Milan designweek 2010 feeling recession.
artist, fueledbycoffee
bottles or no bottles, marcel wander’s sparkling chair a hoot.
The art of chess.
milan 2010: chess and art getting together.
above: Barbara Kruger, Untitled, 2006
above: Rachel Whiteread, 2005
above: Jack & Dinos Chapman
above: Yayoi Kusama, Punkin Set, 2003
above: Damien Hirst, Mental Escapology, 2003
above: Alastair Mackie, Amorphous Organic, 2008
above: Tracey Emin, 2008
above: Tom Friedman, Untitled, 2005
On occasion of Milan Design Week 2010 and the 49th International Furniture Fair of Milan, ProjectB is proud to present for the first time in Italy The Art of Chess, in partnership with RS&A London, which invited some of the world’s leading contemporary artists to produce the chess sets, previously exhibited in 2009 at the Reykjavik Art Museum.
It was the interest shown by the avant garde in chess that led to the development of artistic chess sets in the first half of the twentieth century. Many were the artists who were also chess enthusiasts – from Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray to Max Ernst, Alexander Calder, André Breton, Isamu Noguchi and Raymond Roussel – and it was back in 1944 that they first joined together to celebrate the game in New York, with the exhibition The Imagery of Chess at the Julien Levy Gallery.
The exhibition in Milan will be featuring seven life-size chess sets designed by the artists Tracey Emin, Tom Friedman, Damien Hirst, Barbara Kruger, Yayoi Kusama, Alastair Mackie, and Rachel Whiteread.
5 ways to ease reactionary workflow.
keeping it simple… your zen fix of the day.
photo courtesy of zen habits
Every few minutes, more communications are being sent your way. Emails, text messages, voice mails, instant messages, twitter messages, facebook posts…and the list goes on.
Your human response? You simply try to stay afloat. You peck away at the latest communications at the top of your many inboxes. And since the flow of communication never ends, you slip into a life of what I have come to call “reactionary workflow.”
For those of us with great ideas and bold goals for the future, reactionary workflow is a big problem. If we spend our working hours reacting to the incoming barrage of communication, we will fail to be proactive with our energy. Our long-term aspirations suffer as a result.
For the past five years, i’ve been interviewing uber-productive leaders and teams – people at companies like Google, IDEO, and Disney, and individuals like author Chris Anderson and Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. I’ve never asked them how they come up with ideas. I’m not interested. My fascination is how they make their ideas happen, time and time again. The outcome of this long project is MAKING IDEAS HAPPEN, being published this month.
Many of the people I met have developed ways to combat reactionary workflow. Here are a few tips on how they do it:
Create windows of non-stimulation.
Once you open the door to communications overload, you could spend all day reacting to what’s thrown at you. Piers Fawkes, founder and editor of the marketing consultancy PSFK, reserves a good chunk of his morning – from 7-10am every day – to do research and digest the day’s trends and news prior to going through his email. Proactively blocking out time for creating and absorbing – rather than just responding – is a key tactic of productive creatives.
Keep two lists.
When it comes to organizing the day’s tasks – and how your energy will be allocated – create two lists: one for urgent items and another for important ones. Long-term goals and priorities deserve a list of their own and should not compete against the urgent items that can easily consume your day. Once you have two lists, you can preserve distinctly different periods of time for focus on each.
Schedule intense periods of processing at a consistent time every day.
During the research for the book, I met a number of people that swore on the benefit of “power hours.” These individuals would try to compress all response-related work into pre-determined short periods of time every day, usually 1-2 hours of un-interrupted in-box clearing. The notion of compartmentalizing reactionary workflow was a theme across the most productive leaders I met.
Don’t hoard urgent items.
Even when you delegate operational responsibilities to someone else, you may still find yourself hoarding urgent items as they arise. When you care so deeply about a project, you likely prefer to resolve things yourself. Say an e-mail arrives from a client with a routine problem. Even though the responsibility may lie with someone else on your team, you might think, “Oh, this is really a quick fix; I’ll just take care of it.” And gradually your energy will start to shift away from long-term pursuits. Hoarding urgent items is one of the most damaging tendencies I’ve noticed in creative professionals that have encountered early success. When you are in the position to do so, challenge yourself to delegate urgent items to others.
Don’t dwell.
When urgent matters arise, they tend to evoke anxiety. We dwell on the potential negative outcomes of all the challenges before us—even after action is taken. Worrying wastes time and distracts us from returning to the important stuff. When it comes to addressing urgent items, break them down into Action Steps and challenge yourself to reallocate your energy as soon as the Action Steps are completed. It is also helpful to consider whether or not certain concerns are within or beyond your influence. Often your worries are for the unknown and there is nothing more you can do to influence the outcome. Once you have taken action to resolve a problem, recognize that the outcome is no longer under your influence.
How do you avoid a life of reactionary workflow? You need discipline and a dose of confidence. Recognize your tendency to surf the stream of incomings, and gain confidence in the potential of being proactive. It is easy to sit there and react all day. You’ll never run out of work to do. But your bold ideas will suffer unless you take your energy by the reigns.
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Scott Belsky of Behance and The 99%. Scott Belsky studies exceptionally productive people and teams in the creative world. He is the founder/CEO of Behance and is the author of Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming The Obstacles Between Vision & Reality (Portfolio, April 2010).
[ via zen habits ]
More:
keep it minimal…simple.
the ultimate minimalist. ghandi.
how to simplify your life with four rules.
When infographics go bad.
infographics 101.
a great community of smart and thoughtful readers pointed out some errors.
via TreeHugger
Mariana trench. How deep infographic.
mariana trench infographic artist unknown
The ultimate minimalist. Ghandi.
Here’s another article from a Zen blog that’s more about a minimal lifestyle than aesthetics.
As a designer who loves minimal aesthetics, the process of pealing away to the bare essentials is always an interesting read. Let’s read more about the ultimate minimalist, Ghandi
1. Accumulate little
Gandhi believed in possessing little except the clothes he wore and some utensils for cooking and eating. He used to give away or auction any gift that was ever given to him.
It may not be possible these days for us to get down to less than ten possessions like Gandhi did, but start cutting down to bare basics. Recycle, give things away, or auction your unwanted possessions.
We tend to spend a lot of time and energy looking after our possessions. By having fewer things to possess and look after, your life naturally becomes simpler.
2. Eat simple food
Gandhi never had a problem with being overweight. He followed a strict vegetarian diet and frequently cooked his own simple food, which was locally produced.
He ate this simple food from a small bowl, a reminder to eat moderately, and at the same time he ate mindfully, often accompanied by prayers. So eat simply and moderately.
3. Dress simply.
Gandhi wore simple clothes that conveyed his message.
There is this anecdotal story of the time when Gandhi met the King of Great Britain in London and he wore his simple wrap around cloth. A journalist asked Gandhi, “Mr Gandhi, did you feel under-dressed when you met the King?” Gandhi replied, “The King was wearing enough clothes for both of us!”
Though it may not be practical to weave your own cloth and make your own clothes, you can simplify your life by dressing for comfort, not to impress. A simple hairstyle can shorten your grooming routine. You could even go as far as Gandhi and Leo Babauta and shave your hair off.
4. Lead a simple, stress-free life
Gandhi never got stressed. He meditated daily and spent hours in reflection and prayer.
Though he was a world leader and idolized by millions, he continued to lead a simple life with few distractions and commitments. He would even interrupt his political meetings to go off and play with children.
And despite all his needs being taken care off, Gandhi still insisted on doing his own simple things. He advocated self-sufficiency and simple work. So don’t take life too seriously — remember to take time out to play.
5. Let your life be your message
Though he was a prolific writer and powerful speaker, in private Gandhi spoke very quietly and only when necessary. He was also very punchy and concise in his writing. He preferred to let his life do the talking for him.
By living a simple life, Gandhi was able to devote his life to his chosen higher purpose. He was totally focussed on his commitment to his people and the world. Even if you don’t wish to be another Gandhi, your life will be much simpler and happier by following his life lessons.
“If one has wealth, it does not mean that it should be thrown away and wife and children should be turned out of doors. It simply means that one must give up attachment of these things!” ~Gandhi
note: the author of this article makes a point to “take up the 100 thing challenge and see if you can get down to owning less than 100 or even less than 50 things.” on his list was a “minimalistic desk”.
above: one less desk by heckler design
from zen habits | keep in minimal…simple
World's greenest skyscraper. Progress check.
The Pearl River Tower, a 71-story skyscraper in Guangzhou, China, that will open this fall has just finished construction on its top floor.
The world’s greenest credentials for now anyway: according to the architects, Chicago-based SOM and the building’s owner, China National Tobacco, the building is 58% more energy efficient ( making it the world’s most efficient ) than conventional skyscrapers.
This type of building is called a ZEB, or zero-energy building. ZEBs use solar, wind, and geothermal systems to produce at least as much energy as they tap from the grid. In some cases, a building’s owner can sell excess electricity generated by the structure back to its utility, reducing overall demand for power generated by coal and other greenhouse-gas-emitting plants.
And tall buildings are full of energy-design challenges as they use most of their energy trying to keep their inhabitants cool. Even in the winter towers run their AC systems most days of the year to counteract the heat from lighting, computers, and workers.
The building does this…
It has perforated metal window blinds (image No. 2 below) that automatically track the sun and open and close to minimize solar heat.
It uses its helical turbines (image No. 3 below), which are inside four openings on the skyscraper’s face, to generate power in relatively mild winds from multiple directions. The turbines, tested in winds as high as 140 mph, will generate up to 4% of the building’s power.
Its exterior walls hide an eight-inch air gap inside them (image No. 4 below). When the sun beats through the double-glazed outer skin, the heat–instead of entering the interior–is trapped in this cavity and rises to heat exchangers on the equipment floors.
For this effort the building will use an AC system that is 80% smaller than those in conventional skyscrapers.
above: free energy from wind turbines in face of building.
above: passive wind and solar energy design.
above: integrated photovoltaic panels – solar panels.
Designer: som chicago
Resources:
money.cnn
inhabitat
world changing
Win a public bike contest.
cool bike contest. deadline: 4/15/2010. cool bikes.
a blurb about public bikes… “We’ve been watching the increase in bike usage in cities around the world for about ten years. It’s been fun. Copenhagen has challenged Amsterdam as the center of biking fashion. Paris launched its Vélib program and now thousands of Parisians get around on city-owned bikes. Berlin, Barcelona, Seville, and numerous other cities throughout Europe followed. New York has put in bike lanes along 9th Avenue and bike racks all over the city. Portland has become the commuter bike capital of North America.”
“We’re joining the movement this spring with a small collection of modern bikes and gear. We will be launching this collection in April. Our bikes have been designed around the style and principles of the classic city bikes of Europe, updated with new technology and modern materials, and adapted to the U.S. market. We have two classic European frame styles, both unisex, both made from strong lightweight steel. We designed them for all sizes and ages and made them especially female-friendly. We will have four colors and three gear configurations all using internal hubs. We think our bikes are pretty, but you can be the judge. Prices will range from about $650 to $1200.”
Producer: public bikes
31 why man creates films.
hate advertising? make better ads. [art & copy director david pray]
make yourself comfortable on an eames sofa compact and watch these “why man creates” films.
Art & Copy
Debuting on the official Sundance Film Festival 2009 selection, Art & Copy is about advertising and inspiration, revealing the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time. Documentary audiences will remember Doug Pray from his award-winning stable of films including Hype!, Scratch and Surfwise. (89 minutes)
Objectified
Directed by Gary Hustwit, Objectified is a feature-length documentary about our complex relationship with manufactured objects and, by extension, the people who design them. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. (75 minutes)
Helvetica
Directed by Gary Hustwit, Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which celebrated its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. (80 minutes)
Why Man Creates
Directed by Saul Bass, this classic 1968 animated documentary film is a series of explorations, episodes and comments on creativity by a master of conceptual design. Humor, satire and irony are combined with serious questions about the creative process and how it comes into play for different individuals. (29 minutes)
Ahmedabad
Directed by Parthiv Shah, this exploration of the Indian city examines the architecture, people who live in it, social and cultural aspects and contemporary situation. Ahmedabad is renowned for its international architecture by the likes of Louis Kahn, Le Corbusier, Bernard Kohn, Charles Correa and BV Doshi. (28 minutes)
Charles & Ray Eames films
Design Q&A
This 1972 interview with Ray and Charles Eames is one of the most concise, witty statements about design ever put on film. (5 minutes)
Lounge Chair
A short film made in 1956 showing the assembly of the iconic Lounge Chair at speed. (2 minutes)
Sofa Compact
Made in 1954, this film charmingly traces the design and development of the fold-up Sofa Compact. (10 minutes) article author’s note: we have two sofa compacts and they do not fold up.
Aquarium
Made in 1967, this film is about designing a national aquarium. (10 minutes)
Toccatta for Toy Trains
Made in 1957, vintage toy trains make a joyful journey through a treasury of toy people, props and scenery. (13 minutes)
A Communications Primer
Made in 1953 for IBM, this instructional film shows that films can be approached as a design exercise. (23 minutes)
IBM Math Peep Shows
Made in 1961 for the Mathematica exhibition, these five films are each a succinct and poignant presentation of a single mathematical concept, mostly through animation with voice-over narration. (10 minutes)
House: After Five Years of Living
The Eames House was built using only standard materials available through catalogues. Made in 1955, this film is a personal slide tour of the building. (10 minutes)
Textiles and Ornamental Arts of India
Made in 1955, this is a film record of an exhibition, designed and installed by Alexander Girard from material selected by Girard and Edgar Kaufman. (12 minutes)
Goods
Made in 1971, this film discusses “the new covetables” and looks at one of the Eames’ legendary three-screen slide shows. (6 minutes)
Eames Demetrios films
77 Steps
The process of making the classic aluminum Navy Chair by Emeco. Sheets of aluminum become a single piece of light, comfortable metal. (3 minutes)
Citizen Starck
A brief vignette gives us insight into Philippe Starck’s design approach and process. (3 minutes)
901: After 45 Years of Working
This short film is a powerful record of Ray and Charles Eames’s famed design space at 901 Washington Blvd in Venice, California. (28 minutes)
Lucy’s House
About Samuel Mockbee’s Rural Studio project, students design and build extraordinary homes and structures for the rural poor. They learn by doing and give their clients landmarks of contemporary architecture. (16 minutes)
Ping Pong
About Frank Gehry designing a chair, this film is a beautiful of expression of the iterative process of design. The remarkable architect shows us how prototype after prototype leads to a deeper understanding of materials. (15 minutes)
A Gathering of Elephants
An animated celebration of the molded plywood elephants that Charles and Ray Eames designed for their daughter, Lucia. (6 minutes)
670/671
Few chairs are as iconic as Charles and Ray Eames’s Lounge Chair. Learn about the ideas behind the classic – such as the Eames philosophy of the guest-host relationship. (8 minutes)
Eames Aluminum Group
The Eames Aluminum Group is an icon of contemporary design and expresses the elegant Eames philosophy of Way-It-Should-Be-Ness, a belief both radical and humble. (9 minutes)
South African films
Pioneering film documentation of South African creative industries, the Headwrap series by Plexus films challenged local creatives from different cultural backgrounds and creative genres to collaborate. “Headwrap is doing more than merely showcasing local talent; it’s exploiting an artistic platform to indirectly tackle SA’s social schisms — gulfs that transcend gender, race and class,” wrote Business Day.
Animation & Sculpture – Jeremy Puren and Rebecca Matibe
Directed by Dylan Valley. Specialising in multi-media stop frame animation, Jeremy Puren travels to Limpopo to meet and collaborate with traditional ceramicist Rebecca Matibe.
Spoken Word & Performance – Malika Ndlovu and Peter van Heerden
Directed by Llewelyn Roderick. Malika Ndlovu, feminist spoken word poet and musician, is rarely stumped for words. This is until she first views controversial performance artist Peter van Heerden’s hard-hitting piece about abuse against women and children. The two find a middle ground through collaboration.
Fashion Across the Generation Gap – Sista Bucks and Athi Patra Ruga
Directed by Miki Redelinghuys. Athi Patra Ruga is an up-and-coming young fashion designer who collaborates with Sister Bucks (or Meisie Mosemane), a regal designer, firmly rooted in Africa.
Ceramix – Andile Dyalvane and Hilton Nel
Directed by Lauren Groeneweld. Ceramicist Hylton Nel treats his plates and bowls as three-dimensional canvases. He collaborates with contemporary young ceramicist Andile Dyalvane who draws inspiration from his Xhosa heritage.
Dance & Kinetic Sculpture – Mduduzi Nyembe and Justin Fiske
Directed by Llewelyn Roderick. Mduduzi Nyembe is a new breed of dancer who feels a calling to use the expressive and non-verbal power of movement. He collaborates with Justin Fiske, a kinetic sculptor who creates works using stones and pebbles suspended on string.
Conceptual Art & Music – Blk Jks and Lerato Shadi
Directed by Dylan Valley. The Blk Jks rock – that’s not up for debate. Lerato Shadi is a multi-media performance artist. Both have questions about each other’s work, but find something to share.
Sound Artist & Dance – James Webb and Dawn Langdown
Directed by Benitha Vlok. Choreographer Dawn Langdown embodies the spirit of Namaqualand. She is tough, spirited and enigmatic. A pioneer of sound-inspired art, James Webb’s installations move into a realm of art that has meaning beyond the obvious. See what happens when James leaves the urban high-tech comforts of Cape Town and has to work with the raw reality of the forgotten dancers of Okiep.
Graffiti & Advertising – Falko and Vega Brand School
Directed by Lauren Groeneweld. Falko is one of Cape Town’s most respected and experienced graffiti artists, who works both nationally and internationally. He collaborates with a team of up-and-coming bright sparks from the Vega Brand School in Cape Town to re-brand the stereotypical views of the Cape Flats.
Max experience on toilet.
a max coffee experience on the pottie.
when you feel the need on the slopes in japan this is what you have to look forward to.
[creamglobal] and much more via creative potties.