Pictoplasma

Wow, Pictoplasma NYC 2011 has an interesting line up of speakers. Meanwhile in its 3rd US edition, Pictoplasma returns to New York. It will take place at the Tishman Auditorium of Parsons The New School for Design on November 4th and 5th, featuring more than a dozen selected artist and designer lectures, such as Tim Biskup, Allyson Mellberg Taylor, Jeremyville, Raymond Lemstra, Geneviève Gauckler, Jon Burgerman, BeatBots, Mark Jenkins and many more!.

I would sign up just so I could see Geneviève Gauckler speak. Long time fan here! Tickets are only $260, that’s a refreshing price.

Stripes Make Everything Better

I agree. Stripes make everything better.

inbook Charging Stations



I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of this inbook Charging Station over on BLTD. Why not disguise your iphone docking station with old-school looking books? I like it. Available over on Etsy.

I just bought the white one pictured above. Yay!

Tattly Video Shoot

Yesterday was quite an unusual day at Studiomates: We had the talented and charming team of This Is Made By Hand here. They turned our conference room into a professional video studio. They shot about 50 people wearing Tattlys. Needless to say I can’t wait to see the final product. For now, check out the above timelapse I took of the video shoot!

In case you’re wondering what camera I used. It’s this one. (And yes, it works with Mac)

CreativeMornings = 3

What started as a humble 50-person event at Studiomates in 2009 has grown into a 17-chapter global adventure. When I first launched CreativeMornings people laughed and said no one will show up. Too early for New Yorkers. Well, I proved you wrong! We now average 250 creative folks that attend CreativeMornings/NewYork at 8.30am, one friday a month.

A big thank you goes out to my *amazing*, hardworking hosts and their team. You have to understand, everyone is working on volunteer basis. Impressive and humbling to say the least. CreativeMornings started as a reaction to the expensive and time-demanding conference world. I knew there had to be something more accessible and nimble. An event you could simply go to before heading to work. An event, that let’s you connect with people in your community. That’s what CreativeMornings stands for.

Would you like to watch a selection of our talks? Head over to Vimeo where we created a ‘best of’ channel.

But for now, for the month of October, party along with us and tell us what we should do next! Do you have ideas for a speaker, host, venue or just simply a suggestion on how we should celebrate? Let us know! happybirthday.creativemornings.com

A big giant thank you to my team Yoko and Kevin for building the birthday site!

♥ / vespoe

A big thank you to vespoe for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed!

Artists and designers unite! New York-based startup, vespoe, is a new marketplace pioneered by the alumni, faculty and students of art and design schools from all fields to build together a supportive, cross-disciplinary and global marketplace to sell their original works.

Find everything from art to furniture to fashion to jewelry to lighting to all things cool made in batches or as one-offs using 3d printers, hands, digital fabrication and other manufacturing methods.

Want to open up your vespoe shop for free? Ask for an invitation here.

(Interested in sponsoring a week of my RSS feed, learn more here.)

William Ury: The walk from “no” to “yes”

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am currently at an intimate summit in Colorado, surrounded by incredibly humbling minds. One of them is William Ury. He is one of the authors of the well-known book called Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Having been able to spend some time with William I can say that he is a mediator to the core and an impressively kind and deep man.

Do yourself a favor and watch William’s 20minute TED Talk in which he offers an elegant, simple (but not easy) way to create agreement in even the most difficult situations — from family conflict to, perhaps, the Middle East.

Waving From Colorado

I am currently at a small Summit in Colorado, organized by Simon Sinek, force behind the Start With Why Movement. If you haven’t seen his TEDx talk, you should take a few minutes to do so:

I am sure some interesting blog posts will come out of these two days. The attendees are humbling to say the least. Just take Ping Fu for example, her story is the most inspiring I’ve ever heard. Inc Magazine called her entrepreneur of the year. Read the article here. More to come!

The Office (1969)

In this compilation of BBC clips from 1969, James Burke experiences the automated office of the future and what it might mean for the evolution of work culture:

“The great thing about machines is that they do what they’re told. They leave you to get on with it. Never late, they’re obedient, they’re never sick, they never disturb you or argue or paint their nails or talk or smile at you or say ‘good morning’ or keep you company. They just leave you alone.”

Found in this fantastic post over on Brain Pickings titled Today Yesterday: 5 Vintage Visions for the Future of Technology.

British General P.O. Phones

I remember when my parents taught me how to call their office number on our rotary phone.

Twine Stand With Scissors

Made of oak, this Twine Stand comes with a pair of stainless steal scissors neatly tucked in a hollow on top. Carry it along with you into the garden to support your growing tomatoes or keep it stored on the shelf in the kitchen. Also handy in the office when packaging up parcels. Includes a ball of natural string. A beauty. #wishlisted

(kind of via Mrs.Easton)

Tattly Film Volunteers Needed

Do you live in the NYC area? Are you a fan of temporary tattoos and you don’t mind being in front of a camera? Well, then this might be for you: The super-talented folks of This Is Made By Hand are going to make a short film to showcase Tattly. And we are looking for a range of fun faces to appear in it. Here are the details.

Shooting Date: This coming Sunday October 2nd

Location: Studiomates offices in DUMBO Brooklyn NYC

The Film : The film will be a montage of sorts comprised of whimsical portraits that include Tattly designs. For a visual reference, have a look at some of the photos on the Tattly site. We are not only looking for grown-ups but also for kids, so, you parents out there, send in the info of your kids!

Who We Are Looking For: Don’t be shy to apply: babies, kids, twins, lots of freckles, great mustaches and/or beards etc. All kinds of hair styles and colors welcome.

What We Have For You: Well Tattlys of course. Tickets to DUMBO’s new Jane’s Carousel and much gratitude (plus a hug if you want it). We promise it won’t take too long and we’ll make it fun!

Apply to: [email protected] (in subject Tattly Casting) please include some reference photos, contact information, and availability info for Sunday.

Color Dipped Mug



These Color Dipped Mugs are stunning. They’re made in Nagasaki, Japan, and are microwave and dishwasher safe. #wishlisted

H-57



This H-57 Rocket USB stick made me chuckle. Wouldn’t mind having it sit on my desk. Not at all.

UPDATE: I feel horrible about posting this, bad taste in hindsight. My apologies to anyone I might have offended with this post.

(thank you Bekka)

i-Wood

This wooden kids ‘laptop’ i-Wood made me chuckle. I am tempted to get one and use it during a meeting. No better way to poke fun at all the people hiding behind their laptops.

(thank you Larissa)

Basurita

I love multifunctional furniture like this piece called Basurita. It’s a room divider, wardrobe and bed, all in one. Hat tip to fraupawlik c/o Katharina Pawlik.

Rubber Bookshelf

Rubber Bookshelf by Luke Hart. Probably not all that practical but it’s sure interesting looking.

(via colossal / behance)

♥ / Brandbook

A big thank you to Brandbook for sponsoring this week’s RSS feed!

Everyone loves notebooks – especially designers. After all, notebooks are the best medium to keep hold of ideas. At Brandbook.de, designers can get their very own notebook edition produced and can choose between a wide range of different cover materials or even Japanese design paper. Brandbook is working for many international design- and advertising agencies, all well-known European brands.

(Interested in sponsoring a week of my RSS feed, learn more here.)

Bobble Head Robots



More fuel for my Robot obsession: A kit that allows you to build your very own Bobble Head Robots. Scissors and glue required. Eight styles in total.

Split Decision Pie Pan

If dessert time at your house sounds like this, “I want apple pie”. “No’ let’s have pecan pie!” … then you’ll need the Split Decision Pie Pan. Why bake one, when you can do two at the same time. The ingenious Split Decision Pie Pan includes two inserts for creating either a traditional full size pie, or two halves.

TeuxDeux Part Deux

If you read my blog regularly, you probably know about the to do list application that I built with Fictive Kin called TeuxDeux.

It’s been one of the most rewarding projects that I’ve ever worked on and I happily use it every day. It feels great to use your own product and it feels even better to know that nearly 200k people have signed up and loved it as well.

That said, as a product, it doesn’t really make much money (largely due to the fact that web version is free and we only charge $2.99 for the iphone app) and so we’ve had a very difficult time getting it the attention it deserves. After talking with my team, we realize that we need help. We’d like to hire a developer to help us implement the great road map of features that have been staring us in the face for a while.

More details to come, but if you are a great developer and you like our app, we’d love to hear from you. Email us.

Design at Scale

I recommend you watch the below video if you’re interested in the issue of scale in the world of design. Taped at a recent Smart Design Salon.

CreativeMornings Video: Chris Bangle

The speaker at the second CreativeMornings/London was Chris Bangle, formerly design director at BMW Group and now running Chris Bangle Associates. Talk about the London chapter starting off with a bang. Hat tip to the host, Drew Smith and his team!

The event was generously hosted by Buro Happold and Sense Worldwide. A big thank you to Nick Culley for filming and editing the talk.

Elephant Wall Easel

Easels always seem like a good idea but in a small NYC apartment they just end up being in the way. At least in my book. That’s why I like the idea of wall mounting the P’kolino Elephant Wall Easel. Granted, you probably have to paint the wall fairly often as kids never stay on the paper.