Hasta La Ideas

Travis says “We need better design”

In terms of usage, a taxicab is unlike any other car, yet the design does not reflect this. Largely because there is no design. A fleet owner acquires lots of durable cars with inexpensive parts, throws a partition in the middle, paints the whole thing a certain color and that’s generally that. Except in maybe Japan, where they at least install an automatic door so that package-laden passengers don’t have to put something down to get in.

New York City is attempting to lead the charge into purpose-built taxis with their Taxi of Tomorrow competition, where three manufacturers are vying for a billion-dollar contract. Relevant to this is a rider survey taken by the Taxi and Limousine Commission which should be of interest to would-be transportation designers. Respondents sounded off on why they take taxis (with some weird answers, like “I want some private time”) as well as the importance of designing an easier means of egress and exit, better lighting, having on-board cell phone chargers, the need to avoid door-opening collisions, etc. Surprisingly the need to accommodate four passengers in the back, rather than the usual three, rated highly.

The survey’s worth a gander and can be downloaded here, and the Times has a summation of the results here. There’s still no word on who the frontrunner in the manufacturing competition is, but the City is expected to decide this year.

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Stuart Fingerhut was a Marketing major who saw the light after three years and changed schools to study design. Last year he graduated from Art Center, where he now works part-time as an assistant teacher when he’s not thickening his portfolio (and man is it thick — covering furniture, lighting, housewares, jewelry, environments, and more).

Yesterday I saw Fingerhut’s light, specifically, his “Kinema Pendant Luminaire”. It enables the user to regulate the light’s “character” by means of beautifully curved louvers which intersect like space-age Venetian blinds; when it’s not in use it can be closed up like an armadillo, though “crustaceans” is the inspiration Fingerhut lists on his site.

Check out Fingerhut’s incredibly deep portfolio, loaded up with tons of shots and videos, here.

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Stockholm 2011: designer Thomas Bernstrand of Sweden presented this skewed stackable shelving unit at Stockholm Furniture Fair last week.

Called Ivy, the design for Swedish brand Swedese is made up of separate shelves with grooves in the top and bottom of each support.

These mean each layer can either be stacked straight or leaning to one side.

Stockholm Furniture Fair took place 8-12 February. See all our coverage of the event »

More furniture on Dezeen »

Here’s some information from Swedese:

Ivy is a stackable shelf system. The shelf’s can be stacked in three different ways, straight up, left or right. Stacked to the left it will lean left, stacked to the right it will lean right. When alternated it will level out. Ivy is made of clear-varnished pinewood or painted ash in white or black.

Ivy – shelf to build to the height you wish, and in the shape you wish.

See also:

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X-System by Alexander Lotersztain	Floors by Big-Game	Tron chair by Dror

L’agenzia svedese 25ah ha coordinato la nuova Identity dell’hairsaloon YOU Stockholm.
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Le Happy Socks faranno uscire una piccola collezione in collaborazione con la catena pregio The Standard Hotels. Ogni paio sarà disponibile c/o lo shop dell’hotel a partire da oggi in quello di NYC.
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