A few items of distraction.
Alt Worlds
Geo-located sound-walks bring a sense of place. Manchester has a similar experience for its mural art.
Artist Simon Laveuve’s micro-worlds “appear to emerge from a post-apocalyptic universe as eerie safe-havens.”
A machine uses CCTV cameras to observe the world remotely and will turn its understanding of the world into a horror film for other machines to watch.
Report on the Internet of Bodies examines an emerging collection of human body–centric and internet-connected technologies.
Re-Wilding
These re-wilding stories keep cropping up my feed. This one is about the re-wetting of peat-land so future crops can be grown as the climate changes.
Meanwhile the Natural History Museum in London will ‘rewild’ its gardens.
Re-winds: Backyard windpower.
Terrariums are sprouting in unused ticket-windows at London Underground Stations
Rethinking Home
Design student Jaeeun Kim looks at how a car could morph into a living space when it’s not employed as a vehicle.
I just want to step through the work of artist Heike Weber.
Design studio provides IKEA-hacker manual to create a safe home for folks with dementia
Socially-distant seating is “inspired by mirages”
Reframing Africa
African art-space conceived by design leader David Adjaye seeks to reframe looted art previously found in European museums.
“Destination wonder: a journey through Ghana’s feelgood fashion world”
A new virtual exhibition seeks to show how the design world is influenced by African and Indigenous aesthetics.
Dreaming About Shopping
Art student Haim Jung rethinks the Moleskine flagship-store with inspiration from medieval European monasteries, “where monks transcribed the Bible to cultivate their mind.” The monastery concept store is filled with experiences for “Korean millennials, who need time to reflect on themselves in their hectic lives.”
Magnificent in its solemnness, I wonder if Tom Browne’s stark flagship in Toronto was designed to be closed for lockdown.
Long Read - the storied history of ABC Carpets in NYT: “The New York Store Where Furniture Is Theater”
Never Went Away
Fred Wilson says that Bitcoin is the gateway drug to bring people into crypto: “Start, but not end, with Bitcoin.”
Hit show in China is a talent-contest (again) - but this one only has virtual contestants.
Remember Vertu luxury phone that couldn’t compete with the iPhone? It’s back and it’s now focused on mega-security.
And you thought Roblox and Minecraft was a weird retro trend… are you ready for the return of Pokemon cards?
One of those, why didn’t they think about that before: Car brand patents illuminated seatbelt Receivers
Return to basic code - Tixy.land is “the most minimalist creative coding environment”
Borrow From The Past
Sleevenote music player - a cross-pollination of a vinyl record and an iPod
Quartz investigates how cool came to be. (Yes, it’s a Jazz thing)
Off-beat orchestra plans to play the internet. Yes, it will lag.
Going back to a rules-free time: Gucci uses 80s office party imagery for its holiday campaign.
NYT: Will the retro-chic of the Queens Gambit halt loungewear?
ProPublica plans to use plain language in its reporting.
Blow-Up
After the Bird IPO, could be see more inflatable scooters??
Helmet design is going bonkers.
Vibration art by Kenichi Kanazawa
Food For Thought
Better-diet initiatives pushes vegan lifestyle in city bodegas.
SMS against Food Scarcity: I had a catch up with Mick Ebeling the other day and he told me about this text-to-eat initiative he’s been involved with.
Culture Shock
Neon-overthrow Tate Britain’s Diwali celebration (Unrelated but… neon backgrounds to download for your phone)]
I once sat next to the Marina Abramović at a dinner in Vancouver . In her brooding Serbian accent, she spent the evening telling wonderfully dirty jokes. Totally unrelated: this piece in INT looks at the artist’s process that might explain why her dark and morbid themes attract such a large audience: “I will go deep inside myself, and the deeper I go the more universal it becomes.”
Fashion = Collaboration
Armani teams with Hypebeast to launch “Transparent and Traceable” collection
Emerging fashion brand gives away its secrets so other brands can create sustainable clothing.
LL Bean works with Todd Snyder to reinterpret ‘outdoor classics’
Could the Naomi Osaka x Nike collab create the 21st century Jordan brand?
Rapid Immersion
Smarties - a series of bite-size tutorials that nimbly address such subjects as consent, cultural appropriation and gender expression.
New real estate project in France embraces inter-generational living.
Fast Food
Infinite Kitchen is a robo-kitchen which can mass personalize salad lunches.
No longer for neighborhood restaurants, major food service brands are getting into ghost kitchens, including Red Lobster.
Cocktails with 3D printed designs
TacoBell opens oceanview concept with surfboard rack.
Experience Re-Designed
New: The Bob Ross Experience - an interactive Joy of Painting experience with classes and workshops held in the artists Bob’s former studio. A NYT review.
Yoga classes based on feelings
Semi-truck is a 2 lane bowling alley
The Wonder Cave is a digital escape-room with narrative and a “virtual experience like no other”
What I printed for my kids recently
Why the British Tabloid press can’t stop a hero like Marcus Rashford
Lewis Hamilton: Challenger, champion, change-maker
‘Call of Duty’ voice actors spent the summer on video calls like the rest of us
Could Listening to the Deep Sea Help Save It?
Photo-essay on the ancient traditions of beekeeping in turkey
Why Decarbonize The Environment?
By the time I finish these I wish I wrote them more often. One day.