2010
December 21st, 2009
Voltaremos em 2010!
We’ll be back in 2010!
Design+Retail:Tokujin Yoshioka
December 7th, 2009
The japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka is responsible for the new Maison Hermès installation in Japan. The fashion windows, designed specially for the french brand famous for its purses and clothing, presentes a video that interacts with a scarf, bluring the frontiers between the digital world and the real one.
Yoshioka tried to express, by blowing air from behind the screen and moving the scarf, the movements that are hidden in our daily routines. When the japanese model blows the air, it simulates the idea of wind moving the scarf and draws attention from pedestrians to look at the windows. Of course the wind does not come from the video, even though it looks like it, because of the amazing way the video and the scarf are synchronized.
In way, this installation proposes a very minimalistic approach to the usual way fashion windows are decorated, normally overusing clothes, information and other things.
You can see the window for yourself unitl 29th of January in Tokyo.
Design+Art: CO2 Cubes
December 2nd, 2009
CO2 Cubes is a 8.2m³ cube that represents in a physical manner the average amount of CO2 an average person produces montly. The project will be presented this month in Copenhagen, during ONU’s Climate Change Conference, in the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Besides drawing attention to the massive quantity of CO2 produced by humans, the creators, artist Alfio Bonanno and architect Christophe Cornubert, also embedded digital medias inside the installation, to be able to communicate with world leaders, using videos and sharing practical solutions for the climate change situation.
Those that cannot go all the way to Denmark, can participate through Hopenhagen, a website created by volunteers from industries such as communication, advertising and marketing. They promise to deliver a petition to the leaders of 192 countries during the UNFCCC but, according to the site, this is just the beginning. Well worth taking a look and also participating.
Design+Innovation: Concrete Cloth
December 1st, 2009
Winner of material of the year of the Material ConneXion, Concrete Cloth is a fabric that has cement applied to it. The revolutionary material has layers of cement among layers of fabric above a PVC support, which will be molded and mixed with water and after it dries, it will keep the shape formed.
Because it is water-resistant and fireproof, Concrete Canvas, responsible for the product, is hoping that it can be used in disasters, military situations and commerical environments.
The fact that the material has come straight from the design world and also that it will contribute in a direct way to help the growth of the economy, the society and several types of industries only helps us believe that it will last for a long time.
Design+Sustentability: Magdeburg Library
December 1st, 2009
Using 1000 recycled boxes from the Hasseröder brewery and concrete blocs that were taken from an abandoned warehouse, the group of architects Karo developed a pop-up library for the small german town of Magdeburg.
The invitation, just like the case of New York’s High Line, came from the community, that felt frustrated with the lack of options available in the city.
The structure, that had no cards and no taxes, was only active for two days, but the locals loved the initiative so much that the group of architects has already been invited to build a permanent version of the library.
The images displayed were made by Anja Schlamann.
Design+Innovation: Dieter Rams
December 1st, 2009
The London Design Museum is housing a retrospective exhibition of Dieter Rams’, the german industrial designer that coined the sentence “Weniger, aber besser” (Less, but best).
Dieter’s work caused a revolution in the 50’s and 60’s when he was director of the german company Braun, a position he held for over 30 years. He is well known for creating designs that were not only elegant but also reliable and environment friendly, and for also writing down the 10 principles of good design:
- Good design is innovative
- Good design makes a product useful
- Good design is aesthetic
- Good design makes a product understandable
- Good design is unobtrusive
- Good design is honest
- Good design is long-lasting
- Good design is thorough, down to the last details
- Good design is environmentally-friendly
- Good design is as little design as possible
Dieter Rams has been pin pointed as the great inspiration behind the designs created by Jonathan Ive, that works at Apple, and is the mind behind the iMac, iPod and Iphone.
The Less and More exhibition is open until March, 7th of 2010
Design+Social Responsability: Open Source House
December 1st, 2009
Created by Vincent van der Meulen and coordinated by a team of young people that come from different backgrounds, Open Source House is a housing project for developing countries. Based in the open source concept, the project proposes sustainable houses, that will adapt to the environment, that can be expanded and also low costs. To achieve that, the group proposes 8 principles that predict, amongst other things, the life cycle of the material and disponibility of projects on the site, that will be the source of inspiration for future builds. The OS House will start receiving projects in january 15th of 2010. The winning design will be build in Gana, in Africa.
TEDx SP
November 23rd, 2009
Earlier this year we wrote about TED and the TED Prize, two amazing initiatives that work to make the world a better place and they do it by spreading ideas that can improve everyone’s lives.
On november 14th the first TEDx in Brazil, more precisely in São Paulo, happened. The event invited 30 professionals from different areas of expertise to expose their theories about the theme: What Brazil has to offer the world now ?
Following the idea of the original TED, the talks were filmed and are being posted online for everybody to see, the first one is already online, and it is a very emotionally charged talk presented by Guti Fraga, creator of the project Nós do Morro, a theather group with young people from the Vidigal slum. Another speaker was João Cavalcanti, one of the founders of Box 1824, which talked about the importance of having a unifying national concept. To help brazilians find that, the company, which speacializes in research, will donate to the country a study that tries to comprehend the national dream, the one that goes beyond the individual needs. Other speakers were actress Regina Casé which wisely proposed that Brazil cab become the “anti guetto vanguard”, Fernanda Viegas, which presented her data visualization tool called Many Eyes; Augusto de Franco, an expert in social networks, the 92 year old teacher Adozinda Kuhlmann, which said that ideias are a national treasure and Eduardo Moreira, founder of the Grupo Galpão, which reminded us of the power that art has to transform the world, along with many other speakers. Together with all of that, four musical attractions that were memorable: Rannieri Oliveira, Thalma de Freitas, Jarbas Agnelli and Vitor Araújo. Watch more videos and images after the jump.
Design+Social Responsability: 1-Euro Shoes
November 20th, 2009
Collaboration between brands and well known designers and or famous people with the purpose of producing unique collections is not a new thing. But Adidas, has given the idea a new twist when invited Nobel prize winner Muhammad Yunus to collaborate. Muhammad is a pioneer in the micro-loan iniciatives, which helps people with low income to start their own business.
Adidas, usually connected with expensive products and celebrities sponsorship, followed Yunus’ advice and plans to create the 1-Euro Shoes in 2010.
Even though the spokesman for the brand has said that it will be very likely that the shoe will cost more than 1 euro, the company has affirmed that they won’t profit from it and also that will be entirely produced in Bangladesh, in order to create jobs for locals.
We still don’t know what the sneaker will look like, it was not confirmed yet if it will carry the traditional three stripes or if it will be brandless.
Design+Innovation: Galaxy Dress
November 18th, 2009
Galaxy Dress is a dress created by the designers Francesca Rosella e Ryan Genz. Embroidered with 24.000 LEDs, it will be presented in an exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry em Chicago. The LEDs, which are flexible like paper and are 2×2mm in size, were embroidered into a thin layer of silk, so that the fabric would be as fluid as a regular dress. To keep them working, the dress has little iPod batteries hidden in an inner skirt also made with silk. With the use of these batteries, which are not visible and don’t cause any discomfort for the wearer, the lights keep on for a period that can range from 30 minutes to one hour.
In case it runs out of batteries, the Galaxy Dress still has around 4.000 Swarovski cristal decorating the areas that don’t have LEDs. 