Hasta La Ideas

What will future archeologists uncover in the UK if we continue to deposit 99 million tonnes of waste per year in landfills? During the London Design Festival the V&A features an installation in its tunnel entrance by Royal College of Art graduate Ian Douglas-Jones, illustrating the need for recycling. He puts “stratum” (layers of compressed soil or rock) on display, asking the questions Can we create a new typology of landscape design and architecture using commercial waste streams? And also Can new and inspirational products be created from these reclaimed materials by artists?

Alongside the installation is also a range of products on display, designed by artists from material otherwise destined for landfill: From condemned fire-hose and racing sails to waste coffee sacks and de-commissioned parachutes and office furniture textiles.

Please click for more pictures!

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Product Placement aims to change the way the public perceives products, revealing their amazing back-stories to the public through their blog and a series of live events.

Each Product Placement installment is oriented around a theme, and features multiple designers from a range of fields. Each practitioner gives a five-minute talk about one of his or her products, touching on its development and the inspirations behind it—anything from a picture, a slide, or a physical prototype to a fabric’s texture, a piece of music, or a smell. After each presentation, audience members have a few minutes to ask questions.

The next live event, installment 1.4, is coming up on Wednesday, September 30th at Gallery 151 in New York City, highlighting designers that use materials in unexpected ways. Participants include: Berry Richards of Rockwell Group, Paul Loebach, Jim Zivic, Daniel Michalik and Christine Brandt.

For more information or to purchase tickets, head to their site.

Product Placement 1.4
Hosted by Gallery 151 and 311 Village Green
350 Bowery (between E. 4th and Great Jones Sts.), NYC
$5 admission includes cocktails and various surprises.

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100% Design has opened yesterday and I had a good look around (still counting the blisters on my feet). A very nice little show within this big one is, as every year, the work of the TEN collective. This year they present TEN XYZ – an exploration of their varied perspectives on the complex issues of sustainability within design using digital manufacturing technologies.

Pictured above is Tomoko Azumi’s Rooftop Tile Birdhouse and Chris Jackson’s plant watering warm bottle from his series of Digital Readymades.

Shown above are Steve Breadland’s Fruit Bowl and Salad Server (looking like robot arms in the attempt to make children eat more salad) as well as Gitta Gschwendtner’s wooden Off-Cut Seats.

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We’re excited to announce that the Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, headed up by Office dA’s Monica Ponce de Leon, is hosting the Future of Design conference on October 9th and 10th in Ann Arbor.

Thirty designers, critics and provocative thinkers will come together to brainstorm about how design is evolving across various disciplines including architecture, landscape architecture, interactive, industrial, and interior design. The presentations are free and open to the public. The speakers will present their views in 15-minutes segments. Following the Friday session, there will be dinner conversations moderated by faculty and students. All segments, including the round table discussion at dinner, will be available at YouTube starting Oct. 19, 2009.

The line up is star-studded, including American product designers Laurene Boym and Stephen Burks; architects Mark Tsurumaki, Hilary Sample, Greg Lynn and Meejin Yoon; and editor-in-chief of Metropolis Magazine Susan Szenasy.

For a full schedule and to register (it’s free), head over to the conference website.

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Last night we had the good fortune to attend the ADCV awards at the first ever Valencia Disseny Week… The awards are given to Valencia, Spain-based designers for meritorious projects within the field of design. Luckily for the awards and the accompanying publication these designers are top-notch and their projects worthy of note far outside of the region. And luckily for the designers, the awards were cast of silicone so to serve as a mold, capable of producing an infinite number of souvenirs for clients and family. Thanks to Xavi Calvo López of Menta for the event photos. Continue on for more people and projects…

Nacho Gómez-Trénor with the IMPIVA President present an Oro Award to Pepe Gimeno

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