Hasta La Ideas

The nice thing about design school projects is that most are meant to be conceived of and completed within the same semester. In the absence of manufacturing problems and political issues, you’re presented with a problem and expected to solve it with design in a matter of months.

In the real world, of course, the process of going from problem presentation to design solution can seem interminably long. After the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001, cities like New York and London began removing trash cans from certain public spaces. In 2005 London suffered their own terrorist attack on July 7th. By 2007 two entrepreneurs named Kaveh Memari and Brian James designed and began testing a bombproof trash can; we first wrote it up in 2008, and it was scheduled to land on London streets, featuring internet-connected LCD screens that could warn Londoners of local emergencies, in 2009. That release date was then pushed back to 2010, with a target of 100 cans on London streets, but the release date came and went.

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