Hasta La Ideas

There was a recent preview of the year-end show put on by postgrad design students at Central Saint Martins in London, and Chiara Montgomerie from BD Online’s “The Culture Blog” scored an invite. (If only I were London-based, invite or no I would’ve gladly pushed my way into that show and claimed to have been from a Core77 competitor if I got thrown out.)

Montgomerie wrote up her impressions of the show, and while several projects caught my eye, the standout was Bharat Bargava’s public bench and lamppost, above, which relies on your lazy ass rather than the city to provide the juice. “The piece invites users to cycle for fitness,” writes Montgomerie, “while being able to observe how their physical output can be transformed into electrical energy to power the street lamp.”

I love the idea even though, sadly, I know no New Yorker who could be bothered to engage it. Our homeless prefer to sleep on benches in the dark, and I’m guessing the last thing a bike messenger taking a break will want to do is keep pedaling.

Those of you in London range can see the MA Industrial Design show from June 20th to the 23rd. The rest of you can read the full articleand see more projects here.

(more…)

Wintercheck Factory’s space-saving take on a bathroom staple

Brooklyn’s Wintercheck Factory has made a name for itself by updating everything from sunglasses to swimsuits with their brand of locally-made and highly-functional chic. The latest to get the Wintercheck treatment is the humble shower curtain. Like all the design studio’s products, the simple yet intelligent concept improves on a standard necessity with a few key design features. This clever solution to cluttered shower floors has interior pockets large enough to stow eight shampoo and conditioner bottles in self-draining pockets, as well as a razor and toothbrush. On the exterior, two loops on either end of the curtain are perfect for hanging your towel to save even more space.

Taking into consideration the small and often windowless bathrooms that plague NYC apartments, Wintercheck constructed the shower curtain from machine washable nylon, making it great for any unventilated bathrooms where mold and mildew thrive and one less thing you have to routinely replace.

Swing on over to Wintercheck Factory’s online store where the utility shower curtain (available in five colors) sells for $48.

This week’s Workspace of the Week is NKeppol’s home studio:

I love NKeppol’s description for why there are two desks in this space for only one user:

The Aria desk holds two screens hooked up to a Mac Pro for digital work. To keep the Aria from catching the wrath of xacto blades and ink spills, I opted for a two desk setup, using the Ikea desk as the art table.

Knowing how you work is a requirement for setting up an uncluttered and organized space because you know exactly what you need and why. I also appreciate the drafting tools as artwork hanging on the wall, the shelf with a magnetic front is perfect for holding more tools and visual references, and the magazine pockets attached to the wall are another fantastic use of vertical space. I even love how the spray adhesive looks like an art element on the top shelf. NKeppol mentioned in the comments to the image on Flickr that he plans to lay a carpet between the two desks — I think it is a great idea and will protect the gorgeous wood floors. Thank you, NKeppol, for submitting your office to our Flickr pool.

Want to have your own workspace featured in Workspace of the Week? Submit a picture to the Unclutterer flickr pool. Check it out because we have a nice little community brewing there. Also, don’t forget that workspaces aren’t just desks. If you’re a cook, it’s a kitchen; if you’re a carpenter, it’s your workbench.

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.

Brushstrokes of Genius An installation view of Nir Hod’s exhibition of new paintings and sculpture at Paul Kasmin Gallery (Photo: Paul Kasmin Gallery)

Thomas Edison defined genius as one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, but he failed to mention the personality quirks, secret knowledge, and megalomania that often come along for the high-IQ ride. That’s where Nir Hod comes in. The Tel Aviv-born, New York-based artist (pictured at right) offers his own fascinating glimpse into exceptional beings with his first solo exhibition at New York’s Paul Kasmin Gallery. On view through Saturday, “Genius” consists of constellations of off-kilter kids whose sfumato surroundings, accusing eyes, and wafting cigarettes are as compelling as they are disturbing. Hod’s painted tots, with their arched eyebrows and superior hairdos, are knowing, demonic, and louche. Some stop just short of cartoonish, while others evoke the wacky proportions of folk art and lush ensembles of court portraits. More than one could be subtitled “Portrait of the CEO as a Young Man.” We talked to Hod about the origins of these spooky yet magnetic creatures, his working process, and what’s next for him and his jaded little rascals.

The work in “Genius” was three years in the making. Where did you begin?
I’ve always been fascinated by beauty and destruction. I’ve always liked the border between low tech and high tech, low taste and high taste, and this twilight zone when they mix together. I also started to read a lot about different kinds of taste, from very extravagant to weird decoration. A lot of the time, I have to say, I said “genius” about things that are really not genius. It’s easy to look at things, a look or a decorative style, and call it genius, especially when you see things from the past, particularly from the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s.

What are some examples of things that struck you as “genius”?
One example was images from when people used to smoke on planes or on TV. When you look at it today, it looks so weird, but in such a beautiful way, you say it’s genius.

Where did the spooky children come in?
Everything started with this child that I did a single painting of for a show, an installation. The installation was supposed to be like an estate of a very extravagant personality, someone like Yves Saint Laurent. The collections that powerful people tend to surround themselves with are of very naïve, innocent images, but I was looking for something that would have some kind of twist. I wanted something that would tell a new story and take something we would call familiar and give it a different look, almost a new existence.

So I painted this child. I started with an image of a child that I photographed, and then for the first time in my life almost, or in my career, I made it looser and used more of my imagination. Before that work, I considered myself more of an image maker or a storyteller, and it was very important for me to be very precise about the images I used to work from. With this one, I decided to be more interpretive.

And how would you describe that interpretation?
I made this child, but I wanted him to have an impact or an attitude of somebody who knows something that we don’t. Especially when you see this in a child, it makes it more interesting, because we see children as people we are supposed to teach and play with. I wanted to create an image that would be more striking, that would look at you in some weird way.

From left, Hod’s “Genius ‘Rodhin,’” “Genius ‘Yoel’” and “Genius,” all 2010. (Photos: Paul Kasmin Gallery)

Did you have references or inspirations besides the photograph you mentioned?
I looked at a lot of portraits of very sophisticated people or the very rich or those with very strong personalities. They often have something very bitter and nasty in their expressions. I think it’s because they hold knowledge or they hide knowledge. They have something that they can’t share, and usually this makes them feel far superior to other people. This is especially true, for good or bad, if you’re talking about geniuses.
continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.