A movie about Yves Saint-Laurent who continued to reign over the fashion industry for 50 years. It begins with a shocking scene, Saint Laurent himself announcing his retirement looking pretty old. Its an autobiographical movie, which shows that while his light clearly shone bright, he also had a deep darkness present simultaneously.

I thought the movie "Yves Saint-Laurent" was very interesting. Saint Laurent was not only a designer, but also an artist. With his talent, he would have succeeded in any region that has anything to do with design. The movie begins with him announcing his retirement, spoken with words that he must have thought of deeply beforehand. Saint-Laurent continued to reign the fashion world for nearly 50 years as the creator of 'mode'. He passed away not long after his retirement, in 2008. 

The quote that impressed me the most in this film was Saint-Laurent saying "Fashion is dead", just before his retirement in 2002. He kept up with the trend of the time (i.e. safari look, smoking style, Mondrian dress etc.) and he continued to give great influence to the fashion world. But the fashion designs started to change in the 1990's, which started to change Saint-Laurent's feelings towards fashion too. (This was when Japanese designers such as Yoji Yamamoto and Rei Kawakubo started to participate in the Paris collection.)

Saint-Laurent became chief designer of "Christian Dior" at the age of 21. After leaving Dior in 1962, to allow convalescence after a nervous breakdown, he established his own label "Yves Saint-Laurent (YSL)" with the support of his partner, Pierre Bergé.  Bergé was a sharp businessman who knew a lot of politicians. Berge and Saint Laurent were two as one.

Fashion business is a tough job. The crucial difference with designers in other design disciplines is that you have to continue producing new items twice a year for the annual collections, no matter how much of a slump you are in. Another difference is fashion is relatively unaffected by "innovation", when compared to other design disciplines that deal more with products or architecture.

A bottle opener by Heineken that lets you connect to Facebook every time you open a bottle.

A Campaign by Heineken. It just shows how every single thing or action you make can be easily shared through the net.

Heineken - The Invite from Max Gebhardt on Vimeo.

When you open a bottle with this bottle opener, it shows a message on your facebook's news-field via bluetooth, and makes you able to invite your friends over for a drink.

They have a campaign giving out free beer for whoever manages to gather the most people using this unique system.

http://creativecriminals.com/online/heineken-bluetooth-bottle-opener/

Full size paper model of 'Audi A7', using 285 sheets of paper.

Splendid piece of art by graphic design artist, Taras Leskographic. 

A paper model of the new full size sedan, completely hand made after 245 hours of work.

It was part of  Audi 7 campaign, he used 285 sheets of paper and designed 750 model pieces for it.

link:http://www.freshnessmag.com/2011/05/10/audi-a7-papercraft-model/

It looks as if the children are playing happily, but if you look carefully, they are all playing with parodies of historical tragedies.

The news I am anxious about recently is Japan’s position in the world for various key  statistics; like,  Land area: 0.25%, GDP: 8%, English language used: 1.79%, Internet information in Japanese: 0.6%. All the numbers seem extremely small. “How to Diversify Globally“ is an important subject for us.

It looks as if the children are playing happily, but if you look carefully, they are all playing with parodies of historical tragedies.

Adults will not want their kids to play with these negative events, but these incidents were all caused by adults. You can see the “What have you done?” look on the childs face.

Children understand more than adults may think, and sees things more calmly.

http://www.fubiz.net/2011/04/20/in-the-playroom/

A lesson from Einstein; "Don't Expect Different Results"

Albert Einstein was the greatest physicist of the 20th century. He is also known as the father of modern physics, and is famous for the discovery of “the Theory of Relativity”. Einstein received the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for the discovery of "the Law of the Photoelectric Effect."

Some famous quotes by Einstein:

• An interviewer asked Einstein if he trusts imagination more than knowledge, he answered “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge.”.

• From an interview(1945), “I never worry about the future. It comes soon enough”.

• A quote from the Life Magazine in 1955, “Try to become not a man of success, but try rather to become a man of value”

Here are 10 lessons we can learn from Albert Einstein. I especially agree with no.8.


1. Follow Your Curiosity

2. Perseverance is Priceless

3. Focus on the Present
4. The Imagination is Powerful
5. Make Mistakes
6. Live in the Moment
7. Create Value
8. Don't Expect Different Results
9. Knowledge Comes From Experience
10. Learn the Rules and Then Play Better

Please refer to the link below for more detailed explanations:
http://www.dumblittleman.com/2010/03/10-amazing-lessons-albert-einstein.html

Exercise bike "Ciclotte" wouldn’t appear out of place in a design museum

Designs of exercise machines have changed a lot since the old days. Among them, I think this exercise bike named "Ciclotte" wouldn’t appear out of place in a design museum say in Milan. It is made by designer Luca Sccieppati. He re-designed a bike called "Ciclo"(which I unfortunately couldn't find a picture of…) also designed by him. I wouldn't be amazed if this "Ciclotte" becomes a permanent display at the design museum in Milan.

When you push the pedals the gears mesh with each other, like a mechanical watch, and makes 'the epicycloid crank' rotate the main wheel. (an 'epicycloid' is a plane curve produced tracing the path of a chosen point of a circle which rolls without slipping around a fixed circle)  This then generates a magnetic field under the users thigh.

I daily train a lot, and I have a bench press, some barbells and dumbbells in my living room, and it doesn't look so good. An exercise bike will probably be used say once a week or so, but I bet this highly designed "Ciclotte" will keep my room look stylish even when its not in use.

“WOW” created an excellent movie to celebrate the 25th anniversary of MAXON, famous for 3DCG software such as “CINEMA 4D”and “BodyPaint 3D”.

Few days ago producer of “WOW” Atsunori Toshi visited my office. I have many occasions to get in touch with young creators like him, coming to my office for various reasons. I don't exactly know what I can do for them, but it's a pleasure that they come to me and are interested in what I am doing, or what I have done.

Anyhow, a movie to celebrate MAXON’s 25th anniversary is on You Tube. “WOW” has created high quality, stylish PV’s and movies in the past, and this one is excellent too. The movie is made using “CINEMA 4D”, MAXON’s software.

“NS_cane” extending its ability with digital technology, has the potential to become a partner replacing guide dogs. (Keio SFC XD Exhibition 2011)

“NS_cane” is Jointly developed by laboratories of Naoki Sakai, Yasuaki Kakehi and Jin Nakazawa from Keio University SFC. It combines various elements such as product design, sensor technology, programming, and the interactive media. Extending its ability with the digital technology, it has the potential to become a partner for the handicapped, replacing guide dogs. The project aims to promote interactions between people and urban space, or communication between people.

We are currently working on a few prototypes alongside. The prototype that will be on display at the exhibition is the model that allows spatial cognitions using infrared sensor. The stick senses the reflection of the infrared radiation, and alerts/navigates the user.

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The image below is of last years XD Exhibition. This year’s model aims to represent the spatial cognitive functions, made by interactions between the “NS_cane” and space, light and sound. NS_cane will continue extending its ability, such as real-time interaction using GPS, or communication among multiple users of NS_cane.  It will be able to log the user's life, and interact with past data. It will keep on offering more experience using the Sensors (input devices) and actuator (output device).

【XD exhibition 2011 】
Schedule: May 7th,8th  11:00~19:00
Place: Tokyo Design Center “Galleria hall”
Price: Admission free
Web: http://xd.sfc.keio.ac.jp/exhibition2011/

【Guest speaker session】
Schedule: 8th May 14:00~15:30
Guests: Ryouta Kuwakubo(Media-artist) × Kinya Tagawa (Design engineer)×Shunji Yamanaka(Professor at Keio)"

The relations between the traditional Moleskine Notebook and the new product is interesting.

A short promotion movie for the product, using the hand-written sketches effectively. This is a great video showing how the traditional brand image has been carried on to the product.

Moleskine has recently released the "Moleskine Travelling Collection".
The Black, simple bags has inherited the intellectual and refined DNA from the Moleskine products.
Moleskine Bags in Hyper Stop Motion

A close view into the new Moleskine bags and their design process. Freehand technical drawings, sketches and phoptographs all morph and merge toghether into each other.
http://www.moleskine.com/
A close view into the new Moleskine bags and their design process. Freehand technical drawings, sketches and phoptographs all morph and merge toghether into each other.