design prose.

design is in the details. we're a group of eight enthusiastic product design students using this blog to share innovative finds and thoughts about design and our future careers. we hope you'll discover something interesting from your visit! find posts made by: Apollonia | Connor | Maia | Maisie Max | Minsu | Sean | Stephanie

[itsconnorwhite]

Fairmount Living Tiles

Say hello to the FAIRMOUNT- A DIY green roof or garden kit giving city dwellers access to green space

Long time since an update, but here I go!

I’ve recently been working with SHIFT_DESIGN (woo) and have been working for a few months on this project, Fairmount, with a few of my new work buddies.

Fairmount is a modular green roof system that allows easy install and low maintenance. The benefits of our green roof system include alleviating the urban heat index, neutralized carbon emissions, and beautification of urban environments!

We have just launched our project on kickstarter!

Any help funding Fairmount would be greatly appreciated. We have a variety of rewards ranging from single to forty tiles! That’s enough to cover 50 sq. feet!

With your help, we can redefine sustainable urban living!

[designprose]

Our good friend Connor over at SHIFT_DESIGN has told me about this great eco Kickstarter they’ve just launched to utilize existing urban areas and turn them into plant growing space. Check out their Kickstarter video, read more about it, and consider making a pledge and helping to spread this around!

[designprose]

My friend Esro is a maker that I really admire. His primary medium is in painting and graphic design, but he is also an extremely talented sculptor. He has done many custom versions of the Kidrobot Dunny, but also has created and sold vinyl toys. He usually models in clay, and then molds and casts his toys in plastic.

[designprose]

Foldable Micro All-Electric Car, "Armadillo-T" (by KAISTPR)

What a cute car! Almost like it's saying "That's it, that's enough driving for today, I'm done!" and curls up to go to sleep.  Imagine seeing one of these in a parking lot though...

- Maisie

[designprose]

Eric Joisel is a origami master. Lots of beautiful forms are made from his hands. I admire him because he makes so many gorgeous works. Also, folding these human figures and animals requires being quite patient, while I am not.

[designprose]

Eva Zeisel is a huge inspiration for me. Although by the time she died she wasnt making anymore, almost all of her life she was a maker; one of the best makers out there.

[designprose]

Bruce Gray? No Way!

Bruce Gray is probably more artist than designer, but his stuff is crazy and I like it. Gray's work explores a wild range of form, materials, and color. 

For example:

Aluminum "Paper Airplanes" commissioned installation in Little Rock National Airport

Painted Metal Wall Sculpture, welded aluminum and paint. (Woah! Me gustalo!)

"Intersection A" Table, distressed steel and glass.. and beauty.

Chairs, and benches, and screens, oh my!

"Dead Dog 'Cartoon Character' Humorous Function Art Table Sculpture" Welded steel, paint, and glass

Although not everything he makes is necessarily appealing to me, I really admire Bruce Gray's enthusiasm and fearlessness with his work. His use of color and form, and a range of purely comedic pieces, shows that he truly enjoys his work, while the beautiful and elegant pieces he produces exemplify his undeniable skill. 

Bruce is an inspiration in that he really does what he loves, how he wants, and his practiced eye and skill draw people right in. He's won a bunch of awards and had some of his work featured in various movies and magazines. His website design is kind of awful (http://www.brucegray.com/index.html), but I even kind of like that about him too, because that crazy thing has had no impact on his massive success. Go Bruce!

[designprose]

GOOD - [is good] For Everyone

GOOD - For Everyone

GOOD is a design community based on social good. Community members post about things they find interesting and carry a conversation about social projects both within the design world and otherwise. 

I think this community is an awesome and important step forward within the realm of design for social good. It keeps designers aware and thinking about what's being done, what they can do next, and with whom they can collaborate to make the world a better place. Beautiful.

[designprose]

Harrison Krix is the maker and sole reason for the company Volpin Props. Basically, he just makes things and they end up looking amazing. A large portion of the things he makes are replicas of things from movies or video games. His design process doesn't differ at all from what we've learned. This guy operates out of his garage, but by looking at his website, you'd think there are a talented team of designers involved. But nope, just this guy. Check it out!

[designprose]

A cool "maker" I admire - Tamara Bavdek of This Ilk!  It won't be hard to see why that is after you read on for a bit.

This Ilk is Bavdek's Canada-based shop on Etsy, featuring mainly handcrafted statement jewelry made with vintage lace (there, that's the reason!!).  She does all of the work herself, including sourcing materials, making the pieces, photography, graphic work, and running the business, with some help from a friend.  What's most interesting is that she majored in Industrial Design in college!  As she says of her education:

My industrial design background pushes me to constantly reinvent the notion of jewelry, or even simply the wearable. I want to surprise people with well-thought-out designs, and I enjoy using materials in ways no one has ever seen. In my case, sometimes the lace is the chain, the ornament, the link, or the bead in my designs. I think that that is what sets This Ilk apart; I have this constant urge to innovate in one way or another and improve my techniques.

Her jewelry pieces are very neat, and from the student point of view, it's also just really cool to see this example of another type of career path we have open to us after college!

- Maisie

(photos and quotes taken from Etsy)

[itsconnorwhite]

I had a lot of fun with these mini installations of emotive stick figure made out of pipe cleaners which I placed around the Product Design equipment room. I left them in the space so whoever has the next shift is going to be in for a surprise.

[designprose]

-Connor & Maise

[designprose]

Maia and I went to the craft fair at Rittenhouse Square last term. There we meet Peter Saenger and spoke to him about industrial design, plaster molds, and his process. Mr Saenger has been making porcelain tea sets since 1970 and one of his designs was featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Check out his website here: http://www.saengerporcelain.com/

[designprose]

I found this cool website called Philly Makers.  It was created to help Philly-area Makers to find each other, share skills, collaborate on projects, and find resources.  

"We consider "Making" to be anything that includes shaping physical material for creative expression, invention, problem-solving, or profit - but which involves technology at some stage.  We love projects that explore the interplay of art and technology."

http://www.meetup.com/Philly-Makers/members/85802092/

I came across maker John Abella. He is from WIlmington, DE.  He runs the 3D Printer Village at World Maker Faire, has written for MAKE Magazine, and has at least 4 3D printers working at his house at any time.  He enjoys 3D printer assembly and tuning, and uses software such as OpenSCAD, Sketchup, and Inventor Fusion.  He currently is working on launching 3D printer workshops in Wilmington - botbuilder.net, and has his own website featuring how-to videos and interviews with MAKE Magazine.

http://www.abella.net

[designprose]

After the 2004 Asian Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina disaster in the U.S., Michael Pritchard, a water-treatment expert in Ipswitch, England began to develop the Lifesaver bottle after hearing the idea from Dr. Zackary Kepes and Austin Castellano Pritchard presented a prototype of the Lifesaver at 2007's DSie London, where the product was named "Best Technological Development".Pritchard's entire stock of 1,000 bottles sold out within four hours of the presentation.

[designprose]

Entrepreneur

Though this organization is not design focused it is a great example of someone with the drive to create and run their own organization. Orly Wahba is the founder of the company LifeVest Inside; the organization is focused wholly on the promotion of kindness into our daily lives through small acts of kindness and through changes in the education system. Her organization is growing rapidly and has gained a lot of support. What is really interesting is that she only founded the organization in late 2011 and since then several of her promotional videos have had over 10 million views in a short amount of time. My older brother, Charles Preston, is the Chief Graphic Designer for her organization, but he also works closely with Orly and has shared information with me about her personality and her mission. She is no doubt an extraordinary woman, and her determination to carry out her vision is what I found inspiring about her entrepreneurial endeavor. One thing I know about her is that she's a workaholic. She spends all of her waking hours improving or promoting her organization and cause to achieve her goals. What I take away from this is the realization that every person who has a goal in mind has to be willing to give things up in order to reach their goals. For us as product designers, that is often our sleep and our social lives.

Here's the link to the website:

http://www.lifevestinside.com/

- Sean

[designprose]

Gabriele Diamanti is a freelance Industrial Designer, based in Milan. In 2010 he founded DDPstudio,  together with designer Lorenzo De Bartolomeis and architect Filippo Poli. DDPstudio is a Design Consultancy focused on many fields.

      He designed a solar household still for the developing countries, named Eliodomestico. First you have to pouring the salty water, then wait all day long until evening. Then, you can extract the fresh water.

Bevetenetutti is another good design. It is an urban installation, which delivers water to everyone. It also fits different people and even animals.

-Minsu

[designprose]

This is a coooolio place that has design for social good across da planet!

http://architectureforhumanity.org/

[designprose]

This is a pretty notable studio based in Chicago, Illinois. Their approach has mostly to do with research, but their mission is to promote social change through design.

- Sean