Is Axe selling scents or fantasies involving sex, wealth and youthfulness? Most of their commercials are fun, while they involve men applying an Axe spray, gel or related goo to their body, only to have women break down doors to cling to them. I get the image their selling. Axe equals sex, but they aren’t the only scent peddler out there doing there thing. In there latest campaign, Axe is offering their legion of teenage followers an opportunity to party on board the Axe Boat. While the commercial stays true to their image of sex, wealth and such, I think it falls a bit flat as a result of the low energy scene depicted. Perhaps the constant message of sex is also becoming a bit redundant. Hit the play button below and see for yourself.
Axe Boat
Zerotracer
The Zerotracer is an electric motorcycle that seats two people inside its exterior kevlar shell. The bike, which resembles a lightcycle from the movie Tron, is the creation of four young Swiss designers from Designwerk. They created the vehicle to compete in the ‘around the world in 80 days’ electric vehicle race.
Their design has some serious stats including a 350km range with a top speed of 250 km/h. An electric motor powers the bike from lithium ion batteries that can be fully charged in 2 hours. The bike’s design even features a set of training wheels that move out when travelling at low speeds.
Maison Monday: Capstan Table
The Capstan Table designed by British furniture designer David Fletcher, the table is made on commission for wealthy clients. Each table reportedly cost tens of thousands of pounds. A round table that doubles its seating capacity, from six to twelve, at the push of a button. Available in manually- and servomechanically-actuated versions.
The table top pieces are only truly circular in their larger arrangement. In the “contracted” table, the 6 wedges in fact form a kind of rounded-off hexagon, and the outer table edge is made circular by the rotating rim, which has a complementary inner profile. Besides the wedges, there are two other types of pieces that make up the table top–6 “darts” having two parallel sides that rise to fill the spaces between the wedges, and the “star” (a dodecagram, in fact) that rises up in the middle. The table is locked in either configuration by one or more threaded detents which are quite clearly shown in the upper video.
Solid Waves
Italian Stefano Boeri Architects has won a prize for a housing development scheme in Astana, Kazahkistan. The international competition organized by the Astana Department of Architecture and Urban Planning called for the design of a contemporary residential neighborhood with affordable housing and services to restructure a run down area next to the city center. Designed as a contemporary living landmark, solid waves is a system that combines residence, green public spaces with commercial and public infrastructure. Its unique and strong presence is a declaration for the sustainable future of the contemporary city; a place that promotes social
gathering and endorses the need for collective green space.
Solid waves generates a residential urban park; living, green and service spaces combined into a single neighborhood where programs and nature live off each to create a new model for a symbiotic urban organism. The project also operates on a multiplicity of scales. While the towers are visible from a distance and take advantage, in terms of the views, of the position of the complex within the city, a system of courts provides protected spaces that shelter inhabitants from the harsh weather elements while maintaining a close relation to the open.
Formally, ‘solid waves’ is dense project articulated as a continuous excavated horizontal platform that rises towards the sky; a movement of the ground that results in an emergence within the territory. Under its green covering, programs are placed in accordance to their degree of public or private character. Towards the exterior of the site, and particularly towards the north and south, commercial programs take advantage of the larger, more public nature of the streets. The position of the towers towards the north of the site permits optimum lighting for the tower units and avoids casting a shadow onto the low rise residences.
Amnesty International: Death Penalty
Death Penalty it the latest Amnesty International campaign, which opposes the death penalty and seeks to show that there are still 58 countries in the world that practice this barbaric form of punishment. The campaign’s thought provoking commercial was created by Gang Films, in partnership with the Warm & Fuzzy Productions, directed by Pleix. The imagery, final caption “death to the death penalty” and the music all combine to make a significant, lasting impression. I think it speaks for itself. Hit the play button below and see for yourself.
Don Lucho’s Casa de Karton
We’ve featured tons of paper-sculptures in the past, but nothing like Don Lucho’s Casa de Karton, or his cardboard car. This artist painstakingly created a paper and cardboard apartment, which have been decorated to give the illusion that it was pulled from an artist’s sketch book, or sloppy rendering. It really reminds me of the film Waking Life, although I can’t be certain the exact same application was used. Don Lucho’s Casa de Karton has everything you’d expect to see in a real apartment, including sheets on the bed, utensils in the kitchen, and even faux liquid in the toilet. As for his paper-mobile on the street, somehow it managed to wrap itself around a yield sign. Check out his Flickr for more of Don’s outstanding and original work.
APAP Open School
Due to be complete this month is APAP Open School in Korea by American firm LOT-EK. At ground level, the footprint of the shipping container structure becomes a public amphitheater taking advantage of the existing sloping topography. The amphitheater lower section connects to the existing stairway and offers a viewpoint along the river edge. The upper section, reaching a higher level, engages the large monitor of the open school for public viewing of the exhibition content.
The second level, lifted 3 meters above ground, is an assembly of eight shipping containers that house the operations of the open school. carved out of the hovering containers’ interior spaces, the program includes one large, open, multi purpose space that functions as a meeting assembly room, an exhibition space and a work area for the open school researchers, as well as two studios for the artists. Large glass windows close the containers’ short sides allowing cross views along the north eats and south west axis the two front walls, along the north west axis, at the most dramatic overhang of the structure, are pierced with a series of peep holes. Located at different heights to be accessible for kids and adults, the tubes have different angles to frame different views within the surrounding landscape, focusing on natural and urban moments of its neighborhood. A stairway, contained within a shipping container, directs to the structure top level. The third level is a long decked roof which stretches over the river offering views of the surroundings.
Universal Studio’s King Kong
Does King Kong really need a marketing campaign? I mean, this is the original, city-crushing giant we’re talking about. He’s got pretty good street cred, although if your car was in the path of his latest rampage, it’s understandable that you might not appreciate his antics. To help kick off the all new King Kong 3D ride at Universal Studio’s, creative agency David&Goliath manufactured huge footprints in the sand on Santa Monica Beach. Complete with a crushed lifeguard vehicle, the path of destruction leads directly into the city. It’s an awesome application, but do you really think people will instantly make the connection between the footprints and Universal’s latest offering?
Dwight Eschliman’s 37 or so Ingredients
Twinkie’s are the ultimate survival food, mostly because they’re indefinite shelf life makes them our only food source in the event of an atomic war. Various television shows and movies have poked fun at the Twinkies survivability, but just what gives them their awesome power? Should you start hoarding these delicious treats in the event of an apocalypse? Dwight Eschliman‘s photographic series 37 or so Ingredients breaks down everything that goes into the Twinkie, showcasing individual ingredients on petri dishes. From niacin to FD&C yellow 5 and red 40, Eschliman’s project really drives home the fact that the fewer ingredients a manufactured product has, the better. In the end, nothing beats all natural foods created by the ultimate mad scientist, mother nature.
Maison Monday: Roll It
This week’s episode of Maison Monday comes via Arch Daily: Roll It, a cool experimental house, resulted from the collaboration among different institutes within the University of Karlsruhe. This cyclindrical design is a modular protype that provides flexible space within a minimum housing unit. Three different sections are dedicated to different functional needs: there’s a bed and table in section, an exercise cylinder, and a kitchen with a sink.
Structurally, the prototype includes an outer shell with the four support rings over a rigid inner shell. A translucent membrane envelops the entire form and serves as advertising space for sponsors. Thin wooden slats are attached to the membrane to form the running surface of the roll. The inner cover is a series of laminated OSB panels, each 15 mm thick, that cover the support rings. Circular openings in the side walls allow light into the structure, and a large opening serves as the entrance.
Instant Bridge
The majority of city bridges, in the past, were typically inhabited and were blended with the surrounding housing style. This characteristic can be found in the historical Ponte Vecchio in Florence which survives unchanged with its direct connection between the bridge’s architecture and the river. The ‘Instant Bridge’ by Italian OFL Architecture was born from this idea combining a pedestrian bridge and making it a neighbourhood, whilst transforming the brick structure into a cultural building.
The Pigneto district in Rome had a notable evolution and transformation from a working-class neighbourhood to a cultural and artistic one. nevertheless there is a strong disjunction of these artistic scenes, limited to small existing shops; these elements make the district an artistic underdeveloped neighbourhood. The structure of the building is based around that of a dragonfly wing. Inside there are several functions distributed over 14 stories with a total height of 45 metres. These functions are reached by glass lifts located at the sides of the building and across an internal system of escalators.
Every level is planned for a different purpose with materials and colours which accentuate the spaces. The materials used are low cost and recyclable (e.g. non toxic paint). The steel structure is produced using recycled rails from disused railways. the main structure, the façade and the interior spatial elements merge into a single three-dimensional form. It is a very efficient and seismic proof structural system that requires 30% less steel than a structure consisting of pillars and beams. The orthotropic structure spans more than 15 meters and allows for natural daylight with carefully controlled natural ventilation systems.
Ethan Park
Ethan Park is a typographic god, if there is such a thing. This freelance graphic designer uses untraditional materials such as t-shirts, popcorn and plant matter to create letters, which form unique messages to get the point across. His work was recently featured by Fast Company, who asked him to come up with a creative design for their June calendar. He’s also been featured in publications including: The Typed Image, Typography today, Handmade Graphics, and many more. Go check out Ethan’s site for more typo-goodness.
Unicab EV
Via Inhabitat: Think it’s time for New York City to update its cab design? The New York Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) has been hunting for the so-called “taxi of tomorrow” — a cab that integrates safety, comfort, energy efficiency, and superior design — for the past two years. The TLC hasn’t chosen a new taxi yet, but we like the looks of the Unicab, a four-seater EV decked out with so many eco features that barely resembles today’s cabs.
Designed as an all-electric vehicle, the concept cab derives additional energy from solars panels on the roof, brake energy conversion, hydrogen fuel cells, and plug-in recharging. A light, strong steel body features seating for four people, an infotainment unit, a luggage compartment that slides out, and even a wheelchair ramp.
Surveillance 2010
Today we’re happy to show off the work of Will Varner. Rather than dump a slew of his work on you, we thought that it would be best to focus on one of his pieces, Surveillance 2010. As you can see, this piece resembles the American flag, with CCTV cameras as the stars and appropriately coloured vertical blinds as the stripes. A shadowy citizen is visible behind the blinds, while the overall composition alludes to almighty power of big brother. The term “within the privacy of one’s home” doesn’t seem to have the same meaning as it used to. Varner goes onto say:
By blending elements of my adult angst and childhood fantasies I seek unique visions, bizarre creatures, and warped cityscapes. By looking through the eyes of society’s outsiders I see that we are unified by those very feelings of isolation. An empty field. The blue glow of a computer monitor. The cold of outer space. I draw from a lonely place but find connection in the making process and humor along the lonely road.
Gay Class
We are rather impressed that McDonald’s decided to create a campaign that centres around a gay character who’s yet to come out to his father. The commercial titled “Gay Class” features a young man who is talking to his betrothed via cell phone. Quick farewells are made just as the boys father sits down with their McDonald’s combos. From there the conversation meanders into how much of a ladies man the father used to be, while the audience is allowed to share in the son’s secret. It’s a fantastic step and sign of things to come. Check it out for yourself by hitting the play button below.
Jose Lerma
Interview via Fecal Face: How would you describe your work to someone who has never seen it? What are some of the driving inspirations behind your work. What has influenced you in big ways?
I make paintings and works about painting. I try my best to collapse the personal with the art historical and to fit both within a single frame. This is something many artists do, but I just wanted to make it central to my practice. Although the works and paintings change dramatically in terms of material, the common thread is some story I heard my mom say, for instance, or some ugly piece of furniture in their living room or some dorky thing I did in my youth. Then I try to fuse this with some historical event, person or artistic style. This sounds cheesy, but I always say that all art is about other art and about your parents.
As far as artistic influences I like late Picasso, Morandi, Sean Landers, Piero della Francesca,William Anastassi, Phillip Guston,Carl ostendarp, James Hyde, Bruce Nauman, George Condo, Paul Thek, R. Crumb.
The towel pieces really intrigues me. You do some work on shirts and other non traditional painting surfaces as of late too, if I’m not mistaken. Could you talk a little bit about what prompted this experiment?
I think the whole thing is self generating. I was making paintings by removing the paint from an object by applying a solvent or paint stripper. Then I would paint an open flat form of that object, similar to the way a bear rug suggest the open shape the animal. This idea of removing the “skin” of an object, of seeing objects as painting minus sculpture, was reversed by using towels, which wrap around skin and for a moment suggest the object. So from there I began making the Carlos II portraits which were made with office carpets and were an attempt at enlarging the feel of the towel portraits.
For the complete interview, as well as additions photos of Jose Lerma’s work, please visit Fecal Face.
Maison Monday: Chin Up
This week marks our 30th episode of Maison Monday. Chin Up, distinctly different from the agonizing exercise for you to do in your home, is the latest creation from British designer Lisa Sandall. It’s essentially funky storage that’s has very strange angles, to such a degree that it appears to be leaning up against a wall. The resulting tilted shelving system presents the spines of products to the user, thereby reducing the need to kneel to find what you’re looking for. While it is presented as a bookcase, it could easily be used as a liquor cabinet, or for media storage.
We Get Stronger
Advertising is really hit and miss when it comes to print ads nowadays. Not in terms of quality, but rather, it is increasingly difficult to hit a home run that grabs attention, and reinvigorates a given brand or product line. With fierce competition coming from commercials, and online mechanisms, many argue that print and static billboards are dead, or at least they are on life support. While that may be a bit far fetched, the future of standalone print advertising is bound to undergo some drastic changes to bring it in line with what’s available in the rest of our interactive, immerse world of media.
That’s all to say, that when we notice a great print ad, we must give credit when credit is due. Almap BBDO have really hit a home run with their minimalist series for Bayer Asprin, which reinforces the notion that when problems get’s tough, Bayer’s Asprin gets tougher. Okay, it may not be exactly in those words, but you get the idea, which is masterfully communicated via linegraph infographics that make us laugh, think and most importantly pay attention to the brand.
P-Tree Urinal
Via Inhabitat: Dutch designer Sam van Veluw has developed a new way to answer the call of nature at outdoor events and venues. After a long search for a public restroom at a music concert one evening, he came up with the concept of strapping a waterless urinal onto a tree. These would be simple to install and can relieve the pressure on porta-potties (we had to use the pun) at public events. Its practical application may be questionable, but it is a refreshing approach to what can be a pressing problem.
Although at first glance this concept does not seem to be fair for women’s needs, the good news is that the P-Tree can reduce the queue at the porta-pottie. The inventor suggests that it can be hooked up to a central sewer system, but an onsite infiltration system would be a great way to safely dispose of the liquid and nourish the trees with nitrogen at the same time! This would reduce the chemical and waste processing involved at public events. As for using the P-Tree at your next happening – we suggest looking into your local indecent exposure laws first.
The President Series
The President Series is a new feature from still life photographer, Matthew Donaldson. The series depicts past Presidents of the United States of America, in various states of illness and injury. Matthew adds playful elements including thermometers, ice bags and neck braces to get his playful point across. The series instantly grabbed our attention, as it is reminded us of some work we completed for Kingstonist.com. In that respect, we’ve provided this local blog with various images of Sir John A. MacDonald wearing a party hat, and generally looking for a good time.
Swagger Wagon
Toyota’s self-proclaimed Swagger Wagon features everything you would expect from a mini-van like superior safety, spacious interior and sliding side doors. It also has fun features such as a stylish look and is the only minivan available with all-wheel drive. With today’s generation of parents growing up with influences that included the likes of Flava Flav, MC Hammer, NWA, Run DMC and the list goes on, it’s no surprise that parents, rather Toyota wanted to ditch the soccer mom mentality and take the minivan in a new, hip direction. If I ever had to own a minivan, it had better be a Swagger Wagon, but then again, that title could be transferred to any brand of minivan or small sized SUV. Therefore unless Toyota is actually going to re-brand the Sienna as a Swagger Wagon, the name could easily be used by posers driving Honda Odysees and other brands of minivans. That said, I must admit that the commercial below does a great job of getting us to pay attention to Toyota, and otherwise forget all the unpleasantness that has plagued the company in recent months. Where my mother-fathers at!
LightLeafs
LightLeafs is an illuminated OLED bookmark by designer Valentina Trimani that provides just enough light for reading in the dark. The light is as thin as a page in a book and runs wirelessly. The designer states that the light could be rechargeable with brightness controls to turn it down so that it won’t bother others nearby.
Lightleafs is ideal for reading in bed but it can also come in handy when one needs to read a map in the car, or in the event of a power outtage. The form of the light is as minimal as possible, consisting only of a single piece that is easily stored inside your favourite book. It could conceivably double as a bookmark.
Write the Future
From Alejandro G. Inarritu, the director who brought you Babel and 21 Grams comes Nike’s latest, epic commercial for football, aka soccer for us North American types. The Write the future campaign demonstrates how a single moment can lead a footballer to receive the most flattering accolades or to fall into tyranny and oblivion. The actors for Nike’s latest campaign are big football stars including the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, and some special yet unusual guests including Roger Federer, Kobe Bryant and Homer Simpson. It is a 3 minute awe-inspiring, bullet time riddled, global-reaching jolt of fun, that will leave you with a smile on your face, even if you’re not an avid fan of the sport. Hit the play button below, and enjoy!
Maison Monday: The Swan
Bathtub and shower combos aren’t necessarily anything new, but for those of us who are in the midst of planning a lifetime’s worth of home renovations, such elements tend to instantly grab our attention. Concept designs such as Spin Wash are definitely cost prohibitive, but otherwise, they are at the bleeding edge of modern, contemporary bathroom fixtures. Today on our Maison Monday series, we’re proud to unveil the Swan, which is a combination of a bathtub and a shower that is constructed of Corian. It was designed by Peter Martin for german manufacturer Hasenkopf. While the design reminds us of an old wash tub, it also resembles a Chinese/Asian wonton soup spoon. While the Swan concept would likely be equally as expensive as Spin Wash, I think a lot of people would agree that purchasing these fixtures represents money well spent.
The Searcher
Derek Chatwood, aka The Searcher, is a video game designer, illustrator, and basically whatever collects in the mental filter over the week of media saturation. He spends his weekends trying to squeeze everything out onto paper. And so, as you’ll see in his Flickr portfolio, results may vary. Whether pencil, ink or painted in Photoshop, Derek’s work is totally awesome, and definitely worth a few minutes of your time.
One of the best comments on his undiscovered talent, or at least the best that we’ve come across, reads as follows:
This boy can draw! His craftsmanship and skill constantly stand as a challenge to me to improve my own skills. On top of that his imagination for story telling has reminded me how we should look at art. If you haven’t gone over all these images in his collection you are robbing yourself of something that will only better yourself as a person.
Hydrogenase
Between engineering and biology, Vincent Callebaut’s Hydrogenase is one of the first projects of bio-mimicry which draws its inspiration from the beauty and the shapes of the nature, but also and especially from the qualities of its materials and its self-manufacturing processes. The new green revolution is really in progress and enables us to design the air mobility of the foil after shock, 100% self-sufficient in energy and zero carbon emission! This inhabitated vertical aircraft inaugures a clean and ethic mobility to meet the needs of the population en distress touched by the natural and sanitary catastrophes, and all that without any runway! Its architecture is subversive and fundamentally critic towards the ways of living of our contemporary society that we have to reinvent totally! Let’s take off thanks to biofuels and let’s propel to the eco-responsible transport of the future!
The price of the fuel has just reached a new historical record by passing 75 dollars the barrel in 2010. Within 10 years, we could reach the famous “Hubbert Peak”, the precise moment from which the worldwide fuel production will begin to decrease because of shortages. In such a context, the massive resort to renewable energies and nanotechnologies, that do not emit gas with greenhouse effect, is becoming an absolute economical, technological and political priority! From Queensland’s university to the Karlsruhe’s one, going through Berkeley in California, the « third generation » biofuels are in gestation and will revolutionize our future sustainable land or air mobility. Their main strengths: they do not compete either with the food cultures nor with the forest spaces and can be developed naturally everywhere in the world even in arid territories, the whole tending to a targeted bio-remediation of the industrial CO2.
Able to produce electricity and biofuel without emit CO2 or other polluting substances, the hydrogen especially is nowadays such as a very promising clean energy source. Therefore (its production that respects the environment and in sufficient quantity) is a study theme that interests the biggest scientific international groups. Actually, at the end of the 90s it has been discovered that the private sulphur micro-seaweeds go from the oxygen production (classical photosynthesis) to the hydrogen production. Such as a growing tree uses the solar radiance to manufacture organic material, we aim today at producing by photosynthesis some dihydrogen (i.e. gaseous hydrogen) from living micro-organisms as seaweeds from the « Chlamydomonas reinhardtii » family that owns enzyme of hydrogenase type.
Toyota iQ
How does a car, as nimble as a mouse, operate a desktop computer? Simple, you turn the car into a mouse. Using a live feed from a camera, and software to track a light on top of the car, the car’s movements can be translated into cursor movements. And thus, the car becomes the mouse. A scaled up desktop environment was created, complete with oversized keyboard, gigantic screen, while the mousing was left up to the Toyota iQ. Check out the full ad for Toyota’s latest European automobile, and more importantly what it car did with this creative application, by clicking the play button below.
Get Back In Your Book
Get Back In Your Book is a photographic series by Lissy Elle, which is centres around a collection of characters who strive to stay in the real world. From Alice in Wonderland to Belle from Beauty and the Beast and even Sleeping Beauty, all of these fair maidens and damsels in distress are being pulled back into pages they that brought them to life. There is a real sense of suspended animation portrayed through these snapshots, as the camera angle plays with elements such as gravity and orientation. While we can’t find any reference to this series being commissioned as a part of some library or literature marketing scheme, we are sure that it would lend itself well to either initiative.
Hiding in Triangles
Hiding in Triangles is a new mountain bike hotel that’s positioned on the edge of Pregasina in Italy, which offers an unforgettable view and a fast connection to an impressive variety of routes, trails and single tracks. Pregasina is located on a plateau 500 meters above the northern tip of Lake Garda. A hill is a line-of-sight obstruction to an extensive view of the Alps. To totally exploit the panoramic view the new hotel is situated on a steep mountain ridge on the southeastern edge of the small town. This on the one hand dissociates the new building of the traditional architecture, on the other hand the unconventional construction can be guessed by a small protrusion.
The following principles determine the draft: complete access by mountain bike at all levels, maximum use of the panoramic view of Lake Garda and the mountain slopes of the Alps, no impairment of the view from Pregasina and a full and individual accommodation of riders and sports equipment in each residential unit. To ensure the trafficability each access element has a tilt angle of 12 °. The angle of the access routes to each other changes both by the natural curve of the mountain, as well as by the decreasing distance between the building and the mountain in the vertical direction. he mountain bike hotel is an attractive residential experience, which captivates guests with its impressive design, access system and aesthetics, and will become the newest magnet for extreme sports enthusiasts in the Alps.
Cube Font
It’s been far too long since we last featured a fun and free font on HC2′s Design News. Not that we haven’t noticed some really cool fonts over the past many weeks, however there wasn’t anything really outstanding until we came across today’s find. Cube Font is perfect for almost any type of graphic design, well not every application. I mean, I wouldn’t want to read a detailed event poster in this format, but you get the idea. It’s simple geometry could suggest 8-bit glory, minimalism, and much, much more. Furthermore, stumbling upon this find also led us back to Cube Font’s creator: Fontfabric. Tons of other great free and for sale fonts available over on their site.