Hasta La Ideas

Menthos + Diet Coke experiment from Maker Faire Bay Area 2012. Photo courtesy of Lindsie Reitz.

And in more Maker Faire news…

You’re a designer, an inventor, the genius behind the great thing-a-ma-jig. Maker Faire wants YOU to be part of their global showcase of DIY (or Do-It-Together) spirit. Here’s your chance to share your project not only with your fellow makers, but more importantly, the greater New York City community.

We are so excited to be a media partner in this year’s World Maker Faire, September 29-30th, hosted at the New York Hall of Science in Queens! You can enter your project as a Maker, Music Performer or Presenter in this year’s event. The organizers encourage exhibitions to be interactive, highlighting the process of making things.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to participate in this year’s World Maker Faire—the call for makers wraps up in two weeks on Friday, August 17th. Even if you don’t have a project to share, come out for this family-friendly event. Early Bird tickets are on sale NOW through the end of August.

For a taste of what to expect at Maker Faire, check out our past coverage of events from around the world!!

» 2012 Bay Area Coverage
» 2010 New York Photo Gallery and Coverage
» 2010 Detroit Photo Gallery
» 2009 Africa (Accra, Ghana) Photo Gallery and Coverage
» 2008 Bay Area Photo Gallery

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In anticipation of Device Design Day (D3) 2012, we’re partnering with Kicker Studio for a preview of this year’s conference by asking Andrew Milmoe to reflect on six questions about design and his practice. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with D3, the 3rd annual conference brings together visual, interaction and industrial designers for a multi-disciplinary conversation about the design of consumer electronics and objects with embedded technology.

We’re excited to be a media partner for Device Design Day and as a thank you to Core77 readers, we’re offering a 10% discount to the conference. Just enter the code: Core77 under “Promotional Code” on the Eventbrite Ticketing page.

Device Design Day 2012
Friday, August 3rd
9:30AM – 5PM
San Francisco Art Institute
800 Chestnut Street
San Francisco CA 94133

See our coverage of the first two years here (2010) and here (2011) and don’t forget to register today!

Kicker Studio: What is your most cherished product, and why?

Andrew Milmoe: I consider our mid-century modern Eichler home my most cherished product. Our home is a product as it was designed in the ’60s as one of 11,000 tract homes mass produced in California. Ours being one of the later models, it is the result of iteration and testing that resulted in an efficient, affordable, and stylish home.

What’s the one product you wish you had created/built/designed, and why?

The telegraph…perhaps it’s more of an invention than a product. It had a tremendous impact on people’s lives. It must have been magical to suddenly be able to nearly instantaneously transmit communication across great distances without moving physical atoms through space. It created the first “network of networks” and had a lasting global impact on nearly every aspect of life.

A class in signalling and wireless telegraphy at the Melbourne Technical College. See page for author, via Wikimedia Commons

What excites you about today’s tools and technology?

Not only are tools becoming faster and cheaper, but they are getting in to the hands of younger and more culturally diverse people. (The future will not be designed by old white western males.) Products and services are being developed, vetted, crowd sourced, and shared, shipped, or 3D printed worldwide. Consumers will be able to chose between highly mediated experiences (Apple) and DIY/Crafted experiences (Etsy).

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We’re pleased to be partnering with our local chapter of the IDSA on what (if the title is any indication) is sure to be yet another inspirational event for designers in the Greater NYC area. Matthew Locsin of Monitor Group and Doblin will speak on how to “Do More with Less,” while our own Editor-in-Chief Allan Chochinov will share his thoughts on “Design Recipes.”

IDSANYC presents
Inspiration Lounge
with Matthew Locsin & Allan Chochinov

Smart Design
601 W 26th St
Suite 1820
New York, NY 10001
Wednesday, July 25, 2012, 6:30PM
RSVP required

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In order to bring their mobile GlassLab to Governors Island, the folks at the Corning Museum of Glass had to schlep the custom-built tractor trailer from the Finger Lakes region down to Jersey, completing the 200+ mile journey by barge. A recent visit to a live glassmaking demonstration on a typical (read: sweltering) summer morning affirms that the trek was well worth the effort: the Corning team offer an experience that is at once informative and spectacular—that they’re masters of the craft is a given.

The Corning Museum of Glass will bring its GlassLab design program to New York this summer with a month-long series of free public glassmaking performances on Governors Island. New York-based designers will bring their sketchbooks and concepts and work side-by-side with master glassmakers in a unique mobile hotshop developed by the Museum. The teams will prototype their design ideas in live glassblowing sessions, allowing audiences to watch the evolution of the designs as they are created. The design performances will feature contemporary graphic designers included in the onsite exhibition Graphic Design – Now in Production, presented by Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

Ironically, the glass barrier was a ‘glaring’ issue for photography…

From L to R: gaffers Chris Rochelle and Eric Meek traveled from Corning; Adam Holtzinger is a Brooklyn-based glass artist

Designer Peter Buchanan-Smith is best known for the axes that feature prominently in the exhibition’s marketing material; he came up with a glass ‘buoy/eye’ for the GlassLab team

Graphic design fans and Minnesotans alike might recall that Graphic Design: Now in Production debuted at the Walker Art Center last year; Cooper-Hewitt is pleased to bring it to one of NYC’s increasingly popular summertime destinations while their uptown gallery is undergoing renovation. (Our friend Alice Twemlow of SVA’s D-Crit program recently conducted a nice interview with the exhibition’s curatorial team, in which they share their thoughts on the singular, if insular, venue, among other topics.)

The furnace burns at temperatures of >2000°C

Looking good so far…

The GlassLab was conceived for the occasion of Design Miami/Art Basel in 2007 and it has traveled throughout Europe and America since then. Rob Cassetti, Creative Director of the Corning Museum of Glass, notes that

GlassLab provides designers with rare access to hot glassmaking processes, enabling them to experience firsthand the full potential of glass as a material for design—pushing the creative boundaries of both the designers and glassmakers. We’ve worked with designers from a variety of disciplines, including fashion, product and even toy design. The design sessions on Governors Island add an exciting new facet to GlassLab by engaging a group of leading graphic designers and allowing them to translate their visions into three dimensions.

Chris wears protection for the final step; image courtesy of GlassLab

Still not convinced? Check out the sizzle reel:

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Building and sharing community food was a major theme featured in projects at the International Conference on Design Food and Designing for Food in London.

A standout project was developed by Fan Sissoko, a French designer living in Brixton. Self-described as a major foodie, Fan was studying for her M.A. in design and sustainability when she realized that her studies could be put to action immediately. Following her interest in promoting culture through personal connection, Fan decided to bring two pieces of herself together : community and love of food. The result is the Brixton People’s Kitchen, a project that aims to reduce food waste by bringing strangers together to cook and eat.

Inspired by the People’s Kitchen in Dalston, Fan’s says that “The aim of the Brixton People’s Kitchen is to bring people together to cook a community meal from food surplus.” Anyone can join, just show up with a food donation and plan on cooking for their supper. The goal is to create new communication channels and interaction between community members that might otherwise never meet.

“Food is a language that people use to say something about themselves by what they eat,” says Fan.

Surplus food is donated from local grocery stores, markets, restaurants and community members. Participants swap recipes both onsite and through Facebook, then meet to cook together. Outside guests can also donate a small sum and partake in the meal as well. Fan hopes to grow the project into a weekly experience, as well as provide training and workshops about food and food safety. It’s a great example of system and interaction design coming together.

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