Archive for the ‘designing’ Category

Planting the seeds

Saturday, March 6th, 2010

Cathay Center school garden

For a new project we’re launching at GOOD, Casey, Beth and I got to visit an amazing school garden with the LAUSD’s green policy director Mud Baron (at right). Yes, that’s his real name. Theresa Dahl, in white, is a mom and garden goddess at Carthay Center Elementary, and gave us a tour of the garden that was a sea of asphalt only a few years ago.

Raised beds

With the help of volunteers, the school built several raised beds where just about everything you can imagine is growing. Compost was donated from local supermarkets. We had some awesome spicy mustard greens that tasted like wasabi.

Cathay Center school garden

The students learn to grow plants from seed, transplanting the seedlings into bigger and bigger containers until they’re ready for the ground.

Papayas

This is part of a papaya grove where all the trees were grown from a single papaya that got tossed into a compost heap.

Peach blossoms

Here are some peach blossoms in the fruit orchard, where a retired maintenance worker takes care of the trees, making sure they’re appropriately pruned.

Strawberries

Theresa said the students were outside learning about life cycle when a mouse ran out of the compost heap and started nibbling on a strawberry, only to have a hawk swoop out from the sky and pluck the mouse from the garden. You can’t teach that in the classroom, folks!

May all your weeds be wildflowers

I’ll write more soon about what we’re planning over at GOOD, but until then, I’ll leave you with some good advice from one of the students.

Walking the red carpet

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

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Ahhhh, Oscar season. When we cover our most famous street in luxurious, pedestrian-friendly carpet but only let celebrities walk there.

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Little gold men start appearing on the sidewalks, wearing their cute plastic skirts.

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And we worship them like gods.

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Yesterday I got to see the set of the Academy Awards and interview its designer, the lovely David Rockwell, for Fast Company.

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There were, of course, no photos allowed inside the theater, but afterwards my media credentials did get me onto the red carpet.

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Which, as you can see, is covered in plastic, twice. It’s supposed to rain this weekend.

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Here are the risers where the non-famous people get to sit.

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And here’s where people like me get to stand and ask famous people questions. All day. In heels.

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As I was snapping this shot, a cameraman who was shooting an interview with someone else came over and asked if he could see my camera. It’s new, and its awesome, and everyone wants to see it, especially people who love cameras, so I let him.

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He told me to pose, and I thought he just wanted to play with my camera, so it took me a minute to figure out what was going on. I started laughing and said thanks, but I didn’t need my photo taken. “Are you kidding?” he said. “You gotta have your picture taken on the red carpet!” So I did.

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Another cameraman who was shooting nearby even got into the act. “Come on!” said my photographer, as he snapped shot after shot. “This is the Oscars!”

Taco town

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

An incredible Taco Bell facsimilie

For the fifth(!) year in a row, I’ll be headed down to Austin for the SXSW Interactive Festival, where, for a few warm, sunny Texas days, I talk tech and eat only tacos. Since I have to make a detour to cold, wintry Chicago to see my dear friend Heather (and my dear friends at Coudal) I won’t be getting there until Sunday afternoon, so that means I have to pack twice as much tech-talking (and twice as many tacos) into a short amount of time.

But! I will be doing one panel, kind of a special one. On Monday, March 15 at 11am, I’ll be moderating a roundtable with Valerie Casey, founder of the Designers Accord, with whom I write Designers Accord case studies over at Fast Company; and Casey Caplowe, creative director at GOOD, with whom I created the GOOD Design program. This talk is part of Studio SX’s programming, which we were told is more like a fun, Charlie Rose-style talk show (and it will be filmed!). So please come by and see two of my favorite people if you’re at SXSW. Afterwards, maybe some tacos?

To get you in the mood, you can read some of last year’s coverage and browse some of the years before that. See you in Austin!

Update: By the way, the amazing J.D. Nasaw, who coordinated our Studio SX program, also runs the incredible blog Citizen Taco, which includes—yes!—a SXSW taco guide! Now that’s some delicious synergy.

Open door policy

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

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If you can remember back, way back, almost two years ago now, before a person named Barack Obama was president, there was a little art show at the Democratic National Convention in Denver called Manifest Hope. The show eventually traveled to D.C. for the inauguration and helped make some of the pieces downright famous. This year, the same group has tapped more than 150 artists for a new show, Manifest Equality, which will be open through the weekend at a former Big Lots in Hollywood. The space was designed by Commune Design (who did the amazing Ace Hotel in Palm Springs that I wrote about at GOOD) and it will feature many of my favorite artists, including my most favorite, Keith Scharwath.

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A house was getting gutted at the bottom of our street and every day a pile of architectural detritus would grow on the curb. Keith “rescued” this door, scraped it clean, and transformed it into his piece.

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“This door was probably opened and closed many times, allowing or denying access to many people,” Keith says on his blog, where he has more photos. “Now it’s open forever.”

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You can see Keith’s door and over 400 other pieces through Sunday. March 7 at Manifest Equality, 1341 Vine Street, in Hollywood. I took lots of photos of the show. Hope to see you there!

The Spanish type

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

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On the last day I was in Madrid, I made a big loop around the city on foot and managed to snap a bunch of cool tapas bar signage.

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I loved these little illustrations.

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Looks like it used to say something else but I couldn’t tell what.

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Really, what more does one need?

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Double bonus for the awesome accidental 80’s signage captured above.

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This place was the perfect shade of apricot and the perfect shade of mint—a visual daiquiri.

American Restaurant

Some Spanish restaurants make you really feel right at home.

Not just karaoke LASER KARAOKE

Because what’s better than karaoke? Laser karaoke!

Cute branded Metro buckets, I want one!

The Madrid metro was clean, colorful and easy to navigate, but I loved these little branded buckets the most. They were so cute, it almost made you happy it was raining!

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I supposed it’s better than a Low Tech Hotel.

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I headed towards the Royal Palace but the line was really long for tickets, so I opted to go inside the Almudena Cathedral, which is next door, instead. And then I looked up.

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The most vibrant colors I’ve ever seen on a cathedral ceiling, as a children’s choir sang to a hushed crowd. What a pleasant, unexpected treat!

Trufa Helado de Coco!

Speaking of treats, most helados shops were actually shut tight due to the cold weather. But I managed to find a special exception at Mallorca, these awesome little pastelerias found all over Madrid.

Awesome purchasing system at Mallorca

The coolest part was their system to keep track of your purchases as you roam the three-story epicurean playground because they know you’re probably going to eat that trufa helada de coco about 30 seconds after it comes out of the case!

All my photos are here. Hope you enjoyed our Spanish adventure!