Hasta La Ideas

We’re always interested to see creative types exploring the culture of objects; taking an oblique look at the physical manifestations of our society.

NYC based artist Justin Gignac is attempting to do just that with his newly released “Security!” pins. Best know for the Need (and Wants) for Sale collections, Gignac has teamed up with jewellery designer Max Steiner to create this 18k gold-plated “opulent interpretation of the shoplifter’s worst enemy”.

Much of Gignac’s work celebrates the banality of such objects; elevating them momemtarily from their lowly positions (see for example his quite genius “NYC Garbage”)—but one has to wonder whether such sumptuousness is the only way to go about this:

“[the security tag] is one of those things that I’ve ignored for years. What better way to call attention to it than make it gold and throw some diamonds on it”

slap these things on a few rappers and consider shoplifting duly glamourised!

“Security!” pins are now available for sale from NY retailers Reed Space and Poundcake—as well as the dedicated e-store. A veritable steal at $700 a piece—$550 if your willing to forgo the point diamonds.

(via Cool Hunting)

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Here’s an attractive replacement for your old office standard with years’ worth of unerasable stains: SkyPaper Dry Erase from Belgrave Trust. Inspired by artist Jason Griffin and using reclaimed wood, the material was hand cut, silkscreened, and individually assembled. Belgrave Trust is a membership based carbon offset service specializing in climate change solutions, and they’ve released a set of office products combining design and carbon neutrality. “With each dry erase board, Belgrave Trust will fund carbon credits through our actively managed portfolio of projects, retiring an amount equivalent a typical office (or home office) heating and cooling energy usage over the span of a year.”

While we wholeheartedly believe in good-looking whiteboards and the reduction of carbon footprints, we’re not quite so sure about the idea of manufacturing $10 laptop stickers to support the carbon-neutral cause.

Via PSFK

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Bespoke Innovations is a San-Francisco-based firm founded by industrial designer Scott Summit and orthopedic surgeon/engineer Dr. Kenneth Trauner. Bespoke is using rapid prototyping to make a product with surprisingly little competition in the marketplace: Personalized prosthetics that not only work well, but look freaking cool.

“A current prosthetic is an amazing piece of engineering and research, but it’s half of the equation,” says Summit, featured in the NY Times video on rapid prototyping below. “A person is about form and shape and beauty and sensuality. That won’t be reached by an assemblage of off-the-shelf mechanical parts.”

Stepping in to fill the void, Bespoke makes kick-ass prosthetics using RP. If a person is missing just one leg, Bespoke can scan the other, mirror it in CAD, and crank out a counterpart; further production methods can then be applied to the prosthetic, like chrome-plating and/or wrapping it in leather that’s been etched with tattoo-like patterns. The end result becomes something that the user would be proud to leave visible, rather than hide underneath pant legs.

Hit the jump to read Bespoke’s well-reasoned mission statement.

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For one week only, you can get your very own piece of polar ice to keep in your freezer at home. Dutch artists Coralie Vogelaar and Teun Castelein have traveled to the Arctic circle to pick up a large piece of Greendlandic ice and shattered it into a thousand pieces for the world to share.

This weekend, MyPolarIce opened at Museum Square in Amsterdam and pieces of ice are being sold for 24.95 euros until December 6. Their goal: “To sell the pieces to people throughout the country that cherish and preserve it. To let the ice hibernate in the freezer compartment of their refrigerator for better times to come.”

Each piece comes inside a 9-inch transparent capsule inside an expanded polystyrene container (both designed and branded very nicely), which can keep the ice from melting for about three hours. “Come get your relic from the last ice age, come get your piece of history and bring the heated discussion home,” says their video.

While we commend MyPolarIce for their innovative global warming awareness campaign with a business-model twist, we’re not yet lining up (or making a reservation to book a piece of ice, as you can also do on their website). Our eyebrows are slightly raised at the smell of gimmick, because it has surely happened before.

via Pop-Up City

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To paraphrase Steve Jobs, a central problem with multitouch as a desktop user interface is that we need to work with our hands on the horizontal (think of the keyboard, mouse, or tablet on your desk) and view on the vertical (the monitor in front of you). Jobs indicated that Apple testing showed users’ arms would become fatigued from constantly reaching out to touch a vertical monitor.

Well, check out Media Computing Group’s BendDesk concept, a wicked touch display that curves like a halfpipe:

I have problems believing something this bulky will become the dominant solution, but I think it’s a neat and important step in the development of desktop multitouch. And as CNET’s Ed Moyer suggests, I’d love to be able to modify Photoshop docs with my hands, then flick the finished image up onto the vertical part of the screen to examine.

via engadget

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