I had to take my dog to the vet this morning, for what may turn out to be a fractured leg, so my post today is necessarily brief.  In fact, the sight of her trying to make it to the back of the vet’s office on just three legs is more on my mind than the design work I need to get done today.  Not good.

That being said, her situation did get me to thinking about leg injuries in general, and that in turn brought Charles and Ray Eames WWII leg splint to mind (I’m a design geek – it’s how my mind works).   A masterful example of form AND function, the commission from the U.S. Navy to design a leg splint enabled the Eameses to develop and perfect the plywood molding technology they had begun to explore just a few years prior.  This allowed them to later design and produce the iconic, mid-century plywood furniture they are now most famous for.

When you think of it, some pretty significant design innovations have come out of completely unrelated needs.   Do you know of any others?  What’s your favorite story of great design arising from new technologies?

Thanks for visiting (and cross you fingers for my dog)!

Rachel

I love to fly, if for no other reason than it affords me the opportunity to indulge in a stack of fashion magazines to flip through during the trip.  Saturday saw me on a flight to Chicago, so I grabbed several glossies at the news stand before boarding.  It’s already September in magazine world, so I got the big, thick Fall Fashion issues to while away the time.  Yum!

Via Alexander McQueen

I was struck right away by how often a particular color combination kept cropping up.  See if you can spot the trend too…

via Chanel

via Fendi

Read the rest of this entry »

There’s No Place Like Here: Pass The Baton from Etsy on Vimeo.

I love this video, I love that store, and I LOVE the concept.  A trip to Japan has been on my mind anyway, but a pilgrimage to Pass the Baton in Tokyo now seems imperative.

seen on re-nest

On Friday, I spent several fun, if a bit exhausting, hours traipsing through Dwell on Design 2011 in Los Angeles. As always, there was plenty to see, although the big sponsors continue to grab more and more real estate, further pushing the independent innovators to the periphery. But be that as it may, it is still the biggest modern design show on the West Coast, and as such deserves at least a moment of our attention.

Here are a few things that caught my eye:

The Molo Design booth was one of the first things I saw walking into the show, and it was also one of the highlights. The honeycomb paper construction they are known for was used for walls, lighting and seating, to great effect.

This was the view inside their little paper tower. Part of me just wanted to hide out the whole show in that nice, calm space.

The pounding sound of the human heart beat drew me to Japanese artist SASAKI’s rad set up to benefit Architecture for Humanity’s rebuilding program in Japan. Of course, I had to participate! I wish I’d thought to have someone take a picture as I sat there with a heartbeat monitor attached to my finger, watching SASAKI airbrush my heart beat onto the canvas. The money I donated as a participant will help rebuilding efforts in Tohoku, Japan. Read the rest of this entry »

Even in the digital era, as an interior designer I still need to look at LOTS of magazines every month, searching for trends and inspiration. It doesn’t take too long for those magazines to start piling up in bigger and bigger stacks. Just not this big (thank goodness)…

This wonderful wall, designed by Swedish architecture firm Elding Oscarson for advertising agency Oktavilla, was created from carefully bound and arranged magazine stacks. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m suffering from the effects of a cold right now, so I’m taking a day of rest, but I’m sure you can satisfy any sustainable design cravings you might have by checking out this gorgeous new issue of Pure Green Living Magazine that was released today!

Single use drink containers have become a global habit.  A habit that will be so difficult to break, it could more accurately be described as an addiction.  Like mothers everywhere, I plead guilty to perpetuating the problem by occasionally buying “juice boxes”, aka Tetra Paks, for my son.  Although touted as being made entirely of recyclable materials, only 20% of U.S. residents have recycling programs available to them for the cartons at this point, and the numbers are probably pretty similar in other countries.  So what to do with all those Tetra Paks unlucky enough to exist in a non-carton recycling community?

Why not turn them into lighting?  That is what Malaysian designer Ed Chew has done.   Of his motivation for doing so, Chew says -

Packet drinks are one of the most favored soft drinks among Malaysians. We just love sipping packet drinks wherever we go and never actually bother about the thousands of boxes we discarded off after each quench, despite knowing the fact that landfills across our country are bursting at the seams.

Perhaps, it’s about time we adopt a paradigm shift in our attitudes towards making this world a better place. As for me, here’s a little GREEN step I am taking to help reducing the amount of waste going to landfills.

In the spirit of global responsibility for finding solutions to the problem, he shares his method for creating the lamps so the anyone anywhere in the world can make them too.  Now THAT is truly sustainable design.  Sharing solutions to create a better world for all.  Kudos Mr. Chew!

Seen on Yanko Design

While out and about this weekend, I came across this…

It had that wonderful, musty smell of an old book, so I knew it would probably find it’s way into my library.  Indeed, when I cracked it open, I found it was published in 1948, AND it had some color plates too.  SOLD!

However, once I got home and had a chance to look through my new found treasure, I quickly realized that there was a reason why no one ever talks about wanting to do their home in a 1940′s style – there really isn’t one!  In fact, although the book has copious images where the “colonial” or “modern” features of a room are pointed out, most people today would be hard pressed to recognize any of the rooms as being specifically from the 40′s.

So how does that relate to sustainable interior design? Read the rest of this entry »

If you have only 16 minutes and 44 seconds to spare today, I highly recommend you take them to watch this great TED talk by designer Emily Pilloton.  In it she explains why she and Studio H, the non-profit, sustainable design firm she co-founded, decided to relocate from San Francisco to rural Bertie County, NC.  She goes on to explain how design can help bring eduction and new opportunities to these rural communities that so desperately need it.  But above and beyond that, her talk is worth watching because it inspires.  Here is someone doing what so many of us just dream about – using design as a catalyst for real change.

Oh, and if you have not only never heard of Emily Pilloton and Studio H, but you haven’t even heard of TED, then you are going to need a whole lot more than 16 minutes, 44 seconds to spare.  The TED website is a virtual library of inspiring, engaging and educational talks on subjects as diverse as neurobiology, architecture, music, happiness, and video games.  So pop yourself some popcorn, get cozy, and prepared to be inspired…

Here is a nice video of a lovely green home for sale in our area.

I realize that it doesn’t look like what we usually think of as a green home, and that is exactly the point.  From the integrated solar roof tiles to the heavy duty insulation, the sustainable aspects of this home are largely hidden.  And yet, they are very, very effective, allowing this home to achieve one of the highest GreenPoint Rated scores ever given.

And those fancy Viking appliances in the kitchen?   Purchased from Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore.  Man, I need to go shopping there!

In any case, I had the pleasure of getting to know the couple behind this terrific home, and even helped them get a hold of  some of the sustainable furnishings to showcase.  If you watch when the video pans to the dining room, you will see one of William Stranger’s gorgeous wood slab tables.  And the rugs featured throughout are handwoven of sustainable, vegetable dyed yak wool and wild silk, (I’ll be writing more about the rugs in another post).   Online eco-friendly home furnishings retailer My Sparrow also contributed some of their great accessory items, such as artwork, pillows and bath products.

So, enjoy the video, or if you are in Southern California area, see about getting a tour at one of the open houses.  It’s a terrific project, and well worth seeing.  Oh, and many of the items you will see are available for purchase, so if you see something you can’t live without, feel free to contact me and I will get you more information and let you know who to contact.