Keith Haring meets Doc Marten

 If you love Keith Haring’s art, and like to sport Doc Martens, this is for you.

The famed footwear brand has partnered with Keith Haring’s estate to create a line of Keith Haring Doc Martens. 

Read more on Art News.

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How a podcast about design works (99% Invisible)

I am a huge fan of 99% Invisible, so I really enjoyed this video interview with Roman Mars.

Meet Roman Mars, the creator and host of one of our favorite shows, 99% Invisible. It's a wonderful podcast that celebrates and obsesses over the overlooked design in our everyday lives. We visited Roman at his recording studio (ie. home office) to geek out over the hidden world of design, radio production, and storytelling through podcasting...

Meet Roman Mars, Creator of 99% Invisible - Adam Savage's Tested episode page about the 2014 interview

Meet Roman Mars, Creator of 99% Invisible - watch Norman Chan's interview on YouTube

99% Invisible  - Roman Mars's podcast website

Columbus, Indiana: an architectural epicentre

The public library in Columbus, Indiana - architecture I. M. Pei
Yes, that's a Henry Moore sculpture ("Large Arch")

It all began with a swimming pool.

Not just any swimming pool, but a kidney shaped one.

It was while listening to episode 370 of 99% Invisible, The Pool and the Stream Redux, that I learned about 2 things:
• The history of skateboarding (some of which I was familiar with), and
• How Columbus, Indiana, USA, became an epicentre of modern architecture... who knew?!?

I am not going to spoil things and try to put the story in a nutshell for you. Take a listen yourself, or read the transcript if you prefer.

In the meantime, Google is my friend and I am off to learn more about this architecture.

Resources
The Pool and the Stream Redux (episode 370) - 99% Invisible podcast
Columbus, Ind.: A Midwestern Mecca Of Architecture - NPR podcast
The Precocious Genius of “Columbus” (movie review) - New Yorker
Small and Mighty Mecca of Modern Architecture in Columbus, Indiana - The Roads Travelled

Here are a few photos of the city's architecture.... which I have intentionally left untitled. If you're into architecture, have fun identifying them:)

Lester Gaba's Cynthia

Loved the latest 99% Invisible podcast!

Mannequin Pixie Dream Girl, tells the story of "Cynthia", a mannequin created in 1932 by Lester Gaba, a sculptor, retail display designer and later a teacher and writer.

An unusually natural and human looking mannequin, Gaba used the attention Cynthia garnered to further anthropomorphize her.

Among her memorable moments, Cynthia:

• Appeared on a cover of Life Magazine in 1937
• Was invited to the wedding of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson in 1937
• Went to see the play ‘Madame Bovary’ in New York in 1939

It's all a little bizarre and worth both a listen and Google search for pictures of Gaba and Cynthia.

Mannequin Pixie Dream Girl - 99% Invisible

Emeco 1006

This is not just a chair. It is the the Emeco 1006 Navy Chair, and it has a storied history.

Originally built for US Navy warships during World War II, the Emeco 1006 (pronounced ten-oh-six) found a second life as a designer chair used in high-end restaurants and by interior designers.

The story of Emeco and its famous chair is told in episode 310 of 99% Invisible. I found it fascinating.

Listen to the podcast.

Or read the transcript.

metroburb

The "before" -  the former Bell Labs corporate campus 

Today I learned a new word: metroburb.

metroburb 

It's probably not in any dictionary yet, but perhaps its time will come, if more corporate campuses are reborn like Bell Lab's.

If you're not familiar with corporate campuses, they are huge purpose-built structures designed to hold all of an organization's staff under one roof. I've been to a few, including a number of visits to the a certain big box supplier's campus in Minneapolis (think a great big yellow tag). So specific are the designs that its hard to imagine a new use once the the corporate giants have downsized, decentralized or disappeared.

Architect Eero Saarinen designed more than one of these properties, including Bell Lab's monstrosity in Holmdel, New Jersey, USA.

Developer Ralph Zucker had a rather brilliant vision for what the building could become, creating one of his "metroburbs", the word he uses to create each "metropolis in suburbia" transformation of such spaces. The result, in this case named Bell Works, features offices, co-working spaces, retail, restaurants, meeting spaces and a library. A hotel and residential developments are to come.

In A New Urbanist Developer Gives Saarinen a Reboot, CityLab describes the vision and the outcome well. It's a good read. Check it out.

My new look

I love my new blog design!! I don't think I could not smile when I see it.

Seems it was time to dump the all black look.

Perhaps this will make me more likely to get blogging again. Heck, if it works, I'll take it....

Actually, it has more to do with separating out the other aspects of my life and interests to separate spaces. I am liking it very much.

Today: I think I got a decaf energy drink.