Thinking for
a Living™

Flat Bulb

The Flat Bulb is a concept by Korean designers Kim Joonhuyn and Minjoo Kwon of Joon & June. Unlike an ordinary bulb, its volume is a third smaller, reducing the cost of packaging and transport. Its slim shape also allows for stacking and prevents breakage as it does not roll. Joon & June’s work was on display at 100% Design Tokyo.

The Reign in Spain

Hail to the King! Artist and designer Jaime Hayón was born in Madrid in 1974 and went on to train as an industrial designer in Madrid and Paris. In 1997, he began working as a researcher in Fabrica, Benetton Group’s communication research center in Treviso, Italy where he eventually was appointed head of the design department. Since 2006, Hayon has been the Art Director for Lladro, a prestigious porcelain manufacturing company in Valencia.

HunterGatherer

HunterGatherer is the studio and workshop of designer, animator and filmmaker Todd St. John. It was founded in New York in 2000 and works with a limited number of companies on a select range of outside projects.

In 1994, St. John co-founded the independent label Green Lady with designer Gary Benzel. Nylon Magazine described it as “to the designer T-shirt world what RunDMC is to hip-hop”. Benzel is a collaborator on various HunterGatherer projects, and also operates the Igloo store in San Diego.

This weekend, the 222gallery in Philadelphia will be presenting a selection of new works on paper and wooden sculptural work that St. John has been developing over the past 6 years.

Light Blubs

Light blubs is a series of unique crystal lamps by Pieke Bergmans with Royal Leerdam Crystal and Solid Lighting. A ‘light blub’ is a light bulb that has gone way out of line. Infected by the dreaded design virus, these blubs have taken on all kinds of forms and sizes you wouldn’t expect from such well behaving and reliable little products. Nevertheless, they seem to be enjoying their new free existences.

Light blubs were found shining across Milan during the Salone Del Mobile 2008. The lamps are all unique handcrafted crystal pieces, equipped with LEDs by Solid Lighting.

Do You Matter?

More and more companies are coming to understand the competitive advantage offered by outstanding design. With this, you can create products, services, and experiences that truly matter to your customers’ lives and thereby drive powerful, sustainable improvements in business performance. But delivering great designs is not easy. Many companies accomplish it once, or twice; few do it consistently. The secret: building a truly design-driven business, in which design is central to everything you do. Do You Matter? shows how to do precisely that. Legendary industrial designer Robert Brunner (who laid the groundwork for Apple’s brilliant design language) and Stewart Emery (Success Built to Last) begin by making an incontrovertible case for the power of design in making emotional connections, deepening relationships, and strengthening brands.

Read a review by Robert Blinn at Core 77.

Puzzling Simplicity

Ciao bella! I’m in love with these puzzles by Enzo Mari. Discovered while browsing, the graphic simplicity and clever arrangements of these pieces instantly pleased my eyes and made me smile. I wanted to share these ‘organized zoos’ immediately but thought I should have some facts to go with the visual inspiration. Tragically curious, here’s what I have learned about these puzzles that had so fully captured my attention.

Enzo Mari started his career with studies on visual perception and then focused his attention on games for children, graphics, design and architecture. He studied literature and art at the Accademia di Brera in Milan from 1952 until 1956. Entirely self-taught as an industrial designer, Enzo designed his first object for Danese called Sedici Animali.

Sedici Animali was launched in 1957 as a wooden puzzle carefully choreographed by Mari depicting an interlocking rectangle of simply carved animal shapes – including a hippo, snake, giraffe and camel. Pictured here are images of the 1974 reissues of Sedici Animali and Sedici Pesci which were created from cast resin. These amazing designs have stood the test of time and are still, in fact, available for purchase at Murray Moss (although at a collector’s price). In many ways, the pricing isn’t surprising as the puzzles have been documented as the favorite childhood design objects of designers like Yves Béhar who’s award-winning studio is responsible for the design of the well-known One Laptop per Child.

Coincidentally, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in New York is currently hosting a traveling exhibition of Enzo Mari’s work that is up until Friday, September 5th.

Objectified

Objectified is a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the people who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. It’s about our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them.

Through vérité footage and in-depth conversations, the film documents the creative processes of some of the world’s most influential designers, and looks at how the things they make impact our lives. What can we learn about who we are, and who we want to be, from the objects with which we surround ourselves?

Read director Gary Hustwit’s post about the film.

Objectified is currently in production and will have its world premiere in early 2009.

Featuring:
Paola Antonelli (Museum of Modern Art, New York)
Chris Bangle (BMW Group, Munich)
Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec (Paris)
Andrew Blauvelt (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis)
Anthony Dunne (London)
Naoto Fukasawa (Tokyo)
IDEO (Palo Alto)
Jonathan Ive (Apple, California)
Hella Jongerius (Rotterdam)
Marc Newson (London/Paris)
Fiona Raby (London)
Dieter Rams (Kronberg, Germany)
Karim Rashid (New York)
Alice Rawsthorn (International Herald Tribune)
Rob Walker (New York Times Magazine)