Everything good in design this week:
Love is sharing your juice
Where’s the closest power outlet? Is my first thought when I enter a room. Pathetic, I know. But when you have a shitty smartphone battery there’s just no other way to live. If the creators of The Juicer meet their Indigogo goal, pretty soon my first thought will be: Can I plug into you? Here’s how this cool gadget works: a dual sided charging device allows you to transfer battery power from one Android to another. The only downside is the device doesn’t work on between iPhones, only between Androids, and iPhone and Android. But the creators say future versions of The Juicer will continue to test prototypes on future models of the iPhone.
Ikea <3 you
An Ikea outing isn’t the most pleasant of experiences. It’s draining, emotional, stressful, etc. etc. So Ikea is attempting to ease your troubles by developing their very own emojis to better communicate with your partner how you’re feeling about Ikea-related issues. Now you can text a meatball, a toilet, or a huggable heart pillow to your loved one who’s probably at the other end of the mega furniture warehouse trying to escape. And if that’s the case, I’d send the crying face. Yes, Ikea created their own crying face because Ikea tears are in their own category.
A customized trip
If you’ve ever had an inkling to be a fashion designer but never had the actual talent, and/or backing, Knyttan, is giving you the chance to take a swing at it. The London-based fashion company founded by Ben Alun-Jones, Kirsty Emery and Hal Watts in 2013, allows consumers to customize their own sweater or scarf on their web app. “You can move around to your favorite part of the image, you can zoom in to a piece of detail that you really like and you can say,” Alun-Jones instructs in this video. “This creates a completely different piece almost every single time.” It’s quite trippy.
Till death do us part
Since we’re on the topic of cool attire, New York Fashion Week wrapped up this week, and one of the most stunning, and never a letdown, to-be-quite-honest, was the presentation by Thom Browne. The American fashion designer never exhibits simply for the clothes, but also creates a different world as if entering a theater performance. His set designs are always stellar and emotionally complex. His ready-to-wear Fall 2015 season was inspired by the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art’s fashion exhibit “Death Becomes Her,” which featured mourning clothes from the 19th century. The main garments are all in deathly black while the backdrop had a slew of models all in white, from head-to-toe.
The money Pitt
“Welcome to my Brad Pitt home” has a nice a ring to it, doesn’t it? Make It Right, a foundation created by Brad Pitt in 2007 which builds affordable and sustainable housing, released a new series of single-family homes. The designs are by architects in Kansas City, Missouri, and will be built locally. Make It Right’s mission is to use local talent to design and build these homes, which, by the way, are also eco-friendly.
Yoda 2.0
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Here to save the day, Yoda is! Herh herh herh. Of the new interactive robotic Yoda toy, check out a sneak peak. This message has been brought you by Yoda speak, if you weren’t aware. In other words, a teaser for the robotic interactive Yoda toy was released!
Head of the class
Walking around New York City can be a quite a maze of chaoticness, and starting this spring it’ll be even weirder, in a cool way of course. The NYC Parks Department announced that starting in May (through July) the “Head of Goliath” will be installed at Tribeca Park. The massive public art sculpture, six-foot-long, to be exact, constructed from wood, fiberglass, and recycled materials, by artist Nicolas Holiber, refers to the biblical tale of David and Goliath. And it has a hanging tongue, too.
