2Modern Design Talk - Modern Furniture & Design Blog

Cross-Dressing in the Park

I can't get enough of the Public's Shakespeare in the Park print campaign in all its 90 degree typography glory! This print campaign is all over NYC for the annual free performances presented by The Public Theater at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

This year’s plays include a raucous production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night starring Anne Hathaway, opening tonight, and Euripides’s tragedy The Bacchae, with a score by Philip Glass, coming in August.

As usual the two plays are largely unrelated, but one thing they have in common this year is transvestism: lead characters in both plays don drag, hence the campaign tagline “Cross-Dressing in the Park.” The posters feature a Greek sculpture accessorized with a Shakespearean rose and mustachioed with a fine calligraphic line. Designed by Paula Scher and Lisa Kitschenberg, the campaign uses elements of the Public’s refreshed identity and complements our campaign for last summer’s productions of Hamlet and Hair.

This years campaign for Twelfth Night and The Bacchae:

Last years campaign for Hamlet and Hair:

I'm not promoting theft or vandalism in anyway... BUT if someone could get me one of these original posters there would be a nice reward for them!

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Frank Lloyd Wright and the LEGO brick

You've seen those amazing LEGO sculptures here and there crafted by talented LEGO artist but now you too can sculpt works of art..or at least architecture just like Frank Lloyd Wright! The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation announced today that The LEGO Group is now the exclusive licensed manufacturer of Frank Lloyd Wright Collection® LEGO Architecture sets.

The LEGO Group and Adam Reed Tucker of Brickstructures, Inc. officially introduced the LEGO Architecture line in 2008. The line currently consists of six buildings – now including two of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous and recognizable buildings, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and “Fallingwater.”

With models developed in collaboration with architects, LEGO Architecture works to inspire future architects, engineers and designers as well as architecture fans around the world with the LEGO brick as a medium. Builders of all ages can now collect and construct their favorite worldwide architectural sites through these artistic replicas.

Both exclusive Frank Lloyd Wright LEGO Architecture sets contain booklets that feature traditional building instructions along with exclusive archival historical material and photographs of each iconic building.

The LEGO Group will release the first of the LEGO Architecture Frank Lloyd Wright Collection® sets at the opening of the Frank Lloyd Wright Exhibit: From Within Outward at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on May 15, 2009.
via- Cre8tivegirl

Milan Furniture Fair

My picks from the Milan Furniture Fair 2009.

Masters Chair by Philippe Stark for Kartel

Vegetal Chairs by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Vitra

Brave New World lamp by Freshwest at mooi.com
More here.

Tara Donovan Installations

I don't have any other words for this work but WOW! Tara Donovan rocks the installation art. From fishing wire to plastic straws, her work is stunning and will leave you asking the question–How? Donovan's work uses everyday manufactured materials such as Scotch tape, Styrofoam cups, and drinking straws to create large scale sculptures that often have a biomorphic quality. Her sculptures must be assembled and disassembled carefully, which sometimes involve an extremely tedious process. With regards to her artistic process, Donovan explained that she chooses the material before she decides what can be done with it. She noted in an interview that she thinks "in terms of infinity, of [the materials] expanding."

Styrofoam Cups, Hot Glue

Stacked Clear Plastic Drinking Straws

Paper Plates

Showing now at the
ACE GALLERY Institute Of Contemporary Art
@ The Wilshire Tower
5514 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

I put the P in pool.

It has been a rough ride for me to transition from the lovely weather of Sydney to the bitter cold of D.C.... but spring has finally sprung here in the east coast - and this sign makes me eager for the season ahead.

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Silicone in Second Generation Meets a Well Designed Life.

In a 2004 trend report for a client I identified silicone as one of the most important materials of the future.  Able to withstand temperatures of 600 degrees farenheit, Silicone can be used to bake in, lift hot food or pans from the oven, and just in general protect one from heat....in some cases even cool things. 

Its use in applications has come a long way since 2004 as evidenced in a review at the International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago this week of three different companies with 3 different applications and thus ideas on how silicone can be used.  I am not here to say which is best only to say we as consumers are in fact the winners:

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  BODUM using their French coffee and tea press technology but in a stainless steel mug meant for on the go, has wrapped a section in silicone in place of a handle or a cardboard wrap so you can hold the mug comfortably in spite of the heat from that steaming, delicious hot and fresh cup of coffee or tea.  Just add course coffee or tea, then hot water, secure the lid, wait four minutes, push down on the plunger and you've got a totally  fresh and yummy hot cup of coffee or tea ready to travel with you.  Who needs Starbucks?   The silicone band is available in a range of fun and timely colors where it's easy to choose one that matches your personality.   For more information or even to purchase (available in June) visit Bodum's website at Bodum.com.

 

 

 

Next on the list is ISI North America, the originator of the Orca Mitt introduced in 2004 as a silicone oven mitt.  Able to resist high temperatures, the Orca Mitt let you take hot pans and dishes straight from the oven without feeling a bit of the heat, but it was its flexibility as well as its color intensity that captured the imagination.  With designers on the task, ISI North America introduced at this year's housewares show the Flex It Set.  Using that same flexibility and a thinking man's designer, ISI created  a measuring cup set that can be squeezed so you can pour the ingredients into your mixing bowl or pan.  Simple, huh?  But it's really coming to grips with what silicone is capable of besides withstanding high temperatures.  Haven't we as cooks been humbled more than once by the inability of being able to pour directly from the measuring cup into the other thingy?  Well, here's our answer.

 

They've applied that same thinking to a set of "prep" and mixing bowls.  There is a grip on the bottom of each bowl that holds it steady but when you pick one up you can squeeze it as well to form a spout, easily pouring what you've mixed into that next container.  Coming in intense and fun colors for the kitchen, red, blue, green and white, what's not to love?  For more images and more about how the Flex It Set works visit ISI's website at ISINorthAmerica.com.

 

Last on this list, but far from least, is Fusion Brands.  These items come from two quirky but thoughtful designers, Anna and Kraigh Stewart, who understood the usefulness and creativity of silicone as a material along with the new demands on cooking at home while needing to keep things fun.  Enter the Ice Orb, a vertical ice cube tray that can keep tubs of dip or spread or a bottle of wine chilled while looking pretty cool itself at the same time, the Foodloop and the Foodloop lace...both silicone, the first is a wrapping tool, the second a trussing tool and both withstand high heat.....hey, with this group a video is worth a thousand words.  Time to visit their website, Fusionbrands.com , to get the gist of this creative couple who have only just begun to create.  

      

lance likes street art.

I don't follow cycling and to be honest I don't know much about Lance Armstrong. But this past Winter (I can finally say past because it's Spring!) when I attended the press opening for the Shepard Fairey exhibit at the ICA Boston, something caught my eye. There in a book that detailed each work of art was Lance Armstrong's name. Indeed one of the largest pieces in the entire show belonged to the cycling legend. It peaked my interest -- Lance supports street art? Yes, indeed he does.

Trek art bike designed by KAWS.

Leading up to his eighth Tour de France, Lance will be riding "art bikes" designed by prolific artists who are heavily influenced by street culture -- KAWS, Barry McGee, Marc Newson, Damien Hirst -- and manufactured by TREK. The art bikes will then be auctioned to benefit Livestrong. Additionally, his Livestrong organization is holding a benefit art show that coincides with the art bikes. Entitled "Stages," the show/auction will be held at the Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery in Paris on July 16, 2009 and features the artwork of Shepard Fairey, Raymond Pettibon, Ed Ruscha, KAWS, Barry McGee, Kenny Scharf, Os Gemeos, and Marc Newson to name a few.

Lance's camp says it'll take a month for him to recover from his recent collarbone injury. And once he's back, he'll once again be riding pretty atop the hottest bikes on the road.

HYPERBOLIC CROCHET CORAL REEF

This exposition is amazing! Imagine, the most beautiful sea creatures from the Great Barrier Reef, all made now in crochet.  All this huge artwork have an ecologic reason: Global worming.  Do you know that many sea species, like coral, are dieing because of this?  If we don't stop this serious problem now, soon we will have to forget about this incredible submarine world.

This exposition was designed and curated by Christine and Margaret Wertheim, Co-Directors of The Institute For Figuring (TheIFF).  All the crochet work are a great testimony of feminine handicraft in our times.

If you want to see this exposition, there still are a few days, because it starts on january and will end at february 21, 2009.  Where? Track 16 gallery, Santa Monica, USA

Via Ray of light.

And the winners are....

In the end of 2008 were revealed the winners of the most important design contest in Brazil -Museu da Casa Brasileira Design Award -  in a traditional party at the Museum. Here are some of the beautiful products awarded in the furniture category.

 

  

  

  

From above:

1st place - Aviador Chair - Fernando Mendes de Almeida, Roberto Hirth

2nd place - Mina Chair - Daniel Diniz Maia, Roberto Candido Araújo

Honor mention - Mariante Chair - Fernando Mendes de Almeida, Roberto Hirth

Honor mention as a prototype - Chaveco Chair - Ricardo Barddal

You can check all the winners here.

Greener Gadgets 09

Greener Gadgets, now in its second year, is a one-day conference scheduled for February 27, 2009 and features key representatives from some of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world, innovators from academic thinktanks, members of startups focused on renewable energy, and some of the leading minds in the word of sustainable design and business.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Fastronaut toy concept, modeled after the pedometer. Powered by play, each figure has a rechargeable battery, and each vehicle has a dynamo.  Each Fastronaut has a power indicator that can be pressed to make the Fastronaut talk. Children get instant feedback as they create energy, and that is strong motivation to be active.

Move Your Energy- Move Your Energy is a rocking shell chair with an LED lamp specially designed for reading. The armchair is power independent - a dynamo provides the electric energy for the lamp which is connected to a special kinematic mechanism. This mechanism is very similar to the one that is characteristic in steam engines. It works together with a lever that runs a fly-weel disk when you rock.

The Power Hog-  designed to capture the interest of parents and kids alike and serve the wider environmental cause. Power-Hog visually and symbolically associates power conservation with savings by using the iconic piggy bank as a visual reference. Kids can use their allowance to turn on the TV or video game by feeding the Power-Hog with loose change. The Power-Hog meters consumption and blinks red when time is running out. It also helps parents meter the amount of time spent watching the tube.

You can see more of these gadgets and vote on them here.