“You don’t  know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.”  Sometimes it means traveling to a different city, to suffer 95 degree heat, got burn, experienced with different cuisines, met travelers all around the world, and dozed off into the jazz swing: what I did in New Orleans.

The start of my adventure involved delayed subway, heavy rain, and catching a cab to catch a plane. Lesson learned: 5 am waiting for the A train to come = bad idea. No regrets, for every minute after was totally worth it.

I stayed at India House Hostel, a very chill, good place with youngsters from all over the world. I shared a room with 5 other girls, some from Germany, one from Australia. Ended up leaving New Orleans making one new friend from Maine. Funny how that happened huh?

One of the first thing I did was to walk around to see the art scenes. All the dedicating artists sitting under heat, all the jazz musicians playing in French Quarter. One of my favorite moments was when two different jazz bands sitting on two ends of the street, playing off each other’s tempo. Another one was when a Chinese violinist played with her African guitarist companion. There were no culture, no race, no age boundaries. Incredible !

Aside from Natchez steamboat, Degas house, and cemetery, Frenchmen St. is my favorite spot. This was where I spent most of my time, in jazz clubs and among musicians. It must be weird to see a little asian traveling alone, going crazy with jazz (they could not help but stare and greet me afterwards). For me, jazz is the closest to freedom.

Cajun foods have always been one of my favorites, but I would never have thought how different Cajun foods in New Orleans would be compare to other “Cajun” elsewhere. There’s something much more earthy about the food here. When you go to New Orleans, definitely try the Boudin PO-boys at Frankie’s, red jambalaya at Pat O’, and crawfish rolls at “the Three…” on Frenchmen St. The biegnets at Cafe Du Monde have always been a hit, and they lived up to the expectation. I made an effort not to have any burger and vietnamese food while I’m there (even though New Orleans has a huge vietnamese community.)

I hope you’ll have a chance to travel to New Orleans because you might come back a little more jazzy than you were before. My tribute to Dennis and Jennifer for hooking me up with some of the greatest spots EVER ! I can only do the same for you both when you come to Hanoi, so please do.

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Have you ever wondered why there are so many asian people in one place at one time? Besides the Latino community, there are K-town, J-town (which ironically is located on St. Marks), Indian town, and 3 (!) China towns. For minority of different ethnicities, going to theses places is like taking a pilgrimage to the land of promise, the promise that you should never forget where you come from and you can always leave with a happy filling of good foods.

Img: Drying incense on the street.

One of the most inspiring scenes to see in and around these towns is street art: whether it is graffiti, installation, “founded” sculpture, or hand-sinage. Blame it on the blooming economy and the loose security of these upcoming neighborhoods, more street-artists find ground to express themselves. In turn, these works of art become tourist attractions which then pull in capita and green cash ( no credit card in asian town , pls. ), a win-win situation, a rare combination.

Image: Graffiti seen from the 7-Train to Flushing, Queens

Food in Asian towns unexpectedly and surprisingly become sources of inspiration for me. Now you may ask what foods have to do with art and design? Consider colors, user experience, product design, and sense of discovery.

Image: Jigae in K-town, USA

You will discover yourself all over again, whether  you walk into a Korean restaurant off 34st-Herald Square or a Yaki Tori shop on St. Marks. The restaurant attracts both locals and tourist alike, therefore keeps their businesses growing with a strong base.

Image: Fishballs Sticks in Flushing, Queens.

This is an example of how businesses do not have to compromise customer-loyalty for production cost. If you want to know how efficient a Chinese man can be, look at the way his food is put together. Take this fish ball stick as an example: not too many, not too few, the size, how long the stick can stay in the sauce before the product value decreases, the interactions while handling the food, … The only thing I have not done is to bring a ruler with me to see if there is a ratio applied to the placement of the fish balls.

Things are the way they are for a reason, and if you would just pay attention and look around, you will find yourself covered with inspirations. For me, some of the most treasured inspirations were obtained through experience. So next time you come around, let’s take a pilgrimage together.

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My name is Thu and I’m the newest member of the design team at Co-op. So very nice to meet you. (handshakes)

Recently I’ve left my tranquil hut in Savannah, Georgia to move to a 3-roomies apartment in Brooklyn, New York. Needless to say, the change can be quite overwhelming. Moving from Georgia to New York is like changing from phonebooth to touchphone, from country music to rap, and from butter-hearty Southern foods to organic crunchy snacks (mainly because I barely have time to sit down and eat).  This series is a collection of things which question and inspire me on the street of New York. My hope is that they will give you a breath of fresh air and a new perspective on scences you see everyday.

MOVED: How many cows are there in NYC?

I spent about 40 mins everyday riding the subway to the city. One thing I recognize in NY is that people tend to live in their own bubbles, with the earplugs on and their eyes fixed on the screens. Perfect opportunity for observation. People are less likely to notice an asian girl staring at them for 15 mins straight. It was in one of these ventures that I realized how many animal products New Yorkers carry with them everyday to work.

Img: Kate Moss in a Maison Martin Margiela hair jacket in the shoot for V magazine by Mario Testino. Source by http://www.dailymail.co.uk.

Journal entry / Feb 8th: “Saw a girl wearing a goat-hair coat today. Thought it was real hair from someone’s head at first. She was very tall.”

I had to admit when I first realized what it was that I was looking at, it made me startled. People always want what they do not have: straight hair/curly hair; long hair/short hair; natural color hair / dyed hair; no hair / a lot of hair.

Leather jackets revive. They must have carried them from France to New York. Wonder if you can tell a French cow from a US cow just by looking at the texture? Img: French boys on NYC subway by djmalone2003 on Flickr.

Leather bags by Erin Templeton. Aside from the reasons fashion industry gives to explain why a tail of an animal hanging might be aesthetically pleasing, may I ask what is the practical function?

Leather shoes are here to stay. Even longer than their owners. Img: http://littlebrownpen.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html

These are just a few examples of wearable objects which come from animals. My question is are we so uncomfortable being human that we have to obsessively cover ourself with other animals? How many cows do you think must take to keep NY going? What is the line between making uses of the material versus becoming materialistic? And for us designers, what is the line between enough and too much?

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Cover Img Brown Leather Bag Source by http://www.photos8.com

Here are a few of my favorites. What were yours?

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This Chrysler commercial featuring Eminem is an evocative shout out to the Motor City. It my pick for most inspiring— a portrait of an industry and a city that knows luxury through decades hard work and struggle. “It’s the hottest fires that makes the hardest steel.”

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I was VERY impressed with the grace and ease at which Motorola took some deep jabs at Apple with this commercial. The Orwellian automaton society, all white, hoodies, walking in formation, each murmuring into their headphone mics. Here motorola challenges us to be different and “create a better world” — walk against the crowd, take out those ear buds and bring some color into the world!

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This Volkswagon commercial wins for just plain cute— a viral success even before it aired on television.

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I think this Doritos commercial is hilarious. It makes me sooooo uncomfortable. Love it!

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The situation we all fear:

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Very funny. Very cute.

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Most bizarre:

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Plastic Bottles,2007     60×120″
Depicts two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes.

Light Bulbs, 2008     72×96″
Depicts 320,000 light bulbs, equal to the number of kilowatt hours of electricity wasted in the United States every minute from inefficient residential electricity usage (inefficient wiring, computers in sleep mode, etc.).

Cans Seurat, 2007     60×92″
Depicts 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds.

It takes a few weeks to create each piece of work. He photographs a few hundred objects over and over instead of tens of thousands. Then he constructs his images digitally. He also researches statistics from articles, government databases, websites, and other sources.

Barbie Dolls, 2008     60×80″
Depicts 32,000 Barbies, equal to the number of elective breast augmentation surgeries performed monthly in the US in 2006.

Dog and Cat Collars, 2009     60×67″
Depicts ten thousand dog and cat collars, equal to the average number of unwanted dogs and cats euthanized in the United States every day.

Skull With Cigarette, 2007     98×72″
Depicts 200,000 packs of cigarettes, equal to the number of Americans who die from cigarette smoking every six months. Based on a painting by Van Gogh.

Gyre, 2009     8×11 feet, in three vertical panels
Depicts 2.4 million pieces of plastic, equal to the estimated number of pounds of plastic pollution that enter the world’s oceans every hour. All of the plastic in this image was collected from the Pacific Ocean.

Shark Teeth, 2009     64×94″; based on a watercolor painting by Sarah Waller
Depicts 270,000 fossilized shark teeth, equal to the estimated number of sharks of all species killed around the world every day for their fins.

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He currently has an exhibition at David Brower Center in Berkeley, California. Unfortunately, New York is not on his upcoming exhibition list yet. I hope to see his work In the near future.

Sources: http://www.chrisjordan.com, Youtube, TED, Environmental Graffiti.

In his piece titled “Half Way Through,” Callasen allows his figure to emerge from its 2 dimensional self, but only in a dead skeletal form. This somewhat tragic fate is repeated in many of his works, the figures emerge from the flat 2 dimensional paper only to realize they are skeletons, about to fall to their deaths or be crushed by an avalanche of snow. They are as Callesen states “small dramas” in a threatening landscape. The fragility of the paper speaks to the fragile nature of his figures.

Sources:  www.petercallasen.com

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Sources: Flickr by 16 Miles of String, Bryan Derballa for The Wall Street Journal, YouTube

Louis Bourgeois, Paris born sculptor and artist, died on Monday in Manhattan. A couple of years ago, I saw a retrospective of her work at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., which included the documentary The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine. I fell in love with her as I watched the film— her passion, her strength, her raw honesty. I highly recommend watching the film if you are ever in search of artistic inspiration. Below are some examples of her work.

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Animated film: The Spider, directed by Juan Declan. Dedicated to Louise Bourgeois.