Archive for May, 2012
The RSON8 is a touchscreen controller for aspiring DJ’s, talent required, although it does make mixing music a lot easier for noobs. The device has grooves where digital buttons appear allowing one to augment track(s) and levels. The screen also uses next generation tactile feedback substrates so you can literally feel the sliders. And if you’re still scratching your head as to how to pronounce it, try “resonate”.
I’ve stated many times on this blog that I spend a great deal of time with graphic designers. Color ways, typefaces, mood boards, all that good stuff, it’s all part of my everyday life (weather I want it to be like that or not). But because of that, I have a special appreciation for well thought out design. I came across a site yesterday called ‘Design Seeds’, and on it, I saw the work of a woman named Jessica who (among other things) breaks down photos into their most prominent colors. That’s the most basic way to describe it, but if you want a rundown on Jessica, just read below, and to see more of her work, just click right here.
My love (okay…passion) for color sprouted at a very young age. I played with color markers (my favorite colors of course) as action figures and loved melting Crayolas into different hue sculptures. We would go to the Detroit Auto Show every year, and I would cut up all the brochures and create my first mood boards by collaging the images to cover my bedroom door. Fast forward decades later… having worked as a car designer, shoe designer, color & material specialist and forecaster (hmm…could see that all coming from my earliest days)… my love of color was actualized through my biggest joy of life… my daughter’s name {Ruby Joy}.
Beginning in art school (and throughout my design career), I have journaled color palettes and inspiration. The earliest of my journals were compiled in a sketchbook with pantone chips and dymo label callouts…the design seed blog is a modern interpretation of my original journals. It is my pleasure to share with you my journey and inspiration as I continuously track and forecast emerging colors and palette combinations.
Amazing advancements have been made in 3D-printing technology, but designer Sebastian Bertram has taken it a step further, expanding the capabilities of 3D printing to large-scale 3D building. The Contour Crafter aims to keep up with demand for housing in urban areas with a construction method that combines industrial production and the technique of rapid prototyping. The robot “prints” contours of a building shell layer by layer using fast-drying concrete. Within just a couple of weeks, an entire estate could be produced.
Kreayshawn famously inked a million-dollar deal with Columbia last year, and this summer, we’ll probably see the first physical product from the partnership, Something’ Bout Kreay. Today, though, I saw the extremely fun, silly video for “Breakfast (Syrup),” featuring the most raucous breakfast party to ever be witnessed in a music video (that I’m aware of). Lyrical samplings: “Call me Kreay Hefner / Playboy Bunny,” “Stackin’ dough / Breakfast.” 2 Chainz, who is on every song now, shows up with some syrup and a Wayne-checking verse. It’s their second recent collaboration, so they might as well make an album. Watch it below.
This unique iPhone case is pure genius. The versatile IdoStand uses 2 seamlessly integrated arms that make it possible to prop your phone up in portrait or landscape modes at the perfect angle for recording video or Facetiming. Best of all, the design is no bigger than than other cases and, if nothing else, actually compliments the beauty of the iPhone itself.
Minimal posters are very trendy, and Alejandro de Antonio has produced an excellent set of minimal movie posters in this vein. He has an uncanny ability to capture the essence of a popular movie and represent it via a simplistic, but elegant illustration. His designs showcase how strong the brand is behind the movies, as we instantly connect with the represented protagonists.
The 47m Heesen superyacht Lady Petra, boasting sophisticated exterior by Omega Architects and beautiful interior by Bannenberg & Rowell, was launched on Saturday, April 28. This wonderful vessel offers luxurious Owner´s suite situated on the upper deck, with the guest cabins located on the lower deck, providing the Owners with full privacy while aboard. The interior decor is inspired by the 20th Century industrial Dutch design, optical geometric studies, and shapes coming from industrial components such as formers and frames. There is a media and games room, ideal for children, situated in the area that is normally reserved for the master cabin forward on the main deck. During the ceremony of the launching his new superyacht, Frans Heesen took the opportunity to announce his retirement from official functions in the company that bears his name.
Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures have announced the launch of a special Batman-themed “Tumbler Tour” to promote the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises.
Fans who have been eagerly awaiting the July 20th release will have an opportunity to get a firsthand look at the Tumbler and the Bat-Pod, which are rolling out on a coast-to-coast tour, sponsored by Mountain Dew and IMAX.
Both the Tumbler and the Bat-Pod have served as high-powered modes of transportation for Batman in Christopher Nolan’s earlier blockbusters–with the Tumbler first appearing in Batman Begins, and the Bat-Pod being introduced in The Dark Knight. They will both be featured in different ways in Christopher Nolan’s hugely anticipated finale to his Batman trilogy.
Leading up to the opening of the film, the Tumbler and the Bat-Pod will be making their way across North America, appearing in the following cities and towns:
Peter Aurisch, a tattoo artist based out of Berlin, Germany, creates amazing one of a kind works of art that are unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. Each piece mirrors Peter’s signature style, merging a whimsical aesthetic with an overall edgy and visually enticing demeanor. His tattoos are exploding with creativity, as he intermingles a vast array of subjects and figures into his works, somehow they all come together to create an overall brilliant cohesive design.
Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.
Many people consider being a celebrity like being in some sort of elite club. An upper echelon of a big circle of friends. In some respects that may be true, but there are still certain people in the “celebrity community” that you may not necessarily expect to spend time with each other. Check out the series of photos below.
Woody Allen and Michael Jackson
Charlie Chaplin and Albert Einstein
Colonel Sanders and Alice Cooper
Barack Obama and George Clooney
Elvis Presley and Tom Jones
George Lucas, David Bowie and Jim Henson
Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson
Dave Grohl, RuPaul and Kurt Cobain
The Beatles and Mohammed Ali
Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart
Michael Jackson, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas
Charlie Chaplin and Mahatma Gandhi
Prince and Prince Charles
Stephen Fry and Lady Gaga
Nancy Reagan and Mr. T
Eartha Kitt and James Dean
Bob Marley and the Jackson Five
Dustin Hoffman and Lawrence Olivier
Check out an all the way live rendition of the massive mixtape hit ‘Stay Schemin’, recorded by some lucky girl, and performed by Rick Ross, Drake, and French Montana.
The Rafael López de Heredia Tondonia Winery is one of the oldest and more famous winery in the Spanish region of La Rioja. To celebrate their 125th anniversary they decided to rehabilitate a very old store that the winery founder took to Brussel’s World Fair in 1910 and had been disassembled ever since.
In 2002 current owners (direct descendants of the founder), discovered how beautiful the old store was and decided to built an exterior volume to house the old store. This would become the future wine store and a place where visitors could taste the great wines they produce. This pavillion is only part of all the project that will include three more tasting rooms and a cleaning room. More images and architect’s description after the break.
The adage that from small beginnings many things may grow applies well to this project. The client, famous family bodegas of Rioja came to us with the intention of designing a pavilion to contain an older pavilion. The old pavilion had been found in their outhouses and restored to its original condition. It had been originally commissioned by the great grandfather for the world fair exhibition in 1910. The proprietors of the bodegas had a long succession of adding their built presence to the tradition of the bodegas.
The new pavilion was to be exhibited at the Alimentaria Fair in Barcelona and afterwards relocated to the bodegas at Haro in Rioja. In time the pavilion would be superseded by a new extension of cultural buildings. As such it was a stepping-stone,a bridge between the past,present and future development of the bodegas. For us the starting point was to jump into the future to determine how the present would evolve. We began this project by a series of studies exploring how the bodegas could evolve. Working backwards from these studies the pavilion began to emerge in tandem.
The pavilion would house the past the old pavilion. Made from timber and designed in a fin de scele style the old pavilion became a jewel within a new container. Like a series of Russian dolls the new pavilion itself was to be eventually housed within the new extension at the bodegas. The new pavilion would be just one layer in a larger composition.
MTV has a new series about Dev. Watch the 22 year old pop star show MTV behind the scenes for the launch of her career as a popstar recording her album, touring, as well as her life as a mom.
Its no secret that I’ve been taking a little hiatus since 2012 began, and I knew it’d take quite a special event to get me back behind the tables for the rest of the year. My good friend and multi-talented artist Stephanie Balistreri invited me to work the ‘Not Your Average Art Show’ presentation in San Francisco. The show takes place this coming Thursday and features an incredible array of artwork from Stephanie, Jennifer Hansen, Kevin Moore, Olivia Chen, Celina Hodge, Ellen Coleman, Lindsey Millikan, JinHee Lee, Brandi Lee, and special guest artist Kim Froshin. ‘Not Your Average Art Show’ will be held at The San Francisco Design Center, (2 Henry Adams Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, on the 3rd floor). The show starts at 5 p.m. and ends at 8. To see some pieces from the artists that will be displaying work in the show, check out the examples below, and read the official synopsis from the Clique website.
Kim Froshin
Brandi Lee
Celina Hodge
Ellen Coleman
A diverse group of emerging artists join together to present an innovative art show. This ‘name your own price’ event allows anyone and everyone to be able to afford a piece of art. Questioning the status quo, these 8 women brazenly dare to hang their work without a listed price. They invite the viewer to bid whatever they want and at the end of the night the highest bid wins. The consumer is given the power to assign value to a product, and everyone who attends is automatically a potential collector. This auction style event has been carefully designed from every angle to sell everything in one night.
Each member of ‘Clique’ has donated a 12” x 12” painting to be auctioned off through a $1 raffle. Fifty percent of proceeds from the raffle benefit the charity “Dress for Success.” In addition, Kim Frohsin is auctioning a painting with 100% of proceeds benefiting the charity. This amazing organization not only provides suits and training to women for job interviews, but also assists them in retaining their employment. One donated painting will be a mystery panel to be unveiled at the end of the show.
Free food, music and refreshments will be provided. The showrooms at The San Francisco Design Center have agreed to remain open throughout the event allowing you to wander through their amazing inventory… adding to what’s sure to be an unforgettable experience.
Jinhee Lee
Lindsey Millikan
Olivia Chen
Stephanie Balistreri
Almost everyone is familiar with Pin Up girl photos from the 30′s, 40′s, and 50′s. It was an intriguing brand of imagery back in the day, and now is always portrayed as classic. I personally have always loved the style, but never really knew how they produced the photos. Apparently taking pictures, and re-engineering the imagery though illustration was the way to do it. Check out some examples below.
Academy Award winning director Martin Scorsese has announced he will produce Silver Ghost, a film that chronicles the lives of the names behind the formation of Rolls-Royce. Silver Ghost will tell the story of motoring pioneer Lord John Douglas-Scott Montagu, his wife Cis and his secret love affair with his secretary and mistress, Eleanor Velasco Thornton. It also will detail Montagu’s connection and friendships with Rolls-Royce founders Charles Rolls and Henry Royce and British artist and sculptor Charles Sykes. Thornton was the inspiration for the iconic Spirit of Ecstasy mascot, designed by Sykes, that to this day adorns all Rolls-Royce cars. “When I read the story of ‘Silver Ghost’, I was mesmerised,” Scorsese said. “I immediately thought this is a picture that has to be made. I didn’t hesitate for a moment.” The script has been penned by Kiera Knightley’s mum, Sharman Macdonald and Christian Bale is rumored to be in line to take a starring role in the film as Lord Montagu.
Click the pic to download.
On an average of about once a month, DJ Jeff Phantom and I got together since February to put out some podcast mixes that started with Project X, and are now culminating in the 30 minute mix session titled ‘Swerve’. With it being half Hip Hop, and half Electro/House/Dubstep, tons of ideas, mashups, and remixed were thrown around during the early phase of putting things together, but in the end we felt it was just best to just rock live on the turn tables for about 15 minutes each. Click the player below to listen, and we hope you enjoy.
After releasing some teaser photos in February, Dolce & Gabbana has now unveiled the advertising film for its new line of eyewear – frames and sunglasses. Directed by Luca Finotti and photographed by Giampaolo Sgura, this new campaign features Italian model Bianca Balti, who appears in a retro look with strong 1950s influences.
The Matt-Silk collection by Dolce & Gabbana uses classic shapes and colors like cherry red, taupe, cerluean blue as well as lipstick pink, earth brown and jet black. In the words of the brand, the collection is “cool, pretty and perfectly in tune with this season’s main trend: Fifties.”
The spokesmodel for this new line, Bianca Balti, was also featured in the design duo’s 2012 spring/summer jewelry collection.
‘Beyond Infinity’, a multisensory installation by French artist and theorist Serge Salat, interweaves mirrors, light, music, and fractal art in an architecture that conflates visitors’ perceptions of space. Sponsored by Buick cars and usable during the events as a vehicle showroom, the work is installed at Shanghai’s Westgate Mall from September 16th through 18th, 2011. Measuring 12.45 by 10.8 meters at a height of 3.8 meters, the structure is completely closed, composed of a steel infrastructure with honeycomb aluminum panels covered in mirrors. internally, the space is designed around the trigram of the Yi King, utilizing spatial techniques traditional of Suzhou gardens as a means of framing the visitor experience as a ‘mystical journey’ through abstracted Chinese courtyards. Painted wooden grids and steps lend additional structure, while the fractal objects are composed of wooden frames covered with punched aluminum anodized panels.
Being a huge Top Gear fan, I’m always watching BBC America, and one of the few other shows I love on the network is the Graham Norton show. Its like your average late night talk show, but with a little more British swag. Among the guests on Graham’s sofa are Hollywood star Will Smith, who stars in new film Men in Black III, and Will sat down to do one of his most classic songs ever. Check the method.
CLICK THE PHOTOS TO SEE THE ANIMATION.
There was a time, not too long ago, when the term “cinemagraph” was being thrown around and internet culture gravitated toward this amalgamation of still shots and modest yet aesthetically effective movement. New York-based photographer Jamie Beck and her counterpart Kevin Burg first coined the term last year, gaining a lot of recognition for their cinematic images with subtle movement.
The motion in each image exhibits just the right amount of movement. Whether it’s hair or clothing hit by a slight breeze, dangling jewelry swaying back and forth, or the endless burning flame in an otherwise frozen world, the calculated action serves a purpose in adding to the mood or aesthetic. Each gif takes a moment in time and eternalizes it in a series of repetitive loops of motion. There are also those few images that I like to call “wait for it” shots because it seems like an average still shot for a longer period of time than you’d expect and then something quickly and briefly changes.
Take a little behind the scenes peek at the track titled ‘Monster’ by Bizzy Crook, being produced by Araab Muzik.
In order to celebrate the airline’s new in-flight bar, Virgin Atlantic has decided to create custom ice cubes in the shape of Richard Branson‘s head. The bar will also incorporate a raft of additional innovations including the fabulous new champagne coupe glass, enhanced mood lighting and a new seating system to facilitate the most comfortable social experience in the air. The ice cubes were created using the exact measurements of Branson’s head and have a level of detail not seen before in an ice cube, Virgin said. It took six weeks for a team of four designers to create Sir Richard’s likeness. They used detailed photographic techniques and laser scanning technology to make the Branson ice cubes.
Slaughterhouse rip it down with a BIG freestyle. Joe Budden, Crooked I, Royce da 5’9″ & Joell Ortiz on the Westwood 1Xtra show.
