Fucking Awesome

Designed by Ross Lovegrove of the UK for his design studio. I first saw this on an older TED video. He said other guys buy a Ferrari's or something, he spent 250K on a staircase. He designs a lot of visceral organic forms. It doesn't meet any standards, the railing is made of carbon fiber and is attached at only two points. The studio itself is subterranean, and the lighting changes throughout the day to match the outside.

I will make a few of these for myself someday

stockholm furniture fair 08 / greenhouse: ny svensk slöjd

This caught my eye

I'm not big on graffiti, but these here were done by a pro group of educated graphic designers. Most of their work (I gather) is in Columbia, but it sounds like they get around.

Modern Carbon

I saw this at the MOMA today. I have a love/hate with carbon fiber: you can do beautiful things with it, but it's not entirely environmentally friendly. But aside from that, these early forays into the use of carbon and furniture, I feel, have been weak. Such as this piece. Yes it is very beautiful, and it looks really cool. But to me, its a big wicker chair. Just as in the bike industry, there are some cost and experimental learning curves. Nowadays, we have large grasp on the potential of what carbon can do (just look at the Boeing 787). I also just watched a youtube on making carbon cellos. They said it had better sound quality than wood!
Although this a nice piece, I think I could do better. I think designers looking at using carbon need to study what other industry's have done with it, and use that knowledge to go further. If 8 lb bikes can be made, how about a 2lb folding chair?

Designing a better stick

I'm posting these because, first ,I saw them both today, and second, why are people always trying to make better chop-sticks? THEY'RE A PAIR OF STICKS! Anyways, this first one is cool looking, but I hold mine towards the far end, so I'm not sure how these would work holding the metal part.

The "choplery" seen here is another attempt at solving for the American lack in understanding how to use a simple device. But like on the site where I found these, it would be better if they started as chopsticks, THEN converted to traditional utencils. So once you realized you could do no more than shovel food off the edge into your mouth, you cold save grace and eat properly

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modern camo

Desiree Palmen is a photag who creates these images with people dressed and placed to be super camouflaged. She is concerned over the increased use of identity based electronic info systems along with surveillence cameras (ie Big Brother). Check out the text here.

Bridging materials

Inspired by a bridge of the same name on a Scottish golf course, the Swilken Bench is a perfect blend of form and contrasting materials. The top is made from reclaimed hardwoods, the base/legs are concrete.