The video is starting to blaze through the blogosphere right now – a wonderfully romantic video of an elaborate proposal to his girlfriend. I’d not spoil the story for you – but suffice to say, sometimes skills you learn in industrial design could just be useful in your real (romantic) life!
Time has an archive of some wall murals in Philadelphia – I must say I’m very much impressed by the quality and maturity in some of them. Like the two examples above: ‘Malcolm X’ by the artist Ernel Martinez, who grew up in gang-plagued L.A. and Detroit but grew up an artist and muralist; and ‘Careers: Head to the Sky’, created by artist Cavin Jones who broke up the children’s’ faces into simple zones and invited local students to help paint it.
I thought it’s really great that quality art are spread (and in a big scale) in the city, where they can be seen in an everyday context (as opposed to a museum, which might serve a more niched audience in an curated, artificial setting). These murals are not only artistically well-painted, but they also carry a sense of hope and maturity in their message. Beautifying the landscape and lifting the mind – great works indeed!
Brilliant!
The pottery, named Yuanyang II, is one of the collections of Hong Kong Museum of Art now displaying at the Central Concourse of Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA). It is produced by Tsang Cheung-shing, a ceramic art tutor and product designer.
Yuanyang II is modeled in a distinctive form with two figures indulged in kissing each other. Their heads support two elegant cups for drinking tea and coffee. The form and concept design fully complement the theme “Yuanyang” (a typical Hong Kong beverage of mixing tea and coffee), a symbol of marriage and love, with a touch of humour for artistic creation.
This made me chuckle:
Everyone sounds like Pavarotti in the shower – that’s why the Shower Mic is such a natural. Not only is it a useful sponge for washing up, but it also has the uncanny ability to unleash your inner Sinatra. So, don’t hold back… stand and deliver!
If you’re the creative kind, here’s a fun and rewarding competition that you might consider entering:
Concerned Communicator Award – which is a reputed and well-recognized social advertising award in India. It invites ad professionals and free lancers all over the world to make print ads (within 500sq. cm size) on any social issues. Winner will be awarded US$11,000. There is no entry fee. Foreign entries are accepted by emails also. Entries can be pre-published or un-published.
Check out here for more details – the deadline’s 25 August. Here’s an example of a winner from last year (from Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai):
If a color-shifting, glowing rim around your television (cue Philips Ambilight) isn’t your cup of tea, Philips is hoping that a color-shifting, glowing rim on your television is. The Aurea is a successor to the Ambilight and it’s certainly glowing more than ever. I haven’t seen it in person yet, so I wouldn’t really know how good it is. My guess is that this would probably fall into the good-to-have-but-doesn’t-quite-justify-the-price camp.
Tell me which is more disturbing: the baby-head porcelain candle holder (check out the faint cheek blushes even!), or the fact that when you plop a fat candle on it and burn it, the wax drip runs down the head and becomes the … “hair”?
Little Joseph is a hand-painted, porcelain candle holder. We can’t decide if he’s sinister or sweet. Part of that will certainly depend on what you decide to do with his hair. Use dripless candles if you’d like to keep him bald, otherwise, give him pure white locks, beeswax locks, or hair in several shades of the rainbow.
Nonetheless, very cool!
[‘Little Joseph‘ by Maxim Velčovský, via Josh Spear]
Bringing the little ones on travel can really be a hair-pulling experience: while dealing with the patience-testing waits, delays, searches and security measures, you might have to soothe and pacify your kids’ (potential) tantrums, boredom and tiredness.
Trunki aims to help alleviate some of those pain: brightly colored, attractive luggage that kids can play around, sit on – basically find their own amusements within the airport. We all know how imaginative they can be – is that your little tot thinking of himself as a chivalrous prince? There’s even a long strap in which you can pull your kids as they ride on their luggage. Furthermore, it’s of a hand-luggage size, so the fun can continue all the way to boarding (hopefully, not so much on the plane itself though).
It’s a great idea really – turning a source of frustration into a source of enjoyment and fun! And there’s a nice story of determination and entrepreneurship behind this too. The inventor, Rob Law, went on the reality VC-funding show in Britain known as Dragon’s Den, hoping to get 100,000 pounds in exchange for 10% of the company as start up funding. In the show though, the judges unanimously condemned this saying that there was no market, that it was worthless, etc.
After the show aired, however, parents and viewers from everywhere went on Rob’s website to say how great the Trunki would be. So Rob’s having the last laugh, the Trunkis are selling very well, while the company he 100% owns grew beyond 1 million pounds in worth.
Well done!
I’m sure 99% of you reading this didn’t know about it – well, happy Left Hander’s Day to those of you who are (it falls on 13th August), and since apparently there’s a left-handedness bias in the creative industries, there might just be a sizeable number of you!
Here’s some trivial nuggets about left-handedness for you to live and commemorate this extremely significant day on our calendars (yar…)!
Yes, it’s a long list. Well icon (a design+architecture magazine) has decided to poll many leading architects and designers on their manifestos – what do they see and visualize happening in the design industry and the world as a whole: many heavy weights are in the midst too – click through and see if you get inspired! Maybe you’d start to consolidate your own thoughts and develop your own manifestos!
[via HiID]
