2012-02-08 15:06:17 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The launch of the brand for personal brewery WilliamsWarn has won Studio Alexander a gold award in the international Graphis 100 Best in Design and will feature in the 2012 edition of the International Journal of Visual Communication.
2012-02-08 13:55:35 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Xero has beaten corporate giants Nike+ and Windows Phone 7 to take out the “best in class for global interaction design” award at the Google-sponsored IxDA Interaction Design Awards.
2012-02-07 14:28:28 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
UK-based designer Peter Godkin is out to create a series of posters to raise international awareness about Christchurch's ongoing struggle.
2012-02-07 14:09:59 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Not many companies could say their employees all received a set of designer gifts for Christmas, but at Air New Zealand – from baggage handlers to the top brass – that's what happened last year.
2012-02-03 17:53:29 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Those with a sweet tooth might do best to avoid the Q-Pot phone, which is more than likely to elicit hunger pangs every time you pull it out.
2012-02-03 14:38:58 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
One aspiring entrepreneur has taken to Kiwi crowdfunding platform PledgeMe in the hopes of raising $30,000 to cover various international patents for his self-regulating pneumatic vehicle suspension system.
2012-02-03 13:30:17 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Jason Whiteley has an enviable background, having worked with architects Herzog & de Meurons after five years in Switzerland and New York City.
2012-02-03 13:21:48 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
From the organisers of the mighty New Zealand International Film Festival comes the World Cinema Showcase, featuring films selected by NZIFF programmers that for whatever reason were not eligible for NZIFF screening. For the design-minded, there are screeds to get your teeth into.
2012-02-02 13:50:39 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
Imagine a totally digitised house, creating a parallel home on the web. Everything in the house can be used to communicate; the interface is ubiquitous, controlling physical appliances and apps alike.
2012-02-02 11:04:54 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
The country’s largest solar subdivision is on its way to Canterbury, where new homes at Christchurch's Highfield subdivision will have solar installations providing around a quarter of their energy needs.
2012-02-01 13:44:57 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Versatility, when it comes to furniture, is a good thing by most standards. And the REK coffee table definitely qualifies, with its sleek expandable design.
2012-01-27 15:00:52 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Nowhere captures the pace of global market change quite like China, where consumers and their expectations are a case study in rapid cultural shifts and their effect on design and brand communications.
2012-01-26 20:00:44 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
A $14 million expansion to Christchurch's Air Force Museum is underway after nine years of planning and delays caused by the Canterbury earthquakes.
2012-01-26 10:37:20 // Design Daily Team
| 3 comments
Heart of the City has slammed a huge expansion of Auckland's ports that has been proposed in order to handle growing freight volumes.
2012-01-25 16:20:09 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
The first Designers Speak event of the year is fast coming up and the guest of honour at Calligraffiti will be Amsterdam's Niels Shoe Meulman.
2012-01-25 09:44:30 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
Taupo could be in for a new eco-sustainable housing community, reshaping the way houses receive heat, electricity, water, and use wastewater.
2012-01-24 16:43:14 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Lemonade Design is by no means a newbie to the design game with several prominent clients including Eden Park, Jucy Rentals and Burger Fuel under its belt – so it’s no surprise the agency was the clear choice for cheeky new ice cream brand Holy Moly.
2012-01-24 15:20:37 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Award-winning architecture firm Patterson Associates is set to lead some a consortium of some of New Zealand’s most creative content developers in delivering New Zealand’s Pavilion at the 2012 Frankfurt Book Fair.
2012-01-23 09:22:07 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Local company Panprint has scored not one but two prizes at the World Label Awards for the Totara Sauvignon Blanc 2010 and Full Circle Sauvignon Blanc 2010.
2012-01-20 15:32:46 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
New Zealand’s own Stabicraft Marine has just delivered nine custom boats to Alaska, where they'll be used to monitor gillnetting by commercial fishermen and the number of fish and birds caught.
2012-01-20 09:55:04 // Design Daily Team
| 1 comment
Changes are afoot in the building industry and the Department of Building and Housing has launched a two-year campaign, Build It Right, to keep regular Joes in the loop.
2012-01-19 17:11:05 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Next month marks the opening of a fresh exhibition, Millennium Magazines, at the museum of Modern Art in New York – and a Kiwi magazine has been picked to feature in it.
2012-01-19 14:28:27 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog #37: now
With the likes of the Auckland Council and Melbourne's South East Water on the books, Nextspace is scratching the surface of a $2 billion market potential.
2012-01-16 10:54:09 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
New technology announced last week by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) just might herald a new era in virtual reading.
2012-01-10 16:13:56 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Perhaps you're a renter constrained by plain white walls and a strict lease, or a keen (re)decorator easily bored. Whatever your motivation, adhesive wall graphics are a nifty way to add a personal touch to a room without causing any long-term damage to walls or other surfaces.
2012-01-09 17:20:19 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
New ways to rebuild Christchurch will be floated at an international workshop next month.
2012-01-09 14:38:41 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Dreaming of working at the beach? Imagine working under a sunny sky – the next best thing created by researchers at the Fraunhofe Institute in Germany.
2012-01-06 14:18:03 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A house between four large boulders, tucked away in the mountains of Portugal, is proving a major tourist drawcard.
2011-12-22 12:14:14 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 14 comments
Never able to find a bottle opener when you need one? Sick of having to carry one on your keychain? With a built-in bottle opener on your iPhone case, you'll have one with you wherever you go.
2011-12-21 14:21:43 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Signage is an element so deeply embedded into any urban environment that we tend to take it for granted. But just how are they created?
2011-12-21 13:55:23 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Google has long been famed for its employee perks – from free food and haircuts to valet service – and futuristic offices. And its London offices now resemble a space station thanks to a recent refurbishment.
2011-12-21 11:05:03 // Esther Goh & Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Twelve talented artists from around New Zealand and the globe are heading to Asia on their own dime to work with refugees and migrants on the Thai/Burma border on creative projects.
2011-12-20 15:35:21 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
Chimerical Conundrums might sound like something out of a science journal, but in fact it's a collection by fashion designer Fiona Clements.
2011-12-20 12:37:40 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
The Tintin experience just got even better for fans – HarperCollins Publishers, Weta and Moulinsart have collaborated on an app to let viewers immerse themselves into Hergé's rich fictional world.
2011-12-19 09:54:31 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Air New Zealand has lifted the hood on the world’s largest commercially operated aircraft to be painted completely black.
2011-12-16 10:52:42 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Recently home to Tartuffe and currently hosting Auckland Theatre’s version of Roald Dahl’s The Twits, Queen’s Street’s new Q Theatre has well and truly established itself on the Auckland arts scene.
2011-12-16 09:14:12 // Kate Beecroft
// The Idealog Blog
If you’ve ever heard a graphic designer complain about an ugly font, you will know this is not a topic to be scoffed at (unless you want their three-day-old black coffee hiffed in your face).
2011-12-15 12:31:41 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Designworks' latest recruitment drive sees its ranks swell by four, with the appointment of two new design specialists at each of the Auckland and Wellington offices.
2011-12-14 16:21:43 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Even as older technologies fade into obsolescence, newer ones pop up to help to preserve them. Here's LetterMpress, an app that lets you experience the charm of this old school craft.
2011-12-14 15:19:11 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Following the regional Holcim Awards for sustainable construction projects for Latin America, Europe, Africa Middle East, and North America, the winners of the Asia Pacific Awards have been revealed, bringing the regional phase of the competition to a close.
2011-12-13 14:40:42 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 4 comments
Seasoned travellers know that every square centimetre of space in their packs is precious. There's no room for bulk and no room for extras in their luggage – and shoes are the worst offenders.
2011-12-12 08:55:25 // Siobhan Leathley
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
A couple of century-old theatres scarred by fire and left untouched for 50 years have been transformed into fashionable restaurants in the heart of Auckland.
2011-12-12 08:51:57 // Kate Beecroft
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Newmarket's Qubic Store is embracing the ‘recycle and reuse’ philosophy, fitting out its space with a range of everyday materials that have been reused in new ways.
2011-12-09 15:07:43 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Packaging designer and freelance writer Emma Parnell has an unhealthy addiction to her Mac – and Mad Men.
2011-12-08 15:59:54 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Readers of Home New Zealand magazine will no doubt have spotted a few changes on its pages.
2011-12-06 17:22:20 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
A new mall is literally popping up in Shoreditch, South London in a world-first for mall construction.
2011-12-06 15:54:23 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Victoria University student Roger Wilson has emerged victorious in the NZIA Graphisoft Student Design Awards, a design competition contested by the top four final year students from each of New Zealand’s three architecture schools at the University of Auckland, Unitec, and Victoria.
2011-12-06 14:48:33 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
There's a little bit of voyeur in all of us – and online platform TheLimner satisfies those urges beautifully with a sneak peek into the work and workspaces of all kinds of interesting people.
2011-12-05 16:45:01 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Yes, it's early in the week, but the best thing we've seen this week are these posters designed by Nuno Filipe Miranda capturing gems of wisdom uttered by the likes of Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, Henry Ford and Steve Jobs.
2011-12-05 13:57:19 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Kiwi architects, designers and students who aren't afraid to play it safe will get the chance to show off their prowess at the 2012 Dulux Colour Awards.
2011-12-01 14:09:34 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Quality land development for years to come will be the legacy of the 2011 New Zealand Institute of Surveyors Award of Excellence ‘Gold’ winner.
2011-11-30 18:22:03 // Idealog
The designers behind Kiwi fashion label Nyne have been bestowed with the DHL Express Fashion Export Scholarship for 2011, after making an unsuccessful bid last year.
2011-11-30 12:37:19 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
What are the tools of a modern designer's trade? BestVendor has surveyed 180 creative professionals and pulled together the results in this infographic. Not surprisingly, Adobe programmes still dominate, but designers are also embracing cloud apps.
2011-11-30 08:28:11 // Design Daily Team
| 2 comments
Wanted: a designer or consortium of designers to create a sustainable cultural exhibition for some of New Zealand’s most precious archives/tāonga.
2011-11-29 09:30:56 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Land Information New Zealand has put out a call for consultants to scope work to accelerate the development of spatial data infrastructure by funding projects in Canterbury.
2011-11-25 13:05:51 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Architecture contests are never short of ambitious projects, and the modern masterpiece proposed by Japanese practice Sou Fujimoto Architects in collaboration with Taiwanese firm Fei & Cheng Associates that took first place in the Taiwan Tower International competition for Taichung city is no exception.
2011-11-25 11:16:06 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Christchurch City Council's Share an Idea campaign has been recognised internationally, prompting judges of the Co-Creation Award to look outside Europe for the first time.
2011-11-24 12:15:59 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Collaborations between musicians and artists have brought us some of the most memorable pop culture images of the last 50 years and Beck's hopes to repeat that this summer.
2011-11-23 17:07:03 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
What happens to New Zealand’s women architects after they graduate? That's the question behind Architecture + Women.
2011-11-23 13:42:34 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Seventeen projects, ranging in scale from Forsyth Barr Stadium to a weekend retreat at Taieri Mouth, have been recognised in the Southern Architecture Awards, the programme that celebrates the year’s best buildings in Otago and Southland.
2011-11-23 11:19:48 // Design Daily Team
Melding cultural relevance and sustainable design has won an AUT Master of Philosophy student a spot in the the top 20 of the International Bicycle Design Competition.
2011-11-22 16:36:16 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
100 ‘rooms of solitude’, a plan to create a new East River walkway in New York featuring a disused aircraft carrier and the integration of the earthquake-ravaged ruins of a Lyttelton convent into a new structure were the three diverse winners at this year’s AAA Cavalier Bremworth Unbuilt Architecture Awards.
2011-11-22 13:29:38 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
A pop-up store on Sydney Harbour? Yes please.
Sunglass Hut marked the start of its summer season by launching Australia’s first floating pop-up store – one of three located on Sydney Harbour.
2011-11-21 15:58:04 // Esther Goh
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
Every year Otago Polytechnic Product Design School and Port Chalmers Design Store owners Becs Wilson and Sarah Wood join forces to create a real-life, pressure-boiler situation for students, forcing them to come up with a product idea, design, manufacture and brand it – all in just 10 weeks. Oh, and the product has to be in store for under $80.
2011-11-21 10:28:25 // Kelvin Taylor
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
We live in a world where design and branding is playing an increasingly vital role in helping us differentiate one service or product from another.
2011-11-03 13:06:12 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Strategy Design & Advertising has announced a merger with long-standing Wellington-based Cue Design. The merger bolsters Strategy’s studio numbers to four — Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and Sydney — with 80 staff across the four studios. And there are big plans afoot.
2011-10-31 15:43:07 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
A guitar pick and egg might not have a lot in common, but both formed part of the inspiration behind a winning entry in the inaugural Formica Formations Design Competition, which challenged New Zealand’s professional as well as emerging architects and designers to design a sculptural piece of furniture.
2011-10-26 12:33:50 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog #36: workshop
Best Awards John Britten black pin winner Mark Elmore is an assuming and unsung hero of Kiwi industrial design.
2011-10-19 11:19:07 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
What is design thinking, why is it so important and what impact will it have on the world? This two minute video offers a little insight.
2011-10-17 09:44:20 // Esther Goh
National tax reform is what's needed to effectively assist building owners with seismic strengthening, the head of the Property Council says – not just a Canterbury-specific tax policy.
2011-10-05 14:50:51 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog #35: workshop
| 9 comments
The New Zealand architecture industry is suffering from a lack of confidence, says Andrew Patterson.
2011-09-20 11:00:00 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
If you’re gadget-making inclined, here’s a very cool and practical iPhone charging solution by Wisconsin man Joshua Zimmerman. According to Zimmerman, his invention takes only between 30 to 60 minutes to create and costs around NZ$25.
2011-08-23 09:00:00 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog #34: workshop
| 2 comments
They say good things take time. Tell that to the inventor of the first compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), Ed Hammer, who developed his idea in 1975 while working as a senior physicist at GE Lighting. It took the mass market decades to cop onto the environmental and cost-saving benefits of the low-energy bulbs. But after being heralded as the energy-efficient lighting of the future, CFLs have since been criticised for their mercury content. So what’s next? Another form of lighting that has also been on the backburner for decades.
2011-08-18 10:14:26 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog #34: workshop
Creating lingerie stores in the conservative Middle East market was quite an undertaking for Space Studio.
2011-08-11 15:12:49 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
Everyone's buzzing about the Adidas PR fiasco. Why has the frenzy over a black shirt gripped the entire country? Vincent Heeringa talks branding – and the Best Awards – on Kiwi FM.
2011-08-09 09:28:12 // David Trubridge
// Idealog #34: workshop
| 1 comment
Even the press have moved on from the once-edgy atmosphere at Milan's Zona Tortona.
2011-08-04 11:02:18 // Mitchell Hall
// Idealog #34: interact
Aucklander Maria Ines Manchego is a photographer, cinematographer and director living in hipster ground zero—Brooklyn, New York’s Williamsburg. The quietly-spoken Chilean–New Zealander recently shot her first feature with Kiwi director Florian Habicht.
2011-08-02 09:07:27 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Combining dancing with strangers and painting, Noise Ink was an interactive installation commissioned for the Auckland Arts Festival.
2011-08-01 08:59:45 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Rex bionic legs give hope to those who have sustained spinal injuries that they may in fact walk again.
2011-07-28 14:54:24 // Lynda Brendish
// Idealog #34: interact
| 1 comment
Tangleball is the latest addition to the growing global trend of DIY makerspaces, born of a desire to get offline and create tangible objects in a community-oriented way.
2011-07-25 08:21:06 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
It baffles all who try to solve it, except for the world record-holder who completed it in 5.66 seconds.
2011-07-22 11:02:07 // Esther Goh
| 1 comment
Our currency is about to be refreshed with a bit of a facelift to reflect advances in technology and security.
2011-07-21 09:44:06 // Sarah Robson
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Touch an electric fence and you'll find you'll get a nasty shock. It's as simple as that.
2011-07-20 14:16:17 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog #34: now
| 1 comment
We talk to New York-based illustrator, designer and art director Sara Blake about her imminent visit to our shores.
2011-07-15 14:27:31 // Idealog
Police quake heroes have been honoured with street art in Christchurch, in a bold move that aims to promote work in the police force to the younger crowd.
2011-07-13 13:12:38 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Time to get out of the cold and into some creative warmth by way of the upcoming Design Assembly workshops.
2011-07-07 12:49:18 // Design Daily Team
If you’ve recently taken a stroll through Auckland International Airport’s departure lounge you’d struggle to not to be impressed by the revamp. The spruce up seems to have caught the eyes of judges at the recent Red Retail Design Awards too, with the international departure area named Supreme Winner.
2011-07-05 09:00:00 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
Kiwi designer Helen Andreae has come up with a prototype for a mechanised toy designed to teach autistic children positive play behaviours.
2011-07-04 18:42:17 // Design Daily Team
Air New Zealand's long-haul redesign, a springless trampoline and a more efficient sheep drencher have scored at the prestigious International Design Excellence Awards.
2011-07-04 11:10:01 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 5 comments
Local brand and marketing company Tuskany Agency last week unveiled its new vision and strategy for downtown Tauranga, including a new logo (which at first glance seems reminiscent of the Microsoft logo) and the positioning statement: “Locals. Love it!”. But when it comes to the actual logo and slogan itself —as seems to be the inevitable case in almost every brand redesign— not everyone actually loves it.
2011-07-01 10:12:22 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
It looks to be business as usual for multidisciplinary design company Alt Group as it continues to rake in awards from New Zealand and abroad. The latest accolades come after three of its pieces were selected as winners in New York’s prestigious 365: AIGA Annual Design competition, which celebrates international design work that is both aesthetically challenging and effective.
2011-06-22 06:00:00 // Idealog
// The Idealog Blog
A 3D modelling service, a massive interactive public wall and an uplifting public health game have placed New Zealand among the winners at the innovative World Summit Awards.
2011-06-21 16:49:02 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Getting the best views won’t be so much of an issue anymore if Airbus’ proposed Concept Cabin takes flight. The “inspired by nature” and very transparent concept was unveiled ahead of the Paris Airshow last week, but you’ll have to wait until 2050 to experience it for yourself. But if 39 years seems a while away yet, here's a peek at some of the impressive technologies and designs futuristic air travel may have on offer.
2011-06-10 06:00:00 // Kris Herbert
// Idealog #33: features
| 1 comment
Kate Bezar rejected all the rules of business and made up her own rules about publishing to create the ‘mook’ — a magazine/book hybrid that’s as inspirational as its subject matter. By Kris Herbert.
2011-05-13 11:29:25 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 12 comments
Rebranding exercises tend to receive a lot of heat when they’re finally made public, and this couldn’t be more true of Z Energy, the new petrol stations being unveiled across the country in place of the old branded Shell stations.
2011-04-27 18:01:55 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Architects and designers have been a little slow when it comes to adopting greener building principles, and they need to wake up, according to builder and designer Lawrence McIntyre. His words come after the release of a report on a Golden Bay home, built by McIntyre, which has been awarded the highest energy efficient rating for a house in New Zealand.
2011-04-19 14:22:16 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The Church has embarked on a pretty expansive journey over the past ten years. Starting out as a small design agency, it’s since gone on to become a design, advertising and communications agency and on Monday, to coincide with the opening of its first office in Australia, and as a “coming of age” of sorts, the communications agency officially relaunched itself.
2011-04-18 17:08:41 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
With a pretty girl in tow, at the recent CeBIT electronics show in Germany, Samsung unveiled its very cool solar powered and transparent LCD television. The prototype is powered by solar panels that feed off the ambient light in the room.
2011-04-15 12:35:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Design Assembly has launched its 2011 series of workshops with some new skill sets thrown in for good measure.
2011-04-14 11:08:18 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Fun as it may be to watch laundry do the turns at the laundromat, one community-based public project is making the most out the cleaning activity by providing public arts education and programming opportunities to benefit lower income communities in the Greater New York area, all in the space of the laundry cycle. As part of the initiative, called The Laundromat Project, a group of artists set up shop at different laundromats daily and teach creative skills in areas like sidewalk art, painting, and screen printing to people.
2011-04-14 10:38:53 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Eating chocolate is tasty but typing on it is another story. And it's a concept clever enough to earn Alt Group another international award. The multidisciplinary design firm is no stranger to winning awards, nabbing 87 national and international awards in 2010 alone. And now that the 2011 awards season is upon us, Alt has come out firing with news the firm has won the In-House category for the second year in a row as part of Australia's CREATIVE magazine Hotshop Awards. But Alt isn’t the only Kiwi company putting in a repeat performance, with Wellington-based Resn, who have worked along side impressive clients like Toyota, Puma and MySpace, also picking up the award for best Digital and Interactive Agency for the third year running.
2011-04-13 10:35:28 // StopPress Team
// The Idealog Blog
Breaking down language barriers to engage all New Zealanders in a conversation with our deaf community is a challenge. But that’s exactly what Deaf Aotearoa New Zealand (DANZ) and Wellington design agency Creature hope to do with their new campaign for New Zealand Sign Language Week 2011 that proudly states ‘I am Deaf, Let’s Talk.'
2011-04-05 16:49:03 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
In 1993 Malcolm Rands, together with his wife Melanie, launched a small mail-order business supplying green every day household products, all with the aim of creating a healthier more sustainable world. 19 years on and the ecostore brand has come a pretty long way from its roots in the Rands’ basement of their eco-village property in Northland. But with a range that spanned over 100 products as of last year, and with complacency a known enemy of innovation, ecostore has undergone a massive formulation and design makeover, the results of which were revealed at an event at the company’s home base in Auckland last night.
2011-04-04 15:37:40 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
PechaKucha presentations in Enzed are always inspiring, but the upcoming Global PechaKucha Day has an even more unique role for us with PechaKucha Night Christchurch being designated as the launch city for the global event. Called ‘Inspire Christchurch’ the event will kick-start the global event themed around ‘Inspire Japan’, with many of the 400 PechaKucha cities taking part across the world.
2011-03-31 12:27:22 // Kris Herbert
// The Idealog Blog
In this story, featured in Idealog #32, Kris Herbert meets the Cantabrians who are reinventing their city. Although the Idealog issue hit the shelves just as the 6.3 earthquake struck Christchurch, the story provides a valuable insight into the fantastic ideas being generated by various groups in Christchurch, ideas that are now more important than ever.
2011-03-28 12:32:29 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The awards may be Australian, but there’s no love lost between our neighbours out west when it comes to eligibility in the upcoming 2011 Australian International Design Awards. Designers, manufacturers and distributors of professionally designed products and services available on the Australian market are eligible to enter the awards, but you’d better be quick with entries closing this Thursday 31 March. And if you've already entered, here are the scrutinous eyes under which your product will fall under.
2011-03-25 14:38:42 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
We’re digging this t-shirt design by Hamilton-based graphic designer and illustrator David Creighton-Pester. Creighton-Pester created the design as part of a competition run by Chicago-based Threadless, a community-centered online apparel store that prints designs created and chosen by its global online members (a not too shabby 1.5 million of them).
2011-03-25 09:56:11 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Marco Bernardini’s Age House isn’t the most obvious form of architecture, quite literally. Bernardini explains its unusual, yet very natural and seamless form.
2011-03-24 10:35:30 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The next installment of the DINZ Designers Speak Series 2011 is heading Wellington way and will focus on commercial development.
2011-03-23 16:27:01 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
When we spoke to Kate Alexander of Studio Alexander at last year's Best Design Awards (see video interview here), she said she loved working with her old man because there was so much to learn from him. Now it seems she's learned enough to ease herself into the position of managing director of the design and brand agency she co-founded with her father in 1999. In the meantime her father and fellow Studio Alexander co-founder, Grant Alexander, is still very much in the picture as a director of the company.
2011-03-22 06:00:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A website detailing the story of New Zealand’s internet, from the high to the lows (and everything in between) has walked away with the most outstanding website honour at the recent Onya awards, which celebrate those who design, develop and create New Zealand's best websites and applications.
2011-03-17 10:57:36 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
It may be selling a drink that's packed with chemicals and inherently presents no health benefits whatsoever, but what the hey, at least the bottle is going a little greener. PepsiCo has announced it has developed what is says is the world's first PET plastic bottle made entirely from plant-based, fully renewable resources, like switch grass, pine bark and corn husks.
2011-03-16 15:43:46 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
In 2001, the combination of 9/11 and the collapse of Ansett brought Air New Zealand to its knees. With a loss of self-belief and pride, coupled with a dislocation between employees and managers, the airline needed a transformation and it needed it fast. Rob Fyfe came on board shortly after to undertake a strategic review that focused on defining the airlines identity. There was one thing the airline had that no other airline could lay claim to—its New Zealandness. Speaking at the NZTE Better by Design CEO summit, a captivating Fyfe explains how Enzed’s personality and stories have become the design and innovation ethos for Air New Zealand and everything it does, and in the process, have turned the airline around through reinvention.
2011-03-16 12:10:49 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
It’s one of the most prestigious international product design competitions that honours a broad scope of design categories, including gardens, life science and medicine, households and kitchens, interior design and new to the fold this year, architecture and urban design. And now, fresh from Germany, the winners of the red dot design awards have been selected, with Kiwi company Methven picking up its own red dot for excellence in design in the Bathrooms, spa and air-conditioning category.
2011-03-15 14:11:48 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
While murmurings of a possible merger with the National Bank remain shrouded in secrecy, what is certain is that ANZ’s super-regional strategy, more specifically, the associated brand roll-out that comes with the strategy, is doing something right after Asia-Pacific brand delivery company Diadem won an award for best brand implementation for its ANZ project as part of the seventh annual REBRAND 100 Global Awards.
2011-03-14 14:15:26 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Kiwi illustrator and animator Kieran Rynhart has beaten out 6,000 submissions to be selected as one of Luerzerʼs Archive Best 200 Illustrators Worldwide for 2010/2011. His submission, titled ʻSt. Brendanʼ, was picked by a panel of the worlds industry-leading art directors, creative directors and illustrators.
2011-03-11 14:25:46 // Sam Eichblatt
// The Idealog Blog
“The thing is, furniture is not like clothing. You can’t just wear it for a season. I want my stuff to become part of people’s lives,” says Nathan Goldsworthy. It’s a bold statement from the softly spoken furniture designer, but as a glance at his new products show, his brand has been quietly evolving as he made plans to leave his former base of Wellington for Auckland.
2011-03-10 09:54:17 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
As the director of transformation at brand marketing agency Liquid, Marty Neumeier is a recognised thought leader in brand strategy, innovation, and design. He’s on a mission to ‘incite business revolution by unleashing the power of design thinking.’ Watch as he unleashes his mission at the NZTE Better by Design CEO summit.
2011-03-09 17:17:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
How to best design for retail is the hot topic up for discussion at the upcoming Designers Speak Series 2011. The DINZ event will feature insights from speakers in retail, design, branding and architecture.
2011-03-09 16:02:18 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 6 comments
Labour has unveiled its brand new logo, revealing a stripped back, cleaner, all-red design, complete with a stereotypical Kiwi fern. And after a fair bit of digging and probing, we can reveal the creative buffs behind the new design are advertising agency Barnes, Catmur & Friends. But unlike politicians, getting a straight answer from the agency was easy. The logo may be new, but its tightly linked to the Labour of old. And by old, we mean 1930s old.
2011-03-08 15:05:43 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here’s a cool website for creative folks in Christchurch and anyone in New Zealand looking to tap into some of that creativity.
2011-03-08 14:30:02 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The depth of Kiwi design talent in the running to win an award at the upcoming 2011 Dulux Colour Awards spreads far and wide as the newly announced 2011 shortlist reveals. The awards celebrate the use of colour in architecture and design and this year’s shortlist features an impressive 23 Kiwi projects, with Auckland and Christchurch taking centre-stage.
2011-03-08 09:54:31 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
For someone only in his 30s, Argentinean-born and now Australian-based designer Alexander Lotersztain has packed a lot of success into his life—starting off with winning the Design Institute of Australia prize for Best Design Student, right through to featuring in exhibitions with Sputnik and Designers Block in London, Tokyo, Milano, New York, San Francisco, Berlin and Moscow. Famous for his funky and sustainable furniture, interior and object designs, we caught up with Lotersztain when visited New Zealand last week. He tells us why design is about being smart and balancing popularity with honesty, and where a six-pack of beer fits into it all.
2011-03-07 11:11:07 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If you’re a primary school wanting to incorporate an outdoor classroom into the learning environment, you can’t do much better scenery wise than Queenstown. Remarkables Primary School, a newly built enviro school has done just that by creating a roof top garden that that doubles as an outdoor learning and playing space for pupils and teachers. Designed by Auckland-based Greenroofs Ltd, it has a number of environmental benefits up its sleeves too. As well as reducing stormwater runoff, it also helps absorb aircraft noise from the nearby airport and helps merge the building into the surrounding landscape.
2011-03-07 09:59:58 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
There may be reports of portaloo thefts in Christchurch, but some residents have already taken matters into their own hands by crafting their own unique long drops. Now a website has been set up dedicated to showcasing “the creative long drops that are popping up around Christchurch". The aptly named ShowUsYourLongDrop.com is asking people in Christchurch to upload their long drop creations and encouraging everyone else to “vote on who’s got the best loo”.
2011-03-03 13:21:16 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Time will be the biggest challenge in rebuilding Christchurch. That’s according to Peter Marshall, managing director at Warren and Mahoney. But regardless of the time it takes, he says it’s imperative to incorporate local input into the rebuilding process, though he acknowledges government and nation-wide input is also critical as part of a wider framework of initiatives.
2011-03-02 10:01:43 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Mixing it up for you today, check out these very convincing logo mashups by Brazilian graphic designer Mario Amaya.
2011-03-01 15:38:06 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
A sense of humour and some design prowess can get you a long way. In fact, for Kiwi founded and now London-based designer chocolate bar company Bloomsberry & Co, it can take you all the way from New Zealand to the UK, and beyond.
2011-02-24 12:19:50 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
A sense of humour and some design prowess can get you a long way. In fact, for Kiwi founded and now London-based designer chocolate bar company Bloomsberry & Co, it can take you all the way from New Zealand to the UK, and beyond. Having already experienced significant growth into overseas markets that include Australia, the USA, Germany and Ireland, it’s quirky Easter range of chocolate bar designs has found its way into fashionable UK retailer TopShop.
2011-02-23 13:24:13 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog #32: now
Rod Fry’s Paris-based showroom of Kiwi
art and design found an unexpected
challenge: traditional French taste
2011-02-23 13:06:39 // Sam Eichblatt
// Idealog #32: now
Nathan Goldsworthy’s self-assembled furniture is the first step in the designer’s move offshore
2011-02-21 10:38:11 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here's a cool way to start your Monday morning off. If you ever wondered how much work, craft and passion goes into putting together a magazine, the folks behind UK film magazine Little White Lies give you an idea with this visual stunner of a video.
2011-02-21 10:12:11 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Graphic design legend David Carson is still heading our way, just not as soon as originally planned. The good news for all you inspiration-hungry designers is that you’ve now got even more time to grab your tickets to the event. Check out the details here. Oh, and we’ll be interviewing the man himself so be sure to watch this space.
2011-02-17 11:29:04 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 12 comments
Although Tom Robinson began his natural, plant-based products venture in the 60s, his Earthwise range of home cleaning products is only now making its way to supermarket shelves thanks in large to a funky brand makeover.
To celebrate the Earthwise rebrand, we’ve got three Earthwise Home Range kits to give away for the best eco packaging suggestions.
2011-02-14 14:12:35 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
While Earthwise Group was born 1960s New Zealand, its plant-based, environmentally-friendly range of home cleaning products has only recently hit supermarket shelves, thanks to a recent boost in investment coupled with some brand makeover magic courtesy of Auckland-based brand strategy company BRR.
2011-02-14 10:20:26 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Brand new Auckland school Ormiston Senior College has opened its doors with a notable point of difference. As well as its unique appearance, it’s also the first school in New Zealand to be awarded the 5 Green Star Education rating from the New Zealand Green Building Council.
2011-02-10 14:21:21 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Whe Len Brown became the first Mayor of the new Auckland Super City, he immediately pledged an ambitious goal to make Auckland “the most liveable city in the world”. The New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development (NZCID) says the government could learn a lesson or two from a recent study trip undertaken by its chief executive Stephen Selwood and Paul Buetow, infrastructure partner at law firm Kensington Swan.
2011-02-09 10:19:29 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
An exhibition at the Christchurch Art Gallery starting next week is giving Cantabs the chance to speak up about the future design direction of Christchurch post-earthquake.
2011-02-08 12:03:58 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
It’s time to get your award hat on with entry into the 2011 Australian International Design Awards now open. Designers, manufacturers and distributors of professionally designed products and services available on the Australian market are eligible to enter the 2011 program and be in the running for Australia’s top design award. In fact, it was a Kiwi who took out last year’s top nod. New Plymouth-based manufacturer Howard Wright’s M8 Intensive Care bed took out the Australian International Design Award of the Year.
2011-02-07 10:44:27 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
First Light, the Victoria University team of students competing in this year’s US Solar Decathlon competition (the first Kiwi team to ever do so), have been doing an awesome job at keeping us updated as they get set to compete in Washington D.C. later this year. And now, after reading about their progress and seeing it in pictures via their regular blogs, First Light have gone one better by giving us this fantastic fly-through 3D animation of their solar bach concept.
2011-02-04 11:45:00 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
This milk is green but that’s not because it’s lime flavoured. As well as looking pretty dam cool, this “paper mache” milk bottle also has a sustainability twist. And soon the GreenBottle will be rolled out to supermarket shelves across the UK, starting this week in Cornwall.
2011-02-03 12:48:46 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Cracked, unsightly and derelict spaces in Christchurch aren’t uncommon following the September 4th earthquake last year. But a collaborative effort between a number of organisations has been putting a greener and more leisure focused spin on the destruction, turning lonesome city centre sites into public recreational green havens, even if it is only temporary.
2011-02-03 10:07:04 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
While New York’s subway is a fast-paced, gritty and crowded experience, Alexander Chen has opted to turn it into something quite musical with his interactive subway map creation.
2011-02-02 16:17:11 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Got an opinion about packaging? Well now you have the chance to thrust into the spotlight the best and worst packaging sold in New Zealand stores, in your humble opinion, thanks to the launch of the Unpackit Packaging Awards.
2011-02-01 06:00:00 // Simon Todd
// The Idealog Blog
While London practically hyperventilates with excitement at the news of an impending royal wedding and that ring, a more subtle celebration of royal jewels is taking place in its parks.
2011-01-27 06:00:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
A USB that doubles as an AA battery? Why not? Designer Wonchul Hwang has created this USB that, when in your computer, recharges so it can be used as an AA battery when needed.
2011-01-24 12:00:00 // StopPress Team
// The Idealog Blog
As the cheesy Telecom slogan says, from here we can do anything—including, as Barnes, Catmur & Friends can attest, making weird calendars for Berlin-based bag retailers. The indie agency’s creative services were employed by Crumpler Europe (apparently the company thought their website looked cool and decided to give them some work) to create something that would to remind its consumers of the brand’s wonderful history. And, as everyone knows, there’s no better way to do that than with a rather humorous and entirely historically accurate calendar (with a bonus month, no less).
2011-01-24 11:21:36 // Paul Brislen
// Idealog #31: now
| 1 comment
Anton Garland is on the hard road to automotive design—and is fixing Auckland’s traffic problems on the way.
2011-01-24 06:00:00
// The Idealog Blog
Graphic design legend David Carson—who says he makes a living off his hobby—is heading our way in February. Better yet, thanks to the Image College, you have the chance to get up close and personal with the man Creative Review magazine dubbed "Art Director of the Era".
2011-01-21 06:00:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
We absolutely love this animated map of Auckland’s public transport network. It’s the clever creation of Chris McDowall, who describes it as “...the map I used to daydream about”. As a child sitting on the bus, McDowall says he’d wonder “...what the transportation network would look like if we could see the movements of the individual vehicles from the air”. After Auckland Transport published its Google Transit Feed data on the MAXX website last year, McDowall created a software that brought the animated map to life, showing the increasing movements of public transport vehicles over the day, starting from 3am on a Monday morning. Check it out here.
2011-01-19 11:35:47 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
Thinking outside the box, or rather outside the country, has seen Christchurch design company Redesign catapult itself onto the global stage. And global expansion seems to have treated the company well, with business opportunities opening up in South East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Australasia.
2011-01-18 10:00:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
If you don’t like being jolted from your sleep by a regular annoying alarm clock, then perhaps this alternative alarm clock creation, allowing you to be awoken by the wafting smell of sizzling bacon, might appeal more to your taste.
2011-01-17 14:28:04 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
No, it's not a giant slinky, though the comparison seems inevitable. Russian architect Alexander Remizov has released his design for what he calls ‘The Ark’, a building he says attempts to answer the “challenges of our time”, like extreme environmental conditions and climate change.
2011-01-17 09:52:07 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
David Engwicht is one of the world’s most innovative thinkers on creating vibrant public spaces, and now the founder of Creative Communities International is heading our way in March to hold workshops across the country. Here are the details.
2011-01-14 09:43:11 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 3 comments
Starbucks has unveiled its brand spanking new logo and the biggest surprise looks to be the decision to entirely remove the ‘Starbucks coffee’ wording. While the words may have vanished, the logo retains its mermaid centrepiece, or as Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz refers to her as, the “siren”. But not everyone is singing the same tune when it comes to giving the rebrand the thumbs up.
2011-01-13 12:50:40 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Taking stock of the evolution of its brand was the main instigator behind Media Design School’s bright and explosive logo makeover—making for quite the departure from its former black and white identity. With the old logo remaining unchanged for over 10 years, the progression to the new logo undertook a very collaborative journey.
2011-01-13 11:12:26 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Ever think no good could come out of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill? Well, some could, perhaps. Rather than spending hundreds of years in a landfill slowly breaking down, General Motors has found a creative way to utilise 160 kms of boom used to contain oil from the spill, recycling them into its car designs. Watch how it works below.
2011-01-12 16:32:31 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
You might have spotted this cute and very stylish caravan on your recent summer travels. Part of a fundraising effort for the Breast Cancer Research Trust, fashion designer Trelise Cooper, who is the Trust’s Patron, has given the classic caravan a bit of an interior and exterior polka dot revamp.
2011-01-12 11:47:11 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Polaroid has just unveiled its original, rather nifty and innovative new product line called Polaroid Grey Label, enlisting the help of none other than Lady Gaga who, as “creative director”, helped to create sunglasses that act as both a Polaroid camera and functional sunnies.
2011-01-11 11:23:38 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Auckland’s inner city retail spaces are set to receive a floral lift as part of the upcoming Auckland Arts Festival. As part of the festival, the Suburban Floral Association will work in Auckland’s inner city shopping area to bring floral blooms into a recession hit inner city shopping area, in a project called ‘Shopfront’. The project is the first venture into Auckland for Wellington Public art programme Letting Space.
2011-01-10 17:11:01 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
In their first blog entry of 2011, and in the year they’ll be competing in the US Solar Decathlon competition (the first Kiwi team to ever do so), Victoria University’s First Light team explain why they’re so excited about the development and use of solar technologies in building, and why its benefits extend far beyond simply environmental.
2011-01-10 14:59:38 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
While it certainly wouldn’t appeal (nor would it be practical) to everyone, 45-year-old Jay Shafer opted to reinvent his life and started the reinvention by drastically downsizing the clutter in his life, beginning with his house. With no construction experience, Shafer designed and built an 89-sq-ft house for himself and, upon receiving positive feedback, has turned his inspiration into a business, designing small houses for others. Check out the tiny living in action.
2011-01-10 12:38:56 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Those of you curious about environmentally sustainable design might like to head along to the upcoming ‘Living roofs for sustainable communities’ event in Auckland, featuring Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr Brad Bass. Better yet, it's free.
2011-01-06 13:19:12 // Vincent Heeringa
// The Idealog Blog
Honda taught the world how to drive in compact fuel-efficient urban runners. Now it's doing the same with private jets. HondaJet made its first flight on December 20 and promises to add new spice in the race to bottom of fuel efficiency. Some 20 percent more efficient than its equivalents, the 7 seater is also quieter, lighter and IMHO much cooler looking.
2010-12-21 15:31:07 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Adding to its treasure trove of wins, the Waitomo Glow Worm Caves is at it gain, this time taking out an award at the inaugural Trans-Tasman Timber Design Awards—the only Kiwi building to do so.
2010-12-21 11:00:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A commitment to environmental responsibility has seen small Auckland-based strategy and design agency Black Robin Design become the first business in its sector to achieve carboNZero ‘small enterprise’ certification.
2010-12-20 16:29:32 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Enzed's top web designers and developers have been narrowed down to a precious few with announcement of the 2011 ONYA Awards finalists. The ONYA Awards, held as part of the impending 2011 Webstock extravaganza, celebrate those who design, develop and create New Zealand's best websites and applications.
And now, onto the finalists...
2010-12-20 12:12:15 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here’ s a novel design to start your week off as you look for distractions in the countdown to Christmas. French artist Julien Berthier has designed this fully functional boat that by all appearances appears to be sinking.
2010-12-16 12:15:35 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Having dabbled in more than a few extraordinary career ventures (Olympic snowboarder, clothing label creator to a Master of Architecture), Pamela Bell now has her sights firmly set on prefabricated building in New Zealand. But why exactly does she think it’s the Holy Grail for the design and construction industry?
2010-12-16 10:31:13 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 22 comments
A bit of tinkering can lead to some pretty awesome creations, as the Magma series of interactive artworks by designer and artist Turi Park illustrate. And now, thanks to the generous Magma crew, we’re giving you the chance to win a Magma for yourself, valued at $490.
2010-12-16 09:33:14 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
No one quite does Christmas light overexuberance like the Americans. But in this lighting display, at least it’s for a good cause. Using 160 channels of computer controlled lighting and over 6,500 feet of extension cord, see what happens when 50,000 bulbs meet dance music courtesy of Derude’s song ‘sandstorm’.
2010-12-15 11:03:33 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
A crafty piece of packaging by Designworks has topped the ‘Latest Top 10 Package Designs’ list of influential packaging design website The Dieline. The recent rebrand of the Hellers meat range (read story HERE) also snuck into the list at number nine.
2010-12-14 14:16:50 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
When public art programme ‘Letting Space’ commissioned Kim Paton to create an art project in an empty retail space—themed around artists exploring the commercial environment—she struck upon a free supermarket idea, bringing together community groups, artists, schools, the council and local businesses to help effect change.
2010-12-14 09:10:00 // Stephen Olsen
// The Idealog Blog
What stimulates your memory, or your understanding of what memory is? How does the motivation to create and contain memory co-exist within the expression of your design work, your architecture, your photography or art?
Wellington was the place to be to get deep and meaningful about this growing agenda of questions last week, when the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa joined with New York’s Syracuse University and Massey University in hosting the Contained Memory Conference – Pupuri Pohewa.
2010-12-13 16:44:26 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Never underestimate what a spot of tinkering can lead to. When Kiwi designer and artists Turi Park was tinkering with abstract shapes and colours in his Wellington family home and studio back in 2002, he struck upon a bright and interactive artwork creation that would eventually see him secure a spot at the 100% Design London trade show, following in the footsteps of the only other Kiwi to do so, David Trubridge. Back home, the work would be housed as part of the Dowse Art Museum collection.
2010-12-13 11:30:08 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If you’re Andrew Carol, it’s Lego. In his spare time, the Apple software engineer has taken to recreating a complex computer that originates from 100 BC. Back in the day, the highly intelligent mechanical computer was built by Greek engineers to predict celestial events and eclipses with unprecedented accuracy. So, how did Carol do it? Check out this film to see the spectacular plastic mechanics in action.
2010-12-10 11:22:22 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Auckland University’s Centre for Infrastructure Research (CIR)—created to improve infrastructure decision-making and management through research, training and policy development—was launched yesterday in Wellington at a function held at Parliament.
2010-12-10 09:57:05 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
In their latest blog entry, the First Light team tell us why they’re assembling their solar bach on Wellington’s waterfront in the lead-up to the US Solar Decathlon competition. And just exactly how much Wellington wind will the bach be able to withstand?
2010-12-09 12:28:23 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
To call Mary Gordon’s professional career thus far eclectic is somewhat of an understatement. In previous incarnations, Gordon has donned a number of hats including AMP business manager, chief executive of architectural firm ASA Crone (which she rebranded to ‘Ignite’), managing director of Hay Group NZ. She’s even worked in corporate treasury in Melbourne and on business consulting projects that include architectural designs for five-star hotels in Sydney and Dubai. Plus there’s the high-end residential and commercial fitouts in Auckland. Oh, and did we mention she also designs her own clothing? Last year Gordon assumed the role of ShoreCare chief executive and less than two years into the job, she's transformed traditional clinic design with the new ShoreCare Accident and Medical Clinic on Auckland’s North Shore. She explains why, when it comes to medical clinics, functionality as well as good design don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
2010-12-09 09:56:01 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Earlier this year at Semi Permanent Design Daily spoke with Dick Frizzell (see video HERE), who gave a taster of what he had planned by way of designs for 2011 Rugby World Cup. Now that the designs have finally been unveiled, a "stoked" Frizzell explains the inspiration behind the designs, including one his son Otis refers to as the "son of the Four Square man".
2010-12-08 15:34:31 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
What can you do with the shattered pieces of plates and glass left in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake? A collaborative effort between retail advertising agency Hotfoot, the Restaurant Association of New Zealand, Christchurch artist Donna Steel, Pataka Pottery owner Maureen Johnston, along with some artistic licence from Todd Blackadder, has resulted in this very cool mosaic billboard.
2010-12-08 09:26:26 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog #30: workshop
With over 100 innovative projects from over 200 countries, sustainable design can look mighty impressive and sophisticated.
2010-12-08 09:06:41 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Earlier this year at Semi Permanent Design Daily spoke with Dick Frizzell (see video HERE), who gave a taster of what he had planned by way of designs for 2011 Rugby World Cup. Now that the designs have finally been unveiled, a "stoked" Frizzell explains the inspiration behind the designs, including one his son Otis refers to as the "son of the Four Square man".
2010-12-07 12:27:53 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 4 comments
With a penchant for designing through stories, Dow Design is at it again, this time giving meat brand Hellers a nostalgic makeover, complete with a new logo.
2010-12-06 16:14:58 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Written and directed by Paul Rojanathara and Davis Johnson, 'Influencers: How trends & creativity become contagious', looks at how influential creatives in New York—from the realms of advertising, design, fashion and entertainment—are shaping today's pop culture. Watch it here.
2010-12-06 15:16:06 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A design that incorporates a slaughterhouse, a meat preparation area and restaurant—all housed under one roof—has won the 2010 New Zealand Institute of Architects Graphisoft Student Design Award, pocketing a handy $5,000.00 prize.
2010-12-06 12:40:15 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
For the Auckland region, it’s $4.29 billion by 2040, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers study commissioned by public agency Sea+City Projects and released by Minister of Transport, Steven Joyce. And what of its projected social and environmental benefits?
2010-12-03 16:05:33 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here’s your chance to swim in an ocean of creativity. WWF-New Zealand has launched a competition that seeks to harvest the creative juices of New Zealanders in a way that demonstrates a passion for Enzed’s mighty oceans. The competition—‘Ocean:Views’—is calling for people to submit creative works celebrating New Zealand's oceans and our connection with them, through creative works in any of the following four categories—music, creative writing, short film, and visual art (including, but not limited to, photography, illustration, graphic design and multimedia).
2010-12-03 10:17:11 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Two “friendly rivals” in the bespoke architecturally designed end of the sustainable home market have teamed up to create a range of sustainably orientated self-build modular homes.
2010-12-02 12:26:26 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
With close to 20 years experience in sustainable design and construction, Jasmax sustainability manager Jerome Partington reckons buildings in New Zealand are often designed to meet standards that are 20 years out of date. He tells us why architects—as trained visionaries—have a critical role to play in creating a strategic approach to sustainable building. And what exactly is the difference between green building and sustainable building?
2010-12-01 09:22:01 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A pair of creatives have come up with a rather quirky and somewhat political retort to the TSA’s newly tightened full body san safety measures. And they’re using the TSA’s own airport x-ray technology to get the message, quite literally, accross.
2010-11-30 16:36:05 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
When it’s named New Zealand’s next top bookshelf. From Kaitaia to Bluff, a call has been put out for booklovers to take a snap of themselves next to their inspired bookshelf, to be in with a chance to win $500 of Booksellers Tokens.
2010-11-30 10:26:21 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Canterbury's NZi3 Innovation building, luxury Auckland apartments and Rob Fyfe are among winners celebrated at the recent 2010 New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards in Wellington, attended by more than 360 guests. But the winner of the Supreme Award for Engineering Excellence was a snowier affair.
2010-11-29 17:38:32 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
In this TED presentation, Canadian John Hardy takes you on a tour of the ‘Green School’, his off-the-grid school in Bali that teaches kids how to build, garden, create (and get into college). He discusses its unique architectural features and explains why the principles of the green school can be applied to communities around the world—just follow these rules: be local, let the environment lead and think about how your grandchildren might build.
2010-11-29 12:17:26 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A Kiwi who makes bicycles described as “...pure art, craft and performance” in his spare time has walked away with a not-so-shabby $10,000 cash and media support to make his endeavour really take off. As part of the Steinlager “Pure Futures’ competition, which invited Kiwis to upload their future visions, Christchurch-based Simon Courtney was selected the overall winner from 620 uploaded entries on the Pure Futures website.
2010-11-25 12:26:41 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 8 comments
Taking you on architectural journey far and wide—from Poland to Portugal, Iran to Australia—the book 'HOUSE' makes global architecture a witty, fun, accessible and educational experience for children—and as we discovered when the book was in our office—adults too. But as much as it pains us to have to part with our copies of the book, we know that sharing is good. To get HOUSE into your house, simply share a link with us (and we'll post the picture) to the most unusual form of architecture you’ve come across. Easy.
2010-11-25 11:28:46 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
ngrid Fetell is a human factors specialist at design and innovation consulting firm IDEO. In a nutshell, her job is to bring human-centred thinking to design challenges in a wide range of industries. She’s big on design and delight—in other words, how design can create positive emotion. We caught up with her on her recent visit to Enzed as part of the NZTE Better By Design CEO summit, where she spoke to the audience about factoring culture into the design process. She tells us why she’s drawn to design as a change agent and shares her favourite Kiwi designs.
2010-11-25 10:02:07 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
What exactly is a house? A simple dwelling with a roof and four walls? Sure, if you’re ordinary. But did you know a house can also be a nut, a suitcase, a UFO and even a giant balloon you blow up? In the new book HOUSE, authors Aleksandra Machowiak and Daniel Mizieliński seek to expand perceptions of what a house is, by introducing children to 35 of the more unusual, distinctive and quirky houses found across the globe, detailing the inspiration behind each. Take the ‘Suitcase House’ in China for example, which features rooms that only appear as you need them, or the ‘Nut House’, resembling a hazelnut and sitting suspended in the Canadian forest.
2010-11-24 15:10:27 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here’s a thrifty way to fit out an office. But thrifty as it may be, it’s also rather funky. Using wooden pallets, Dutch architectural firm Most Architecture have created this novel temporary office space for an Amsterdam advertising company.
2010-11-24 10:16:41
// The Idealog Blog
Design enthusiasts will be muscling it out and testing their skills against each other next month as part of the Panorama 2010 Asia-Pacific Design Challenge at Kuala Lumpur. The event brings designers, architects, engineers and digital artists together, who will compete under a “change the world" theme. And thrown in the mix of competitors is a Kiwi team from Massey University’s Institute of Communication Design.
2010-11-23 13:30:40 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
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While iPhones and the like have burst onto the mobile scene, for those involved in designing the apps associated with the smartphone world, an explosion of app designers wouldn’t go astray. The shortage is particularly noticeable in New Zealand and for Brett Hancock—founder of digital design company Born Digital—finding designers has proved a real struggle. When the company recently put an ad on Seek for a full time iPhone developer, only one lonesome response was received over an entire month.
2010-11-23 11:34:20 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
From an opera house to a bus shelter, and even public loos—the winners from the recent NZIA 2010 Southern Architecture Awards are a diverse bunch. And sustainability gets a decent look-in too. And now, starting off with the grandest of winners...
2010-11-22 12:57:25 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
While the best of built architecture is being celebrated around the country with the NZIA local architecture awards, it was the turn of unbuilt architecture to strut its stuff at the recent 2010 AAA (Auckland Architecture Association) Cavalier Bremworth Design awards. And strut it did.
2010-11-22 12:53:55 // Rosie Bosworth
// The Idealog Blog
From an airline practically hung by its heels in 2002—encumbered with an outdated fleet, an obsolete business model and employee and national morale at an all-time low—Air New Zealand has transformed to become a world-class airline with a host of awards, a sassy brand and an ever-growing following. Clearly the airline is doing something right in the organisational design and innovation space . But to get it right, forget wafty organisational jargon like ‘company mission statements’, ‘values’, and ‘strategic visions’, says the airline's chief executive Rob Fyfe.
2010-11-22 10:52:53 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
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From the beach right through to mountains—taking visitors on a journey through Kiwi landscapes is central to the ambitions of Victoria University’s First Light—the first ever team from the Southern Hemisphere to make it to the finals of the US Solar Decathlon competition, held in Washington DC next year. As they explain in their latest blog, designing a unique Kiwi landscape to go with their soalr bach concept is one thing, but how do you go about sourcing native New Zealand plants in Washington DC?
2010-11-19 15:18:33 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
While iPhones and the like have burst onto the mobile scene, for those involved in designing the apps associated with the smartphone world, an explosion of app designers would be greatly appreciated, thank you very much. The shortage is particularly noticeable in New Zealand and for Brett Hancock—founder of digital design company Born Digital—finding designers has proved a real struggle. When the company recently put an ad on Seek for a full time iPhone developer, only one lonesome response was received over an entire month.
2010-11-19 13:16:35 // Rosie Bosworth
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
From an airline practically hung by its heels in 2002—encumbered with an outdated fleet, an obsolete business model and employee and national morale at an all-time low—Air New Zealand has transformed to become a world-class airline with a host of awards, a sassy brand and an ever-growing following. Clearly the airline is doing something right in the organisational design and innovation space . But to get it right, forget wafty organisational jargon like ‘company mission statements’, ‘values’, and ‘strategic visions’, says the airline's chief executive Rob Fyfe.
2010-11-18 14:10:57 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Architects, architectural students, graduates, engineers, planners, landscape architects and designers are gathering in Auckland’s St Pauls Street Gallery tonight for the 2010 AAA (Auckland Architecture Association) Cavalier Bremworth Design awards. Recognising the best in unbuilt architecture, the awards feature an impressive line-up of judges, and of course, we'll be bringing you all the winning results.
2010-11-18 12:13:21 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
While the advent of email might be giving traditional snail mail a run for its money, nothing quite beats holding a humble envelope in your hands. And to celebrate the best in the envelope world, last night's Art of The Envelope Awards honoured the cleverest and most innovative of postal designs. And cutting its way through the competition to take home the 'Best in Show' prize was...
2010-11-18 11:19:07 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Most people can relate to taking a drive through rural New Zealand and en-route catching more than a few glimpses of quirky letterboxes. And now, in the spirit of celebrating the more creative of letter housing, the country’s most wacky letterbox has just been unveiled.
2010-11-17 13:09:00 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
As her beautifully balanced, classical yet contemporary pieces make waves on the furniture scene, Rebecca Snelling collects her thoughts on what comes next.
2010-11-16 14:48:28 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
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Dunedin may have recently received a new branded identity courtesy of BrandAid+ and Auckland based Projector Media Ltd, but Abby Brewster has a few ideas of her own—even if she does live all the way in the US.
2010-11-16 13:09:46 // StopPress Team
// The Idealog Blog
It’s a celebration of creativity where the humble envelope is given a chance to shine. And tomorrow night at Deus ex Machina in Auckland, with Kiwi pop star and t-shirt dealer Dave Gibson on MC duties, the winners of the 2010 Art Of The Envelope Awards will be announced. So without further ado, here are some glamour shots of the stellar finalists who are in the running for both booty and bragging points.
2010-11-16 10:42:18 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Where might you expect to find Guastavino arches and skylights, coloured glass tile work, and brass chandeliers? It might not sound like a description befitting of an underground New York subway station, but that description about sums up New York City’s famous City Hall Station. But to get there, you need to be in the know.
2010-11-15 16:44:02 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Much like the recent NZIA Western Architecture Awards, Friday night’s 2010 Gisborne Hawkes Bay Architecture Awards demonstrated how good design need not come equipped with a hefty price tag. And the winners are...
2010-11-15 13:17:05 // Design Daily Team
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Ever wanted to know how to light up your clothing? Make an inflatable dress? Transform card into an interactive creature? Develop a game or commercial application? Shoot, publish and stream videos using your smart phone? Or learn about Motion Capture or Virtual Reality and what you can do with it?
2010-11-12 16:46:27 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Build an Olympic village of course. Not just any Olympic village mind you. How about the world’s first ever sustainable Olympic village? That’s the precise task Canterbury University graduate Roger Bayely was assigned with when his firm Merrick Architecture won the project brief. On a recent visit to New Zealand, Bayley elaborated on the mammoth and rather complex task of building the Southeast False Creek Olympic Village in Vancouver.
2010-11-12 12:06:11 // Rosie Bosworth
// The Idealog Blog
It’s not what you sell, it’s the who you are and also having a powerful personality that matters. It's also not about what you design, it's about how you configure the culture behind what you design that counts. That’s according to both home-grown and international leaders of some of the worlds most successful and innovative firms, speaking at last week’s Better By Design CEO summit in Auckland.
2010-11-12 11:26:44 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The last PechaKucha event of the year looks to be a goodie, full of educational and inspirational design offerings for your listening and viewing pleasure.
2010-11-11 14:17:56 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Enzed’s structural design prowess looks to be standing strong with Kiwi companies taking out two of the eleven categories at the recent Institution of Structural Engineers Awards held in London. Wellington’s Supreme Court was crowned winner in the ‘Heritage Award for Building or Infrastructure Projects’ category, while the NZi3 Innovation Institute Building in Canterbury came out tops in the ‘Award for Education or Healthcare Structures’ category.
2010-11-11 11:21:59 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
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Telecom's new superstore in Auckland’s CBD, is a dramatic departure from the norm. The new superstore marries high-tech features with convivial approachability—in a space that oozes colour, variety and character.
2010-11-11 09:47:51 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
What do you do with thousands of pieces of pasta, toy soldiers and plastic forks? Making carpet probably wouldn't be the most obvious answer, but it makes perfect sense for Dutch designers ‘We Make Carpets’.
2010-11-10 15:54:44 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Reckon you’ve got a few creative and intelligent ideas floating around about how to best design more resilient communities? As part of a new competition, the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering is on the lookout for proposals that will increase the resilience of cities and communities affected by earthquakes and tsunamis, with a focus on aiding recovery and social regeneration to affected areas.
2010-11-10 11:10:46 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
From council dunnies to residential refurbs and libraries, architect Brendan Rawson insists on a very personal approach to each and every project that comes his way.
2010-11-10 10:18:54 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
As the watchful eyes of Rugby World Cup visitors descend upon Auckland city streets, it’s hoped a new initiative involving flowerpots and decorated rubbish bags, will ensure their eyes feast on all things beautiful.
2010-11-09 10:48:58 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A limited budget need not limit the quality of design, as some of the winning entries from Friday evening’s 2010 Western Architecture Awards have proved.
2010-11-08 16:54:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
In the last of our video interviews from the Best Design Awards, Brad Knewstubb, winner of the Purple Pin for spatial design, talks about twisting environments and distorting perceptions. He tells us why not taking the piss out of the American culture was a point of difference in the stage set creation of interactive production Apollo 13: Mission Control.
2010-11-08 12:28:42 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
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Take the creative juices of a design industry veteran and add a splash of modern rock, and what do you get? ‘MAKE SOMETHING’—a creative, genre-defining mash-up, which creeps beyond regular commercial boundaries.
2010-11-08 10:59:32 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
When rugby madness descends upon our shores next year, Queens Wharf is braced to be the largest of Auckland’s four Rugby World Cup 2011 Fanzones, featuring open areas and a multi-purpose temporary facility named ‘The Cloud’. And in a bid to get the area up to scratch, John Key has unveiled plans for a $9.8 million redevelopment of Queens Wharf.
2010-11-05 14:38:52 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
In what proved to be an exceptionally popular competition (over 90 entries), unashamedly "grungy" streetwise apartments, the City Gallery, the Zoo Hospital and the new Supreme Court are among designs celebrated at last night's 2010 Wellington Architecture Awards.
2010-11-04 08:22:01 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
When Alan Webber—the co-founder of uber-successful business magazine Fast Company—gives a talk on design, don’t expect any fancy PowerPoints. In fact, don’t expect a PowerPoint at all. A cardinal rule at Fast Company, he says, is that speeches aren’t allowed to utilise PowerPoint—even if the talk is about design integration. But that’s just fine because Webber’s impressive professional track record stands him strong on his own, and the moment he opened his mouth as part of the NZTE Better by Design CEO summit yesterday, he had the audience captivated.
2010-11-04 06:55:02 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
No big, fat Japanese wrestlers but Oh No Sumo push the boundaries. Taking home silver and gold awards at this year's Best Design Awards for their Paper Sky project and the Cupcake Pavilion, they unleash their unconventional creative thinking and tell us why they'd like to splash themselves in paint.
2010-11-03 09:47:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
He’s a well-known and respected Pop artist—but not in the conventional music playing ways. Peter Mars, leader of the avant-garde Pop Art movement for the past 20 years, has been described as one of the greatest living pop artists of our day. And as of tomorrow—and if you happen to be in Auckland—you can view his extensive collection for yourself with an exhibition at the Lonely Dog Gallery.
2010-11-03 09:12:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Tim Hooson of Jasmax, honoured with a black pin for outstanding achievement at this year’s Best Design Awards, was stoked and rather humbled by his win. He tells us why society needs to understand the relationship between design, the environments we live in and our performance as individuals.
2010-11-02 13:54:08 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
How do you provoke awareness, stimulate dialogue, and alter actions regarding the current conservation of Earth’s resources? Well, you could take the lead of t-shirt and tote bag company Antieco and turn the eco message on its head through controversial design.
2010-11-01 15:45:07 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
We’re loving these wallpapers from Paper Room. Inspired by the honesty of raw materials, they’re a super quick way to transform a home or work space into an urban loft style retreat. The photographic digital prints look like the real thing, whether a naturally aged concrete wall, old weathered bricks, or a wooden fence with character. These materials transferred onto wallpaper transform a space, giving it a completely different architectural appeal. The Feature Industrial range is available on two bases; wallpaper and reStick MATT.
2010-11-01 12:04:03 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
An eco classroom and the already heavily-awarded Waikato Cave Visitors Centre are among two of the winners at Friday's 2010 Waikato Bay of Plenty Architecture Awards. Having received a total of 42 submissions, nothing was off limits at the event, with everything from budget to top-end designs honoured.
2010-11-01 09:46:53 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here’s a chance to catch some of the best up and coming Kiwi talent in design. AUT University’s School of Art + Design are launching the new AD10 (Art + Design) Festival, giving you the chance to see, feel, touch and watch a variety of student work.
2010-10-29 09:20:43 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
When the Sandringham Plunket and Playgroup facility burned down as a result of arson one Guy Fawkes night, the community got together to write a brief for a redesign that would be innovative, flexible, contemporary, cost-effective and energy efficient. Strachan Group Architects responded with a building for the Parakete Ora Sandringham Plunket that had the NZIA awards judges in awe.
2010-10-28 14:57:56 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
This year's NZTE CEO Summit is all about design integration—one of the most significant transformational tools in global business. Companies that embed design create new opportunities, new markets and new value. The summit will explore the theory and practice of design integration, learning from global exemplars, and Design Daily will be there pass on all the inside knowledge and tools from the summit. Stay tuned...
2010-10-28 12:58:05 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
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As part of DB Export’s brand makeover—which pays homage to the brand's past by incorporating retro and nostalgic design—we’re giving you the chance to revisit the 60‘s by taking home a twin-pack of the limited edition quart bottles, complete with the old style print press packaging. Just share a link with us to your favourite piece of retro design—be it food, drink, or a piece of technology. Take this stunning Walkman for example...
2010-10-28 11:36:06 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
New energy efficient, digital lighting technologies are being used to brand cities, revitalise public spaces, and deliver benefits including major cost savings, safer roads and lower greenhouse gas emissions. And a series of seminars in Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington are set to highlight how this new generation of urban lighting solutions are transforming cities around the world.
2010-10-28 09:51:29 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
All going well, 650 of Christchurch’s youngins will be working together to regenerate sites left desolated by the Christchurch earthquake. Two schools— Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti and Discovery 1—are on the hunt for empty earthquake sites they can transform into green spaces.
2010-10-27 17:05:07 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
No, it’s not a pair of giant pumpkins or even a piece of anatomy belonging to the nether regions—as some earlier murmurings might have suggested. This is Wellington Airport's new $60 million international terminal, officially opened by Prime Minister John Key today. Dubbed ‘The Rock’, it looks set to turn critics on their heads. Architect Nick Barratt-Boyes discusses criticism, collaboration and the project’s unique design features.
2010-10-27 11:01:42 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Forget the old adage ‘form follows function’, says Apartmento owner and designer Stu Bowman—creating cool furniture that’s functional is more about proportion, balance and simple good taste.
2010-10-27 09:14:06 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
With one of the 10 competitions in the Solar Decathlon 2011 being centered around communications, the First Light team tell us how strategic design company Designworks has produced the foundation for the positioning of the First LightNZ brand, as well as ongoing strategic advice leading up to the Washington event.
2010-10-26 12:00:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Alt Group’s award sweeper Dean Poole talks about a maturing design culture and tells us why New Zealand is on par with any other design culture in the world. And what’s with his t-shirt?
2010-10-26 11:49:16 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
There were a hefty amount of entries hoping to bath in wining spotlight at this year’s 10th AGDA (Australian Graphic Design Association) National Biennial Awards in Brisbane. About 2000 to be precise, covering 18 categories, including Corporate Identity, Publications, Digital Media, Packaging, Environmental Design and Design Effectiveness. But on the night, there could only be 416 winners, comprising of 241 Finalists, 167 Distinctions and 8 entries achieving AGDA's highest accolade—the Pinnacle. And doing Enzed proud on the night was the design multidisciplinary design company, Alt Group, who seem determined to scoop design awards from every corner of the planet.
2010-10-26 10:19:25 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
It might have had to take a momentary step aside in light of the Christchurch earthquake, but the good news is Christchurch’s PechaKucha night is all good to go. So good to go in fact, it’s happening tomorrow night. Here's the lineup for tomorrow's creative feast.
2010-10-22 13:53:51 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The subtleties of gaming design are set to get a thorough look-in next month as part of the ‘Interactive Entertainment 2010’ conference in Wellington, dedicated to the science and art of designing ‘play’.
2010-10-22 12:46:45 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
It’s been 50 years and counting for beer brand DB Export, and to spruce up the brand half a century on, DB has enlisted the creative hands of Dow Design, who has added a touch of nostalgia to the family of beers.
2010-10-22 12:01:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The kind folk at Lava 360 have put 20 high-res funky textures for you to download and utilise in your designs—for free. Everybody loves free.
2010-10-22 10:07:12 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
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A commitment to protecting heritage has led to the resurrection of the Grosvenor—Timaru's iconic 19th century building. Also known as the Grand Old Lady of the South, the Grosvenor is entwined in Timaru's history with ornate styling dating back to when it was built in 1885.
2010-10-21 22:01:40 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
What do a stadium and shed have in common? Clearly it’s not size, but an eye for clever design and construction detailing saw both take out awards at tonight’s Canterbury Architecture Awards. It was clean, clear palettes and no-fuss designs that found favour with the judges at this year’s ceremony.
2010-10-21 13:31:50 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
This weekend sees the opening of exhibition project 'Designs for Living' at Adam Art Gallery in Wellington. Design for Living is a suite of four exhibitions that revisit twentieth-century modernism as it took shape in New Zealand. It draws on visual and archival material and New Zealand’s built heritage, to document certain features of this important artistic, architectural, social, technological and material legacy.
2010-10-20 16:57:05 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
According to the Minister for Building and Construction, Maurice Williamson, energy efficiency in the home is all down to good building design. The words—though not rocket science— came as Williamson launched the second edition of Designing Comfortable Homes—a book commissioned by the Cement and Concrete Association of New Zealand (CCANZ), with a little help from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. Recent changes to the Energy Efficiency clause of the Building Code, and the development of NZS 4218—the thermal insulation standard—spurred CCANZ to update the first edition.
2010-10-20 16:04:06 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
What do you do when faced with increasing energy demands that could impact on New Zealand’s pristine and wild rivers and valleys? Launch a design competition. Called ‘Wild Energy’, the international green energy design competition has been developed by Kiwi website Happyzine, in response to the challenge New Zealand is currently facing to increase power supplies as demand grows.
2010-10-20 10:40:08 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Marrying form and function, Marcus Halliday of Halliday & Baillie pursues a timewarp of classic perfection for his architectural hardware designs in New Zealand.
2010-10-20 09:47:28 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Having won several Gold awards in the past, this year’s Best Design Awards resulted in a first for Studio Alexander, with the team taking home the overall graphics award for their three-dimensional safety installation for Fletcher Construction. The secret to their winning success? Well for starters, it helps to have a young and talented team, and a courageous client who’s open to new ideas. But, as Grant and Kate Alexander tell us, the challenges of the project extended beyond the realms of design.
2010-10-19 13:51:45 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
In a previous life, this Shanghai warehouse was used to store fabric. Now, having received a makeover courtesy of Archi-Union Architects, the building retains its fabric-like contours and waves, only this time, that flow has been applied to the exterior of the building, created by angling hollow bricks in different ways.
2010-10-19 10:25:57 // Ben Fahy
// The Idealog Blog
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Regional branding efforts and their associated tourism pushes often have a whiff of desperation about them. But there seems to have been a coming of age in New Zealand recently, with some solid and distinctly uncringeworthy new marketing initiatives from Wellington, Christchurch and, most recently, Dunedin, which has just launched its new brand with an outdoor and online campaign.
2010-10-19 10:12:54 // Fraser Gardyne
// The Idealog Blog
Emotive weapons are being brought even more to the front and centre of design than before, Fraser Gardyne tells us. The creative director at gardyneHOLT design and convenor of graphics judging for the Best Design Awards, takes stock of this year's awards and the emerging trends in design.
2010-10-19 09:32:52 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Fancy darting around town on this sweet ride? The limited edition “tribute” Vespa is part of the latest offering from digital veneer—an advanced surface decoration technology that provides a replacement for real wood and stone in VVIP aircraft, Superyacht’s and high end architectural applications.
2010-10-18 16:31:56 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Normally bland and impersonal, gynaecologist’s offices don’t often make the cut for design awards. But this warm, playful and seductively curvaceous solution in Auckland, by Tim Dorrington of Dorrington Architects, breaks the mould to make potentially anxious clients feel more relaxed. It gained highly commended for an interior fitout in the New Zealand Timber Design Awards 2010 as well as a bronze for ‘Spatial Design—Rooms’, in the Best Design Awards.
2010-10-18 14:40:18 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
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Those of you lucky enough to attend this year’s Semi-Permanent will no doubt remember Storm Thorgerson’s mass-kiwifruit experiment entitled 'F**k Avatar'. As part of the mass-audience participation experiment, audience members seated downstairs at Storm’s presentation were asked to hold cut halves of kiwifruit in front of their eyes, representing what Thorgerson called ‘4D glasses’. So, how did it turn out?
2010-10-18 13:49:20 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
While the regional architecture awards have been taking the spotlight as of late, Friday saw another set of awards dished out, this time by way of the ADNZ (Architectural Designers New Zealand)/Resene National Design Awards, which showcase the work of New Zealand’s growing number of architectural designers.
2010-10-15 17:00:22 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Read as Vanity Fair’s Juli Weiner comically sums up what has been a manic week for Gap clothing company, after its new logo received a stupendous amount of backlash. With all the ensuing fuss that followed the re-design, it looks like it’s back to square one for Gap, with the re-adoption of the original logo. As Weiner summarises, “The new Gap logo is survived by its antagonistic Twitter feed and a dozen failed branding strategies slide shows, in which it will be archived in the annals of history. To heaven, the Helvetica now ascends.”
2010-10-15 16:23:30 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If you’re not fond of the 111 Navy Chair featured in the previous story, perhaps sitting on a 3-D scribble is more your style? The C-Bench and C-Stone, by Belgian designer Peter Donders, were created by twisting a single string of carbon fibre around a form that was then removed. The result is a light, distinctive—yet very strong (carbon fiber is used to produce Formula One race cars)—structure that brings scribbles into 3-D reality.
2010-10-15 15:51:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If you don’t like to drink Coke, perhaps you’d like to sit on it instead—well, sit on the bottle at least. Never slowing down in its bid to brand the world, the Coca Cola Company has inched its way into the furniture market, playing the good corporate citizen with these recycled chairs
2010-10-15 13:06:37 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A James Bond style heliport, a house with fins and the Waitangi Toilet Block were among the winners at last nights Auckland Architecture Awards, which received a healthy 120 submissions.
2010-10-14 14:11:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
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Strong and effective design was a prominent theme at last night’s NZ International Business Awards, which recognise new approaches that businesses are taking to achieve international success. And it was smart design that resulted in Pumpkin Patch collecting the Judges' Supreme Award.
2010-10-14 12:58:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Possessor of the “best job in the world”, Cathy Veninga talks to Vincent Heeringa (it’s almost poetic) about why this years Best Design Awards are “rad” and shares her favourite moment of the night.
2010-10-14 11:59:26 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The competition was—for lack of a better word—stiff at this years NZ Wood Timber Design Awards, with winners including Wellington’s Supreme Court and the Waitomo Cave Visitor’s Centre. The awards even ventured as far as the sandy depths of the UAE. Take a look at the winning projects...
2010-10-13 16:03:58 // Simon Todd
// The Idealog Blog
Having worked in some intriguing locations—including Mongolia— Irish-born Julie Hannon shares her Supercity hopes and discuses the global trend of sustainable building design.
2010-10-13 13:27:56 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
It’s been a long time coming, but Backhouse Design has finally received several new products showcased by Kartell at the Milan Fair in April. Michelle Backhouse explains Kartell is one of the few large Italian furniture companies that’s still family owned after 60 years in business, which ensures they can respond to market demand and remain at the cutting edge of design.
2010-10-12 17:35:48 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Adding to the list of big name corporations applying a green lick of paint to their business ethos, Starbucks have taken a turn on the sustainability road and on the way they’ve found their WoJo, and it’s all thanks to Kiwi design company The Formary. WoJo is a new fabric made from sustainable New Zealand wool that is woven with jute fibers from Starbucks recycled coffee sacks.
2010-10-12 16:49:23 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
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Before they ventured to the bar, Vincent Heeringa managed to sneak a moment with the young and old of Sons & Co—winners of the Purple Pin in the interactive design category at this years Best Design Awards, for their website design for Christchurch Art Gallery. Charged with presenting over 5700 artworks, 500 multimedia files and 900 archived exhibitions on the one site, they tell us which poor soul was left with the task of scanning the works and also give us their take on the design industry heading forward.
2010-10-12 16:17:29 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
It's regional architecture awards season—a time when the discerning eyes of judges scan the Enzed landscape for examples of architectural excellence. And if the results of the recent Nelson Marlborough Architecture Awards are anything to go by, we're off to a bumper season of design.
2010-10-12 09:32:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Ah, packaging. You‘ve gotta love it for its all-carrying practicality and convenience. But add a splash of stylistic flare to it and you soon discover that practicality is only a tiny part of the packaging puzzle, as these winners from the 2010 Pentawards illustrate. The awards are dedicated exclusively to the best packaging design in the world, and this year three Kiwi entries snagged some top awards, including a precious Gold.
2010-10-11 15:36:59 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
The First LightNZ team started with a design created by Victoria of University architecture students Anna Farrow, Ben Jagersma, Nick Officer and Eli Nuttall. They were put together by their lecturer based on shared interests, and over the past year they’ve become a tight unit and good friends. But, as time has gone by, the team explains why four no longer cuts it.
2010-10-11 10:35:46 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
All things plastic fantastic were honoured on Friday as part of the 2010 Plastics Industry Biennial Design Awards, held at the Ellerslie Convention Centre in Auckland. This year’s awards attracted 37 entries and on the night—13 Bronze, 11 Silver, 9 Gold, and the Overall Supreme Award were dished out.
2010-10-11 09:26:32 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
This coming Friday Auckland’s Western Park is set to light up with creative ideas as part of the inaugural Art in the Dark event, aimed at exploring and exploding the ideas of ‘Community, Environment and Utopias.’
2010-10-08 16:13:48 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Every client has their dream. But as many of us discover when building a home, dreams often don’t align perfectly with what is realistically affordable. That doesn’t have to be the end of the dream. David Ponting (Ponting Fitzgerald) discusses a journey he recently took, in which he navigated a pathway through limitations to arrive at a final design even better than the original.
2010-10-08 13:36:35 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 5 comments
The process of makeovers isn’t always pretty, as the plethora of road cones that have littered the surrounding streets of Eden Park during its redevelopment are testament too. But while it may have not been such a pretty affair on the outside, inside it’s a different story, as those attending the unveiling of the new look park this Sunday will see. The makeover includes a new look ground and revitalised logo, all set to “put on a distinctively New Zealand face” for the half a million visitors expected to visit the park over the course of the Rugby World Cup.
2010-10-07 13:35:09 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Eleven years ago four young men started a conversation that eventually led to the super power in creativity that we know today as Alt group. Having collected about a gazillion awards since its inception (roughly speaking), Alt's creative director and co-founder Dean Poole took the company's success another step further by snapping up the highly prestigious John Britten Black Pin award—for an individual who has made a major contribution to design nationally and internationally—at Friday’s Best Design Awards. So does winning this grandiose award change anything? No—life is as crazy as always he says. And he still can't cook.
2010-10-07 10:03:42 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
While some of the country's best design got to strut its stuff at the Best Design Awards last Friday, this week it was the turn of the landscape industry to celebrate with the 2010 Landscapes of Distinction Awards. The biennial awards—this year held in Dunedin’s Larnach Castle—celebrate excellence amongst Landscaping New Zealand members, namely professional landscapers, all of whom have been selected for their high standard of business practice and the quality of their landscaping work. And the results are...
2010-10-06 16:18:17 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
We love this clever and very practical pizza box design by New York-based (how appropriate) firm E.C.O, who specialise in innovative green packaging solutions. Their Greenbox encapsulates their innovative philosophy perfectly. While it may look like any ordinary pizza box, the patented design incorporates a multitude of functions including four serving plates and a storage container that fits tidily into your fridge. Here's how it works:
2010-10-05 15:08:11 // Stephen Olsen
// The Idealog Blog
Nga Aho, the culturally connected network formed to support Maori design professionals, has been enriched this year by the inclusion of Auckland-based German designers Luka Hinse and Oliver Kraft as Kaupapa Whanau members. As new New Zealanders, Hinse and Kraft have both been making their mark on the design world in Aotearoa in varied ways. Hinse is well known for bringing to life the ever popular Pecha Kucha Nights here, while Kraft was a founder with Amanda Hookham of the ground-breaking furniture design label Purple South.
2010-10-05 12:42:06 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Don’t worry, they’re not real, but this proposal from “transformational creative ideas agency” ACCESS—to utilise global city landmarks to create Audi billboards sing real cars—does make you wonder if such brand advertising could actually come into fruition in the future. The brief centres around a display of four life-size Audi cars that are suspended inside silver rings, which are then attached to iconic bridges around the world. Selected bridges in the brief include the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, Tower Bridge and a Venice canal bridge—sorry, no Audi for you Auckland Harbour Bridge.
2010-10-04 12:08:40 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
There’s nothing like a meddling mass of metal in the form of a power pylon to create a blight on the landscape. Enter Boston-based Choi+Shine Architects, “A practice of thoughtful design”. Thoughtful indeed as these adapted pylons show. The pylons have been proposed for the Icelandic landscape, and require only small alterations to the existing pylon design.
2010-10-01 23:09:20 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 4 comments
It’s the Oscars of the New Zealand design world, where discerning designers don their best black tie ensembles and rock nervously back and forth as they wait to (hopefully) hear their name called as one of the winning entries in the Best Design Awards. The awards, organised by the Designers Institute of New Zealand, have literally just wrapped up and the eclectic—and often electric—list of winners is out. An electric bike described as the extraordinary lovechild of a Segway and a Penny Farthing; an electric fence that unfolds like a clothesline; a New York loft conversion and a stage set that resembles a 1970s space mission control room, were among the high profile winners at tonight’s event...
2010-10-01 14:27:17 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
You could be forgiven for thinking that this is a real house. Well it is, sort of. The only difference is that this house is a fraction of the size of what a real house is. This is just one of the homes on offer from New York-based Brinca Dada, makers of sophisticated, modern and intelligent dollhouses. The benefits? Well for one, your living room floor will look a lot tidier.
2010-10-01 11:58:17 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Architectural names come and go as firms are established then are assimilated into larger operations, or just cease to exist. But one name has been constant since the very beginning of the profession in this country. Mason and Wales is New Zealand’s oldest practice.
2010-09-30 15:19:32 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 15 comments
‘200 Best packaging Design Worldwide’, by Luerzer's Archive, showcases the most curvy, funky, colourful and knock-out packaging designs to have ever been created and we've got copies of this artful book to give away to two lucky winners. All you have to do is send in a picture or link to the most grotesque piece of packaging design you’ve seen. Easy.
2010-09-30 15:19:04 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
In downtown Auckland last night a host of Auckland business and local government leaders converged to listen as an expert panel shared their ideas on what the Auckland Spatial Plan could look like, how policymakers and ratepayers could contribute and interact with it, and how the plan could benefit the rest of New Zealand.
2010-09-30 15:13:27 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
As well as being a rather convenient form of product containment, packaging can be an artwork in and of itself, regardless of what’s contained inside it. And the book ‘200 Best packaging Design Worldwide’, by Luerzer's Archive, showcases the most curvy, funky, colourful and knock-out packaging designs to have ever been created
2010-09-29 10:41:37 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
It’s an iconic space that has seen its fare share of big name events, including a number of FA Cup finals, the 1948 Summer Olympics and even Live Aid. In 2000, the old Wembley stadium was demolished to make way for the new stadium which wasn’t completed until 2007. Three years on and the stadium is gearing up for the next stage in its development by unveiling a new brand identity.
2010-09-28 15:54:45 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
What do you call an office with no receptionist, no phones and a carpet of glossy black pebbles replacing carpet tiles? The Research Agency, of course. The new fit-out at Auckland's High Street by architect Jose Gutierrez comes from questioning what makes an office typical.
2010-09-28 13:03:19 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Having worked on the design of two of the world’s most iconic sky towers, architect Les Dykstra goes aquatic to focus on the relationship between building and water.
2010-09-28 10:50:05 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
It’s a plant that can be used to make paper, clothing and even car body panels. But its properties can also be used to build the environmentally-friendly homes of the future, according to researchers at the University of Bath. A consortium based at the University has constructed a small building on the Claverton campus out of hemp-lime to test its properties as a building material. It's hoped the project will provide enough potent data to persuade the mainstream building industry to use this building material more widely.
2010-09-27 15:57:36 // Esther Goh
// Idealog #29: now
White double-weave cotton has had a chokehold on martial arts wear for more than a century, but a pair of Kiwi entrepreneurs are planning to shake up the ring.
2010-09-27 15:56:06 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
When campaigning for Councillor, why settle for having your photo plastered all over billboards when you can instead have your portrait painted on a billboard, by none other than iconic Kiwi artist Dick Frizzell? At least you’ll get a vote in the creativity stakes. As part of Alex Swney's campaign to run as Councillor for the Waitemata/Gulf Ward, Frizzell painted Swney's likeness onto this board at Ponsonby's Western Park.
2010-09-27 12:16:21 // StopPress Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
The lactose enthusiastic among you will have probably noticed the cleaner look of anchor’s milk packaging on your recent jaunts to the supermarket. Creative agency Colenso and Dow Design are behind the rebrand and the aim, says Dow Design’s creative director Donna McCort, “...was to find a simple and powerful visualisation of freshness, to represent the modern dynamism of Anchor”. StopPress ventures further into the rebranding.
2010-09-27 11:38:47 // First Light – NZ Solar Decathlon
// The Idealog Blog
Welcome to the second installment from First Light, the Kiwi team from Wellington’s Victoria University competing on the world stage in the US Department of Energy’s 2011 Solar Decathlon competition. The challenge has literally heated up for the team as they’re tasked with marrying passive solar features with strict competition rules.
2010-09-24 17:00:41 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
If having a Mr Vintage t-shirt made in your likeness (so to speak) is a sign that you’ve made it in the Kiwi pop culture world, then welcome aboard Paul Henry. The 'Paul Henry speech men’s t-shirt' features some of the most controversial subjects uttered from the Breakfast host’s mouth, including that ‘nose’ incident.
2010-09-24 15:58:39 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The Christchurch earthquake got a lot of people thinking about preparedness measures and it’s probably fair to say it made some of us realise that we're actually not very well prepared. But if you had this compact tent system nearby—called the Life Cube—you’d be pretty good to go should an emergency strike.
2010-09-24 12:18:08 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Always outdoing us all in sophistication and classiness, the French are at it again with their latest water fountain creation, launched earlier this week. It’s no ordinary drinking fountain mind you. This one is nestled in the midst of a Parisian garden and rather than distributing ordinary still water, it gushes forth with sparkling water as well as still. And the wooden facade is a touch more stylish than ordinary fountains. It's all so—French.
2010-09-23 10:05:58 // Simon Todd
// The Idealog Blog
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This week, our man on the street Simon Todd takes the plunge into public loo territory. Heritage buildings are so often in private hands, he says, and we can’t afford to let the public ones go down the toilet.
2010-09-23 09:23:03 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Our national carrier really is going all out in their ‘crazy about rugby’ campaign. Their recent safety video featuring a number of All Black’s delivering flight safety procedures —scattered with rugby terminology throughout—helped wipe the ordinarily glazed look off the faces of passengers. Now the airline is set to literally turn the skies black with the unveiling of their new domestic jet fleet.
2010-09-22 12:15:49 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Perhaps if more public transport was transformed into a work of art like this, more people would be encouraged to take a ride on the greener side. Dutch designers Million Dollar Design have given an Amsterdam subway carriage quite the artistic makeover as part of a competition by Amsterdam Public Transport Company GVB.
2010-09-21 16:51:31 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Get your 3D glasses out (it's amazing what you can find in an office when you look hard enough) and if you don’t have any, watch anyway. Augmented (hyper)Reality: Augmented City, is an impressive film produced by Keiichi Matsud as part of a larger project that addresses the social and architectural consequences of new media and augmented reality. Watch it here.
2010-09-21 13:31:42 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Sometimes keeping it simple is what it takes to make something truly stand out, as evidenced in designer Paul Johnson’s win for best album cover at this year’s Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards, for the Phoenix Foundation’s new album Buffalo.
2010-09-21 12:28:25 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
Capitalising on her flair for reinvention, interior designer Liz Kerby of Workspace Design creates contemporary spaces—and furniture—imbued with an intriguing sense of history.
2010-09-21 09:27:22 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
You have to see this one for yourself. Clothing you can literally spray on? Why not? Fabrication technology is just around the corner from being made readily available, but its uses extend beyond just the body beautiful.
2010-09-20 13:55:27 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Fancy cycling your way through the supermarket on a bike that, how convenient, doubles as a shopping trolley? The ‘shopping bike’ by Arnaud Zill from Switzerland is just one of the 190 shortlisted entries in the Seoul Cycle Design Competition, with the winners just announced.
2010-09-20 11:42:43 // Kip Brook
// The Idealog Blog
As a former UK-Europe Bureau Chief NZPA media correspondent, Kip Brook is no stranger to putting his thoughts into words following a crisis. Now settled in Christchurch, Brook gives his take on the city's architecture and heritage, a fortnight after the quake.
2010-09-20 10:35:05 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Emerging and experienced researchers and practitioners will be exchanging views, knowledge and experiences about the relationship of interior and exterior spaces at a symposium entitled Interstices - Under Construction: Unsettled Containers at The University of Auckland, October 8-10. And you can join in too.
2010-09-17 12:32:41 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Britain’s iconic double-decker red bus is receiving a makeover, but critics are calling the bus a waste of money, saying it’s more about style than substance. Explore the new bus for yourself and make up your own mind.
2010-09-17 09:17:01 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
A respect for classic design defines optometrist Michael Holmes’ latest venture – a boutique store that opened this week in the heart of Auckland’s High Street.
2010-09-16 15:07:13 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Good ‘ole Kiwi wood is being shown the love with some stellar entries in this years NZ Wood Timber Design Awards. Entries include the interior fitout of the new Supreme Court building, wind turbines designed with high-performance wooden blades and “folding whares” for use as emergency shelters following a disaster.
2010-09-16 12:33:54 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
With the name ‘I Love Typography’, there’s no prize for guessing that this week’s web watch will particularly appeal to typography addicts.
2010-09-16 11:55:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
New Zealand carpet maker Cavalier Bremworth is on the hunt for great looking projects where its carpet has been used, and in return is offering a slue of prizes for winning entries, including an iPad and of course, bragging rights.
2010-09-16 11:35:54 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The folks behind web extravaganza event ‘Webstock’ have been planning the 2011 event since the day Webstock 2010 ended. And next year’s event is set to be launched in just one week’s time on Thursday September 23, and lucky you, you’re invited.
2010-09-16 10:26:09 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Auckland’s Britomart Precinct is a constantly evolving project. Its $350 million transformation by Cooper and Company into a retail, lifestyle, commercial and residential space, includes the renovation of 17 heritage buildings and the construction of six new buildings. Watch the changes for yourself with this newly released video, which takes you on a ride through the development, allowing you to appreciate it from literally every angle
2010-09-15 16:24:44 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
It’s all go for design agency Designworks with their plans to open their new office in the Garden City next month. The agency, of Air New Zealand’s speedy check-in terminals and Skycouch fame, will be building on the success of existing South Island clients like PGG Wrightson, AMI Insurance and Silver Fern Farms.
2010-09-15 10:57:11 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Simple, human, and flexible. Three words used to describe the redesign inspiration behind BBVA’s new ATM machines, crafted by global deign consultancy IDEO. Being driven by the desire to make self-service banking more intuitive led to a number of ground-breaking innovations.
2010-09-14 10:01:37 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
A Tauranga graphic design and advertising team that delivers exceptional creative solutions has rebranded from top to bottom using a strong black and white theme based around traditional family values. Founder and client director Barbara Sunderland of Family Design Co chats about why the company has changed its look.
2010-09-14 09:51:23 // Ideas for Christchurch
// The Idealog Blog
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A group of young architectural graduates is calling for your ideas to stimulate interest and establish discussion to achieve the best for Christchurch. The scale is open: form a strategic vision for the entire city; reconsider a hard hit suburb; preserve a local dairy. Salvage heritage and character, design temporary infills, sustainable developments, urban parks/reserves, inner-city living, a new typology of housing, a city of skyscrapers, a city of pickles… whatever you find interesting. They want to see your ideas providing a framework to give shape to what could, should, or might be.
2010-09-13 15:33:04 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
With a new season comes a new source of graphic design inspiration by way of Design Assembly’s Spring 2010 Conversations Evening, on Wednesday September 29.
2010-09-13 11:18:45 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
While the organisers of Christchurch's Pecha Kucha night had all the good intentions to progress with the event as planned, the decision has been made to postpone this Thursday's event.
2010-09-13 10:38:28 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Walking down Rhubarb Lane, the vibrant urban village planned for the Victoria Quarter of Auckland, visitors will face the unusual façade of ‘Tattoo’, the latest release within the Rhubarb Lane development due for completion in 2012.
2010-09-10 15:12:28 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Who knew the folks at eBay were so creative? Every year the company hosts an Innovation Expo that invites eBay employees from every department and level of the organisation to develop prototypes for new products and breakthrough innovations. And this year, with 250 employees on nearly 80 teams competing, the competition was stiff and in the end, so was the winner (yet pliable at the same time).
2010-09-10 13:51:43 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
AUT’s inaugural three-day design challenge recently wrapped up and saw teams armed with not much more than $100 and basic prototyping materials (and some steely determination). Their challenge was to create the missing element for a baby incubator, recently designed by Ray Avery's independent development agency Medicine Mondiale, for use in developing countries. Watch as the challenge unfolds.
2010-09-10 12:55:37 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
We’ve been speaking with the folk behind Christchurch’s PechaKucha night and the good news is the event is going ahead as planned, this coming Thursday, September 16. So if you’re in Christchurch, make sure you head along and support the creative community.
2010-09-10 11:45:23 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
With London being so far away and all, it’s a good thing you don’t have to fly all the way over there if you want to catch a glimpse of some of the work to be featured in the upcoming Anti-Design Festival. Kiwi Philip Key's text/type billboards, to be featured at the festival, are currently boldly gracing Auckland streets.
2010-09-09 12:09:41 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
You’ll be hard pressed to find a design directory as comprehensive as this one. Design Addict’s index is a highly addictive tool that allows you to peruse through a seemingly endless stream of design objects.
2010-09-09 11:04:45 // Lisa Katayama
// The Idealog Blog
Engineering and computer science grad students Akshay Kothari and Ankit Gupta describe design-speak as often being “fluffy and conceptual” and difficult for practically minded people to digest. But with a little help from the Institute of Design at Stanford, the duo successfully launched their news aggregator iPad app, ‘Pulse’. In doing so, they discovered that the blueprint of design speak can be applied to a business setting in five key ways.
2010-09-09 10:25:53 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 12 comments
If you’re looking for a way to jazz up your laptop, we can help. Or more appropriately, designers Adrian Hailwood, Sable & Minx, Annah Stretton and Saben can help. In the lead up to New Zealand Fashion Week, HP and Microsoft have teamed up with these top Kiwi designers to create some ‘tech chic’ with the release of limited edition custom designed skins (adhesive covers) for selected HP notebooks. And because we love you so much, we’re giving you the chance to show your laptop some designer love by winning your favourite skin.
2010-09-08 13:53:35 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Being commissioned to design a wine label is a great opportunity in and of itself, but having the wine named after you is even better. And Wellington artist Richard Thurston is set to receive the best of both worlds as part of an initiative by online wine retailer Winesale.co.nz.
2010-09-07 15:33:31 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Google Maps is on the verge of celebrating its fifth anniversary and for three of those years, Sydney-based Canadian Patrick Hofmann has been the big personality behind those teeny tiny map icons. Recently in New Zealand to speak at the Technical Communicators Association Conference, he tells us that icon design isn’t as easy as it looks. How for example, do you go about creating a symbol that universally represents religion? And no, it’s not as easy as using a cross.
2010-09-07 12:38:04 // Stephen Olsen
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
If there’s a niche space to keep an eye on in our urban landscapes and landscape architecture it seems we don’t need to look much further than the nearest wall or roof. The sustainable benefits of green walls and roofs are causing businesses around the world to look up, with the green roof industry in North America alone growing by an amazing 16 percent last year and still accelerating. And in Europe the French are particularly renowned for green walling entire buildings, most notably the entire exterior of the Paris Museum.
2010-09-07 11:00:45 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
While the cool winter winds haven’t quite abated, summer is almost on our doorstep. And as the season marches on, some fresh, new looks are about to invade the design stores. Valeria Carbanaro-Laws of Studio Italia in Auckland is gearing up for a shipment of the latest outdoor furniture to arrive in October.
2010-09-06 16:24:13 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Buy this device for your partner and you risk forever loosing the ability to converse and socially engage with them. The name says it all: The Ultimate Gaming & Gadget Chair. Among its features are built-in games consoles, a computer, TV/PVR, video and music player, and should all that entertainment prove too much of a strain, there’s also a back massager. All of these features are aimed at transporting users to a zone “ far away from the outside world”.
2010-09-06 12:55:17
// The Idealog Blog
Don’t go recycling your plastic waste, give it to Eve Armstrong instead. The artist is on a mission to build a massive public sculpture comprised of the plastic wrapping that surrounds our daily lives. Aptly titled Taking Stock, the sculpture will be a retail display landscape made up of what is usually thrown away, and will turn the mirror back on the shopper. It's all part of the Letting Space public art series, which runs in vacant commercial sites in Wellington and seeks to transform the relationship between artists, property developers and their city.
2010-09-03 14:42:16 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
‘Cosy’ is not a word that sits comfortably when describing most high end contemporary furniture. But that’s precisely the label export manager of renowned Dutch firm Linteloo uses to define the ambience of his products.
2010-09-02 17:37:31 // Vincent Heeringa
// The Idealog Blog
The Best Awards finalists were announced today and there's a delicious selection of Kiwi genius on display
2010-09-02 12:16:37 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
A curious man to interview, Storm Thorgerson unleashes his childhood dream on us (sort of) — to be a romantic lead on a galeon boat. He also talks about those other talents of his — graphic design and filmmaking. And of course, the sexual behaviour of small rodents.
2010-09-02 12:03:24 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here’s a website bound to stoke the fires of designers who’ve ever had their work mirrored or outright copied. “You thought we wouldn’t notice” brings design work mimicry into the limelight of shame.
2010-09-02 09:48:00 // Simon Todd
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Data can be boring, but it can also be a beautiful thing. Simon Todd examines how the godfather of data visualisation, David McCandless, transforms everyday bland data into a “picture sandwich”.
2010-09-01 16:19:52 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
It’s a striking, colourful home with unusual, sometimes awkward angles in an assortment of materials that looms large over a prominent corner near Narrowneck beach. Opened up to the neighbours for a fundraising tour, the provocative home of David Mitchell and Julie Stout stirred quite a reaction.
2010-09-01 12:49:48 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The recycling bin may no longer be the sole destination for your plastic bottles thanks to this enlightening concept by designers Lie Zhong-Fa, Lee Sang-Bong & Ji Jung-Ah. The + (Plus) Conjunctive Flash Light doubles as a regular torch AND a lamp for illuminating your campsite, or as the designers suggest, your living room.
2010-09-01 11:33:23 // Cliff Kuang
// The Idealog Blog
Can designing for a dictator actually be virtuous? That’s the question posed by editor of Co.Design Cliff Kuang when he speaks to contemporary architect Bjarke Ingels of architect firm BIG. The firm is famous for a number of international projects, but the recent commission by the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev – who runs an infamously dictatorial and corrupt government — to build the Astana National Library, is undoubtedly the most controversial yet.
2010-08-31 14:01:49 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
What are the top 10 typefaces of the decade? While that may be open to debate, Paul Shaw reckons he’s got the best 10 pinned dow
2010-08-31 10:27:45 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Ever wondered what a city operating entirely on artificial intelligence would look like? Richard Hardy, a Bartlett School of Architecture graduate, created this stunning Transcendant City movie as a reaction to a society that is currently not responding effectively to environmental dangers. “Transcendence” in this case refers to a point when artificial intelligence has reached or surpassed that of the human.
2010-08-31 09:24:28 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Finding plastic a little boring, designer Leva Kaleja opted for a more delicate paper approach in creating these “bride” pendant, table and floor lamps.
2010-08-30 17:20:23 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
This is compact travelling like you’ve never seen before. And, thanks to a creative vision and some clever software, German designer Cornelius Comanns has brought his bachelor thesis in Industrial Design to life, transforming a Piaggio APE 50 tricycle into a small one man camper.
2010-08-30 15:06:19 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Dina Krunic is from “everywhere and nowhere.” The Belgrade-born architect is ordinarily based in Los Angeles, but has recently been enjoying a brief stay in Auckland as a guest lecturer at Unitec. Her internationally oriented lifestyle seems to parallel her research interests in the field of architecture and digital technologies. Network culture, global world, temporality and impermanence are some of the descriptors used to explain her unorthodox approach to architecture.
2010-08-30 10:47:20 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
How do you raise public awareness of some critically important international development issues? The United Nations answered this question by launching the UN Ads Against Poverty Competition, aimed at boosting awareness of its eight Millennium Development Goals. Some 2036 entries later, the judges announced a winner by way of graphic designer Stefán Einarsson for his “We are still waiting” campaign.
2010-08-27 15:22:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
How do you beautify ugly scaffolding? You could try taking 130 hollowed-out yellow balls, fill them with lights, attach them to various posts of scaffolding and then fill with birds to create a series of ‘Urban Nests’.
2010-08-27 10:45:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
While many car park building designs in Chicago have a tradition of disguising themselves as office buildings with false façades, a U.S-based architectural and engineering design firm has attempted to break from that model and deliver an entirely new aesthetic, by way of an 11-story energy-efficient parking garage in Chicago — the first of its kind for the city — featuring wind turbines, a rain water collection system and electric car plug-in stations.
2010-08-26 09:55:50 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
One Kiwi company has fared particularly well at the recent red dot awards, which honour top design trendsetters from around the world, across a broad range of cartegories. Auckland based multidisciplinary design company, Alt Group, swept up seven ‘red dot: communication design’ awards. The red dot awards, which are judged by a panel of 15 of the world’s foremost design experts, recognise the best in product design, communication design, and design concepts from around the globe.
2010-08-26 09:11:09 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
National and international groups are getting behind a group of four Victoria University students aiming to build a solar powered Kiwi bach in the United States. The team will be designing and building the house in Washington D.C. next year as part of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition, where they’ll be competing against 19 other teams. What makes their entry even more notable is the that they are the only team from the Southern Hemisphere to have ever reached the finals. Better yet, readers of Design Daily can follow the teams progress with regular blogs on the Design Daily site from the team.
2010-08-25 16:56:25 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here’s a couple of newfangled product designs for your discerning pleasure - the Dandelion Stool by Design K and Ta-Rae lamps by Design Virus.
2010-08-25 15:22:14 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
A competition designed to showcase the very best residential architecture in the country gave accolades to just a handful of great designs. Among the finalists in this year’s Annual Home NZ Home of the Year Awards were two homes by architect Daniel Marshall.
2010-08-25 10:26:06 // Ben Fahy
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
It was less than two years ago that BNZ released its cute, fluffy, cloud-like logo into the wild. Some thought it was fresh, different and looked like toothpaste. Others thought it was too fresh, too different and too toothpastey and, therefore, lacked history and gravitas. And it seems the BNZ brand boffins agreed with the latter, because it’s gone back to its astronomical roots and changed its logo again, adding the classic Southern Cross back in, reducing the fluffiness and chopping that cheeky vestigial tail off the B. Ben Fahy of StopPress fame finds out what’s behind the redesign.
2010-08-25 10:01:34 // Simon Todd
// The Idealog Blog
This week, our man on the street Simon Todd gets off the street and instead buries his head into an annual trust report of all things. But with good reason. He looks at how the use of colour and graphics have brought the ASB Community Trust 2010 Annual Report to life.
2010-08-24 12:28:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
US Company Zebra Imaging has brought architecture planning to life with their innovative holographic pop-up buildings. In this video, chief technology officer and co-founder Michael Klug, gives us a hands-on demonstration of the technology at work.
2010-08-24 11:10:53 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
When Massey University opened the doors to its new library at its Auckland campus, “non-traditional” was the key word. Rather than being solely a sanctuary of silence, the library encourages interaction and incorporates entertainment and social spaces, in addition to the conventional requirement for book and quiet spaces to read and study.
2010-08-24 09:27:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
He's the tallest person we interviewed at Semi-Permanent and he also had the best shoes. Nicolas Roope, of Antirom and Poke fame, shares his social media wisdom and tells us why interesting ideas are no longer good enough.
2010-08-23 11:43:34 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Entries are now open for AWARD (The Australasian Writers and Art Directors Association) awards, and this year, the awards have expanded to include a raft of new categories including music video, applications, social media, environmental design, and branded content
2010-08-21 18:28:58 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
After sharing the stage and banter with his son Otis, Dick took a moment to speak with us before he jetted off home. He tells us why he's converted to Facebook and discusses his artful inflection into the Rugby World Cup branding.
2010-08-21 13:59:19 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Pixar animator Andrew Gordon had every member of the audience transfixed under his animation spell and en route to our interview, politely posed for photo's and signed autographs from awe-struck fans. Not that he's letting any of it get to his head. He tells us "once you feel like you've arrived, then you've got a problem". He also lets us in on his love for Weta Digital and Weta Workshop
2010-08-20 17:37:40 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
As unassuming and down to earth in person as she was in her presentation, illustrator and typographer Jessica Hische reveals to Design Daily her master plan for getting 50% off Karen Walker gear and tells us why sociology and psychology are deeply embedded in her illustrations.
2010-08-20 15:47:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Semi-Permanent is in full artistic and creative swing, and it couldn't have got off to a better start than with typographer and artist Jessica Hische, who wowed the crowd with her works and words, and also made them laugh more than a few times. We spoke with Semi attendees during a break to find out their highlights so far and who they're most amped about seeing.
2010-08-19 15:53:25 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
After months of anticipation, Semi-Permanent 2010 has arrived. If you can't make it to the event, fear not - we've got you covered. Together with Idealog, we've assembled a super team of bloggers and tweeters to keep you updated with all the latest happs from the event, and we'll also be posting video interviews with the speakers. So rest assured, there will be plenty to distract you from your work tomorrow
2010-08-19 12:02:35 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
With an iPad floating around the office we obviously couldn’t resist flicking through all the cool apps. One of our favourites has to be Veer’s Super‑Incredible Activity Book for Creatives.
2010-08-19 09:37:18 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Why lie on a bed of nails when you can sit on a bench of pencils? The aptly named Pencil Bench is the award-winning work of UK design company Boex 3D Creative Solutions. The inspiration for the bench stemmed from an office conversation in which the designers asked themselves whether an everyday office object could be incorporated into a piece of furniture
2010-08-18 11:57:47 // Simon Todd
// The Idealog Blog
Design Daily's man on the street Simon Todd investigates the case of the missing Freyberg Place sculptural drink fountain. Having graced the street over the summer, it was a case of here one day, gone the other.
2010-08-18 10:09:45 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here are some stunning and unusual objects for you to feast your eyes over, and if you dig deep enough into your pockets (they’d have to be pretty deep mind you), you could own a piece for yourself. The new range of limited edition Fornasetti objects by Bitossi have touched down in Enzed and were conceived by Barnaba Fornasetti, the son of Milanese painter, sculptor, interior decorator and engraver of books - Piero Fornasetti.
2010-08-17 15:14:03 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
In this week’s Tuesday Chew, we catch Nelson architect Min Hall in a reflective mood as she takes time to step out of the ratrace - in Auckland of all places.
2010-08-17 13:02:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Remember Tamagotchi’s? Their cool factor may have reached its expiration date some time ago in the 90s, but the digital ‘pet’ device has been given a makeover by researchers at Victoria University, who have planted a living microorganism inside the toys. The novel twist hasn’t gone unrecognized either, with the device, called a Tardigotchi, winning first prize in the Digital Language category at the 2010 Electronic Language International Festival (FILE) in Brazil.
2010-08-17 10:25:13 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Ordinarily, seeing a plane buried deep in the jungle would signal a disaster of sorts, but not in this case. Costa Rica-based Hotel Costa Verde has revealed its latest lodgings, the Boeing 727 Fuselage Suite.
2010-08-16 14:50:14 // Fraser Gardyne
// The Idealog Blog
Designer Fraser Gardyne, of gardyneHOLT design partners, poses the question: How many buildings constructed over the last fifty years in Auckland do you remember, let alone wish to protect into the future? Only a few spring to mind, and that, he says, is a real problem for this country. In his opinion piece, Gardyne argues that considering the longevity of our design decisions is integral to the successful brand of Auckland.
2010-08-16 11:08:39 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Urban designers are being propelled into the development limelight with the release of new report, Urban Design Panels - A National Stocktake. The report is authored by urban designer Sarah Duffell on behalf of the Ministry for the Environment, and recommends that more weight be given to the expertise of urban design panels as a key tool in the decision making process followed by councils around New Zealand. Duffell says that urban design panels that are operating effectively can save time and money, for both applicants and councils, because consents can be decided on “better-resolved designs”.
2010-08-16 09:11:12 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Several years ago, a young Vietnamese graduate with a Masters Degree in Urban Design came knocking on Kevin Brewer’s door. “He could hardly speak any English, but he could draw well,” explains Kevin, who is a principal of Auckland architectural firm Brewer Davidson. Little did he know it, but Kevin had opened the door to one of the biggest commissions his practice had ever had the good fortune to be involved with.
2010-08-13 15:31:04 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Is it a car? Is it a plane? Well it’s both actually. Terrafugia has just released specifications and computer graphics of its next generation flying car Transition, which is currently under construction at the company’s Massachusetts facility.
2010-08-13 14:21:06 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Fancy having your design work displayed on a billboard in New York’s Time Square? That could be a reality thanks to an international competition by Tivoli Audio, who is seeking designers, illustrators, and photographers from around the world to prepare a poster to celebrate their 10th anniversary.
2010-08-13 09:35:19 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Rotorua is set to go a little creatively crazy next week when it hosts its fifth annual artsMAD (art, media, architecture and design) event. The free event is put on by the Rotorua District Council (RDC) and brings artists, architects and designers together to share their inspirations with the community.
2010-08-12 12:53:35 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 11 comments
We've got a pass to the upcoming CreativeTech forum and we want to give it away - to you. CreativeTech is a new technology forum offering a broad mix of talks and presentations on design, developing, movie making, photography, audio engineering and more. Not only are we giving away a pass to the event, valued at $120, the winner will also snag for themselves an Adobe Photoshop Elements pack valued at $200.
2010-08-12 12:09:16 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
This week’s web watch looks at the somewhat comical Doppelgänger Design site, which keeps a wandering eye for magazine cover double-ups. From the blatantly ripped-off to the more tribute-orientated double-ups, there’s loads to feast your eyes on.
2010-08-12 10:59:12 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Mike Thorburn is the first to acknowledge that the economic downturn has taken a toll on the lighting and furniture industries which has led to some companies taking a more causal approach to the design game. But Thorburn isn’t one for paying it safe.
2010-08-12 10:55:04 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Christchurch design agency Plato Design have put in a repeat performance of last year, snagged the award for best ‘Creative Site at the Bizone Expo in Christchurch for the second time in a row.
2010-08-11 15:50:37 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Arthouse Architecture is calling for artists to submit designs for installations in their office building as part of a new project. The installation space is available to two artists annually, with prize money of $4,000 each.
2010-08-11 09:40:58 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Wellington’s new Supreme Court building is on a role. Along with its nomination in the 2010 World Architecture Festival Awards mentioned in last week’s Design Daily story, the Warren and Mahoney designed building has also been shortlisted for the prestigious IStructE Structural Awards.
2010-08-10 15:19:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here’s a product that could offer somewhat of a solution to the glorious shoebox apartments plaguing Auckland’s CBD. Moshi is a multipurpose kitchenette that includes an induction cooking hub, dishwasher, sink, fridge and washing machine in one structure.
2010-08-10 13:29:56 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
It’s the talk of the creative industries and it’s certainly generated a lot of buzz on Design Daily. So we thought whom better to feature as this week’s Tuesday Chew than Semi-Permanent’s mighty producer, Anna Cameron? Now that you've all had your say on who sits on your Semi-Permanent wish-list, Anna tells us who’s on her list and also let’s us in on a few secrets about the event's future.
2010-08-10 12:11:54 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Circular buildings are an unusual site and the Danish Pavilion by architect group Bjarke Ingels Grouparchtec (BIG), as part of the Shanghai Expo 2010, is no exception. The architects created the pavilion as a means of fostering interaction between visitors and some of Copenhagen’s most famed attraction
2010-08-09 18:14:24 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Auckland Museum is seeking your input to help guide its Gallery Renewal Plan at a public forum at the end of this month.
2010-08-09 13:53:18 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here’s a film for type-face/printing enthusiasts and anyone interested in the preservation of traditional design and print techniques in the face of modern-day technology. Justine Nagan’s documentary Typeface, which made its Kiwi debut earlier this week in Wellington, focuses on a rural Midwestern museum and print shop where international artists meet retired craftsmen and together navigate the convergence of modern design and traditional technique.
2010-08-09 13:12:35 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
One quick glance at the picture below might leave you wondering what you’re actually staring at. Italian designer Davide Conti has created these award-winning optical illusion chairs, called MAGICA and MAGICA2. By replacing two of the chair legs with plexiglass, Conti has created a physics-defying illusion.
2010-08-09 12:42:47 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If you’re the owner of a MAC and you’re on the lookout for some snazzy design software to enhance your creative flare, then this blog from the Design Inspiration is for you. It features 20 Mac applications for front-end designers and best of all, the apps are free to download.
2010-08-06 15:34:58 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
While it may pain some people to think of precious vinyl being cut up, there’s always a healthy distribution of Cliff Richard (insert bad taste artist here) records buried in someone’s garage that could be put to better use, like these wall clocks crafted by Pavel Sidorenko, in his series Re Vinyl.
2010-08-06 13:00:14 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A quick scan at the latest building by Slovakian artist Matej Kren will leave you in print-inspired awe. His latest installation, called Scanner, is his largest book installation yet and is currently on display at the Museum of Modern Art in Bologna.
2010-08-06 11:31:25 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Leading international art-based design studio Urban Art Projects has announced its collaboration with artist Ned Kahn and the Brisbane Airport Corporation to convert Brisbane’s new Domestic Terminal short-term multi-level car park into an eight-storey kinetic public art project.
2010-08-06 09:48:01 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If you want a sneak peak of New Zealand’s up and coming design talent, you might want to start with the Design and Arts College of New Zealand’s graduating exhibition, from the interior design department.
2010-08-05 11:07:22 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Paying tribute to the beautiful natural landscape helped Warren and Mahoney Architects win a nationwide competition to design a multi-million dollar museum and performing arts centre for Te Awamutu. Shannon Joe, a principal of Warren and Mahoney who led the design team which put forward the submission, says the location next to a park and surrounding streams inspired the concept as did historical aspects of the area’s Maori and Pakeha past.
2010-08-05 10:29:18 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Buck works with a broad range of clients in the advertising, broadcasting, retail, film and entertainment industries. Comprised of illustrators, animators, filmmakers, artists and designers, Buck direct and produce live-action, stop-motion, 3D character animation, and traditional cell animation as well as design and animate motion graphics. Buck are visual storytellers and conceptual thinkers approaching what they do with a designer’s eye, and a creative process based on the building up of ideas, encouraging maximum input, collaboration and experimentation.
2010-08-04 17:05:18 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Cast your mind back to the 80s when playing Space Invaders was all the rage. Ah, nostalgia. Igor Chak has taken that nostalgia and turned it into a concept you can quite literally sit on, with his Space Invader Couch.
2010-08-04 16:43:29 // Paul Leuschke
// The Idealog Blog
The winner of the Resene Total Colour Master – Nightingale Award, Paul Leuschke, likes to use a lot of colour in his corporate projects. It’s a way to make client interiors more memorable, says Paul, from Leuschke Kahn Architects, who was awarded top honours in the inaugural competition with a design for accountants Grant Thornton in Fanshawe Street, Auckland. Although he favours quite a bit of colour in public spaces, Paul tells Design Daily he wouldn’t want to live with vibrant hues everywhere.
2010-08-04 10:22:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
In the interest of fairness, and in light of our recent article featuring the best building designs from eVolo Magazine’s 2010 Skyscraper Competition, we thought we’d better divulge the frontrunners for the antitheses of good building design. Building Design magazine has announced six finalists for its 2010 Carbuncle Cup, which celebrates buildings at the epitome of ugly.
2010-08-03 15:04:48 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
London design company Studio Weave has weaved quite the public beachside bench. In fact, the bench is so impressive, it can now take its seat as the longest bench in the UK. How long? Long enough to seat over 300 people.
2010-08-03 14:16:17 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Architect Ron Seeto (Murray Cockburn Partnership) ruminates on his experiences, the sights, the sounds, the tastes and smells that left him reinvigorated after a brief sojourn with wife Sharon at Valbonne in the south of France recently.
2010-08-03 10:57:08 // Simon Todd
// The Idealog Blog
In this segment of 'Auckland’s urban beat from our man on the street', Simon Todd tells us you’d have to have a go go gadget neck or be excpetionally tall in order to notice NZI Centre’s green roof in Auckland’s CBD. But this stand out practice will hopefully soon be sprouting forth at a more accessible, eye-catching level near you.
2010-08-02 15:41:22 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
It’s fair to say that motorway underpasses aren’t always the most beautiful of sites to behold. With that in mind, Sydney artist Warren Langley has decided to shed some light beneath the Western Distributor freeway in Sydney, literally.
2010-08-02 15:15:44 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Going to hospital never looked so appealing or at least, so curious. Frank Gehry’s (the man behind the Experience Music Project, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, and the Art Gallery of Ontario) latest steely project, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, recently opened in Las Vegas. World of Architecture news explores further into the hospital’s recesses.
2010-07-29 12:22:19 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
At the leading edge of change, Dan Heyworth, the founder of a modular system for building architect-designed, energy-efficient houses, says the whole building industry is “extremely fraught, messy and complex” – and has been for many years. He believes a huge shake-up is due to create different ways of designing for the average person with an average budget.
2010-07-29 12:09:58 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
On March 22 this year, Adventure Ecology founder and environmentalist David de Rosthschild, along with his crew, set sail from San Francisco on the Plastiki, a unique 60-foot catamaran engineered from approximately 12, 500 reclaimed plastic bottles .
2010-07-29 10:25:55 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
This year marks the 22nd year of the Montana World of WearableArt Awards Show (WOW). The world-renowned design and art event has been attracting ever-growing interest and amazing works of art from across the globe for some time now, and this year's show will showcase 191 finalists from more than 300 entrants from all over New Zealand and the world.
2010-07-28 17:32:14 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
This week we profile Katrin Sonnleitner, a product designer’s whose work has been exhibited worldwide. Her work is known for dealing with the relationship between human and object, as well as crossing borders between art and design.
2010-07-27 12:25:42 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Driving upside down along the second floor roof-top of the Mini Garage, a bright red Mini is turning heads in the heart of Ponsonby. The car appears to defy the forces of gravity. But it’s really just a 160kg fibreglass shell that the BMW designers in Germany have created to draw attention to this fun, lifestyle brand.
2010-07-26 11:18:21 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Giving the likes of Rodney Wayne a run for his money, a succession of fresh, hip new Hair Co stores is poised to pop up all over the country. Moroccan hairdresser, developer and entrepreneur Joseph Brookes has arrived in New Zealand to recreate his London franchise success story. His goal is to capture the youth market with a well-priced, good value, fun hairdressing service.
2010-07-26 10:58:46 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Freshly squeezed onto the design scene is Foxes shop of design and wonderment, an on-line based store selling New Zealand made, contemporary design and handmade pieces. The site launched yesterday and features handpicked pieces from site creator Jessica Whiting, who aims to give independent artists the chance to “really make a go of their chosen craft”.
2010-07-23 11:00:46 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
It almost looks to bright to sit on, but we love this chair by London-based design studio Kiwi & Pom
2010-07-23 10:24:03 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
If it hadn’t been for an aversion to being tucked away in commercial kitchens, Natalie Du Bois would have pursued her early career as a chef. “My father was Belgian,” she explains “and we were brought up with some very unusual foods....
2010-07-22 13:03:38 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 48 comments
In the lead-up to the design smorgasbord on offer at this years Semi-Permanent, we’re giving you the chance to win a pass to the event by simply telling us who, if you could choose just one person, you would most like to see make an appearance at Semi-Permanent.
2010-07-22 10:52:37 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If you think purple and orange just don’t go together, think again. Lauren Willhite is a graphic designer who’s out to illustrate that purple and orange can indeed be visually symbiotic, and so can any number of colour combinations.
2010-07-22 09:50:23 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Why settle for poaching or scrambling your eggs when you can quite literally shoot ‘em up?
2010-07-21 17:49:20 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
'somewhat different' is an international touring exhibition offering quirky interpretations of everyday objects, and it's coming to Auckland this August.
2010-07-21 09:31:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
With only one month to go now until Semi-Permanent 2010 kicks off, this week we profile UK graphic designer and filmmaker Storm Thorgerson. Among his many achievements, Thorgerson is known for designing some of the most famous album covers for the likes of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.
2010-07-21 09:00:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Waikato University’s Student Centre is boasting some serious green architecture and design dexterity after becoming only the second educational building in New Zealand to receive a ‘5 Green Star’ rating from the New Zealand Green Building Council
2010-07-20 12:00:00 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
German-born Jens Sieber is a leader in automotive interior design. He's headed the interior design for the Audi R8, GT, the A1 and the futuristic RSQ for the I Robot film. Currently in New Zealand to launch Audi’s flagship model, the new A8, he took some time out to share his premium design thoughts with us.
2010-07-20 10:43:03 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Described as “an enchanted forest of trees that light up at night”, we love these softly shaped and curvaceous limited edition chairs and coffee tables by Giancarlo Zema. The piece are made from wood and resin strip and illuminated with integrated LED light.
2010-07-19 15:45:46 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Come along and hear what top designers, architects and artists have to say about their inspirational travel adventures across the globe.
2010-07-19 09:55:53 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
At a time when many designers have felt the weight of the Recession, Paul Izzard has been busier than ever. His visionary and often fun approach to retail has seen him become very much in demand recently...
2010-07-19 09:49:01 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Here's an entertaining site that highlights some of the more awkward, and often contextually perplexing, stock photos available on the interweb.
2010-07-16 15:42:51 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
With the debate over how best to use Auckland’s Queen’s Wharf still raging (see Ken Crosson's take here), the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) and the Government has today announced an agreement on how the area will be developed, at last.
2010-07-16 14:52:42 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
We love this product which, single-handedly, redefines the idea of a portable coffee machine.
2010-07-16 12:36:36 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If you fancy yourself or your company as a dab-hand in urban design, make sure you enter the WAN AWARDS 2010 for the Urban Design Sector.
2010-07-15 14:28:49 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The Thinking for a Living website offers a collection of smart design essays presented in lush magazine-like form for those who dislike using computer-aided display controls.
2010-07-15 12:15:04 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
What do you do with 200 unusable Speedo swimming suits? Use them to construct a pavilion of course.
2010-07-15 12:10:57 // Amanda Cropp
// Idealog #28: features
| 1 comment
Talk about turning the corner: a major illness turned hairdresser Rebecca Herring into an artist and then a fashion designer. By Amanda Cropp.
2010-07-14 18:00:38 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Ever heard of Chattanooga? Or maybe Givatayim? They’re all cities and one project is aiming to give them all a graphic face.
2010-07-14 11:54:34 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
As if Ferrari’s aren’t swanky enough, this Ferrari Factory Store in Italy takes swanky to a new level.
2010-07-13 17:10:35 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The 220,000 square meter pedestrian-oriented Linked Hybrid complex in Beijing was designed as a means of countering the numerous privatised urban developments in China, and at the same time, encouraging interactive relationships in public spaces.
2010-07-13 16:05:27 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
In just over a week, one lucky up and coming Kiwi designer will rise to prominence when the winner of the tenth annual James Dyson Award is announced. Judging by the three finalists announced today, the competition is stiff.
2010-07-13 14:59:57 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Taking a well-deserved break with his family in Hawkes Bay, a slightly weary furniture designer David Moreland reflects on surviving in the design game.
2010-07-13 09:58:04 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
When architect firm MAD asked themselves, “is it possible to build high-density, economically viable housing which is also architecturally innovative?” ‘Fake Hills’ housing development was the answer.
2010-07-12 14:45:09 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Everyone makes mistakes once in a while but it’s hard to imagine how the following mistakes could have ever been made. The Huffington Post takes us on a pictorial journey through 14 of the most comical construction/architecture/design ‘fails’ of all time.
2010-07-12 12:58:41 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Steven Rodrig is a Cuban- born “inventive and environmentally conscious artist” who transforms e-waste into anything from insects to flowers to cityscapes. He refers to his work as “PCB (Printed Circuit Board) Mixed Media”.
2010-07-12 12:02:11 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
The final whistle may have blown on the FIFA 2010 World Cup, but that doesn’t mean we can’t look back at one of the architectural highlights of the competition – the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, which played host to the Spain versus Germany semi-final. Architecture News takes an in-depth look at the design and concept behind this iconic stadium.
2010-07-12 11:26:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Anna Fisher, the former client service director at Designworks, has joined the Dow Design team as account director.
2010-07-12 10:03:39 // Sam Eichblatt
// Idealog #28: interact
Meet German designer Katrin Sonnleitner, soon to visit New Zealand for Semi-Permanent 2010.
2010-07-09 16:22:06 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Here’s one that’s not for the faint of heart, or should that be the faint of heights? With Diana Ross in tow, the world’s most expensive hotel (NZ$8.5 billion), the Marina Bay Sands development in Singapore, has opened for business.
What are some of the resorts standout features? Well for starters, there’s the infinity pool located 55 storeys high – just don’t look down.
Lucy Ballinger from MailOnline explores further.
2010-07-09 13:57:23 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Following the Iranian elections in the summer of 2009, Iranian photographer Green Bird urged graphic artists from all over the world to create posters in support of the Green Movement in Iran. The results, beautiful and confronting at the same time, speak for themselves.
2010-07-09 12:27:12 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
These days children have a plethora of devices to play with - Game Boy, PlayStation, Nintendo Wii – to name a few. Still, nothing quite beats the joy derived from the tried and true plastic favourite LEGO.
New York City opened its first LEGO store earlier this week and instantly engaged with customers and passersby by giving them the chance to help construct a 15-foot-tall model of a Big Apple near its entrance.
Frank Bonomo from core77 explores all the LEGO knickknacks in the new store, including what else but a LEGO video game. There’s also a great video illustrating the giant apple construction.
2010-07-08 14:08:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Review: 'Eco House Book' explores numerous practical and creative ways to make your home more sustainable, but not at the expense of style.
2010-07-08 12:23:10 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Like a huge hairy pod of light covered in a soft wrapper, the UK Pavilion was for architect Andrew Patterson a definite highlight of the Shanghai World Trade Show.
2010-07-08 10:37:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Sustainability is often confounding to designers, developers, and managers regardless of how important they view it. Serial design entrepreneur Nathan Shedroff will be speaking at Unitec next week to help make sense of it all.
2010-07-07 17:45:41 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
In New York stalled construction sites lay strewn across the city thanks to the hard bite of the recession. So what’s a cash-strapped construction company to do? Architecture firm Woods Bagot propose a novel solution with their temporary, inflatable buildings called ‘Icebergs’. Fast Company’s Cliff Kuang explores further….
2010-07-07 16:42:25
// The Idealog Blog
With just over six weeks to go until this year’s Semi-Permanent event, we’re giving you a taster of what you’re in for by profiling a different speaker each week. This week, it’s the duo of Karen Walker and Mikhail Gherman.
2010-07-07 11:21:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
This is Kiwi ingenuity at it's best. Jen and Rich, owners of Wishbone Design, have crafted a sustainable bike that grows with its rider. It's so good, that Time Magazine even featured it in its annual Style & Design 100.
2010-07-07 10:19:56 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Here's something for the uber-cool suburban kids. We love these curvaceous and modern interpretations of cots and beds by UrbanBaby. Better yet, they're made from recyclable and renewable materials.
2010-07-06 16:28:55 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
He's the design director of Strachan Group Architects. He has a Master of Architecture Degree in Sustainable Design, and he's Adjunct Professor at Unitec School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture...phew. Vicki Holder managed to snatch a moment of David Strachan's time to ask the architecture craftsman some crafty questions.
2010-07-06 13:05:13 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
When the architecture firm behind the London Eye were challenged by a brief that asked them to design ‘the most incredible living experience in the world,’ they came up with the kinetic Villa Hush Hush.
2010-07-06 12:09:16 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Digital artist Alex Varanese posed the question: “What would you do if you could travel back in time?” If it were him, Alex says he’d grab today’s modern technology (an mp3 player, a laptop, a mobile phone and a handheld video game system) and redesign them as if they were designed in 1977. The results are very cool indeed. Check them out here.
2010-07-06 11:54:34 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Ever wondered what a modern-day quill might look? Check out Andrew Johnston's interpretation.
2010-07-05 15:32:43 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If we asked you what the five most important works of architecture created since 1980 are, what would you say? Vanity Fair posed this question to 52 experts. What were their pics?
2010-07-05 14:23:31 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Some exciting new designer products have recently landed at the ECC Lighting & Furniture showrooms in both Auckland and Wellington. Here are a couple of our favourites....
2010-07-05 11:35:16 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Fifty time-saving tools to make life easier for web designers, via Smashing Magazine.
2010-07-02 16:13:02 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
Here's a very cool product we spotted courtesy of endemicworld.com. This snazzy sound activated drum light does exactly what its name suggests. Hit the drum (it replicates a real drum noise - of course) and presto, you have light. Be sure to check out the video.
2010-07-02 10:54:02 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Jenny Holzer has been plastering cities with all kinds of words - truisms, snippets of poetry, even declassified Abu Ghraib documents - for nearly 40 years. She started papering New York city with posters in the '70s, and since then has moved on to LED art and xenon projections onto landmarks and buildings all over the world.
2010-07-02 10:47:13 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
We love thecoolist for pointing us to this Kiwi&Pom-designed chair
Commissioned by Wallpaper* Magazine in late 2009, the multi-coloured chair features 200 metres of electroluminescent wire and a pulse setting for the all-important disco vérité experience.
2010-07-02 10:46:12 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Bottles, and cans. That's what you'll find, unsurprisingly, at weshootbottles.com and weshootcans.com.
2010-07-01 10:13:34 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Forget all the new fancy high-tech car models – this classic 1940’s is in a domain of its own! The curvaceous 1948 Buick Streamliner by Norman E has been brought up to speed (so to speak) with 2010, thanks to the tender restoration work of Dave Crouse.
2010-07-01 09:41:33 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
If you’re an Apple fan, there’s a brand-spanking new event you’ll definitely want to sink your teeth into. Introducing CreativeTech.
2010-06-30 17:00:02 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Last year Design Quarterly named him one the Top Ten Australian and New Zealand Designers. His creative furniture design is known to push the boundaries between interior design, installation art, and exhibition design. We delve into the creative depths of Tim Wigmore’s mind and find out what makes him tick.
2010-06-30 11:48:28 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Jack the ‘sitting, stacking, lighting thing’ is now back in its natural home with the motto: “it’s back - it also comes in black and it stacks.”
2010-06-29 17:23:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Marian Bantjes makes an interesting case for designing with a more personal touch in this TED talk.
2010-06-29 12:50:24 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Running with Scissors Creative Strategist, and yMedia Challenge Judge, Friday O’Flaherty, shares his experience of working in the creative industries – tomorrow!
2010-06-29 12:26:59 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
The Designers Institute of New Zealand is holding the next of its Designers Speak series on July 7 at Ironbank, bringing in top names to discuss commercial design.
2010-06-29 11:21:33
// The Idealog Blog
Despite being covered in enough paua to blend in seamlessly at the old Paua shell house, Samwoong Lee's Octopus chair is really quite elegant.
2010-06-29 11:17:12 // Matt Cooney
// The Idealog Blog
What day is it? That’s right, it’s World Industrial Design Day. So find something you love and let it know how you really feel about it.
This year, Icsid, the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, has chosen the theme “Industrial Design: Humane Solutions for a Resilient World”. The plan is to remind us all that design can indeed save the world, or, in Icsid-speak, to “facilitate collaboration within the industrial design community with the goal of producing tangible solutions to world problems”
2010-06-28 12:26:44 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
Like diving through a waterline of clear glass into the organically seductive structural elements of a yacht, Rose & Heather’s Bailey table has nothing to hide.
2010-06-28 11:59:30 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
Fans of architecture and books from 18 countries are locked in a fierce battle as they compete to crack a code that relates a “shape” to the storyline of Charles Bancroft’s London based thriller, The Architect.
2010-06-28 11:00:40 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
If you’re looking for a bit of photographic inspiration, the Advertising & Illustrative Photographers Association has just the event for you this weekend - IMAGE NATION
2010-06-25 16:20:48 // Vicki Holder
// The Idealog Blog
When 60s Flower child Martin Bell of Rose & Heather saw Andrew Martin’s “the Beatle Collection” fabric at the Maison & Objet Fair in Paris last September, he just had to turn it into a statement piece.
2010-06-25 15:18:05 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
Somewhere in Australia there’s an award-winning Kiwi/Australian (you know how it goes) kitchen designer sharing some wise design words with his peers. When you've been awarded the title of 'Australian Kitchen Designer of the Year', it's all part of the territory.
2010-06-25 13:39:24 // Michael Johnson
// The Idealog Blog
In his thought of the week, Michael Johnson, creative director of design company Johnson Banks, talks about the transition over the years from a silo system of design to the modern day DIY designer. And as he explains, the creative outlets are vast.
2010-06-23 17:24:10 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
PechaKucha Night, devised in Tokyo in February 2003 as an event for young designers to meet, network, and show their work in public, is running new events in coming months. Make sure you head along to one of the Kiwi Kucha nights.
2010-06-23 13:43:55 // Deirdre Robert
// The Idealog Blog
The University of Auckland’s School of Architecture and Planning is giving you a reprise from cold winter evenings by offering up 16 free toasty lectures from July to October.
2010-06-21 16:00:00 // Design Daily Team
// The Idealog Blog
A hefty 750 people celebrated the country’s best commercial buildings last night in Auckland at the annual Property Council New Zealand Rider Levett Bucknall Property Industry Awards, and three properties in particular set new standards for mixing design with sustainability.
2010-06-21 15:03:02 // Jonathan Ford
// The Idealog Blog
| 2 comments
With Kiwis enveloped in the warm, white glow that is the soccer world cup (or more precisely, the All Whites socking it to the world), we think this piece about South Africa's design future is quite apt. Jonathan Ford from Pearfisher takes us on a journey through South Africa's designscape. Originally published on the Dieline.
2010-04-01 07:43:05 // Ben Corban & Dean Poole
// Idealog #26: features
As Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot by watching.” Dean Poole and Ben Corban, co-founders of Alt Group, would agree. On a European jaunt to pick up a coveted grand prix prize at the red dot design awards, they kept a detailed travelogue. Here are their top five observations and predictions for the year ahead.
2010-03-26 09:16:56 // Bette Flagler
// Idealog #26: features
There’s something odd about the very small: weird physics and some very big money. Bette Flagler meets the New Zealanders making giant strides at a nano scale.
2010-03-23 12:00:49 // Tony Laloli
// Idealog #26: workshop
| 2 comments
The World Expo should showcase Kiwi ideas—but Shanghai 2010 is a missed opportunity.
2010-01-27 10:31:48 // David MacGregor
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
In the notoriously competitive and difficult to differentiate airline business, Air New Zealand invests in design and experiential marketing
2010-01-19 08:57:00 // Sam Eichblatt
// Idealog #25: features
Designer Katie Taylor has done it her way from the beginning of her career, whether it’s design in the Middle East or acrobatics in Russia. She tells Sam Eichblatt about tenacity, life away from home and surviving London in a recession
2009-11-24 09:24:50 // Su Yin Khoo
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
What would Earth look like if it had a ring system like Saturn? Pretty spiffy, that's what.
2009-11-20 11:42:50 // Stephen Jewell
// Idealog #24: features
When Bruce Ferguson took his big-splash events business to the UK, he arrived alongside a less welcome visitor: the recession. A year later, the recession is still there—but so is Ferguson, and he’s finding a ready audience for his outrageous stunts and extravaganzas. By Stephen Jewell.
2009-11-03 15:45:39
// Idealog #24: plus
Meet 50 creative consultants who have turned their backs on a regular paycheck and a corner office to work through The Pond.
2009-10-20 13:20:27 // Matt Cooney
// The Idealog Blog
A nifty animation of Tweets saying ‘Good morning’. It would appear Kiwi twitterers don’t spend their time adding to the noise—good work, team.
2009-10-07 12:19:14 // Sangeeta Anand
// Idealog #23: now
| 1 comment
How do you improve the definitive land yacht? By putting it on the water, of course.
2009-08-25 11:53:56 // Laura Westphal
// Idealog #22: now
| 1 comment
The Wright-Stows transform everyday household materials into an artistic range of products.
2009-08-17 08:55:56 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog TV
Philip Hunt, aka ‘Studio AKA’, chats to us about bringing children’s books to life and the stiff competition he faces from his own daughter.
2009-08-17 08:50:01 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog TV
| 1 comment
Pentagram’s Harry Pearce discusses his passion for mixing his creative work with human rights project Witness. Then there’s the conversation he had with Te Radar involving Spike Milligan and gravestones.
2009-08-17 08:45:00 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog TV
No one proposed to him when he was signing books—much to his disappointment. He had the audience and fellow speakers in awe, and it’s got nothing to do with his catchy name and youthful looks! We spoke with a modest James about his incredible body of work and why he’s, er, aging backwards.
2009-08-17 08:40:18 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog TV
He’s a bit of a legend in the design industry and on a surfboard. We talk with David Carson, a man who makes a living from his hobby
2009-08-17 08:35:01 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog TV
We can’t help but love Alexia Sinclair’s stunning work. We discussed childhood loves and her plans for world domination.
2009-08-16 22:29:27 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog TV
Paul Soong from The Church talks about the permanence of Semi-Permanent and why it’s important to nurture upcoming creative Kiwis
2009-08-16 21:48:52 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog TV
He likes to lie down but it’s a good thing he was upright when we spoke to him. Semi-Permanent MC Te Radar shares his unique analogies on creativity.
2009-08-16 20:22:26 // David MacGregor
// The Idealog Blog
Sanky, founder of AllOfUs an innovative interactive design firm in London, explains how a 10-year-old can get inside Einstein's head.
2009-08-16 17:23:44 // David MacGregor
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
Legendary designer David Carson engages with spontaneity, wit and insight at Semi-Permanent. Well … wit and insight …
2009-08-15 20:35:28 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog TV
He’s very tall and filled to the brim with creative prowess. Weta Digital’s visual effects supervisor Matt Aitken tells us why Hollywood loves New Zealand
2009-08-15 20:34:56 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog TV
She feels like she’s drunk, but she’s not. We managed to snag some time with adrenalin-filled Semi-Permanent producer Anna Cameron and found out that even karaoke has its place at this event
2009-08-15 20:33:40 // Deirdre Robert
// Idealog TV
While the rain was pouring outside, we spoke with some of the fine folk inside and soaked up some artistic spectacle
2009-08-15 08:49:26 // David MacGregor
// The Idealog Blog
| 1 comment
A slightly surreal experience with an advertising guy who acts like an artist … or should that be an artist who acts like an advertising guy?
2009-06-30 10:47:14 // Matt Cooney
// Idealog #22: interact
Semi-Permanent must be due a name change. Back in 2009 for its sixth year, the landmark New Zealand design event is positively durable. It could also be called the granddaddy of a new wave of creative Kiwi events.
2009-06-06 17:07:46 // Simon Young
// The Idealog Blog
From squealing t-shirts to flashing cycle gear, there's a lot going on in the world of paper, scissors, glue ... and microprocessors. And it's not just fun, crafty stuff either. Find out the very serious implications this creative technology has for business.
2009-05-19 09:30:45 // Laura Westphal
// Idealog #21: now
Web design company Fracture gets interactive at South by Southwest, much to the delight of Kiwi architects Jasmax
2009-05-05 10:38:35 // Matt Cooney
// The Idealog Blog :: The Idealist
I'm really enjoying the daily updates from Urban Logic, an online magazine (some would call it a blog) about creative ideas in “the built environment”—architecture, urban design and planning, landscapes, public art and so on. If you like the awesome BLDGBLOG, definitely take a look at Urban Logic. It’s searching out some of the most interesting building trends around the planet—such as the green areas being created in Singapore rooftops—and it’s all being done from Auckland, New Zealand. Perhaps it’ll help inspire some of our local developers and planners.
2009-03-27 11:00:13 // Amanda Cropp
// Idealog #20: features
Cousins Celia and Caro Allison have a lot in common. A cartoonist and a fashion design respectively, they both trained at Wellington Polytechnic, live and work in Lyttelton, drive silver Toyota Caribs and are obsessive recyclers. But most of all, finds Amanda Cropp, they’re both deeply committed to keeping their products New Zealand-made
2009-03-20 12:41:34 // Steven Shaw
// Idealog #20: features
For Alt Group, an Auckland design firm that scooped 55 design awards internationally in 2008, good brand design is more than just a Helvetica love-in. Steven Shaw gets with the Alt approach
2009-02-20 18:28:12 // Ben Kepes
// The Idealog Blog
Damian Conway is a PhD in computer science and, until recently, was honorary professor of computer science at Monash University. He’s a designer, a columnist and an author.
2009-02-20 14:48:29 // Ben Kepes
// The Idealog Blog
Matt Jones is a designer who was formerly creative director for the BBC news online. He was with Nokia as the director of UX design and he’s now with Dopplr.
2009-02-20 14:05:35 // Ben Kepes
// The Idealog Blog
Russ Weakley has a 13 year pedigree in graphic design, web development, interface design and standards based development. He’s the author of Teach yourself CSS in TenMinutes and he works for the Australian museum. Two years ago he presented to Webstock suggesting that navigation be torn apart and be replaced by total reliance on tagging — today’s talk is a “so what happened?” review.
2008-10-31 11:16:51 // Gena Tuffery
// Idealog #18: features
With daring slashes and loud inserts‚ Cybèle Wiren’s clothes aren’t exactly polite. But their creator most certainly is. And as our latest export winner‚ that could be a very good thing. By Gena Tuffery
2008-10-15 15:00:28 // Francis Farrelly & Michael Beverland
// Idealog #17: workshop
Apple, Icebreaker, Fisher & Paykel, Dyson, Formway … it’s design that lifts these companies above the ordinary. But how do you encourage your company to become design-led?
2008-07-18 12:15:32 // Amanda Cropp
// Idealog #16: features
Amie Nilsson’s Merino Kids business is growing faster than her own brood. She tells Amanda Cropp about ambition, innovation, sleepless nights and the cut-throat world of design for the under-fives
2008-07-09 11:18:19 // Amanda Cropp
// Idealog #16: now
A Canterbury marketer goes back to the farm to brew cordial from the weedy nuisance of elderflowers
2008-04-29 16:34:53 // Kris Herbert
// Idealog #15: now
| 1 comment
Many have tried to build a better mouse, but a Christchurch startup has built two—and computing may never be the same
2008-04-04 14:11:28 // Lauren Bartlett
// Idealog #14: features
| 1 comment
Forget cast-offs, hand-me-downs and the fashions of yesteryear, ‘re-designers’ are turning forgotten gems into something new and desirable. Lauren Bartlett meets the Kiwis creating born-again-ware
2008-03-28 15:14:43 // Peter Griffin
// Idealog #14: features
| 2 comments
If you can draw your idea, Wellington startup Ponoko can probably make it—and find buyers for it too. Idealog meets the New Zealanders at the forefront of the handmade revolution
2008-01-15 08:35:41 // Geraldine Roper
// Idealog #13: now
It began 15 years ago as a doodle in a high school exercise book, but Andrew Hawley’s concept yacht design, the Hawley F140, is starting to take shape.
2008-01-07 09:00:40 // Kris Herbert
// Idealog #13: workshop
It’s pretty hard to undercut the Warehouse, so craft has a new role—relief from mass-produced sameness
2007-11-15 09:49:02 // Meridee Walter
// Idealog #12: now
Patrick Morris’ eureka moment has taken the world of pot plants and literally turned it on its head
2007-11-15 06:00:00 // Gena Tuffery
// Idealog #12: now
| 2 comments
Ali Middleton is a bag lady with a business—the business of eradicating the 22 million plastic bags New Zealanders use and lose every week
2007-11-02 18:26:39 // Gena Tuffery
// Idealog #12: features
| 1 comment
China’s Mayland Design Exchange—MayDE to its friends—is marrying our creative can-do with their manufacturing know-how. Could ‘MayDE with New Zealand’ be just what ‘Made in China’ needs? Idealog finds out. Plus: How Kiwi students are designing answers to Chinese lifestyle problems.
2007-10-30 05:00:00 // Lauren Bartlett
// Idealog #12: now
With competition waiting at the end of every half-pipe, starting up a skatewear label is hardly a risk-free move. But it’s paying off for Nick and Jenny Clegg, who launched Federation Clothing out of their apartment seven years ago
2007-10-25 09:23:34 // Gena Tuffery
// Idealog #12: features
| 9 comments
Ideas are free—and ideas people can be bloody cheap too. Gena Tuffery looks behind the corporate façade and meets the creative interns getting by on company handouts and whatever’s left in the fridge. Plus: When to stick it out and when to just stick it.
2007-10-24 09:54:05 // Gena Tuffery
// Idealog #12: now
Julia DeVille gets some strong reactions to her taxidermy jewellery, but none more so than the time she made a teacher throw up at her Wellington primary school. The shark’s head got DeVille banned from future show-and-tells, but these days her work is more welcomed
2007-10-02 20:22:02 // Lauren Bartlett
// Idealog #11: now
Apparently, not all our textile innovation went into the All Blacks’ World Cup jumper. Orca has designed the world’s first breathable wetsuit, which expels heat and moisture while keeping the ocean at bay. “We had a lot of triathletes coming to us asking, ‘Is there any way you can make cooler wetsuits’, so we tried to work out a way to make it happen,” say Simon Kenny of Orca
2007-10-02 15:23:39 // Gabrielle Beran
// Idealog #11: now
The favourite part of her job, says Christine Hafermalz-Wheeler, is when she sees her jewellery worn by other people. It’s the reward of her efforts to identify the traits of each stone she uses. “It’s not just a stone,” she says. “Each one needs to be cut personally.”
2007-10-02 15:20:52 // Kris Herbert
// Idealog #11: now
Tauranga-based bed manufacturer Design Mobel wants to turn bed retailing on its sleepy head. In partnership with Saatchi & Saatchi, the company has created Okooko, an international concept store that focuses on the bedroom as a sanctuary of rest and replenishment
2007-10-01 20:23:09 // Simon Young
// Idealog #11: now
A Wellington-based startup is making product design and production as easy as pressing ‘print’. Ponoko—a variation on an early name for Wellington—lets people design physical objects in any 2D drawing program. They can then send the design through to Ponoko’s network of laser cutters and 3D printers
2007-09-07 06:19:32 // Matt Cooney
// Idealog #11: now
| 2 comments
Richard Simpson wants to reinvent his dysfunctional city and he’s not timid in his plans: bulldoze the Harbour Bridge and free up some coastline, dig a canal from the airport for ferry traffic, reopen old tunnels and rivers, and even reorient Auckland away from the Queen St shambles—all while getting the city online and sustainable. Thinking big, then. But why does Auckland get all the attention? And is Simpson just playing social engineering?
2006-07-06 00:00:00 // Eleanor Black
// Idealog #4: features
| 2 comments
Tanya Thompson’s transformation from ‘waif-like graffiti artist to mini-corporate’ has some predicting that it’s just a matter of time until she has her own fashion empire. Thompson—better known as Misery—is turning her cute-but-creepy creations into a global business. By Eleanor Black
