Cookie Cup

For the Italian coffee brand Lavazza, Venezuelan designer Enrique Luis Sardi has created Cookie Cup - a coffee cup you can eat.

 The cup is made of pastry with a special icing sugar interior, which is multipurpose: it insulates, is waterproof, and, is a sweetener for the coffee. 

Interesting way to reduce one's carbon footprint - drink the coffee and then eat the cup!

Via: DesignTaxi

The Future We Choose

As contributor, I am excited to announce the London book launch 
of 'The Future We Choose' An initiative of Think Act Vote 

The Launch is today at The Arch Gallery - 14.00 Wednesday 25 July 
& continues to 02.00 Thursday 26 July.

Press Release

18^th July 2012

 Now is the time to create the future that we choose for the world. 

New book launched by Think Act Vote (?!X) shows us how. 

As we stand in 2012, many of the ideologies running our world systems have failed. Some of us fear there is no other belief system that has enough strength behind it to succeed. Yet, we have a plethora of solutions and ideas amongst us that could lead to a brighter future, argues Think Act Vote in their book ‘The Future We Choose’.

The Future We Choose brings together over 200 forward thinking voices, from the general public mixed in with those well known, from fashion designers to historians, campaigners to presenters. Here they share the vision of the world they want to live in with their ideas of how to create it. The book revolves around ‘The Futures Interview’, which also asks for a Future Soundtrack and five all time favourite weblinks. Launched by radical think-tank Think Act Vote (?!X), it was founded to create a new conversation around democracy and how we create the future we choose.

‘An idea that could send a transforming fire to the future.’ 

Ben Okri, Author and Poet.

The Future We Choose features contributors including Wayne Hemingway, June Sarpong, Kriss Akabusi, Katharine Hamnett, Lynne Franks and Dan Snow sharing their answers to these questions. It is a personal, political exploration of what we value, and how we can live these values in our everyday lives. It aims to provide a space for the reader to stop, think about the world they choose to live in and how we then create it. Input was gathered from music festivals, social media and the corridors of parliament. It ends with an afterword by campaigner and activist Sam Roddick, who poignantly encourages us to believe that anything is possible.

The project began with a fashion design competition back in 2010 in the run up to the UK general election. Think Act Vote founder, Amisha Ghadiali said: “If politics were a fashion brand, you wouldn’t wear it. We want to use creativity to create a community around the choices we make for our future.”

The book was previewed in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during the Rio+20 Earth Summit with an event at the Hub Culture Pavilion. In the UK, it launches officially on Wednesday 25^th July with an event at The Arch Gallery in East London. This will bring together many of the contributors for an afternoon of talks, workshops and live music.

The Future We Choose is supported by a variety of people including Tim Smit from The Eden Project who said, “I feel a new form of democracy stirring and it is exciting and vital. Go make a difference I say. Read this book and start now.”

1. The Futures Interview: http://alisondaydesigns.blogspot.nl/2011/12/futured-interview.html

2. Video: http://alisondaydesigns.blogspot.nl/2012/01/futures-exhibtion-think-act-vote.html

3. Futures Calender: http://alisondaydesigns.blogspot.nl/2012/02/futures-calendar.html

Alison Day Designs 

Cocoagraph

What a super idea for a gift... 

A Philadelphia-based confectionery company, Cocoagraph, will take your precious photo moments and create a handmade chocolate bar printed on edible ‘Polaroid-style' photo paper. Available in four flavours milk, white, dark or organic dark chocolate. All you have to do is upload your photo, choose the frame size and design, and they will do the rest.

Via: DesignTaxi 

Once upon a time...

Coasting Along

Molson, a Canadian beer company, has come up with an ingenious idea for its beer coasters, which is also an ecologically friendly one too. In a special campaign, they have infused their beer coasters with seeds, so that when planted and watered they should grow into black spruce trees.

Love the idea, but I am curious if the infusion of beer into these coasters as they fulfil their original task of soaking up beer, before they are planted will have any effect on the evolution of black spruce trees in the long run?

Source: DesignTaxi

Smooth Artist

The power of mother nature, the artist... 

A beach in Fort Bragg, California that became dumping ground for people's waste in the earlier part of  the 20th century. 

By the 1960's there was a clean-up initiative, but they were unable to totally remove all the glass that was left. 

Several decades later, with a constant beating from the sea and sand particles, all the broken glass has transformed into round pebble-like forms, resulting in a glittering glass beach - beautiful!

Source: here

Connections Summer issue 2012

The Summer issue of the Connections magazine is out and coming to a place near you! Or if not, why not become a member?

View all issues of Connections HERE (editor, designer, illustrator: 2006-2013)

Alison Day Designs

Bosco Verticale

Continuing in the interests of the environment, health and sanity of people, and a favourite topic of mine - vertical agriculture.

Architects in Milan are tackling the concrete jungle by replenishing the greenery to our increasingly grey cities and modern lifestyles. The project is known as 'Bosco Verticale' (Vertical Forest) and involves incorporating  900 trees, 5,000 bushes and 11,000 plants across the balconies of two towers in the centre of Milan and includes a built-in watering system. The hope is that this will boost Oxygen levels, reduce CO2 and noise pollution.

DesignTaxi