Washable keyboards, water wigs and dynamite cupcakes all feature in this week’s roundup from NOTCOT.org. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.
Been smitten by these MetroDeck upcycled NYC MTA Subway cards into playing cards ever since seeing them on Collacubed. They are so beautiful and detailed! They are hand silk screened with enamel ink - “Printed on found and repurposed New York City subway fare cards, Metro Deck attempts to visually capture the common thread between commuters, public transportation, and chance. Every card has been gathered at random, after having been purchased, used, and discarded by either a visitor or resident of New York City. Some have been signed or otherwise marked, making each card unique with its own narrative potential. Appropriating the language of playing cards, the work asks us to consider our intimate connection with the subway and the city. The face cards are inspired by landmarks across the five Boroughs, referencing the tremendous reach of the subway system.” I love the Ace of Spades man hole cover… and the city inspired details of the face cards so lovely! WOW - “Designing, collecting, and printing the cards has been my official after-hours pastime for almost two years. Each face card needed four colors to print—approximately 8 hours work.” Additionally, “The deck comes packaged in a custom 2-color, die-cut and letterpressed tuck box printed by Mama’s Sauce Print shop.” WOW - “A total 2,268 cards were printed, wih over 4,000 pulls.” That’s 43 decks?
Each deck will run you 750$, but you can also order just the 4 kings, etc.. It’s too bad that “Given the nature of the materials, these cards are not intended for play.” See the making of and full set of beautiful cards on the next page!
Current desk/fidget toy obsession - interlocked 3D printed CUBES! Particularly the dodecahedron one… they are mesmerizing, and just fragile enough they make you feel overly careful with them… yet its so tempting to try to bust your way into the structure just to prove there are more of the same shape within…
Anyhow, late one night i was wandering through all of shapeways and couldn’t resist impulse buying the Dod’net by Magic and the mini Interlocked Cubes Demo… it seemed like a good excuse to get a feel for their polished alumide! Also, it was a fun way to get a peek at their packaging ~ you certainly get a BIG fragile air bubble packed box for the two little pieces which are ziplocked inside… See the unboxing and details on the next page!
Every now and then an example comes through that’s a bit heartbreaking, and then you wish that someone would teach a mandatory legal course in design school. Yesterday, Fab.com led me to their sale of Torr Pens, which initially simply looked like a strange rip off of the insanely successful Pen Type-A Kickstarter project. Simple enough, things get ripped off - but usually the design rip offs don’t end up circulating in areas that claim to focus on authenticity and great design.
But where this got even crazier is that Torr Pens’ website and the fab page had pictures and a James Bond parody video of the same guy who organized the manufacturing of and spent late nights washing, smelling, drying, and reassembling the Pen Type-A’s with the kickstarter designers CW&T. They even say in their update that he hugged them when he saw them last. It’s a painful story, but we can only hope hearing all that CW&T has gone through from the manufacturing issues to this new level of complication they’ve run into while still trying to fulfill their immense pen orders a year later can help educate other designers going into similar processes! Take a peek on the next page about how things unfolded yesterday…
p.s. UPDATES added here.
Realitat’s Microsonic Landscapes are “an algorithmic exploration of the music we love. Each album’s soundwave proposes a new spatial and unique journey by transforming sound into matter/space: the hidden into something visible.” According to Creative Applications it is created with Processing and printed with Makerbot. Each object represents an album, but it’s unclear to me how tracks are represented… perhaps each ring? or does it all just spiral flow together to the center? or outwards? Also curious, what are the axes representing? Anyhow, it’s a pretty visualization of the albums, somehow… take a peek at more details on the next page.
This week’s roundup from NOTCOT.org features the world’s deepest swimming pool, an animated history of LEGO, and a camera it can capture light travel. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.
It’s amazing what you can do with scaffolding! Ben Long creates amazing animal inspired Scaffolding Sculptures! They are “Inspired by his experiences working on building sites as a teenager, the project asserts the value of a disciplined working practice, the hard graft of manual employment and celebrates the role the construction industry plays in the advancement of urban development.” Take a peek at some of our favorites, including pieces from his Great Travelling Art Exhibition on the next page!
While back in San Diego this weekend, we couldn’t help but wander around my alma mater, UCSD… and of course, we had go down the snake path and see the new house perched upon the top corner of the engineering school! Fallen Star by Do Ho Suh is the latest addition to the Stuart Collection of pieces around campus, and it is an amazing one! With this fully built and furnished little house lifted up to the rooftop by a crane, it even has a flower and vegetable garden with a little path leading up to it next to the dean’s office. While it wasn’t open for visiting when we went by, it was amazing to watch the making of construction time lapses and videos in the lobby, and faces pressed against the window to see the garden and house. Even more amazing, we watched this hummingbird just sitting so close to us, perfectly still on the cable of the garden for some time as the sprinklers went off on the roof… take a peek at the pics on the next page!
p.s. We were just running around, so the pics are all from the HTC One S i’m just starting to try out!
This week’s roundup from NOTCOT.org includes underwater aircrafts, water light graffiti and robotic Olympic cameras. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.
It’s been a few years since i’ve been to a Miss Van show ~ you can see pictures from some of her 2006-2007 shows in the NOTCOT archives… tonight, i popped by Miss Van’s solo show“Wild At Heart” at Copro Gallery. A playful series of work filled with masks and her signature ladies with a focus on the eyes… The press release says Choosing to focus on details while isolating different body parts, such as eyes and mouth, Miss Van adds, “The masks allow me to show more feelings, other sides of a same character, hiding the face, partly or totally and embracing the animal strength, personality and attitude. I am illustrating the chemistry between the feminine delicacy and the bestial instinct, natural and raw and we all have this duality inside.” This show is sponsored by fashion brand, Citizens of Humanity, which is branching into the arts. Show visitors received Citizens of Humanity t-shirt collaboration with Miss Van (only in girls sizes!) with a print of one of the eyes from the show on them, and she will also be featured in the premiere issue of a new collectible print publication by Citizens of Humanity launching this August.
Take a peek at the show and the t-shirt on the next page!
Flying penguins, media camouflage and the dynamics of sport all feature in this week’s roundup from NOTCOT.org. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.
Pencil-tip elephants, a Louis Vuitton waffle maker and Victorian optical toys are all part of this week’s roundup from NOTCOT.org. To find out more about each post, click on its individual image.
The latest from London-based editor, Justine Aw.
Last night we had an incredible evening at the Tate Modern, exploring the surrealism galleries in the dark, experiencing the art of the Tate in an entirely new light (literally!). It was the first of a season of Tate Blackouts during which the gallery will dim the lights and invite visitors to explore and experience the surrealism galleries by the illumination of their own Little Sun.
The Little Sun is designed by Olafur Eliasson (who was also behind the Tate’s Weather Project) in collaboration with engineer Frederik Ottesen. The Little Sun can provide light to the 1.6 billion people worldwide who have no access to mains electricity. Safer and cleaner than kerosene lamps, the Little Sun is solar powered, turning 5 hours of natural light into 5 hours of Little Sun light, and with a 3 year battery life.
I loved the idea of bringing the Little Sun inside an art museum, and the fact that the object is simultaneously a resource for developing nations and itself an art object used to illuminate and experience modern art in a city like London! Playing with Little Suns inside a blacked out Tate Modern, meant beautiful light graffiti! More photos of the Tate’s surrealism galleries experienced by the light of the Little Sun on the next page!
I’ve done some weird unboxings/uncratings ~ but this is the first time i’ve done an exhuming! Arriving while we were in Istanbul, this giant crate in bubble wrap in foam in cardboard box was waiting when i got home. Much like our Coraline box, this one also comes from animation studio, Laika… for their upcoming film, ParaNorman, a tale of weirdness, zombies, and more! Ready to take a peek at our exhumed posable little buddy and the movie props found in the crate? To the next page!
The latest from London-based editor, Justine Aw.
This morning, we got a sneak peek at ‘Designed to Win’, the new exhibition that opens to the public tomorrow at London’s Design Museum. The exhibition celebrates design in sport, created in association with Oakley focusing on the the relationship between design and performance and function, looking at how new materials, fashions and technologies have transformed sporting equipment. The exhibition wasn’t quite finished yet and you can see the finishing touches going up in our photos, but it should all be up and running for the big launch tomorrow! More photos on the next page.
