Core77

"Lately, design conferences have begun to feel less like intellectual retreats and more like conspicuous consumption. Albeit with excellent catering..."

"... Combined with the existentially accusatory title, it certainly succeeds in demanding audience participation, but it's a book, not a graphic design experiment, and for it to matter to the audience, it needs to keep the reader's attention too."

"Bicycle" is the title of a 100-day event (Jun.22 - Oct.5) full of activities and lectures anchored by a central exhibition at the Designhuis in Eindhoven. The exhibition provides a great overview on the variety of two-wheelers designed for sports, transport, or just showing off. There are over 18 million bicycles in the Netherlands, check out some of the best in this gallery!

"A presentation of 20 trends does not add up to a view of the future. Many trends contradict each other, and choices have to be made. For example, the shift towards ethical (premium) consumerism and the economic crunch are not compatible; something has got to give..."

Every year, 300 particiants from around the world live and work for one week with 25 renowned designers, architects and artists at the Domaine de Boisbuchet, an extensive park-like estate in the South of France. Check out the gallery of workshops with Cul de Sac, Maarten Baas,, Fabio Novembre, David Trubridge and more!

"Since the first use of tools to achieve goals, design has been born as a response to problems and needs. Sadly, since we now live in a thoroughly designed world, many of our problems are themselves secondary consequences of prior acts of design."

"The roles of designers, product development specialists, and marketers should never have been as segmented and will never be again. Participation is the key to innovation..."

From the 14th - 20th of July, the greatest display of military, commercial and private aircrafts on the planet gathered in Hampshire, UK, for a glimpse at the future of our skies.

"Nostalgia is a tricky thing. Do we really miss what we miss, or do we just like missing it?...Design has been going retro for years now as the recasting bug has swept the ID world, and everything's fair game, from turn-of-the-century hunting-lodge chic to baroque ornamentation. But enough is enough."

"Ceramics and Sound" brings together the works of artists and designers who have been working at the European Ceramic Workcenter. The exhibition is on show at the Neues Kunstforum in Cologne (July 12 - August 9) and showcases sound installations, ceramic sculptures, experiments and prototypes.

This month we asked Core readers to design the next greatest cycling shoe. We even got Bill Cass to join the judging crew. He works for Nike designing cycling shoes for guys like Mark Cavendish and Lance Armstrong. The results should make any pro proud. Look 'em over here. 1st place: Garmin-Chipotle American team, by fede21us, 2nd: Classic International Bike Shoe, by beartoe, 3rd: Padilla Shoe, by cpvt1987

"Looking at the world through such a lens makes one thing clear: Despite our mansions and our roadways, our designer jeans and our iPhones, human beings have made very little. Instead we've transmuted stored energy into temporary value in exchange for long-term waste. All of the growth that our politicians seek to perpetuate is not growth at all."

"If Fuller saw himself as a verb it may be because his life was dominated more by activity than artifact. He truly found himself in his presentations and lectures, from his first talks to a handful of people in Greenwich Village salons to the vast college audiences he drew in his old age. His real skills were "synergistic," all right, but it was the synergy of networking, propaganda and performance."

Custom details, tailpipes and tattoos! More than 75,000 bikers attended one of the biggest Harley Davidson events in Hamburg from June 20-22. Be sure to check out this gallery of rock n' roll of design.

From June 26-28, the likes of Richard Hutten, Michael Young and Patrick Jouin joined creative directors Tobias Wong and Aric Chen in the Shanghai Exhibition Center to showcase design in one of the fastest developing parts of the world.

"In any problem this large and complex, there are no easy answers, and Bottlemania should leave most readers with as many questions as answers. I would also hope, however, that readers realize that the problems it poses are far more universal than just fixating on Nestle's Poland Spring, Coke's Dasani, or Pepsi's Aquafina....Perhaps this summer a few of us should give reality a page-turning try." Review by Robert Blinn

Iron Man has had the design world convulsing with what can only be called a grand maul geek-out.

"The Sky is Not the Limit" at the Berlin Design Festival, a five day event (May 21- 25) produced by DMY Berlin.

Leadership is a slippery topic these days: there are more books on Amazon attempting to define the mojo of leadership than that other holy grail, innovation.

The pit-stop between Milan and Art Basel, New York Design Week 2008 nontheless presented a hearty collection of the best the Design World has to offer.

Review by Robert Blinn

Review by Robert Blinn

Checkout out Core's fresh picks from this year's Salone Internazionale del Mobile.

Troika is a multi-disciplinary art and design studio based in London, founded in 2003.

The San Mateo County Fairgrounds were packed with everything from Arts n' Crafts to Science n' Technology.

We need the design world (particularly industrial design) to stop talking big and start doing good.

Nokia has over 300 designers worldwide, and ships over 1.2 million products everyday.

This four day event in The Netherlands (April 23-26) showcases the latest materials for architecture and design.

April Fool's or something far more serious? How the design world gets punk'd every single day.

Review by Robert Blinn

Manferdini interprets traditional Italian lacemaking techniques in a dramatic canopy that drapes across the SCI-Arc Gallery in downtown LA.

Andy Polaine talks to Jason in his London studio about his roots in architecture, and much more!

Review by Robert Blinn

See how tattoo professionals pick the right tools and processes, turning their hand sketches into everlasting body art

"Competitive advantage is not based in the acquisition of knowledge, but the application of that knowledge."

Review by Robert Blinn

"Design has a social function and its true purpose is to improve people's lives." By Niti Bhan and Dave Tait

A billion-dollar industry gives us a sneak peek