Memo Random by Black and Ginger, Liverpool

via http://ikilledjackjohnson.tumblr.com/page/23

via http://thisisnthappiness.com/page/2

via http://grainedit.com/2009/12/10/hybrid-design-interview/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GrainEdit+%28Grain+Edit%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Now in its fourth year, Noho Design District has taken on a few different permutations over the years, encompassing various pop-up exhibitions from a tiny Japanese butcher shop to a four-story lumber company headquarters (which happen to be on the same block, no less), reflecting both the changes within the neighborhood and the landscape of American design as a whole. Once again, our friends Jill Singer and Monica Khemsurov of Sight Unseen have masterminded a neighborhood-wide celebration of young and emerging designers. In addition to partnering with several co-conspirators such as Future Perfect and American Design Club, they've also curated the flagship Noho Next group exhibition, featuring 13 handpicked studios that comprise a showcase of design talent.

The exhibition took place over the weekend at Subculture, the event space in the basement of the 45 Bleecker Street Theater, which hosted Tom Dixon's London Underground exhibition last year. (I don't know if I'm dating myself with the reference, but I remember going to the Crosby Connection sandwich shop when they occupied the cafe a few years back...). Although it happens to be closing as I write this, hopefully our documentation can serve as future reference.

Misha Kahn, Brooklyn, NY

Misha Kahn

Misha Kahn

Misha Kahn × Chris Wolston

Fabrican is a sprayable fabric that actually contains fibers, and after curing it can be washed and re-worn. It first created an internet stir in 2006, but for reasons only the internet gods know, Fabrican is now resurfacing on social media and often being mistakenly presented as new.

Don't get us wrong, Fabrican is amazing. But it is not new, and serves as a reminder of just how long it can take to bring a good idea to market, and how dogged inventors need to be. Manel Torres first conceived of Fabrican way back in 1995, when he was an RCA student studying fashion design, after watching a friend get sprayed with Silly String. Torres began to collaborate with chemical engineers, and by 2000 he'd filed a patent and set up R&D facilities at Imperial College London.

Three years later Torres formed Fabrican Ltd., and another three years went by before the blogosphere picked up on the stuff. Here in 2013, seven years later, there are still no announcements for commercialization; the "News" section of Fabrican's website saw its last update in 2010.

Has Torres given up? Doesn't look like it, as he's delivered several Fabrican-based TED Talks as recently as last year. We can only speculate as to what's preventing the appearance of Fabrican on store shelves, which is what we'd really like to see; while Torres is proposing industrial solutions targeted at the medical, automotive and fashion design industries, we think selling the stuff in cans and letting you guys figure out what to do with it would be a good way to go.

Hit the jump for some videos (one NSFW, if you work in Puritan America) showing the stuff in action.

How does a lonesome giant tortoise find a new love interest? Well, it's complicated, as this new ad by 4creative points out. Launching this evening to promote Channel 4's new 'Mating Season' this June, the quirky ad imagines said Galapagos tortoise's quest to find a new life partner, after his former love dies.

It follows him navigating various 21st-century dating scenarios, such as online dating or picking up strangers in clubs - ending in the apt strapline "Modern dating. It's complicated."

The tortoise Arthur was created by British model making and special effects company Asylum, with VFX studio MPC adding humanised CG expressions. The opening scene (see still above) was drawn by Gordon King, the original Mills and Boon illustrator, in a nod to romantic endeavours of yesteryear, while the closing scene was created by Gordon's son, Fraser King.

The TV spot is accompanied by a print campaign designed by illustrator Noma Bar (see below). It transforms the universal gender symbols in a series of playful symbols that represent various relationship types.

The symbols will be used in animated form on-air to brand the season, and 4creative is also creating some interactive games to accompany it - all in all a suitably offbeat campaign to highlight the ins and outs of dating life.

Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion

You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here

CR for the iPad

Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month

As we saw with NEMO Equipment's gear, clever design can enable air to play a significant structural role with camping gear. In NEMO's case, that air is provided by a pump.

Portland-based inventor Ryan Frayne is also experimenting with air, but he's zeroed in on a particular element of the user experience: How to get the air into the product. To that end, Frayne has focused on designing a special valve, and the results are pretty impressive. Frayne's Windcatcher design amplifies your exhalation, using physics I don't understand to multiply your air volume by a factor of 10 or 15—with the added benefit that you don't even have to put your mouth on the thing. Observe:

Frayne's Air Pad seems like a good entry-level product design, but we feel it's his valve that will be the killer app. An easy, pump-less way to inflate things could play a major role in everything from disaster relief to life-saving devices.

At press time, the Windcatcher's Kickstarter campaign was at just under $16,000 of a $50,000 target, with 23 days left to pledge.

More than 300 graffiti artists and illustrators will visit Bristol this weekend for free annual urban street art festival Upfest.

From May 25-27, artists from Europe, Asia, the US and Africa will paint 20,000 square feet of artwork on boards, buildings, a subway train and a skate park in Bedminster, south Bristol.

Events will take place on North Street and at Raleigh Road venue The Tobacco Factory (home to a market, cafe and creative spaces), which will host RnB, beatbox and hip hop performances as well as a live illustration battle and a graffiti workshop for children and adults.

The festival is raising funds for the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACOA) and is sponsored by art pen makers POSCA. Artists attending include Faith47 from South Africa, DALeast of China, C215 from France and Italy's Peeta.

Upfest started six years ago as a paint jam between a small group of artists. As word of mouth spread, so did the number involved. “There hasn't been masses of publicity about the event – it's mostly been artists telling each other and the number has grown to around 320 this year,” says founder Stephen Hayles.

“As it got bigger, we thought it would be nice to help raise the profile of NACOA and hopefully raise some money,” he adds.

Most local residents are positive about the festival, says Hayles, and its success has helped Bedminster secure a place on Mary Portas's pilot high street renovation scheme.

“Not everyone likes it, but it brings more people to Bedminster and even those who don't like all of the artwork appreciate the talent and creativity it takes to paint a 30-metre high building,” he adds.

For details visit www.upfest.co.uk

Images (from top): art by Soulful Crew, Soker, Lokie and Inkie created at last year's Upfest. Photography by Paul Green.

Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion

You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here

CR for the iPad

Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.

Although this year marks their first ICFF, PELLE Designs actually dates back to 2008 or so, when co-founder Jean Pelle developed the first Bubble Chandelier. She met her future business partner (and husband) Oliver about ten years ago at the Yale School of Architecture, and each went on to work for major firms before setting out on their own.

The "Quadrat" series of tables takes its name from the German word for "square"; Oliver left his native Germany to study architecture in the States

Thus, their debut collection consists of iterations on the designs: the Bubble Chandelier is now UL listed, and they've just introduced a long version (not pictured) for a total of nine different shapes and sizes (they've also taken an interesting step in making all of the items available to order through an online store).

Jean noted that they make and hand-carve the Soap Stones in their Red Hook studio

As the Museum of London Docklands turns ten years old today, artist Chris Naylor has unveiled a cityscape made of 2,186 sugar cubes, referencing the museum's focus on one of the most significant – and shameful – trades to have shaped the city...

Weighing in at 13kg the sugar sculpture pays homage to one aspect of London's history of trade and commerce, a subject at the heart of the Museum of London Docklands.

Since November 2012, the story behind London's links to the transatlantic slave trade has been examined in the museum's permanent exhibition, London, Sugar and Slavery: Revealing Our City's Untold History.

The museum is also housed in one of only two remaining warehouses – used for storing sugar – on Docklands' north quay by the West India Dock Company, originally built in the 1800s.

Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion

You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here

CR for the iPad

Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month

The British Army is launching an extensive recruitment campaign today, hoping to attract new recruits with a unique glimpse of army life - told from the point of view of a pair of army boots.

Made by JWT London, the campaign is aimed at 16-24-year-olds and shows the potential journey a soldier makes during his or her career, from anxious rookie in the recruitment office to training ground and eventually active combat.

Directed by Simon Ratigan at HLA, the commercial was shot on locations in the UK and Cyprus. Ratigan devised a hand-held rig to allow the use of smaller camera formats that let him get close to the ground-level action required for the unusual perspective. He worked closely with soldiers from 3 Para to achieve a realistic portrayal of army life (see additional stills below).

The original idea was to work with a single camera operator, who was strong enough and fit enough to do everything that might be expected of a soldier while filming his own boots at the same time, says Ratigan. "In the end, several camera people put on the boots and filmed themselves and this helped us capture the large number and huge variety of shots needed for the spot."

The 60- and 90-seconds ads are part of a wider 'Step Up' campaign that will also include further multi-channel marketing, including Facebook and Twitter campaigns, and nationwide recruitment clinics (see press ad below). "Boots are an iconic symbol of army life and, by literally putting prospective recruits into the boots of a soldier, we give them a taste of what Army life could offer," say art director Giles Hepworth and copy writer Bill Hartley.

The campaign aims to dispel the misconception that the army is not hiring and hopes to bring 10,000 new recruits into the army over the coming year. Commissioned by the army's recruiting services supplier Capita, the campaign launch indeed makes curious timing, given the announcement earlier this year that the army would cut more than 5,000 jobs in another round of redundancies this summer.

Credits:
Agency: JWT London
Executive Creative Director: Russell Ramsey
Creative Directors: Adam Scholes & Hugh Todd
Art Director: Giles Hepworth
Copy Writer: Bill Hartley
TV Producer: Carley Reynolds
Director: Simon Ratigan
Production Company: HLA
Producer: Mike Wells
Production Manager: Daniel Carter
Director Of Photography: Martin Hill
Editor: Adam Spivey @ The Playroom
Post-Production: Finish
Sound: Sam Ashwell @ 750MPH

Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion

You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here

CR for the iPad

Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month

It's been over a year since Ford has incorporated foot-activated tailgates into their cars, and we're hoping by now some of you have direct experience with them. (The bulk of Core77 editorial staff is a bike-riding, subway-catching, sneaker-treading lot.) Ford designers' simple observation that many people approach their trunk with both hands full, and their incorporation of a feature that pops the trunk open by waving your foot under the bumper, is a welcome one. But for those of you actually living with one of these cars, how is it in practice?

For those of you who've not yet heard of this, the way it works is a sensor on the car detects when someone with the key fob on their person is in proximity. It then enables a laser sensor under the rear bumper to read when a foot breaks the beam, and that opens or closes the trunk. Observe:

But if we look at this less-slickly edited video...

Best in Show features over 40 of Robert Clarke's canine 'mug shot' paintings

Clarke has been painting dogs for over three years, with exhibitions at Paul Smith's Sloane Square shop and an upcoming book with fashion brand Loewe.

The new exhibition, which opens at Cricket Fine Art in Chelsea on May 21, features a host of new work varying in size from 12 inches square to four feet by five.

Best in Show is at Cricket Fine Art, London SW10 from May 21 to June 1, 2013.

Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion

You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here

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Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month

wants a Sr. Packaging Designer
in Seattle, Washington

There are only a handful of brand logos that are as recognizable as the classic green and white Starbucks emblem. From their vast array of coffee and tea accessories, right down to the little green splash sticks, each element of their packaging successfully honors their products.

You now have the opportunity have your designs influence this quintessential branding as the next Senior Packaging designer at Starbucks.

You'll need eight years of packaging design experience and a passion for improving the customer experience through creative and brand research, all while providing across the board quality through thoughtful design solutions.

Starbucks is looking forward to hearing from you. Apply Now

Virgin Records is launching an exhibition, an art book and a compilation CD as part of a campaign to celebrate its 40th birthday. CR spoke to designer Adrian Shaughnessy, who is working the project, to find out more.                  

In 1973, 22-year-old Richard Branson launched a new record label, Virgin, with Mike Oldfield's 48-minute experimental composition, Tubular Bells. It sold 15 million copies and earned Branson a $1 million US royalty deal at 23.

After its early success, Virgin struggled to find new acts - assets were sold and staff laid off - but in 1977, it signed controversial punk band the Sex Pistols and in the 36 years since, it’s launched the careers of sellout acts including Daft Punk, Massive Attack, The Chemical Brothers, Culture Club and the Spice Girls.

To mark its 40th birthday, Virgin is launching a new campaign, 40 years of disruptions, which it says will celebrate its history as  “an underdog label … with a reputation for doing the unexpected.”

As well as hosting gigs at Camden nightclub KOKO in October, Virgin is launching a four-CD compilation album, an art book edited by NME and The Face contributor Adrian Thrills, a documentary directed by Paul Tilzey and produced by Leopard Films, and an exhibition that will include seen and unseen photographs, props and memorabilia.

The book and exhibition will be overseen by Adrian Shaughnessy and his colleagues at London studio This Is Real Art, who also devised the 40 years of disruptions concept.

“Virgin approached me and along with Georgina Lee (TiRA’s co-founder) and Haider Muhdi (an in-house designer), we were briefed to work on campaign ideas, the book and the exhibition. Georgina found a Branson quote which stated that disruption has always been one of his key business tactics, so we presented the idea to Virgin boss Ted Cockle and he got it straight away- he didn't hesitate for second,” explains Shaughnessy.

“Who else would sign the Sex Pistols at a time when other labels were dropping them like sick bags? Or sign Boy George on Top of the Pops in a dress? No other label has had so many tabloid front covers … disruption is [Virgin’s] hallmark,” he adds.

The book, exhibition and compilation album will all be designed to reflect this: album artwork released on TiRA's website shows Virgin’s famous red logo defaced in various ways (above and below), and Shaughnessy is adamant that the book “won’t look like the usual record company self-promotion book”.

"We are planning one that won’t look out of place in the Tate Modern, but which is true to the Virgin label ethos. I like how Jonathan Barnbrook has done the new Bowie book (below), as it’s something you want to own and keep. There will be a huge emphasis on Virgin as a major force in popular culture rather than just a label that released a lot of good records,” he says.

Details of the exhibition and the book’s contents will remain secret until later this year, but Shaughnessy says both will include unseen footage, “rather than just album covers and press shots.”

“We’ll be using a lot of alternative shots, memorabilia, and stuff that got left on the cutting room floor,” he says. The exhibition venue is yet to be confirmed, but Shaughnessy has been briefed to find “a ‘disruptive location’ - in other words, not the usual white cube.”

“There will certainly be some surprises - but the rest is under wraps until the opening,” he adds.

For more information and for details of this autumn’s events, visit: virgin40.com

Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion

You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here

CR for the iPad

Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month

Made By Hand has just released its latest documentary film, The Bike Maker. It follows another 'maker', Ezra Caldwell of Fast Boy Cycles, but gradually becomes a moving portrait of someone coming to terms with cancer...

The fifth in the Bureau of Common Goods' series which looks at the lives of various craftspeople, The Bike Maker is perhaps the film that deviates most from its central theme – but understandably so.

Caldwell was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 and, since then, has tried to keep his bespoke bicycle business going but also document his condition through photography. The film is an account of his compelling story.

Made By Hand's other films include The Distiller, The Knife Maker, The Beekeeper and The Cigar Shop. More details at thisismadebyhand.com. Caldwell's website is fastboycycles.com and is well worth a look – his bikes are quite something.

DIRECTOR AND PRODUCER Keith "keef" Ehrlich. COMPOSER Nathan Rosenberg / Doghouse NYC. DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Adam McDaid. EDITOR Matt Shapiro. ASSISTANT CAMERA Josh Lawsom. ADDITIONAL CAMERA Elias Ressegatti. COLORIST Jaime O'Bradovoich. TITLE DESIGN Mandy Brown. LINE PRODUCER John Seabright. RE-RECORDING MIXER Nicholas Montgomery. SOUND RECORDIST Robert Albrecht

Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion

You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here

CR for the iPad

Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month

Stockholm's Konstfack is among the university design departments that occupy the removed North Building of the Javits Center this ICFF, a more manageable—albeit somewhat sparsely populated—exhibition hall in contrast to the main floor of ICFF. Despite—or perhaps because of—the largely theoretical curriculum of graduate programs in Industrial Design, the 11 first-year Master's candidates at Konstfack undertook a self-initiated project to actually make objects, which they first exhibited during Stockholm Design Week back in February. According to the Negative Space website:

What is a negative space?
Can it be framed by something other than matter?
Can a negative space be made tangible?

Ten explorations on the possible meanings of negative space showcasing new and intriguing perspectives. By shifting focus from matter to the space that it occupies, the designers have found new ways of working by investigating the relationship between objects and the surrounding space. Presented here are a series of individual interpretations of negative space, culminating in a fascinating interplay between form, memory, movement, light and time.

Insofar as the theme itself is intangible, the students took a broad range of approaches; even in the case of light, which might be considered an easy metaphor for space, the inspiration and execution varied significantly. Nevertheless, the overall aesthetic of the work is quite minimal, in keeping with both the theme and Scandinavian design language in general.

Unfortunately, the logistics of overseas travel and the tradeshow setting made for a somewhat attenuated exhibition—i.e. the convention center simply isn't the ideal context for exhibiting the highly conceptual work. (I find that the Javits Center, for all its cavernous, harshly-lit real estate, is something of a 'negative space,' if you'll excuse the pun.) In any case, the students were excited to be in New York—a first for many of them—and they were eager to share their work.

Daphne Zuilhof's "Spin" stool inspired friendly jealousy amongst her peers for it's packability. It takes it name not from the English verb but for the Dutch word for 'spider,' where its collapsible legs delimit a volume that is a usable space.

Now in its fourth year, Noho Design District has taken on a few different permutations over the years, encompassing various pop-up exhibitions from a tiny Japanese butcher shop to a four-story lumber company headquarters (which happen to be on the same block, no less), reflecting both the changes within the neighborhood and the landscape of American design as a whole. Once again, our friends Jill Singer and Monica Khemsurov of Sight Unseen have masterminded a neighborhood-wide celebration of young and emerging designers. In addition to partnering with several co-conspirators such as Future Perfect and American Design Club, they've also curated the flagship Noho Next group exhibition, featuring 13 handpicked studios that comprise a showcase of design talent.

The exhibition took place over the weekend at Subculture, the event space in the basement of the 45 Bleecker Street Theater, which hosted Tom Dixon's London Underground exhibition last year. (I don't know if I'm dating myself with the reference, but I remember going to the Crosby Connection sandwich shop when they occupied the cafe a few years back...). Although it happens to be closing as I write this, hopefully our documentation can serve as future reference.

Misha Kahn, Brooklyn, NY

Misha Kahn

Misha Kahn

Misha Kahn × Chris Wolston

Although we've already covered Reclaim x2 fairly extensively at this point, it's easy to overlook details such as, say, the actual texture of the felt chair or the concept behind Emilie Baltz's dyadic infusions. If it wasn't clear from the photos of the Bonus Table 571—which it by no means should have been—it was made with enzymes. Bushwick-based design duo Colleen & Eric (whom we'd previously covered at ICFF in 2011) collaborated with bioengineer Loe Hubbard and sound designer Ben Cameron on the small side table, which features a cryptic Rorschach design on its surface. They explain:

Pure tones tuned to the natural resonant frequency of the wood result in vibrations, determined by the tabletop's size shape and density. The vibrations reveal a geometric pattern inherent to the wood.

The resonant pattern is etched away by an enzyme cocktail tailored to the molecular structure of the wood. This process is similar to acid-etching a metal plate, such as in printmaking. The difference is that this is based on a live process; using enzymes derived from forest floor microbes.

Perhaps we should refer to the video:

Shane Chen is a Washington-based inventor obsessed with moving the human body. His company, Inventist, has been developing strange-looking personal transportation devices for nearly a decade. We took a brief look at his Solowheel a few years ago, and it finally went on sale just last year. Check it out:

For those looking to burn some calories, Inventist's Orbit Wheel is user-powered:

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The UK Resuscitation Council and production agency Unit 9 have launched an interactive app that combines live action film and interactive gameplay to teach users how to deliver CPR.

Around 60,000 people have out of hospital cardiac arrests in the UK each year. Less than 10 percent of them survive, but a bystander able to perform CPR can double their chances of survival.

As well as teaching users the correct method of resuscitation, Lifesaver - which is available for free on smartphones, tablets and PCs - uses live action film to simulate stressful cardiac arrest situations.

The app begins with a short video: in the first of three, a teenage boy is walking home with his friends when he suddenly passes out. His friends panic and the user, who assumes the role of someone walking past, is forced to make immediate decisions on whether to help and what to do next.

As well as answering multiple choice questions, users must perform each stage of CPR - from dragging or swiping to tilt their patient's head to pushing keys or shaking their iPad 30 times to get his heart started. A voiceover responds to each action or answer given, explaining where users went wrong or what they did correctly and when pushing on the patient's chest, users are told whether to speed up or slow down. Each scenario takes between eight and 12 minutes and at the end, the user is given a score which they can share on social media.

The app was directed by Martin Percy and as producer Pietro Matteucci explains, it had to be realistic. “The whole point of the app was to create an immersive experience that simulates a real life crisis. A lot of bystanders have been taught how to perform CPR but when confronted with someone having a cardiac arrest, they forget or are too scared. The app is designed to make people feel like they are experiencing an emergency, so they are prepared for this kind of situation and minimise the risk of bystander syndrome,” he says.

Lifesaver was funded by the Resuscitation Council and the UK's Technology Strategy Board. Work started in October, and the app took around five months to produce, says Matteucci. “We filmed the live action first and while that was being edited, we started to work on the gameplay. The production team had a strong input in the development, as it needed to be as realistic as possible,” he adds. After final adjustments were made, the app was tested by users and released this week.

By combining compelling video footage with realistic gameplay, Unit 9 has created an app that is more effective than any first aid lesson with a lifeless mannequin.

The strict time limits and first person perspective leaves users as prepared as they can be for witnessing a real life cardiac arrest and the voiceover, on screen info and accompanying informative film gives users all of the information they need about CPR in a memorable and powerful format. By linking the game to social media, Unit 9 has also appealed to younger users' competitive side. It's an innovative app and one that Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, hopes really will save lives.

“We need all the help we can get in the battle to improve cardiac arrest survival rates in the UK - Lifesaver will help give people the confidence to step in and help in a medical emergency. Smartphones  are now being transformed into vital training aids and developments in technology are providing unique and effective ways to give someone the skills to save a life," he said.

Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion

You can buy Creative Review direct from us here. Better yet, subscribe, save money and have CR delivered direct to your door every month. If you subscribe before May 3, you will get the Annual issue thrown in for free. The offer also applies to anyone renewing their subscription. Details here

CR for the iPad

Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month

This week we spotted objects and installations poised for a big reveal. At first look, their structure was familiar, elements not particularly out of place. But with a quick visual adjustment or test of expectations, something altogether different—a trompe l'oeil—appears.

Even though our furniture often serves several functions, the art on our walls typically exists just for our eyes. But during Milan's SaloneSatellite exhibition for emerging designers, Japan's YOY Design Studio packed more features into the frame. YOY's canvases, made of wood, aluminum, and elastic fabric, and then screen-printed with images of couches and chairs, actually support sitting. The secondary use is startling, so it might require a little explanation before asking that guests take a seat.

Images © Yasuko Furukawa; via Designboom

Last month, the Swiss artist Felice Varini adorned the exterior of the Grand Palais in Paris with a work made from a very specific point of view. From the street, the vibrant orange stretched triangles look haphazardly splashed against the building. But observe them from the hall, and the applied scraps of color align, creating something that looks more like a projection than a perfectly planned effect.

Italian photographer Enzo Barracco is known mainly for his fashion and portrait work but last year, inspired by a book on British explorer Ernest Shackleton, he self-funded a trip to the Antarctic.

The resultant, spectacular images have been on show at the Royal Geographical Society earlier this year and in Paris. Earlier this month, Barracco spoke to CR about the project.

Barracco says that the biography of Shackleton inspired him because of the explorer's spirit and desire never to give up. "It was a very good message so I decided to make a project about the Antarctic," he says.

"I decided to raise the money to organise my own expedition," Barracco says, which he did by auctioning work from a previous project. A team of six travelled south in February 2012, with Nikon helping to supply equipment.

"Normally only 'science people' go there," he says. "I wanted to photograph the landscape in an artistic way."

Barracco spent a month in the region, shooting mainly from a small rubber boat.

His next major project will be in South Africa

enzobarracco.it

Out now, the May 2013 issue of Creative Review is our biggest ever. Features over 100 pages of the year's best work in the Creative Review Annual 2013 (in association with iStockphoto), plus profiles on Morag Myerscough, Part of a Bigger Plan and Human After All as well as analysis, comment, reviews and opinion

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Earlier this week, I was casually minding my own business on a pleasant bike-commute from Core HQ to my humble Brooklyn abode when lo and behold, I spotted what looked like a giant hot pink chair strapped to a flatbed truck. Once I got over my initial astonishment and confirmed that this was not a mirage in my design-week-addled mind, I instinctively did that thing we do nowadays where one whips out his or her smartphone to document anything that seems remotely interesting. Case in point, here's an inane video of the truck eluding me on Flushing Ave:

It turns out that UHURU's #Chairtruck debuted last weekend at BKLYN Designs, where it provided much-needed respite from human-sized chairs and a fair share of sh*ts and giggles, and will be making rounds this weekend as well. (Not to take too much credit, but one inside source hinted that the #ChairTruck came about partly because a certain well-known industrial design magazine and resource declined to host an exhibition this year.) The ~5:1 scale model of their Hulihee chair is "fitted with a hardwood seat and back reclaimed from the Coney Island Boardwalk," and "strapped to a flatbed biodiesel truck."

#chairtruck's defiant size and reclaimed wood planks pay tribute to the historic Coney Island Boardwalk and reference Uhuru's signature Coney Island furniture line which debuted at Brooklyn Designs in 2010.

Chairspotting

It looks like Lydia Nichols has mastered her fine arts - and how! Check out these projects and more (thirteen total!) from her corner of the Good Measure MFA Thesis Exhibition at the Tyler School of Art Graphic and Interactive Design. Her colors and her facility with the printing process and layering make her work bright and crisp, and it all looks like wonderfully functional work as well. From her description of the projects:

Tyler’s program focuses heavily on authorship, so most of the projects include research, authorship, design, and illustration.

Personally, I don’t have the authority, but Lydia: you’re hired!

Scott Gwynn hurt his drawing hand so his left hand is picking up the slack.

Love the looseness of these drawings. Might be a good exercise to try switching hands every once and while. Forces you to think about shape and over all design rather than surfacey stuff like line and texture.

Hope your hand gets well soon, Scott!

More great work on Scott’s tumblr.

neo-rama:

arecomicsevengood:

Koyama Press is putting out issue 3 of Ryan Cecil Smith’s S.F. later this year.

!!!

Ryan Cecil Smith is one of my favorite cartoonists, period, and S.F. is at the top of my must-buy list—you can still get #1 and 2, along with the excellent S.F. Supplementary File(s), at his site. Very excited to see him get the Koyaman treatment. I don’t know who designed that cover, but oo-wee!

peowpress:

Elliot Alfredius Ghibli Tribute. Magic Registry + 3 Colors. 

Elliot set out to create characters that would fit into an imaginary Ghibli movie. I’d say he nailed it.

More great work on his tumblr: http://elliotalfredius.tumblr.com/

And here too: http://www.peowstudio.com/elliot/

nobrowpress:

It’s here! Destination X by johnmartz out now! A sci-fi parable about obsession and singlemindedness. It’s debuting at TCAF and available exclusively now from http://www.nobrow.net/11754 

I’m going to take the opportunity to toot my horn, and spread the news about my new book from Nobrow. So: hey, check out my new book from Nobrow! It’s called Destination X. It has rocketships and cryo-chambers and aliens and you should buy a copy or two!

It debuts at TCAF in May, and will hit stores in June, but if you’re impatient you can order it directly from Nobrow this very instant.

ca-tsuka:

“Kairos” animated trailer by La Cachette studio (for the promotion of Ulysse Malassagne’s comic book)

This is pretty cool.

The ridiculously talented Adam Rex shares his hilarious process for picture book making. 

Anyone in the New Hampshire area ? Check it out!

This is being operated by a particularly active and excellent typography programme in Poland.

One Man Heavy Metal Band by Khuan Cavemen Co on Flickr.

bombsfall:

I have made a music video for Toh Kay, aka Tomas Kanolky. I would appreciate it if you watched it and stuff.

I wrote a bit about it here.

Preorder the album here.

Download the track here.

Coyote by JooHee Yoon