In the latest issue of designboom, I learned that they’re promoting an international LED lighting design competition. The three categories for entry are indoor, outdoor and landscape. Read all the details here. And then start designing (we’ve got some unique lights here at DWR, but we can always use more). Oh, by the way, one of our LED lights, the Leaf Light, was named Best of Category in the 2007 I.D. Annual Design Review. You could be next.
Have you ever really looked at a roller coaster? Or, for that matter, the control panel of a roller coaster? You know, ever paid attention to what’s controlling that ride you’re going really fast on, up in the air, maybe even upside down? Well, I did. Last weekend I was in Chicago, just in time to see the leaves changing colors and to take my niece and nephew to a pumpkin patch for Halloween.
As it turns out, a suburban pumpkin patch has much more to offer than the urban ones I always went to: Junk food, farm animals, pumpkins, rides and tractors. I’m there with my neice and nephew and they love it. That’s where the roller coasters come in. The kids spot one with little tow trucks that they can sit in and pretend like they’re driving. It goes around in a circle with a few little bumps and twists. As I’m taking pictures I notice the control panel for the ride. The control panel is pure low-budget, sci-fi, carnie hokiness. It amazes me. It’s got a big red button (“stop,” right?) and a little green button (you’re with me now, that one’s for “go”) and then there’s a dial (who knows?). It’s rusty and ancient and is being used on this fancy little tow truck ride. Does it matter that it’s so low tech? I mean, this is what they’re using to control a ride that hundreds of kids ride on every day. So my question is this, good design (simple, functional) or does it just make it work?
Last holiday we carried an interesting item called the Streamgarden Hydroponics, which let you plant whatever you want inside. Taking care of a full-size garden is a ton of work and many homes lack a yard, so the idea of an indoor garden, and its smaller, more manageable scale, really intrigued me. I got a random email from a customer looking for the Streamgarden, which we no longer carry, but it sent me off to the vendors website, www.greenfortune.com, and that’s when I saw this little idea on a bigger, cooler, grander scale. It’s called a Plantwall, it’s a garden wall that self waters. Gorgeous, right? The way Green Fortune presents the item seems more tailored to retail and public spaces, but what do you think about making it available on a slightly smaller scale as something Design Within Reach sold? Is it something you might be interested in buying? Send us your comments.
I walk to work most every day. It’s like a 40 minute walk and I always take the same route. What that forces me to do is notice every little thing. Each day I see something new. Of course I can’t help but notice the cracked sidewalks as I trip over them or you know, on a good day, see someone else trip. I read about this idea the other day, taking old tires and turning them into a material suitable for sidewalks. It seems brilliant and perfect. Good design for a big problem. What do you think?
Plucked from street corners nationwide, phone booths disappeared while we were busy talking on our mobile phones and crossing in front of cars without looking. But before we get used to having one less object to avoid, these private sanctuaries may be on the rebound. A phone booth for the mobile world, The Cell Zone is the work of Salemi Industries of Woburn, MA (home of the first public library designed by architect H.H. Richardson, who also designed the Trinity Church in Boston).
Other solutions for mobile users include a handmade, retro style booth by C. P. Booth of Atlanta, the Silence Chair by Antti Evävaara with transparent sides to contain conversations, and the Peek-a-boo Chair by Stefan Borselius, with Darth Vader aesthetics and beauty salon dryer chair functionality. In some ways, these private areas are a return to how phones were first used. A phone booth was installed just outside the Oval Office in 1877, and beginning with Rutherford Hayes, each U.S. President used this phone booth until Herbert Hoover ended the fun and had a telephone placed on his desk in 1929.
