Theme of Gross..you don’t say!

Lynn Lim’s got it going on: Design thesis at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Lynn Lim explores the complex emotional response of the tangible ick or the physical structure in gross.  She explores several low-level phobias in her work: bugs, mold, body parts, and awkward social situations. My fav, of course, is the toilet loveseats (YAY!) which explore the social side of ick, where public and private space intersect-navigating that space and the fake barriers surrounding our private spaces.  Who wants a go on the toilet loveseat, come on’, so gross knee to knee!  Pictured below are a toilet loveseat, tripe bath mats, moldy tiles & centipede wallpaper.

Form & Structure & Geometry

SAY What? Pixel Casting Machine!

The machine is by designer Julian Bond. This one is the 2nd version, where each pixel is secured by friction.  The Pixel Casting Machine can be reconfigured by hand to create an infinite variety of pixelated ceramic vessels. The mold works like a regular slip-cast mold; the blocks are made of plaster to absorb water from the ceramic. After some time, the remaining liquid is poured out, leaving a hollow vessel.

I’m in Love…with RCA

Post-grad here I come!  Never as much as I do now, have I wished I made another’s project-  Jealous of Royal College of Art Design Thesis Show in the Design Interactions section. The project is about creating products to help people experience something fantastic, like disappearance, lightning strike (pictured below), and invisible electromagnetic forces.

These projects deal with that which may seem extraordinary, unlikely, desirable (or not), confusing, or uncanny. I am interested in the fantastic experience, be it the conscious quest to achieve one’s personal (or indeed popular) fantasy, or the more sub-conscious seeding of a fantastic situation or construct through the actions of others. The fantastic has the power to engage the imagination, initiate dreams and trigger desires, excite, manipulate and confuse. The projects explore how one can, through the production of objects and services located in specific contexts, enable these fantasies.

The lightning strike device, more fantastic but less believable, converts the energy of a lightening strike into heat in the hand of the user, scarring them forever with a memory of the experience.

Evolution? in Design Schools…Hmm….

Just putting the question out there: How much impact does the Directors/professors at Design Schools have on their students work? Do students get to explore their own aesthetics or are their teachers “influencing” their work to a detrimental degree?

At this years 2010 ICFF, school’s work all looked so familiar. I was casually speaking with my director of design at RL Home, and I asked him about the colleges in this years ICFF and design week…his thoughts were the same as mine: there was something missing. That certain “something” was a creative voice, it felt all the same. School is a great place to explore and experiment. So why are we seeing less creative work churned out (of course some exceptions)?? Above is one example: Parsons School of Design, Product Design dept.’s 2010 ICFF project “Watertable” on the left and 2006 ICFF “Little Houses” on the right. Same materiality, portable nature, design language, and the same professor leading the project.

Heat Shrink Joinery

OH God, I love this.  It’s so good, so many possibilities with this application of material. Genius in it’s simplicity. One thing I love with heat-shrinking is how the material can read as a gesture: gorgeous.

Nicola Zocca’s brilliant heat-shrink joinery was a favorite from the Design Products section of the Royal College of Art final show, which opened last night in London (a must-see). The series is appropriately titled “Shrink.” The idea is wonderfully simple, and the execution precise and imaginative. Nicola describes it best: “So, just using hot air, it’s possible to build and fix chairs, bookshelves and tables.”Of course it’s not so simple: serious thought has gone into the forces at play in the furniture, with stainless steel surfaces bent to meet exactly milled notches in the wood, providing the necessary forces to stabilize the colorful joints.

A a few tests from Nicola’s process, on display at the RCA exhibit are just as genius.  I love his exploration with tape and the various orientations read just as beautiful.

Mantra of the Day

Elegance and The Art of Less. Designers often use blank space to convey visual power. The same principle of subtraction can lead to elegant solutions in other fields.

Dream Water

I’m afraid very afraid (now located at Duane Reade). I hate bottled water to begin with, I could go on a long tangent but its pointless: there are too many things wrong with Dream Water. Why not make scary dream packets, to empty into our own glasses of water? If they are so proud about making a bottle small enough to pass through airport security then why not make it easier to transport by making crazy dream chemicals in packet format, like Airborne and Vitamin Emergency. Product of new marketing, say what?  I guess we are all too lazy to empty out a packet into water and there was a niche marketing opportunity for sleep enhancing water. I can not wait for Viagra water, yum.

“Dream Water® bottle is conveniently designed to pass through airport security. Traveling with your Dream Water® shot is made easy so you get the sleep and relaxation you need. Our shots have the same effectiveness as the 8 ounce bottle and you won’t miss out on any of the delicious taste. Dream Water® Shots are available in Lullaby Lemon w/ Hints of Tea and Snoozeberry flavors.”

Scary IT comes in Flavors.

A friendly reminder:

Private Cloud..and we begin to rock, steadyyy

This is an oldy but goody: ok a small throw back to 2008 , but I was reminded of this fun dream rocking bed, when I was at the 2010 ICFF – private cloud was displayed again.  It was the first time I had seen it in person as well as my parents.  My father , a design and builder, laughed and said something along the lines of  “how do you have sex on this thing with out getting sea sick”!  HA!  Well there is a moveable stopper located at the tangent of the bed for those intimate moments: good to know.  It also goes both ways.  In any case I want one!  I jumped right on it, there is a comforting feeling that like of being in the womb: suspended and feeling protected encircled in a structure.  What a way to fall into sleep.  Simply put:  Its fun! Love the minimal design, choice of material, creativity, and feeling it evokes from the user.  It re-defines our ideas of beds and the possibility of what a bed could be.

The Private Cloud is a rocking bed designed by Manuel Kloker. This bed can shake like a swing, your own big cradle. The “Rocking Bed” from Private Cloud is bedroom furniture adding an extra feeling of relaxation and calmness which we need after the hustle and bustle of daily life. This well rounded bed features an old world bent wood technique to round out this unusually eye catching modern design that nicely encompasses its inhabitants with a canopy structure.

Ball Design l World Cup 2010

How much could the design -size & pattern- of a soccer ball effect the World Cup? A great Deal! Word on the street is the 2010 Ball is designed to be harder for the goal keepers to catch, being smaller and visually hard pattern for the eye to process and focus on. Why? The powers that be want more goals people! More goals=more viewers=more sponsors=more ads=more $$$$. So, the design of the ball now becomes the way to make money.

Like any sport, there are standards to the size and shape of the ball the game is played with. This years 2010 World Cup Soccer Tournament has stirred up plenty of controversy with the players and teams competing. So, when the tournament management makes the decision to change the ball to make money, it affects the players.

To the tournament management, the question now becomes, how can we generate more revenue to turn to profit and bring in more cash flow? In soccer, the way to do this is to change the ball after a certain amount of time. The country that hosts the World Cup Soccer Tournaments brings in tons of soccer fans to their country. And like any tourist spot, the more the tourists, the more the money for that country. And the soccer ball now takes the place of the idea of placing any new product on the market. As the new product hits the market, sales are at their highest peak in the beginning of the introduction of the new product. So, the company that makes the soccer balls for every fourth tournament has to come up with a new design for that year’s soccer tournament, which will generate a lot of cash flow.