Art is War

So my friends started a website called Artiswar - it's a user-based site for the discussion of design. As they (and I) see it, design has come to mean something sleek and commercial...but that's only a part of what it can be. They are hoping to engage people in a conversation about design's diverse impact. Art criticism is welcome too, as we all feel the line between design and art is best when left blurry. Come on over to the website and join up. Or just click around on their lovely layout.

Bo Young Choi

My friend Bo came over today and showed me some of her recent work, including this awesome piece on her website. She told me about the process of making it - how she waited around for another grad student to help her with the photography, and then how she decided to do it on her own with the camera's timer. She said a crowd of people came to watch, and they asked her questions and took their own photos. She even brought them down to her campus studio to see her other work. In a way, her whole piece changed. It became more than the still photographs of her in midair...it was also a nice hyggelig moment, a connection with the outside world. Grad studies can get tricky - you get all tied up in your work, in your studio space, and sometimes you need an afternoon of jumping around to make you remember what lies outside.

Baggage Claim

Yes, I'll take them all.

Valextra.

My sister is in town for a few weeks, and she's on the hunt for luggage. I started snooping around on the internet for timeless, durable pieces, but was quickly discouraged. I guess I like the trunks in the Samsonite Black collection, but on the whole, the market is geared towards someone else. I like the Valextra brand, but it's a little (okay, waaaaay) out of my price range. The briefcase above brings out this weird, covetous side of me...possibly similar to people who dream of fancy cars or fur coats. But dude - it's a briefcase. What's my problem?

Maybe the problem is my frustration with a market that has veered away from aesthetics in favor of perceived durability. I understand that we travel more frequently and that there is more machine assistance in the airports, but I feel like there must be a more handsome solution to our changing needs...ideally, one that looks more like a clever accessory than an oversized piece of coal with zippers.

Look at these handsome leather cases! I got this photo from the Arts and Crafts home, which features a nice history of the suitcase.

I know, I know - they don't have wheels...but I'm in the process of making a prototype solution. It may end up looking like those old-time rollerskates that you strap onto shoes, though hopefully more tasteful.

And yeah, I 'm aware they smell like mothballs inside. It's a problem. But look at the way the leather ages! It may get a little scuffed over time, but that can all be teased out with a little shoe polish.

So industrial designers and students, I beg you: reinvent the handsome travel case. Make it durable but simple, because in the end, it's just a box with wheels. It shouldn't cost a grand.

Blog of Note: things to look at

Things to Look At is one of my favorite blogs. I'm always excited to see what they post - the images they find are so inspirational. While I'm not sure what this inspires me to do, I am going to keep looking at it in the hope of figuring it out.

Gunvor Olin

I scanned these images of Gunvor Olin's work from an old design annual at the library. I looked Gunvor up online, but found a lot of heavy 1970s clayware instead of these charming animal dishes. Kind of disappointing. They seem like characters from a storybook - some forest animals searching for a lost friend, or a missing berry pie. I'm fairly sure the pig is a police chief and the fox plays the wry P.I.

Visual Arts Data Service

(images courtesy of the Material Collection, Constance Howard Resource and Research Centre in Textiles at Goldsmiths College, University of London)

I can't believe I just stumbled upon this site! I'm really excited about finding the Visual Arts Data Service - it's a website with links to some very nice online image collections, mostly from university and museum collections. I like the site because you can get close-up shots of historical textiles, and the overall documentation for textiles is very detailed.

So if you don't see me for a couple of weeks, I'm probably just at home, glued to the computer.