There, I fixed it
Who wants to do a D.I.Y. job on this shelf with me? Dive, 2008, by Magali Reus, part of an installation at Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam. Yeah!
via vvork
Archived entries for Things that look best by themselves
Trend report: Things That Fall Over
Everybody should head over to SallyTV to check out my report on everyone’s favorite new mini-trend, Things That Fall Over. You’re welcome, world!
Lots of things seem to be taking a fall lately. Surely you’ve noticed this – everything from the price of an iPhone to the speed of your stolen WiFi is just dropping like a brick. But maybe something you haven’t noticed is that this action is also appearing in design. Not so much in the “look out for that falling piano” sense – that is pretty timeless. What I’m talking about is the “pretend you’re microwaving this thing” sense. Read more…
Objectophilia
How great are these? The above image, entitled Koons Balloon Mould, is just one of the members of The MacGuffin Library, an enchanting collection of rapid-prototyped, black, polymer-resin objects by Noam Toran. The name MacGuffin is actually a term (attributed to Hitchcock) that references an object used as a plot device to keep the story in motion, despite lacking importance in the overall plot. Toran’s focus on objects in film culture has led him to create this wonderful homage to great MacGuffins of the past. These objects were created for a series of sixteen, fictional film synopsis’ written by Toran and though they lack film accompaniment, they hold their own., straddling the line between sculpture, product and prop.
America
Bad Engineers
Betacam Tape
Toran’s films often focus on the relationships between cinema, mass-culture and design. Below are some original objects created for his film series Desire Management. The film attempts to demonstrate how domesticated objects can be used for dissident behavior. This film is currently on show at the MoMA as part of their Rough Cut: Design Takes a Sharp Edge exhibit.
A baseball fetish bed, for the home, complete with astroturf mattress and baseball diamond pillow.
Simply referred to as the “vacuum scanner,” your guess is as good as mine.
An in-flight serving tray complete with turbulence simulator, sure to satisfy even the most discriminating of flight attendant tastes.
ICFF 2009: Never Say Never
So my post about ICFF 2009 is almost as late as the checks I ordered online from Bank of America; however, since they finally arrived the day after paying rent with yet another money order, I felt it was appropriate to argue that it’s never too late and to just post the damn thing! Rather than pretending to offer comprehensive coverage of the entire show, this post is just going to be a mish-mash of favorites and oddities that perhaps haven’t made their rounds about the blogosphere just yet.
First off in the student category of awesome is this magazine rack from the Cranbrook booth designed by Issac Yu Chen. Pretty much all of the pieces in Cranbrook’s booth were phenomenal. Check out their site Innate Gestures for the rest.
These re-used table saw blade scissors by Brian Persico are just too wonderful to leave out. Even the leftover scrap is beautiful.
The RISD booth was full of oddities this year, but most odd of all were these shoes made of all natural loofa. I would hate to be caught in the rain in those, but for wearing around the house, they probably make for a great exfoliator-duster combo.
I will admit that I did rather like this leather stool and it might have just a little bit to do with the fact that I am completely in love with a certain pair of Rodarte leather leggings!
Moving on from student work to these crazy little chairs by Jang Won Yoon.
My immediate reaction: “they look like BUNNIES!”
Come on, I know you see it too, it’s only slightly disguised by the stealthy, uber-I.D. curves. Seriously though, these chairs have so much identity and so much life to them, you can’t help but appreciate.
Gauthier Poulain’s Hold-H credenza and Hold-V cabinet is pure fantasy fetish furniture. Don’t worry, he knows. His take-away card states: “I carry out your dreams made to measure.” Check out the bold ace-bandage/medical/moving strap style securing system. Some strange ideas must have informed this piece, unfortunately I can’t read french.
Japan by Design featured many small treasures this year, including this humidifier designed by Miyuki Yoshida. Fill the tray with water and the fabric “leaves” become saturated, helping the water to more quickly evaporate into the air. Such a simple and beautiful idea for something that is normally a much more complicated, electric appliance.
Off site at the Model Citizen’s Design Show there were some additional noteworthy pieces:
Duo bookshelf by Ana Linares.
Egg Bench by Grace Chen.
When placed just so, the physical shape of the egg allows it to distribute weight extremely effectively.
D.I.Y. Fine Art/Title Unknown
I think there might be a dead hamster in there.
Well, there it is. My post, of sorts, from ICFF 2009. Glad I finally found some time to share.
Indisposed
Before the news is completely old-hat, I thought I’d post some of the pictures from the InDisposed show. Apologies for the iPhone quality pics. For those not familiar, the show is composed of completely original pieces designed around the theme of disposability. Above is the “Dough-Dough” bird house by Jeff Miller. If you haven’t gotten it yet- it’s a solid, birdhouse-shaped, bird-feeder made out of left over bakery dough. Not sure I buy it as a viable means of disposal of leftover dough, but the concept and outcome are rather nice.
This new piece from Design Glut pretty much speaks for itself.
Takeshi Miyakawa’s piece, “Furniture ToGo” is a concept for Lego-like ToGo containers that can be used to build playful, trash-art, furniture.
Tobias Wong’s submission, like the majority of his work, is conceptually stunning; however lacking in the photographability.
“Rather than design an object to be disposed of, Wong decided to not make anything. Or rather, to create a conceptual piece by ‘unmaking’ something- a strategy that likewise reduces waste. Using a magazine as his medium, Wong collaborated with PAPER to ‘edit out’ a 10 page section and make it only available online. Converting the pages from print to digital format saved roughly 13 trees, decreasing PAPER’s footprint for the month.” – InDisposed
“Pleated Paper Can” by Paul Loebach and Chris Specce. It’s pretty much just a more iconic looking version of the paper-grocery-bag turned trash can that already sits under my sink; however, it’s still a really nice looking piece, and sustainably minded.
And finally. To end on a less conceptual note- Susan Tick, textile designer for Knoll, made these wonderful wall hangings out of plastic bags and waste wire material. I can’t wait to see Knoll turn these into upholstery.
Trend Report: Unusual Items Attached to the Head
I would be remiss if I didn’t use these pages to point out the mini-trend of Unusual Items Attached to the Head. Where is this happening, you may ask, and by whom? Okay, I wouldn’t say that this is the most widespread phenom. You may not have even noticed it happening. Luckily, you have No Smarties to analyze these things for you! So, without further ado, allow me to present the following…
Continue reading…
Things that look best by themselves: The Messy Couch
Jason Miller’s Messy Couch, whose cushions are in a perpetual state of mismatchery. Sez the designer:
My couch always looks like this. Why fight it?
I agree. Looking pretty smooth.
A bonus: also by him, a trashcan made out of Play-Doh:
