Wednesday, June 24

Tech Trend: Social media takes to the streets

In an article for Computerworld, Paul Lamb suggests that we are transitioning from online social media to an era of social mobile media or “SoMo”.
“Social media is literally on the move. While useful for anonymous and asynchronous communications, computer-based social media is rapidly becoming old school. In comparison, mobile social media is personal and dynamic — and more closely tied to how people engage in the real world. SoMo not only provides us the freedom to meet each other where we are, it also gives computing a distinctly human face.”



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Monday, June 22

Highline Opens in New York


30 feet up in the air and 10 years in the making, New York City’s newest park: Highline is a wonder in urban development and an example of how to meet the changing needs of society. The Highline was 1.45 miles of suspended railroad track that was built in the mid-19th century and then discarded in 1980. In 1999, a community-organized non-profit formed to start plans on saving the tracks from demolition.

Check thehighline.org for a complete listing of events.

Saturday, June 20




Underscoring the idea that the kitchen is both a social hub and a place of innovation and transformation,
Dornbracht, manufacturer of premium kitchen and bath faucets, has created a novel exhibit celebrating the diversity and ingenuity of actual street “kitchens.” Entitled Global Street Food, the installation includes a Vietnamese market boat laden with soft drinks and fresh vegetables, a Sudanese tea stand made from recycled tires and tin cans, and a charcuterie cart from Argentina, crafted from a shopping cart and bulletin board. It is part of the acclaimed Art Basel expo, debuting June 10, in the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany, and open to the public until July 12.

Conceived by Dornbracht’s creative and brand director Mike Meiré, the project highlights the contrast between industrial perfection and total improvisation.
By examining these widely varied displays, dismantled and shipped from their native countries and reassembled in exacting detail within the context of a pristine white space, visitors can evaluate the importance of function over form in kitchen design.

“The possibility of creating a mobile, functional unit in the smallest of spaces is fascinating,” Meiré explained. “Can we manage to create a complete kitchen in two square meters? What should it look like and how should it work? These explorations lead to new and more complex kitchen solutions. It’s about being aware of the kind of kitchen you really need for your lifestyle, and then developing the design.”

Global Street Food, which premiered at IMM Cologne furniture fair in January 2009, marks the latest cultural coup from Dornbracht and Meiré. In 2007, they offered the antidote to a high-tech, minimalist design aesthetic with The FARM Project, a walk-in kitchen stocked with live farm animals and housed in a simple barn-like structure. Intended to reconnect visitors to the source of their food and return vitality to lifeless kitchens, The FARM Project was presented at the Milan Furniture Fair in 2006, followed by coveted spots in 2007 at the Sculpture Projects Münster and Art Basel Miami. Both Global Street Food and The FARM Project are part of Dornbracht Edges, a series of projects that reflect the intersection of architecture, design and art. The Edges are platforms for designers and architects to depict their visions and utopias, with projects as diverse as they are eye-opening.
The promotion of art and culture has been an integral part of Dornbracht’s corporate culture since 1997. The company’s commitment is divided into several areas, which have developed separately and parallel since the first edition of the Statements Projects in 1997. As part of the Statements series, between 1997 and 2003, Dornbracht regularly presented free interpretations on the subject of “cleansing rituals” by internationally renowned artists, photographers, writers, musicians and designers. Since 1998 Dornbracht has addressed the general public with the Dornbracht Sponsorships, which included supporting the German project for the 48th and 49th Biennale of contemporary art in Venice. Since 2000, the exhibition series Dornbracht Installation Projects® has been based on the idea of presenting contemporary artistic positions in the field of installation. In 2005 Dornbracht launched the Performance series and transported its commitment into a new discipline: the temporary, situational character of a performance.

Further information on the Dornbracht Culture Projects on the Internet at http://www.cultureprojects.com.

Images: Dornbracht



Seat by Aimee Less


Los Angeles gallery Fifth Floor will be exhibiting new furniture work by local architects that are seeking alternative design practices during the economic slowdown.

Looking for Work
Ali Jeevanjee, Aimee Less, Earl Parson
June 20 - July 18, 2009
Opening reception: Saturday, June 20, 6-9pm

Fifth Floor
502 Chung King Court
Los Angeles, CA 90012



Tuesday, June 16

Mini Capsule Hotel by Atelier Van Lieshout




Mini Capsule Hotel
by Atelier Van Lieshout

How to stimulate creativity? Go live abroad

Cultural borders and mental barriers: The relationship between living abroad and creativity.

People who live abroad are more creative; and the more time they spend away from home, the more creative they become. That’s according to a recent study done by William Maddux in collaboration with Adam Galinsky.


BauBike by Michael Ubbesen Jakobsen



Michael Ubbesen Jakobsen is the mind behind the Bauhaus inspired fixed gear BauBike. Jakobsen manufactured the frame using geometric perspectives, applying 60 and 90 degree patterns throughout the bike, giving it a boxy appearance. Gathering only raw materials for the frame, Jakobsen exhibits his excellent craftsmanship and meticulous form is evident at a first glimpse. For more photos and details about the bicycle, check out the BauBike website.

Make $3 Million on Twitter

Twitter is currently not monetised, at least not by Twitter itself. But Dell tell a different story. This week they revealed that they have made a total of $2 million in sales thanks directly to @DellOutlet, and a further $1 million in sales that started on Twitter but were completed elsewhere. What is the secret to their success?.
Dell sells refurbished computers through @DellOutlet and has about 600,000 followers. The way it uses @DellOutlet is quite simple. They message their followers with deals, special offers and discounts. This is a form of real-time coupons - Dell can alert people to offers and discounts as they arise. And change the offers immediately when they sell out.

People love a bargain, they love feeling that they are the first to know something, and they love a personal connection and interaction. It is the combination of all three of these in @DellOutlet that makes it so successful.

  • Dell’s approach to Twitter fosters a personal connection - rather than have a single corporate Twitter account, they segment their followers by having different accounts for different customers with different needs and interests. Those following are interested in what that particular Twitter account has to offer and will feel that it is meeting their needs.
  • The use of a real-time update system like Twitter allows for offers to be promoted when they occur. It offers an immediate notification of any offer or discount and as such those who follow @DellOutlet are the first to know about deals.
  • Through @DellOutlet, people can find out about genuinely good deals.

Monday, June 15

Conde Lumiares Pharmacy by Mobil M




Architects: Mobil M
Location: Alicante, Spain
Architect in Charge and interior design project: Daniel Ferrer (YTRASD) for Mobil M
Graphic identity and furniture: Mobil M
Photographs: Pelut i Pelat



Saturday, June 13

Smart Structures - What Is Intelligent Architecture Like?

“Building intelligently” is one of today´s leading questions worldwide, as design, architecture, and urban planning have to urgently find answers to changing global circumstances. The laboratory-talk “Smart Structures - What Is Intelligent Architecture Like?” will investigate new approaches and ideas such as drastic weight reduction, functional integration, and the development of sustainable combinations of materials to support minimization of environmental damage - towards an intelligent and flexible architecture. How can architecture free itself from established styles?

There is no such thing as a final state of a romantically perfect eco-balance. In a continuous flow of evolving cycles, design, architecture, and urban planning have to deal with facilitation of intelligent adaptation to changing circumstances. Knowledge and experience are increasing, but stereotyping, rhetoric and misunderstanding between professionals with different backgrounds and affinities hamper development of a new design dynamic. More than in other trades in building and construction improvements depend on integration of design disciplines and cooperation between industrial sectors that are not accustomed to combined thinking. The first challenge is to make disciplines and industries understand each other.

This is even more important, since progress depends on seemingly contradictory propositions. Dogmatic belief in various levels of recycling ignores the industrial energy consumption it may require, plus its implications for the greenhouse effect. The consequential principle of design for disassembly is certainly valid, but as a by-product it feeds prejudice against any kind of chemical bonding, thereby raising suspicion about any innovation and improvement of gluing and of composite structures, whereas this has the potential to develop into the realm of sophisticated renewability. Composite structures are generally mistaken for a limited range of high range materials, typically Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers, whereas composite thinking offers opportunities to increase added value by combining minimum amounts of all kinds of different materials in smart product elements based upon optimum use of their properties.

Architects choose materials by what they express rather than how they can be processed and what they can do. They tend to think that weight reduction, which most of them favour, is a matter of choice of materials, whereas it can have much more impact if it involves rethinking both structure and style. It appears difficult for architects to critically reconsider their rather traditional views on architectural identity on all levels from detail, via building to ever changing urban networks. Opportunities for developmental strategies of cooperation will be discussed by curator Ed van Hinte together with his Dutch and German controversial partners to boost mutual learning and inspiration as well as information exchange for fruitful cooperation in the future. “Building intelligently” is one of the today’s leading questions worldwide and will generate revolutionary approaches for the audience as well as for experts and producers of building materials. Pioneers in this field are invited to reinvestigate the issues of sustainability and responsibility of architects as to evoke radical changes in architecture and design.
Via (ArtDaily)

Thursday, June 11

Tribal Teen Vogue

From top: "Bored with ballet flats? Step it up in beaded moccasin booties" Marc by Marc Jacobs dress, $298. The Jackson Twins bag, $66. Alejandra Quesada beaded butterfly pin (on bag), $28. Antik Batik moccasins, $172.








Fringe Festival Apparel T-shirt, $32. Suno shorts, $255. Pepita necklace, $160. Sunshine & Shadow belts, $195 each. Juicy Couture beaded bracelets, $348 each. La Sirena doll, $23. Mercedes Salazar bracelet (on doll), $19.

Home Spun Karen Walker dress. Roberta Freymann necklace, $225. Anna Sui bag. Erickson Beamon ring, $180; teal and green, checkerboard, and purple bangles. R.J. Graziano wooden bangles, $35–$65 each. Sorrelli thin crystal bangles, $53–$80 each.


Culture Club Topshop T-shirt, $36. See by Chloé skirt, $265. Erickson Beamon for Anna Sui necklace. Calleen Cordero Designs belt, $199. Erickson Beamon jeweled bracelet, $393, and floral bracelet. M. Haskell wooden bangle, $20. Pono by Joan Goodman beaded bangle, $25.
Marc by Marc Jacobs dress. Kenzo flower necklace. Alyssa Norton fabric and rhinestone bangles, $115 each. Kool Konnections geometric wood bangles, $7 each. Giles & Brother by Philip Crangi yellow bracelet, $350. Longchamp bag, $398.
Hot to Handle Replay top, $425. Liz Claiborne New York pants, $69. LK Jewelry by Leetal Kalmanson wide Swarovski crystal bracelets, $225 each. Mercedes Salazar woven bangles, $20-$50 each. Antik Batik bag, $192. Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti sandals.
in Teen Vogue

Wednesday, June 10

Disposable toy by Kyle Bean




Disposable Technology: A response to our consumer relationship with technology and obsolescence.

Tuesday, June 9

Comme des Garçons souffle ses 40 bougies







































































Adrian Joffe (Photo by Chris Moore)


Rei Kawakubo, 66, is one of the great fashion forces from the last decades of the 20th century to now. Integral to her success is that she is too original to be pigeonholed. In fact, the guiding force of a fashion life that stretches way beyond clothes is an urge to think forward, encapsulated in new projects this month — from the ‘‘Black’’ stores to a collaboration with Vogue Nippon and an exhibition at the Paris store Colette.







Here is an inside look at Ms. Kawakubo’s partnership with Vogue Nippon. Photo: Comme des Garçons








An advertisement in a Tokyo railway station for the first of 10 stores devoted to the new Black Comme des Garçons guerrilla brand, which will be phased out after 18 months.

Sinus House in Denmark by Cebra Architects







An unusual 1,735-sq.-ft. country home located in Denmark, the Sinus House is a great mix of pastoral settings and modern architecture. Designed by Cebra Architects

Monday, June 8

Amaison by Concrete



In developing Amaison, Maison van den Boer’s new delicatessen, Concrete went back to the company’s origins, in which the emphasis was on the fundamentals of food.

Concrete took a literal interpretation of the essence of Maison van de Boer: being at home in Grandma’s kitchen, preparing traditional meals of watching as they are made, tasting them and taking them home.




Current TV: de la liberte de la presse

North Korea Sentences U.S. Journalists to 12 Years in Labor Prison

North Korea found two American journalists guilty of illegal entry and sentenced them to 12 years in a labor prison, its official KCNA news agency said on Monday.

The journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who worked for Current TV, were arrested in March while working on a story near the border between North Korea and China.

On a pas mal parle du fait que Current TV n'ai ni soutenu ni meme mentionne les 2 journalistes arretees il y a quelques mois en Coree du Nord.  C'est officiel, les dits journalistes on ete condamnees a 12 ans de travaux forces par la justice coreenne.

Saturday, June 6

Inedit beer




Inedit is the first beer specifically created to accompany food. It is born from the conviction that a beer that could be paired with the utmost respect to the best cuisine was necessary. That is its aim and its virtue, and that is what makes Inedit different, special and unique.Inedit has been created by Damm brewmasters, heirs to a century-old tradition, and developers of highly appreciated beers, and by Ferran Adrià, Juli Soler and El Bulli’s sommeliers’ team. Inedit is a unique coupage of barley malt and wheat with hop, coriander, orange peel, liquorice, yeast and water. After bottling and capping, a secondary fermentation in the bottle occurs, leading to a more complex product.

Friday, June 5

Colo Dishwasher by Wachs, Peter Schwartz and Helene Steiner



The German designers of Wachs, Peter Schwartz and Helene Steiner present their new and ecological version of a dishwasher at this year´s DMY Berlin.

Vyta Boulangerie by Colli+Galliano Architects





The project developed from one of the most simple and antique components on our dining table – bread. This bakery was created inside a railway station, the modern symbol of speed and progress. The precise desire for integration and dialogue with the architectonic context is obvious from the very beginning. It shows that Vyta is totally projected towards the outside, and separated from it by a simple black portal. This was the theme of the interior design for the bakery, which starts from the traditional image of the bread shop; this is then reduced progressively to its essential features, in the quest for immediate and universal language, that can guarantee the maximum usability in this place of transition. The familiar colors of oak wood harmonize with the pale colors of the flooring and the ceiling, leaving space for monolithic furnishing accessories in black Corian that catalyze the attention through their symbolic purity. The polyfunctional counter is the heartbeat of every busy shop and in this case is used as an essential exhibition structure. There is a large decorative wall consisting of a paste creation symbolizing the surface and the fragrance of a bread crust. This element has strong aesthetic and metaphoric connections and is used as the backdrop to a series of elongated tables and benches, where the consumption of a hasty meal is mixed with the ancient ritual of conviviality thanks to the intelligent use of lighting , enhanced by spherical suspension lamps in chrome-plated metal that invite and beckon while amplifying the space. In a delicate combination of prospects, the counter and the wall behind it curve towards the more intimate portion of the room, animated by tables and chairs submerged in a welcoming atmosphere and display alcoves similar to compact black boxes. These offer wines and oils originating from various regions in Italy. There is maximum design uniformity that slides unobtrusively into the busy station, while allocating ample room for the people waiting to depart, creating a relaxing ambience closely linked to the traditions that are hidden behind the minimalist lines-making Vyta a valid alternative to the world of fast food, and promoting good food culture.

VYTA – BOULANGERIE ITALIANA – ROME
LOCATION: Termini Station – Rome
SURFACE AREA: 150 square meters
ARCHITECTS: COLLI+GALLIANO ARCHITETTI – Rome
ARCHITECTURAL TEAM: Marco Lombardini, Marco Capponi
PHOTOS: Matteo Piazza