Design for ethical purposes

In 2008 the average American consumed 95,834 kilowatt hours of energy, most of which would have come from the burning of fossil fuels. But if our energy use had a more direct impact on our bodies, would we think more about what we consume?
The Blood Lamp, made by Netherlands-based designer Mike Thompson, poses just such a question.

The lamp is a single-use light bulb, filled with Luminol, a chemical used at crime scenes to reveal bloodstains.

Luminol is usually clear, but adding human blood produces a bright blue light as the liquid reacts with the oxygen-carrying pigment haemoglobin.

Mike says the single-use design, and inherent cost to the individual, means the user must "consider when light is needed the most, forcing them to rethink how wasteful they are with energy, and how precious it is."

Now this is a new concept for me, but I think its fantastic and it really got to me. (yay I think I finally found another theme for my final year project)
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Ferrari F1 car made from Puma clothing

currently at the Puma store in Carnaby Street in London is the ferrari formula one car made using puma motorsport clothing. Brilliant!

World of Paper

Scribe: World of Paper.
Uploaded by duccnguyen. - Watch original web videos.

Advertising Agency: BBDO, México
Producer Company: Lemon Films, Cru Ladies

One would think that with an ad so impressive, their notebooks would be visually more pleasing!

Found Cuttlery

By found they mean you can make cuttlery out of plastic bottles you already have at home, a way of recycling your plastic bottles and making more cuttlery for that dinner you have tomorrow. Spanish designer Oscar Diaz worked on a series called “Found” where he produced a range of super-light flatware cut straight from the bottle. The fork, knife and spoon takes the bottles’ angles and curves and comes with an already designed grip that makes them easy to pick up and eat from.   

  

the Ink Calendar I blogged about in September is also part of his work

an update on the LEGO house

The lego house built for the TV presenter James May has now been demolished after a deal to sell it fell through. Apparently the house did not have planning permision to be built on that particular site, and they were hoping to find a buyer to transport the house elsewhere. LEGOland was one of the interested buyers but the 3.3 million LEGO house was too expensive to transport. What a waste of time I believe! But atleast they're donating all the LEGO pieces to charity! (I'm sure the kids will be happy)  

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Fashion design meets technology

Imagine this, now your clothes can alert you when its a bad air day! this concept is new to me, and i still dont get how it exactly works, but designer Stephanie Sandstrom's EPA dress responds to pollution and crumples up on days where the quality of the air is bad! This is due to sensors incorporated in the dress that read air quality. So if your dress is cleverly wrinkled then beware!!! there are lurking health hazards around you! So take out that mask of yours and cover up!

Origami Tea

The concept is based on the principles of origami. The bird is formed and spreads its wings gradually while the tea is being infused. Green Berry Tea concept has been designed and developed by artist Nathalia Ponomareva. However the project has not been marketed yet.

You are my sunshine

Go green... use an energy efficient bulb

shave the doll

The creepiest concept for a baby doll I have ever seen! Who in his right mind would want to shave a baby??

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Unfortunately placed ads

who would have thought? 

There are even more!

sofa dress

 Design Studio MAEZM with the two young Korean designers Cho Eun Whan and Shin Tai Ho, present the “sofa-dress”. Wanted to share this simple idea of theirs with you since this “sofa-dress” is a fusion of space and furniture design. The chair itself wears the clothes of the sofa, transforming an existing object to an interesting –and definitely more cushiony- piece of furniture.

 

Lords of Logistics

my friend sent me this email earlier today, you might have seen it before, but some pictures just cracked me up! and I wanted to share them with you!

HOW do they do it??

Learn a new language...

matchbook sign language! 

JK Keller,  created these sign-language hands from matchbooks he found on the street, not sure if the one below is actually part of the sign-language gestures, but it would be worth having in your pocket just in case you need to use it (it happens...). My only disappointment is that he managed to ignore a simple "I love you".

Don't panic just yet!

Designers Dohyun Ryu, Junghyun Joo, Kyungyoung Lee & Taehong Park came up with this concept of a handle (the ones used in the underground trains) that are also emergency light torches that come off at the push of a button. The flashlight handles will light up when the lights go out in the train. Before people get panicky when the lights blank out, these flashlights will reassure the commuters a lot more confidence to deal with the situation.

Design for Life, Philippe Starck's new reality TV show

The catch... if you win it you get a 6 month placement at his HQ in Paris! (Nice!) in the program starck sets the young participating designers creative tasks, and each week he eliminates the weakest! The show first started on the 14th of September and is going to be screening on BBC2 in the coming weeks! There are 12 young eager designers (6 boys and 5 girls) that are part of the show, they where chosen from the portfolios that Philippe Starck received! 


for more about the program click here

Believe it or not... a LEGO house

As a child you build these lego houses, everytime wishing it was big enough to live in, but it never is... Well in this case, this LEGO house is every little childs dream house, built entirely out of legos.  James May, host of a new BBC series called James May’s Toy Stories had to wait until adulthood, but he’s finally fulfilling that dream. James intends to live in the world’s first life-size Lego house for a few days – “or until it falls down,” according to him. The house is being built in Surrey. Construction began on August 17th, with more than 2000 people helping in the construction of the plastic house, which is two stories tall and includes working doors, a bedroom, toilet, shower and staircase.

Just a piece of A4 paper

brilliant!

When you just need that EXTRA bit of space

The Bloomframe is now in production! This concept for a window that transforms into a balcony space first spread across the internet in November 2005 by Apartment Therapy. The model is now available to order and buy from Hurks, a specialist window and door manufacturer in The Netherlands.

If only eyes could speak

here they definitely do...



The work of an artist called Kevin Ledo who stuck a pair of eyes on anything that looked like a face to him. He does not explain the purpose of this project but these pictures are just a couple that I picked out, have a look at the whole collection of pictures here

Sydney International Food Festival Ad Campaign

To celebrate their World Chef Showcase Weekend, the Sydney International Food Festival has developed this brilliant ad campaign.  The participating nations are represented in these images by their flag and cuisine, with their local fare being used to create the image of the flag. 

To see the rest of the countries click here

The after office tie

This is one of the final shortlisted design entries to designboom's competition 'it's aperitivo time' in collaboration with peroni nastro azzurro. It's a bottle opener attached to the edge of the tie which allows men to open bottles easily for any occasion. Its designed by argentinian sinapsis studio.

And the shelf is for??

anyone dares to explain?

Chair/Chair

It's a chair made out of the word chair! Get it? (I'll give you a few more seconds to look at the picture again and guess where each letter is). Designer Eric Ku created this chair (called Chair/Chair) after being inspired by Joseph Kosuth's One and Three Chair (see below), a conceptual piece consisting of a chair, a photograph of the chair, and a dictionary definition of the word "chair". (I would have called that piece Chair/Chair/Chair)