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pParis-based A HREF=”http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_profile.asp?individual_id=201603″ Arthur Bodolec’s/A Jack chairs are “furniture that comes alive.” It’s a bit difficult to convey the coolness with still photos, so check out the vid below (which starts slow, action starts around 1:00):/p
pobject width=”468″ height=”263″param name=”allowfullscreen” value=”true” /param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always” /param name=”movie” value=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11238808amp;server=vimeo.comamp;show_title=1amp;show_byline=1amp;show_portrait=0amp;color=amp;fullscreen=1″ /embed src=”http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11238808amp;server=vimeo.comamp;show_title=1amp;show_byline=1amp;show_portrait=0amp;color=amp;fullscreen=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowfullscreen=”true” allowscriptaccess=”always” width=”468″ height=”263″/embed/objectpa href=”http://vimeo.com/11238808″The Astonishing Jack by Arthur Bodolec !/a from a href=”http://vimeo.com/user3651910″Arthur Bodolec/a on a href=”http://vimeo.com”Vimeo/a./p/p
pYou can see Bodolec’s A HREF=”http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_work.asp?individual_id=201603″ full book on Coroflot/A.br / /pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/arthur_bodolecs_living_furniture_16483.asp”(more…)/a pa href=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/YdtGKzGm0hwFta2Zns96GDIIVnY/0/da”img src=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/YdtGKzGm0hwFta2Zns96GDIIVnY/0/di” border=”0″ ismap=”true”/img/abr/ a href=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/YdtGKzGm0hwFta2Zns96GDIIVnY/1/da”img src=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/YdtGKzGm0hwFta2Zns96GDIIVnY/1/di” border=”0″ ismap=”true”/img/a/p
Laces, usually saved for utility boots and sneakers, started making more trendy appearances on booties last season as heeled combat boots became popular and feminized. And now that it’s sandal season, laces are showing up on our favorite summer heels as well. While a sandal isn’t something you’d normally associate with the need to knot before wearing, laces add visual interest and add to the sexy ultra-strappy look in a unique new way. But just because they’ve lost some coverage to suit the upcoming warmer weather doesn’t mean they’re any less edgy. Either clunky and platformed like these Derek Lam sandals or vampy like these caged Dolce Vita ones, lace-ups are ready to be paired with a summery day dress or you’re next night-out outfit, depending on the style. Take a look at the slideshow for a selection of my 10 favorite lace-up heel sandals!
agIdeas is celebrating its twentieth year as an international design conference in Melbourne this week. I was happy to attend a few sessions at Janine’s invitation – UPPERCASE is a supporting partner, and MagNation are featuring the magazine prominently at both the conference location and at their Elizabeth Street store.
In a former life, I was an anthropologist – an ideal qualification for attendance at a design conference. In their natural habitat, designers talk to other designers, and strategise about ways to talk to non-designers. The “ideas” part of design can dominate the conversation or be completely obscured. Some presenters forget that they are not simply pitching potential clients; others betray their fawning deification of celebrity. Some talk down to students (who largely constitute the audience.) But others are so refreshingly committed that it both made me want 1. to move to Amsterdam and 2. to “save good women from bad design.”
I attended a session called agIdeas In Conversation on which the panelists didn’t talk to each other nor were the audience invited to ask questions. I did learn however about the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, an amazing-sounding industry-based school in Los Angeles, and about Smart Design, the venerable industrial design firm responsible for the design of everything from breakfast to cars, often on the same day. Asked what they imagined they’d grow up to be, visual merchandiser Amanda Henderson answered, origami expert, and Alex Alvarez answered, astrophysicist. Dan Formosa, from Smart Design, told a story about seeing a poster for the BMW Isetta, an innovative 1960’s-era bubblecar, and his sudden realisation that things didn’t have to be the way they always were.
At agIdeas Advantage, a business breakfast session focussed on showing how businesses can employ design to reach women, my hackles rose as soon as I heard talk about “using” design in purely marketing terms. The presentation by Jane Waterhouse, communications expert, about the “unbiased, factual science” that guides her marketing to the “world’s biggest niche market” incensed me. Waterhouse suggested to the room of business executives that women like “unusual fonts”, fonts that are “informal and fun, particularly those that are hand-scripted.” I’m not sure if I was cringing more as a woman or as a typographer.
But Agnete Enga, from Smart Design, gave a wonderful presentation about her company’s focus on the unique perspective women provide as both industrial designers and consumers. She insists that being female is not niche. Her company opposes the “shrink it or pink it” school of gendered design, and showed slides of an amazing early example of this kind of marketing – the Dodge La Femme, a pink car that came complete with matching make-up case, umbrella and rainboots. Agnete’s goal is to “save good women from bad design.” Smart Design work toward socially responsible design: surgical tools that fit female surgeons hands and air-bags that are safe for pregnant drivers fit this mandate.
But the highlight of my brief time at agIdeas was Theo Jansen. Jansen is a self-described kinetic sculptor. As a child, he wanted to fly. Imperfect eyes kept him from becoming a pilot; instead, he trained as a physicist. Sometime in the 1980’s, he began exploring algorithms generated by an early Atari computer. He used the electrical piping he’d played with as a child to build moving appendages following his algorithmic patterns. In combination, these appendages form moving sculptures he calls Strandbeest, or beach animals. On stage, he set a small beach animal in motion down an inclined table: a collective awwww….. reverberated throughout the auditorium. This work, which he described as his life’s work, has engaged him for more than twenty years. At no point did he discuss their purpose, other than vague hopes they might be employed to avert erosion along the Dutch coast. He did not discuss them as art objects or prototypes for products. He talked of his beach animals with all the affection and care one has toward a beloved living creature. He rejects the idea that his is an unusual creativity; he has simply immersed himself in a minute examination of function. In doing so, he has brought into being objects so beautiful, so alive, that it’s almost as if design had nothing to do with it.
Many thanks to Carolyn Fraser for her fine contributions to UPPERCASE magazine each issue and for her thoughts on the agIdeas conference.
pThough you probably wouldn’t be able to power much with a bite-sized wind-turbine out the window of your city apartment, this one, at least, will make your sweaters for you. This device makes no aspirations to convert wind to electrical current, harnessing the rotational energy to spin gears and knit tubes of infinite length. It’s quite a smart way to think about all the ways we can harvest the potential around us. especially if applied at the scale of a factory./p
pThe machine was made by RCA grad a href=”http://www.merelkarhof.nl/merel_karhof_-_product_design/wind_knitting_factory.html”Merel Karhof./a/p
pemThanks, Rebecca!/em/p
div style=”align: right;”img src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/04/wind-knit1.jpg” width=”468″ height=”351″ alt=”wind-knit1.jpg”//div div style=”align: right;”img src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/04/windknit3.jpg” width=”468″ height=”351″ alt=”windknit3.jpg”//div div style=”align: right;”img src=”http://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/2010/04/wind-knit2.jpg” width=”468″ height=”247″ alt=”wind-knit2.jpg”//div a href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/wind-powered_knitting_machine__16482.asp”(more…)/a pa href=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Hn8mL3w1KNSOkDjL5Z7bDFtln_E/0/da”img src=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Hn8mL3w1KNSOkDjL5Z7bDFtln_E/0/di” border=”0″ ismap=”true”/img/abr/ a href=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Hn8mL3w1KNSOkDjL5Z7bDFtln_E/1/da”img src=”http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Hn8mL3w1KNSOkDjL5Z7bDFtln_E/1/di” border=”0″ ismap=”true”/img/a/p
If there’s an ecosystem where things are free (such as, say, the internet) your currency becomes enthusiasm. Quality is important because it gives people a legitimate reason to become excited. Sincerity is what creates the line between real enthusiasm and empty hype.
This sounds like a lame-brain observation, but things are better if creative people produce work that incites excitement in both the creative and the audience. Don’t be shocked if something fails because it lacks fervor and passion. Build those in, if you can. If you can’t, consider starting over.
Written and directed by filmmaking team Corey Adams and Alex Craig, the new adventure comedy “Machotaildrop” tells a story positioning skateboarding not just as merely a trivial pastime of the young, but rather as a noble pursuit worthy of the highest cultural recognition.
Winners of Fuel TV‘s two-year competition “The Fuel Experiment” for their short film “Harvey Spannos,” the duo used the one million in prize money to produce the feature-length farce in Budapest.
The film follows lead character and amateur skateboarder Walter Rhum on his journey to go pro for the world’s greatest skateboard company. Beginning with an invite to Machotaildrop’s headquarters, the tale unfolds as he uncovers the dark underbelly of what initially seems a benign operation.
Walter’s fantasy life dissolves into a dizzying nightmare as he uncovers the company’s owner The Baron’s exploitative schemes and delusional antics, forcing him to ultimately face the reality of the company’s downfall—all with plenty of skating.
Most moms already seem more busy than humanly possible, many times juggling kids, a relationship, a career and a social life, as well as household chores and life errands. Then there are those moms that do all that and still manage to squeeze in a routine workout regime. While I can’t seem to find the time or will-power in my own life, it’s definitely impressive and if this sounds like your mother or a mother that you know, give them a motivating boost with a gym/ workout friendly gift this Mother’s Day! Whether it’s a stylish gym bag to let her tote her things around fashionably, or if it’s practical and fun gym accessories that is more up her alley, she’ll definitely appreciate the effort and how cute and stylish she’ll be looking while breaking a sweat. Click on the slideshow to see some cute gym/ workout staples that will make great gifts for your active mama!
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.
