Objectified
September 6, 2010
Objectified: A Documentary Film by Gary Hustwit
No matter how hard I try to relax this weekend, I can’t stop thinking about work. Instead of watching a movie for pure entertainment, I decided I should be educating myself. Netflix introduced me to another little gem last night. Watch the trailer below:
Objectified, is the 2nd film in a trilogy of three films about design by Gary Hustwit.
Here are just a few things I took from the film (via Dieter Rams, one of the top industrial designers in the world and featured in Objectified):
GOOD DESIGN:
- is innovative
- makes a product useful
- is aesthetic
- makes a product understandable
- is unobtrusive
- is honest
- is long-lasting
- is thorough down to the last detail
- is environmentally friendly
- is as little design as possible (love this one!)
Stumbled Upon Site of the Day…
September 29, 2009
ABOUT: “Welcome to Sweet Station, a place for our thoughts and ramblings in the fields of paintings, illustrating, advertising, photography, product design, architecture, installation design, graphic arts and well, pretty much anything we want to talk about. We hope to bring great fun and referred for constant inspiration.”
Get a free Sweet Station sticker by emailing: honey4president@gmail.com
Sweet Station is pretty sweet. There’s a blog, an event section (that has cool art shows listed all over the US), and photo of the week section.
Sweet Station provides tons of images from emerging artists. You can even submit your own work. I love all the product design discovered on this blog:
I had to include this Ms. Packman ring (Thanks Weeds!).
“Ms. Pac-Man / Ghost Ring by Tiny Armour. Get Pac-man fever with this cool little ring! Looks great as a pair with the ghost. This item is custom made, usually ships in 1-2 weeks. $68.00! Cha-ching! Buy here”
Here are some cool soap rings—You’ll never have to worry about not having soap in a public restroom again!
“
These soap rings disappear when they are used. duh. Designer: Nancy Wu
And I’m totally digging these FLAT LIGHT BULBS!!!
“Flat bulb designed by Joonhuyn Kim from Korea.”
Below find some of the current art work featured on the blog:
TOM SACHS: “As an avid photographer and camera enthusiast, investing in one of these babies is pretty expensive. So if you’re still saving for a nice glass to go with your full frame camera, you can feast your eyes on these crafty and very resourceful paper replicas by Tom Sachs for now.”
Katrin Kirojood: “Take a peek at the extensive portfolio of Katrin Kirojood, a fashion photographer based in Göteborg/Sweden. Beautiful!”
JoKa: “Enjoy some mighty impressive work from Philadelphia-based artist JoKa. These are all painted with toothpicks and each one is just stunning. Visit his site or Myspace for more.”
There’s so many more images of art I want to put up from this site—explore Sweet Station to check out more art, product design and cool inventions.
Stumbled Upon Site of the Day…
September 17, 2009
Dutch designers are amazing. I want one of these. I don’t have a balcony!
BloomFrame, designed by Amsterdam-based Hofman Dujardin Architects is a window frame that transforms into a balcony with a flip of a switch. It’s been winning lots of award, including the 2009 Wallpaper Design Award for most-life enhancing product. The BloomFrame is available in a range of sizes, materials, and colors that can be customized.
Apparently the BloomFrame is extremely safe. That would be my one concern—but it looks sturdier than the fire-escape balconies some of my neighbors have. Watch the video below to see how the BloomFrame works. So cool!
Stumbled Upon Site of the Day…
August 10, 2009
I think I could be friends with the girl who writes the jars of cute blog. One problem–she’s in Canada. Her blogs has some really great finds. Check it out.
From the About Section:
“Jars Of Cute is a blog dedicated to cute art, craft and design, as well as things that make me smile.
Started as a virtual space to collect cute inspiration, Jars Of Cute is now an online cute catalog, updated daily with visually endearing and interesting finds.
Hello! I am Ange in Vancouver, Canada. I have a weakness for cool cute stuff and gadgets with a creative twist. I also dabble in illustration, graphic and web design. My love for home decorating goes back to when I was a kid.”
ABOVE: “These felted folding chairs have to be the first I’ve seen. Los Angeles-based designer Tanya Aguiniga re-purposed the found chairs by hand-felting over them. A wonderful way to dress up the not-so-pretty folding chairs.”
OTHER FINDS ON THE BLOG:
“Unique silver rings made with strips of aluminum beer or soda can, created by D-licious. The aluminum strip is riveted to the silver ring, and protected by a overhanging edge. This eco ring design has been discontinued, so stock will be limited.”
“This awesome sushi roller will not only help you to make a neat sushi roll, but will also look pretty good on the kitchen counter top. A modern design by Osko + Deichmann“.
Stumbled Upon Site of the Day…
August 1, 2009
I just stumbled upon this great design site. You can upload you designs/creative projects and gain large Internet exposure. There’s a daily blog with product pages, articles on interesting themes on design, architecture and art, and a design event calender.
FROM THE SITE:
DESIGNSPOTTER is your international online platform and design resource.
We publish your creative works and force a worldwide media coverage in lifestyle and architecture magazines, newspapers, blogs and broadcasters.We spread the word for your creativity!
With an easy upload of your product you create a profile and become part of our extended design network.
And by the way you can reach hundred-thousands of people and become splendid and famous.
DESIGNSPOTTER is a design magazine dedicated to everything related to young modern contemporary design including: accessories, books, design-contests, exhibitions, fashion, furniture, hotels, lighting, new materials, residential architecture, interior design and prototypes.”
I picked a few products from the site that I liked.
Above, cool ribbon hanger. “Ribbon is a sculptural, wall-mounted coat rack. Inspired by a ribbon blowing in the wind, Ribbon is an attempt at functional art. On its own it is beautiful wall art, but when in use it can hold multiple coats, scarves and umbrellas making it a practical solution for the family. Handcrafted in India, and made from powder-coated mild steel, Ribbon is available in 5 colours and comes with colour matching screws for a seamless finish.”
Below. Dog House.
“Happily ever is a chair combined with a dog house that has been designed to promote various scenarios for friendship and bonding between dogs and owners through their sharing of an object.Wherever you are, your dog always wants to be near you. For example, when a dog owner sits on a chair, the dog will often sit under the chair. When their pet comes near, an owner will typically pat it – a heartwarming experience for both individuals. Happily ever is based on these kinds of behaviors.” This reminds me of a dog park bench I designed.
And
Cool Sneakers Magazine:
“SNEAKERS ISSUE No. 3 finally out with more pages! More storys! More kicks!
This time we probed into the wonderful world of skateboard-footwear (including a mad one-of-a-kind toughness-test with the new adidas Busenitz Skatekick), had a chat with DC’s very own Eric Obre, digged deep into the Nike vs. Asics-case, hung out in Berlin kickswise.”
So many cool designs. Be sure and check out the archives and don’t forget to submit your own creative ideas.
Stumbled Upon Site of the Day
May 11, 2009
Green Planter Wall Tiles
http://www.inewidea.com/
A really cool product design/idea site. It’s now on my list of favorites. Check it out. Addicted.
Stumbled Upon Site of the Day
May 3, 2009
Really cool products/product design for the home and elsewhere. Just found it and LOVE it!
Above: “What is the Phonofone you ask? In short, it’s like a speaker for your iPod, only it uses no power. Through passive amplification alone, these unique pieces instantly transform any personal music player + earbuds into a sculptural audio console. Without the use of external power or batteries, the Phonofone II inventively exploits the virtues of horn acoustics to boost the audio output of standard earphones to up to 55 decibels.”
Above: Handpresso. “Here’s what you need to have: ESE coffee pads (many espresso makers need these and there are various coffee varietals available) and 25 are included, hot water and the Handpresso. All you need to do is use the handle to pump air into the unit until you have reach 16 bars of pressure, add the ESE pad, pour the hot water and you are ready to go, press the release button and your espresso will dispense into your cups (you did bring cups, didn’t you?) with beautiful crema on top.”
Stumbled Upon Site of the Day
April 29, 2009
Everything to do with Food! I just stumbled upon this site, and it’s full of amazing recipes, stories, and products–all relating to food! I have a few friends who will totally DIG this site!
