“You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with”.
– Jim Rohn
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
– Soren Kierkegaard
These computer-controlled, shape changing blobs of gel made me look. Lisa Smith of Core77 writes:
A friend of ours loves to joke that the future will have no hard edges; experience will be defined in pastel-colored gels, foams and mists that deliver your voicemail and bring you milk. Probably to his dismay, this new project from the Wakita Laboratoray at Keio University may one day prove him right.
Not only do I love the sound of the word “Blob”, I also love the idea of having gel foams bring me milk.
Tony Wagner is currently speaking at The Feast Conference. He is killing it. What a smart and fascinating man. I just found the above Youtube Video in which he talks about the 7 Skills students need for their future.
More on Tony Wagner.
Brew for a Better World from Project 7 on Vimeo.
What if that cup of coffee you drink every day could change the world? Project7 is doing exactly that. Simply put, you buy coffee and you do good. Each of their seven coffees is attached to a specific cause and provides funding for worthy non-profits. These funds are put toward specific activities that make a difference. So, how does it really work?
Project 7 exists to give. They are a cause-related company that makes every day consumer goods, like bio-bottled water, gum, mints and coffee. They aren’t asking you to buy more stuff, just change the products that you already buy.
For every purchase of a Project 7 product, some good is done in seven areas of need – Feed the Hungry, Heal the Sick, Hope for Peace, House the Homeless, Quench the Thirsty, Teach them Well and Save the Earth.
This is fantastic. I want more businesses to take such a noble approach.
I am excited to be attending The Feast Conference by AlldayBuffet in the NewYorkTimes Center today. You can follow my live tweeting over at twitter.com/swissmiss and if you want to virtually attend, go and click on the livestream over at: http://www.livestream.com/alldaybuffet.
Rhythmrhythm.com is one stunningly beautiful site. And the objects are of a minimalistic beauty as well. Well done!
Loosecubes is a community of independent people building a global network of shared workspaces. They bring together people who have great space and people who want to work in it.
At Loosecubes, they want to change the way people work. Their members need the flexibility to work at home sometimes and in an office sometimes. They want the freedom to travel anywhere in the world and not have to worry about finding an internet connection and some intelligent people. They don’t think that Loosecubes hosts will participate just to make some extra money. They think they will participate because members are people they want to get to know. They’ll participate because they believe, that the only way to be truly independent work-wise is to have great workspace available when you need it – without paying an arm and a leg.
Find a big space and invite your friends and colleagues to work together. Spend a month coworking or a few weeks in another country.
Fantastic idea. We might just have to expand and put some desks up on Loosecubes here at swissmiss studio.
Jimmy Chiang, the CEO of Way Basics sent me a note about their third generation design of their table set called Charlotte.
We have one of these sets, the second generation and it’s super sturdy, practical and good looking. What I love so much about Way Basics is that you can put it into recycling when you’re done with it. Let’s face it, kids furniture only has a shelf-life of a few years. Kids outgrow it or it breaks. The fact that I can take it apart and put it into recycling makes me happy and less guilty about owning a product that doesn’t stay with us for years on end.
And by the way, if your’e wondering if they are sturdy, as they are only ‘glued’ together, let me tell you they are. I sit on them daily, do crafty stuff with our Ella. It’s light weight yet sturdy furniture.
Two swissmiss thumbs up for Way Basics.
Here’s an event I’d go to in a heartbeat if I’d live in Boston: “Beyond Helvetica: a look at the power of typography” – Lecture with Ken Barber and François Rappo at MIT.
On October 27, 2010 from 6.30-9pm at MIT Room 3-270
To Self-Publish or Not to Self-Publish. An interesting post by Eric Karjaluoto over on ideasonideas.com.
images via dezeen
Alain de Botton has always tried to get ideas to impact on the way we actually live. So in the summer of 2008, Alain and some colleagues set up The School of Life.
The School has a passionate belief in making learning relevant – and so runs courses in the important questions of everyday life. Whereas most colleges and universities chop up learning into abstract categories (‘agrarian history’ ‘the 18th century English novel’), The School of Life titles its courses according to things we all tend to care about: careers, relationships, politics, travels, families. An evening or weekend on one of its courses is likely to be spent reflecting on such matters as your moral responsibilities to an ex partner or how to resolve a career crisis.
The School offers communal meals, holidays and a beautiful shop with fascinating gift vouchers and other items. It also has a division offering psychotherapy for individuals, couples or families – and it does so in a completely stigma-free way. For the normally reserved British, it must be a first to have an institution that offers therapy from an ordinary high street location and moreover, treats the idea of having therapy as no more or less strange than having a haircut or pedicure, and perhaps a good deal more useful.
The School attempts to put learning and ideas back to where they should always have been – right in the middle of our lives.
I wish I could attend and send my kids to The School of Life.
One of the more embarrassing and self-indulgent challenges of our time is the task of relearning how to concentrate. The past decade has seen an unparalleled assault on our capacity to fix our minds steadily on anything. To sit still and think, without succumbing to an anxious reach for a machine, has become almost impossible.
…
The need to diet, which we know so well in relation to food, and which runs so contrary to our natural impulses, should be brought to bear on what we now have to relearn in relation to knowledge, people, and ideas. Our minds, no less than our bodies, require periods of fasting.
Some random Google Term Search brought me to this page featuring Vintage Fitness Equipment. What can I say? I am stunned. See more images.
The OXO Candela Zoom is an adorable bedside companion to ward off the darkness. LED lights provide eight hours of soothing light. Zoom lights up automatically when lifted from the charging base or if there is a loss of electricity. The charging base doubles as an optional nightlight that can be left on even when the Zoom is charging.
Tango is a brand new iPhone app that let’s you have free video chats on your phone. I just tried it. It’s da bomb and officially making my day. Yes, that’s me and my studiomate Jennifer, on that picture.
Imaginary Forces talked to Alice Twemlow, Eric Abrahamson, Massimo Vignelli, David Miller, Kurt Andersen, Søren Kjær, Alfred Stadler, Jennifer Lai, and Ben Bajorek about the relationship between the worker and the desk and how this reflects on personality and habits. The Desk.
Lines consists of mini-documentaries, running 5 to 7 minutes in length, highlighting the beauty and importance of the architecture in everyday objects, and details how the design and structure of these objects affect and reflect our lifestyles. These objects range from parking structures to high heel shoes.
(thank you sonia)
Earlier today I asked about what tools people use to download YouTube Videos. One that seems to stand out is Dirpy Studio. Not only can you turn any YouTubeVideo into an mp3 you can also choose different video qualities and formats.
What happens when you combine two things that make me happy? LEGO + Lettpress = YAY!
(via brainpickings)
Milton Glaser is among the most celebrated graphic designers in the United States. He has the distinction of one-man-shows at the Museum of Modern Art and the Georges Pompidou Center. In 2004 he recieved the lifetime achievement award from the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum. As a Fulbright scholar, Glaser studied with the painter, Giorgio Morandi. In 2010 Glaser was awarded the National Medal of Arts, he is the first graphic designer to receive this award.
Listen to Debbie Millman’s podcast Interview with Milton Glaser over on DesignObserver.
How is the world going to end? What’s the best way to win an argument? Which heavy metal band name is right for you? Learn the answers to these questions by reading Everything Explained Through Flowcharts by Doogie Horner.
