Keep it ASS: Abstract, Simple and Subtle

Making good use of anthropomorphism isn’t easy. As you’ve probably already noticed, people may dislike products purely because of their anthropomorphic elements. One way to reduce this risk is to downplay the anthropomorphic qualities: keep it as simple, subtle and abstract as possible. When the implementation is so subtle that most people won’t consciously notice it, they are less likely to be annoyed, while the product can still achieve the desired effect. Abstraction reduces the chance of directly evoking negative emotions, while preserving the positive associations.
The Senseo coffee maker, above, was designed to resemble a butler bowing down to serve a hot cup of java. The anthropomorphic form is not obvious, but it still succeeds in evoking the pleasant sensation of being served.

From the 11 part series The Golden Rules of Anthropomorphism and Product Design by Next Nature. The series is examining how designers can better integrate human-like forms or behavior into their work.

Critical Dictionary

Critical Dictionary declassifies selected terms in a playful manner to emphasise the open-ended, provisional and unfinished nature of language. The exhibition brings together an eclectic plethora of themes including: Flickr Sunset, Greenwich Meridian, Mycelium, Overt Research, Pencil Test and War Primer. The exhibition is inspired by Georges Bataille’s infamous anti-dictionary for the dissident Surrealist journal Documents. It explores and expands the previous incarnations of Evans’ Critical Dictionary project, which was first developed as the online art journal criticaldictionary.com and later published as an anthology by the same name by Black Dog Publishing.

Critical Dictionary is curated by David Evans and features work by David Bate, Rut Blees Luxemburg, Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin, Simon Cunningham, Paola Di Bello, Tim Edgar, Christian Edwardes, Simon Faithfull, Dave Hazel, Justin Hibbs, Karen Knorr, Laibach, Ann Lee, Jo Longhurst, Tom Lovelace, of Experiments, Richard Paul, Poor Photographer, Chloé Regan, Sophy Rickett, Dominic Shepherd, Penelope Umbrico and Jake Walters.

Critical Dictionary, WORK Gallery, January 27 – February 25, 2012, 10A Acton Street, London, WC1X 9NG

2012dragon

Dragon head made by the Makedo‘s master maker Tanaka Satoshi

Soe Ker Tie House

This is quite old project by Tyin Architects, but worth checking it again!

Karen Suzuki

One-off + limited edition textile animals made from pieces of new and recycled fabrics, by artist Karen Suzuki

via lustik

Fruit lamp

Porcelain and oak lighting object from the series Tafelstukken, by Daphna Laurens.

Photographer Mike Roelofs

Plz also check Daphna’s graduation project Schenkkraan

toys in action

This inventive toy figurine demonstration has been set by a group of activists in the Siberian city of Barnaul. The toys, fully equipped with placards stating I’m for clean elections” and “A thief should sit in jail, not in the Kremlin” are enduring the snow after authorities repeatedly rejected the activists’ (the real ones not the plastic) request to hold a sanctioned demonstration of the kind held in Moscow to protest disputed parliamentary elections results and Vladimir Putin’s expected return to the presidency in a March vote.

The group wanted to hyperbolise the attempt of the authorities to limit citizens’ rights and the “absurdity and farce of officials’ struggle with their own people” and indeed they managed: The Police asked prosecutors to investigate the legality of protest !!Wall-E , plastic teddy bears, South Park characters and Lego men are all in deep deep trouble!

Passersby admired the display with giggles, but police took it more seriously, examining its details and writing down each placard.

Photograph: Sergey Teplyakov/vkontakte

Via the Guardian

Female Trouble

Three topless protesters members of Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN were detained Saturday while trying to break into The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, an invitation-only gathering of international CEOs and political leaders, to call attention to the needs of the world’s poor.
With temperatures around freezing, they took off their tops and tried to climb a fence before being detained.
More info here. Original post (in Russian) with more pics and videos in FEMEN livejournal. (Check translated version here)
Check previous FEMEN protest in Chernobyl here.
Via Nerdcore.

Artificial left arm, Europe, 1850-1910

This unusual -steel and brass- prosthetic arm made in Europe, articulates in a number of ways:

Jam Jar Shelf

 

A collection of glass jam jars screwed under a shelf creating a storage, created for Perimeter Art and Design Galerie, Paris  by designer Peter Marigold

Prv. post on designer here +there

via unconsumption

could eat a horse

Spaghetti measuring tool designed by by Stefán Pétur Sólveigarson. Small, adult and family portion. Order here.

Taverna

The creation of an open air bar with a terrace in Milan, made of found waste materials and old furniture from the neighborhood, by Foundation collective (designers Rikkert Paauw and Jet van Zwieten), for the Public Design Festival 2011.

During the festival the kiosk offered fresh soup, bread and drinks in order to create a meeting place and afterwards the collective sold and gave away the furniture and the bar to the people from the neighborhood. Scroll down for photos of the Taverna*  in use and dtls

Being important!

During studies we had a joke how designing toilets was the most important part of architectural project.

Amager Strandpark Bunkers by Hasløv & Kjærsgaard Arkitektfirma, Denmark, 2005

Aurland Look Out by Todd Saunders & Tommie Wilhelmsen, Norway, 2006

untitled

Sequence of pictures by Ellie Davies.
Via Houhouhaha.

B2 House

This is a beutifull single house in Canakkale in Turkey, beutifull becuase it fits perfectly the landscape without trying to imitate past vernacular forms. The main structure of the house is concrete and the other constructive walls are hand crafted stone.The window framing and aluminum shutters are made of  low maintenance aluminium and  filled with hand crafted reed, enabling natural ventilation and creating great shadow patterns in the interior.

Architect: Mimarlar Tasarim LTD – Istanbul

Via East-CentricArch

Gruta das Torres Visitor Centrer

Architects:  Ines Vieira da Silva & Miguel Vieira (SAMI Arquitectos)

Location:  Criação Velha, Pico Island, Azores, Portugal

The Gruta das Torres, which is a volcanic cave located on Pico Island in the Azores, was classified as a Regional Natural Monument in 2004.

With the decision to open it to the public it became necessary to construct a building to support visitors, but one which would also protect the skylight of the entrance to the cave. The architectural project sought to simultaneously achieve both aims by means of an undulating stone wall which transformed into an intricate lacework at the point of contact with the building. This provides an entrance of light which is both filtered and continuous, permitting the uniform illumination of the interior and avoiding the necessity for other openings.

With the exception of this wall the building is coated with an impermeable black finish in order to complement the colour and texture of the vitrified lava within the cave.

In the presence of so strong a landscape our aim was to integrate the building, notwithstanding its contemporary design, within the scale, nature and context of its surroundings. (text via SAMI)