Hasta La Ideas

Following our story earlier this week on Planning Korea’s bridge for Seoul incorporating a library and museum (read it here), we’ve gathered together a selection of stories from the Dezeen archives featuring brilliant bridges. See all the stories »

I refer to some of the things I’ve built as “crap” because a) It’s often built from leftover materials, b) I’m more concerned with utility than a high level of finish, and c) Not knowing what to do, I often make it up as I go along. Here I’ll walk you through how I built some banquettes.

Pornographers ruined my couch. I had a nice big couch in the photography rental studio that I run, and I unwittingly rented the studio out to a porno film crew, and they ruined the couch in exactly the disgusting way you’d think they would. I tried cleaning it but eventually sent the couch back from whence it came, Craigslist.

Now couch-less, I needed to provide my studio clients with a comfortable seating surface, but had very little money. I also had a bunch of building materials left behind by a legitimate film crew who constructed a fake elevator interior in the studio for a shoot. So I decided to use what I could scrounge to build a banquette, or actually, two of them. An industrial design grad should be able to build what they need, even if they don’t know how to, no?

Here I’ll show you what I’ve done, including all the mistakes I made and things I wish I’d known beforehand, in case you want to attempt similar.

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The Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC) conducts consumer research on how people are using power and collaborates with energy leaders to create industry best practices using their findings. This week, Jesse Berst, Executive Director of the SGCC held a frog design ThinkIn workshop to create a symbol and a brand for the energy conscious consumer that can be communicated simply and socially, ultimately leading to positive behavior change.The session’s broad participant list included Steve Hauser, VP of Grid integration at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Allison Arieff, writer for the New York Times, GOOD and former editor of Dwell, Danny Kennedy, founder of Sungevity, Swati Joshi of GE, and Brian Sager, founder of Nanosolar.

David Merkoski, Executive Creative Director at frog, lead 50+ participants through a morning of unconventional lateral thinking exercises. These provoked the groups out of their typical working habits and solution spaces to trigger new concepts and ideas. The groups I participated in worked through everything from doorbells that double as displays for smart meters, to a role playing game called “Kill Pluggy” where players try to kill an energy vampire with solar power. The day ended with a debate on the day’s findings and a pitch back session of five ideas that were selected for further development. My personal take-away is that changing how we create and use energy is not a single issue, but instead a multitude of intertwined problems that may require a quiver full of targeted solutions residing under a single unifying brand shield. Check out the ThinkIn site to see lots of pics, more details on the exercises and sessions, and learn more about the participants.

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Some of the Soviet’s toughest prison tattoos in a new London exhibit

A rare glimpse into the dark world of post-Soviet prison life, the London show “Russian Criminal Tattoos” features a series of photographs of prisoners and their artistic tattoos. From the cells of Russian prison settlements in far-off places with names like Nizhny Tagil, Perm and Chelyabinsk, many of the tattoos were forcibly (and disgustingly) removed by other inmates who disagreed with it or by authorities, since the art form was illegal.

Photographs shot by Sergei Vasiliev compliment drawings by Danzig Baldaev, who from 1948 to 2005 collected 3,000 drawings created by prisoners. Both Vasiliev and Baldaev worked as Soviet prison wardens, providing them easy access to the works. Despite that the KGB still had to consider the project, finally giving Baldaev permission to document and study the works as part of Soviet history.

The Guardian’s article about the tattoos includes the fascinating backstory about “grins”—tattoos depicting communist leaders in obscene positions—and how the ink for these was made of a mixture of melted down boot heels, blood and urine.

London-based publisher Fuel Design, who learned of the collection of Baldaev’s drawings from his widow, is behind the exhibit. Damon Murray and Stephen Sorrell of Fuel purchased and published his work along with Vasiliev’s photos in the “Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia” trilogy, which you can purchase from their site for £495.

“Russian Criminal Tattoos” opens 29 October 2010 and runs through 28 November 2010.

If you’re in NYC, keep your calendar open on the weekend of November 5th-7th for the New York Art Book Fair, presented by Printed Matter and hosted by MoMA PS1 in Long Island City for the fifth time. Not just a place to see the newest in art books, but also to explore the future of publishing, libraries, distribution and more. Don’t miss the Triple Canopy panel, entitled Print and Demand #2, with participants John Goggin, Jiminie Ha, and Rob Giampietro.

See you there!

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