materials

Ruckl Crystal Glassworks

Posted by _tango! on January 23, 2009
Posted in: art, brand, design, food, materials, style. Leave a Comment


Very cool! Maybe it’s the twisting screw bottom, though most likely the draft angles and measurements etched into the crystal glass. Very industrial, very “I want I want!”

“The Ruckl Crystal Glassworks in the Czech republic manufactures an extensive range of cut 24% leaded crystal in a wide variety, from the simple to the extremely complex, with gilt, hand painting and sandblasting.

Inspired by the sometime archaic-seeming world of the engineer, each piece in the the engineering collection is so named for the etched designs on all the pieces involving the dimensions and spec’s of each piece.

The engineering collection also includes three additional lines: involute gearing, basic quotation, and the splined shaft designs.”

via unicahome

Hong Kong: Food

Posted by _tango! on January 11, 2009
Posted in: food, information, inspiration, materials, me. 13 comments


Over the holiday break I spent over a week in Hong Kong visiting family and the unavoidable addictive food! Yes, Hong Kong is a city of culture, shopping, people, and high quality Asian food! I thought I’d share a bit of my break with ya’ll and figured out I’d start off with one of the best things, Food in Hong Kong! Other topics will follow of course.

I’ve always spoken about how Food is very much like designing. You have to pick out your ingredients (materials), what’s in season (material cost), cook it (assemble+manufacture), use everything (be sustainable), plate it (package), eat it (consume), brand it, get a reputation, rinse and repeat. “A week eating in Hong Kong makes ya go on a 1 year diet when you return home!”
Enjoy the collection of pictures!
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Objectfied Film Trailer

Posted by _tango! on January 9, 2009
Posted in: art, brand, design, entertainment, experience, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, me, style, tech, thoughts. Leave a Comment

Gary Hustwit, creator of the incredible documentary Helvetica, brings to us his journey in discovering the world of Industrial Designer in Objectified, premiering in March 2009.

“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?”

Some appearing in the film are Paola Antonelli (MoMa), Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Naoto Fukasawa, IDEO, Jonathan Ive (apple), Marc Newson, Karim Rashid, Smart Design, and more…

This line up already tells a tale of what to expect from the film (more of a euro flavor about objects, furniture, materials, service, space, and the simple obsession with emotional design.), but I’m sure it’ll be just as good as Helvetica, and if so, bravo! I cant wait to watch it! Watch the trailer above or here.

Sakurako Shimizu: Waveform Series

Posted by _tango! on November 30, 2008
Posted in: art, design, fun, ideas, inspiration, materials, style, tech. 1 comment

Artist Sakurako Shimizu has a great set of jewelry, the Waveform Series, based on sound. She inputs noise or spoken sound, then translates that it into a wave format which is then laser cut into metal pieces turned into necklaces, rings, brooches, etc. A ring with a wave saying “I do”…pretty cool! If only there was a way to play it back directly like the top of a vinyl record!

Reminds me a bit of NewsKnitter (turning daily news into a sweater) and VoicePrints (turning your voice into a pattern for textiles)

Scientists Papercraft Models

Posted by _tango! on November 27, 2008
Posted in: art, fun, ideas, materials, me. Leave a Comment


Cool! I’m going to make a bunch of these and plaster them around the office, then make another batch with my own face or co-workers!

“Three papercraft scientists that I’ve just made. Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan , Charles Darwin. I strongly recommend thicker paper. Adhesive tape and glue are not necessary, but a little bit of glue is good to maintain their structure.

To download their pdfs just click on their names, to see a small preview here -the preview is in portuguese but the pdfs are in english.”

via lablogatorios

IdeaPaint: A Dryboard on any Surface

Posted by _tango! on October 20, 2008
Posted in: art, design, experience, ideas, information, materials, style. 3 comments


Swwweeeeet! IdeaPaint transforms any surface into a dry erase board!!!! Just paint over it, let it dry, and marker board away! I’m wanting to paint every elevator, table, chalk board, ceiling, projection surface, column, sketch book cover, and everything else! It’s also very environmentally friendly, allowing any surface to be easily repainted. Watch a video here and get your FREE sample!!!!

If you prefer, you can ChalkBoard your space as well!

Weekend Links

Posted by _tango! on October 5, 2008
Posted in: art, design, fun, inspiration, materials, tech, wacky, weekendlinks. 1 comment


Picture: “Sometimes the Box is better!”
In the picture above, the box is better because the kid jumps into a toy, rather than playing with a toy. Big cardboard boxes somehow invite humans to draw, rip, manipulate, and imagine. Brown boxes don’t seem to have rules. We can make them what we want. As kids, we imagined and created more. As grown ups, we adapt to what things are for. In the world of creativity, remember that “perspective” is key to creativity. Just because something is made to do “this” does not mean it can’t do “that”.

– Tech: SpaceX Falcon 1 makes it to orbit! Amazing. Congrats! Videos here. (Falcon 1 is the first privately developed liquid fuel rocket to orbit the Earth)

– Politics: Obama helps total stranger pay for airport luggage back in 1988. Awesome! Obama rocks!

– Odd: Japaneses florescent bulb wrestling. I don’t get it?

– Fun: Heelys makes grownup size’s now. I saw a few adults sporting these in the past few weeks. At first I was like, these are for kids, but then realized, these can be mad fun, though they still look kinda ugly. Grab a pair, and make your boring co-workers where them Here’s a video, or some videos on the heely site.

– Sleep: The art in sleeping. When your tired, you somehow find a way to sleep no mater whee you are!

– Videos: “How and engineer folds a shirt” vs someone in “Japan folds a shirt“. Personally, I like Japan style. And yes, there are those that have the bunch it up and pack style.