They’re astronauts but they’re aggrevated because they’re stuck in space. Or something.
I’m trying to wake up and do a sketch every day, these are the last two days. After a few more with the concept/character more refined I may photoslop paint them just for fun.
This guy’s space-monster mount is just a giant anomalocaris, a pre-dino creature so weird it had to come from space.
Two weekends ago Anouk and I headed to imm Cologne, an interior expo pretty close to us. Some of the halls were really, really boring. And ironically the halls with the most tacky, overdone and rehashed products were the ones with booths adorned with “no photography” signs. I wanted to take a picture of this retro looking spot lamp only to get yelled at. Really? I mean come on, I’ve only seen this lamp a million times today alone. It’s not like any of your stuff is original. Luckily everything that WAS original and cool could be photographed as much as you want. Photogs:
These folding tables were awesome, they stand and stack when collapsed!
These coffee tables reminded me of the piece by Mondrian. They’re made of layers of colored wooden slabs that slide out of all the sides letting the things grow to all sorts of sizes and layouts.
I spent the last weekin the Alps and it was probably one of the most memorable things I’ve done. Every day consisted of sleep, eat, ski, eat, ski, nap, eat, drink, watch a presentation on design, eat desert, drink, play games and repeat. I miss that routine already. I never really thought skiing would be as easy to pick up as it was but I was headed down red slopes by the end of my 4 days there (blue is for idiots, black is for geniuses and red is in the middle. I was just an idiot on a red hill). Albeit I was often headed down on my butt or face.
A typical scene with the students and profs drinking and playing games made for children:
Jenga tower for advanced players:
On the last night there was an ice bar made of packed snow on the back porch. Someone had setup the digital project to shoot out of the top floor window and onto the snow in front of the bar. It started out as just a natural screen to watch videos on but it soon turned into a live-action photoshop game with guys running around and jumping on the buttons to pick colors and paint in the snow. The projector was so bright that we could shine it onto the side of the nearby mountain and still make out what was on the computer.
and of course the scenery, my only regret is not getting to the top of a mountain with my camera:
Aaron and I spent a week in Istanbul for our winter break and it was mind blowing. We were just on the edge of eastern culture and it was so different. I’ve never seen a Mosque aside from the more recent versions in America, you couldn’t look up or turn a corner without seeing one here. Some of these buildings were over one thousand years old! We got lost plenty of times but usually stumbled on to something very worth seeing such as a tightly packed street with bars for the younger scene in Istanbul and randomly eating at a very nice fish restaurant where we had fresh fillets and calamari. We went to probably half a dozen mosques, saw the whirling Dervishes, took a ferry along the Bosphorus, saw the Modern Art Museum (and Bodyworlds since it happened to be in town) and topped it off with an interesting experience of getting cleaned by a tough Turkish man in an ancient bath house after lying around on a hot marble slab. Check out the photos (sorry, no photos allowed in the bath house):
This place is gorgeous. So much Baroque architecture, the old Jewish quarter and Mucha pretty much make the city (and Franz Kafka, but I didn’t see much related to him. Just went to a café called Café Kafka). I think my favorite things were the Goulash, the Castle and the Mucha museum.
Photos:
Billy Mays! He even sells things in countries that don’t usually speak English.
Mucha stainglass, this was definitely a big highlight of the trip:
Lil’ robots:
Wooo! This was quite the day, or two. Mei’s initial train caught on fire or something so she never got on. Then some other trains were delayed. Then she FINALLY found a way to get to Berlin by 5:00 on Saturday. Too bad that was the day we were planning on having Thanksgiving dinner.
Mei’s mom had sent us an e-mail with a planned-out Thanksgiving dinner and Mei was fully expecting to help out if not be in charge. Too bad, the responsibility fell to Aaron and me to get done. Which we actually pulled through on! And it was one of the tastiest Turkey days ever. Brined, coverd in herb butter, wrapped in bacon and layed on a tray of vegetables and wine our two turkeys were almost more like works of art. That with green bean casserole, home made mac n cheese, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes and a pork roast from Ben pretty much completed our Thanksgiving dinner. The Germans who luckily happened to stumble upon our Thanksgiving feast agreed it was awesome.
Afterwards we were all too tired and full of food-comas to do much else than sleep, so after a lot of sitting there asking “should we go out?” repeatedly we just went to bed. Mei had to head home the next day but Aaron and I spent the day walking around and eventually saw pt. 1 of the final Harry Potter. This just left Aaron and I frustrated that we couldn’t see pt. 2 yet. Oh yah, and it was AARON’S BIRTHDAY! Yaaaaay birthday turkey/Harry Potter! In Berlin! On Monday I met up with Anouk at the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and headed out for a few days in Prague, I’ll post on that next.
Martin and I drove out to Eindhoven on a Friday and managed to waste two hours walking around the center thinking that Dutch Design Week was nothing but a few showcases of lamps in some ritzy shop windows. It felt pretty dumb and we were getting pretty mad that we came all the way there for what seemed to be nothing but a commercialized use of some design concepts. Good thing we took out our tickets and actually READ them. Apparently there was a whole expo that we were missing outside of Eindhoven center, we “quickly” made our way over to it.
This place was great but we didn’t stay for too long the first day because we needed to drive back to Mei’s place and crash. We got back to Antwerp, grabbed some food and headed out to find Mei. A few drinks and a jazz bar later Mei and I felt like crashing while Martin and Mei’s roommate Sean stayed up for a few drinks and music.
Anyways, Dutch Design Week day 2. Awesome, we hung out with Aaron and Ben who had arrive from Berlin. There were meeting tables with built-in swings, walking canes that you can step on to bring back upright, lots of more maker-fair type exhibits, a few cars, some pretty weird bikes, student work, an edible candy design project and some really big really comfy bean bags perfect for taking mid-day naps in. Pictures to follow:
This lamp could be adjusted with a counterweight that pulls the wooden rings up one by one to change the curvature and length of the colored threads.
This car is street legal AND up for sale. I’m not sure they have any takers.
This one booth had nothing but levitating things, woooo magnets! Very appropriate to make Apple’s holy iPad float and spin magically except it makes it completely useless as a device.
These chairs are all assembled with a single standardized piece in the middle and panels of various materials/color so you can mix n match to make your own custom set.
Apparently the reason so many new lighting designs include copper shades is to that the reflected light gives the cold temperature of fluorescents a warmer color.
Crazy bikes:
An expo solely for making things the industrial way. Lots of molds, lasers and mechanical arms to see here. For me that got pretty old fast, then we got into what must have been the 3D printing/student hall. Now this is waaaaaay better.
These guys had rigged an SLR to a Pico Projector and used it as a 3D scanner. The whole kit costs 2,000 Euro which isn’t that bad. You get the software, projector, camera, tripod and a turntable for placing your scanning object on. The projector projects a grid image on the object and you rotate the turntable at even intervals to take pictures which can then be stitched together. It sounds a little more involved than the demo we got at school with the handheld 3D scan gun but a lot cheaper.
This replica aircraft engine with props was 3D printed. What the heck?
Objet by far had one of the coolest booths. The resolution is superb and you can really feel the material differences in the lighter hard plastic and black rubber printing.
The clear half of this screw driver was printed and fits perfectly onto the mass manufactured half AND it worked.
This group of students was sponsored by Bosch to enter into some competition where you design a vehicle to be driven by a single screwdriver. There’s was this crazy 3D printed hammerhead trike… thing.
This e-bike frame (with internalized chain!?) was entirely 3d printed. And I thought our bike model was expensive.
And this little guy is also 3D printed, happens to be made of titanium and is the size of a small marble.
Over a month ago I visited Mei and Nate in Belgium with Aaron to see the Interieur 2010 design fair in Kortrijk. To be honest, I’m having trouble remembering what all went on then. Dutch Design Week kind of overshadowed it, I’ll be posting on that soon as well. Here’s some hightlights:
Antwerp Central Station:
Design Fair:
This look familiar to anyone?
Is really slow. I think this will be my most well though-out portfolio so far, I guess as it should be since I’m in my 4th year and have done this a few times. It feels like I have so much extra work to put into each of my previous projects before they’re portfolio worthy. I guess that’s what happens when you’re in school and constantly learning, by the time you finish a project all the work from the beginning of it is no longer up to par.
This little guy (and two more of the robot in different positions of transformation) took waaaaay too long it seems. I still a have some rather intense sketching I plan on doing for my power tool and the E-bike project. This on top of our current projects at Wuppertal (which thankfully haven’t heated up too much yet). With any luck I’ll have a project or two pretty much done by Thanksgiving and then get the rest done by Xmas. I’ll try to post on progress and I’ll get up a link to my WIP once there’s something to actually look at. Feedback is always welcome and for all you other design dorks, how are your folios going?
