2009 Blog Archives - January
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Happy New Year
Thursday January 1, 2009 by Eames DemetriosWell, 2008 has been a brutal year for many people and though the pain is not over—there are many ways and opportunities to make 2009 the foundation of a great future.
Welcome 2009
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New Method of Locomotion
Friday January 2, 2009 by Eames Demetrios
This is a worm that someone found in Australia. It seems to move by expelling its innards out through its mouth and then pulling itself along.
And here is a video of it.
CommentA Fearful Symmetry
Saturday January 3, 2009 by Eames DemetriosWell, now the US is losing its Climate Change skeptic, the EU is getting one.
From the Times of London:
“The European Union’s new figurehead believes that climate change is a dangerous myth and has compared the union to a Communist state.
The views of President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic, 67, have left the government of Mirek Topolanek, his bitter opponent, determined to keep him as far away as possible from the EU presidency, which it took over from France yesterday.”
That’s some irony for you.
CommentA Japanese Best-Seller
Saturday January 3, 2009 by Eames DemetriosWould love to hear from a Japanese correspondent just how literally these excuses were supposed to be taken.
CommentA Collecting Story
Saturday January 3, 2009 by Eames Demetrios
This 1937 Bugatti was found in excellent condition in a garage (slight exageration—it was found by the relatives of a man who died, who clearly knew he had held on to the treasure. but it was a surprise to them.)
CommentFlat Screens as Energy Wasters
Monday January 5, 2009 by Eames DemetriosProposed rules in California would take on the energy inefficiencies of flat screen TV. From the LA Times:
“The consumer electronics industry opposes the regulations, expected to pass in mid-2009, and claims that they could remove some TVs from store shelves and slightly boost sticker prices.
But the California Energy Commission is looking for ways to relieve the strain on the power grid. Officials say the standards, once fully in place, would reduce the state’s annual energy needs by an amount equivalent to the power consumed by 86,400 homes.”
The rest here. CommentDesign Trends article in LA Times
Monday January 5, 2009 by Eames DemetriosAn example of covering style in the name of design: design hazards are detailed in yesterday’s LA Times. Not defending the trends in question, BTW.
CommentOBIT: The Man who Brought Hawaiian Print Shirts to the World
Monday January 5, 2009 by Eames Demetrios
I hate obituaries like this—where you learn about someone who did something pretty cool. But you only know about them and it because they are gone:
Alfred Shaheen created the Aloha shirt as we know it.
“Alfred Shaheen, a textile manufacturer who revolutionized the garment industry in postwar Hawaii by designing, printing and producing aloha shirts and other ready-to-wear items under one roof, has died. He was 86.”
. . .
“After World War II, many servicemen and servicewomen returned to the United States from Asia and the Pacific islands with aloha shirts that had been made in Hawaii since the 1930s. Tourists began flocking to Hawaii in the 1950s as faster airplanes allowed for easier travel and the former U.S. territory became a state in 1959.
The tropical-print shirts for men and sundresses for women became standard and sometimes tacky souvenirs for travelers, but Shaheen raised the garments to the level of high fashion with artistic prints, high-grade materials and quality construction.
Even Elvis Presley wore a Shaheen-designed red aloha shirt featured on the album cover for the “Blue Hawaii” soundtrack in 1961.”
Here is his website:
Comment [1]Michael Bierut has some thoughts
Monday January 5, 2009 by Eames DemetriosMichael Bierut of Pentagram shares some thoughts about this recession vis a vis design on the Design Observer blog:
“It actually doesn’t seem that long ago that the only problem was getting all the work done and finding people places to sit. Back in the middle of that seemingly endless string of 60-hour-work-weeks, not one, not two, but (um) several clients called to ask if I wouldn’t mind billing them in full, in advance, for work we hadn’t yet begun, just so they could commit their budgets and get the money off their books. And then at least one of them just seemed to forget about the project altogether.”
Some good advice follows.
CommentThe Esherick House by architect Louis Kahn at Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania
Monday January 5, 2009 by DASPhotoBlogger
Architect Design Blog
Wednesday January 7, 2009 by Eames DemetriosHere is a blog I just encountered. Design and Architecture—mostly interiors as far as I have seen.
And I loved the post on the Mercer Tiles.
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Dune House
Friday January 9, 2009 by Eames DemetriosWilliam Morgan’s Dune House is for sale.
Pretty near. It is in Florida. Here is a slide show from Morgan’s site.
Above is an image by Grifray from his Flickr stream.
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A Really Awful Development
Saturday January 10, 2009 by Eames DemetriosCalifornia’s Governor Schwarzenegger has, a bit out of the blue, decided to revive the Peripheral Canal (a way to get water from Northern California to Southern California).
For those not familiar with the issue, the key problem with it (and the reason for its defeat a decade or two ago) is that it would have a devastating impact on the ecology of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Frankly to me that is bad enough, but the specific of that ecology is that San Francisco Bay is certainly the biggest estuary in California (and probably the western US as well). What that means in practical terms is that it will devastate the fisheries (which is an economic as well as scientific crime).
They answer (as far as I can tell) that this version is more environmentally friendly than the others, BUT they don’t want to do the enviornmental impact studies until after construction starts. So I have a feeling it may not be as simon-pure as they claim.
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CompostModern2009
Monday January 12, 2009 by Eames DemetriosI am excited to be the keynote speaker at Compost Modern, connecting the theme of sustainability to scale. The whole day should be great, focussed on the relationship of sustainability to design.
In San Francisco on February 21st. More details to follow
CommentThe Present Moment
Tuesday January 13, 2009 by Eames DemetriosAlot of people saw this article in the New York Times, called Design Loves a Depression. I thought it was interesting, but not exactly accurate—after all, there is a difference between loving a depression and rising to the occasion. But there is something to pay attention to. Here is a representative paragraph:
“The pain of layoffs notwithstanding, the design world could stand to come down a notch or two — and might actually find a new sense of relevance in the process. That was the case during the Great Depression, when an early wave of modernism flourished in the United States, partly because it efficiently addressed the middle-class need for a pared-down life without servants and other Victorian trappings.”
My discomfort with this has alot to do with being a little too cavalier about the pain that is setting all this in play.
This was Murray Moss’s response:
“Design loves a depression? I can assure you that design, along with painting, sculpture, photography, music, dance, fashion, the culinary arts, architecture, and theatre, loves a depression no more than it loves a war, a flood, or a plague. Michael Cannell’s article is regressive and mean-spirited, and it demands a response.”
And the response is worth reading.
But I think they are both missing some key dynamics of this moment in design history. More soon.
CommentFore!
Thursday January 15, 2009 by Eames DemetriosI am sucker for articles like this one—about the world’s most dangerous golf course:
“As you approach the golf course, the sign that welcomes you announces with no equivocation: “DANGER! DO NOT RETRIEVE BALLS FROM THE ROUGH LIVE MINEFIELDS.” Never have the implications of shanking a drive been so severe!”
CommentFacebook retreats
Saturday January 17, 2009 by Eames DemetriosThis phenomenon is probably familiar to a lot of facebook users. Though I found interesting that in an article on digital anonymity, I could not find the name of the author (I sure I simply missed it, but . . .)
CommentUSAir Flight landing in the water
Saturday January 17, 2009 by Eames DemetriosIt is pretty odd that the USAir flight landed next to one of the biggest cities in the world and we have no video or still of the event.
Still—so lucky
Here is some surveillance camera video:
Look at the speed of that current
CommentManifest Hope
Sunday January 18, 2009 by Eames DemetriosAnother Shepard Fairey triumph:
Images from the installation of manifest hope.
CommentJerry and Evelyn Ackerman
Monday January 19, 2009 by Eames DemetriosSome recognition for designers Jerry and Evelyn Ackerman:
They have a show opening in San Diego in March:
Masters of Mid-Century California Modernism: Evelyn and Jerome Ackerman will be at the Mingei Museum.
Should be great:
Inauguration
Tuesday January 20, 2009 by Eames DemetriosIt was a joy and privilege to watch the inauguration. All those people in the Mall.
Science returning to center stage. Not because science answers everything, but because it is a vital tool in our approach to the world and making things work.
CommentInauguration Special
Tuesday January 20, 2009 by Eames DemetriosMaybe you need to know San Francisco to fully appreciate this, but . . .
the whole article though is worth checking out.
CommentMy Favorite Picture
Tuesday January 20, 2009 by Eames Demetrios
Obama's Blackberry
Thursday January 22, 2009 by Eames Demetrios CommentMore on Carbon
Saturday January 24, 2009 by Eames Demetrios CommentA fun site
Wednesday January 28, 2009 by Eames DemetriosI particularly liked the Newt Gingrich story
CommentNic Taylor's Times
Wednesday January 28, 2009 by Eames DemetriosA collage project by Nic Taylor
CommentOnline Review Sites
Thursday January 29, 2009 by Eames DemetriosVery interesting post on Rubicon.com on the challenges that are faced by people running review sites.
My favorite part of the post is the writer’s (Michael Mace) acknowldgement that there is no answer—so often such posts have a glib suggestion hard to implement in the real world.
CommentTED Links
Saturday January 31, 2009 by Eames DemetriosI am very excited to be going to this year. I spoke in 2007, missed last year and made it this year.
But going through the list of attendees has exposed me to some interesting links—so I am just start throwing them out there as I encounter them.
Comments are welcome. Call it the TED Slipstream.
CommentTED Slipstream 1
Saturday January 31, 2009 by Eames Demetrios CommentTED Slipstream 2
Saturday January 31, 2009 by Eames DemetriosGlobal Network of Women Inventors.
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TED Slipstream 3
Saturday January 31, 2009 by Eames DemetriosA comically out of touch Digital Britain report.
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