In 1990, Ian Frazier published a fiction piece in the New Yorker, casting an antagonistic yet universally beloved Looney Tune as the plaintiff of a court case against a corporate entity for its seemingly nonexistent QC standards. No doubt you are already familiar with the laundry list of complaints enumerated in Coyote vs. ACME. Time and again, we took pleasure in witnessing the episodic pratfalls of the pathetic Mr. Coyote (given name Wile), as the nefarious ne’er-do-well nearly obliterated himself on multiple occasions in his attempts to assassinate his long-standing rival, the Road Runner. Each and every time, a dangerous piece of equipment would malfunction at the worst possible moment with suspiciously predictable consistency, rendering the aggrieved as a veritable case study in schadenfreude.
The suit alleges that ACME is at fault, but new evidence suggests otherwise.
Glitches aside, the various instruments of death and gravity-defying wearables employed by Mr. Coyote in the cartoon are much more than mere stretches of the imagination—they are, in fact, prime examples of design fiction. We just didn’t realize it until a designer from Pentagram took a stab at bringing the cartoon to life in a new way for their annual Christmas card.
Unlike the fictional plaintiff, designer Daniel Weil succeeds in his efforts: From the iconic spherical bomb to the more obscure Burmese Tiger Trap, these concepts may be more utilitarian than his previously-seen “Clock for Architects,” but the inner workings of the five ACME products are certainly no less considered.
The faceted forms of these 3D-printed wireframe bowls and vessels by French designer Michaël Malapert are inspired by the Japanese art of origami.
The bowl, plate, vase, candle holder and desktop container are based on archetypal forms, which are subjected to a digital process that turns the surfaces into faceted shapes.
Malapert said the folded paper forms produced by experts in origami influenced the angular geometry of the designs, which are reduced to a structural outline.
“[The] Dark Side creations are inspired by numerical modelling softwares reinterpreting and focusing on origami know how,” explained Malapert. “Only the graphic skeleton of the object is maintained, while the material is reduced to the minimum.”
The products can be used as containers, lanterns or ornamental centrepieces.
They are printed by laser sintering, where a polyamide powder is scattered then fixed with a laser one layer at a time. They can be ordered in red, yellow, green, blue, black and white.
Dark Side is the second collection to be launched by Michaël Malapert through his M Family website, where customers can either order the objects to be printed or download a file to print them themselves.
Here’s some more info about the Dark Side collection and the M Family label:
Dark Side collection
Michaël Malapert launches a second collection based on the shape of the object and explore a new functional vocabulary. 3D printing is now part of our everyday life. In opposition with the first collection, DARK SIDE creations are inspired by numerical modelling softwares reinterpreting and focusing on Origami know how (a traditional Chinese art of paper folding). Only the graphics skeleton of the object is maintained while the material is reduced to maximum.
This collection revisits various typologies of the basketry activity showing the dark side profile of these objects. By proposing DARK SIDE, Michaël Malapert shows that 3D printing allows to produce wired solid structures with delicate curved lines.
The M Family
The M Family is a brand in the form of an Ecommerce website, launched on September 2013 by the French designer Michaël Malapert. This website was announcing a first 3D Printed objects collection called Nature Plugs. Thanks to SCULPTEO’s know how, these objects are proposed with two acquisition options: by purchasing the print file itself or by ordering and receipting of the object already achieved.
This revolution allows everyone to choose colour, material, size of the object and hence its price. Democratic and ecological, this technical production by addition of layers opens a new repertoire of forms to use and produces no waste. As the recent explosion of manufacturers and the rapid development of relay spaces FabLab, communautarian websites offering online download print templates are still missing to this equation. Therein lies the approach of The M Family.
Michaël Malapert
Fell into the pot of design when he was young, Michaël Malapert then turned to interior design and waited patiently for a technological leap justifying the add of objects in the landscape already really saturated of material production. He launches this year The M Family and decided to create a brand of arty objects based on 3D printing and the start of a revolution that overturns and renews the approach to the world of design.
The M Family offers objects between decoration and contemporary art that define interior landscape. These objects interact with their environment. Michaël Malapert does not provide objects with a mechanical function but with an aura that tells a story and offers to our eyes a break to escape. In the coming months, The M Family will open a community aspect on new collections, inviting artists, designers, musicians, cooks, to create or propose one or more objects that have meaning for them, available for download on the website.
It’s become a bit of thing for airlines to create quirky in-flight videos. This latest example, a very watchable 80s themed film, comes from Delta.
The film is the latest in a series of experiments with in-flight films from Delta (the airline created a holiday-themed one last Christmas, for example), but this new piece is the brand’s most charming attempt so far. Other airlines that are being similiarly playful include Air New Zealand, which has led the way in this arena, creating ambitious in-flight films including one themed around The Hobbit and another featuring the All Blacks, and Virgin America, which created a high-octane, Glee-style film that aired last November.
The new Delta film, created by Wieden + Kennedy New York, sees the essential information delivered in traditional style by an air hostess stood in the aisle of the plane. When the camera cuts away to the passengers, however, things take an unexpected turn, as we discover that everyone flying that day is an 80s throwback.
Leg warmers, a Rubik’s Cube, and lots of big, big hair all make an appearance, alongside cameos from 80s TV and movie stars, including Alf, shown in the still above. All these clever touches keep you watching over the five-minute-plus film, which of course is the elusive goal of the in-flight safety video. It could be argued that the references might be lost on younger audiences, but we presume Delta’s target audience are those that will get the joke.
Credits: Agency: Wieden + Kennedy New York ECDs: Scott Vitrone, Ian Reichenthal Creative directors: Sean McLaughlin, John Parker Creatives: Greg Rutter, Alan Buchanan Production company: Arts & Sciences Directors: Matt Aselton, Azazel Jacobs
Alpinestars, a leading manufacturer in high performance and protective apparel for motorsports, has a career opportunity for an enthusiastic, creative and sports-minded person, as a Senior Product Apparel Designer in Asolo, Italy. Alpinestars has been creating innovative motocross gear since 1963 and they want you to help them continue to give riders a competitive edge.
You’ll need 5+ years of related experience, a proven track record for designing innovative technical products and collections and a thorough understanding of the research, analysis and design cycles. If you want to jump on board and help drive the creation of these products from start to finish, Apply Now.
The Architecture & Design Film Festival is heading West. After years of celebrating the creative spirit of architecture and design through a dynamic line-up of features, documentaries, and shorts in cities including New York and Chicago, the festival will debut in Los Angeles with a 30-film slate as well as a program of panel discussions and Q&As, a pop-up bookshop, and other design-related events. The five-day event kicks off March 12 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center with Patrick Creadon‘s If You Build It, which follows designer-activists Emily Pilloton and Matt Miller as they lead a group of high school students in rural North Carolina through a year-long design-build project.
Other highlights include the world premiere of TELOS, a film on maverick architect Eugene Tssui, and the U.S. premiere of In The Midst of Things, which explores the life and work of Portuguese architect Manuel Tainha. And local flavor abounds: the L.A. programs includes The Oyler House: Richard Neutra’s Desert Retreat (which includes interviews with the house’s current owner, actress Kelly Lynch) and Levitated Mass, a fascinating tale about the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s two-story, 340-ton granite boulder that was moved from a quarry in Riverside, California to the museum site on a 105-mile journey that spanned 10 nights and crawled through 22 cities and four counties on a football field-long transport vehicle.
Ancien danseur de ballet devenu photographe professionnel, Jesús Chapa-Malacara cumule ses deux passions en imaginant cette série commencée depuis plusieurs années appelée Dance Prints. Soulignant l’élégance et la beauté des mouvements de divers courants, du classique au break-dance, cette série d’images prise avec une technique de longue exposition souligne l’esthétique des corps.
A curving timber-clad wall divides the work space from a multipurpose meeting room at the offices of domohomo architects in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Domohomo architects renovated an abandoned shop and transformed it into a compact office with a separate area that can function as a meeting room, classroom or events venue.
The addition of a bulging masonry wall clad in pale timber creates two distinct spaces; a light-filled office containing a large desk, and a smaller room that can be rearranged depending on requirements.
Openings including a hatch in the curving wall facing the office and a door in the other side allow the sequence of spaces to be visually connected and supplement the natural light reaching the back room from a large window next to the entrance.
“Everything seems continuous and uniform, but it is nothing more than a subtle game of steps and gates that, according to its opening, allows us to discover new stays or, simply change the spatial configuration,” explained the architects.
The original asymmetric floorplan has been turned into a regular oblong by adding fitted cabinetry along the entire length of one wall, which also provides the office’s main storage.
The architects employed a palette of simple and affordable materials, including fabric fixed loosely to the ceiling to create a series of inverted vaults.
Vertical wooden boards extend along one wall of the office, continuing over the partition and surrounding the meeting room.
“We consider wood as an optimum material to meet all our demands, both for the inner envelope and for the preparation of all the necessary furniture,” said the architects.
Wood is also used for the floors throughout the offices, and offers a warm contrast to the slick surface of the cabinetry and the white-painted brickwork which is visible on the rear of the curving surface and some of the other walls.
Our Architectural Studio, domohomo architects, is located in a former shop that had been in disuse in recent years, in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. It was the place we had chosen to develop our incipient profession, but we knew that the reform had to be governed by two very clear premises; on the one hand, the budget that we started was necessarily reduced and, on the other hand, we didn’t want to give up enjoying a warm and cosy stay to develop our daily task.
Delving into this second premise, we consider the wood as an optimum material to meet all our demands, both for the inner envelope and for the preparation of all the necessary furniture. Specifically, the front of cabinet that runs through the entire space takes special relevance, since he returned to the low a more orthogonal form and functions as a large container. In the end, thanks to the opening of booklet, we get that part of its interior to incorporate a general volume, depending on the needs of the moment.
Axonometric diagram showing new masonry
In contrast with this smooth and straight forehead, the rest is defined by curves and contra-curves of white timber. Apparently, everything seems continuous and uniform, but is nothing more than a subtle game of steps and gates that, according to its opening, allows us to discover new stays or, simply change the spatial configuration.
Axonometric diagram showing wooden surfaces
This fact is by no means capricious, but it is due to a very clear desire. From the beginning, we wanted that this reform is not limited to our professional office but that could also serve physical support to other creators to publicise their work. Therefore, generated two distinct areas, where the most exposed part is unveiled for our jobs, while the rear is deliberately more indefinite, well can function as meeting room, small classroom or venue.
Sölvesborg Bridge, d’une longueur de 756 mètres, est le pont proposant au piéton la plus longue balade et est de ce fait le plus long d’Europe. Disposant d’un système d’éclairage avec des LEDs très réussi, ce pont signé par Ljusarkitektur propose un design à la fois moderne et en accord avec son environnement.
London College of Communications has announced the line-up for its annual Green Week – a series of free talks, exhibitions and workshops exploring environmentally conscious creative work.
This year’s theme is survival and the five-day programme, which runs from February 10-14, includes a look at environmental and ethical photography, design, film-making, journalism, product design and architecture projects.
Nat Hunter and Sevre Davis of the RSA will be debating design for social impact, Tom Hunter and Robert Elms will discuss the theme of home in photography, and the Design Council’s John Mathers will give a lecture on ‘world-changing creativity’.
D&AD is also taking part in the programme, hosting New Blood White Pencil feedback sessions and a two-day National Trust workshop with Fred Deakin. Other hands-on events include a workshop making books from waste materials, an insect-tasting session and activities exploring sustainable materials such as natural dyes, alternative power sources and urban regeneration.
Student and graduate events include an exhibition of design activism from graphic media and design students, an environmental photography show held by LCC alumni and a screening of Brian Hill’s 2010 documentary, Climate of Change, hosted by MA documentary film students.
A full programme is available here. For more info or details on how to book events, see the LCC blog.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
The 
