Waiter, There's a High Definition Interactive Menu In My Soup
Blacksheep’s Inamo Pan Asian Restaurant in London’s Soho. Interactive menus and designs projected down onto the tables. A nice hook complemented with a beautiful space and environmental graphics. See all the photos and more about the designers at Yatzer and Blacksheep.
Kenspeckle Letterpress _ Duluth, MN
We went up to Duluth, the Paris of the North, and stood in line for 3 hours to see a big boat. Then we cruised the lakeshore and went to dinner and God bless restaurants who hand out those little blinky coaster buzzers because we would have never bummed around the neighboring shops and would have never seen the window display for Kenspeckle Letterpress, the place I’d been trying to track down after seeing a documentary on the publishing of The First Chinook on Duluth’s PBS Eight.
And there it was. And here it is. So-hooo buying the book.
015 Architecture
Our readers in the SF Bay Area should not feel left out of the architectural restyle movement. Check out the fantastic work being done by Terry and Terry . The Diamond Project in San Francisco (pictured) is particularly wonderful. The website needs a little love to match the beautiful work it showcases but be patient and roll back over the menu bar to see more pictures of each project. Well worth the effort to see the terrific designs. Ivan and Alexander, if you’re read this, your work is lovely but deserves an improved online presentation. Drop me a line and I’ll hook you up.
And to my brother Jeff: Check it out bro, their office is just up on Euclid. I’m not saying you should roll over there and show them pictures of your house but I think you should roll over there and show them pictures of your house. Wink.
014 Architecture
I realize not everyone lives in the Twin Cities so if you happen to live in Seattle take a look at Pb Elemental Architecture They have some really beautiful designs that have been built into regular neighborhoods. I’m in love with them all actually but check out the way they’ve used a striking combination of black, white and wood as the color palette for the 12th and John Residence I also love that they can claim to have designed that Dang residence
Jiyeon Song's One Day Poem Pavilion
When I heard the rumor that the city was planning to plop a 35W bridge memorial on the only wiffle ball whappin, frisbee whippin patch of grass in the warehouse district, I got a little irked. I felt irksome. Full of irk. Until I came across Jiyeon Song’s One Day Poem Pavilion. Aside from being a bitchin’ fantastic idea that could be placed in any context, the concept fits perfectly with memorial, as the whole point of the installation is that it would depend not on the remembrance of the event but a literal returning to the time of the event for people to fully understand it. Whoa. Heavy stuff.
Anyhoo, if the rumor is true, it would be nice to get this idea in front of the committee. And thanks once again to Yatzer for the post that begat this post.
013 Architecture
I recently met Michael and Chris of RoehrSchmitt Architecture and the guys behind these two interesting additions to my hood in Saint Paul. One of the cool things about these two is they understand good design the way we designers do and don’t make you feel like the process is a mysterious and proprietary deal you aren’t even supposed to be part of like some famous architects who shall remain nameless but might rhyme with Bank Void Height. Another cool thing is they happily design homes for those of us who live in small houses, in the Avenues, with neighbors and everything instead of on estates with epic oceans views like all the houses in those books I own :)
My advice is to stop whatever you’re doing and have your house redesigned. Sounds outrageous but each day you wait is a day you’ll kick yourself for later.
Heard of the Slow Food Movement? Well this is sort of like that but is a growing collective that believes the places we call home should restore us, uplift and renew our spirits and seek harmony with the environment and our neighbors. Check out Slow Home for both philosophy and examples of the goals put into practice. As designers we know the space we work in impacts our creativity, our productivity, etc. Hopefully this movement will help turn the development and construction industries from the disastrous path they are on. You can help by signing the declaration and learning more about how to design space that helps you design.