London-based designer Bethan Laura Wood really identifies totally with her own designs—wearing them always herself, and therefore exposing them in a wonderful and very convincing way. We bumped into her during the London Design—a walking exhibition showing her new work in a very personal way. Please see for yourself in the above video what new ideas she recently has come up with.
Reporting by Carly Ayres, RISD Industrial Design ’13; photos by Sarah Pease, RISD Furniture Design ’13.
With the premise, “you have to start somewhere,” t=0 marked the beginning of a new tradition at MIT and the starting point for students to come together and create new technological ventures. A two-day festival aimed at bringing together everyone from engineers and designers to hackers and makers, t=0 was a celebration of entrepreneurship and innovation in a learning environment.
Entering the Johnson Ice Rink where the event was held, participants were instantly greeted by an enormous bouncy castle as well as modern white furniture emitting blue light. “We wanted the layout to feel like a festival. Not like a conference,” Elliot Cohen (MIT MBA ’15) explained, relating how he, along with a small staff from the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, chose to plan the event. “So we were really careful, all the terminology we used was like that of a festival.” Hence the ‘lineup’ of Mitch Kapor, Brad Feld, Rich Miner, and other ‘artists.’ The terminology and decor, combined with an endless supply of complimentary Red Bull, worked to create a room of high energy that would act as a catalyst for entrepreneurship amongst attendees.
A group of eager entrepreneurs in the Startup Lab
Speaker Drew
Volpe, co-founder & CTO at Locately
The energy was palpable in the Startup Lab, which was full of groups that had broken off following the presentations Friday night where each student pitched his or her idea. Depending on what the group needed—designers, coders, etc.—participants would join up and start hacking at the various steps needed to bring the project to fruition. MIT Mentors floated from table to table, discussing business plans and various obstacles the groups might face further down the road.
The Startup Lab ran throughout the day in that format, while various ‘artists’ took the stage to speak on their experiences. Workshops ran simultaneously in another corner of the rink, which included everything from sequencing your own DNA to sketching to communicate thoughts and ideas. The “Creating an Instrument” workshop run by Jason Sanford and Zach Katz showed participants how to design instruments to produce music via hobby electronics and a hex-inverter chip.
Speaker Andrew Cove, founder of Quirk.
Vatican Ferraris, other gorgeous mid-century cars and more at the U.K.’s biggest vintage car show
The annual vintage car show at Goodwood is so much more than that. With races, air shows, thousands dressed in period costumes and even a working ’50s-era supermarket, the event provides a playground for those in love with bygone ways of life. As the guest of Veuve Clicquot, it was hard not to also be taken with the scene, arriving in high vintage style in Pierre le Gloahec-Hénanff’s gorgeous (and appropriately champagne-colored) Jaguar E-type. The MoMA-approved aggressive bonnet and beautiful wood interior make it easy to understand why so many are such big fans of the car—Pierre’s driving (he used to race Jaguars and now spends his days at Le Petit Hôtel des Hortensias in Brittany) didn’t hurt either.
We knew we were off to a good start when stopping for gas along the way, we ran into friends of his who brought a Vatican Ferrari (the manufacturer used to give the Catholic city cars). The pair, dressed in full vestments, caused a passerby to pee her pants from laughter.
Proceeding to the plot of land known as Goodwood, we started seeing vintage planes zip across the sky. The open airspace is just one of the impressive features of Goodwood, which dates back to 1697 when the first Duke of Richmond established it as hunting grounds.
At the Revival, you have your choice of activities—shopping, eating, visiting the recreated Tesco—but we headed to the space Veuve hosts near the track to watch the races. When the vintage race cars aren’t speeding around what has been called the most beautiful track in the world, you can go check them out in the barracks.
There, you have the chance to see some of the most famous winning models, a vintage car-lovers dream. It’s tough to pick a favorite, but the 1956 Ferrari 860 Monza is definitely up there.
Of course, just a year older, the Type Ferrari 250 TR57 is stunning too.
Fast-forward to 1961 and you have Ferrari’s 250 GTO SWB “Breadvan.”
Following that year, Ferrari made this yellow-and-green 250 GTO.
But not all the stunners were Ferraris. For a futuristic vision that dates back to 1954, there’s the Mercedes Benz 1196 Streamliner.
This ’57 Aston Martin DBA1 also caught my eye.
And the blue 1951 Maserati A6GCM, as well as its little brother from 1953, are both Richmond Trophy-winners.
Bugatti’s 1947 Type 73C has the distinction of having earned a Goodwood Trophy.
Today marks the halfway point of the currently-running London Design Festival, and now the annual even has crowned its king. At a ceremony in the crypt of St. Paul’s Cathedral, the fest’s top prize, the London Design Medal, was awarded to Ron Arad. “Thank you London,” the designer/architect said at the event, “I couldn’t imagine doing whatever I’m doing anywhere else in the world.” Arad now joins the ranks of the likes of Marc Newson and Zaha Hadid, winners from previous years. Design Week spoke with festival director Ben Evans, who had this to say about the win:
He has carved out a market of his own and his work is now included in virtually every major collection. As professor of design products at the Royal College of Art for ten years, his influence on design and young designers has been huge and he has contributed greatly to the current generation of telented designers now dominating design.’
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
Wow. What a busy few days this has been at The Creative Connection. Some really amazing highlights; meeting people, presenting, the marketplace, sharing this experience with Tif… A really worthwhile trip in all respects. But, boy, am I exhausted! And talked out. So, I leave you with an uncaptioned slideshow and I will fill in the details later. Thank you to everyone organizing and attending the conference; I really felt welcomed and appreciated!
In less than an hour I have a breakfast date with a few hundred people… I will be speaking on a panel for the “VIP Breakfast Panel, Women Entrepreneurs”! (eep!) If you’re here at the event, I welcome you to stop by the UPPERCASE and dottie angel table in the marketplace and say hi. I would be happy to answer more of your questions there and am always receptive to your ideas for the magazine.
Here’s a classic shot of Tif in our display:
(Photo courtesy Teddy Lo)
Pass the diet cola and Mentos, fire up the 3-D printer, and prepare to be serenaded by Tesla coils, because it’s time for Maker Faire. The bricolage bash kicks off tomorrow at the New York Hall of Science in Queens—take a left at the glowing dragon! Created for last year’s Burning Man festival, “GonKiRin” (Mandarin for “Light Dragon”) is the work of Hong Kong-based light artist Teddy Lo, who constructed the 69-foot-long and 22-foot-tall car-creature from a 1963 Dodge W-300 power dump truck, approximately 2,500 feet of linear RGB LED lighting fixtures, and a massive flamethrower. Artist Ryan Doyle collaborated with Lo on the project. Riders can sit in the dragon’s mouth or relax in a couch on its back as an intrepid DJ spins from a booth on the second story. Can’t make it to Maker Faire? Look for GonKiRin in the New York City Halloween parade later this fall and click below to watch a video of the creature in action.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
This afternoon, nine hopefuls had the chance to pitch their ideas to a panelist of magazine publishers (including UPPERCASE). There wasn’t a lot of slamming, though, we are all too nice for that!
Tif started to set up the display for tomorrow’s marketplace.
The summary so far: lots of talking, eating, listening. I’m looking forward to Holly Becker’s keynote presentation at dinner shortly. But first I have to open my design files and fix some prepress preflight problems on issue 11. No break for me!
So a mere 24 hours ago I was uploading the final print files for Issue #11 and now I am sitting in a hotel in St. Paul, Minnesota, doing my homework for the start of The Creative Connection tomorrow morning. It is kind of hard to adjust my brain, from being so focused on the final and minute details of the magazine to now have to think outwardly and prepare for an event with apparently 700 attendees!
I have enjoyed my jam-packed 10 hours in St. Paul so far: the hotel is beautiful, I met with Sharon Werner of Werner Design Werks (I’ve admired her design work for years!), enjoyed wandering the city for a while (though the wind in bitter cold, which doesn’t help my ringing ears from a head cold + air travel), visited a gallery show of Jennifer Davis and Amy Rice, and to top it off, dinner with Tif and Jessie followed by a nice chat by the fire. (Alas, no hot chocolate, Tif! You’ll have to carry some in a flask.)
I’ve got my big camera and laptop with me, so I’ll blog recaps when I can. But if you want to follow along in real time, I’ll be on @uppercasemag on twitter and instagram sending dispatches from the event.
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.
