Free Glidden Paint Giveaway!
Interior Designers rejoice! Glidden has provided you and me with a dream come true: free paint. Just by signing up online with your address you’re eligible to receive a free quart of paint in any color you want. If you know a bunch of friends who don’t need paint, just send it to their address and pick it up. How often do painters and decorators get free paint?! If you want more details make sure to check out the original post on The Examiner.
Object Factory: The Art of Industrial Ceramics
Somewhere between found art, Picasso, and industrial design is where Object Factory’s newest US based installation takes place.
Object Factory: The Art of Industrial Ceramics is the first major U.S. museum exhibition to survey contemporary innovation in industrial ceramic production and the renaissance of ceramics in art and design today. The exhibition explores how artists and designers are reviving interest in ceramics through collaborations with industry that enhance and sometimes subvert the industrial process. Object Factory presents works created for leading manufacturers as well as artworks by independent artists and designers. Both non-functional and functional works are highlighted, as are important technological advances in ceramic material that allow for its use in electronic appliances, cutting implements, and other surprising products.
Object Factory has more than some 200 works by over fifty artists, designers, and industry manufacturers. This large collection features work by some of the greatest American, European, and Russian designers. The exhibit runs from May 6 to September 13th and it can be found at the Museum of Arts and Design
By train: A, B, C, D or No. 1 to Columbus Circle at 59th Street; N, R, Q or W to 57th Street and 7th Avenue F to 57th Street and 6th Avenue By bus: M5, M7, M10, M20, M30 and M104 to Columbus Circle at 59th Street or 57th Street and 8th Avenue
Museum Hours Tue. – Sun. 11:00 am to 6:00 pm Thurs. 11:00 am to 9:00 pm Closed Mon. and Major Holidays
SUMMER HOURS: Due to popular demand, the Museum will be open on Tuesdays from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm throughout the summer.
I LEGO N.Y. – Creative Information Design and Semiotics
Couldn’t resist posting about this. I got an email from my close friend today and it is easily the most creative use of Legos I have seen in a long time. It’s easy to see through this example that simple information design a creative mind can go a long way. The pictures are all from http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/i-lego-ny/ 
Make sure to go to the NYT website to see the rest.
Concealed Lighting – Modern Lighting Design
I’m pleased to bring the public something different from our normal gamut of posts about graphic design, creative illustrations, and kickass web applications. Today we’ve been contacted by a famous hometown industrial lighting design studio: Concealed Lighting.
Located in both New York City (Creative Fluff’s base) and Buenos Aires, Concealed Lighting has managed to provide innovative solutions for creative problems posed by clients for lighting design. The first, and possibly my most favorite examples are their display lighting examples.
Aside from the fact that I’m a sucker for anything that glows blue, I found their creative display lighting reminiscent of fibirous spider webs and it was an excellent example of using natura as the basis for a design concept. What’s most interesting about this specific example is that it uses its subtle lighting to make impressive shadow illustrations on plain walls getting rid of any need to spend money on creative wallpaper.
This second example is a completely lit bookcase / storage displace with built in LED’s that illuminate every compartment. Concealed Lighting’s use of LED’s instead of lightbulbs offer them the ability to consume less energy, it allows for flexible/subtle lighting sources, and it is less likely to set anything on fire removing any and all health hazzards. The bookcase remains minimal and fuctional while retaining the ability to qualify for something that would be displayed in the MoMA’s product design section.
The final piece from concealed lighting I want to discuss is the Nikon display. The subtle lighting in the background is far from a neon sign with Nikon’s name on it. Instead it is a warm, f uzzy, but recognizable version of the logo created by hundreds of golden LED’s. Even though its a lighting display it manages to retain Nikon’s corporate branding while expressing it in a creative manner.
If you need lighting design done for you or just want to check out their portfolio make sure to see them here: concealedlighting.com
It’s Chanukah!
Chanukah Menorah!
Chanukah is the Jewish Festival of Lights which takes place every December and lasts for 8 days and nights. Chanukah celebrates the recapture and rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem by Judas Maccabaeus in 164 BC.
According to the Book of Maccabae once the Temple had been reclaimed a lamp was lit; this lamp according to Jewish law had to be kept lit and never put out! The only problem was that there was only enough oil to keep the lamp lit for one day. This of course is where the miracle comes in; the oil in the lamp lasted eight days, just enough time to aquire more oil.
To commemorate this miracle a lamp is lit during every night of Chanukah and placed in an eight-branched candlestick called a menorah. Here are some menorah examples:
Now this is an interesting Menorah, it is seems to be made out of nails!
Although this next one may not be religious none the less it is fairly interesting….especially if you are a cat lover like Fred is…
This one is very nice, I especially like the flame effects,
This one is also quite interesting,
And here I will leave you with what a typical Menorah may look like all lit up on Chanukah!
I hope you have all enjoyed this little menorah show. Hopefully you may have learned a little something about this Festive and fun holiday!
Happy Chanukah!
Once Upon a Wall…
The Cooper-Hewitt is featuring “Wall Stories: Children’s Wallpapers and Books” through April 5th, 2009. It is a collection that keeps us all in touch with fairy tales and the child within, and for those of us who can recall the nostalgia of having inspirational wallpaper in their rooms when they were growing up, or their favorite book to read through nap time at school. From the Cooper-Hewitt’s own description:
“Works on view will include papers illustrated with nursery rhymes and designs inspired by works of fiction and adventure, such as Peter Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland, and Cinderella. The exhibition also will trace the evolution of children’s books from instructional to fictional and include developments such as movable and pop-up books, which added an interactive element to children’s reading.”
For anyone interested in designing or illustrating, or writing children’s books this is a good exhibition to see. Read more about Wall Stories and get more exhibition information at http://cooperhewitt.org/EXHIBITIONS/wallstories/
Sustainable Design, Going Green the Old Fashioned Way
Recently I have been in the mood to buy a bike, not anything fancy mind you, but a good plain old fashioned bicycle. However, knowing myself, I would use it for the first few days, and if the bike gets lucky maybe even a week before I forget about it or just consider it too much trouble. (Living on campus with a bicycle just doesn’t really make sense in the end.) Yet it is good to know, that if i do decide to give into my impulsive nature and buy a bike, it will have a good home. Not with me of course but with a bit of luck at this little place I discovered.
Amazing I thought to myself, what a great idea to turn something from junk to Design Motif. Although their website and their ordering information may be a little hard to use and somewhat inconvienent, for any lover of Modern Art and/or Bikes be it motorcycle or bicycle, these pieces are a must have. The look turns out to be so modern and edgy.
A really great aspect of this business is the fact that they recycle the materials instead of throwing them on the scrap heap. It is a great way to really rethink and reuse our everyday items. It definitely makes me wonder about other material goods I may throw away and what other uses I could just have for them.
So in conclusion, if you want to turn your bike into a rocking chair, check out Bikefurniture.com.
Heatherwick
Heatherwick Studios is a London based design practice that started in 1994. Since then, they have produced some very creative design solutions. Heatherwick designs on many different scales, from roll-up bridges to the Longchamp zip-bag, even furniture pieces.
Here is their website if you’d like to look at more of their work: http://www.heatherwick.com/
The Water Cube: Bubble Wrap Can Be Sustainable
China, especially when looking at its major cities, isn’t exactly the model student when it comes to taking care of the environment (though China isn’t really entirely to blame). Recent construction for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games meant increased air pollution for the residents of Beijing especially, but when the dust settled, an interest in sustainability emerged in the form of the GreenPIX Wall, and, most popular, the new National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube.
A recent National Geographic special on the new buildings for the Olympic Games brought attention to the Water Cube’s unique characteristics: from new building materials to energy efficiency. Since the recent rise in environmental awareness, it seems China’s goal was give this year’s Olympics a “green” boost, evident also in their opening ceremony’s global warming commentary.
In summary, the Water Cube’s outer structure is composed of a super strong plastic material called ETFE (or Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene, which is a mouthful). Though it’s been used before, this is the first time so much ETFE has been used as one of the primary building materials (along with a maze of steel bars) for such a large building. Aside from the material allowing the “bubble wrap” aesthetic to be possible, a building of primarily ETFE has several plus sides: it is lightweight, flexible (helpful during earthquakes), can be easily repaired, super strong, puts out it’s own fires, and creates a greenhouse effect for the building, heating it naturally during the winter, minimizing energy costs.
Of course the other side of the heat-trapping capabilities is the overheating during the summer, which would obviously balance out the energy saved. As a solution, the ETFE on the Water Cube is covered in a pattern of opaque, reflective dots. The dots reflect sunlight, while still allowing a large amount of light into the building, thus easing the worry of too much heat during the summer months
Different weight dots control whether more or less heat enters through the plastic, and as each bubble was “manufactured”, and inflated separately, bubbles of different dot weight could be strategically placed in certain locations.
The building is also designed to collect and use rainwater. However, despite all these wonderful “green” qualities, one still can’t be certain whether or not the building fulfills all of it’s promises to the degree at which it is being advertised, much like any other green product or design. Supposing we give the Water Cube the benefit of the doubt, let’s hope that China and other nations continue to pursue these environmentally friendly ideas.
Images from:
http://en.beijing2008.cn/46/39/WaterCube.shtml
and
Zero Energy: The GreenPIX Wall
Quick Facts:
- The Media Wall will provide the city of Beijing with its first venue dedicated to digital media art
- Features largest color LED display in the world.
- First photovoltaic system with glass curtain
- Greenpix behaves like an organic system, absorbing solar energy during the day and then generating light from the same power that evening
Completely aside the fact that there is no such thing as ‘zero energy’; the GreenPIX wall comes close enough to have earned its title. The wall is a sustainable design project close to where the Olympic games are being held tomorrow. Below is a short description as given by the design group about the wall:
“GreenPix is a groundbreaking project applying sustainable and digital media technology to the curtain wall of Xicui entertainment complex in Beijing, near the site of the 2008 Olympic Games. Featuring the largest color LED display worldwide and the first photovoltaic system integrated into a glass curtain wall in China, the building performs as a self-sufficient organic system, harvesting solar energy by day and using it to illuminate the screen after dark, mirroring a day’s climatic cycle
The Media Wall will provide the city of Beijing with its first venue dedicated to digital media art, while offering the most radical example of sustainable technology applied to an entire building’s envelope to date. The building will open to the public on June 24, 2008, with a specially commissioned program of video installations and live performances by artists from China, Europe and the US.”
