Winged "Poodles"

Spotted flying around in the skies of South America, is the Venezuelan poodle moth. A very strange creature, and nobody seems to know much about it. 

According to Zoologist, media consultant, and science writer, Dr Karl Shuker (also one of the best known cryptozoologists in the world). He believes this to be legitimate: "Furry, white, long-eyelash-bedecked insect that's so strange it couldn't possibly exist in real life and yet somehow it does? Definitely."

Via Wild for Wildlife & Nature

Photo: Arthur Anker
More: here

Fruity Seasons

Super Solar

Absolutely love this, and it's definitely going on my wish list... A self sustaining floating island, designed by Michele Puzzolante. This solar floating resort is: hotel, yacht, submarine (sleeping six), has an underwater observation room, a jacuzzi and photovoltaic thin-film skin panels, which if implemented properly, could produce a third of the worlds energy by 2060.

That aside, the development of clean solar energy technologies combined with the vast electrical energy created by the power of the sun, could translate into an unlimited, non-polluting energy for the future. It could also be part of the solution to our current problem of global warming as well as other environmental issues.

Via Inhabitat

Inside Outside

For the decoration of the outside of buildings, Italian wallpaper company Wall & Decò creates large mural-like wall coverings, which are used the world over. 

Applying photographic images and graphic decorations are simply achieved by the use of a 3-part system : adhesive, technical fabric and finishing treatment.

Via Cool Hunter

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? ... Info: here

Editor & Design: 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

Connections Spring

Current issue 2012 still available - Summer issue just back from the printers and coming to a place near you soon. Alternatively why not become a member and receive it quarterly in your mailbox?  Connect International

99 Feelings

Mitsy Sleurs started with a Matryoshka doll and 99 emotions.
Source: Etsy

Red Sonja

Dew covered macro photography of insects - From close-up beautiful and colourful little designs in themselves.   Source: Treehugger

Cool Cat

Quite possibly the coolest watermelon ever. 
Kin Community

Cuddle Up

Absolutely love this group hug... 
Caterpillars? Birds? It’s actually a group of European Bee-eaters cuddling together on a small tree branch. The birds do look so much like a caterpillar though, that photographer José Luis Rodríguez named the image Oruga de Plumas, or “caterpillar of feathers.”
Source

Millefiori

The art of Millefiori —Thousand Flowers,  dates back to sixteenth century Venice, in which coloured glass rods are fused and cut to create flower patterns and incorporated in glass to make beads.


Alison Day Designs

You have (Snail) Mail

I can't remember the last time I actually sat down and wrote a letter, as lack of time (or motivation) generally means that an email is quicker, and if I really think about it - and can get away with it - I'll  text instead... unsociable? Maybe. But hey, I'd rather do that than spend time in front of a blank screen and the spell check when I could be doing things I actually enjoy...  'Oh the times they are a-changing...'

So, what happens if you're an astronaut in space? Do you get mail? Is it even possible, in zero gravity, to write one? Well, of course I'm sure you can be contacted by a plethera of digital, satellite and other such means out there, but nothing really personal or private. Don Petit, astronaut on the International Space Station asked himself this question: So, if I wanted to write a letter, what IS my actual address? After a quick look at his surroundings: at his sleeping area (read - coffin-sized box), the station, deck and orbital perspective to the Earth, he's come up with the following:
Node 2, Deck 5, ISS, LEO 51.603.

So, if you've got a bit of spare time to kill, and would like to go ahead and strike up a correspondence with an astronaut, in the 'old fashioned way' - Dust off your (ink) pen and get writing!

Via: DesignTaxi

House of Music

Piano-shaped house in the newly developed area of Huainan, China. Built to encourage tourism, but also used by the music students from the nearby college.
Via: DesignTaxi

Myth is Myth

It seems that the much-feared predictions around 2012 and the end of the world could be a myth! 

A 1,200 year old mural has recently been found in an ancient Mayan house, and is said to include drawings and calculations of ancient scribes who kept records in this way in order to track the passing of time. 

This calendar refutes the previous one of the world's demise in 2012. Apparently, it is due to occur many thousands of years in the future, long after you and I have left this dimension - unless of course we succeed in the interim time of accelerating its demise!

Via DesignTaxi   Original article: National Geographic

What if...

... we weren't at the top of the food chain?
Via: Street Art Utopia

Urban Comment

By Banksy, Via DesignTaxi

Pigs Might Fly

Love these... The fascination of hot air ballooning, coupled with creatively designed balloons, is sure to bring a smile to most peoples faces. The first photo, puts an interesting twist on the old saying: 'Pigs might fly.'   Via: Cool Hunter

Heart of Nature

Via: Gardens to Delight

The Art of Chocolate

Fabulous designs by : Enric Rovira Xocolates of Barcelona
And... the traditional method.

Gardens to Delight

Via: Gardens to Delight

Magical Design of Life

Portrait of a Sculptor - Ynskje Penning

It is two o’clock on a Friday afternoon, as I make my way along the narrow stone alley of the Uurwerkersgang. I pass the Harmonie buildings of the Rijksuniversiteit on my right, complete with its boundary of metal bicycle racks, filled to capacity as usual.

A little further down on the other side is Ynskje Penning’s gallery, and as I approach I can see she is less than amused by the fact that an enormous silver-coloured car has been parked right in front of the gallery, blocking the entrance completely. Fortunately, there is just enough room for us to squeeze alongside the car and into the gallery.

The interior is surprisingly more spacious than the outside had led me to believe, and its wooden beamed ceiling and white painted floor give it an airy feel. Atmospheric, scenic and portrait paintings cover the walls from a guest exhibitor, Jacqueline Kasemier. Ynskje’s sculptures sit at intervals on long low black plinths around the room or in the two glass cases either side of the door. There is a small reception desk on which a neat pile of one of her historical novels Emo’s Labyrint is stacked; she is a published author too.

We head upstairs to her studio, but before we can start our talk, there is a customer. He buys a signed copy of the aforementioned book and talks at length with Ynskje about her work. Pen and pad in hand, I stand and listen, jotting down facts as he covers areas I had planned to ask about myself. Curiosity satisfied he leaves, and Ynskje and I sit down with cups of Camille tea, surrounded by her work and posters of past exhibitions on all sides.

Always interested in art, Ynskje wanted to study at art school, but was advised by her parents to follow a study that would offer her a way to make a living. In their eyes it was hard to earn a crust in the arts. Taking their advice, Ynskje studied to become a teacher and taught for a number of years. It was only after her marriage and the birth of her daughter that she decided now was the time to follow her passion. So, she gave up teaching and started writing and sculpting.

She learnt the sculpting tricks of the trade as well as clay and wax basics at the Kunstencentrum. After that, it has been a long continual search spanning thirty-five years, coupled with sheer determination and an invaluable study of anatomy. The results of this can be seen in her bronze busts, where not only the physical but the essence of the person is present. In her words, sculpting is more complicated than painting, as it has to make sense for the whole 360 degrees of the head. Also, whilst a portrait may be emotive it must be timeless.

A commissioned work isn’t realized from a selection of photos, (and where relevant) sittings alone, it often involves the whole family as well as friends. Ynskje uses their reactions to gauge her work’s authenticity, and no sculpture is finished until both parties are absolutely satisfied; a portrait must be tangible, and if she has done her work well, often it can be confrontational too. She gives the example of the man who commissioned a portrait of his then deceased wife; he wanted a younger, timeless version, not his wife aged sixty-two. By studying photos of the woman taken over the years, it was possible for her to create a bust which brought back the striking youthful face of the woman in her younger days, for a cast in bronze. Constructive comments from the family helped along the way with necessary alterations, and, she knew she had succeeded when the woman’s brother-in-law exclaimed “This is her!”

Her personal sculptures differ greatly in style; her inspiration comes from both people and animals, with a particular love of human characteristics in the latter. To illustrate this point she motions to the coffee table and her piece of a mother elephant and child; a study full of movement, with the baby pulling on the mother in much the same way as a human child would do. In contrast to her commissioned work her human figures are simple, with unnecessary detail removed and stylized so that the essence and glance remain. Male models are harder to come by, so her subjects are generally female, voluptuous and curvaceous, often carved out in a white stone.

Her other passion is writing, and she has over sixty books to her name, including historical novels and children’s books. Oftentimes, she will have to research an historical era before embarking on a new project; this can mean delving into hundreds of years of history. Her most popular to date are Emo’s Labrint and Storm Vloed, in their second and fifth editions respectively.

I ask Ynskje if she has any advice for anyone interested in starting a career as a sculptor. From her position seated calmly in the middle of the sofa, with her hands folded in her lap, she tells me that sculpting is a dying art; few sculpting courses remain in The Netherlands, so interested parties often have to travel abroad. Also, you have to ask yourself some serious questions; do you think you could earn a living from it, and if not or it doesn’t turn out to be as you expected, what do you do then? It takes a long time to become a sculptor; you have to be driven, learn to look and be prepared to give it all you’ve got. The world of three dimensions is a long road to travel upon and as her father said: “You can want it, but you have to have the opportunity.”

Should you want to see more of Ynskje’s work, from April 2012, her work can be viewed in her new studio: Emmalaan 7, 9752 KR, Haren.

www.ynskjepenning.nl/

www.emoslabyrint.nl/

www.penningboek.nl/

© Alison Day
First published in the Connections magazine #35 Spring 2012

Read & download issue here

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