10 Insects That Belong in an Alien World Animals It’s easy to forget sometimes, but nature is full of wonders. There are more than one million different species of insect on the planet—that we know of—which accounts for over half the world’s living organisms. With their soft bodies and high protein content, caterpillars are usually incredibly vulnerable. The caterpillars are bright green and will often have a row of white spots on either side of their body. And if that doesn’t work, it can always spray out a mist of formic acid from the two horns on its back. Devil’s Flower Mantis Idolomantis Diabolica One of the largest types of praying mantis, the Devil’s Flower Mantis is also one of the strangest. Mantids are predators, and their hunting style usually involves sitting motionless until their prey comes within reach, and then whipping their forearms out at lightning speed to snag flies, beetles, even, in some cases, birds. The image shown here is a model created by Alfred Keller, a German sculptor, in the 1950′s.
Ya Wen Chou, Textile and Product Designer Ahh, design school — where navel-gazing and the pretentions of identity art are not only tolerated, but encouraged (on days when the lesson plan doesn’t focus on sustainability or people with disabilities, of course). It’s easy for lesser talents to get sucked too far into these themes and end up with over-baked work that either borders on kitsch or is completely irrelevant to the wider world, but when done right, the results can be both beautiful and culturally illuminating — as in the case of Ya Wen Chou, who used her time in the RCA’s textile department to dig into the traditions of her grandmother and her home country of Taiwan. “My grandmother’s house was always full of handicrafts made by Taiwanese artisans,” she told the Arts Thread blog last year, explaining a main source of her inspiration. Describe your most recent project and how it was made. Describe your next project and how you’re currently making it. Tell us one thing that’s been inspiring you lately and why.
Collect Sounds Like Fireflies in the ‘Re: Sound Bottle,’ a Device that Creates Your Own Personal Soundtrack The Re: Sound Bottle is the audio equivalent of running around in a field in the summer collecting fireflies in a jar. Designed by Jun Fujiwara from Tama Art University, the bottle is simple in its usage but absurdly complex in its design which relies heavily on software to handle the recording, storing, and playback of audio tracks. To use it you simply uncork the device and if sound is present it immediately snaps into recording mode. As you record more individual sounds, an audio database is formed and tracks are automatically selected to create rhythmic tracks, essentially like a miniature robot DJ in a jar. To listen, you again uncork the top and wait for your personal soundtrack to play.
A Room Where You Can Walk In The Rain But Stay Dry Some people get a lot of joy out of running in the rain or jumping in puddles. I’m not one of them. I love everything about storms--the smells, the noises, the excuse for staying in and puttering around the house--except for the whole bit where you get wet. Rain Room, a recent installation by the digital art collective Random International, is right up my alley; it’s an indoor room in which rain continuously falls everywhere except the spot where you happen to be standing. For the project, the group turned the Curve gallery in the Barbican in London into a hundred-square-meter rainstorm. Real water, real droplets, real potential for getting drenched. The collective says the piece is about "playing with intuition" and "pushing people outside their comfort zones." Rain Room will be open to the public through March of next year. Find out more on the Barbican’s site. All images copyright Felix Clay, Courtesy of Barbican Art Gallery
: : H & A : : tumblr : : H & A : : tumblr Doorway in the Blue Medina, a photo from Tetouan, North | TrekEarth Loading... Vicolo della Basilica, a photo from Perugia, Umbria | TrekEarth sunset, a photo from California, West | TrekEarth desire to inspire - Happy Friday! 500px: - Mazagón by Pedro Burgos (via talbo-777) 500px: - Married to Florence by VinL opticallyaroused: foresity: Under Water Photography (36) by zeevveez on Flickr. (via 901pm) reaching out by yves shrapnel on Flickr. Trendir - Morning Glory Table by Marc Thorpe for Moroso 500px: - Hidden window by Athos Florides 500px: - Trees by Colin Giral Frigiliana, Andalusia, Spain martinlux.tumblr.com Instagram (via thingssheloves) Page 1 of 7169
A Photographer Finds Order And Chaos In Disassembled Gadgets It’s kind of insane, when you stop and think, that it’s now completely commonplace for many of us to replace our cellphones every year. Whether you’re a serious early adopter, or you fall prey to a drop and a shattered screen, it’s not at all strange to put down $200 (at least) on a new phone almost before you’ve gotten used to the old one. We don’t repair our phones when they’re broken; we immediately replace them. Todd McLellan questions that practive, training his camera on our disposable tech culture through his photographs of torn-apart design classics. He’s especially drawn to older pieces of technology, whose simple constructions makes them easier to fix when broken. “It fascinates me that older objects were so well-built, and were most likely put together by hand,” he writes in the introduction to his new book, Things Come Apart: A Teardown Manual for Modern Living. That’s one of McLellan’s two preferred methods.
where creativity and technology meet A. & H. Beehre, Alnico (2006), Vavasour Godkin Gallery, Auckland. Copyright & courtesy of the artists. Nathan Thompson Busytown (2004), sound, single channel projection, 15min loop The Physics Room, Christchurch. Copyright and courtesy of the artist From Tech to Texture: Aurelie Tu of Craftedsystems We collaborated with MSN to profile four artists and designers we love who we think embody the same design, content and functional philosophies as the new MSN.com: design with fierce reductionism, sharing real-time trends, and being perfect for touch. We think you’ll love learning more about these four creatives. Experience their work here, and check out the all-new MSN here. Photo by Steve Bloch I could not be more excited to talk to Aurelie Tu. Your background is in industrial design, creating primarily tech devices, so how did you end up designing soft, felted products? My entire career has revolved around design of technology for consumers. How did Craftedsystems begin? Crafted began as an experiment with an alternate business model. Photo by Lincoln Barbour How did you come up with the specific interlocking patterns for Craftedsystems? Craftedsystems is a forum for experimentation. When you made your the first Craftedsystems pieces, why was felt your choice of material? Asira series.
Creators - Dedicated to inspiring designers, inventors & the creative spirit in all of us. August 22, 2013 Artist’s Work Paints a Beautiful Picture Animations Tyrus Wong, a 102-year-old artist’s work influenced the visual direction of Bambi in 1941. An exhibition at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco will be held to celebrate Wong’s work. According to the Disney Museum site, the drawings felt different from what is commonly known for Disney animation and this is what caught Walt Disney’s eye. Copyright Davison 2013 Sources: August 20, 2013 Hope “Floats” for those with Carpal Tunnel Product Innovation This levitating wireless computer mouse was invented by Vadim Kibardin of Kibardin Design, in order to help prevent and treat the contemporary disease, carpal tunnel syndrome. The levitating mouse consists of a mouse pad base and a floating mouse with a magnet ring. Source: August 15, 2013 Pin It
Musical Wine Glasses EmailEmail The fact that you can play music using wine glasses isn’t a new thing. However, not everyone can tune an instrument by ear, not to mention a wine glass! If this is the case, then you might wanna take a look at these Musical Wine Glasses from UncommonGoods. “The etchings on the glasses are musical notations that correspond to the level of the liquid. Website: uncommongoods.com The set of two Musical Wine Glasses cost a whopping $65, and if you want to play something like shown in the video below you can end up spending upwards of $1500. For more creative wine glasses, be sure to check out these 28 Cool Gift Ideas for Wine Lovers.
How To Stop Worrying About Carpal Tunnel Syndrome A little over a month ago, I started getting a hot, prickly tingle on the back of my hands, running from my wrists to fingertips as I typed. It would creep up later in the day, and remained when I grabbed my keys, held a glass of water, or shook a friend's hand. I was sick with worry: how could I still be a writer if I couldn't type? So, I tweeted about my dilemma. Two Fast Company colleagues (both writers) told of their tensions: Lydia Dishman got tennis elbow though she never held a racket, and Ellen McGirt's handwriting got so bad her bank couldn't recognize her signature. As I learned from talking to doctors, physical therapists, and ergonomists, while working at a computer might feel like totally mental work, it's deeply physical. How the damage happens Kevin Butler is an ergonomist for office furniture supplier Steelcase. "Something as subtle as a 10% increase in the bend of the wrist doubles the pressure on the wrist," he says. Carpal tunnel, repetitive stress, and modernity 1. 2.
In This “Anti-Cafe” In London, You Pay For Your Time, Not Your Tea The coffee’s free at a new cafe in London, and so is the food. You can even bring your own fruit and make a smoothie using the cafe’s blender. Instead of paying for any amenities, you just pay for being there: 3 pence a minute. Though it sounds like it might eventually add up, there's a maximum charge of £9 a day. It's quite a bit cheaper than nearby co-working spaces. The "anti-cafe" originally launched with a branch in Moscow. Ivan Mitin started Ziferblat with a group of friends who needed a space for an art project; they’d been spending their free time printing classic poems on small cards and tucking them into random spots on Moscow streets to surprise passerby. Over time, they started inviting more people. Even though the rent wasn’t cheap, the space had no trouble financially, and eventually became so popular that Mitin opened the first official Ziferblat in the fall of 2011. The system worked.
A Merry-Go-Round That Turns The Power Of Play Into Electricity How do you bring electricity and light to children who live half their lives in complete darkness, and their entire lives in abject poverty? Empower Playgrounds is a nonprofit that has come up with an intriguing solution: Harnessing the power of play, it provides merry-go-rounds to schools in Ghana that generate and store electricity as they are spun around, even while teeming with laughing and smiling kids. Empower Playgrounds is the brainchild of former ExxonMobil VP of Engineering Ben Markham, who decided he wanted "to do a little giveback" after he retired. Volunteering with his wife as Mormon missionaries in rural Ghana, Markham was astonished by the lack of even rudimentary equipment in most of the schools he visited. A lifelong engineer, Markham thought he could come up with a better solution. Since Ghana is only slightly north of the equator, daylight hours are very consistent no matter the time of year. Empower Playground's equipment is affordable and effective.
A Breathalyzer Designed For The Post-Apple Age This breathalyzer is an incredible piece of industrial design. It's nothing more than a ceramic black tube. There’s no power button--an internal pressure sensor turns it on when you blow--and in fact, you only need to charge it six times over the course of a year. It’s not hard to imagine more electronics working a lot like this in the future--sleek, seemingly passive, and awake at a moment’s notice. But Lapka’s Creative Director Vadik Marmeladov doesn’t want you thinking about the construction of what is surely the world’s most beautifully designed breathalyzer. “We want to be a post-Apple company. While it may exude subtly beautiful craftsmanship, the Lapka Breath Alcohol Monitor (BAM) is an early attempt to create a gadget in a post-gadget world, one in which you don’t need or want white earbuds to identify what you’re doing, but the smallest of human behaviors can both enable an experience and create a product identity. The Lapka BAM is out this October for $199. Learn more here.