Forthcoming music device smells like Teen Engineering
Stockholm-based Teenage Engineering brings some fun, pop-py design to the typically-staid product category of music synthesizers with their forthcoming Operator 1. The portable, battery-powered synthesizer doubles as a music controller you can connect to your laptop, and contains some sort of "truly unique sequencer" that is, alas, currently a closely guarded secret.
The Operator 1 is tentatively slated for a Spring 2010 release, though there is a Beta Sign-up button on TE's website.
London Design Festival 09: The Ten Collective at 100 Percent Design
100% Design has opened and I had a good look around (still counting the blisters on my feet). A very nice little show within this big one is, as every year, the work of the TEN collective. This year they present TEN XYZ - an exploration of their varied perspectives on the complex issues of sustainability within design using digital manufacturing technologies.
Pictured above is Tomoko Azumi's Rooftop Tile Birdhouse and Chris Jackson's plant watering warm bottle from his series of Digital Readymades.
Coroflot Creative Employment Confab
October 21, 2009 in San Francisco, CA
On Oct. 21 we'll be hosting the fourth installment of our Creative Confab, this time in downtown San Francisco, CA. The event features a panel discussion on creative employment, time for networking and a cocktail reception. We've added two workshops in the morning - one for employers and one for job seekers. Space is limited, so register now. $60 for the afternoon and reception or $85 for the workshops as well.
There's no such thing as British design
Speaking of London Design Week, Justin McGuirk reports in the Guardian that the London Design festival proves that the best design breaks down international borders - that's what makes the city's cultural scene unique.
But are things really that simple? Lowie Vermeersch, the Belgian design director of Pininfarina, told me once that Italian design is often not designed by Italians, but is always designed in Italy, as it is necessary to absorb and reflect the cultural context.
>> Read article
Daylight's presentation board Ikea-hack
Here's a little Ikea-hack from Bay-Area-based Daylight Design that involves the Benjamin stool and a saw. A simple line cut down the middle provides the means to insert Fome-Cor boards for presentations or brainstorming sessions without rendering the stools unusuable.
Three surprising things I learned from this:
1) The cut shows that the Benjamin stool is actually made out of bent plywood, and not particle board with a veneer edge. I figured for sure Ikea would have figured out how to make even this out of particle board. In the past I've accidentally broken a drinking glass from Ikea and I thought that would be particle board too.
2) I didn't realize Fome-Cor was a brand name, this whole time I've been thinking it was "foamcore."
3) The employees at Daylight Design all look like, Dalai-Lama-happy. What the heck are they working on over there?
Jon Kolko: The End of an Era
Jon Kolko, just back from the IDSA Conference in Miami, has some provocative ideas about the future of industrial design and the IDSA. Here's the start:
I've just returned from the IDSA conference in Miami, and I'm both convinced that, in ten years, there won't be an IDSA conference to go to - and that isn't a bad thing. I don't mean this in a disparaging sense; I enjoyed the conference, caught up with old friends, made new friends, and learned a bit. But a trend that I've observed at past conferences is only more evident this year, and it's patronizing to continue to skirt what is becoming increasingly obvious: the IDSA has served a valuable role in the evolution of design as a professional discipline, and has helped advance the field to a point where the IDSA is now essentially irrelevant. Design has outgrown "Industrial Design", and a professional organization cannot exist only in the form of self-maintenance.
While there are a number of valid points in his article, perhaps his conclusion goes too far, too fast. Certainly there is a greater need for integration with interaction, experience and service design, as virtually every electronic device has a web site or subscription model behind it these days. But to claim that the business of artifact production is so commoditized that every business should simply outsource it to the cheapest provider is doing a disservice to a specialization that has many facets to it.
The need to evolve the definition of industrial design as a profession is real. And programming a high-profile annual event is one of the biggest opportunities to do so. So before the rumors of the death of an organization become too widespread perhaps a more important discussion to have is to how to best do this? What are the topics that should be discussed in a gathering like this? Are these topics being discussed in a more meaningful way elsewhere? If so is there a need to replicate those discussions? Or can the organization bring something new to the table? If so, what is it?
Read Jon's full entry the at frog's DesignMind. Got another take? Comment away.
Core-Toons: The Trapper-Kindle
Artist: lunchbreath
More: View all cartoons
Alex Steffen on Planetary Boundaries and The Failure of Environmentalism
Full-on piece from Alex on Wednesday at Worldchanging:
Small steps, personal responsibility. incremental reform, gradually better standards, 50-year targets for action -- most of the solutions offered in the green tool chest right now are, unfortunately, completely insufficient. Not insufficient in the sense that we'd like them to be better in a perfect world: insufficient in the sense that if we do them all, we still face a strong possibility of planetary catastrophe and the collapse of civilization.We need to challenge the assumption that we can live much as we do today, with improved gadgets and standards (suburban, consumerist life with an electric car here, a green building there, a CFL in the next room). We can't. It won't work. We need to change how we live. If we're smart, we'll end up better off -- with more wealth, higher qualities of life, healthier families, and safer communities -- but we must start to talk not about doing things differently, but about doing different things.
The Future of Design, October 9-10
We're excited to announce that the Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, headed up by Office dA's Monica Ponce de Leon, is hosting the Future of Design conference on October 9th and 10th in Ann Arbor.
Thirty designers, critics and provocative thinkers will come together to brainstorm about how design is evolving across various disciplines including architecture, landscape architecture, interactive, industrial, and interior design. The presentations are free and open to the public. The speakers will present their views in 15-minutes segments. Following the Friday session, there will be dinner conversations moderated by faculty and students. All segments, including the round table discussion at dinner, will be available at YouTube starting Oct. 19, 2009.
The line up is star-studded, including American product designers Laurene Boym and Stephen Burks; architects Mark Tsurumaki, Hilary Sample, Greg Lynn and Meejin Yoon; and editor-in-chief of Metropolis Magazine Susan Szenasy.
For a full schedule and to register (it's free), head over to the conference website.
Rug Made Out of Shoelaces. Kinda Awesome.
And finally, the shoelace rug is a "happenstantial multiple" (we love that) created by Nate Silverstein and Andrea Paustenbaugh. It moves beneath your feat, creating an ever-changing sculpture that's surprisingly comfortable and engaging. Custom versions are available, but the standard black+white versions start out at 1 meter by 2 meters, and 2 meters by 3 meters. And it's machine washable.
How many laces are in each? Well, we need to finish counting the jelly bean jar first!
More info and orders at www.shoelacerug.com.
Special thanks to Mark Vanderbeeken and lunchbreath for their contributions to this week's newsletter.
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