Month: November 2007

Heineken World Bottle: Beer to Bricks!

Heineken wobo glass bottle to brick sustainable concept

Sweet goodness! What a great idea. Manufacturing Beer bottles to convert to brick structures for later use. This reminds me of the POM bottles that can be used as regular glass cups for home use. Why can’t this come back to reality! The amount of bottles tossed each year is absurd. Makes me want to ask photographer Chris Jordan to make a visual map of it for his “Running Numbers” series! (Did ya know in the USA alone we go through 106,000 aluminum cans every 30 seconds! It’s absurd!) There’s also the “66 Beer Bottle= a cheap solar water heater” direction.

Upcycling is a 21st century term, coined by Cradle to Cradle authors William McDonough and Michael Braungart, but the idea of turning waste into useful products came to life brilliantly in 1963 with the Heineken WOBO (world bottle). Envisioned by beer brewer Alfred Heineken and designed by Dutch architect John Habraken, the “brick that holds beer” was ahead of its ecodesign time, letting beer lovers and builders alike drink and design all in one sitting.

Mr. Heineken’s idea came after a visit to the Caribbean where he saw two problems: beaches littered with bottles and a lack of affordable building materials. The WOBO became his vision to solve both the recycling and housing challenges that he had witnessed on the islands.”

I want I want!!! It’s like buying Lego’s with your beer bottle as an adult! or you can just reuse what you have laying around much like the students at Western Washington University.(their show is in Seattle today, Nov 10th, 5-7pm)

via inhabitat

Larry Lessig: How creativity is being strangled by the law

One of the most inspirational lectures from TED2007 is finally out for sharing!!! Stanford Professor Larry Lessig give his take on digital copyright and how laws are strangling creativity. (his books here)

Larry Lessig gets TEDsters to their feet, whooping and whistling, following this elegant presentation of “three stories and an argument.” The Net’s most adored lawyer brings together John Philip Sousa, celestial copyrights, and the “ASCAP cartel” to build a case for creative freedom. He pins down the key shortcomings of our dusty, pre-digital intellectual property laws, and reveals how bad laws beget bad code. Then, in an homage to cutting-edge artistry, he throws in some of the most hilarious remixes you’ve ever seen.”

Afterwards, watch some of my favorites from TED2006 here.

Flying Human: Base jumping craziness!

I posted this insane base jumping video previously but now have some food for thought for it. In the video, the base jumper mentions how they first tried to get as far away from walls as much as possible, but overtime they got bored, so now they play around, getting as close as possible to walls and roads, nearly touching the cliffs as they fall.

My point is, that sometimes in design, doing a total 360 180 from the norm can turn out better. The grass is always greener on the other side… i.e: everyone uses white so use black, everyone makes it thin so make yours thick, everyone adds features and you subtract features, everyone makes them organic looking so make yours industrial, etc. Happy disrupting!

Aarrow Advertising


Check this out. Some students get summer jobs holding up signs on street corners, they get bored, so they start competing against each other, flipping their signs like bartenders with bottles or pizza dough spinners. They start up their own advertising company, their acrobatic signage goes viral , and now they have a multi million dollar company with sign spinners across the country! via The Big Idea

Seriously, you can freshen up any dead business and make millions… very cool!
Watch the video above, their website, story, or other videos.

Weekend Links

Pixels games sketches

Note of week: “Mystery is more important than knowledge.” JJ Abrahms. This might apply to all shakes in life but sometimes it’s just better not to know, in life or in TV shows.

Smart Strips, Power strips that actually stop using power when appliances are turned off.
– A new Plug In hybrid designed by BMW and Aston-Martin Designers. Will this compete with the Tesla and Aptera?.
Houses with a view! Breathtaking!
Sketches for games. Very cool! via NotCot.
– A visual interface comparison over time: Google vs Yahoo.
FOUND magazine. A magazine made up if things found… usually odd notes. good stuff.
Device Charger Holder. A cute useful stand for your phone and plug.
Targets NYC Grand Central Holographic Fall Fashion Show (Nov 6,7)

Fuerzabruta in New York City

Fuerzabruta show

Woa! People crashing through dry walls, flying boxes, and debris while gliding through slimmers of water above you on a transparent surface, stomping furiously through rooms, pumping their arms and feet to music, under, over, and on all sides of you! Very cool! Check out their video above, hit up their website, and go get tickets for their brief NYC visit!

“Att: New Yorkers. Get your credit cards ready, and book your standing space at ‘Fuerzabruta’, one of the most unique shows you’ll ever see. ‘Fuerzabrutaâ’ is a celebration of pure physicality, where performers move seamlessly between three stages – ground , air and underwater – to a thumping score that’ll make you feel as if you’re in an experimental Paris nightclub. Sexy, exhilarating and breath-taking to say the least. “There are people who see the show that dance and stomp and get caught up in the physical parts, while some just watch with their mouths hanging open” says co-creator Diqui James. The audience is obliged to stand during the performance, but really, you’d be giving the same amount of standing ovations anyway. Fuerzabruta is on at the Daryl Roth Theatre until February 17. Tickets are $70 but a limited quantity of $25 rush tickets are made available at the box office 2 hours before show time (cash only)” via coolhunter

More pictures via Flickr
Youtube Videos.
www.fuerzabrutalondon.co.uk
NYC tickets at Daryl Roth Theater.