food

Happiness: the Tribute 21 Plate Challenge

Posted by _tango! on November 10, 2009
Posted in: art, design, food, information, inspiration, style. 3 comments

“Tribute21_Most Popular_Reminiscent Innocence“Every year, global design and merchandising company Felissimo produces a series of charitable plates that traditionally feature the illustrations of present-day icons. This year, as part of Felissimo’s mission to promote better design for the greater good, the company extended the project to designers across the globe by hosting Happiness: The Tribute 21 Plate Challenge on DESIGN 21: Social Design Network. Felissimo is now proud to unveil its selection of winning plates, whose designs communicate a wish, inspiration or message for children and future generations about seeking happiness in harmony with our surroundings. A portion of the proceeds from plate sales will benefit the UNESCO/Tribute 21 DREAM Center Fund, which provides arts programs to children in post-conflict regions.

Giving designers a chance to share their work with the world, DESIGN 21 posted all submissions for the Tribute 21 Plate Challenge to the competition site. After reviewing 732 entries, based on originality, relevance, aesthetics, and ranking in an online public voting poll, representatives at Felissimo headquarters in Japan have chosen seven winners. According to DESIGN 21 Founder Haruko Smith, “Whether symbolic, literal or euphoric, all of the designs represent hope for a better future.”

The “Reminiscent Innocence” plate by U.S. designer Jody Boyce was selected as the “Most Popular” design as well as a DESIGN 21 “Judges’ Pick.” According to Boyce, “My goal was to try to capture those feelings we all felt as children; the innocent, naïve and green ideas we had about the world before we were thrown into it head first.”
The other six top designs chosen as “Judges’ Picks” include: Giorgio Cattano (Netherlands) for “Happy Forest”; Eugene Gu (China) for “TRUELOVE”; Arlene Birt (U.S.) for “Water Cycle: For Life”; Jeong Seok Oh (South Korea) for “Public Bath”; Alexandre Esteves Neves (Brazil) for “Soap Bubbles of Happiness”; and nen (Spain) for “How to be happy without.” Honorable mentions were also given to Ji Yeon Yoo (South Korea) for “The Blooming Happiness” and Bonnie Jordan (U.S.) for “Happy Harmony.”

all the winning artwork after the jump.
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Gadgetoff 2009: Boom!

Posted by _tango! on October 7, 2009
Posted in: art, conference, design, entertainment, experience, food, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, me, misc, style, tech, thoughts, wacky. 3 comments

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gadgetoff.2009_mondo.spider2

Gadgetoff 2009 unleashed an intense series of kabooms,  zaps, chomps, and kerplurks rattling 400 attendees on the beautiful 83 acre Staten Island grounds September 25th while slinging Lenovo laptops with a trebuchet,  cooking hot dogs with Telsa Coil Towers, riding jet fueled 5g merry-go-rounds, writing code drunk for autonomous cars legally, and thrashing a series of incredible lectures and demos throughout the day! Welcome to the Gadgetoff 2009 Experience: Boom!

Robots rumbled in every corner ranging from dancing tai chi robots to tiny micro toy hex bugs that jittered their way into everyone’s pockets. The gigantic mechanical Mondo Spider chomped it’s way through the lunch gardens while on lookers enjoyed delicious alcohol infused sorbet.  Dean Kamen of DEKA brought his breathtaking and ingeniously engineered “luke” arm (video) and toy inventor Brian Walker tinkered with large crossbows and rockets made to launch humans 20 miles across the air! Invisible inks, toys, gadgets, art, fire, illusions, magic, and disruptive ideas scorched the island while participants roamed in excitement and curiosity!

Just as I experienced last time, Gadgetoff invited the coolest hand’s on creatives to celebrate the Smart and Useless for an unforgetful day in disruptive goodness!

My adventure brief after the jump! (lots of pictures and videos)

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Pancake Picking Robot! (with beats)

Posted by _tango! on October 1, 2009
Posted in: entertainment, food, fun, ideas, information, inspiration, me, thoughts, wacky. Leave a Comment


I’m quite familiar with the manufacturing world, but I’ve never seen a smart robot arm made for picking up pancakes for stacking! (FLexpicker). Seriously this robotic arm is quite impressive.  Let’s yank this arm out and use it as a poker dealer,  street trash picker, or something like a burger flipper! Keep the idea flowing with fast smart automated robots, just like the fun Robocoaster!

video
via boingboing

Duplex Bag

Posted by _tango! on September 20, 2009
Posted in: design, experience, food, ideas, inspiration. 3 comments

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duplex.bag
Student Designer Noémie Cotton brings to us a very simple double sided bag used to both contain  and trash something, such as whole peanuts.  I’m craving to find olives-to-go after seeing this,  same goes for Wings, or other likes.  If I had this bag when I was younger, I’d be eating just the peanuts minus shells. I’ve grown up learning to  eat the whole peanut with shell making life a bit easier.

via bookofjoe

Heidi Swanson: 101 Cookbooks

Posted by _tango! on August 24, 2009
Posted in: art, food, information, inspiration. 1 comment


I’ve been following our friend Heidi Swanson’s delicious blog 101 cookbooks for awhile now and every time I glance at her photos my mouth drops and eyes widen in jealous curiosity wanting to try everything she cooks up and creates.

Heidi’s also an incredible photographer which makes her food flare just as much as her insight. Above is the result in making Buckwheat Cheese Straws.  I’m not sure how she has the patience to capture her creations before diving but I’m glad she has the time to share it with the world to drool over. If I were to describe a digital visual meal to anyone, go to 101cookbooks and be prepared for some great tips, tricks, and recipes from Heidi!

101Cookbook
Buy her books.

TEDx YouTube Channel

Posted by _tango! on August 20, 2009
Posted in: art, brand, conference, design, entertainment, experience, food, fun, green, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, me, misc, music, style, tech, TED, thoughts. 1 comment


The TED conference has transformed dramatically over the years thanks to the launching of TEDtalks which I’ve posted on several times. This past year, TED launched another brilliant event called TEDx which allows individuals to host their own local unofficial TED like events. Since March 2009 several events have taken place around the world. How awesome!

A few weeks back, I attended the TEDxBoston event which I wanted to post about, but had no videos to share. As of today, TEDx videos from around the world can be viewed and shared on the TEDx YouTube Channel as well as play lists from each location like TEDxBoston. I’ll post the TEDxBoston videos after the jump, and make sure to watch the last video with our favorite Ben Zanders conducting the Youth Orchestra of Americas.

TEDx YouTube Channel

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How Colors May Affect Your Productivity and Success

Posted by _tango! on August 18, 2009
Posted in: design, experience, food, ideas, information, inspiration, me. 1 comment


I use read all kinds of books about colors and how they affect behavior, appetite, emotions, and all kinds of other odd phenomenons. The strangest one was about McDonalds using yellow, which is an inviting color initially but uncomfortable over time, hence wanting to leave, leaving more seats at Mcdonalds which included their not so comfy chairs, which yes, are made to be semi uncomfortable so you don’t just hang out in them.

Anyhow, I just came by this great little update on how colors affect your productivity and success. Not as detailed, but a nice glimpse into colors. Red makes you more productive and detailed, blue makes ya more creative and less critical, blue will make you eat less, and green is rather zen like. Give it a quick read, then go spice up your work space with stuff.

via dirjournal

James Reynolds: Far Foods

Posted by _tango! on August 11, 2009
Posted in: art, brand, design, experience, food, fun, green, ideas, information, inspiration, materials, me, tech, thoughts. 6 comments


Far Foods by Designer James Reynolds

“Alternative packaging for supermarket produce, highlighting the distances that some foods travel from and the resultant carbon dioxide released during the journey. The receipt features a boarding card style tear-off strip.”

Awesome! I’ve always wondered when food labels would change my buying decisions.  Some receipts tell you how much to tip , but none have been more eco-educational than this concept.  Forget calorie counting, lets count carbon miles from food transportation. I’d definitely buy something for a bit more, knowing it used less carbon miles than another product. Think how the word Organic or Local has become such a  buzz… hopefully one day, the carbon food miles will do the same =)

via swissmiss

Food Inc Movie

Posted by _tango! on August 9, 2009
Posted in: brand, entertainment, food, green, information, inspiration, me, tech, thoughts. 1 comment

I finally watched Food Inc the movie!

“In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.”

I found Food Inc to be a disruptive glance into the hidden political powers ruining the food industry where profits overwhelm the integrity of farmers and quality in healthy food.  As the film says, you’ll never look at food the same way. You’ll be left appreciating local farming, an understanding in how an individual can influence large corporations, and cringing to take action which you can here. They also have a book you can buy: Food Inc.: A Participant Guide: How Industrial Food is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer-And What You Can Do About It

Go watch the film, get everyone you know to see it,  and don’t bring too much food into the movie while watching. Start buying from farmers markets, eat organic, get local schools to serve healthy meals, and have restaurants display nutritional facts. Food Inc will not scare you away from food, but it’ll influence your food buying decisions while giving you a better idea in how some foods are manufactured, treated, transported, and concealed.

Food Inc website

Cheeming Boey: Styrofoam Cup Drawings

Posted by _tango! on August 2, 2009
Posted in: art, design, food, fun, ideas, inspiration, materials, style, thoughts. 2 comments


Artist Boey has a fun collection of drawings on Styrofoam Cups using one of our favorite pens the mighty Sharpie.  Boey’s cup collection is an endless diversity in curiosity and whim that will hopefully end up in a major brands series soon.  Make sure to see his Process and video of him making one of the pieces which I’ll add after the jump. I think he does commissions too if you want…

I know plenty of people willing to pay a small premium to have these  disposable cups any day! Or maybe just provide pens with every cup making it a DIY disposible cup.

I’ve had my share in using sharpies on everyday objects including Styrofoam cups, though my favorite is still the backside of a paper plate for some reason. I’ve always mentioned to students about drawing on more than just paper. Draw what you visualize after reading a page in a book… right on top of the page, sketch on a sphere, a cylinder, clothing, walls, shoes, chairs, wallets, pencils, CD’s, your desk, etc. Just because an object isn’t made to b drawn on, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

I’ll post a few of my favorite cups from Boey’s collection after the jump.
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