Hasta La Ideas

pimg alt=”bydesign_ch.jpg” src=”http://www.core77.com/blog/images/bydesign_ch.jpg” width=”468″ height=”308″ class=”mt-image-none” style=”” //p

pA lot happening at the a href=”http://www.cooperhewitt.org/”Cooper-Hewitt/a these days, with the a href=”http://designnow.eventbrite.com/”big conference coming up tomorrow/a (Core77 will be live streaming it all day a href=”http://www.core77.com/designnow”here/a) and the Triennial humming along. The second in the series of strongBill’s Talks/strong is coming up next week, featuring one of the wisest, most beloved design writers and thinkers of all time, Ralph Caplan. (Winner of this year’s National Design Award for Design Mind.) Core77 was proud to do a a href=”http://www.core77.com/reactor/byDesign/””double feature”/a on the reissue of Ralph’s seminal book, a href=”http://www.amazon.com/Design-Bathroom-Lessons-McGraw-Hill-paperbacks/dp/0070097771/ref=sr_1_1?s=booksie=UTF8qid=1285864422sr=1-1″By Design/a several years ago, but next week is your chance to see Ralph live. Here’s from the release:/p

blockquotestrongBILL’S DESIGN TALKS/strong

pA new series of design conversations with Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum Director Bill Moggridge/p

pDesign Trajectory with Ralph Caplan/p

pThursday, October 7, 2010, 6:30 – 8:00pm/p

pThe design process has moved from just forming objects to addressing the situations in which objects are used. That’s a major theme in Ralph Caplan’s seminal book By Design, expressed in the book’s subtitle: “Why There Are No Locks on the Bathroom Doors of the Hotel Louis IV and Other Object Lessons.” This year Ralph Caplan is honored with the National Design Mind Award for his contributions to design research and scholarship. /p

pCaplan will offer his take on the Cooper-Hewitt’s role in shaping the understanding and presentation of design from its opening exhibition in 1976, Man TRANSforms, to the current exhibition Why Design Now? His presentation will be followed by a discussion with Cooper-Hewitt Director Bill Moggridge./p

pGalleries open from 5:30 – 6:30pm before the program./p

p$15 / $10 members, students and seniors. /p

pRegister online a href=”http://cooperhewitt.org/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D91101739″HERE/abr /
/blockquote/p

pSee you there!/pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/events/ralph_caplan_at_the_cooper-hewitt_next_thursday_17532.asp”(more…)/a
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These wooden spectacle frames have been created by Milan designer Matteo Ragni.

Called W-eye, the reading glasses are made from layers of wood laminated with aluminium.

Intended for use at home when reading or watching television, the design is without hinges.

Ragni developed the product range with Doriano Mattellone of wood research laboratory MAWOOD.

The spectacles are produced in ebony, zebrano, mohagany, cherry, ash and walnut.

The information that follows is from MAWOOD:

W-EYE
Wood to wear

W-eye represents more than just well designed spectacles, it reflects a tale of encounter. Wood, passion, craftsmanship, attention, research and integrity.

W-eye is born from the expert hands of Doriano Mattellone in the MA-wood laboratory, surrounded by the luscious green forests of Friuli, and from the pencil of industrial designer and researcher Matteo Ragni, winner of the prestigious prize “Compasso d’Oro”. This encounter between those who touch, transform and craft the material and those who pursue innovation, each pushing the boundaries in order to transcend convention, has given birth to a collection of indoor spectacles.

Technique and research are crucial characteristics of all aspects of the collection: two thin, but resistant aluminium foils, together with multi-layered wood in 6 different forms, represent the soul of these spectacles, giving them flexibility, strength and lightness. Every W-eye pair of spectacles is hand crafted with care and passion, giving them seamless sensibility at the touch. Being hinge free, with high malleability of the arms, a technical choice is reflected that contributes to the even assimilation of the weight of the spectacles and their even redistribution between the nose and the sides of the face. All this guarantees perfect vision and makes them a pleasure to wear.

Designed as a response to the demands of ‘close reading’, the collection explores the use of indoor spectacles in the private environment and the relationship to outdoor spectacles for everyday and varying daily scenarios.
Although wood and aluminium are intrinsically contrasting materials with distinctive souls, like the creators of W-eye, they reflect an encounter between two different souls with di- verse visions who work together to generate an entirely new perspective.

See also:

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VerBien by Yves Béhar	SIRE glasses by Aekae	Spectacles by Reykjavik Eyes

We’ve teamed up with Milan designer Denis Guidone to offer our readers the chance to win an Ora (il)Legale clock.

Produced by NAVA Design, the two flat bases of the clock allow it to be moved forward or back an hour to account for daylight saving time.

See our earlier story about the clock.

To enter this competition email your name, age, gender, occupation, delivery address, telephone number and preferred colour (black or white) to competitions@dezeen.com with “Ora (il)Legale” in the subject line. We won’t pass your information on to anyone else; we just want to know a little about our readers.

Read our privacy policy here.

Competition closes 18 October 2010. Four winners will be selected at random and notified by email. Winners’ names will be published in a future edition of our Dezeenmail newsletter and at the bottom of this page. Dezeen competitions are international and entries are accepted from readers in any country.

Subscribe to our newsletter, get our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter for details of future competitions.

Here’s more from Denis Guidone:

Ora (il)Legale:
(a physical approach to timekeeping)

Ora (il)legale is characterized by an essential graphic aspect, underlined by the presence of a single hand that indicates both minutes and hours.

In the act of designing there is not separation between shape, function and aesthetic.

The cut is break of shape, graphic alteration and at the same time creates a support to change hour from solar time to legal time with a simple gesture”

We’ve just sent out the latest issue of Dezeenmail – take a look at it here. Dezeenmail is sent out roughly every two weeks and contains a selection of Dezeen’s best stories and comments, along with all our latest competitions and jobs. You can subscribe here.

The Swatch Young Illustrators Award, run by Berlin-based festival Illustrative, aims to reward “creativity and innovation in personal contemporary illustration and graphics”

The name, though, is slightly misleading: though a ‘young’ illustrators’ award, there is no upper age limit. And you have to be over 21. Hmmm.

Nevertheless, the organisers promise @6000 worth of prizes and the chance to have your work on show at next year’s Illustrative festival (see our review of last year’s here) and even design a limited edition Swatch. Plus, all nominated work will be exhibited in Berlin in November.

All the details are here. Deadline October 22