Hasta La Ideas

On March 2, TED Prize-winning street artist JR will announce his “one wish to change the world” during the week-long creativity confab known as the TED Conference. This year’s event, back at California’s Long Beach Performing Arts Center, will explore “the rediscovery of wonder” in a four-day blitz of sessions with themes such as “Monumental,” “Deep Mystery,” and “The Echo of Time” (the latter involves a paleontologist and General Stanley McChrystal). Among the design-minded speakers slated to give 18-minute talks are architect and engineer Carlo Ratti, who directs MIT’s SENSEsable City Lab, and director/designer Julie Taymor, who may or not discuss a certain arachnid-themed project. Gamestorming author Sunni Brown and wearable technology innovator Kate Hartman will each weigh in on “Beauty, Imagination, and Enchantment,” while Aaron Koblin‘s data-driven artwork is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. Other artists slated to address the TED crowd include papercutter Beatrice Coron and sculptor Janet Echelman, the reshaper of urban airspace who we thought was a shoo-in for the “Mindblowing” session but will actually be part of a scientist- and engineer-heavy afternoon devoted to “Threads of Discovery.” And just when attendees think they’ve got this whole “wonder” thing figured out will come a talk by “wrongologist” Kathryn Schulz, author of the just-published Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error (Ecco).

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

To get you inspired in the new year, we are kicking off this decade with a collection of four case studies from around the country. The featured case studies from our January issue highlight the power of collaboration across industries and communities. Check them out below!

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Gone are the spokesmodels, pitchmen, and muses. Now they’re all “creative directors” with a piece of the financial action. And so it was that the recently reborn Polaroid brand returned to the Consumer Electronics Show with pop star Lady Gaga, its creative director, in tow. Friday saw the launch of Polaroid Grey Label, a new line of products that the company describes as reflecting “Polaroid’s long-standing tradition of innovation tracing back to founder Dr. Edwin Land and Lady Gaga’s mission to deliver products that enable creativity for all, celebrate artistry, and make sharing instantaneous across the physical and digital.”

Inaugurating the line are an instant digital camera and mobile printer that use Zink Imaging’s zero ink technology as well as sunglasses fitted with a built-in camera and lenses that double as LCD screens on which the wearer can display favorite images. “I consider myself to be a visionary, not just a songwriter and a singer. I am an artist,” said Gaga, in a statement issued by the company. “I brought my vision and love of fashion, technology, and obsession with the future into all of my work with Polaroid.” The industrial design brains behind the products is San Francisco-based Ammunition, led by Apple veteran Robert Brunner. “[Gaga] and her team are very respectful of what we do, there’s a lot of mutual respect,” he told PC Magazine. “There’s always a risk in pairing with celebrities because we don’t want to be that guy in the background making stuff at somebody’s whim. But working with Gaga has turned out to be exciting and fun.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

MESH01 is a co-creation platform that focusses on footwear, eyewear, and accessories. It links designers and brands worldwide. Together, they create and launch innovative products for the SportStyle industry. They have been running a series of great competitions two of which going on now are the PENSOLE Talent Search which will be judged by D’Wayne Edwards of Brand Jordan and a Freestyle Skate Competition that I will be judging and giving extensive feedback to entrants all through the process. Winner to the Freestyle Skate Competition get copies of my book, “Analog Dreams” first prize in the PENSOLE competition is an awesome scholarship to their program at PENSOLE Parsons New School.

If you are interested in getting into footwear, these might be two great opportunities to dip your toe in, pardon the pun… head over to Mesh 01 and check it out.

sketches by me…

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Soften up hard music with a hand-knit iPod case

by Ikechukwu Onyewuenyi

Love having all your Townes Van Zandt tracks at your fingertips but can’t stand the iPod’s shiny exterior? Enter Granny Tunes, a hand-knit case that covers the musical device with lacy looks. Seizing on fashion’s enduring neo-boho obsession, the macramé-like design is fetching enough to charm younger patrons and not just grandmas rocking iPods. The snuggly pouch, available in neutral palettes (white, beige, khaki), weaves style, function and culture together, playfully embracing the vogue for knitting grannies while building on traditional modes of Greek lace-making.

Granny Tunes sells online from Greece is for Lovers for €55.