A sketch a day

I created an initiative for myself last Monday - 1 sketch per day. The sketch could be of a new idea, an old design, or just sketching a space/item in front of me. The first batch, [these will be done every Monday hopefully], contains a few designs I've come up with over the years (1-3, 5, 6), a chair sketch, and a space plan imagined. I spend no more than 5-10 minutes doing the actual drawing, although I may spend a bit more time than that thinking about that days drawing. At present I don't have a set list of items I intend to cover in my sketches, and I welcome any requests/suggestions as well as comments and questions on the images posted today.

Facets

I've been visually binging on facets of late. The dynamism of facets is appreciated in personalities as much as in diamonds (and yet i much prefer the former). The eye is attracted to the changing perception of shape and depth. Though the magpie syndrome of sparkly objects as attractive is hard to deny (personally), however, not all of the facets presented below are hi-gloss/reflective. Enjoy!

There's a wide variety of options from the expected and naturally occuring:

Stone & Honey Agate Necklace

[their entire collection is worth a gander]

To the surprising and synthetic

 

Ceilume Doric Drop Ceiling Tile

[shown in paintable white, also in pewter, copper, and bronze]

 There is even this 40kg beauty:


I imagine hanging crinkled ribbons of mirror mosaic tile on a wall with the waves diminishing around one spot on the wall where Hanhsi Chen + Chiyu Chen's "Shadow Clock" is mounted.




There are ways to even have facets on your feet, should you show desire

 Andreia Chaves' "Invisible Shoe" via Refinery 29

Or the Lo-Res collection by United Nude:

[Also available in black, brown, and magenta]

Well Hidden

FastCompany shows the work of Yiting Cheng - the most amazing secret stash designs I've ever seen.

Enjoy!


Secret Stash 720 HD from yiting cheng on Vimeo.

Transformations never cease

This is a lovely little piece by Darris Hamroun. Although no dimensions are shown - one can assume the seat height upon unfolding is between 15-18" and thus presume the compact version is scaled roughly as it appears: as a portly book. Next to your cookbooks could be additional seating - allowing your day-to-day breakfast nook for two - become a dining space for 4 with a lil reconfiguration and two of these.

transformations abound!



Take a seat from darris hamroun on Vimeo.
TAKE A SEAT par Darris Hamroun est née du principe que les objets doivent s’adapter aux hommes et à leur habitat. Ce tabouret pliable utilise les espaces de rangement existant déjà chez tout un chacun. Il se fond dans un intérieur en prenant la forme d’un livre et peu ainsi se ranger sur une étagère ou dans une bibliothèque. Lorsqu’on ouvre ce livre, les pages se déploient pour créer une assise. Grâce à des plaques faites de bois massif et reliées entre elle par des charnières et des bandes de tissu, TAKE A SEAT se transforme en une assise d’appoint stable et confortable. La partie supérieure s’inspire directement de la couverture d’un livre faite d’une fine épaisseur de mousse gainée par un textile.

[Be sure to check out additional work by DH, I'm partial to the flat-pack apartment that is Ep.20]

On the heels of transformation...

This video, courtesy of Core77 via MocoLoco is drool inducing:

Not what they seem

There is a certain pleasure in passing for multiple things, serving multiple functions, looks like one thing is another.... This is practical and aesthetically interesting.  Here are a few recent pieces I've come across that tickle this very bone. Enjoy!


rugwind: guerilla bench
want to sit on your stoop, but haven't got one...

arthur bodolec: jack
if a jacob's ladder dreamed itself a chair - this would be it...

UM Project’s Cork U.M.O.

coffee table, stool, side table... 

Edina Tokodigraffiti, artwork, greening...

Reinier de Jonglovely carved armoire or a variable display piece...

2020 Vision

FrogDesign has imagined our not-too-distant future and it is all manners of wireless, digital, and open-faced. As FastCompany pointed out this future is a bit HAL-ian. It seems a a rather optimistic prediction, relying not only on a 10 year mass transition in the US in terms of privacy conception [we did all just freak out when Facebook tried to improve our experience of other sites using data we had already published on fb, right?], but also technology adoption and integration (this sort of thing will only work with a decent amount of mainstreaming). I'm all for optimism, its much better than the nightmarish futures I can imagine after catching up with a weeks worth of The Daily Show (you laugh while you cry), so I'm willing to embrace this vision, in part, and commence to wonder/question/concern. I appreciate that the "app for that" mentality will broaden and manifest itself in various forms, be it the fast food tray calorie counter, "i-see-i-buy" passerby enabled consumerism, or otherwise (see below).

One of the most striking predictions is this social metric called the "Whuffie":

"Whuffie is a conceptual social Metric based on what others think of you. In the future this Metric might actually be usable as real money. Why not? Celebrities are used to getting things for free based on their popularity. This is the same idea taken to its democratic extreme. Socializing will take on completely new dimensions when we can see everything public about a person right as we are talking with them."

This makes me think of having a Flattr button floating above me (as opposed to on a side bar - see up right of this page) only instead of Euros its some manner of virtual currency (likely created by the good folks at Ohai, that Susan Wu knows her virtual goods).

Beyond the sociological implications of such present (as in presented presently) information on individuals, this sort of visual field projection has other design implications. Are you wearing glasses or contacts that produces this information? Is our tech so advanced as to have holographic displays just floating about (projected via omnipresent projector pins or other bluetooth type devices)?

Its all a lot to consider, it also reminds me of Gargoyles in Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. If I haven't told you before, I'm telling you now - read this book.

I'm off to imagine what privacy means to me now and in 10 years, I strongly suggest you do the same.

FrogDesign - 'Your Life in 2020'

all images courtesy of FrogDesign