master | karel martens — a life for unexpected shape

—

“Evoking meaning rather than boldly presenting truth is the essence of typographer Karel Martens work” says the disembodied voice of this eight-and-a-half minute profile film following the Dutch pedagogic graphic designer, created by the Submarine Channel.

—

—

What Martens has achieved in his extraordinary career would not fit into a film 100 times as long but what this short does do is shed a renewing light on the importance of play as a mode for thought.

—

dsgn | I have pop — street furniture

—

—

Idea · furniture design

Designer · I Have Pop

Source · blokkokin.it

—

—

The idea is to create design objects (with high prevalence for chairs) with material from the road, metal nets, signs, pallets, walls and all that you can make an interesting piece of design. 

—

—

The project is on the border between the urban art and design semi-industrial and even if not new (the basic principle is the same bags Freitag ), the study of Amsterdam, however, has found a way to re-invent objects without losing the quality and design.

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

designed by I Have Pop

—

pckgng | x-tape: "lock your cardboard box"

—

Idea · packaging / graphic design

Designer · Hyoungmin Park & Jeongmin Lee for mmiinn

Source · yankodesign

—

—

So far you have been sealing your cartons with either duct tape or normal transparent scotch tape.

If you were to have the option of the X-tape, I’m sure you would have used it.
—

—

Design is not always about problem solving or functionality.

Sometimes elements of surprise, like this optical illusion “hinge” tape gives creativity the fun-edge that it requires. Mr Lee & Mr Park, how about sealing it with a kiss next time?

—

dsgn·grfk | crump the map - emanuele pizzolorusso

—

getaddicted to

—

—

Times are tough for printed stuff in the internet age. But sometimes when you’re traveling you don’t want to stress your bill to use maps on your smartphone or tablet. When you travel it has to be easy, convenient and cheap.

—

—

Here is the map you’ve always wanted: it is soft, extra-light (Weighing only 20 grams and 100% waterproof), beautiful to look at and doesn’t mind being ill-treated. It is truly indestructible and the Crumpled City  maps (New York, London and many others for roughly $15), by Emanuele Pizzolorusso for Palomar, have also been awarded with Design Plus Award.

—

—

This is what Crumpled City says: “The map also has an index of all the Monuments, Museums, art Galleries, Buildings, Historical Places and Parks that can be easily found on the map. But there’s more, an original list of the city’s Soulsights. Visit these places and you will feel like an artist, a poet, a photographer, a director, a lover and a dreamer.” ❚

—

dsgn | thomas bernstrand — nola: "pay&sit."

retail | digital library - YTA: "your room into the city."

pckgng | fisherman:" for fish and for man."

—

the dieline says

—

—

“Rubber boots are treated as purely utilitarian footwear by Kazakh anglers, so the attention is mostly focused on functional characteristics of the product.

Very often consumers are not looking for stylish or beautiful Wellington boots and, therefore, often have a difficulty in selecting among the product produced by different manufacturers.

The client asked agency to create a package for rubber boots that would highlight the advantages of this utilitarian footwear.

The package should stand out on a shelf, attract attention and encourage consumers to purchase “Fisherman”.

—

—

SolutionRubber boots are underestimated product in many respects.

Everybody is aware of their primary function - protection from water.

However, there are many advantages that are not obvious at the first glance and consumer doesn’t even think about.

Standard fishermen boots are able to protect the wearer from a lot of dangers:- Environmental debris (glass, wire, etc.)- Natural hazards (sharp rocks, driftwood)- Biological threats (dangerous and predatory creatures) - Chemical hazards (oil, gasoline, acids)- Electrical hazards

—

—

After analyzing how all these threats can be visually represented we realized that probably the best way to communicate protective functions of the boots was through….  images of fish! It is a very exciting topic that is very familiar to anglers and an excellent opportunity to combine several types of risks in one image.

For example an electric eel symbolizes biological and electrical hazards.

—

—

The package itself is designed as a mini-stand, which creates an illusion of boots immersed in water.

This way the consumer can see all of the protective properties of the boots. The upper part of the package shows that often you cannot see what is really happening under water because of the glare and ripples.

The message we want to convey to a consumer – though there are a lot of hidden underwater hazards you are safe with “Fisherman” rubber boots.”

Design  GOOD! Agency

Creative Director Igor Mitin

—

dsgn | leaf tie cable organisers - Lufdesign: "Poetry never dies."

_____

dezeeen says

_____

grfk | puxxle - yoyo: "we pixelize the world."

_______

the dieline says

_______

______

Imagine what it would be like to take a bath with a shark, to have a cactus that doesn’t sting or to laughingly reach into an alligators mouth.

Pixel by pixel, you can create, let grow and have your dream come true.

The puxxle makes everything possible.

_______

______

_______

The puxxle was born out of the fascination that two sisters had for games. Since childhood , Catarina Lente and Luisa Lente have spent most of their sparetime with puzzles, imagining characters and inventing games.

________

_______

With the emergence of the Spectrum, they discovered a new world and later on, with SimCity2000, their fascination for pixel-constructions began.

Specializing in Graphic Design, Product and Web, in 2004 they found the design company Yoyo.

_________

_______

After years of work and many different projects, it is with pixel-projects that they imagined what it would be like to lift the pixelized universe from the screen into the real world. “

Designed by YOYO Made in Barcelona 

_______

______

______

______

______

______

______

pckgng | santa claus blood pack - kiseung lee: "surviving on christmas."

_______

bloggokin.it says

________

_______

L’idea di Kiseung Lee di realizzare delle sacche per il sangue a forma di calze di Babbo Natale, sta facendo velocemente il giro del mondo per la sua originalità, ma sotto sotto nasconde ben altro…Kiseung Lee infatti ha pensato, proposto e realizzato durante il recente Helsinki design week, l’idea di abbinare l’eventuale donazione di sangue con la tipica calza di babbo natale (da noi è per la befana).

________

_______

Un concept che ha lasciato senza parole molti dei presenti, ricordando a tutti che a volte il design può anche essere social ed essere abbinato (sopratutto sotto le feste) ad un bene primario.

________

phtgrphy | poladarium 2012 - 365 moments

______

the dieline  says

______

______

“Every day this calender reveals a new Polaroid photo, each with its own little story: on the front of each calendar page there is a Polaroid on the back there is a short description about the background to the photo and information about the photographer.”

_______

______

POLADARIUM 2012 contains Polaroids from Olaf Heine, Diana Scheunemann, Antonina Gern, and Uwe Düttmann u.v.a.

______

dsgn | foldboat - max frommeld and arno mathies

______

dezeen says

______

______

London Design Festival 2011: designers Max Frommeld and Arno Mathies showed off their folding boat that’s made from a single, standard-sized sheet of plastic at Multiplex at The Dock last week. 

______

______

The Foldboat comes in two versions that either collapse into a portable parcel or flatten for easy storage.

______

______

Each is equipped with a pair of oars made from ash with plastic blades, plus waterproof, floating cushions that can users can cling onto if the boat should capsize.

______

_____

The boat was first presented at Show RCA this summer, where we also spotted Frommeld’s Hose Clip Shelving.

______

______

The information below is from Frommeld and Mathies:

Foldboat is a rowing boat made from a standard sized sheet of plastic. By manipulating the material, we have created live hinges allowing you to fold and un-fold the plastic sheet into the shape of a boat.

Currently two versions of Foldboat exist, made using the live-hinge principle. Version one is designed to fold into a small parcel of 1m50 x 60cm, targeted at users who have limited storage space, particularly in urban environments. Version two does not fold into a transport pack and instead remains in a flat sheet of 2m50 x 1m50. Boat 2 is designed for boat renting companies or NGO’s in the case of flood hazards. Both boats require 2 minutes to be assembled by two people.

For ‘Multiplex at The Dock’ event hosted by Tom Dixon, we have created 5 bespoke and exclusive boats named ‘The Dock Edition’ that uses Boat 2 as a base.

The boats are available for sale and are equipped with a pair of oars (ash + plastic used for boat) and a pair of waterproof pillows for comfort and safety purposes (pillows are water tight and float).

dsgn | water=life: product poetry by Arik Levy

_________

dezeen says

Designer Arik Levy presents a pebble-shaped device for opening water bottles at Maison&Objet in Paris this week.

________

 

________

Called Water=Life, the object fits over the top of a water bottle, gripping the cap’s ridges with its teeth to create a larger handle with more leverage.

________

________

The natural pebble shape means it sits discretely on the table when not in use.

________

________

Levy created the device for inclusive products company Omabia.

________

________

Here’s some text for Arik Levy:

Water=Life is a techno-poetic project where design meets everyday needs.

For his cooperation with Omabia, an organization whose objectives are to improve our everyday life, Arik Levy has come up with a simple, poetic and functional concept to facilitate and improve access to water and other drinks.  

We all experience situations such as hearing a child say : ‘Papa can you open the bottle for me’, or witnessing an aged person having the same problem. It is sad to see that a very simple task such as opening a bottle of water or soft drinks can be difficult and unsolved. Sometimes I also have to make a big effort myself.

________

________

I wanted to create an enigmatic object that does not give itself away too fast and of which one can appreciate the appearance as well as the functionality.

A river-stone was the inspiration.

Water comes from the rocks and in this case it’s a river-stone that gives us access to water.  By simply placing the river-stone on the screw-cup lead of the bottle, the cone with its multiple radial pressure lines serves as a hooking device.

Applying a very minor pressure and turning the river-stone form allows you to benefit from a greater leverage and extra force so as to snap the lead security band open with no effort.

Once the river-stone is put back on the table, it goes back to being an object of nature and becomes part of a metaphor.

________

intrr retail | zmianatematu - xm3: "food in curved"

______

dezeen says

______

______

The timber stalactites of an undulating cave-like ceiling bear down around the bar of a coffee shop in Łódź, Poland.

______

______

Light bulbs dangle from between the curved plywood ribs of the Zmianatematu cafe, which was designed by Polish architects xm3.

______

______

Shelves are slotted between ridges in the wall, behind a bar that is also made from the ribbed timber.

______

______

Patches of plaster are visible on walls, which are intentionally left unfinished. See our archive feature on unfinished interiors here.

______

______

Planes of glass atop wavy plywood grids provide coffee tables.

______

______

Photography is by Paulina Sasinowska.

_______

______

Here are some more details from xm3:

Restaurant: “zmianatematu.”, Piotrkowska 144, Łódź

The city of Łódź located in the centre of Poland is one of three biggest cities in the country. Before the II World War a highly prospering city with lots of industries, now is troubled with poverty and social problems. Although it has high aspirations to be a cultural oriented city of artist and students. Aiming to be a design, fashion and film capital of the country, it acquires the concern from many great architects and artists who are willing to create concept designs for a delayed rebirth of the city i.e.: Daniel Libeskind, Frank Ghery, David Lynch to name a few.

______

______

The restaurant is located in the very centre of Łódź – on the most important street in the city – Piotrkowska. The street – once a symbol of wealth of the one of the richest cities in this region of Europe is now an axis of mostly poor and degenerated district with monumental architecture from before the II World War.

______

______

With a very small budget we created an outstanding space to host the artistic and culture parties for the creative youth of the city. The owners of the restaurant want to propose a space for happenings, art-exhibitions, and various art-oriented venues.

______

______

As young architects from the Capital City Warsaw with the local Łódź art-oriented youth investors we tried to aim at city’s condition and aspirations and create a reminiscent of the cutting-edge environment which has a connection with the city identity. The city’s name translates literally as “a Boat”. Inspired by a Boston BanQ restaurant we tried to create a blobish form similar to the boat roof form which eats in the old monument-building’s space.

______

______

The building itself dates to the end of XIX century. The elevation is a typical Neo-classical style. During the years the ground floor has changed function several times. Now being empty and unfinished the inside offered us the space to take and adjust. We decided to leave it as raw as it was possible. The proposal was to make the floor from the epoxy mass, leave the walls in raw roughcast and take the electrical installation out and leave it on the walls covered in steel, black tubes.

______

______

The only element added is this alien form, a “hub” that creeps to the volume from the inside of the building, which then creates the bar and divides the space in to several functional areas.

______

______

We can also see another division. This what is new and touches with the recently renovated external elevation of the building (the outside classical world) is new and white. The internal: dividing and construction walls as well as ceiling are in raw roughcast.

______

______

The “hub” itself is cnc cut plywood. It is designed by sectioning the form, generated by adjusting to the space and to all installations hidden by it. The sectioning and preparing for fabrication was done in Rhino/Grasshopper software. During the prototyping phase we decided to do some additional furniture for the restaurant as the mock-up for the real structure.

______

______

The furniture designed for the interior are the coffee tables, made of sectioned grid plywood and the bench which morphs from the bar counter.

______

Author: xm3
Project team: Maciej Kurkowski, Julian Nieciecki, Mateusz Wójcicki

Location: Łódź, Poland
Client: Eudezet S.C.
Total Area: 104 m2
Usable Area: 62 m2
Volume: 369 m3
Design: 2010
Construction: 2011

dsgn | data clip - nendo

______

designboom says

_______

______

‘data clip’ by nendo for elecom
image courtesy of elecom

Japanese studio nendo has designed the ‘data clip’ a USB key in the shape of a paperclip for elecom.

______

______

image courtesy of elecom

The small data storage device can clip to a stack of documents, business cards or just keep all your important files together.
The design aims to present a new relationship between daily life and digital data.

______

______

the device functions as a USB as well as a clip to hold important documents together
image courtesy of elecom

______

______

demonstration of use
photo by hiroshi iwasaki
______

______

the various colors of ‘data clips’
photo by hiroshi iwasaki
______