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APRIL 26, 1999
> Former Owner of ID and Knoll Keeps Moving
Marshall Cogan, who was involved with the ownership of Knoll furniture and ID magazine in the early 90's left design to become chairman and chief executive of United Auto Group. Recently, however, he left United Auto as well; earlier this month he was replaced as the head of the automotive company by Roger Penske, the former race car driver.
> Eco-lades from Seattle: The International Design Resource Awards Were Announced This Week
Twenty-six prizes in this ecological competition were given to entrants from London, Paris, Germany, The Netherlands, India and many states in the US. Among the five first prize winners in the professional category were two standouts: from Rotterdam, Patrick Kruithof sent "Frozen," a groovy fruit bowl made from a slumped LP; and West Coast local Brian Dougherty, of Celery Design, won with a light shade brilliantly cut from biopolymer (natural, quickly degrading plastic). The thirteen student awards included prizes to students from Les Ateliers, in Paris, University of Illinois, Western Washington University and Kingston University in London. Full listing and pix to come on their website, see our resources.
> Any Color, as Long as It is Green: Ford Motor Company Enters Recycling
On April 26th Ford announced that it had bought a recycling company in Tampa and is planning to acquire others. The company's plan is to take apart old cars and trucks then to resell at least 90 percent of the parts to body shops, insurers and consumers. Ford is committed to being involved in areas related to a vehicle's life cycle beyond its development and assembly, and will be expanding its plans in this area. The New York Times reported that Ford will link recycling centers with customers through the internet to make finding parts sure and easy.
APRIL 14
> Toaster Burns; US's largest maker of small appliances needs financial aid.
The New York Times reports that the Sunbeam Corporation could have until next year to repay $1.7 billion in credit that had been due this week. (Collect those receivables.) The line of revolving credit is intended to fund a plan for growth. (Draft those proposals.) Sunbeam had not done well for nine months, but its creditors decided to cut it some slack anyway.
> Barbie and Hot Wheels in Crash as Teletubbies Rub Their Fuzzy Hands: Design client and employer to lay off 3,000 people
Mattel Inc. will lay off 10% of its employees, it announced on Thursday. The firings are in response to pressure from investors, who see Hasbro's products, including Teletubbies and Furby, taking off. In a bleak twist to this news, the very investors who spurred this ugly boost in unemployment were complementary to the corporation's president, Jill Barad, because, even before the job cuts, the firm wasn't doing as badly as their experts had predicted. Should comfort the newly jobless.
> Star of Car Design Dies, April 13
In 1990 Harvey Postlethwaite developed the raised front design for the Formula One Grand Prix race car. The high front was such an aerodynamic kick that it has since become standard. His many winners included the 1981 body around Ferrari's then new turbocharged engine. Ferrari designs from Postlethwaite won the constructor's title in both 1982 and 1983. His career had begun in 1971 with March Engineering, where he designed the winning car of 1975. Postlethwaite was 55 and died of a heart attack in Barcelona where he was overseeing Honda's new car.
> Their If-Then Here Now: Netherlands Design Institute Yearbook Arrives in US.
In November of last year the Netherlands Design Institute published the 200+ paged If-Then in conjunction with its Doors of Perception conference. Jan Abrams, the book's editor, approached the subject of new media and what that means in current, everyday experience through combined reportage, interviews and various writers' essays. Abrams, who also conceived the book, intended for it to function as a kind of conference-based pivot, informing readers in one way before and in another way after. Fortunately, since after is all those of us who missed Doors of Perception get now, it works that way quite well. Abrams has returned to the US where she is planning the next yearbook and is gathering American funding.
> Floors of Fine Furniture Fold:
The Decorative Arts Center building in New York that housed furniture and interior design firms for almost 70 years has been converted to residential apartments. The East 63rd street address of firms including Steelcase and Parish-Hadley Assoc., will be filled with real interiors instead of showrooms when tenants move in this fall. The fabulous spirit of John Saladino will no doubt still preside.
> Bridgeport Bags Bests: Seven of Eight Prizes Go to University's ID Students
On April 8th, at the 9th annual GNYADA Safety Competition held at the New York International Auto Show seven Bridgeport students won prizes among the competition's eight honors. The Grand prize went to Manuel Saez for his mirror design; Second place went to Cristian Suarez, Ryan Sihng, Boris Rubanovich, John Kwap, Jae woo Kim, and Hong Chow Kim. Yes, all from Bridgeport.
APRIL 5
> Economic Figures on Manufacturing up in March
MANUFACTURING GROWS: Economic figures on consumer purchases of automobiles, computers and furniture grew in March. The National Association of Purchasing Management's factory index rose for the third straight month in a row, bringing it to its highest point since November 1997. This, with increases in construction spending, show broad growth in the US economy. Other numbers suggest that inflation may be turning up as well. (4/2 NYT& Bloomberg) Damn the landfills -- people still want stuff!
> Frog Jump: Viemeister Joins Razorfish
FROG JUMP: Tucker Viemeister left Frog design on March 25th to join Razorfish as Executive Vice President of Research and Development. Razorfish calls itself a strategic digital communications company but until now that has mostly meant that its products were experienced on computers. Viemeister will head a department developing actual 3-D products involving digital and interactive environments. Razorfish clients include Excite, Ericsson, KPMG, The Whitney, and Charles Schwab. Congrats to both.
> Designer Oversees Reissue of Her 59 Year-Old Dinnerware
54 YEARS LATER: A dinner service designed in 1945 by Eva Zeisel for Red Wing Pottery in Minnesota has just been reissued by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The designer, born in 1906, was active in planning the reissue with the museum's department of 3-D reproductions. She is also designing new ceramics, folding furniture, glassware and tabletop metal products. Much of her work, old and new, will be available starting this month from the O group in New York at 152 Franklin Street.
> Seki Cut Student Competition Winners Announced
THE FINAL CUT: The International Design Network Foundation hostedthe Third Annual Seki Cut Design Competition Award Ceremony on March 29. The student competition was sponsored by the Gifu Seki Cutlery Industry, one of the traditional specialties of the Gifu prefecture Japan. Ambassador Otsuka, the Japanese Consulate General in NY, welcomed and congratulated the following winners:
Grand Prize, $8000 total ($1000 to school and $7000 to student)
Petri Piirainen: Shell.
University of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland
Second Prize, $3000
Anne Yael Rouzeau : Packet Opener.
Ecole Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne, Bussigny, Switzerland
Third Prize, $1000
Maxime Pillonel: Twin-Blade.
Ecole Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne, Bussigny, Switzerland
Honorable Mention $500
Daria Pirnia: "Curly" Scissors.
Pratt Institute, New York, NY
Honorable Mention $500
A'kos Maurer-Klimes: Wire.
Hungarian Academy of Applied Art, Budapest, Hungary
Honorable Mention $500
Julian Lion Boxenbaurn: The Crooked Knife.
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
Honorable Mention $500
Xu Quan: Elastic Scissors.
The Central Academy of Arts of Design, Beijing, China
Honorable Mention $500
Gabrielle Lewin/Damaris Wong/Samanta Liang: Wave Rap.
Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
IN THE MAGAZINES
April 26
The theme of this entire, wonderful issue is water, but ID people may want to start with the layouts of myriad bottles and containers. | Colors, April/May '99, p. 60
From infrasound beams to sticky foam, a fascinating page on the future of high-tech weapons currently in development. | The Face, April '99, p. 76
A look at how golf club design is striving to add more distance to your shots, with a discussion of club length, weight, angle, and balls. | Golf Digest, May, '99, p. 274
Four tight pages on bikes and bike components for buyers, upgraders, and salivators. | Outside, May '99, p. 133
High-end stereo equipment roundup from January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. | Stereophile, May '99, p. 53
A cute endpaper explaining how & why a Frisbee flies (even why it has those teeny ridges on its top surface). | Scientific American, April '99, p. 132
Brush up on the basics of using a combination square. | Popular Mechanics, May '99, p.110
If you can get past the sophomoric humor and back-handed misogyny, their "100 Things Every Guy Must Know" is actually pretty darn interesting. | Maxim, May '99, p.101
20 design literati pick their favorite stuff of the 20th century. Me? I like Krispy Kremes. | Metropolitan Home, May/June ‘99, p.84
10 glorious pages on metal furniture, with restoration tips and some "good things" to style them with. | Martha Stewart Living, May '99, p.198
Catching a plane?
Wired 7.03, April ‘99, p. 347 | Scare the wits out of yourself with the April issue of Wired, and hunker down with its cover story on the
all-too-reasonably-predictable Y2K blackout. Did somebody say Powerbars?
April 14
A cute endpaper explaining how & why a Frisbee flies (even why it has those teeny ridges on its top surface). | Scientific American, April '99, p. 132
Brush up on the basics of using a combination square. | Popular Mechanics, May '99, p.110
If you can get past the sophomoric humor and back-handed misogyny, their "100 Things Every Guy Must Know" is actually pretty darn interesting. | Maxim, May '99, p.101
20 design literati pick their favorite stuff of the 20th century. Me? I like Krispy Kremes. | Metropolitan Home, May/June ‘99, p.84
10 glorious pages on metal furniture, with restoration tips and some "good things" to style them with. | Martha Stewart Living, May '99, p.198
Steve Martin's humorous piece (duh) on packaging designers from hell. | The New Yorker, April 19, '99, p. 53
A shot of the "Flo-Mo" rig used in The Matrix. Khakis float. | Newsweek, April 19, '99, p.19
A brief preview and pics of the upcoming International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York. | Metropolis, May '99, p.59
More IDEO! A crash course in the crash course in creativity for businesspeople at IDEO University. | Fortune, April 12, ‘99, p.163 Link
April 5
X-rays of safety pins, forks and other foreign objects up- and down-loaded into the body. Yikes! | British GQ, May '99, p.50
Wallpaper, March ‘99, p.151 | Blowing the whistle on counterfeit furniture, with a tip sheet on how to spot the fakes.
Wired 7.03, April ‘99, p. 136 | A super-comprehensive inventory of palms, PDA’s, and handheld computers.
ID, Mar/Apr ‘99, p. 25 | Missed the IDEO feature on Nightline? Here’s a pic and info on their shopping cart redesign.
Vogue, April ‘99, p. 320 | Trisha Biggar’s costumes for the upcoming Star Wars movie. Scoop the trailer trawlers.
Esquire, April ‘99 p.150 | A great spread on glues, adhesives, and other sticky stuff. What to use where.
Sky & Telescope, April ‘99, p. 61 | The hotter than hot Meade ETX telescope goes digital.
Macworld, May ‘99, p. 78 | A sneak peek at Adobe’s upcoming InDesign page-layout program.
Catching a plane?
Wired 7.03, April ‘99, p. 347 | Scare the wits out of yourself with that
same April issue of Wired, and hunker down with its cover story on the
all-too-reasonably-predictable Y2K blackout. Did somebody say Powerbars?
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