid, running around and never thinking you’re going to get hurt. I broke the same exact collar bone exactly six months later. I went snowboarding too early and it wasn’t healed. I had to have my whole collar bone rebuilt.

Kelly Clark (bottom right): I don’t know, it’s hard to say. I always like to look at what is going on instead of what is not going on, so nothing quite comes to mind.

Frederik Kalbermatten (bottom left): I got caught in an avalanche a few years ago in Canada. I dropped in, fell over some cliffs and then all the snow went over me. It was a huge cloud, everything was totally white, I couldn’t see. I had to climb out. You’ve go to respect the mountain. It was a wake-up call.

Shaun White (above, right): In general or like hitting on a girl? I mean the nice part of snowboarding is you get to try new stuff, you get broken and come back and ride again. But my worst crash was when I was eleven on a skateboard. That was probably the worst mistake ever because it almost made me quit sports. I broke my hand, foot and fractured my skull. I was stuck inside, it was hard times. I tried to skate again but wasn’t into it. I told my mom I was over it, and she was like, “Well I paid for the session!” You know, it was like three dollars or something and I was like, “God, I hate you!” So I went back to the ramp and tried new tricks that day. I think she knew that deep down I still wanted to do it, that I was just frustrated. It kind of made me respect how injured you can get and definitely to think things through better. It showed me that if I wanted to come back and really wanted to do something, something that dramatic wasn’t going to set me back.

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What music do you listen to?

Mads: I like a lot of music as long as its good. As long as you can tell the artist has thought about it and really wants to perform it and it’s not something slapped together. My favorite type of music is whatever is played on the guitar, just because I play the guitar myself. For riding it’s all about happy rhythms. I can listen to Iron Maiden and ride and have the best time or I could listen to Sublime. Whatever is happy music for me, it’s really hard to describe, but good music.

Jussi: None, as far as snowboarding, nothing. I want to hear what’s going on and most of the time I’m filming. I’m into nature and in the back country and I want to feel the whole environment and just be in there.

Kelly: I’m kind of one of those people who gets the CD and then just like listens until I can’t listen anymore. So it changes weekly. But I listen to Kim Walker, David Crowder, Anthony Skinner—a bunch of different bands.

Frederik: Nothing particular, but I like old school rap from back in ’93. I don’t really listen to music when I’m riding. Like I said before it’s serious on the big mountain. But I used to listen to Gang Starr back in the day and Tribe Called Quest.

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Shaun: I’m into a mix of things, nothing too new, mostly rock. I used to like hip-hop a lot but not so much anymore. I like Danzig. We were in Japan and we started YouTubing Danzig videos and we watched Danzig’s grocery list, this guy doing Danzig’s voice but about what he bought at the store. It’s amazing! I like “No Fun” by Iggy Pop and I like to listen to the Strokes because the songs don’t change dramatically. I really don’t ride with music actually. A lot of times someone is talking to me, or I get distracted by it. It’s super annoying if you’re in the flow and suddenly your cord pops out or something. I like to get stoked at the top and then go for it and keep that song in my head. Like at the Olympics, you choose what you want to hear at the top. Last time I had “Back in Black” by AC/DC. It’s almost like the horse at the start gate, they play that song, you sing along and then drop in. That was the 2006 Olympics. I played that song and then I won. So at the next event and I wanted the same and I won again! I ended up having an undefeated season.

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Final question, hard or soft?

Mads: Can I be like Winnie the Poo and say, please I’ll have both? That’s a tough question, as far as snowboarding though…soft. Powder. It’s better for me.

Jussi: Soft for sure. Soft sounds a lot better, I’d rather ride in powder than ice.

Kelly: I ride a lot half pipe and I always like when its a bit more firm cause it’s a bit more consistent. So, firm.

Frederik: I choose soft because that’s how I like it, smooth rides.

Shaun: Are we talking ice skating? Soft I guess. I don’t know, that’s a tough one. You know when you’re on a mattress and your back hurts ’cause it’s too soft? So you’d say firm? Yeah I’d say firm if I could. I like it just right.

Bulb ban begets Bye Bye Bulb

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To quote The Smiths, there is a light that never goes out…well, conceptually, anyway. From Athens-based furniture designer Constantinos Hoursoglou comes the Bye Bye Bulb, a sort of product homage:

The minimal design aims to celebrate this iconic object of our civilization, without distractions, by placing it on a visual ‘pedestal’. Using an LED light source the bulb is back-lit, creating the illusion the it emits light. It important to note that the bulb is intact, maintaining it for the ever at its original condition

BBbulb was produced in a limited edition of 130, one for every year of the bulb’s existence since its invention in 1880 by Thomas Edison.

The “limited edition luminare” was designed, in tribute, after the EU banned the incandescent light bulb this past September.

(more…)

Trek’s Lime bicycle bucks bad reviews to become People’s choice at Design Awards

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Despite receiving harsh reviews upon its release (here and here), Trek’s Lime bicycle, with the neat fold-up storage seat, has been awarded the People’s Design Award (via online voting) at the 2009 National Design Awards. To refresh your memory, the Lime was designed specifically for non-cyclists:

Introduced as the answer to the millions of American adults who do not ride a bike, the Trek Lime bike was the first to feature Shimano’s revolutionary Coasting system. At the center of Lime’s design is the reminder that riding a bike should be as enjoyable today as it was when you were a child. With its comfortable, upright riding position, automatic transmission and pedal brakes, Lime is designed to ride the way we did as kids — spontaneously, socially, and to experience the sheer joy of motion. Lime is the ideal bike for the casual rider who wants a fun, convenient and stylish way to run out for a cup of coffee or a breath of fresh air.

(more…)

Talking Type

Stephanie Orma invites us to listen to the San Francisco radio program “Live From the Left Coast” this evening from 7-8pm PST for a lively and humorous discussion on how type affects (or doesn’t affect) our everyday lives. (Listen online at green960.com)

“Spurred on by the recent uproar in the graphic design community over Ikea’s change in typeface, as well as the New Zealand woman who got fired for using all uppercase letters in an email, designers and non-designers alike want to know, “what the font is going on?” Why do some people care so deeply about typography and yet, it’s virtually non-existent to others?”

{Image from >>Gady<< flickrstream}