Everyday Objects with Jonathan Callan

In this installation at Pittsburgh's Mattress Factory, Jonathan Callan uses books to replicate, what at first glance, looks like a cross-section of a felled tree. Viewers find Callan has erected his entire installation out of coverless books that are drilled together to create an organic structure which beings to approach a painting or drawing. There's talk of how the work encourages viewers to consider how we now address traditional modes of relaying knowledge such as through the use of textbooks, encyclopedias and atlases but I can't help think about the way he's taken the book off its pedestal and has us focus on its essential materiality. He moves us away from the cerebral to the sensual, from spirit to soul. He is literally shaping the way we define, use, and think about everyday objects. Tasty stuff.

Several Circles

"the most modest form, but asserts itself unconditionally...simultaneously stable and unstable...loud and soft...a single tension that carries countless tensions within it.” -Vasily Kandinsky, on the circle

Inforgraphics Resource

Good Magazine Fantastic resource for inspiration and information (visualization).

Service Design and End of Life Care

Given the fact that none of us wants to die alone, in pain, or be forced to accept whatever we can get, combined with the potential for healthcare reform to aid in new ways of thinking and delivering services, the topic of "end of life" care is both a critical and challenging project for designers who are committed to improving quality of life and the health of our society. This article, Forget the Euthanasia Talk -- End-of-Life Care is Needed, by Rafael Sciullo, president and CEO of Family Hospice and Palliative Care, which serves 11 counties in Western Pennsylvania, had me pausing to ask myself, "as a designer who is committed to clearing pathways and enabling access to resources, what can and am I doing to develop services that address this need?" In an age where business is focused on the next big thing, generically and eloquently termed "innovation", who says there isn't ample opportunity to address an essential social issue such as the end of our lives? On a cooler, more cerebral level, designers who are prone to finding the most difficult problem or tangle of concerns to tease apart, why wouldn't we take on this challenge of dealing with the delicate taboo of dying? Everyone goes through it. The stress and logistics of preparing for and moving through the process is enormous. By and large we have nothing in place to help us offset the concerns and help us make informed decisions. It is one of the ultimate problems to solve--a combination of emotional, economic, and logistical needs between an individual and all the people that surround and care for them. Why are we racing to to make a better dog food bag when the simple act of dying is so desperately in need of help? More importantly, what am I going to do about it?

How to write a design brief

Not sure anyone will find this helpful but this article was written by Peter L. Philips and submitted to the Design Council UK. Could be helpful if you're getting out of the gate.

Who doesn't love Man Ray?

Another example of Tejo Remy

After the rag chair, I sniffed a little further to find another piece by Tejo Remy. This time part of NYC's "Reclaiming Design" project from 2007. What I love about this is as much the playfulness as the provocation about fencing ourselves in or out. The tri-fecta of function, critique and pleasure.

Rag Chair by Tejo Remy

This chair is layered from the contents of 15 bags of rags. It arrives ready made but the user has the option to recycle its own discarded clothes to be included in the design. Found this on Droog's Site and it made me very happy. Now the question becomes, why?

Design Trust for Public Space

Design Trust projects bring together neighborhoods, public agencies, and design professionals to find innovative opportunities for change, making the city more beautiful, sustainable, functional, and available to all. Since their founding in 1995, the Design Trust has completed over 25 projects in all five boroughs, serving and engaging a diverse set of communities.

Their mission is committed to improving the design, utility, and understanding of New York City's parks, plazas, streets, and public buildings. They bring together neighborhoods, public agencies, and design professionals to find innovative opportunities for change, making the city more beautiful, sustainable, functional, and available to all.

The Design Trust is the only public space organization that gives city agencies and community groups the means to work collaboratively with private sector design and other professionals. They select projects from across the five boroughs and assemble top-notch cross-disciplinary teams to bring innovation to urban space challenges. These public/private partnerships generate powerful and unexpected working relationships, creating remarkable solutions to complicated public space issues.

Submit or Commit

Sometimes I wonder if you can have one without the other but recognize although they are similar they are two very different things. It seems that committing is about the bond or pledge that is made between things whereas the focus of submitting is in the giving over to something else--the releasing of one's sole authority.