View Suspended' is a stunning art installation created from the thousands of parts that make up a Honda F1 Racing car.
The amazing display was created especially for the event by Dutch artist Paul Veroude. Each of the 3200 parts of the Formula 1 car are suspended on fine wires to produce a 3D 'exploded diagram' that allows race fans the chance to get closer than ever to the engineering secrets of the world's most technically-advanced sport.
Honda first recognised Veroude's talents two years ago, when Artwise Curators, who develop art projects with the Honda team, came across a museum exhibition of his deconstructed vehicles. Paul then got his first opportunity to get close up and personal with a Honda Racing F1 car during a visit to Silverstone. His passion for the sport and the Honda Racing F1 Team's engineering expertise catalyzed a very special work of art.
Honda's Head of Car Marketing, Jeff Dodds says: "The first time we saw 'View Suspended', we knew it would be perfect for the London Motor Show. It's creative, imaginative and a must see for visitors to the Honda stand. I can't think of a better expression of Honda's passion for F1 and engineering."
Anyone who's brought home a newborn baby will be thanking the gods right now at the site of this fabulous new product. Now instead of rocking baby to sleep in their arms half the night exhausted parents can hand the time consuming task over to the Lullabub cot rocker an innovative product that will gently rock your babies cot automatically and unassisted in a harmonic rhythm to naturally settle and soothe a baby to sleep. The Lullabub subtly mimics the motion of a car and assists in the routine of settling babies. Peace! At last! by Lisa Evans
Once upon a time in the late 1960's, two surfer dudes were living the good life around the legendary surf spot Bells
Beach near Torquay in southern Australia. In between surfing sessions,
beers, and tins of baked beans, Alan Green and John Law began making
board shorts. They wanted to rid their lives of the uncomfortable,
impractical surfing shorts available at the time. The business was
funded with a $1,900 loan from Green's father. Word of mouth grew about
these boardies and their little concern gained momentum. The pair also
created sheepskin boots they called Ugg Boots (nice to wear after a
surf in freezing conditions) and began selling those. Green and Law got
their timing right, arriving in the marketplace just as surfing culture
was getting widespread mainstream attention. Following on from the 1959
movie Gidget and films such as The Endless Summer promoted the sun,
sand, surf, and sex lifestyle, and a growing army of wannabes wanted to
feel a part of this exclusive club, regardless of whether or not they
surfed. Equipment and fashion for this market was primitive, so there
was plenty of scope for new products and fashion. Quiksilver
had a good idea of what their customers wanted because Green and Law
wanted it too, a better wetsuit, a better surfboard, boardshorts with
maximum movement, and a cool sweatshirt to wear after a surf. In 1973,
the company became known as Quiksilver, a business that has become the
biggest surfwear brand in the world, valued at close to $1.5 billion.
For three decades the company has enjoyed annual growth of 25 percent.
A
big key to the success of Quiksilver has been its roots in surf culture
and its sponsorships of top surfers, snowboarders, skateboarders, and
surfing events. Quiksilver has the likes of worldchampion surfer Kelly
Slater and skateboarder Tony Hawk on its sponsorship books. The company
has also cleverly gone to great lengths to distance itself from
mainstream retailing and advertising campaigns.
Initially,
Quiksilver sold its products locally, then to surf shops in other parts
of Australia. As the company grew, Quiksilver sold licenses to other
parts of the world. In 1976, Quiksilver launched overseas when champion
surfer Jeff Hakman took twenty pairs of boardshorts back to the United
States to sell. Hakman was so keen to get the U.S. license for
Quiksilver he is reported to have eaten a paper doily, at Green's
request, during a 1976 drinking-session dare in Torquay. He ate the
doily and got the license. Hakman brought in his friend and fellow
surfer Rob McKnight, now chairman of Quiksilver. When Greenie first
gave us the right to do Quiksilver in America, it was really just meant
to be a summer project,says McKnight. Live near the beach, chase girls,
surf, have some fun. We didn't have a business plan, we didn't have
this whole thing outlined and projected. We just took it as it came.But
is building a business that easy? You get the feeling that this
laid-back ethos is an essential part of the brand strategy of a
surfwear company. Surfers understand the importance of timing,
patience, strategy, competition, and personal performance, but they
tend to talk more about the metaphysical aspects of surfing than about
the aggression, adrenaline, and multi-skilling needed to be a good
surfer.
Their natural competitiveness has surely been a part of
the growth of the businesses, but the company spin is all about having
board meetings on catamarans in exotic locations, opening hip new
stores in Times Square with Malibu surfboards all over the ceilings.
Quiksilver
listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1986 and forged ahead. Green
and Law keep their hand in the Australian operations, introducing hit
lines such as Roxy, until 2002 when they sold the last of their rights
to the Quiksilver name for $125 million to the U.S. operations
Quiksilver International, now based in Huntington Beach, California.
Law and Green still retain a 6 percent share in the company and have
profit share agreements in place. Law and Green still live in
Australia's surfing capital Torquay, at least for part of the year,
when they are not off skiing or surfing around the world. At every
stage, they have been quick to promote the fact that surfing still
takes priority over work and, now that they are in their sixties, they
are living every baby boomer's dream: surfing and skiing around the
world with a combined fortune of more than $400 million. Alan and John
are still regularly seen at the Torquay Hotel sinking beers, thirty
years later. "My first passion is not working",says Green. "You are a
long time dead, and I don't want to spend my life waiting for it. They
can afford to relax,�owning 6 percent of a company worth nearly $1.5
billion leaves a person with plenty of options. By Emily Ross &
Angus Holland, exclusive online extract from 100 Great Businesses & the minds behind them. Buy online
As childrens fashion has skyrocketed with an explosion of labels that would make mom and dad envious, childrens interiors have undergone a similar groovy make-over. We're loving kiddies, a castor wheel collection specially designed for the colorful world of kiddy's bedrooms. Apart from being gorgeous with their cartoonish faces in bright colors - the castors make life easy in juniors room by making furniture mobile. They can be used on everything from drawers, swivel chairs, children's beds, cradles and toy containers to bedside cabinets and computer desks. by Billy T
Design expos are becoming a common place around the world now, which means that expo designers are having to become more creative in how they present their exhibits simply just to stand out from the crowd and impress travel weary seen-it-all designer attendees. Companies are blowing huge budgets building these temporary temples designed to stop passing crowds in their tracks. The Salone Del Mobile in Milan has played host to spectacular displays recently.
Some international standouts include:
Fujitsu (pic above) set out to install a ‘Branding Monument,’ with its incredible light soaked bubble. More a planet than a stand, the Fujitsu exhibit created an alternative universe for attendees, who were enthralled by the larger than life graphic and image displays.
Car giant Daimler-Chrysler commissioned Almut Weinecke-Ludwig to design
a motor-sport themed traveling exhibition. First seen in Berlin, the
awe inspiring installation was comprised of a racetrack made of
laminated wood. Talk about fast cars.
Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka outdid himself with a brilliant display for Lexus in Milan last April. More than 700km of soft, transparent, acrylic fibers were tied to a triangular, ceiling-mounted frame creating a tunnel. And the light at the end of the tunnel, was, you guessed it, a brand spanking new Lexus.
The Comfort Sphere is a whole new concept in exhibition space. Inspired
by Eero Aarnio's "Ball Chair" from 1963, the Comfort Sphere creates an
intimate presentation space with the latest hi-fi and multimedia
equipment. In this all consuming space the senses are literally
seduced, while your sense of time and space shift to the tune of this
alternative universe. by Billy T
No longer just the world’s ‘workroom’, China is rapidly becoming an international hot spot with a growing middle class hungry for western luxuries and comforts. Beijing kids are the latest to be treated to some western style indulgence with Kids Republic, a children’s bookstore that transports it’s pint sized customers into a delightful fairytale world full of color and fantasy – complete with massive story telling screens and play areas. It’s haven for little imaginations in the heart of one of the biggest cities in the world. by Billy T
The Metro Hubstat Fli System was designed to encourage individuals to use the sparse public transportation that is being implemented around Los Angeles and in-turn alleviate some of the traffic that many of us suffer from in this fair city. Los Angeles spreads far, wide and up, into many neighborhoods that are nestled in the hills making public transportation an almost impossible option. This system was designed for any hilltop scenario with a metro system running along its base. For the purposes of this project we chose to look at one specific hilltop neighbor in Los Angeles, Mt. Washington.
The Metro Hubstat Fli System is a people mover that attempts to link the gap between home and the MTA. The system exists as a series of mini stations or Hubstats placed strategically throughout the neighborhood. At each of these mini stations, riders can board the Fli, purchase tickets to any point served by the Los Angeles MTA or rest during an exercise session in the hills. Once having boarded the Fli, riders can travel within the community, or head straight down to the Metro Goldline. Flis are individual units that run on a base motorized track, able to transport users up or down the hill, similar to a chair-lift. The Fli system is camouflaged to discreetly move around the neighborhood above the street, as well as the Hubstat pavilions have been designed to complement and blend with the local environment. by Colleen Coghlan
Get lost? Do you? Well, yet another bright young
designer from the U.K is developing a system that will have tag and
name exactly what your staring at. Google Vision is a conceptual
product developed by Callum Peden, for the worlds favorite search
engine. The product provides the user with a truly unique information
hub by combining GPS, OLED technology and advanced image recognition in
the form of a retractable screen device.
The Global Positioning
System will see the end of wondering the streets asking for directions
and the small roller ball will allow for easy navigation of the
flexible screen. Brilliant for identifying landmarks whilst on
holidays, Google vision acts as a personal; tour guide.
As
well as this, advanced image recognition will mean Google Vision can
target well known landmarks. Then using the increased coverage of
wireless internet, provide the user with information on their
surroundings wherever they may be. by Andy G
It seems Hollywood TV studios and production companies are turning to the web for ideas to new TV concepts. First it was the coolhunter TV show,
now it's "The Assistants"� the second television project to come from
the coolhunter creative team. It's not always about Survivor creator,
Mark Burnett, L.A executives are starting to pay attention to who and
what's online.
"The Assistants"� is a new reality TV series
which follows the fraught, fabulous and fascinating lives of the
personal assistants to the stars and captains of industry. The candid
series provides an inside view into the power and ego obsessed worlds
of entertainment and business. In the spirit of The Devil Wears Prada,
"The Assistants"� celebrates the long suffering personal assistant as
the undervalued lynch pin that powers the engine room of their bosses
lives. Forget filing, 'The Assistants'� reveals the humble assistant as
family mediator, confidante, psychologist, motivator and public
relations damage controller. It's not just about mastering a soy
decafe caramel latte with two sugars and finding Egyptian cotton sheets
with a 400 thread count. It's a calling.
Plans for the pilot are
underway, so if you're an assistant (or you know of someone who we
could contact) to a high flyer and want to be involved, let us know. Do
you work for a fashion editor? Or maybe a rockstar? A celebrity? A
billionaire? A Royal family member? a celebrity chef? If so, contact us
and you could be starring in your own TV show -
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For
those with money to burn, we have discovered the perfect UIBFA
(useless-indulgent but-fabulous-anyway) product. The cityscape coat
hanger! For 250 UK pounds (set of 5) you can own a coat hanger cut
into shape of one of the five major fashion/design capitals of the
world. The Laser-cut hangers are made of light weight Birch ply, hand
finished and varnished. Also, check out the other coat hangers here and here. by Lisa Evans
With world oil prices continuing to soar
through the roof, alternative transport energy is a hot topic. The
world's latest design in electric cars comes from what is possibly the
world's most unlikely source, a fashion design house. Unveiled this
week by Paris-based house Maison de Courrèges, the Zoop is a high
performance 150 kw three-seater electric car. Designers Andre and
Coqueline Courre�ges got their start in fashion working for the
legendary French house Balenciaga. Thanks to them the worlds of fashion
and engineering may no longer be worlds apart. by Billy T
Lighting has become a key element of interior design. The humble
light bulb and lamp shade has morphed into all sorts of artistic
creations. This new collection by Italian design firm Artmide
is a case in point. The lines between art and lighting have been
fabulously blurred. Art installation or living room light? Who cares,
as long as we can buy one. by Lisa Evans
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