Top: New York City myThread Installation by Jenny Sabin. Bottom: Beijing Design Week Feather Pavilion by Arthur Huang
Coming off the success of their Flyknit collection, Nike has launched the Nike Flyknit Collective: an architectural initiative challenging a curated group of designers, artists and architects to create installations based on the core features of the collection—performance, lightness, formfitting and sustainability.
We had an opportunity to see 2 of the installations in person over the past few weeks and although the installations were quite different, it was interesting to follow the path of practitioners separated by geography and disciplines as they explored the way that yarn can be employed to create engaging structural experiences.
Jenny Sabin installing the myThread Pavilion
Philadelphia-based architectural designer Jenny Sabin's work explores the intersection of architecture, biology, craft, technology and generative design.
"Use a knife!"
"Smack the 57!"
"Hold it at a 45-degree angle!"
Ketchup eaters have long been giving and receiving such advice on the art of beckoning their beloved condiment from its bottle, but thanks to the Varanasi Group at MIT, ketchup lovers will no longer lose the battle. Though the technology behind LiquiGlide is still being tested, the results so far are extremely promising. The nontoxic coating works not only on glass, but also on plastic, metal and ceramic. Made entirely from food materials, LiquiGlide is completely safe to eat. "Even if you scraped the coating with a knife and ate it, it would be completely harmless and flavorless."
You may be asking yourself what the big deal is. It's just a little ketchup (or mayo, mustard, sriracha, jelly...), right? LiquiGlide actually solves a much larger problem than making it easier for you to dress your burger: food waste. "With condiment bottles there's still a bunch of food left in the bottle when you throw it out. By our calculations," the Varanasi Group explained, "about one million pounds of food gets thrown out each year worldwide. Also, those squeeze bottle need a big cap. By eliminating the need for such a big cap we'd save 25,000 tons of petroleum-based plastics each year." And you won't have a fridge door full of bottles with gummy, sticky caps. Watch the weirdly gross and entertaining side-by-side demo videos of regular condiment bottles vs. those coated with LiquiGlide.
Remember Joshua Harker? Our interwebs-trawling editor Ray spotted one of the Chicago-based multicreative's projects last year, this nifty 3D-printed skull, and posted an entry on it. It subsequently became "the #1 most funded Kickstarter Sculpture Project," reminding us that if you've got a cool object, a low target and a low price point, buyers will come.
I came across Harker's name again this morning while Coroflot hunting. Didn't realize the guy had a page with us. In any case, the guy's "industrial design" section is loaded up with beautiful renderings—and while I can't tell what the heck any of them are, as there's no descriptive text, I can't take my eyes off of them. Anyone want to take some educated guesses based on the form factors? That globe-looking thing up top, I wouldn't know where to begin. As for these:
A remote control designed to confuse my parents?
No idea, but if you were wearing some kind of space suit and pointing this at me, I'd move away from you.
In 2010 TechShop, the DIY workshop/fabrication studio, announced they'd be opening an NYC outpost in 2011. That got pushed to summer 2012, with Brooklyn announced as the specific location; but summer's come and gone with no news.
3D fabrication company Shapeways, however, has good news for us Gothamites: Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg cut the ribbon (using 3D-printed scissors, it seems) for the groundbreaking of Shapeways' new "Factory of the Future" in Long Island City, Queens.
When construction on the 25,000-square-foot facility is complete, it will hum with 30 to 50 industrial-size 3D printers from EOS, Projet and ZCorp.
When its fully up and running, our Factory of the Future will become the largest consumer facing 3D Printing manufacturing facility in the world. It will have the capacity to 3D Print 3 to 5 million objects annually.
It will house state of the art 3D Printers just hitting the market. Our focus will be on Selective Laser Sintering (used for Strong & Flexible nylon) and UV Acrylic Resin Printing (for Frosted Ultra Detail)....
We will have over 50 engineers, craftsmen, 3D printing specialists, and industrial designers fine-tuning and tweaking a Willy Wonka esque system in which pixels go in and objects come out. We will not only work to keep the promises we have made, but to improve upon them.
....We are bringing the future of manufacturing to NYC, and there will be sparks.
We wouldn't be mad if you called us bookworms. At Core77, we proudly review books as part of our mission to be a great resource for practicing designers. So we were excited to see that our friends at Designers & Books put together a great program for the first Designers & Books Fair happening in New York at the end of this month.
The Book Fair will be a great starting point for amping up your fall reading list—35 US and European book publishers and booksellers will display and sell the newest titles for fall as well as offering important backlist titles. There will also be rare and out-of-print book dealers; demonstrations of book arts, including calligraphy, letterpress printing, bookbinding and book signings. Besides the exhibition, the Book Fair also includes 17 programs with designers in conversation.
We have a special offer for Core77 readers! Tell us in the comments what book has had the greatest influence on you and your design practice and you can win a free set of passes to the program of your choice!
In high school my friend crashed his '68 Rambler, which I remember well because I was in the passenger seat. We hit the other car twice. I'll put the full story down at the bottom so we can get right to the point of this entry: That crash left me with the distinct impression that older cars were better-suited to handle impacts because they were built more solidly. But that simply isn't true. My friend and I had just gotten lucky.
The technology, analytical capabilities and manufacturing techniques that automakers have today completely trumps the construction methods of old; overbuillding by using thicker, heavier parts would prove no match for modern-day crumple zones and airbags. Here's the best video I can find that illustrates this: It's a 1959 Chevrolet versus a 2009 Chevrolet in one of the nastier types of impact, the front offset crash:
Is it not nauseating to see how completely the A-pillar buckles on the '59, and how far the impact penetrates into the passenger cabin? On the other hand, the cabin of the '09 seems largely intact, and the in-cabin camera views show much less interior disturbance in the latter car. In keeping with the technologies of the time, the '59 was clearly not designed to handle shear forces or offset crashes.
My buddy's Rambler was built in 1968, the same year GM was running the crash tests you'll see in this next video. (Warning: If you're not able to firmly remember that these are dummies and not humans, particularly the child-sized models, you'll find the footage disturbing.)
Uganda is home to five million people with disabilities, whether from birth defects, malnutrition, disease or injuries sustained during the violence-wracked internal conflicts. Whatever the cause, Ugandans without the use of their legs have, in the past, been unable to use bicycles. And as Uganda is one of the poorest countries on this Earth, the bicycle is a crucially important method of transportation there. Without it, some cannot earn a living.
Nelson "Kio" Mukiika has a machine shop of sorts in the Kasese district of western Uganda. I say "of sorts" because he does not have access to basic measuring tools. Nevertheless, Mukiika is able to disassemble old bikes and re-weld them together into creations of his own design: Three-wheeled hand-powered bicycles.
At the very top of this entry is a woman named Gatrida sitting in Mukiika's first completed trike. Since then he's produced 50 more, funded by the CanUgan Disability Support Project, which renders material assistance and vocational training to disabled Ugandans.
It was through CanUgan that Dean Mellway, Director of Carleton University's READ (Research, Education, Accessbility and Design) initiative, caught wind of a Mukiika's trikes; Mellway then brought it to the attention of a team of fourth-year Industrial Design students at Carleton, and they're now working together with Mukiika in an effort to improve the designs.
Alan Gibbs is an entrepreneur from New Zealand, and for years he's dreamed of mass-manufacturing an amphibious car. He knew it would work; he successfully built a one-off for himself, the Aquada you see below, nearly two decades ago. But after setting up a company to mass produce them, he ran into problems ranging from engine supply to U.S. automobile laws.
The American auto laws were the tough thing to get around, as they require airbags for passenger cars; while in the water, waves slapping harmlessly against the vehicle's hull would constantly trigger the sensors.
So Gibbs changed tack. By creating a smaller, ATV-like vehicle not subject to automotive laws, his dream vehicle was realized, albeit at a slightly smaller scale.
His new product is called the Quadski, and it's going on sale later this year. Here's Gibbs himself narrating a demo:
They're calling it "The world's most versatile camera," and it's hard to disagree. At midnight yesterday/today GoPro began selling their new model, the Hero3.
"No expense was spared during its development," the company writes. Sadly they don't elaborate on what that development entailed, as I'm sure more than a few designers and engineers are curious. I don't know what kind of black magic they've got going on in their labs, but the thing is 30% smaller than the previous model and weighs just 2.6 freaking ounces. Then there are the tech stats:
Waterproof to 197' (60m), capable of capturing ultra-wide 1440p 48fps, 1080p 60 fps and 720p 120 fps video and 12MP photos at a rate of 30 photos per second.
If the numbers don't dazzle you, the footage probably will. The best part of a new GoPro release is that we get a new video of people doing crazy ish in some of the most beautiful places on Earth:
Costa Rica is quickly becoming one of Central America's hubs for all things design. There are a growing number of design education initiatives that have seemed to gain some momentum in the past few years by the local creative community.
This year, Costa Rican designers have launched a national sketching workshop in their home country. They call it Sketching Lab Costa Rica. It's a 3-day, intensive workshop that focuses on the development of rapid visualization and the most effective ways to visually communicate your ideas as a creative. The workshop follows the principles of the sketch aerobics that uses music and the very basic elements in drawing to promote learning by doing.
The 3-day workshop kicked off at the end of August and brought in 70+ participants. The event was led by Costa Rican designers Jóse Gamboa of Slingshot Product Development Group and Joey Zeledón of Smart Design and was organized by Mario Ramírez and David Melendez of Plex Studio.
The first day of the event was focused on rudimentary form development and drawing in perspective. It was held at the National Museum of Gold "Museo del Oro" in San José, Costa Rica. The museums exhibit features many ancient artifacts and objects from the pre-Columbian era that gave the participants inspiration during sketching breakout sessions.
Designing Delight
Building a Bottle Brick
London Design Festival 2012
Burning Man 2012
Eero Saarinen: A Reputation for Innovation
Draw Up a Chair: The Battery Conservancy Americas Design Competition
The Journey of Sebastian Errazuriz
Making It: Manufacturing Techniques for Product Design, by Chris Lefteri
To Design Is to Understand Uncertainty
The Crucial Role of Design Education in Europe's Recovery
iPhone 5 Industrial Design
Job Search Advice
Core77 Design Awards 
SHIFTBoston 2012 Glow Competition 
Top: New York City myThread Installation by Jenny Sabin. 
Jenny Sabin installing the myThread Pavilion
...and Mustard!
Biomimicry 3.8: What Would You Ask Nature
Changing the Face of Motocross
20 Years of Kikkerland
Discovering Chinese Design
Reporting by Joey Zeledón and Jóse Gamboa
LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL 2012
BURNING MAN 2012
SUPERHUMAN
CORE77 DESIGN AWARDS 2012
Innovating for People, by the LUMA Institute
Book Review> Going Public: Public Architecture, Urbanism and Interventions
The Journey of Sebastian Errazuriz: Book, Exhibition and Exclusive Q&A;
"Mars Attacks," A Retrospective
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Portland Mini Maker Faire 2012
Global Design Forum Misses the Mark
DIY Digifab via Deadwood, SD: The Story Behind the B9Creator 3D Printer
Tuto eReader for Educational Change
Technology You Can Touch: You Don't Have to be an Internet Start-Up to Get Funding
