Reporting by Carly Ayres; Photos by David O'Connor

"Life code is going to change the world in some pretty fundamental ways, including the world of design."

-Juan Enriquez

Juan Enriquez was the inaugural speaker for the Rhode Island School of Design's three-part Presidential Speaker Series, "Shared Voices," which kicked off this past Thursday evening. The series is intended to provide a forum for artists, designers, activists, scientists, and other scholars to come to RISD and engage in thought-provoking conversation that will hopefully influence and inform their own work.

The chairman of Biotechonomy LLC, fondly profiled as "Mr. Gene" by Fortune, Enriquez seemed like an unlikely presenter at the art and design school. Following a campus tour led by John Maeda, however, Enriquez said he saw parallels between the average RISD student and a pre-med student in the "sheer intensity of the work, single-minded determination, and focus on discovery." The urge to discover something that people haven't seen or discovered before was something he saw in both fields, a path that required experimentation, numerous iterations, focus, and "a degree of arrogance." Specifically, "the process that you are using here is 90% incredibly hard, focused work, and 10% incredible creativity and inspiration doesn't look to me very different from what a bio lab or a physics lab or a chemistry lab does."

The Autodesk Sustainability Workshop is a free and vast online resource that aims to teach sustainability strategies, from micro to macro. The simple, easily-digestible series of strategy videos, tutorials and case studies can help students, educators, designers, engineers and architects not only learn about sustainability, but how to directly apply it.

Core77 asked 5 students to take it for a test spin, investigating the workshop and using Autodesk software to incorporate what they'd learned in a re-design of a commonplace object. In the final installment of our series, we look at Arizona-based John Turner (B.S.D. in Industrial Design, Spring 2012) and his "Hydra."

Core77: John, tell us about yourself.

I was born and raised in Gilbert, Arizona, and am currently finishing up my Industrial Design degree at Arizona State University. I am 22 years old.

What made you decide to study industrial design?

I've always been interested in making things and figuring out how they work. When I was in high school I was introduced to ID as a profession when the Phoenix Art Museum had an introductory hands-on Industrial Design workshop in conjunction with their streamlined car exhibit. I attended and from there it was no turning back.

Where did you decide to study, and why?

Initially I chose to study at Arizona State University for financial reasons and because the professor that taught the workshop at the Phoenix Art Museum teaches at the school. What also attracted me to the program was the school's strong focus on materials, processes, and professional practice. Now in my final year, I am part of ASU's Innovation Space, a multi-disciplinary program that teams me with an engineer, a visual communications designer, and a business major to work through a project sponsored by Dow Corning.

What areas of industrial design are you interested in focusing on?

I like getting into the details and thinking about how all the parts of a system come together. Most of my focus is on consumer products. This summer I interned at Design Packaging, Inc. and got to learn a lot about packaging, which is an avenue I would like to continue to explore.

Tell us about your project, the "Hydra."

At first I was focusing on finding an object around the house that could be designed more efficiently. I was looking at things like toasters, headphones, and irons. Then I was notified that I could rework a previous project that I had done, so I switched over to the outdoor tool set that I designed last year. While I liked the concept, the execution was off. So I saw this as a chance to get the project right.

The Glass House Grounds

To describe the Philip Johnson Glass House as merely that—a glass house—is more than an understatement. As the hub of the 47-acre grounds, the house encompasses much more than simply the minimalist, one room, glass-and-steel structure for which the site is named. The use of glass as a material underscores this broad acceptance of all that surrounds it, simultaneously revealing the interior to the outside (and vice-versa), while also reflecting its surroundings. In this way, Johnson didn't create a singular work of architecture in the Glass House, but a complex of structures that exist in balance with each other and the landscape.

Johnson built the home for himself and his partner of 45 years, David Whitney, an art collector and critic, and they both lived on the property as a weekend home and eventually permanent residence, from when the Glass House was built in 1949 until they passed away just months apart in 2005. As homeowners, especially creatives, are wont to do, over the years Johnson and Whitney continuously adapted and adjusted the property around the Glass House, building and collaborating on structures and elements of the landscape.

The property is now home to a collection of 13 additional structures, including the Brick House; an art gallery; a sculpture gallery; and a gate house. The Glass House sits shielded from public view by a waist-high stone wall, down the hill from a quiet road in lush New Canaan, CT. It is surrounded on three sides by a forested area that constitutes much of the 47 acres, overlooking the valley of the small Rippowam River.

Within the Glass House, and in the structures surrounding it, Johnson composed a series of "asymmetric sliding rectangles" and circles which balance and play off of one another. The Glass House (rectangle) is sited at the edge of a relatively flat, rectangular plane surrounded by hills and valleys. Several yards and directly across from it in the plane sits a round pool (circle). Next to and in alignment with the pool (but several yards away) sits the Brick House (rectangle), which, at 56’, is the same length, but half as wide (16’) as its glass counterpoint. And finally, next to and in alignment with the Brick House (but several yards away) sits a Donald Judd concrete installation (circle), Untitled, commissioned by Johnson in 1971.

Donald Judd's Untitled, 1971

Donald Judd and Philip Johnson were friends, which led to the commissioned piece at Johnson's home in 1971. For Johnson and Whitney, Judd created the site-specific piece, his first ever in concrete. The installation is a concrete ring, and in approaching the Glass House from the entrance road, it is the first element in Johnson's "asymmetric sliding planes" and circles that one encounters. Unfortunately, very little documentation exists on how much Judd and Johnson went back and forth on the development of the work.

[Image above via kosty, images below via Shane Keaney]

As DJs and record enthusiasts know, the compartments in Ikea's iconic Expedit are perfectly sized to hold 12-inch vinyl. New-York-based graphic designer Shane Keaney wants to capitalize on that with his Rekordit Kickstarter project, which would both pretty up the exterior of the unit and keep dust off of the records.

Keaney's idea consists of simple aluminum door frames perfectly sized to slide an LP into. Snap the frames shut, attach it to the unit, and now you've got a record cabinet with graphically-interesting doors, which you'd presumably cap with albums indicative of the genres within.

Hot on the heels of their Capital headphones, AIAIAI and KiBiSi are launching yet another new pair o' cans: The TMA-1 Studio, an update to their DJ-minded original TMA-1's. The Studio version will feature technical aspects making them better-suited to the studio production environment, versus the live performance usage the original TMA-1's are intended for, says AIAIAI; but they're not saying what those details are yet. An official announcement is due to drop at the currently-running CES any day now.

One more thing on flight cases: while rectilinear is obviously the way to go for stacking and actual shipping, if you're making one simply to house something that will never be subject to the tender ministrations of baggage handlers, you can get a little creative with the shape.

A good example is this Flight Case for a Prusa (3D printer), posted on MakerBot Industries' Thingiverse, put together by Belgium-based Pieter Possenier.

This is nuts, and a little hard to understand at first: Japanese painter Riusuke Fukahori paints what appear to be three-dimensional fish floating in water. And while the objects he's creating are in fact three-dimensional, he builds them up two-dimensionally, creating successive layers that he seals in resin before adding the next layer on top of the last.

The end result is what you see in the photos here (captured by photographer Dominic Alves at Fukahori's recent show at London's ICN Gallery), and the first half of the video below shows Fukahori's process. (The second half is Fukahori working on a more conventional large-scale painting.)

A Greece-based collective of photographers and tinkerers known as the Pentalunex Team has developed the ChronoCon, seen above. The deceptively simple-looking contraption is essentially a monorail version of a dolly track, and using some sort of proprietary motorized mount, the Pentalunex Team is able to capture stunning video combining HDR with time-lapse and motion.

Check it out in the video below. The part starting at 1:55 is nuts—to see human activity taking place while the stars move fluidly in the background really gives you a sense of our planet revolving through space in a way you've probably never perceived before.

Ok, so it doesn't have the same alliterative ring as last time around, but Moscow-based artist Sicksystems is yet another creative who knows his way around a piece of plywood. Over the course of the past decade, he's expanded his practice from graffiti to graphic design, typography and illustration, refining his aesthetic without compromising his artistic integrity (not unlike Matt W. Moore... who, incidentally, spent a few months in Moscow this summer).

Sicksystems synthesizes elements of cubism, constructivism and futurism—i.e. vector art—in semi-sculptural works of art. His work isn't as overt as that of, say, A.J. Fosik, but that's precisely the point: the work elicits the curious effect of seeing vector shapes with actual edges.

His latest project is a "Sneaker Head," so to speak: a cross between a Nike Air Force 1 Duckboot and a wolf's head, executed as a painted plywood artwork for the Nike Store in his hometown.

While affordable laser-cutters certainly offer a shortcut to translating vector images to physical media, Sicksystems sticks to a more traditional technique: "First, I made vector images based on my sketches; carved all the details out of plywood using a scroll saw; then sandpapered and smoothed them. And finally I painted all the pieces and glued them together."

CAD Sculptor/Digital 3D Modeler
Apple Inc.
Cupertino, California

The Apple Industrial Design team is looking for a CAD sculptor/Digital 3D modeler to create high quality CAD models used in the industrial design process and development of new products. The CAD sculptor is responsible for interpreting and defining the design intent of the industrial designer using Alias software while working with mechanical engineering, manufacturing and tooling requirements. 3D CAD data is used to develop product concepts, detailed appearance models, and renderings as well as production level surfaces used for engineering and tooling.

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A new and affordable 3D printer has hit the market: 3D Systems' Cube. It's infinitely more elegant-looking than MakerBot Industries' Replicator, and nearly 500 bucks cheaper at $1,299 (though with a smaller 5.5" x 5.5" x 5.5" build area). But my excitement at first hearing about it quickly subsided upon seeing the attendant Cubify website, which gives you the impression the company behind it isn't quite sure what they're doing.

First off the video presentation, which is so banal I will not embed it here, is like one of those uninformative Powerpoint slideshows you're forced to sit through at work meetings and bad press presentations.

Secondly, MakerBot Industries' machines have a strong community component that greatly increases the utility of and support for their products; go to their Thingiverse website and you'll find tons of free projects you can make, with descriptions and files. In contrast, when I click on the Cubify "Community" page, I'm met with a pointless wall of headshots of different users, and many of them stock silhouettes to boot. Am I meant to click on people's faces that I like in order to see what they've made? The same page also features a map so you can search for fellow users geographically. Isn't the point of 3D printing that you can produce your own stuff independent of geography, and a guy in Seattle can share designs with a girl in New York?

Thirdly, like MakerBot Industries, the Cubify site sells the raw material that you'll need to feed into the printer. But whereas MakerBot sells the material in spools by weight, Cubify doesn't even quantify how much material you get for a particular amount. It simply says "1 Case - $49," followed by the option to buy three cases—at two different prices: $139.99 or $49.99. Huh?

Lastly, Cubify's page of projects you can make has thumbnails of different objects—with price tags underneath them. Where MakerBotters are sharing everything, keeping the emphasis on making, Cubify is keeping the emphasis on $.

None of these things mean the Cube is a bad product; but it illustrates a very different approach to 3D printing than MakerBot Industries is taking, and as a personal preference I'd rather get behind the latter.

Lexus has been getting a lot of press for their LF-LC concept vehicle, pictured here, which had the sheets yanked off of it at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit and subsequently snapped up the EyesOn Design Awards Best Concept prize. But while the snazzy exterior has everyone a'Twitter, it's the design of the interior that caught our eye.

The graphics on the dashboard seen up top might be a bit much, seemingly intended to dazzle rather than convey information, but we're digging the way the center console unfurls in a leather-wrapped spiral.

Lexus execs claim the LF-LC, which was designed at parent company Toyota's CALTY design studio in California, is indicative of the design direction the company will pursue in the immediate future.

Hit the jump for aforementioned snazzy exterior shots.

I never saw the movie Sideways in full so I'll spare you the bad pun, but it so happens that it's the one word to describe designer Martin Jakobsen's rEvolution wineglass. The Czech designer, currently working for Mojoo Aps in Denmark, launched his eponymous brand in 2010 in order to pursue independent design ventures such as the rEvolution glass.

As with the stemless wineglass, part of the vessel is flattened so it can rest on a surface; however, Jakobsen has retained the stem as a sort of vestigial handle. The key, of course, is that the opening is at a 45° angle from either orientation.

All images courtesy of LACMA, Decorative Arts and Design Council Fund

Designer Greta Magnusson Grossman couldn't have known the profound impact her brand of Swedish modernism would have when it hit stateside in 1940, the year she set up shop in Beverly Hills. Her bullet-shaped lamps, teak and tweed seating and playful "atomic" room dividers were instantly popular, attracting attention from celebs like Greta Garbo and Joan Fontaine as well as from the budding California design community. Just a decade later, Grossman, firmly entrenched in the midcentury movement, observed that California design "is not a superimposed style, but an answer to present conditions...It has developed out of our preferences for living in a modern way."

Greta Magnusson Grossman Above: Desk (with storage unit), 1952. Walnut, iron, formica. Below: Lamp, model 831, 1949. Iron, aluminum.

Just what were the conditions that inspired one of the most influential eras of 20th-century design? That's what LACMA's California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way investigates. It's part of the Pacific Standard Time series, an exploration of Southern California art on exhibition at over sixty different museums and galleries.

Image courtesy of Studio Lin

Dearest Core77 readers...consider this a friendly reminder. Next Tuesday, January 17, we will launch our 2012 Core77 Design Awards! As promised, this year is bigger and better honoring 17, count 'em, 17 unique categories of design excellence each headed up by an expert jury captain.

Each of our exciting categories celebrates 17 diverse areas of design endeavor, honoring the ever-changing design world. Our jury captains are design experts from all over the globe representing 7 countries and 12 cities—they will be selecting their team members from their local area. Besides Core77 editorial coverage for winners, your work will be seen by a truly global jury. And if you register for our program early, not only will you get the latest news updates, but we send you one of our great limited edition posters. Our new website launches on Tuesday with all of the details, so stay tuned!

Treehouses, boy scouts, campfires and impeccable vintage prop styling makes Wes Anderson's newest film, Moonrise Kingdom, the film I'm most excited about for 2012. Written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, the film stars Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, France McDormand, Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman. Check the full trailer after the jump!

Bay Area designers Evan Murphy & Michael Wood—a.k.a. E&M Labs—have recruited their friend Marshall Grinstead for "Skallops," their latest Kickstarted toy.

Drawing on the traditional "house of cards," their new toy extrapolates on the use of a standard playing card as a structural member for an infinitely expandable building toy, where Skallops are laser-cut connectors for the cards.

Insofar as it's a fairly straightforward concept, the video features the three creators in their Menlo Park shop, as well as a handful of projects:

We were pretty excited when we first heard about U.K.'s McKay Flooring use of reclaimed whiskey barrels for bespoke flooring; now they're back with veritable barrels of wall cladding. We'll leave the charming ’cross-the-pond spelling intact:

The original philosophy was to extend the life of the beautiful oak barrels, that would other wise have ended up as landfill, and manufacture solid wood parquet flooring from the staves and lids. Having achieved this to much acclaim we were still left with plenty of usable prime oak from the many staves that were unsuitable for converting into the thin flat strip flooring. We have now introduced Whisky Barrel Cobbles to the Whisky Barrel Flooring range.

Taking inspiration from the gentle curve of the contours of a whisky barrel we noticed the likeness to traditional granite cobble sets that once paved the streets or our native Glasgow. By cutting the staves down to hand sized blocks and applying some finishing and staining we've replicated the cobble look for use indoors utilising the authentic the casks cast off by the Scottish Whisky Industry.

Glasgow's Bruadar bar is among the first watering holes to boast a rustic oaky interior courtesy of McKay's.

In anticipation of the upcoming IxDA Interaction12 Conference taking place in Dublin, Ireland February 1–4, Core77 will be bringing you a preview of this year's event. Follow us as we chat with keynote speakers, presenters and workshop leaders to give you a sneak peek at some of the ideas and issues to be addressed at this year's conference. Come by and say hello to us at the Coroflot Connects recruiting event and don't miss out on our live coverage as we report from the ground in Dublin!

For the second installment of our series of interviews with Interaction12 presenters, we had a quick chat with Tom O'Rahilly, Director of the National Leprechaun Museum in Dublin. As unorthodox as it may seem at first blush, O'Rahilly—a designer by training and trade—explains how storytelling is the essence of interaction design.

Photo by Ros Kavanagh

Core77: I know that the National Leprechaun Museum had an initial wave of press when the museum first opened in March 2010. Any news to report since then? What kind of response or feedback have you received, and has that met or exceeded your expectations?

Tom O'Rahilly: Yes, we got great coverage when we opened. The Leprechaun was a somewhat derided character in Ireland, and the fact that we opened a museum about them was something unusual. As a project dealing with folklore and mythology, subjects that are not regarded as mainstream, it got a great deal of interest, which has continued right up to today. At launch there were no other museums anywhere directed at folklore and mythology. The Leprechaun is an easy way in to the labyrinth of Irish myths and legends.

We regard the museum as a project which continues to evolve, our primary aim is to engage with the audience. The better the engagement, the more we can communicate. The reactions have been great: we grew our audience significantly this year and we continue to interact with users long after they have left the museum.

We regularly run special events and add to our online presence in order to attract and engage people in different aspects of the Irish imagination.

The Tunnel - An Uaimh; Photo by Ros Kavanagh

Founding a cultural institution might seem like an unexpected direction for someone who spent over a decade in design. How has the experience been similar to and different from product design?

Culture and design go hand in hand. The physical product we can hold in our hand has a cultural backstory. It can be compared to an iceberg where the tangible product is part of a larger tacit element under the water and out of sight. A bigger cultural, out-of-sight part makes for more meaningful engagement.

One of the biggest differences is the way people own their experiences. This is much more explicit and social than I am used to.

Photo by Ros Kavanagh

Vertical Product Designer - Apparel/Accessories
Puma
Herzogenaurach, Germany

Puma is currently looking for a Vertical Product Designer Apparel/Accessories in our Headquartes in Herzogenaurach, Germany.You will has the responsibility to design products and collections for the specific customers following an assignment from Product Manager Gothenburg and Vertical Product Line Management.

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