Giant laser-cut catepillars, dump trucks and concrete mixer
Belgian artist Wim Delvoye takes laser-cutting to a new scale with his sculptures of construction vehicles highly detailed in ornate patterns referencing the industrial revolution, gothic cathedrals, victorian architecture and to a degree steampunk culture.
The artist has an eclectic body of work including Cloaca (2000) an installation that produced feces, he's been tattooing pigs since the 1990s and in 2001, he took x-rays of his friends having sex after they painted small amounts of barium on parts of their bodies. The x-rays were presented as giant stained-glass church windows, abstracted until you got up close to see the details.
Take a trip through his isometric pixel land to learn more.
>> more pics
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New design cluster in Barcelona
Barcelona's Design Centre (BCD) has announced a new strategic initiative to strengthen Barcelona's image as a centre of innovation: an international design cluster, where they want to attract designers, corporate design centres and design companies from all over the world.
A BCD press release -- unfortunately clumsily written and clumsily translated -- contains more background, including the fact that the cluster will be located in the district of innovation of the city, 22@, and will take an "entrepreneurial approach aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of enterprises."
via Dexigner
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Custom Sprinter Shoe from 3D technology
The next generation of sprint spikes may be as close as your home printer (3D printer, that is). The researchers at Loughborough University have developed a method to maximize the performance of elite runners by customizing the sole units of sprint spikes to match their individual characteristics. Using selective laser sintering (laser energy that sinters small particles of plastic to create precise, complex 3D components), the researchers can create the personalized outsoles with various stiffness to suit the specific requirements of elite sprinters. The need for expensive moulds and tooling is gone, revealing the possibility of a bespoke process for each athlete, harnessing the full potential of their power - critical for both sprinters and jumpers. With Beijing on the horizon, this technology won't stay in the lab for long.
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Strongest. Material. Ever.
You can be a materials geek if you want--you can think titanium's the coolest, or carbon fiber bike frames are full of awesome. Maybe you're a little more esoteric and dream about aerogels or aramids, or maybe nanocoatings. But in the end, the only title that really matters is Strongest Material in the World, and that title's just been granted to...something you've never heard of.
It's called graphene, and anyone familiar with molecular structures probably won't be surprised to know that the new Strongest Material Ever is mostly carbon, the same building block in diamond and buckytubes. The difference with graphene is it lays neatly in a sheet one molecule thick, like ultra-thin plastic wrap. If plastic wrap could do this:
[Columbia professor James] Hone compares his test to stretching a piece of plastic wrap over the top of a coffee cup, and measuring the force that it takes to puncture it with a pencil. If he could get a large enough piece of the material to lay over the top of a coffee cup, he says, graphene would be strong enough to support the weight of a car balanced atop the pencil.
The catch, as you may have surmised from the quote, is that graphene has so far only been synthesized in extremely small pieces, making it useful for high-conductivity transistors, but not so much for physical applications. No word yet on when you'll be able to run to the fabric store and buy a yard or two for making the ultimate shred-proof parachute pants. Assuming you could figure out how to cut the stuff.
Via MIT Technology Review
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Thinking about design research?
Ever find yourself more interested in the thinking before the doing? What exactly should be designed and for whom rather than how should this shoe or television look like for this market? Thinking about design research, ethnography and becoming more human centered? Thinking of going back to school?
Wait, read these wise and insightful words from those who've trod the paths before you. Grant McCracken answers a newbie's questions on his blog, here is a snippet to think about and ponder,
I believe the success of Gladwell's career, and the value he has created for people inside and outside the marketing community demonstrates that while disciplinary and professional training matter, there is no substitute for a very smart person traveling by his own lights, patiently asking of the idea he/she encounters, does this help me think about the world, or is it in some way obfuscating. (My other exemplars are Victorian scholars. Lewis Henry Morgan, for instance. This guy managed to found American anthropology in his spare time. He was a lawyer by day.)
If you choose to be a free standing anthropologist, there are two objectives: the culture below and the culture above. The culture below is the long standing ideas and assumptions with which we make the world make sense, the instrastructure, if you will, of thought and feeling. The culture above is the trends and innovations that pour through our world. We want culture above and below because too often anthropology is reduced to a kind of cool hunting, a search for the latest thing and an investigation of culture above. Certainly, we need to know what social networking is, but if that's all we know, all we can report to the client, we have removed ourselves from usefulness.More to the point, we have sacrificed our disciplinary advantage. Any undergraduate can pursue cool. Only an anthropologist can observe the larger, richer cultural context from which cool springs and with which it must correspond if cool is to cool into something lasting. Indeed I would argue that it is precisely when culture above resonates with the culture below that things "take," that innovation has a chance to transform us in substantial ways. (And by this reckoning you could say that social networking is now finding its feet precisely because users have found a way to make it responsive to the logic of their social worlds. This is not to say it will not change these social worlds, but first it must find a way to resonate with them.)
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Mirror-Finish Tile Saw
Aspiring to set your workshop up to look like a sci-fi set, the new Revolution XT Tile Saw from Gemini will fit right in. Appearances aside, the 10" diamond ring blade allows you to cut curves as well as straight lines, can handle tile or stone up to 6cm thick and doesn't require a water pump, the unit is completely self contained. Nice! Good luck keeping it clean. The Revolution starts at $945 and blades are $100+.
via toolmonger
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Photo: Andy Manis for The New York Times
Rocket Man
Continuing the tradition of man's pursuit to fly, New Zealand inventor Glenn Martin showcased his jet pack at the EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. After 27 years developing devices to fly, he hopes to start selling them next year for around $100,000 US.
Powered by a water-cooled, 200-horsepower engine which drives the downward facing fans on either side, Martin's machines can run for 30 minutes, not bad when you consider most alternatives get you about a minute of air time.
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Plus Minus Zero launch site for the rest of us
Fan's desperate to get their hands on the minimal product range from Japan's Plus Minus Zero can rejoice as they've just launched an international site to cater for all you overseas residents. There's no online shop yet but they've listed distributors in France, Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Good news for Europe, still doesn't explain the uncharacteristic eye-straining choice of red type on blue for the announcement though.
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The Good Design Plan
Building on its 2004 strategic plan, the Practical Power of Design, the UK Design Council has launched The Good Design Plan, a new three-year national strategy for design.
Defining good design as 'sustainable design', it highlights five objectives for the council:
1. business and public service innovation
2. public and community engagement
3. design skills development
4. design policy and promotion
5. organisational and operational efficiency
via Kate Andrews
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PHASE 8: Last Goodbye For Cologne's KISD Graduates
Last week, Cologne's graduate students celebrated their last goodbye. Each year, sixth semester students organize a last farewell party for their fresh graduates.
The Köln International School of Design, or KISD (pronounced as "kiss dee") is not meant for creative students who like to stay at home. Their academic program includes international courses and stimulates students to experience a part of their education abroad, which is quite uncommon for German education standards.
During a sunny afternoon in Cologne we enjoyed a refreshing graduation show with penguin-like yachts, magic tableware, and live presentations. See more photos and presentations after the here.
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Framing the digital landscape
We're seeing a lot of these organizational solutions for managing the endless sea of cords that come with a fulfilling digital lifestyle. Naolab's ChargerFrame applies the old design trick of making a feature out of a flaw and showcases a web of tangled cords in a picture frame--a true digital landscape. While some of us would prefer a door to hide all that mess, it does get a point for including a global kill-switch to save energy.
>> more pics
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Conduit Design
Making a silk purse from a sow's ear, architect Stanley Saitowitz has designed a warm, rich space from the systematic guts of a residential condominium building.
Conduit, a new restaurant in San Francisco, emerged from found circumstances. The ground floor commercial space had a low ceiling and a tangled maze of plumbing, sprinkler and electrical conduits serving the residences above. The interior features exposed tubes added to the existing plumbing pipes, sprinkler system and electrical ducts of the space, on the ground floor creating a uniquely sleek atmosphere.
Via Dezeen
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Objectified, a documentary about industrial design by Gary Hustwit
Due for release in early 2009, the site for Objectified went live today previewing issues discussed in the film. Type fans will already be familiar with the format from Hustwit's film Helvetica which debuted to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the typeface.
The term objectified has two meanings. One is 'to be treated with the status of a mere object.' But the other is 'something abstract expressed in a concrete form,' as in the way a sculpture objectifies an artist's thoughts. It's the act of transforming creative thought into a tangible object, which is what designers in this film do every day.
Objectified features:
Paola Antonelli (Museum of Modern Art, New York)
Chris Bangle (BMW Group, Munich)
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec (Paris)
Andrew Blauvelt (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis)
Anthony Dunne (London)
Naoto Fukasawa (Tokyo)
IDEO (Palo Alto)
Jonathan Ive (Apple, California)
Hella Jongerius (Rotterdam)
Marc Newson (London/Paris)
Fiona Raby (London)
Dieter Rams (Kronberg, Germany)
Karim Rashid (New York)
Alice Rawsthorn (International Herald Tribune)
Rob Walker (New York Times Magazine)
and more participants TBA
www.objectifiedfilm.com
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Staple Design x New Balance 575
And finally, if you missed out on scoring a pair of Staple's now classic Pigeon Dunks (2005) the first time round, prepare yourself for the second coming, the iconic pigeon has manifested itself onto a pair of New Balance 575's. We recently saw the pigeon make another appearance on Lomo's Colorsplash camera which begs the question, is there a saturation point. Sneaker Freaker caught up with Jeff Staple for the lowdown.
It's double-edged. The fact that so many companies approach us is a blessing, but on the other hand, there is that dilution and you don't want to be the village whore, just banging everybody. I just look at myself and ask does the collaboration make sense? If there's one strength that I have, it's the ability to see if two people in the room make sense together or not. If it doesn't feel right, if it feels forced, fabricated or really obviously mashed together, I think the public nowadays is savvy enough to see through that right away.
>> more pics
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Special thanks to Niti Bhan and Mark Vanderbeeken for their contributions to this week's newsletter!
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