Friday, December 30, 2016
Build a Rental Property Empire Now Available as an Audiobook
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The Visually Warped Rooms of Peter Kogler
Austrian artist Peter Kogler has been creating some of the most visually warped, mind-bending rooms for over 30 years now. He doesn’t just stick to the walls – he covers the floors and ceilings too and completely envelops the viewer with his hypnotizing patterns. They’re dizzying enough just looking at the images so I can’t imagine what it’s like to walk into one of these spaces in person. How long do you think you could last in one of these rooms and remain completely sane?
H/t: Colossal
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A Mural That Represents Spontaneous Creativity and Collaboration
The following post is brought to you by 3M. Our partners are hand-picked by the Design Milk team because they represent the best in design.
When the new 3M Design Center, at the St. Paul (MN) headquarters, opened in July 2016, Chief Design Officer Eric Quint wanted something a little special for one of the concrete walls in his new design space. He wanted more than the usual framed artwork, he wanted the space itself to become the frame of a piece of art, something demonstrating the result of real time creativity that happens when people collaborate and let their imagination flow spontaneously. “Collaborative creativity is a theme introduced when I started in my design leadership role at 3M, the idea was to have a piece of graffiti in the Design Center that would reflect the cultural values of our 3M Design team” according to Quint. The uncommon connections between 3M technologies and materials inspired great solutions and art. Have you seen this lamp made of ScotchBlue painter’s tape? Or this Urban Trees installation? The possibilities are endless.
Eric wanted one of the walls of the 3M Design Center to remind his design team to be creative without boundaries. So when it came to doing something a little unconventional in the context of a corporate interior design, Eric’s thoughts turned to graffiti. Graffiti has been a firmly established part of the countercultural aesthetic since the ’60s and has been making inroads into the art world since 1979, when graffiti artist Lee Quinones and Fab 5 Freddy were given a gallery opening in Rome by art dealer Claudio Bruni. For most in Europe, it was their first experience with the art form. The appeal of the irreverent art form — one that’s constantly pushes the boundaries of creative expression — seemed like the perfect fit for a company who encourages unconventional use of technologies and materials into relevant solutions for people.
The 3M Design team tracked down two local artists, Nick Mamayek and Wes Winship. The pair had just founded the Burlesque Public Works Division, which focuses on large scale murals and public art installations. They brought the perfect combination of fine art and graphic art to the project. Nick had spent the past twenty years painting large scale public and privately commissioned murals throughout the Midwest in styles ranging from abstract collages of hard line and organic designs, to lettering, to homage work in which cartoon characters from his childhood are conceptually tied in with song lyrics or news of the day. Wes brought the graphic piece. While working at the legendary Life Sucks Die graffiti magazine, he taught himself how to use desktop publishing and design software, and had founded his own graphic design and screen printing studio (Burlesque of North America).
Once the connection was made with Nick and Wes, it was time to plan out the wall. Following a short talk between the artists and Eric a few creative ideas and key words were exchanged and the artists were given free reign to imagine, design and execute the mural over one weekend. The completed graffiti art piece not only brought some vibrant color and graphics to the space, but was also a way for 3M Design to connect with the local Minneapolis art scene. In the following interview, Nick and Wes talk about their collaboration, approach and sources of inspiration.
What is the inspiration for graffiti art in general and what inspires your work as artists?
Graffiti is traditionally known as an “underground” form of artistic expression, often becoming a visible reflection of emotions or feelings in the community it shows up in. Today, graffiti can be seen in all cities around the globe, straddling an odd line. On one hand, it’s now a recognized and respected art form. On the other, its roots of “paint first, ask questions later” will never be far away. As artists and designers, inspirations come from our everyday life and things like old advertising typography, accidental patterns and shapes found in the urban landscape and nature, comic books, and sharing and building ideas with other creative people in our lives. Graffiti wouldn’t exist without urban environments – it’s often the canvas of the city that you build on. You take inspiration from your surroundings and go from there. Lately you can find the aesthetics of graffiti art becoming more accepted so it’s creeping into interiors as an art form or just to spice up spaces.
Can you tell us more about the collaboration with 3M Design on the mural project and about the challenge you were tasked with?
It all came together very quickly. During the construction of the 3M Design Center a large concrete wall was revealed in the demo, and instead of covering it up, Eric wanted to embrace it and add a mural to their design space. One of the 3M designers was aware of Burlesque of North America and reached out and suggested the creation of a full color mural. Our first meeting with Eric was a short briefing session, maybe 15 minutes, where he gave us a few keywords to work from, but primarily said “Make sure you do something that you’ll be proud of.” We shared some thoughts and explored a few different directions, but then we were left to our own imagination and creativity, along with a box of 3M’s signature blue tape, some plastic sheeting and masking, and an air filtrated space in order to create a safe indoor work environment. We were fortunate enough to be given complete creative freedom with the goal being to paint something vibrant and frenetic with bits and pieces of as many different aesthetics as possible.
When putting together a mural, what is your approach to get started and how important is sketching to guide your creativity?
We like to fit the overall shape and flow of the piece to the location so we start with an outline of the area we are painting to sketch over. At the same time, we start compiling ideas for what content will fill the piece. Depending on the job, that can be anything from a list of words and phrases such as script, block letters with 3D, cartoon or illustrative depictions to source images. Sketching is a very critical part of the process as we need to premeditate how and where each portion of content will fit. Lots of the ideas happen real time, spontaneously in a flow while creating the piece.
The mural in the 3M Design Center is expressive and colorful. How important is the use of color in your work, and specifically when creating a project such as this?
Color is huge, though having discipline to know when not to use color is equally as key as using fewer colors and can often times do more in certain areas, let alone the overall piece. The challenge is to find a fine balance in the composition and also use the uncovered concrete as part of it. For the 3M mural, the project demanded the use of a great deal of color to keep the eye busy, with the goal in mind to create an exciting environment for the designers that would soon occupy the space. With this in mind, we brought the entire Sugar Artist Acrylic spray paint line with us. We’d choose a color scheme for each section as we painted it. As it filled in, our choices became increasingly dictated by the finished areas to create an overall balance in the piece. In addition to color, many collage-type murals incorporate textures, shapes, and typography.
The two of you worked on this project simultaneously, how did the creative collaboration and dynamics work out in a project like this?
The plan from the start was to have as many different aesthetics as possible while the overall composition of the piece is broken down into many small sections. We have found that each of us working simultaneously on different ends of the piece then coming together to overlap our paths, and then discussing what options and opportunities we have to expand upon, is the most effective and efficient model for this type of plan. Once the basic form is there, improvisation is key, similar to live jazz music, the art happens right then and there, on the surface. The flow of the moment is directing the art, creating a true masterpiece in real-time. Having two different people, two different personalities/styles involved helps to create a more versatile look, very much within the theme of 3M Design’s “collaborative creativity”.
Is there any ritual or approach when designing and realizing a mural? What part is planned and what is spontaneously created?
It’s not so much of a ritual as it is a formula or a process of premeditation. To arrive at a final concept, we begin by brainstorming and researching, and ultimately drawing a few thumbnail sketches at a time which consist of different general shapes, ideas, etc. Next we polish the ideas that we feel we can expand upon the most. Then, we sharpen the sketches before discussion with our clients. During the painting process there is always a good amount of spontaneity or ad-libbing, whether it be in regards to pairing certain colors together, or seeing an opportunity within the composition to add in a particular design aesthetic, or piece of imagery or typography.
Were there any 3M products or solutions that played a role in this particular installation?
We use a wide range of 3M products for every project that we take on, from respirators to Blue Painter’s Tape (our personal favorite). In this instance we were given a case of the multiple different types of 3M tapes including the grout, brick, and hard stick surface brands which helped immensely with the raw concrete. Also, the install area was sealed with 3M brand masking and filter materials.
To learn more about the Public Works Division, an offshoot of Burlesque of North America, visit http://ift.tt/2ifENmk.
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Thursday, December 29, 2016
Best of 2016: Editors’ Faves
This might be the hardest task we editors do all year long because we generally really love what we publish! That said, Jaime, Gregory, and I did our best to pull just three of our favorites (some of us, >>JAIME<<, just couldn’t narrow it down!), many of which didn’t make it into the end-of-the-year or top 10 best posts. Take a look back as we revisit them now.
Jaime’s Faves
It was too hard for me to pick just three so here is a mix of stuff I did that I loved doing, and posts I loved:
This 112-Year-Old Company Is Making Enormous Tables for Apple Campus 2 (above)
I appreciated hearing the story behind these massive tables!
Pablo’s UMA Sound Lantern: A Visual Journey
It was such an honor to create this labor of love video for Pablo for their UMA Sound Lantern.
A Lighting Collection With Endless Combinations
I absolutely love the possibilities of this lamp, and I enjoy the Scandinavian-meets-Memphis design.
You Say Dutch, We Say Design!
I had a blast curating IDS Vancouver’s Dutch Exchange—what a talented group of designers. More here.
Design Milk Curates The Milk Stand Popup Shop at ICFF 2016
Meet The Milk Stand 2016
The Milk Stand was such a success this past year and I felt very lucky to be working with so many incredible people.
Favorite interiors:
Work: Masquespacio’s Own Design Studio — dream office
Home: A Weapons Factory in Budapest Becomes a Home — dream home
And here are a few I loved because of their “cool factor”:
Making Weather Adds Atmospheric Atmosphere
Driftscape: Traveling Untethered
Caroline’s Faves
A Renewed Classic Eichler by Klopf Architecture
Eichler homes are housing perfection to me and when someone, like the architects at Klopf, lovingly restore and renovate them it makes my heart even happier.
Audi Connected Mobility Concept Car Hides an Electric Longboard In Its Bumper
This combines my love of Audi cars with my love of skateboarding, so it’s like an answer to all my design fantasies.
The Coolest Modern RVs, Trailers and Campers
I’ve wanted an EarthRoamer for about 10 years and I’m keeping that dream alive until it happens! There’s something about the idea of being able to hop in a vehicle and just driving to any destination knowing you have somewhere comfortable to sleep that night.
Gregory’s Faves
Pablo’s UMA Sound Lantern: A Visual Journey
Biased, since I participated in small part, and the video came out beautifully!
Dusen Dusen Designs Modular, Magnetic Wallcoverings for Visual Magnetics
After interviewing Ellen for the Microsoft Surface post, I’ve become a big fan of the designer and the human being (lovely person).
Design Milk Travels to… Hong Kong
Made me want to return for another visit and representative of our new travel channel.
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FUTURE CRAFT: Japan + Thailand Edition
Worlds collide between California, Japan, and Thailand in the epic convergence that was FUTURE CRAFT Japan + Thailand. This two week field research trip and exhibition brought together students from ArtCenter College of Design in California and Tama Art University in Tokyo, Japan to envision opportunities for design with a social impact on the design community in Northern Thailand.
The purpose of the trip was to think about the intersection of handcraft and digital technology, natural material innovation and traditional Thai craftsmanship. The results of their work was then exhibited at Tama Art University in Tokyo.
The two-week trip allowed students to explore local crafts like weaving, metal, lantern-making, natural fiber & wood craft. The program was driven by new applications of eco-fiber and Lanna craft techniques.
Penny Herscovitch & Dan Gottlieb, Associate Professors, Environmental Design Department at ArtCenter College of Design said of the project:
The Future Craft Thailand studio challenged students to create designs that extend Northern Thai craft traditions to global markets, create value for artisan villages, and innovate with renewable natural materials. The exhibit at Tama Art University Tokyo showcased the Future Craft Thailand furniture, lighting & home goods with a dramatic backdrop of shadow projections of Thai crafts.
Collaboration across cultures is the heart of Future Craft Thailand. Design student teams from ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, CA and Tama Art University in Tokyo co-create together with Lanna craftspeople in Northern Thailand, thanks to our partnership with the Lanna Culture & Crafts Association and support from the Thai Ministry of Industry.
Muang Kung Ties
Lori Nishikawa (ArtCenter, Product Design)
Himawari Takaura (Tama, Ceramics)
Creating value for Muang Kung—a Lanna ceramic village—with a collection of 3D tiles that brings their traditional handcraft to contemporary interiors.
Warmth of Nature by BubuKoko
Busarin Chumnong (ArtCenter, Product Design)
Kou Wenyi Xiang (Tama, Product Design)
The Warmth of Nature project gives new life to water hyacinth−an invasive weed that pollutes Thailand’s waterways−to bring warmth into urban life with modular partitions. A highly invasive species, water hyacinth poses a significant ecological, economic, and biological threat to Thailand and tropical regions around the world. Warmth of Nature’s material innovations reimagine water hyacinth, taking full advantage of its properties to create a line of products including foldable modular partitions, acoustic panels, wall lighting, and tactile floor mats. Warmth of Nature offers the abundant, renewable resource of water hyacinth as a sustainable alternative to hardwood veneers often used for architectural surfaces and fiberglass or foam used for insulation; it supports the Thai economy by bringing value to an invasive species which is currently burned or discarded; and it provides income to Thai villages who can harvest and create products with this weed.
CloseKnit Lounge Seating
Kairi Nishimura (Tama, Product Design)
Michelle Sugeng (ArtCenter, Environmental Design)
Inspired by Lanna bamboo hat making, CloseKnit lounge seating embraces Thai culture’s sense of community. The seat’s wire frame provides a structure for artisans to handcraft natural materials, such as woven bamboo or cushions made from water hyacinth or Thai silk.
Open Hand Lighting
Hinako Kawasaki (Tama, Textile Design)
Anna Meddaugh (ArtCenter, Environmental Design)
Elevating banana fiber craft in Phayao, Thailand with elegant handmade lighting, radiating magical warmth while envisioning a sustainable future livelihood. The design team worked with craftswomen from the village of Baan Pa Fang, to preserve their fiber craft traditions, envision new applications for this renewable local resource, and keep the means of production within the hands of the makers.
Re-Generate
Arisa Nakayama (Tama, Media Arts)
Emily Nyburg (ArtCenter, Environmental Design)
Xiaoyi Xie (ArtCenter, Product Design)
Re-Generate envisions a new brand of products to promote the evolution of Lanna craft for the next generation of makers and buyers. Re-Generate’s lounge and floor seating is made from hand-woven water hyacinth.
Sum Rap Thai
Brittany Lydster (ArtCenter, Product Design)
Baku Shunwen Mo (Tama, Graduate Woodblock Printmaking)
Sum Rap Thai transforms agricultural byproducts into organic, compostable tableware for considered edible experiences, inspired by Thai foodways. This project aims to positively affect environmental systems, re-imagining new applications for Thai water hyacinth and bio-plastic; providing compostable ship-flat alternatives to disposable tableware; as well as supporting Thai artisans communities.
Woven Stories
Mathew Simon (ArtCenter, Product Design)
Ayuri Tsunoda (Tama, Product Design)
Weaving the storied traditions of Chiang Mai’s rich textile culture into playful and contemporary flatpack furniture. A digitally milled plywood frame provides structure for Northern Thai artisans to hand-weave cord into suspension for the seat, and to create unique color and textile cushion patterns.
The program faculty were Penny Herschovitch & Dan Gottlieb – Environmental Design (Art Center), Charles Tsunashima and Hayakawa Kazuhiko (Tama Art University in Tokyo).
Students included:
Busarin Chumnong – Product Design
Rae Chye – Environmental Design
Hae Jun Eum – Environmental Design
Brittany Lydster – Product Design
Anna Meddaugh – Environmental Design
Emily Nyburg – Environmental Design
Mathew Simon – Product Design
Michelle Sugeng – Environmental Design
Xiaoyi Xie – Product Design
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