There are enough quirky “found thing” necklaces out there for this one to pass as nothing more than a piece of jewelry ironically moonlighting as a camera—which is exactly what Brooklyn-based designer Olivia Barr wants you to think. In reality, it’s a real-live piece of tech that’s perfect for the hipster Harriet the Spy in all of us.
Barr made the first version for her 101-year-old grandmother (pictured below), who took up photography in her 90s. She wanted to create a lighter version that was easy on the muscles and simple to use. The half-inch thick walnut camera also shoots HD video and comes complete with 3.5MB capacity and straightforward instructions laser-etched on the back.
Say hello to Cassandra and Ernie Velasco of Doubleparlour—and all of their little friends. The husband and wife duo is based in Lower Haight, San Francisco and started showing their work in 2007. Over the years,…
Picture it: A Fellini– and Buñuel-flavored tale of a museum curator grappling with dwindling visitor numbers, harsh economic realities, his crumbling sanity, and…a giant sloth! We were sold on the premise of graphic novelist Paul Hornschemeier‘s planned animated short film even before learning that the crazy curator, one Gordon Boonewell, will be voiced by Paul Giamatti. Saturday Night Live‘s dazzling Kate McKinnon has also signed on to the project, entitled Giant Sloth, which Hornschemeier is looking to fund through a freshly launched Kickstarter campaign.
“Uncompromised by the studio process, Giant Sloth combines the psychologically rich world of literary graphic novels with the all the possibilities of motion and sound that animation allows,” notes Hornschemeier. “It treats its characters not as clowns shuffling for an easy laugh, but as people. And as giant sloths. Giant sloths are people too.” continued…
Dezeen and MINI Forntiers: in the second part of our interview with Rachel Armstrong, the senior University of Greenwich lecturer explains how a synthetic “limestone-like” support structure could be grown underneath Venice to prevent the city’s foundations being eroded.
Visualisation of a synthetic reef supporting the city of Venice by Christian Kerrigan
“The future of Venice really rests on its relationship with the tides,” Armstrong explains. “They digest away the fabric of the city. The idea is to create a giant artificial limestone-like reef. This would spread the point load of the city over a much broader base.”
Visualisation of the Future Venice project by Christian Kerrigan
Armstrong says such a structure could be grown using protocell technology, an emerging field of synthetic biology, in which cocktails of non-living chemicals are combined to exhibit the properties of living organisms.
“What I mean by ‘protocell’ is a group of chemistries that have a very, very simple metabolism,” Armstrong explains. “This allows them to perform as if they were alive.”
Visualisation of the Future Venice project by Christian Kerrigan
The protocells Armstrong proposes releasing into the Venetian Lagoon, which she has researched as part of a project called Future Venice, would have two metabolisms.
They would be photophobic, so that they move towards the dark foundations of the city and, once there, would react with minerals in the water to accrete the limestone-like material, reinforcing the wood piles the city stands on.
Visualisation of protocells by Christian Kerrigan
“The photophobic metabolism of the protocells works by light breaking chemical bonds, which propels the body forward,” Armstrong explains. “These protocells would move into the foundations and gradually mineral shells would accrete.”
She continues: “It’s a different way that we could use technology – one that confers inert materials with some of the properties of living things. [Venice] could engage itself in a struggle for survival against the destructive impact of the elements in which it is situated.”
Armstrong got the idea for the Future Venice project after working with architect Philip Beesley on his Hylozoic Ground installation at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale, in which protocells were used to create tiny mineral sculptures within a series of glass vials.
“The Future Venice project was an investigation of how [the Hylozoic Ground protocells] could be realised within the lagoon environment of Venice,” Armstrong says. “These are prototype tests, it is not a formal technology. But we could see something within 10 to 20 years if this is something that the city of Venice wants.”
Rachel Armstrong
The music featured in the movie is a track called Everything Everywhere Once Was by UK producer 800xL. You can listen to more original music on Dezeen Music Project.
Dezeen and MINI Frontiers is a year-long collaboration with MINI exploring how design and technology are coming together to shape the future.
The Owl and Bird collection are signature pieces from Matt Pugh, a perfectly playful desk top weight or designer’s ornament. It is handmade from high ..
We previously covered Ron Paulk’s Mobile Woodshop in depth, interviewing him in a two-part series. Well, there’s fresh news of the Mobile Woodshop: It’s for sale!
Models were joined by trains of fabric in fashion graduate Marta Jakubowski’s collection during the Royal College of Art catwalk show yesterday.
Photograph by Dan Howarth (also main image)
Marta Jakubowski used lengths of jersey to link together five of the outfits in her MA Fashion collection.
Photograph by Dan Howarth
The train started at the back of a metal headpiece worn by the first model, drooped down to the floor then joined the front of another model’s steel headgear.
Photograph by Dan Howarth
The red, white and black strips of material led from long, flowing outfits in the same colours. One of the looks was made from 17 metres of material.
“There is a lot of fabric in my garments since they all connect within each other and with another look,” Jakubowski told Dezeen.
She combined light materials like jersey and crepe with neoprene for heavier garments. “It was very important that the garments are light and fluent and move with ease,” she said.
Jakubowski said that the collection told a story of “being connected and loosing”.
“I lost my mum just in the summer before I started my MA,” she explained. “I wouldn’t call it inspiration but it definitely changed my whole life and influenced the way I think and express myself in my work.”
Jakubowski said she had used the design process as a kind of therapy, recording films in which she expressed her emotions as part of her development work.
“I started to record myself in little short movies to picture my feelings since I was not really able to communicate it in a different way,” she said. “After a while I included materials and stared to create silhouettes to express all the feelings and these were starting point for my design work.”
In some of the final pieces, the material was raised over the face. “Sometimes the garments cover the mouth, which symbolises muteness and sickness, and sometimes the garment starts under the eyes so it looks like black tears,” said Jakubowski.
Each headpiece was made from metal wires bent into different shapes. Once removed, the outfits can be worn as everyday attire. “Everything could be very wearable without the connections and the headpieces,” Jakubowski said.
The collection was shown as part of London’s Royal College of Art fashion show at the institution’s Kensington campus. Photography is by Dominic Tschudin/RCA, unless otherwise stated.
Sunday, 1 June 2014, Bonhams Greenwich Concours D’Elegance Auction will be held in Greenwich, CT. Although this auction is not Bonham’s most exclusive, it is the quaintest and dearest, and is a true highlight on any aficionado’s…
Artplan et AfroReggae ont créés le « Calendrier de la liberté »: 12 ex-détenus, 365 marques fabriquées à la main et des témoignages avec des histoires de chacun d’entre eux. Chaque page du calendrier est consacrée à un portrait d’un ex-detenu. Plus d’images et une vidéo sont disponible dans l’article.
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