Funky Dishwashing Gloves

As I need to wash a lot of Chloe's stuff these days, I decided to get a pair of dishwashing gloves to protect my hands. A little bit internet search led me into the world of funky dishwashing gloves. My favorites are the Lushlife sponge gloves (upper image) - so adorable and practical! The Couture series (lower image) are fine too, stylish with a retro and feminine look. Guess I'll get a pair of Lushlife to make everyday washing a fun experience!

No More Plastic Water Bottles on Penn State Campus?

I learned about this encouraging news today. I would have joined the protest if I were still in school! -

Members of the newly formed Penn State Environment, Ecology and Education in the College of Education (3E-COE) group and other environmental activists gathered to protest the sale and use of plastic water bottles at Penn State. The activists also delivered a letter to Penn State President Graham Spanier's office asking him to ban the sale of disposable water bottles on campus.

"Eliminating water bottles on campus isn't without precedent," said Alexandra D'Urso, co-founding member of 3E-COE, citing Washington University in St. Louis as a university that prohibits the sale of plastic water bottles on campus. "We're not asking people to make huge cultural changes."

The letter to Spanier spelled out the environmental and health concerns 3E-COE says are associated with the use of plastic water bottles and gave examples of their negative effects, particularly the amount of discarded plastic polluting the oceans.
(full report)

Instead of creating mountains of landfill out of plastic bottles, why can't we carry water in an eco-friendly and artful bottle such as SIGG's product? A simple change in our daily habits can make a huge difference on our planet!

Greener Xmas Tree

What a great idea to make a Xmas tree out of recycled cardboards! The tree was designed and developed by Cloud Gate Design LLC, a Chicago based design house. Cloud Gate Design was founded in 2006 by two designer friends, Nick Ng and Dan Greene, as a way to bring environmentally conscious alternatives to market.

In addition to taking the pressure off existing tree farms, a portion of the profits from the Cardboard Christmas Tree sales are donated to the Arbor Day Foundation’s Trees for America Program. For every one dollar donated to the program, one tree will be planted in a damaged forest.

source: Inhabitat

Shopping Cart Chair

When I looked at the shopping carts at a supermarket last night, I suddenly noticed the proportion of the shopping cart resembles that of a chair. Why not design a shopping cart chair or convert a shopping cart into a chair? Would that be fun?

Later I did an internet search and found someone already had this idea. The following are ANNIE shopping cart chairs by UK designer Max McMurdo. He turned old unwanted shopping carts into beautiful and functional chairs. I wonder if they offer the option with wheels, 'cause some people may want an exhilarating ride:)

Eames Stamps!

My husband bought me the last 2 sheets of the newly released Eames Stamps from a downtown post office. These stamps are gorgeous!! If you wanna collect them, hurry up 'cause only some post offices carry them.

Nature & Design - Jellyfish

Nature has always been a powerful source for design inspiration. Jellyfish is one miraculous design by mother nature: it is attractive for its exotic beauty, at the same time it's repulsive due to its poison. My favorite jellyfish images come from BBC's classic Blue Planet (above).

The unique form, color and texture of jellyfish has inspired so many designs, including product, architecture and art.

Jellyfish light fixtures

Jellyfish Sonic water speakers by Kota Nezu

Jellyfish House by IwamotoScott Architecture

Ceramic Jellyfish by artists Alissa Coe and Carly Waito

Recycled Magazine Mirror

Like the idea! There's a lot we can do with recycled material. You can buy the mirror from UrbanOutfitters.

source: BetterLivingThroughDesign

MUJI and CB2 Opened in SoHO NYC

The famous Japanese home design store MUJI just opened its first USA store at SoHO NYC. MUJI is everywhere in Tokyo. With its minimalist modern style, it products range from clothing, furniture, homewares to food. I really love the simplicity of its design, but most stuff are beyond my price range. IKEA is much more affordable. My favorite Chicago-based contemporary furniture and home accessories store CB2 also opened a store at SoHO. Should check them out next time I go to NYC.

Camper's Wabi

I learned about Camper's environmental shoe Wabi from the latest Metropolis magazine. Wabi means "to ask for forgiveness" in Japanese, which reflects Camper's motto: healthy for the feet and clean for the planet. Besides its environmental-friendly components (made of a recycle rubber ousole, a biodegradable insole made of coconut fiber and wool, and tow liners), Wabi also respects the natural shape of human feet which offers more comfort and pleasure in taking a walk. Finally the both organic and sleek look of the shoe just makes it irresistable - I want to get a pair of Wabi and go for a walk now!

more info from Motropolis: http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2984

Tom Dixon on Sustainable Design

Not being a conscious green designer, Tom Dixon brought a few new perspectives on sustainable design esp. the second cycle idea.
Source: Inhabitat

Tord Boontje at ICFF

Saw this interview with today's hot designer Tord Boontje at ICFF. To me, his works are both natural and technical, both pure and sophisticated, both decorative and minimalist - just LOVE it!

Source: MoCoLoCo

Headstand Stool

Saw this fun design by qed at MoCo Loco. Here is a movie showing how this stool works. So you can play chess with your body :)

Love PRIUS!

I'm saving money to get a Toyota Prius, the best hybrid car in my mind. I've seen more and more on the road, on my firm's parking lot recently. After test driving it and comparing with Honda Civic hybrid, I knew for sure that's The One. Needless to say its attractive exterior look, it's fun to drive! Instead of using a key, you push a button to start your car. The front screen shows an animated diagram of the realtime energy flow inside the car. It is the first car I've seen with all touch-screen display. If you install Coastal Tech iPod interface, you can fully control your iPod on your touch-screen. When you back up your car, the camera shows the back view on the screen. 2007 Prius has an estimated 60 mpg in city driving and 51 mpg on highway. It is a really smart and GREEN car!

A common misconception on hybrid car is the safety concern due to its lighter weight. However, you can not compare a Toyota Prius to a Ford Crown Victoria. You can only compare a hybrid car to a non-hybrid of the same model. The safety tests show that hybrid models are at least as safe as non-hybrid models, if not more safer. SUV, on the opposite, has a notorious rollover rate as well as mpg.

Bottles of Poem

These beautiful sandblasted glass bottles are created by Jeff Crandall, a poet as well as a glass artist. Each bottle has a theme indicating its content, followed by a short witty poem. My favorite ones are -

DREAMS (Cobalt blue bottle) -
DRINK DEEPLY AND BELIEVE

PASSION (Clear-aquamarine bottle) -
CONTAINS DARING TOUCHES, ACHING DESIRES, RISING HEAT, SOFT SIGHS AND LOW GROWLS

TIME (Clear-aquamarine bottle) -
CONTAINS EXTRA SECONDS, MINUTES, AND HOURS. CAUTION: USE WISELY, EVAPORATES QUICKLY

TRUST (Clear-aquamarine bottle) -
FRAGILE: DO NOT BREAK

TRUTH (Clear-aquamarine bottle) -
CAUTION: DO NOT DILUTE

YOUTH (Clear-aquamarine bottle) -
CONTAINS BOUNDLESS ENERGY, WILD IDEAS, BEAUTY, INNOCENCE & JUST A HINT OF IMMORTALITY

Bottles to me are magic containers. They offers an imaginary space to collect laughters and tears, to store a certain smell that belongs to a certain time, to hold a unique taste driven by desire.

Djinn Chairs

Flipping thru. the book 100 Charis, I saw the stunning Djinn chairs by Olivier Mourgue again. When I first saw them in Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, I was so impressed with the futuristic and stylish design. The name "DJinn" (the pronunciation is similar to Degine ^_^) was derived from a spirit in Islamic mythology that can assume human or animal form and control men with itssupernatural powers, which smartly matches the concept of the film.

Green Jewelry Design

Can you believe this beautiful modern jewelry collection is made from used bicycle reflectors?! Canadian designer Amrita Takhar is leading a green jewelry design. It reminds me of Chris Luebkeman (the speaker at Imperative 2010)'s remarks that nothing is waste - if waste is properly dealt with, it is resource.

source

Fish-Friendly Design Needed

I got Chia'sso new catalog in mail today. It is my favorite modern furnishing store in Chicago. They have some cool designs for 2007, but seeing this wall deco (what they call 'mod pod') does bother me: It definitely looks modern and cute, but look at that little fish - being alone inside the small container on display? The size and shape of the vase also makes it hard to change water. Hopefully people won't really use it as a fish tank.

It reminds me of a fancy Chinese restaurant in Dublin OH called Jasons Restaurant & Bar. I know the architect and saw some pics of the interior. I have to say I love the design a lot. One innovation is a custom aquarium wall which is composed of a series of small glass fish tanks hanging from the ceiling. Of course only one fish in each tank, and the size of the tank varies to make a nice visual composition. While I just felt miserable for the fish since they could not swim in one big tank talking to each other. Maybe I'm just too sympathetic towards animals :)

Cradle To Cradle

Today's sustainable design discovery is the recycled carpet by Shaw Contact Group. Their square-shaped brochure is very well designed, telling you their story of sustainability through metaphorical narrative, simple facts, vibrant colors, smart and thoughtful images. The brochure itself is made of 100% recycled paper, with ink made of soy which makes paper easier to recycle. They call it cradle to cradle design: an analogy drawn from an oak tree that uses what it drops to make itself bigger, stronger and in abundance each year.

What they do is simply collecting the recycled carpet to make new carpet. Their cushioned carpet tile backing is made with 88% plastic soda bottles. It is 4 times stronger than traditional cushion backing. The truth is: In US alone, consumers empty 6.8 million plastic beverage bottles each hour. The backing is also lighter, which means fewer truckloads, which means less diesel used, which means less CO2 released into atmosphere! It makes you realize: the way we design, make and use things right now has a measurable effect on everything, an even greater effect on the future.

Besides all the sustainable ideas, Shaw's carpets are just gorgeous!

FLIX - SUV Movie Theatre

Suzuki just unveiled its movie-threatre-themed concept SUV called Flix. As it is described: Flix is outfitted with an unprecedented in-vehicle movie system. After parking at the optimal film-viewing destination, Flix's clamshell roof can be opened, revealing a maximum-size moonroof that serves as a 40-inch movie screen. Additionally, the XL7 concept's front roof panel vents, giving way to a high-density digital projection system to display a family's movie of choice. For those who prefer the traditional drive-in movie experience, Flix's projection system can be positioned to display movies nearly anywhere – the side of a building, a billboard or almost any wall. (more info)

This great concept offers people the highest mobility and flexibility to experience a movie. Reminds me of the film Cinema Paradiso where Alfredo projects the movie onto an building facade for everyone in the square to see. It would be cool if those seats can be elevated above the car, so that people also have the choice of watching a movie totally inside a spectacular natural environment such as a mountain top.

Inspiration from BATHROOM

Saw this interesting design at MoCoLoco -

David Olschewski's Bathroom, "A seating group evinces a puzzling character that invites the viewer to experience it sensually and reflect on its origins. The forms are based on a Plexiglas bathtub and shower tray ensemble. The bathtub has been divided into three objects, with nothing lost in the process. All four pieces are set on stainless steel legs. The focus is on the alienation of bathroom furnishings from their customary surroundings and function."

This Bathroom idea reminds me of a scene in Luis Buñuel's materpiece The Phantom of Liberty, where public space/living room and private space/bathroom are reversed: people sit on toilets around a table chatting with each other, while one enters a tiny private room to get food thru. a small elevator. I enjoy this smart sense of humor which exists in the alienation and defamiliarization of our everyday living space.