Creatives grow better in the South West

The secrets of creativity are exposed.

Devolution to the Lowbrow

The illusion of a carefree life, childhood, living off the grid, traveling the open road, the idea of having no encumbrances - these are the new fantasies.

Recently, Trader Joe’s was serving PBJ’s at their sampling counter (Peanut, Butter and Jelly sandwiches - a childhood favorite for generations of American kids.) A “crunchy granola” head sporting a bicycle helmet in the store - trying to be “cool” said, “Oh, that is so low class, but I guess it is Trader Joe‘s peanut butter.” Actually being a granola-head is - so yesterday and she missed the whole point. Trader Joe’s has become a cult classic and has become one of America's highest grossing retail store with virtually no advertising by being on target with the zeitgeist. The next week they were serving grilled cheese sandwiches – they understand the “tastes” of the future well.

Goat cheese and brie are so yesterday, luxury items are appropriating the gritty tastes and visual language of the lowbrow cultures to the extreme – pbj’s, comics, the ghetto, old waterfronts, and decaying manufacturing sites – the unseen and disappearing places in first world cultures.

• Hoodie’s have gone from gangs camouflage to chairs.
• Cheap plastic flowers adorn the bicycle of a “street” lady in New York, then inexplicably and simultaneously they appear in a chic boutique window in the Meatpacking district and covering the façade of the Copper-Hewitt- what was once the premier design museum in the US. This begs the question: “Is the Cooper-Hewitt loosing it or are they just trend forward?” Their facade trimming is certainly not nearly as sophisticated as the Torte Boontje florals seen recently at Christmas in all the “Targee” stores.
• If you channel surf at all in the American media market, you will eventually see the laborers taking apart decaying ships in the ports off Bangladesh. Is this where the Dornbracht designers (subliminally) got their ideas? Rust and decay finishes are increasingly seen in interiors.
• McDonald’ and other corporate logo colors are becoming so ubiquitous that people now comfortably wear these color even when not working there.
  

Words to live by

"Life is pretty simple: You try something. Usually it fails. Sometimes it works. If it works well, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is to keep trying something else." Leonardo Da Vinci

Color Inspiration from your favorite image realized

Before beginning work with a new client, every design professional recommends that the client create a file folder of "favorite" images to give them a head start on working together. There are a ton of "decorating tools" of questionable value on line, but only one that I have found that lets you take an image and translate it into something really useful - kuler by Adobe. Simply upload the "favorite" image and presto you have a color scheme with 5 colors from your image. Who would have guessed that a vase of peonies could create a preppy color scheme for a downtown loft. Shown is the "muted" random scheme that the software generates with several other options available. You can also move 5 circles around the image to other colors to change the scheme at will. Importing pictures is a piece of cake, and the site works intuitively. Originally designed for graphic artists, it is a delightful tool for anyone that loves color.

Cheap solar power from MIT...Simple, Elegant, Raw

Worlds largest solar powered LED display in Beijing

Visitors to the Olympics in Beijing will be find the world's largest color LED display combined with China's first photovoltaic system integrated into a glass curtain wall. The GreenPix Zero Energy Media Wall was designed by New York-based architect Simone Giostra with solar technology by China's solar powerhouse Suntech. This display forms the curtain wall of the Xicui Entertainment Complex in Beijing, harvesting solar energy by day and using it to illuminate the screen after dark, mirroring a day’s climatic cycle.

Researcher from Groningen developes transparent solar cells

Finally, a solar cell we aesthetically minded can love - or at least live with. In Groningen, the Netherlands, researchers are working on the development of of a cheaper solar cell which can be made of plastic. Afshin Hadipour found a way to make semi-transparent solar cells made of plastic which can function as a window at the same time. Read more about it on their site.

George Carlin RIP

A Message by George Carlin on the death of his first wife:

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life.
We've added years to life not life to years.
We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space.
We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.
We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice.
We write more, but learn less.
We plan more, but accomplish less.
We've learned to rush, but not to wait.
We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stock room. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, 'I love you' , but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

If you don't send this to at least 8 people....Who cares?

Thoreau, Boomers and Brand

What do Tom's of Maine. Burt's Bees, Ben and Jerry's and Stonyfield Farm have in common? Yes, the companies were all founded in New England, but an article in brandchannel.com finds that they also share a decidedly New England world-view or more specifically a view of nature as articulated by Emerson and Thoreau. Professor Jane E. Rosecrans of Virginia’s J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College notes that the green values championed by the afore-mentioned brands echo many of the ideals that were advanced in New England in the mid-nineteenth century by these Transcendentalist writers.

If you want to continue to appeal to Boomers keep these writers' values in mind- especially in these "green" times. Thoreau was a cultural icon for those that came of age throughout the 60's, and like the music of one's youth, the ideals of poetry stay with a generation throughout life. (Never mind the obesity crisis, even a spoonfull of Ben and Jerry's is akin to the heaven Thoreau found in nature to me.)

2008 State of the Nation’s Housing Report Released

The nation is in the throes of a housing downturn that is shaping up to be the worst in a generation, finds The State of the Nation’s Housing report issued today by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. While the falloff in housing starts, new home sales, and existing home sales already rivals the worst downturns in the post World War II era, home price declines and mortgage defaults are the worst on records that date back to the 1960s and 1970s.

This is a critical time for those in the building material industries to be creative in all aspects of their business.

Classic or a Cliché

Is the red geranium a classic or a cliché? Is it an archetype for happy summer days - for summer itself?

Occasionally I will plant geraniums that coordinate better with the perennials in my garden, yet every time I do, I find myself disappointed and the next year it's back to the brilliantly red ones. Those "sophisticated" designers turn their nose up at the very idea, yet red geraniums satisfy some deep-seated yearning for me. Why is a basket or windowbox of red geraniums so much more satisfying than the other colors?

That is the very question in both design and marketing, when does the presentation of the familiar cross over to cliche? Or does it matter - is a cliche just an efficient form of communication whether in words or images?

I cast my vote for red geraniums as classics!

Patricia Urquiola continues to charm

Like Pompeii, it used to be that Milan annually spewed out a flow of bad antique reproductions. Now it is simply a flood of mid-century modern furniture reproductions that come out year after year after year. Contemporary used to mean "of the current times" now it seems to mean "more of the same."

However, there is one designer in Milan who truly designs in the spirit of "contemporary" and that is Patricia Urquiola. Every season her designs are original and enchanting. Not afraid to use color, this Spaniard has given us a delightful new design vocabulary. Whether designing wire chairs for EMU, fabric-inspired plastic chairs for Kartell, or a whimsical set of fine china for Rosenthal, Urquiola creates fresh and exciting interpretations of traditional forms for today. Find out more about her in an interview on the Designboom website.

A solar Rube Goldberg machine

"A" for effort and an "F" for looks. The Sunray golf cart by Cruise Car is recharged by a solar panel. Does it really have to be so obvious? Also obvious is that this company has not heard of "Design."

Must they be so ugly?

Maybe Herwig's book Universal Design: Solutions for Barrier-free Living will finally let the world know that universal design does not have to be ugly. I always hate checking in late to a hotel, only to find myself with the handicap room with its on-so-ugly bathroom. Europeans just do these things much better, HEWI products are available in a decent array of colors at plumbing supply houses here, but I have only seen them at trade shows. What a shame!

Universal Design can be beautiful

Design Week reviews the book: Universal Design: Solutions for Barrier-free Living by Oliver Herwig which will be published in September. With a rapidly aging population, all interior product producers must be sensitive to this issue. Interior finishes are little affected by this topic other than the need for slip resistance in floors and an overall requirement for ease of maintenance. However, universal design should be given equal consideration with sustainability in the marketing materials for all interior products. OXO kitchen gadgets have long been developed for "universal design" and everyone loves to use them - as James Irvine says in the book "good design is universal design." Design Week shows the lovely SimpliciTEA ceramic teapot with pourer stand, designed by Lotte Alpert - I hope it makes it to our marketplace.

Further information on universal design is available from The Center for Universal Design (CUD), a national information, technical assistance, and research center that evaluates, develops, and promotes accessible and universal design in housing, commercial and public facilities, outdoor environments, and products.

Yves Saint Laurent R.I.P.

These quotes from Yes St. Laurent give us a small insight into why he was an important part of the fashion and cultural scene. He was always paying attention!

"I participated in the transformation of my era. I did it with clothes, which is surely less important than music, architecture, painting ... but whatever it's worth I did it."

"Like Proust, I'm fascinated most of all by my perceptions of a world in awesome transition."

"The street and me is a love story. 1971 is a great date because, finally, fashion took to the street."

"I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity - all I hope for in my clothes."

"To be beautiful, all a woman needs is a black pullover and a black skirt and to be arm in arm with a man she loves."

"The most beautiful clothes that can dress a woman are the arms of the man she loves. But for those who haven't had the fortune of finding this happiness, I am there."

This reminds me to go searching for my copy of Julia Cameron's "Artist's Way" and my favorite dog-eared Vogue article "On Paying Attention" that was incorporated into the book. I haven't read it for awhile and as Woody Allen would say: "I need the eggs."

"The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention." Julia Cameron