Although we've already covered Reclaim x2 fairly extensively at this point, it's easy to overlook details such as, say, the actual texture of the felt chair or the concept behind Emilie Baltz's dyadic infusions. If it wasn't clear from the photos of the Bonus Table 571—which it by no means should have been—it was made with enzymes. Bushwick-based design duo Colleen & Eric (whom we'd previously covered at ICFF in 2011) collaborated with bioengineer Loe Hubbard and sound designer Ben Cameron on the small side table, which features a cryptic Rorschach design on its surface. They explain:Pure tones tuned to the natural resonant frequency of the wood result in vibrations, determined by the tabletop's size shape and density. The vibrations reveal a geometric pattern inherent to the wood.

The resonant pattern is etched away by an enzyme cocktail tailored to the molecular structure of the wood. This process is similar to acid-etching a metal plate, such as in printmaking. The difference is that this is based on a live process; using enzymes derived from forest floor microbes.

Perhaps we should refer to the video:

Bonus Table 571 from colleen whiteley on Vimeo.

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Shane Chen is a Washington-based inventor obsessed with moving the human body. His company, Inventist, has been developing strange-looking personal transportation devices for nearly a decade. We took a brief look at his Solowheel a few years ago, and it finally went on sale just last year. Check it out:

For those looking to burn some calories, Inventist's Orbit Wheel is user-powered:

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This week we spotted objects and installations poised for a big reveal. At first look, their structure was familiar, elements not particularly out of place. But with a quick visual adjustment or test of expectations, something altogether different—a trompe l'oeil—appears.

Even though our furniture often serves several functions, the art on our walls typically exists just for our eyes. But during Milan's SaloneSatellite exhibition for emerging designers, Japan's YOY Design Studio packed more features into the frame. YOY's canvases, made of wood, aluminum, and elastic fabric, and then screen-printed with images of couches and chairs, actually support sitting. The secondary use is startling, so it might require a little explanation before asking that guests take a seat.

Images © Yasuko Furukawa; via Designboom

Last month, the Swiss artist Felice Varini adorned the exterior of the Grand Palais in Paris with a work made from a very specific point of view. From the street, the vibrant orange stretched triangles look haphazardly splashed against the building. But observe them from the hall, and the applied scraps of color align, creating something that looks more like a projection than a perfectly planned effect.

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Earlier this week, I was casually minding my own business on a pleasant bike-commute from Core HQ to my humble Brooklyn abode when lo and behold, I spotted what looked like a giant hot pink chair strapped to a flatbed truck. Once I got over my initial astonishment and confirmed that this was not a mirage in my design-week-addled mind, I instinctively did that thing we do nowadays where one whips out his or her smartphone to document anything that seems remotely interesting. Case in point, here's an inane video of the truck eluding me on Flushing Ave:

It turns out that UHURU's #Chairtruck debuted last weekend at BKLYN Designs, where it provided much-needed respite from human-sized chairs and a fair share of sh*ts and giggles, and will be making rounds this weekend as well. (Not to take too much credit, but one inside source hinted that the #ChairTruck came about partly because a certain well-known industrial design magazine and resource declined to host an exhibition this year.) The ~5:1 scale model of their Hulihee chair is "fitted with a hardwood seat and back reclaimed from the Coney Island Boardwalk," and "strapped to a flatbed biodiesel truck."#chairtruck's defiant size and reclaimed wood planks pay tribute to the historic Coney Island Boardwalk and reference Uhuru's signature Coney Island furniture line which debuted at Brooklyn Designs in 2010.

Chairspotting

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Looks cool...

Move over, Rain Tail—there's a new ultraminimal rear fender in town. The Plume is a recoiling mudguard that is deployed by unrolling the coiled strip of stainless steel and 'retracted' with a simple flick. The hardware slides neatly onto a bicycle seatpost and it looks something like a sideways cupholder when not in use, functioning something like a reverse slap-bracelet.

Note: Animated GIF for purposes of illustration only

Founders Dan McMahon and Patrick Laing met three years ago in London and have been developing the Plume for about as long. Now that they've filed a patent on the recoiling design, they're pleased to present their creation to the public via Kickstarter.

It's certainly a clever solution to a common problem, and the Kickstarter page duly features a couple examples of what Sparse deemed to be "bike hacks," i.e. variations on DIY mudguards. The main advantage of these ad hoc fabrications is that they're inherently disposable; the tradeoff is that they're ugly as sin.

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wants a Store Designer
in New York, New York

As the brand that celebrates the essence of Classic American Cool, Tommy Hilfiger provides a refreshing twist to the preppy fashion genre. This iconic brand is looking for the right Store Designer to bring to life brilliant retail and environment concepts that embody everything the Tommy Hilfiger label represents.

To succeed in this role you'll need prior visual, planning/design project management and communication skills, plus 3-5 relevant work experience. That will all come in handy when you're providing fixture layouts and renderings for stores, reviewing all construction documentation and millworker shop drawings, and serving as an authority and adviser on design issues including the development of design, construction and fixture details for prototype and implementation.

Apply Now

$(function() { $("#a20130517").jobWidget({ amount_of_jobs: 5, specialty: "Architecture, interior design" }); }); (more...)    

Longtime Core77 readers know I've been a fan of Art Lebedev Studio for ages. Recently I got a kick out of their Attraktsionus ferris wheel/ski lift combination, their Stubus tree ring watch where cracks in the heartwood and exterior rings serves as the hands, and their older Skrepkus paper clip.

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Just over a week ago, we had a chance to catch up with Jean Lin and Jen Krichels of Reclaim NYC, who opened the doors to their second exhibition today and will be hosting an opening reception shortly. While the first edition of the group exhibition focused on reclaimed materials in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the show takes the much broader theme of collaboration this time around. (Once again, proceeds will go to the Brooklyn Recovery Fund.)

As Lin told us last week:What started as a hurricane relief effort will hopefully grow into a larger initiative that could benefit a wide range of social and environmental causes, as well as support our independent design community. Our industry is filled with truly good, charitable and socially-aware people who are looking for ways to help. We hope that Reclaim can become an outlet for these talented designers to focus their charitable and creative energies without commercial pressure, and with a higher goal of giving back to a worthy cause.

This is a near-comprehensive survey of the work on view now at the third-floor event space at 446 Broadway. Tonight's opening is all but guaranteed to be a good time, but if you can't make it to Soho this evening, we highly recommend stopping by tomorrow or on Saturday morning before Reclaim x2 closes; hours & full address below. (Worst case, you can browse and buy the work at Lin-Morris.)

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You couldn't make it up: a Portland, Oregon-based design duo just launched a crowdfunding campaign to launch a mason jar-based product, designed expressly to brew one of the two beverages that the City of Roses is famous for.

Besides its rugged good looks, it so happens that the mason jar is more durable than the traditional carafe; bedecked in a wool sleeve for insulation and topped off with a maple lid (with a press), the Portland Press is a crafty take on the iconic coffee brewing apparatus (footnote: the origin of the French press is unclear, but the modern version was patented in Italy in 1929; today, it's typically associated with Bodum of Denmark).

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Here in NYC we've got a billionaire mayor, and you've probably heard of the device that made him rich, the Bloomberg Terminal. For those of you that haven't, it's an integrated computer system and service feed offering real-time financial data and trading.

For finance peeps, Bloomberg Terminals are like potato chips, in that you can't have just one. Your average user rocks a two-, four- or six-monitor set-up....

...though that can get out of control.

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Reporting by Jenny Hsu

In the last few days leading up to the juried review of our collaboration with Poltrona Frau, our studio workspace descended into complete disarray—with tools and materials scattered everywhere. The last bits of scrap leather were hotly contested and, naturally, the industrial sewing machines had failed just days before the presentation was due! As a result, some projects ended up having to be hand-stitched as time was pressing and quality had to be kept to a high standard. Sleep deprivation, minor scrapes and bruises notwithstanding, we managed to pull it together in time for the juried final review.

The jury panel consisted of legendary designer Massimo Vignelli, Paul Makovsky (Editorial Director, Metropolis Magazine), Sara Gobbo and Federico Materazzi (Poltrona Frau), Mark Bechtel (Interim Director of Product Design at Parsons) and our instructor, designer Andrea Ruggiero. We presented 15 projects, ranging from cigar cases and drink coasters to picture frames and candle holders. Per the design brief, we were required to address wastelessness and how we would envision the potential production of our pieces to enable the least amount of material waste. In a few cases, there was some disagreement between the judges as to the complexity and labor involved to produce a few of the objects. Regardless, the critics met privately after the presentations to decide the three winners of the competition, who will get to visit Poltrona Frau's factory in Tolentino, Italy, in the second half of July.

"Doppio" by Hayley Kim

"Spirale" by Noemi Szalavari

"Bottoni" by Aaron Chan

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When it comes to sketching, line quality is everything. To build up the desired thickness using ink, you can either switch between multiple pens or you can hit the same line repeatedly with the same pen, as Spencer Nugent has done above; if using pencil or a pressure-sensitive stylus on a digital device, you can hit the same line and/or press harder, as Michael DiTullo's done below.

So this currently-under-consideration-at-Quirky design proposal has me curious. Designer "HSingh" is pushing for a pen with an adjustable tip, whereby a dial in the barrel somehow alters the nib's width.

There's virtually no explanation for how the thing would work, but the question is: Would you guys use this to change line weights, or do you prefer the old-fashioned way? And does anyone remember having to swtich back and forth from like, five different Koh-i-Noor Rapidographs in design school?

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wants a Designer, Packaging
in San Francisco, California

How good are your packaging designs? Are they good enough to help Ammunition redefine markets for their clients in order to create new business territories? If you are confident that your package design abilities fit this bill, this job is for you.

You'll be tasked with creating packaging solutions that complement and enhance their award-winning product designs, and do so while considering the whole picture and the affect packaging has on the eco-system developed around a product.

Sounds fun, right? Polish up your resume, double check your portfolio and Apply Now

$(function() { $("#a20130516").jobWidget({ amount_of_jobs: 5, specialty: "Packaging, industrial design" }); }); (more...)    

Remember the useless machine from a couple years back? You know, the device with a switch that activated an arm that flipped its own switch? For better or for worse, I couldn't help but think of that paradoxical box when I saw Zelf Koelman's "Switch Candle"... which, ironically enough, is something like a useful version of the same. Bearing a crown of five tealights, the curious-looking object functions as a dimmable candle. I won't ruin it for you; just watch:

Switch Candle from Zelf Koelman on Vimeo.

Koelman describes the "Switch Candle" as a comment on "how we perceive artificial light, how we interact with it and how we should not forget the amount of energy light needs to shine."For ages we have put much effort in keeping on the fire at night to extend the day and keeping us warm and safe. Since the invention of electric light sources, I believe we lost track of how much effort and energy it really takes to keep us awake.

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Photography by Glen Jackson Taylor for Core77

This past weekend, we took the water taxi to Randall's Island for the second edition of Frieze New York, which has established itself as an extremely well curated and produced art fair. The 250,000-square-foot temporary tent by SO - IL architects provides generous space for exhibitors, amazing natural light, and stood up remarkably well to the rolling thunderstorms that struck on Saturday afternoon.

Not one to shy from controversy, visitors were greeted by Paul McCarthy's giant 80 feet tall inflatable 'Balloon Dog', a dig at Jeff Koons' failed attempt in court to get exclusive rights to balloon dogs worldwide, if you're skeptical of the stakes, McCarthy's homage sold for $950,000.

LA-based Pae White won hearts with her suspended installation of tiny upward facing mirrors reflecting their bright geometric patterns underneath. Dan Colen's circular sculpture made from basketball backboards at the Gagosian booth provided awesome photo opps for 2001 style shots, and as far as found objects go, it's hard to beat the cement mixer by Alexandre da Cunha.

There was an abundance of bold new work on display with a lot of galleries choosing to promote the same artists they represented last year. Tom Friedman's solo show was hugely popular; we were really into Daniel Arsham's volcanic ash and broken glass cast resin pieces; and Liam Gillick's 'Scorpion or Felix' decorative door screens would probably do quite well at the ICFF this weekend.

Clearly, the organizers know their audience partnering with food vendors—Frankies Spuntino, Prime Meats, Roberta's, Mission Chinese Food and Blue Bottle Coffee, to name a few—and we were really impressed with the amount of water taxis they secured to ferry visitors to-and-from Manhattan. We'll see if The Armory Show, which takes place in March at the crowded Pier 92+94 complex, steps up its game in response next year...

» View Gallery

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The weather here in Portland, OR has broken as of late and recently (although not today) we have been dripping in sunshine. Our natural inclination is to head directly to the river to sip cold ones and barbecue with buddies at Washougal Falls, the Clackamas, Columbia or Sandy river. We've also got some secret spots that we won't share, lest they become overrun with yahoos.

At Hand-Eye Supply we believe little siestas are essential to the design process, a chance to relax our minds, shut off our smart phones and decompress for optimal performance. Perhaps a dip in the glacial runoff is just the right ingredient for the eureka in the bath tub moment for that stubborn design problem you've been battling. The point we're trying to make is, "Dude, it's time to take a break."

It is in this spirit that our photographer Christine Taylor headed up to some of Oregon's lovely pastoral regions with a selection of Hand-Eye Supply goodies to inspire you good creative people to take a siesta of your own. More pics in full size on Hand-Eye Supply.

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Last we heard from Burgopak, they'd sent us their packaging design for Little Printer (a.k.a. the BERG-o-pack), and it so happens that their latest project also happens to be for a product that we'd covered before (let's just say that all parties involved have impeccable taste).

Lapka is a set of "artisan electronic devices" for gathering data about one's immediate surroundings: each of the four building-block-like sensors can be attached to one's iPhone through the standard headphone jack. Coupled with a free app, they can provide detailed information on radiation, organic matter, electromagnetic fields and humidity—interesting features in themselves, enhanced by the product's quasi-organic, vaguely totemic form factor.

To complement Lapka's effort to make the product look more like jewelry or tabletop sculptures than gadgets, Burgopak notes that "The products themselves are luxury tools that convey their connection with nature. The packaging, we felt, should do the same."From the beginning this was not intended to feel like an, 'Apple' product. It is intended to disrupt preconceived expectations about consumer electronics. Brown kraft board, single colour print and incredibly limited product information were all intentional features.

The devil, as they say, is in the detail; using precise harmonious proportions (derived from the product) Burgopak created a simple tray to protect and frame the product. This was wrapped in a sleeve with an integrated lock and finished with a single tamper evident seal.

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As data continues to indicate that spending all day on your ass isn't good for your health, there are exciting opportunities for workstation and seating designers. Standing desks, treadmill desks and funky chairs may fade in and out of popularity, but we like seeing the weird permutations and risks that designers are willing to take in their quest to find the "correct" solution.

One such new seating product comes from Turnstone (the Steelcase brand dedicated to furniture solutions for small companies and startups) with their Buoy, designed by Michigan-based ID'er Ricky Biddle. "Research shows that even people who typically work out after work don't receive the same benefit if they are sitting all day," writes Turnstone. "Overall, we recognize that movement is good so any way we can bring movement to the office is something we look for."

To that end, the Buoy is designed to be off-balance, like its namesake bobbing device, though not as extremely as a Pilates ball; the idea is that the microadjustments you're continually making with your body are not annoying enough to be a hassle, but adequate to burn some calories. Also unlike a Pilates ball, the Buoy is height-adjustable.

We wanted to find a simple seating solution that would allow for movement and work in multiple environments and applications. Turnstone had explored some initial ideas around active seating with a rocking stool concept called Humma shared at Neocon a few years ago, but for Buoy we wanted to allow a greater freedom of movement and a create a highly functioning product that could complement multiple settings and work with different height tables and related items around the home and office from both a functional and aesthetic point of view.(more...)    

Move over, Jack Handey: Forum member Sanjy009 has recently posted some serious food for thought (so to speak) on our discussion boards. Citing a somewhat opinionated Washington Post article from the past weekend, "Are Foodies Quietly Killing Rock-and-Roll," the Adelaide-based designer notes that:[The article] states the internet has turned music into a digital commodity, has removed it's value, and in doing so lessened it's cultural status. Food culture at the same time has exploded, and is filling the cultural and economic hole left behind.

I've been thinking about it in terms of product design and branding and self-identification. Why is it OK to identify with culture, but commercial identification is seen as crass? Can a product or brand do what music and food seem to be able to do naturally? Is this an inevitable result of technology making something easier?

Within 24 hours, a couple of his peers had posted thoughtful responses to his open-ended query, launching what has proven to be a fruitful dialogue on value, commerce and commodification in the digital age. Where the article makes a (somewhat hyperbolic) case for the ultracontemporary notion that "Chefs are the new rock stars," Sanjy009 is concerned with the implications for product design. (For the record, I vaguely recall New York Magazine hailing Brooklyn designers as rock stars several years ago; so too do they expound the hypothesis that "food is the new punk rock.")

Image via Wikipedia

The discussion has covered everything from the demise of music to the ice trade of yore so far, and in the interest of obliquely contributing to the conversation, we've seen a fair share of music- and food-related design lately. Examples include a full-length released as sheet music, a crowdsourced DJ and digitally-fabricated records, to name a few... not to mention a variety of comestible or otherwise food-related projects.

Thus, as a corollary to the putative commodification of creativity, both music and food have been areas of design innovation: the former because the industry is in decline and the latter for the opposite reason.

In any case, peruse the discussion and put in your two cents here.

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wants a Sr. UX Designer
in Redwood City, CA

Imagine your code and user experience designs benefiting from the resources of a Fortune 100 company, but driven by the pure energy of a start up mentality... That's exactly what it's like to work at Oracle as a Senior User Experience Designer.

The right candidate for this position will be tasked with creating innovative interfaces and workflows that make Oracle's solutions easy to try, easy to use, easy to buy, including internal applications web interfaces, shopping cart interfaces, guided tutorials, trial workflows, and much more.

Apply Now for this great opportunity to work for a company where "Work Life Balance" is much more than just a phrase.

$(function() { $("#a20130515").jobWidget({ amount_of_jobs: 5, specialty: "User Experience, product design" }); });

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