As much as we adore this concept, we’re not even remotely hopeful something like this will become a reality within the next score or so. That said, we’d love to be proven wrong, as the Conduit is quite possibly the most fantastic phone design to ever be conceived. With a hint of steampunk, a dash of Star Trek and a splash of ergonomic appreciation, this here mobile can be collapsed into a pocket-friendly form or expanded into a bona fide video phone. Hit up the read link for a few more looks, and feel free to give these designers a chunk of capital to make our dreams come true.
What would Tokyo look like if the pavement were suddenly replaced with grass? A simple and inviting, yet laughable, prospect but one that the creators of the Green Island project are taking seriously.
The project is a collaborative effort between creative director Tag (Ryo Taguchi), photo retoucher IMKW (Imakawa), and contemporary artist cum coder Immr (Yuichiro Imamura). The initial result is a series of photographs that cleverly turn Tokyo streets into fields of green. Here is an example of the instantly recognizable Shinjuku.
While new development projects in Tokyo are increasingly prioritizing green space (Tokyo Midtown Shopping Complex is an oft-cited example), existing developed space is notoriously grey—something which is taken as matter of fact. The Green Island project aims to encourage the reconsideration of these existing places and remind us of the potential that these already developed areas still offer.
The Green Island project participated in the recent Japan Media Arts Festival held February 4-15 at the National Art Center Tokyo. The well-attended 12th edition of the annual event included juried entries in the divisions of art, animation, manga, and entertainment. Excellence prizes were picked up by Marcio Ambrosio for “Oups!” (art), Kunio Kato for “The House of Small Cubes” (animation), Makoto Isshiki for “Piano no Mori” (manga), and the Tenori-On development team for the popular Tenori-on game (entertainment).
Trend Potential
Ecology was a major theme at the Media Arts Festival, and has been a growing consumer and production trend in Japan for several years now. For more information on Eco trends in Japan in products, branding, marketing, and behavior, check out our Trendpool innovation database.
The world needs another instructional guitar tool like it needs another hole in the ozone layer, but in all seriousness, this one is stupendous. Er, it exhibits remarkable potential, considering that it’s not yet beyond the concept stage. Designer Eugene Cheong has dreamed up the Maestro, an attachment that can supposedly be adapted to work on any guitar (of the electric variety, we presume) and teach you what frets to mash in order to actually become a halfway decent player. Put simply, the device accepts MP3 files via SD card, and then it breaks down the tunes into tablature which can be displayed via lasers. Once you see the beams lighting up your fretboard, you mash / strum in order to keep up and “learn” the songs. We can only hope this thing adds a slowdown mode should it ever hit store shelves, ’cause even the amateur probably doesn’t want to tackle select Dream Theater tracks at full speed.
In many ways modern cellphones are little more than high-tech pieces of jewelry that keep you connected to the world while looking great pressed to your ear. Barb at Etsy’s “iPhone G3” earrings eschew all that unnecessary functionality and focus on the aesthetics, shrinking a pair of handsets the same way she miniaturized two Wiimotes, turning them into tiny charms to dangle from your earlobes — head decor that’s sure to light up the eyes of every male geek in the room. A pair are yours for just $22, which is a fair bit more affordable than the real things.
Given that we’ve seen mirror TVs and MP3 players designed to emit sound within one’s shower, we’d say Antonio Lupi’s MP3 Mirror is just one of the gang. In fairness, we do appreciate the sleek design and its reported ability to integrate into any steel frame mirror, but unless we’re badly mistaken, the user is still responsible for adding speakers. Our suggestion? Hook up with Emo Labs and concoct an all-in-one device with sound emission baked right into the shiny stuff.
Pardon us while we gush profusely, but this is easily one of the most amazing audio products we’ve ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. The Speak-er, which honestly looks like something straight from the labs of Art Lebedev Studios, is quite simply a speech bubble-shaped speaker. It measures in at 4- x 6- x 2-inches and is constructed from polished white ABS with a matte black steel grille. We don’t even know what kind of driver resides within, but we don’t care. All we know is that this amazing piece of art will be on sale later this year for $120 per pair, and we can’t wait to hear the words “now shipping.”
One of my favorite photograph sub-genres is the mirror self portrait, with camera in sight. I suppose I have a fetish for these shots. These are the best I could find. I saw one like this on an aggregation site popurls.com. And followed the link to Flickr.
Then I found a few more and before I knew it, I found a group called Self Portraits in Mirrors and eventually ended up with 50 of these shots. And that’s when I realized I was obsessing over them. I don’t know why they’re interesting to me. Perhaps it’s the contrast between man and machine. And the expressions, they’re generally candid and, no pun intended, reflective, with no one else around; not even another photographer. Just the gaze of a sensor through a fine piece of focusing glass. Some of the shots go a step further, TTL viewfinder to the eye, giving the subject a cyborg look, the bio-mimed curves, faux leather and lens somehow matching the human facial structure and eyes. Plus, they look beautiful.
My favorite of the bunch are from a series from a Flickr user named Chile, shot for Anastasia Volkova Photography.
If we had to name two essentials to any geek home, well, we couldn’t. But if we were jacked upside the wall and forced to, we’d likely pick sound and lighting. It goes without saying that designers Hoang M Nguyen, Poom Puttorngul and Anh Nguyen would agree, as they’ve dreamed up the conceptual Soundbulb that you see above. Essentially, what you’re looking at is a light bulb that includes a small driver along with an embedded wireless module that would enable it to receive streaming audio from a transmitter. Oh sure, you wouldn’t get any of that soul shaking bass from these guys, but just think of the convenience factor.
Are you an artist wishing to unchain the shackles of traditional media, looking for a way to catapult yourself and your work into the 20th Century? A chap named Benj Edwards has been kind enough to unbox for us Atari’s Touch Tablet, a classic piece of kit from the bygone age of 1984 that — alongside the Atari Artist software — lets users manipulate the size, location and color of shapes and lines. Digitally. The software comes in two versions: the four color version for those of you with 16K RAM, and the 16 color version for those of you with 24K powerhouse workstations. When you’re done with your pixel-based Mona Lisa, you can back it up to a cassette — which will sit in a box in your parent’s garage until your older sister gets around to taping an REO Speedwagon album over it. What are you waiting for? Hit that read link.
If you wanted to sum up your city in one room without making it cluttered, what would you put in there? This is precisely the challenge that TOKYO CULTuART, a new project and shop from BEAMS in Harajuku, is taking on since its opening two weeks ago.
While their main business is design and apparel (ranging from casual to business to t-shirts), culture is also a valuable commodity, a point not lost on BEAMS RECORDS. CULTuArt is in the culture business, taking the best of Tokyo’s art and design scenes and letting it all play together, regardless of medium or genre.
Recently we were lucky enough to spend some time with Nagai-san, the General Manager of CULTuART and a mainstay at BEAMS for over two decades. According to Nagai, CULTuART is an aggregator of urban Tokyo, bringing its many faces and artists into one place that acts as both retail outlet and museum.
From the Gundam figures of Akihabara to design books and prints found in Ueno, CULTuART spans the urban landscape of modern Made in Japan, shows it to the world, and makes it available to the masses all at once. The contents reflect the tastes of modern Japanese, but also those of its curator who values a piece’s cultural and aesthetic qualities at once.
The shop is decidedly down-to-earth in its sensibilities, but that doesn’t mean it comes with a small price tag. While Modoka Morikawa’s Peloqoon stuffed figures can go for around $150, one-of-a-kind pieces like the Doraemon stained-glass lamp from Pucci (seen in the slideshow) can exceed $7000. This is surely the nature of bringing in the best of the best, and makes it a great stop for both foreign and local visitors to get a solid overview of Tokyo culture and design in a very pop-culture kind of way.
Technology certainly has its place in CULTuART’s space as well. Aside from multiple Mac models open for use, they’ve also created a special browser-based application for iPhone and iPod Touch devices. Each item has its own number which, when clicked on, brings up detailed information about the piece and its artist in both Japanese and English. If you have one of the devices yourself, click here to browse on your own, and check out pieces like MODERHYTHM’s very cool CHUBU 01, pictured below.
Gadget-less customers can get loaners to use during their browsing time, but Nagai-san notes that devices integrated with the shopping experience are going to expand even more in the coming years, incorporating RFID and other technologies to better provide interactive information about the displays.
For the next step in its evolution, CULTuART is expanding to bring the best of Tokyo to other major cities around the world, though they haven’t made any firm plans yet as to where they’ll be going. Since they’re interested in spreading culture, a unique or unusual location (in our opinion anyway) would be far more interesting than the usual suspects.
However, the concept can work both ways as well, as many Japanese are increasingly travel-minded and appreciative of other cultures. TOKYO CULTuART would be interesting in Brooklyn, but how about a BROOKLYN CULTuART version in Paris or Cairo?
To visit for yourself, click for a map from Harajuku Station.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Whoa, what camera is that?
