New York City has seen its share of being “Ground Zero” for monumental events in pop culture history. From the birthplace of hip hop music, Pop Art, Skyscrapers, Punk Rock, real Pizza and sadly, the World Trade center attacks. Since that tragic day, New Yorkers have done what they do best, by picking up the pieces and making New York even more appealing a place to live today as ever. New museums, restaurants, music venues and truly inspired residences have sprung up all over this great city since the September 11th event. Construction cranes can be seen all over Manhattan and construction has just begun on one the cities latest architectural inspirations located in trendy Tribeca.
“Five Franklin Place” by Dutch architect Ben van Berkel of UNStudio has all the marking of a hit in the Big Apple. Architecturally interesting, dark, sleek and ever so slightly subtle with its visual impact, this space cleverly uses its staggered black metal facade to obscure the activities of its residence, unlike most fishbowl style glass towers we are used to seeing. The interior takes some interesting design direction as well. Van Berkel adds “The apartments at Five Franklin Place do not follow a strong grid. They are organically designed in how the stairs swoop upward, how the balcony loops you back indoors. There’s an idea of looping around the apartments, without many dead ends, so that all of the space really accommodates life and the flow of life.”
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Orbit Baby if i were to have a kid (unlikely, anytime soon), i can’t imagine having one without this system. In fact, my back, sanity, and kid’s safety would demand it. This company is based right in east bay up in norcal and it’s nice to see such a sweet group of Stanford product designers leave IDEO to pursue their dreams and apply their skills to something that really needed some updating.
I encountered Orbit Baby while at CA Boom V… this and the Nomad Yurt were the two things i walked away raving about. The Orbit Baby system is so modular that you have one main soft handled baby carrier (good for the day you leave the hospital), which docks into the easy car seat base as well as the quick collapsing stroller… and also with the simple eames rocker matching rocker base. And as your child grows, you can upgrade to the toddler stroller seat (still works with your stroller and car seat). And for those who like basinets, you can also go for the basinet option which also docks into all the bases, and even comes in a new organic super soft ‘green’ edition.
I know it seems silly, that i’m raving about a kid system that i couldn’t possibly have any use for, but the thought that went into every design detail and the incredible quality of the whole system were irresistible in person. I also even attempted my first vimeo video below from the show (vimeo, wow, sidetrack, but i’m loving their incredible user experience). As for design details worth noting… this system even comes with an easy adorable bag that stores nicely under the stroller! It has two cup holders (aka perfect cellphone holder?)… and the handles even adjust/rotate to your comfort position. Coolest thing of all… (other than making life easier on the parents) - “zoo viewing mode” since you can rotate any of these seats on the base… you can have a sideways facing stroller, which seems perfect for walking around a zoo/aquarium, and perfect for not taking up the whole aisle in a crowded restaurant like many new parents seem to.
On cool noteworthy things ~ this company is based right in east bay up in norcal! and it’s nice to see such a sweet group of stanford product designers that left IDEO to pursue their dreams and apply their skills to something that really needed some updating… Here’s their adorable/admirable story:
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- Tags: Baby, Design, Design & Products, Innovation, Modular Systems, Orbit
From the Coroflot portfolio of : Sung Woo Park (Seoul, South Korea)
Featured project : Eazzzy
Sung Woo Park’s Eazzzy digicam concept is simply a quick, convenient, and well, easy way to snap and download photos. The data transfer process is relieved of wires and multiple device connections and the viewfinder is in the eye of the beholder.
You can’t jerry-rig any college dorm room shelves with these, but John Truex’s bite-size Sugarblocks are perfect for making drinks sweeter. The sugarcube one-upper came up with the idea in collaboration with Spiceship’s Audrey Russel.
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- Tags: Block, Brick, Design & Products, Sugar, Sugarcube
Nothing says “shaker” more than a pair of maracas. Naoto Fukasawa’s Salt and Pepper Maracas are newly available at the Design Museum.
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- Tags: Cooking, Design, Design & Products, Kitchen Tools, Pepper, Product Design, Salt, Shaker
