the personal map highlights the countries you’ve been to in red. i subtracted everything but the red places and found myself facing these three continents (above). it reminds me of the first map showing the ‘new world,’ this ptolemaic projection from 1511 (below). socratic definition of wisdom: the only thing i know, is that i […]
Author Archives: leo
ivory bazaar
at the staid but prestigious CHI conference engineers psychologists and human factors specialists get to discuss the future of computer human interface through peer-reviewed pseudo-academic papers and panels. but a lot of contributions to the field are somewhat hard to place, and for this reason, since 2005 they have included an ‘alternative’ conference within the […]
Posted in blogogracy
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cuff-webs
tsitsi gora and ryan murphy made this ‘political prosthetic’ in futurecraft – a giant chinese finger trap made to transform handshakes into a touching experience. the elegant extension of shirtsleeves into this grasping cuff helps to make the perfunctory gesture mean something, for real.
Posted in fashion, futurecraft, materials, product design, soft/glowing
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consumers and the machine
alex rosenberg makes blown glass objects the old-fashioned way, and he made a video comparing his slow, hand-crafted process to industrial mass-production. whereas his objects are hand-crafted and locally made, retailers sell cheap, machine-made glassware at a fraction of the cost of real blown glass. the machines are faster, but not necessarily better. blow-molding leaves […]
Posted in conviviality, customization, fabrication, futurecraft, marketing, materials, open objects, possessed products, product design
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free wheels
the whirlwind project is designing and freely licensing an open-source wheelchair design that was designed by and can be manufactured locally by individuals in wheelchairs. the chair has significant advantages over traditional models, most notably because it can be used to go up and down stairs, can handle rough terrain and allows a parent to […]
Posted in conviviality, customization, fabrication, futurecraft, human2.0, open objects, product design
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future shop
etsy is a revolutionary on-line store where individual makers can sell their goods. unlike existing shopping portals etsy relies on novel means of promoting individual sellers and motivating a social network. for example, there is a ‘buy local’ button that shows you only designers within your neighborhood, a ‘time machine’ that reveals what is being […]
Posted in blogogracy, conviviality, customization, fabrication, futurecraft, marketing, open objects, product design, visualization
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3D sharing
we have flickr for sharing pictures and youtube for sharing videos, but how can we share three-dimensional work on-line? aerospace pioneer dassault has released a beta website that combines a free 3D modeling software with a social platform to upload and download free 3d models and a browser plug-in that allows you to browse the […]
Posted in 3d, blogogracy, futurecraft, marketing, product design, visualization
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high-wire sculpture
whereas alexander calder‘s stoic mobiles and stabiles are fit for office lobbies and college campuses, his toys are where the sculptor expressed his whimsy and his magic. today on the top floor of the whitney museum you can find calder’s circus, a groups of tiny wire figurines the artist carried with him in suitcases from […]
Posted in art, fabrication, livingbreathing
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