The Interior Design Blog
New design by Terhi Tuominen on ICFF in New York
9 Apr 2007 Author: admin In: Interior DesignFold - New design by Terhi Tuominen will be shown at the ICFF -International Contemporary Furniture Fair, in New York alongside the Blackbird flock, which design experts have honoured through the red dot award: product design 2008.
The characteristic feature of the wood comes in its geometrical folds. With precision to the fine detailing acute angles are used to create the 3-dimensional surfaces given to the seat and backrest. Ultimately this results in an ultra smart, lightweight stackable dining chair.
Presented at the ICFF, North America’s premier event for contemporary design, the yearly fair draws the most diverse assemblage of design professionals to an extraordinary display of the world’s cutting-edge modern furniture, a rigorous curriculum of programs, and a full calendar of ancillary exhibits and features.
Blackbird - Red dot design award 2008
In one of the most renowned and hardest international design competitions, the red dot design award, the Blackbird by Terhi Tuominen has just received an honourable mention from the top-class expert jury.
With more than 3,200 products submitted to the competition, the product clearly stands out from the masses, because this year the design experts for the first time awarded honourable mentions to those products which distinguished themselves with particularly successful design details.
The festive awards presentation with more than 1,000 guests will take place in the Essen Opera House, the Aalto Theatre, on 23 June 2008.
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The Complete Book Of Underground Houses
28 Mar 2007 Author: admin In: Interior Design
The Complete Book Of Underground Houses:
How To Build A Low Cost Home
Author: Rob Roy
Language: English
Sterling | ISBN: 0806907282 | December 1994
PDF | 148 pages | 38 Mb
According to Roy, underground or `earth-sheltered’ houses are unexpectedly livable. Judging by his book’s attractive pictures, that’s easy to believe. The house he bases his point-by-point guide on is indeed a showplace. Its homey touches are just that, though, and Roy’s main concern is creating such a house, from drawing up the plans to surveying the site to the actual building. Roy’s instruction is insightful and comprehensive….Throughout, he covers construction and installation details that are extremely important for nonprofessionals brave enough to undertake building their own homes. (more…)
Button Hacking
25 Mar 2007 Author: admin In: Diy
A lot of interactive installation projects I’ve seen rely significantly on high power computers to do even simple tasks. Triggering audio to play is a common situation. Often it is cheaper and sometimes more reliable to hack dedicated low power devices such as mp3 players. For this task, optoisolators are your best friend. Using these chips you can keep the device you are controlling safely on its own circuit, and you “electronically press the buttons” to start and stop the player.
Observe the following circuit:
This is a basic circuit for hacking a button to be controlled electronically. We are sending a control voltage from a microcontroller (or logic circuit of choice) into a 4n25, 4n35 or similar optoisolator. Internally it lights up on one side, and a light sensor on the opposite side allows pin 5 to flow into pin 4. If pin 5 and pin 4 are connected to the two sides of a microswitch like the “play button” in an mp3 player (S1 in the image above), then whenever you send a digital high into the optoisolator, it will essentially hold the button down. With this setup your player device will also still function as usual with its physical buttons. Rad.
MACEF:The 85th edition of the International Homes Show
17 Mar 2007 Author: admin In: Interior DesignFollowing MACEF in January 2008, Milano is again ready for a new edition of the international homes show which is gearing up for its 85th edition from 5 to 8 September at Fieramilano. Made in Italy, World Silver Show, artistic craftsmanship, Italian classics, costume jewellery and fashion accessories, leading importers: these are what bring originality and diversity to Macef.
The strategic axis of the show revolves around the concept of specificity, exalting the aspects that make the Milan show original and different to its main international competitors.
Both buyers and sellers will be perfectly at home at MACEF amid direct marketing activities, delegations of buyers and promotional activities on the web. Macef September 2008 is aiming above all at internationalization, and in this context has initiated numerous contacts to maximize the shows foreign component, with regard to both exhibitors and visitors.
Foreign exhibitors will constitute around 30% of the total. It is a significant result that confirms how interesting the Italian market is considered by international companies in the home sector, despite the consumption crisis which is affecting Italy along with all the main European countries. The exhibiting companies come mainly from Europe (France, Germany, Spain…), but there are also major Asian and South American exhibitors who offer their style“ which here mainly covers the ethnic market “ and try to establish lasting business contacts with Italian distributors.
“Macef has three strategic pivots “ says Sandro Bicocchi, Fiera Milano International Managing Director – orientation towards the sales point, the “spirit of everyday livingâ€160 and everything related to “giftsâ€160. The first aspect signals the fact that Macef is the place where a great number of professionals gather to find out about life-style trends (innovative products, shapes and colours, but also market and consumer patterns and sales techniques). The world of gifts is mainly evident at the September edition, when the core of the exhibition consists of ideas for products that will be put on sale for Christmas.â€160
The events are also aligned with the concept of utility - starting with the “Village Shop project“, the consolidated union between Macef and the association “Art, Table and Gift Arts“. Some important table brands will be presented collectively in a large area of 1,500 square metres in Hall 5 .
September will see another edition of “Art&Flowers“, the event dedicated to flower arranging, which as well as suggesting new ideas for decorating the home with flowers, also proposes creative pairing with some of Macef’s most characteristic products. The show will also see the return of “Best of Ornamenta“, the competition designed to emphasize the commercial and marketing value of costume jewellery.
The International Homes exhibition is held bi-annually in January and in September and for 40 years has been one of the largest and richest showcases in its field; Complete Furnishing design, object Gifts, decorations for the home and table.
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The Book Bar and The Beer Belly
6 Mar 2007 Author: admin In: DiyWords cannot describe the desire I have to make a book bar of my own.
the amazing full story (and this photo) linked from http://www.vestaldesign.com/projects/bookbar/
On a sort of related note, you can now have a beer belly and drink it, too. Or something of the sort… best of all, remove the beer belly at the end of your NASCAR event for easier access to the Porcelain God! Biting sarcasm aside, it still made me smile. I don’t drink a lot of beer, but I’d rather wear that than one of those benign pregnancy bellies.
link: http://www.thebeerbelly.com/
Piano Covers – Protect Your Piano
22 Feb 2007 Author: admin In: Home ImprovementA piano cover is a necessity for any person that loves their piano. It is needed as an extra layer of protection in the home. Like a piano bench, many pianos are not protected from unnecessary damage. A non protected piano will not look as new as a piano that is properly protected by a piano cover. A piano cover will help protect the piano from unwanted damage. It will protect it from liquid spills, dirt, and even household pets. A piano cover will give you a return on investment. A piano cover will extend the life piano, giving the user peace of mind.
Make sure you are protected. Even Hollywood stars that play the piano for a living should take care of their livelihood. Piano covers do a fantastic job protecting the star’s piano as well as the average consumer. If you were a famous musician what type of piano cover would you have? Create your own. See if you can make a better piano cover that the rich and famous.
Billy Joel is most talented piano players. He has had big hits for over three decades. He has entertained audiences all over the world. He is best known for his first hit Piano Man. Billy Joel’s piano cover was designed from his lyrics in the song. On the top of the cover in big letters it has the words “Piano Man”. Around his name it has a lot of the characters from the song, John the bartender, the waitress that served him the drinks, and bar patrons Paul and Davy. Billy has said that it is quite a conversation piece.
Other rockers have visited him and have purchase piano covers to represent their talent. Stones front man Mick Jagger has the tongue and lips design that was created by an artist that first appeared on their 1971 album, Sticky Fingers. It has become one of the most recognizable logos in the world.
Paul McCartney’s piano cover had the most sentimental design. Paul has several pianos covered by piano covers by his late first wife Linda. She was an artist by trade and hand painted most of the piano covers that he owned. Most of them were taken from ideas from different places that they travel to when they were together. Paul loved his first wife. He would look at the covers and think fondly of his late wife.
Other stars have great designs too. Liberace had one of the most expensive. He was known as a showman. His had a lot of glitter and diamonds that covered the entire grand piano. Elton John would write on his with a magic marker whenever he had a song idea. Some of his biggest hits were written on that first piano cover.
One of the best ones I ever saw was by the singer Pink. It was a very nice but basic design. A person could very easily guess the color. It was very pink!