Ours is the plugged-in generation, loaded up with devices that demand a steady flow of energy at home, at work, and on the go. We have spawned an era of energy dependence - and there's no indication that we can stop.

The science advocacy group, Union of Concerned Scientists, warns, "Power generation is a leading cause of air pollution and the single largest source of U.S. global warming emissions." Our unquenchable need for power has measurably deleterious effects on the environment.

According to InsideEnergy.com, our monthly consumption is equivalent to "the amount of energy it would take to launch a Volkswagen Beetle into orbit next to the International Space Station." Each person in the United States, that is, uses enough energy every month to power space flight. While a significant percentage of that energy consumption goes toward heating, cooling, and lighting our homes (around 42%), we increasingly use power for recreational utilities, like powering phones, computers, and tablets - and as the number and scale of personal devices grow, so does energy consumption. The Energy Information Administration estimates that energy consumption will increase by another 56% between 2010 and 2040.

Consumers have an increasing number of options for mitigating their own energy usage, but most citizens cannot significantly alter their homes to replace coal or gas power with wind, solar, or geothermal sources. Even homeowners who have access to alternative sources might find that their homes are not easily convertible for any number of reasons. So while upwards of 13% of energy is now generated by renewable sources, there are still limitations to availability.

Aaron Latzke and David Delcourt of SIVA would like to change that by empowering consumers to harness the most accessible energy source we have available to us: our own bodies. We may be energy consumers, but we are also energy generators. With every step we take, every pedal of a bicycle or walk around the block with the family pet, we can convert our energy for practical use in our homes.

The Siva Atom charges as the user petals

The Power of the Atom

For both Delcourt and Latzke, devotion to social impact started at home. They both cite their fathers and grandfathers as role models who tirelessly volunteered and dedicated themselves to social causes. The spirit of social impact passed on through generations informs their dedication to their work, and inspired them to create the Siva Atom.

Aaron Latzke (left) and David Delcourt (right)

The Siva Atom is a portable USB energy generator. In its first iteration, designed for the bicycle, the Atom generates energy as cyclists pedal - enough energy to recharge personal electronic devices.

Portable, economical, beautiful, and easy to install and use, the Atom was conceived by Latzke and Delcourt in 2011 as an answer to the clean energy conundrum. The Atom's design makes it resource-neutral, drawing on minimal natural resources to manufacture and operate.

The Siva Atom being used to charge a phone

"Developing effective clean energy solutions is a complicated problem. Where we stand now is clean energy has the opportunity to be renewable, not a one and done solution that has significant leftover. Additionally, Lithium-ion is actually one of the most recyclable batteries we have currently available. We pay attention to what type of plastics we use, making sure they're recyclable and are easy to break down, for example," Latzke explains.

Awareness influences consumers to make better choices, but design provides the tools to turn that awareness into action. Perhaps most importantly, Atom users do not have to invest in complicated infrastructure or alter their lifestyles to accommodate their desire for responsibility. "From a design standpoint, it falls upon us to design a better product so that the consumer doesn't have to choose between utility and convenience," says Aaron.

A Siva Atom user takes a break from riding to charge his phone

The Right Tools to Drive Change

The Cleantech Open U.S. Accelerator, co-sponsored by Autodesk, first introduced the Siva founders to the Autodesk team. Since then, Autodesk has offered continual support to help the company grow and reach new consumers through the Autodesk Entrepreneur Impact Program.

For Delcourt, Siva's business head, that support comes in by way of communicating with project partners through Fusion 360's detailed modeling tool. Delcourt explains, "The business aspect of what Fusion 360 does is allow us to visualize the product for stakeholders, which empowers us to effectively sell our message and show them where you're going without having a finished product. That piece is incredibly important for partners and investors. It's important for us to be able to tell the best story possible."

The full Siva Atom product - made possible by Fusion360

For Latzke, the beauty is in Fusion 360's design and engineering capabilities. "The ability to quickly 3D print or quickly prototype, get some type of physical representation of what you're modeling in the computer, get a kind of a verification point in reality, that really speeds up your train of thought," he says.

For a company of any size, economies are a driving consideration, but for start-ups in particular, they are absolutely crucial. For a start-up that wants to stay lean, Fusion 360 allows them to be economical without sacrificing quality."Fusion 360's subscription model is the only one that's actually obtainable for a small start-up like ours," Latzke says.

Next Generation Energy Change

Siva Atom is only the beginning. The next generation Siva product is a portable energy generator that can be used by anyone, anywhere—not tethered to the bicycle.

"We're moving more towards just general portable power in general and this idea of how to more easily integrate this flexible clean power into your daily life," Latzke explains.

Designed with Fusion 360, the soon-to-be-launched device, which they are currently calling "PowerBlocks", is a clean energy kit, like a "microgrid" in a box, which allows for the storage, generation, and use of power on the move. Functionality will include cordless charging and easy power output.

Digital rendering of "PowerBlocks" in Fusion360

In a parallel challenge, the developing world is ever in need of greater access to energy to refrigerate food and medicine, to light classrooms and roads, and to provide power to hospitals. Subjected to frequent power outages due to natural disasters, as a by-product of war or simply because the infrastructure does not exist, these communities desperately need consistent sources of power. Siva is working with partners in Kenya to develop portable energy generators that can provide power on a greater scale to these communities, powering their most basic needs.

For young innovators, Delcourt proposes considering both the obstacles and the opportunities. "Look at what you're doing and make sure it makes sense for you where you are right now. Pursue your values but make sure you understand what's at stake," he says.

For Latzke, the designer, the truth is in the product. "It's really all about the story. With a good story and an honest vision, people are going to care."

Offices and bedrooms in many homes and workplaces don't usually have enough convenient outlets. And if users are using expensive electronics in areas with power that's not always reliable, they may also feel the need for a surge protector rather than a simple power cord. I tend to think of power cords and surge protectors as pretty mundane, but I've found many—beyond just the Quirky Pivot Power which we've written about before—with interesting features.

The STACK surge protector from OneAdaptr allows the end user to configure the strip to have the number and type of outlets needed. The smallest unit has four basic AC outlets—three in a single piece and one more which fits at the end of the strip. In between, additional modules can be added—more AC outlets, a dual USB charging module, etc. The on/off switch is the first block next to the cord. I'm wondering if my 18-pound cat could easily turn that off if he happened to walk on it.

Each type of module has a different color—gray for the basic unit, red for AC extension modules, etc. The cord is one meter (3.28 feet) long, which will be a bit short for some spaces. And the surge protection is only 525 joules, so it won't last as long as others with higher rating.

The Tripp Lite TLP1008TEL is as boring looking as the STACK is cool, but it has a number of thoughtful features. One key feature for those seriously concerned about surge protection: "Automatic shutoff cuts power to outlets when the protection circuit has been compromised." Some other surge protectors just indicate when they are no longer providing protection via light indicators and continue to serve as power cords. But a large number of end users will probably never look at those lights and may think they have protection when they don't. And some surge protectors don't even have those indicator lights.

The TLP1008TEL has an 8-foot cord; some end users will appreciate that, some will be annoyed with the longish cord, and some will want the cord to be even longer (no design decision here will please everyone). The cord has a right-angle plug, so it can fit in places that some other cords can't. Four of the outlets are spaced to accommodate transformers, which will be enough for most end users. There are four keyhole mounting slots on the back, so it can be wall-mounted if the end user so desires. And it has a 2395 joule surge suppression rating. 

Like the Tripp Lite surge protector, the Accell Powramid also "stops conducting power once the absorption has reached capacity." It's somewhat less robust than the Tripp Lite item, with a surge suppression rating of 1080 joules and a four-foot cord. It has rubber feet to protect furniture from getting scratched, since this is a unit that often sits on a desk or nightstand rather than the floor.

But with the Powramid, all six outlets can accommodate adapters. The button on the top is the on/off switch, which wasn't obvious to at least one purchaser. If this were to be used in a bedroom, end users who want a totally dark room would be annoyed by the power button's light.

The Kensington SmartSockets adapters provide different amounts of surge protection, but they all use the color-coded rings and matching cord labels. End users who have fretted about whether or not they were unplugging the right item will appreciate this.

The Socket Sense surge protector from Ideative expands as needed to accommodate adapters, but doesn't take up unnecessary space if there aren't many adapters to worry about.

The Smart Strips from BITS Limited will appeal to energy-conscious end users. Something like a computer or a TV gets plugged into the blue control outlet; when that item is shut down, all the items in the green power-saver outlets get "electronically unplugged," automatically. For example, I don't need my scanner or my external monitor to be plugged in (and drawing power) when my laptop is off. The red always-on outlets work for things like DVRs, routers and fax machines (which, yes, some businesses still use) that the end user does want to keep powered up. 

There's some debate among purchasers as to just how much electricity this surge protector actually saves, though. Furthermore, the end user needs to use the sensitivity adjustment dial to get things working right, which some will find annoying. And, of course, the end user could just follow Gina Trapani's suggestion and plug all always-on items into one power strip (or surge protector) and the other items into another, which then gets turned off along with the computer. But using the Smart Strip means one less step, and sometimes that's what matters.

Another power-saving design is the Isolé IDP-3050 power strip from Legrand. This one works in conjunction with an occupancy sensor that controls eight of the ten outlets. The motion detector can be set for times ranging from 30 seconds to 30 minutes, which seems like a good range. However, using the Isolé involves some set-up to get the sensor positioned correctly; that will deter some end users from ever installing it. And, of course, those of us using this in a home with pets may find things don't power down as often as we might expect. 

The PowerPod from Coalesse, designed by Scott Wilson of Minimal, is an odd item. A desktop organizer sits on top of the power "strip," hiding it when it's not in use. I'm trying to think of an end user who would want to hide the PowerPod base under an organizer that just needs to get removed when PowerPod is used for charging—I can't think of anyone. But it does look like an attractive item for those who want their power outlets on the desktop rather than hidden away on the floor or elsewhere. 

End users who have power strips or surge protectors that are perfectly fine except for not having proper spacing for those big bulky adapters can address their problems with the Power Liberators from Ziotek. Sometimes a simple design can be a real problem solver.

Here's an interesting take on protective eyewear: New-Zealand-based, Kiwi Ideas Company, has developed Safe Eyes, a pair of safety goggles that don't have any lenses. Instead, your peepers are protected by a stainless steel mesh, in either fine (0.35mm) or standard (0.7mm) perforations.

These might not keep you from blinking fine sawdust out of your eyes and will make your vision a bit grainier, but they're guaranteed not to fog, and will prevent your retina from being pierced by an itinerant splinter, chip or metal shaving. The company reckons the trade-off will be acceptable for folks involved in the following industries and activities:

* Arboriculture
* Building
* Chainsaw use
* Concrete cutting
* Construction
* Drill press work
* Fencing
* Horse harness racing
* Jewellery manufacturing
* Logging Masonry
* Metalwork
* Mining
* Overhead drilling
* Plastics cutting, grinding and shaping
* Portable sawmilling
* Quad biking
* Rural firefighting
* Silviculture - pruning and thinning
* Timber mills
* Vineyards
* Fire brigades
* General home use
* Hedge trimming
* Lawn mowing
* Paint scrapping
* Water blasting
* Weed eating / line trimming

I don't know if these are for me, but I like the outside-of-the-box thinking. They're for sale on Amazon for about $25 a pop.

Via DIWT

"I've lived in creative spaces my entire life," says Eric Quint, 3M's Chief Design Officer. And when it comes to workspaces, he says, "Scientists need laboratories; administrators need offices; designers need creative spaces." To that end, Quint has endeavored to provide the company's designers with the very best creative space 3M's considerable resources could provide.

The recently-completed 3M Design Center in St. Paul, Minnesota is a sprawling, 38,000-square-foot multilevel space meant to bring the company's creatives from various disciplines—product, graphics, UX, packaging, materials—all under one roof. Rows of desks and workstations occupy some of the main level and much of the upstairs. The things we're not allowed to see are down in the sublevels, like the rapid prototyping lab and the materials library. But the main part of the Design Center, which we were allowed to tour, left quite the impression.

The space, which Quint himself had a hand in designing, features a multitude of areas that reminded me of a variety of settings: The living room of a SoHo loft, a hip cocktail bar, glamping cabins, an art gallery, the VIP room of a nightclub, a dot-com millionaire's home theater. The relaxed, warm feel of the main areas is purposeful: "One of our goals was to design a living room atmosphere," Quint explains. "People feel at home in a living room; they feel safe, relaxed, it's easy to open up and make space for creativity."

The home-theater-like amphitheater area is a space Quint calls the Design Hive. "It was designed with an idea of a village, where people gather at noon to take shade under an olive tree. People can sit, relax, have conversations about cars and sports, politics and love lives."

Another function of the Design Hive is educational. "When I came onboard, I asked the design team, 'When was the last time you had educational design training?' Most people responded that the last time was in college. In terms of training, the company had developed a great corporate curriculum, but nothing in the area of creativity." Quint thus started a program he calls Design Vitamins, where experts across a broad spectrum of creative specialties are invited to come to the Design Hive and deliver presentations to the designers.

"The Design Vitamins speakers cover various 'hot' topics—they might be experts in digital, or storytelling, or branding, or design management, et cetera," Quint explains. "Next week, for instance, we have a speaker—the Director of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy of the city of Minneapolis, whom I'm doing a co-presentation with. We'll discuss driving design and creativity in a business enterprise."

Why is this important? "We stay involved in local and social initiatives," Quint explains, "to make sure we leverage 3M's network of knowledge in a way that can connect with the local community." The speakers, in turn, "inspire our people in thinking about social impact."

Then there is environmental impact. In order to have as little of it as possible, the Design Center is loaded with energy-efficient lighting and climate control systems, and the dominant material is reclaimed wood; it shows up everywhere from the walls to the chairs in Quint's office to the enclosed cabins, which Quint calls Cocoons.

"The open-space concept of the space creates activity—and potential disturbance, so we wanted to create places where you can have your privacy and quiet. There are nine or ten of these Cocoons throughout the center," Quint says.

In contrast to reclaimed wood, there is one area of the Center where Quint encountered raw concrete during the construction process, and elected to leave it exposed. In this gallery-like space a wall of posters commemorate inventions native to Minnesota, from Scotch Tape to Twister, Post-Its to Tonka Trucks.

Further down along this concrete wall is a startling graffiti mural. "The concrete was screaming for graffiti art, a kind of rebellious way of expression," Quint says. "We commissioned two local graffiti artists, had a short briefing session—perhaps 15 minutes—where I gave them a few keywords, but primarily told them 'Just do something that you'll be proud of.'" The artists were left to their own devices—and, of course, a box of 3M's signature blue tape to do the masking with.

Other walls in the Design Center are covered with art of the framed variety. 3M has a deep art collection, much of it stored in a basement that Quint descended into with purpose, ready to curate. "I wanted to unlock these great art treasures" and spread them throughout the center, he says. "Design and creativity go very well with art."

On one wall is a piece of art incorporating 3M's adhesive wall hooks, arranged into a map of the world. Which is, essentially, 3M's realm. The company employs roughly 90,000 people in 70 countries and sells their products, of which there are over 55,000, to people in over 200 countries. (The blue hooks on the map denote the location of 3M facilities.)

Moving beyond the artwork, the Design Center's entryway, in contrast, turns to science. 3M's translucent films cover the glass walls, purposefully arranged by the design team in a series of abstract shapes and tones; as you walk past, the colors change as if by magic. Standing at one end of the entryway or the other provides two completely different visual experiences.

Touring the Design Center reveals art and science, the communal and the private, the local and the global. These contrasts are not at odds but are instead meant to work together, bonding to one another as if by one of the company's adhesives; nothing exists in a vacuum, least of all innovation, which in Quint's estimation requires multiple bonding processes.

Here's what that means: In a sense, the Design Center and Quint himself are bonding forces, connectors. "The theme here is collaborative creativity," Quint says. "I think if you want to drive innovation, it's not about having the big idea. It is much more about managing and guiding the big idea through the system. You can find tons of great ideas, but not many people that speak the many required languages across the company. For instance, engineers and scientists speak different languages. As do marketing and strategy and design teams. In order to create impact, you must be able to speak the languages across those different disciplines."

Quint can. Unlike your average industrial designer, Quint also has a background in mechanical engineering with a specialization in industrial engineering. "That background helps a lot in shaping an organization," Quint says. "Industrial engineering is very much about designing organizations. I'm here to drive the design of the global creative platform of the company. That includes not only providing an education of design to the company and creating awareness, but more or less helping to design the company."

Even more unusually for a designer, Quint also has a background in strategy and marketing. Prior to joining 3M, Quint spent ten years running a design consultancy and over twenty years at Philips, where he advanced to Vice President of Philips Design. On the way to gaining that position, he wholeheartedly threw himself into the business aspects of design, gaining expertise in "translating the value of design into a business context."

What 3M has in their Design Center is a multifaceted work, play and learning space run by a polymathic Chief Design Officer. Together their mission is to "help the company to bring all of our great materials, science and technological solutions together in a way that is even more relevant to our customers," Quint explains. "Design helps us form an emotional connection to our audiences."

Part of Quint's job is to take several seemingly disparate things and discover, and then explain to others, how they can in fact be connected in a meaningful way. This comes into sharp focus in his office, which is surprisingly humble and unpretentious. On the wall behind his desk are three pieces of artwork that he discovered during the basement dig: Black-and-white photographs of Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan and Art Blakey.

"As I am a jazz man, I was immediately attracted to the images," says Quint, who has been playing music since childhood. But did he just grab these three unconsciously, randomly? Perhaps, perhaps not. As the photos lived on his office wall, Quint began to see a connection between the artists to his work and the work of 3M. "As I began to think about it, I realized that Miles Davis, for me he is the innovator. He started in the '50s as a young kid blowing bebop on his horn, and then he developed, continued to develop, over time. Just before he passed away, in his last five to ten years, he invented jazz fusion. It was as if he rebranded; he was an innovator all the way.

"Sarah Vaughn," he continues. "Singing is all about storytelling; touching people in their hearts, and Vaughan sang from her soul. Whatever we do, we have to have connecting stories and relevant stories that connect technology and solutions with the desires, the dreams, the needs of our customers.

"Then there's Art Blakey," he says, indicating the drummer. "Blakey is all about timing and rhythm. And timing is so important in innovation; I've seen great technology, great innovations go wrong because it was just not the right time.

"So, coincidentally or not, that is what I see with these three," Quint concludes. "The purpose in my life as an innovator and a design leader. 'Innovation, storytelling and timing.'"

Here is your chance to join an industry leading team with strong core values and forward thinking management. At Hunter’s Manufacturing, Co., we proudly support local suppliers and produce our products in the USA. Our innovation team focuses on designing next generation products to shape our industry’s future. Most importantly, we are never satisfied with “good enough” as our customers demand the very best.

Earlier this year there was an unprecedented collaboration between ING, Microsoft and TU Delft, with the willing participation of Dutch museums Mauritshuis and Rembrandthuis, to teach an artificial intelligence to paint a Rembrandt.

Not to duplicate an existing Rembrandt, but to paint an original one, with a unique composition and using a person who never existed as the subject.

The idea was that the AI could analyze and learn Rembrandt's style and then produce, on request, an original portrait based on certain parameters ("Thirtysomething male, black hat, white collar, looking to the right.") Here's how they did it, and here's the frighteningly convincing image that the computer reproduced—on a 3D printer, no less, to simulate the height of brushstrokes:

It was called the Next Rembrandt project, and I have very mixed feelings about it. While it is unquestionably an impressive technological achievement, ought we be moving AI into those non-numerical areas of human creativity? I suppose one could argue that the Next Rembrandt painting is not truly creative, just a mere average of existing values; but the video made it sound as if the algorithm was a bit more sophisticated than that.

It's not difficult to imagine, as a next step, feeding an AI the works of all great masters in a particular genre, and asking the machine to create works that can adhere to the genre while "expressing" the work in a style unlike these masters' work. Then, what's the step after that? You tell us.

Rikki USA is a Seattle based manufacturer of sauces, marinades and dressings, with clients in the private label category as well as their own retail product offering. In partnership with Rikki's parent company Yamasa, designojo completed a rebranding for Rikki USA. The redesign encompassed visual positioning, logo, retail packaging and a B2B focused website. The positioning of the new design was to reflect a more contemporary, healthy and natural brand without the typical visual cues.

Autodesk University is a massive annual conference aimed at "those who design, build, make and create." It's where industrial designers rub shoulders with architects and makers, engineers and construction foremen, scientists and entrepreneurs from all over the world.

Part of the reason to attend is the excellent classes, which we'll get into later. Beyond practical skill-building, another good reason to go is for the packed-house keynote speeches, where Autodesk's future-gazing wonks lay out the technology trends that will directly impact our design work. 

These are not your typical BS "Wouldn't it be cool if…" scenarios; since Autodesk is a software company that actually makes the tools that many of us will actually use, if they say something's coming down the pike, you can lay bets. The company stays on the cutting edge by getting out ahead of these trends and designing tools to work within them.

This year's AU kicked off with an illuminating (some might say terrifying!) talk by Autodesk Chief Technology Officer, Jeff Kowalski. We'll print the parts we thought you'd find most relevant—on the future role of artificial intelligence doing design work and where and how we humans fit into this. 

The talk has been edited for clarity and brevity.

How Our Tools Affect Our Designs

"Everything you see is a product of a person, an idea, and a tool. Throughout human history we've always had this urge to shape the world according to our ideas, and it's our technology that's given us the power to make those ideas real. We started with simple machines, using wheels and levers to stack stones on top of each other. These tools gave us the power to imagine things like the pyramids. Then we developed mass produced steel, rivets, cranes, elevators. These new tools helped us to reimagine what buildings could be, giving us the first skyscrapers.

"With every tool, there's an upside and a downside because while they initially expand our capabilities, they ultimately also constrain our thinking. For example, the same tools that let us build skyscrapers also gave us cars that look like this:

"Boxy and boring. But then remember that year when all the cars just sort of metled around us, like this?

"Well, this change was triggered by a new tool, software that could model complex curves, allowing designers to express a whole new language. Technology has always helped us express our ideas out in the world, but our tools have always been the rate-limiting step for our creativity, a filter through which all of our best ideas had to pass until now.

"Today, powerful technologies are emerging and converging and taken together, they're giving us not the limited expressibility of the past but an infinite expressibility that will help us shape the future. Instead of limiting our imaginations, this emerging tool set is going to help us amplify our ideas."

The Increasingly Fast Rise of Artificial Intelligence

"Possibly the most important thing happening in software today, is artificial intelligence and machine learning. More than 60 years ago, a clever programmer taught a machine to beat humans at Tic Tac Toe. Then 45 years later in 1997, Deep Blue beat Kasparov at chess. In 2011, Watson beat these two humans at Jeopardy. For a computer, it's a lot harder than chess. This time, rather than working from pre-defined recipes, algorithms, the computer actually had to use reasoning to overcome its human opponents.

"This year, a program called Alpha Go beat the world's best human at Go, a game so complex it has more possible moves than there are atoms in the universe. In order to win, Alpha Go had to develop a sort of intuition about the game. In fact, at times, its programmers weren't exactly sure why it was doing exactly what it was doing.

"If we're looking at a timeframe for these milestones, we see something really amazing. There's something exponential happening here. In less than a single human lifetime, computers have gone from learning a simple child's game to mastering the game recognized as the pinnacle of strategic thought. There's two things responsible for this acceleration. First, unprecedented available computing power for things like GPUs, multi-core and cloud. The second is that we've taught computers to teach themselves.

"Let me give you a simple example. Think of the classic Atari video game Breakout. How did you learn Breakout? Spending long afternoons in the family room or den playing over and over again. Let me tell you how a computer recently learned Breakout. Told only to maximize the score and to twist this one knob that controls the paddle, a system called Deep Mind learned how to play the game.

"Then it learned how to play the game better than any human ever had in just one night.

"How did it do that? It played in computer time, which means playing millions of games in parallel in the course of a single night. Compare that with how we humans learn and share what we know. Just because your buddy got good at Breakout didn't mean that you got good at Breakout. Machines are different. Once this single machine had mastered Breakout, all machines mastered Breakout forever."

Artificial Intelligence is "Getting More Creative"

"The machines aren't just getting smarter. They're also getting more creative. Up until now we've mostly used computers to solve left-brain-style, logic-requiring problems. Even in the case of designers, artists, writers using computers, the inspiration really only ever come from our side of the screen.

But now, computers are poised to transcend that barrier and make the journey into the realm of human creativity. The ability to grasp the unexpressed, to distill the very essence of the thing, that's what's going to make the computer a better creative partner for us.

"When I say creative, I mean exactly that, including things like the creative arts. We saw how one computer essentially went to video game school overnight. Why can't a computer also go to art school overnight? Here's one that did. It studied Rembrandt, and then it painted a brand new one.

"At Autodesk, we're bringing this kind of machine learning to the 3D world. We're feeding our algorithms huge amounts of 3D model data so they can grasp the essence of designs that we work on every day. With that new understanding, the software can take a 3D object, a generic chair for instance, and apply a specific style to it, make it more fluid, make it more Philippe Stark, more Cubist or more Le Corbusier.

"Playing board games, video games, creating paintings, even chairs. Computers are getting better at things like this which require human-style capabilities. Intuition, generating hunches, making creative leaps, expressing imagination. Another way to put it is that computers have always been a little bit like Mr. Spock, but today, they're becoming a lot more like Captain Kirk. 

Spock is logical and brilliant, but as we saw countless times on Star Trek, that was almost never enough to save the day. In fact, it was usually Captain Kirk who came up with the ultimate solution for whatever it was that they were facing. It was usually something that was driven by hunch, intuition, and creativity. Today, that's exactly the kind of unbridled imagination that we need to address our biggest challenges."

Generative Design

"Here's another technology that's part of the convergence that's going to give us infinite expressibility. I've been talking to you about generative design for a few years now. It's a way of collaborating with computers where we don't tell it what to do. We tell it what we need. We can tell the computer what we want to accomplish instead of telling it what we already know. 

Here's an example of what I mean. This summer, one of our interns wanted to see if she could design a chair using generative design. Now her goal was to design a chair that was beautiful and comfortable and strong enough to support the weight of whoever might be sitting in it. She fed our generative design tool, Dreamcatcher, her goals describing what she wanted in a chair. Then she sat back and she let it explore the entire solution space on its own.

"It created thousands of options, all of which met the criteria and including many designs that she would never have come up with herself. Here's the chair designed by collaboration between Dreamcatcher and Brittany.

"Despite her talent, there's really no way that Brittany could've designed and fabricated a chair like this in just a couple of weeks. The computer augmenting natural talent, that's what I call infinite expressibility. In fact, I look forward to see how all of you harness your infinite expressibility when we release Dreamcatcher and our generative design tools commercially early next year.

"Here's another project that I want to share with all of you. Last month, we worked on a project with an automotive partner to redesign this thing:

"It's a rear suspension upright for a passenger car. Using our generative design tools, we redesigned this part and ended up with two new options. The one on the left [Editor's note: Sorry, the photo did not come out] removes weight by optimizing the geometry. The one of the right [photo above] removes even more weight by adding an internal lattice for the optimized shape. The software isn't filling the void with the same repeating pattern. It actually mimics bone by adding material only where it's necessary and removing material where it's not.

"Computers are moving beyond optimizing geometry and the recent performance of things. They're starting to understand something even more complex: The needs of people. Our team in Toronto is moving into a new building. We decided to use it as kind of a living laboratory. We're using generative design to re-imagine what an office can be. As we came up with the process of planning the space, we knew we wanted to maximize productivity and create a really great experience for all the people working there.

"We used generative design, and rather than feeding it the forces affecting parts, we fed it the forces influencing human experience. We surveyed all of our employees and put their preferences and work habits into the system. Then the system evaluated that survey data against a set of large constraints, like the boundaries of the building, the fixed locations and the fixtures and so forth. It generated thousands of options, thousands of alternative floor plans. In this one little space, the system was looking to maximize outside views, minimize distractions, and prioritize personal relationships.

"The system is really particularly good at reconciling multiple, often competing goals. We weren't just pushing cubicles around like Lego blocks. We weren't stuck with the first design that worked. With generative design, we were able to create the best experience possible."

Are These New Technologies a Threat?

"So far today, I've been talking about technology, but for me, that's only half the equation. What about us? How do people fit into this vision of the future? I'm sure that some of you've been thinking about these technologies maybe as a threat. I want to tell you that's 100% wrong. These technologies are not a threat. They're more like superpowers. What's the real threat? It's any competitor that adopts these superpowers more quickly than you do. Look, these machines, the robots, the computers, they're not coming for us. They're coming for us. They're not bringing the apocalypse. They're bringing us beer in a self-driving truck.

"The reason the prospect of these machines and robots is so scary is actually because they're so powerful. These tools of imagination creation are challenging our thinking. It's not something that we experienced before, but that's the consequence of exponentiating technology. It stretches our thinking and also our capabilities. I don't think that's daunting. I think that's exciting."

How Do Humans Fit Into This?

"Another part of this equation that we have to think about is talent, the people doing the work and using the technology. Talent used to be about stability. Now it's about mobility. 40% of the US workforce is composed of freelancers, consultants, and other contingent workers. How does that impact all of you? All of this mobility means that you now have access to a vastly larger pool of talented people than you've had in the past. Imagine the flexible resources that you can now bring to bear on any challenge you face. Just as you should be embracing the technology, you should be welcoming new kinds of talent.

"Here's my last point about what we need to do to really embrace the changes that are coming. I've talked about machine learning, but what about human learning? Today the increased speed of change is creating pressure on all of us to learn more quickly. You know, if you're going to keep up with tech and talent, you're going to need to upskill at the same pace. If your education stops when you get that one monolithic degree, you're doomed. In this dynamic environment, you can never stop learning because ongoing learning is the antidote to fearing technology and new talent, and embracing and using it instead.

"New technology, new talent, new ideas. For millions of years, we've been using this powerful combination to shape our world, but never before had we had such an abundance of opportunities. So many things to learn, so much to debate, to incorporate, to create. You've made a great choice by coming to AU this week. Right here, right now, this morning, we are all living in the earliest moments of an amazing new chapter in the history of making things. AU is the perfect place to explore one critical question:

"What role will you play in the future of making things?"

Yesterday's Biofabricate Conference was filled with all natural inspiration for 'growing a better future.' Towards the end of the conference, adidas got in on the action by announcing their latest innovation news—the Futurecraft Biofabric concept sneakers in partnership with German biotech company, AMSilk. 

The minimal sneaks feature an upper made entirely from BioSteel®, a new triple threat synthetic fiber—nature-based, biodegradable and high-performance—that was modeled after spider silk.

"The sports shoes which have been developed together with adidas are the first products worldwide with a high-performance material made of nature-identical silk biopolymers. With this development, we are setting new standards regarding the functionality of renewable textiles" —Jens Klein, CEO of AMSilk

Up close, BioSteel® does look well, silky. It has a slight sheen to it and is very tightly knit to create the Futurecraft Biofabrics:

BioSteel®'s benefits include its high levels of strength and elasticity, its light weight (15% lighter than conventional synthetic fibers) and its soft hand feel.

This year has been a big year for the adidas Group—to say the least—when it comes to sustainable innovation. On the materials side, adidas has also partnered with Parley to create a line of shoes and clothing made from recycled ocean plastic. 

In terms of process innovation, the adidas Group-owned Reebok Liquid Factory is using robots to 3D print sneakers with a urethane-based liquid gel in order to eliminate molds from the footwear manufacturing process. adidas is also trying to bring some jobs back to the US with adidas SPEEDFACTORY, a new state of the art production facility opening in the Atlanta area in 2017.

While the Futurecraft Biofabrics may be more subtle in silhouette than the UltraBOOST Uncaged Parleys or Reebok Liquid Speeds, their super-powered BioSteel® material speaks for itself.

What's next for adidas? Perhaps plant based sneakers since they've already covered insect (spider silk), element (ocean plastic) and technology (liquid 3D printing)? 

Core77's editors spend time combing through the news so you don't have to. Here's a weekly roundup of our favorite stories from the World Wide Web.

Mushrooms are the Future

As designers continue working to create dynamic change in society, they have simultaneously discovered that their work is bolstered by collaboration with science-focused colleagues. This video touches on the benefits of these partnerships in the realm of sustainability where mushrooms are now being engineered to not only replace energy-deficient leather materials, but also even basic building materials.

—Allison Fonder, community manager

Free (!) IKEA & Uber Friendsgiving

Unfortunately, I'm headed to Philly for the weekend, so I'm sharing this secret in hopes I can live vicariously through some of you. IKEA and Uber have partnered to bring fans a free Friendsgiving when they call an Uber in NYC tomorrow—just enter a promo code in your Uber app, and you're in. If you don't have Uber yet, it's time to get with the 21st century. The sweet deal includes a full IKEA tableware package (modern or traditional themed) and a full dinner complete with a lot of cheese and meatballs. Take advantage my friends, take advantage.

—Emily Engle, editorial assistant

Never Ending Election

Even though the election is over, stories about the election won't stop. We've heard a lot about fake news being spread around on social media and through searches. The Washington Post has an entertaining interview with Paul Horner, a 38-year old writer who is the king of fake news posts. According to Horner "I thought they'd fact-check it, and it'd make them look worse. I mean that's how this always works: Someone posts something I write, then they find out it's false, then they look like idiots."

—Stuart Constantine, publisher and managing partner

This holiday, share your Ultimate Gift Guide with Core77 for a chance to gift yourself some fun prizes. We're on the lookout for your Top 5 holiday gift ideas and will reward the best gift guides with awesome rewards like gift certificates and small prizes. It gets better—grand prize winners will get to choose from either an Amazon Echo or a GoPro Hero 4! 

To kick off our first week of gift guides, three submissions chosen by our editors have earned their curators a $25 Hand Eye Supply gift certificate and a spot in the running for the grand prize come December 12.

Here are our 3 Editor's Picks: 

This gift guide by Natasha Sadasivan is just plain fun—between lamps that look like balloons, candy dishes resembling ziploc bags and metal paperweights that look as light as a piece of paper, these holiday suggestions are full of optical twists and turns. 

Porter's Gieske's "Easy, Safe, Effective" guide presents object that are, well, just that! Some very cool objects mixed in there for your dad who never leaves the woodshop or simply any homeowner, like a $50 planer that fits on your drill press as well as some cooking "claws" for quick and easy meat shredding.

Finally, Emma Gilsanz's gift guide for stylish seniors proves just because you're older doesn't mean the objects that surround you have to lack sophistication. One of our favorite pieces in the guide is the stackable "Kangaroo Cup", a sleek coffee mug designed for comfort and practically tip-proof. 

Thanks to all of those who submitted, and congratulations to our winners! You'll be receiving a $25 Hand-Eye Supply gift certificate— check out all the potential items you could snag with your prize here!

____________________________________

NEXT WEEK

Want in on the fun? MAKE YOUR OWN ULTIMATE GIFT GUIDE HERE— three of next week's winners will be receiving $25 gift certificates to Areaware!

Australian Beefwood Slab Table

Jimmy DiResta gets his hands on some "Australian Beefwood," which I've never even heard of, to make a piece of furniture. The raw wood is void-heavy, so he fills them with epoxy and uses the ShopBot to help him level it before crafting the legs out of steel:

Big Bandsaw Build, Part 4: Blade Guides

Matthias Wandel arrives at the most complicated part of his bandsaw build yet: The guide blocks for the blade. Watching him design this out loud while building it makes one reasonably certain that Wandel could build a missile if he wanted to.

Making A Wheelbarrow

Jay Bates problem-solves his way through a utilitarian build, as he takes an old, ruined wheelbarrow, harvests what he can of the hardware, and builds a new one using the same design:

Building a Covered Patio, Part 2

April Wilkerson shows some great attention to detail in Part 2 of her patio roof build. She comes up with an economical but attractive way to cover the rafters, installs recessed lighting and finishes up the post bottoms:

Building Bunk Beds For My Boys

For those that appreciate craftsmanship, you'll watch this and say WOW. Here, the Samurai Carpenter builds a bunk bed for two of his sons, using some impressively-executed joinery and a combination of hand and power tools:

Art Supplies Organizer

Clutter-busting dad Bog Clagett works up a storage object for his kids' art supplies, improvising the design as he goes:

Lighted 3-D Scroll Saw Shadowbox

I envy Steve Ramsey's patience. Here he breaks out the scroll saw to make a holiday-themed 3D shadowbox:

Carving a Piece of Wood for Take-Out Food

Here's a quirky project: Linn from Darbin Orvar comes up with a hand tool way to gussy up her takeout chow.

Remote-Controlled Dinosaurs

Izzy Swan shows you the design for his RC velociraptor triplets—powered by a cordless drill—and explains why he makes unusual projects like these: Because it's easier to get kids interested in off-the-wall stuff than it is in building cabinets and furniture. The dinosaurs are, in a sense, the gateway drug.

Remote Control Little Red Wagon

Izzy gets a visit from fellow YouTuber Mike Moyer. Together they work up a remote control children's wagon powered by a drill and steered via a beefy linear servo motor. The Paulk Workbench also makes an appearance:

30% Off of Hitachi Tools

Ron Paulk is back with another tool deal, this time a sizeable discount on refurbished Hitachi tools if you use his promo code:

The Trick to Building a Drawer Inside Its Resting Place

This is one of those things that I didn't realize could be done. Here Nick Ferry shows you his unconventional method for building a drawer—in place:

Building a Mini Table Saw Sled

John Heisz shows you how to make a handy contraption for making delicate 90-degree crosscuts on a table saw:

LABB—Loopless and Buckleless Band—is an injection-moulded strap for the new generation of smart watches. Its design is based on an innovative, self-gripping fixing system in which the two halves of the strap intuitively connect along their entire surface, negating the need for additional buckles and loops.

Jumpstart your week with our insider's guide to events in the design world. From must-see exhibitions to insightful lectures and the competitions you need to know about—here's the best of what's going on, right now.

Monday

Get Green at: Homes That Give More Than They Take

This talk will explore how a Canadian-Danish collaboration spearheaded by Great Gulf and VELUX Canada embraced a building concept that enables new buildings to give back more than they take. The first certified "Active House" house in the world is located in Toronto—it's defined by its use of natural daylighting and ventilation, energy-efficient strategies and an overarching concern for human comfort and health. The family currently living in the house will tell stories about the house's pros and cons.

Toronto, ON. November 24, 2016 from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM.

Tuesday

Escape the Cold By Attending: Plan Your Trip To: Satellite Art Show

Satellite is an alternative art fair that presents new and exciting projects that span the gamut of art, music, performance, installation, new media and tech. You can expect to see colorful, out-of-this-world art at the retro Miami feeling Parisian Hotel. Winter is approaching fast, so use this as an excuse to get out out town for a long weekend.

Miami Beach, FL. December 1, 2016 through December 4, 2016.

Wednesday

Take a 'Vacation' to: Crochet Coral Reef

Okay, it might be a fake and rather dark vacation, but this beautiful crochet creation by sisters Margaret and Christine Wertheim and their Los Angeles–based organization, the Institute For Figuring is worth the visit. Mixing crocheted yarn with plastic trash, the work fuses mathematics, marine biology and craft to produce large-scale coralline landscapes. At once figurative, collaborative, worldly, and dispersed, the Crochet Coral Reef offers a tender response to the dual calamities facing marine life: climate change and plastic trash.

New York, NY. On view through January 22, 2017.

Thursday

Explore a Galaxy Far, Far Away at: Space Program: Europa

World-renowned sculptor Tom Sachs and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts have set their sights on the next frontier of space exploration with Space Program: Europa. This maiden voyage to the untouched, icy moon of Jupiter will be Sachs's longest space mission to date, following successful journeys to the moon and Mars. Space Program: Europa will fill YBCA with everything Sachs's astronauts need to successfully complete their voyage, including mission control, a full size Apollo-era landing module, a mobile quarantine facility, and equipment for conducting scientific experiments and tea ceremonies.

San Francisco, CA. On view through January 15, 2017.

Friday

Explore Artificial vs. Natural at: The Living Room

The Living Room, created by Dunbar's Number, focuses on the processes of transformations of the natural and cultural. The exhibition dissolves the line between the artificial and the natural, and it focuses on design as a process. Objects in the exhibit are in an ephemeral state and are subject to continual change.

Vienna, Austria. On view through December 23, 2016.

Saturday/Sunday

Calm Yourself After a Stressful Thanksgiving At: Water Meditations

What better way to decompress before Christmas, Hanukkah and the likes roll around than to visit ultra soothing sculptures by Korean artist, Byung Hoon Choi?

New York, NY. On view through December 17, 2016.

Check out the Core77 Calendar for more design world events, competitions and exhibitions, or submit your own to be considered for our next Week in Design.

Ubers may not move any faster than taxis, but the company overall is moving a lot faster than its competition. In addition to launching self-driving cars in Pittsburgh, they've now successfully performed a test run of a self-driving tractor trailer loaded up with beer.

Back in August Uber acquired Otto, a company working on autonomous trucking, and together the partnership has already made history. Last month they partnered with Anheuser-Busch to deliver "the first known commercial shipment of goods under autonomous operations," hauling 2,000 cases of Budweiser from Fort Collins, Colorado, to Colorado Springs:

As you saw in the video, the truck itself isn't proprietary; it's a Volvo. What Otto has done is develop a kit consisting of software, camera sensors and radar that fleet operators can retrofit to existing trucks.

Here are some relevant numbers:

- Otto's kit will reportedly cost around $30,000.
- A U.S. truck driver's median salary is $40,000.
- A U.S. private fleet truck driver's median salary is $74,000.
- Uber purchased Otto for $670 million.
- The U.S. trucking industry's 2015 revenue was $726 billion.

The math all seems to work, having trucks that can run 24-7 will be attractive to fleet operators and the technology appears very close to ready. The next barrier to be cleared before widespread adoption will be to do with regulations; it's worth noting that Colorado was chosen as the site of the test run because they do not yet have the prohibitive laws on autonomous driving as some other states, and Otto was able to work with the Colorado Department of Transportation to get the trial run green-lit.

In terms of human beings' lives, one of the benefits of autonomous trucking is that accident rates will dive once the technology is perfected. The cost, of course, is that driving a truck will disappear as a profession.

Sources: Autoblog, Autoweek, Car & Driver, CNN, Fortune, USA Today

A setback I experienced as an industrial designer: Getting really good at a particular CAD package or Photoshop rendering technique, then having my entire bag of tricks become obsolete with new packages. To put it in hockey terms, I was the dummy who was always focused on where the puck was; the smarter design freelancers who replaced me anticipated where the puck would be--and leveled up their skills in those emerging packages to get there before I did.

Regardless of what field you're in, and whether you deal with software, hardware, manufacturing or human beings, change and technological disruption can upend your industry or particular job before you know it.

This was a topic that Autodesk CEO Carl Bass tackled in his keynote at this year's Autodesk University, speaking to a huge crowd of designers, engineers, architects and more. And while it was a measure of comfort to see that people a lot smarter than me have made mistakes a lot worse, the real thing to focus on here is how to avoid those mistakes in the first place.

These excerpts from Bass' talk have been edited for length and clarity.

Carl Bass, Autodesk CEO, on dealing with change:

"When we speak about the future, it's kind of funny--year after year I've been on this stage with Jeff [Kowalski, Autodesk CTO] and I have something to confess: Sometimes when I listen to what's being said on this stage it seems like science fiction. I bet to some of you it seems that way too. It feels like this stuff will take years before it becomes practical for you to use, maybe even never.

"But here's something else I've noticed. As crazy as this stuff seems at the time, I come back a few years later and many of you are actually doing the things that we were just speculating about. You're doing today what a few years ago seemed totally impossible. For example, just this year our customer Space X launched history's first reusable rocket. Beer has been delivered autonomously. And Zaha Hadid, who we unfortunately lost this year, brought us a beautiful building that's being manufactured, not built.

"I want to thank you all for taking these ideas that we've been presenting over the years and making them real. This willingness to embrace new ideas to change the way you think and do your work. That's what it's going to take to succeed in a future that's all about change.

"So Jeff talked about the new technologies and the new dynamics around talent that are going to affect all of us. There are a lot of industries facing such challenges, and and we can learn from that. Let me give you my current favorite example:

"In the last 12 months I've met with more auto executives than I probably have in the last 12 years. Why are they suddenly reaching out for answers? They're anxious, because the world around them is changing. Right now there are three important things that are transforming the auto industry: Autonomous cars, car sharing and electric powertrains. Some of the car companies are being really proactive about these changes--and some are not.

"So let's start with self-driving cars. For a hundred years car companies have been obsessed with creating a great experience for drivers: The feel of the car, the responsiveness, the power, the comfort. Some have even claimed to have mastered 'the ultimate driving experience.'

"But once cars drive themselves, there's no such thing as the driver experience. They need to build the ultimate passenger experience. So how do you do that? They get good at building complex sensing and control systems. Their new cars will need software that responds to the world in milliseconds, then gets smarter the more they drive so that they don't make the same mistake twice. Essentially these companies can't just be building cars, they need to be building drivers.

"There's more: Not only will we stop driving our own cars, we may actually not own them either. Most of the people I work with who are under 30, they don't own a car and they don't want to. It's not because we pay them poorly, it's because they get around with kick-scooters and Uber and car sharing. That's what's really scaring the crap out of all the auto execs I've been talking to.

"For a hundred years car ownership influenced everything the industry did. They designed cars to be sold to drivers. Their strength was in their massive distribution network. Last year alone Americans spent almost 600 billion dollars at car dealerships.

"So now car companies have to figure out how to thrive in a new world where people don't pay to buy cars, but pay to access them instead. Instead of buying one car from a dealership that you'll own for maybe a decade, you'll start thinking about transportation as a service. As a service you'll get from a range of providers. For example, if you need to get across town you can get that car that does 40 miles an hour from Google. If you have a long trip on the highway maybe the Mercedes that does 180 miles an hour, that's more appropriate.

"The companies that embrace this change from ownership to access, these are the companies that are really going to win. It's funny--five years ago I was talking to an auto company and they were unbelievably dismissive of electric cars. They were making fun of it. They said electric cars were a crazy California idea, that it wasn't going to go anywhere. That company spent a bunch of years totally in denial and now where are they? They're struggling to catch up.

"Even though I am personally a crazy Californian, I understand why they dismissed electric powertrains. If you've spent a hundred years learning how to make the best combustion engines and transmissions, that's how you see the world. If you only have hammer, every problem looks like a nail. If you're great at something that's about to become less important, it's almost impossible to see that new thing that's about to become essential.

"So if you're great at internal combustion engines, how do you make the transition to electric? Well, I would suggest you experiment. Think about those naysaying auto execs. What they should have done is create a small team and send them off to build a car with an electric drive train. That way they wouldn't be on the sidelines they would've gotten the experience and they would've been right in the game today.

"So what message can we take from this? I think it's that regardless of the scale of your company, you still need to experiment. Now R&D doesn't need to be this really large research and development facility; R&D could stand for Rachel and Dave. What's important is that you're proactive and not afraid of what these seemingly crazy new ideas represent. So this is just one example of an industry dealing with three massive changes all at the same time. That's what we crazy Californians call disruption.

"Most of us, when faced with this, we want to ignore it. We even want to run away from it. But that's actually the thing I think you need to run towards. The thing to understand is that disruption can be the source of new value. It might really be what makes your company great in the future."

____________

Readers: Bass was obviously very careful not to mention the name of the auto company that had their head in the sand. Any of you want to venture a guess as to which company it was?

Motion and graphic designer Florent Porta is catching eyes from all over the world with the new short video, Preposterous. This catchy series of uncomfortable scenarios harkens back to otherprojects with tension-building subjects, but here the outcomes live up to the name. Take fifty seconds to enjoy the smooth animation and surprisingly nice surprises—you'll probably be glad you did.

Catch more of Porta's work here. 

Attracting over 500 attendees, the third annual BioFabricate conference drew a crowd of scientists, academics, designers, entrepreneurs and artists for a full day of presentations, discussions and exhibits exploring innovations in contemporary bio tech. The presenters and panelists showcased a wide range of technology with a focus on the value created when designers participate in a cross-disciplinary fashion. 

The opening session addressed the role of the designer in the world of biotech, with speakers encouraging designers to function as the interface between the user and the technology. Collaborating with experts allows a designer to ask questions and explore applications that don't typically arise. The formal boundaries of the lab were contrasted with the informal structure of the design studio, with designers seeking to be "disruptive without disrupting"—fostering innovation without causing total chaos.

The second session explored the concept of genetic ownership and access to DNA. Artists, designers and entrepreneurs all working with genetic material approached this idea from very different perspectives. Several of the presenters are making their ideas available to the non-scientific community through "kits" that make it easier to use the tools. 

After a lunch break, the talks turned to tactical applications of bio tech, with presentations showing mycelium furniture from Ecovative, lab-grown bricks from BioMASON, fabrics made of engineered spider silk and more. All together, it was a strong showing of how the technology is moving out of the lab and into the mainstream. Overall, this session reinforced the notion of democratization of technology, showing how different companies from around the world are commercializing science. 

The day wrapped up with an exciting product unveiling by adidas, who used the gathering as a place to showcase their Futurecraft Biofabric concept sneakers. The prototype shoes feature an upper made from Biosteel fiber, a high-performance fiber developed by the German biotech company, AMSilk. The material is lighter and stronger than conventional synthetic fibers, and is also 100% biodegradable. The audience loved the dramatic unveiling of the shoe, and it was a great example of how to bring the concept of bio fabrication to a broad consumer market.

The conference included a Design Lab showcasing exhibits, products and materials from the presenters. The conference was hosted by Parsons—the conference took place in the Tishman Auditorium in their new University Center building, while the Design Lab was housed in their new Making Space. We've written about their new facility previously, and this event showcased how important it is to offer spaces like this for students and the wider population. The photos below show some of the exhibits on display from the Design Lab.

adidas' Futurecraft Biofabric concept sneakers

Adidas Futurecraft Biofabric 

The prototype sneakers were unveiled at the end of the day. Audience members got a chance to lay their hands on them. 

BIOESTERS - Biopolymer based textiles

This project was the winner of the 2016 BioDesign Challenge. The Bioesters group produced AlgiKnit, a biopolymer derived from Kelp. The material starts as a paste and is then physically and chemically transformed to produce monofilament that can be used in existing textile manufacturing infrastructure. 

Ecovative and BioMASON Collaboration

A new furniture collection using MycoBoard, a formaldehyde-free engineered wood, and BioMASON's biologically grown cement surface. MycoBoard is a biofabricated material grown using mydelium. The panels are biodegradable, strong, machinable and fire-resistant. BioMASON's technology uses microorganisms to grow strong and durable construction materials. Available soon here.

Criaterra Earth Pieces

Building materials as strong as concrete while embodying the vision of a circular economy. The pieces are made from non-soluble minerals, plant fibers, oils and natural resins, and incorporate 70% recycled content. All the pieces are fully bio-degradable and recyclable. 

Biorealize: Microbial Design Studio

An automated and networked biofabrication machine that integrates the capabilities of a biology wetlab. It allows users a single platform to design, culture and test genetically modified organisms. Designed by Taylor Caputo for design.bio

Amino One Bio Production Kit

The goal of Amino Labs is to make genetic engineering education accessible to teachers, students and the general public. The Amino One is a countertop sized system that enables anyone to grow living cells and create new and interesting things such as fragrances, flavors, materials, medicine and more. To start Amino ships everything you need to engineer and grow your own pigments.

Fragrant Moss

Created by Antony Evans, this project is a genetically modified strain of moss (Physcometrella patens) that is engineered to produce patchouli scent. The goal is to help people use moss in the home to provide fragrance using sunlight, water and CO2 rather than petroleum products. It grows well indoors, is easily controlled and mass produced, and has no special nutrient or care needs.

The Growing Lab / Mycelia

An ongoing process-based research project exploring the use of mycelium for the development of new materials. The project addresses the issues of waste generation, environmental impact of disposable products and animal exploitation.

Spiderwort Open Source CO2 Cell Culture Incubator

An open source kit that enable the sterile growth an maintenance of mammalian cells. It is a low cost system that can be easily extended and modified. The software is open source and the hardware is Arduino-based. Plans can be downloaded, and low-cost kits are available for purchase.

Para Materiality

A research project by Professor Marcos Cruz from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. This project explores a new approach in design in which a range of material composites, computational techniques and biological growth lead to a new para-materiality in architecture.

This is where it gets interesting. We are hiring an Art Director to lead our brand experience program (strategy / story / design / guest experience, on & offline) from our headquarters here in San Francisco. You are a seasoned, savvy, and sophisticated creative with solid