Landscapers and architects combined forces to tackle the challenge of an industrial and rotting wasteland, and turned it into something urban and wild.
45 American designers are coming together at the American Design Building at Great Jones Lumber to display their best in functional and fascinating creations.
“The Snow Queen” is on view through April 22 at Lever House, 390 Park Avenue.
The Snow Queen is an exhibition commissioned by the Lever House Art Collection at the Marianne Boesky Gallery. Artist Rachel Feinstein’s Sculptures transform the gallery into a Old World Storybook. Set into the walls of this room are three arched niches, each featuring a sculpture inspired by characters in “The Snow Queen.”
As the world continues to move toward a digital life, it may be nice to take a moment and appreciate the craft and painstaking work of those who create in a medium invented around 2000 years ago. Peter Callasen is a Danish artist who works primarily in large sheets of white paper–merging a 2d experience with a 3d experience. Callasen chooses to work in paper because as he says, “it is probably the most common and consumed media used for carrying information today,” but we “rarely notice the actual materiality” of it. His pieces often show the remains of the paper his characters and objects emerge from thus giving these characters dual lives.
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
Traditionally residential real estate was sold and marketed via sales agents. The world of glossy brochures and websites only came along when developers had large budgets during the boom of the housing market around 2004 – 2005. In addition, there was a lot more competition which resulted in a need to differentiate.
CO-OP had not considered branding real estate, but we were handed an opportunity with developer Dermot to brand One Hanson Place – the historic Williamsburg Savings Bank clock tower in Downtown Brooklyn. We instantly recognized the building had a wealth of stories to tell and also saw how the emotive side of real estate was under utilized. It all seemed to be about price, size and location – yes all important but not very distinguishing. Our story for One Hanson Place was about owning a part of history. It was simple, authentic and effective.
Since, CO-OP has a healthy portfolio in real estate branding with residential, mixed-use projects and a determination to change the real estate buying and selling experience.
Often, when we go in to pitch new business, clients are amazed at the success we have achieved in a market that is at an all time low and full of inventory resulting in competition. So the question is – how do we do this?
We create a brand:
We can assure you that the projects CO-OP has worked on are among the select few developments in the city of New York that have a brand. Branding is what helps differentiate Project A from Project B. It allows people to see a space beyond square footage and the type of hard wood floors.
We believe that every product and company has a story to tell. Our job as a branding agency is not to fabricate a story, but to dig deeper to learn the truth. We focus on asking the right questions, learning everything there is know and extract the story form all the information we collect.
Our brand ideas are inspired by simple truths.
Buying a home is a big financial decision and an equally big emotional decision. Our research indicates that when people purchase a home, they buy into a certain life and it is increasingly becoming important for people to find the right match for neighborhood and home-style. So why do real estate marketers sell their homes like off the shelf items?
At CO-OP our focus is to understand the developers financial goals and restrictions in marketing the project. We also spend extensive amounts of time studying the market. We first approach it from a rational perspective to get a better understanding of what the market has to offer at that given time.
Emotionally engaging, but rationally sound.
There is plenty of room to make the process of selling real estate and buying real estate a more engaging experience. We have been pushing the bar and challenging ourselves further on creative and strategic ways to sell real estate and are hoping that in the process, we have set a higher benchmark in the industry.
Our recent TOREN campaign, My Life at TOREN, is an example of us going outside the norm, but creating engaging materials that are going to attract the target audience and result in sales.
Now Showing at the
Friedman Benda Gallery
515 West 26th Street
New York
March 4 – April 10, 2010
If furniture could evolve in the same was as our bones evolved, then the result we would see could be fascinating and also be almost optimal. Joris Laarman used optimization models to generate furniture that mimicked evolution. In collaboration with Droog, Friedmanbenda and Opel, he put together a body of work that was simply amazing.
Originally designed for the Guggenheim museum as part of the contemplating the void exhibition, paper starlings is an interactive installation in which paper planes autonomously fly in a organic pattern guided by a gps system. Still in development, the planes are motorized by micro robots. They interact with the audience interference and charge themselves as they hit the ground.
This lamp is half made of living organism and non living material. It was created on February 23 in a Dutch tissue culture laboratory. The cells responsible for the emission of light in the hood of the lamp are originally stem from a Chinese hamster. In 1957 these cells were isolated from its ovary and kept alive as a cell culture for research purposes. These cells glow in the dark in presence of luciferine.
Heat Wave — functional rococo radiator
Joris Larman challenges the notion ‘form follows function’ and achieves a spectacular design solution to a common household problem. This intriguing modular heating system is the first to unite the fine details of craftsmanship with industrial efficiency. The result is an expressive design with a maximum amount of surface to release warmth. It achieves a curious and paradoxical compromise between design and functionality.
www.jorislaarman.com/
www.friedmanbenda.com/artists/joris-laarman/
Scrambling through the masses on my way to work has become routine in New York City. I often have my headphones on and my head down as I shuffle by hideous scaffolding at nearly every turn. Now, thanks to a beautiful design that won a city competition, I may have to slow down every now and then to appreciate where I am walking. Young-Hwan Choi, a 28-year-old at the University of Pennsylvania, has developed a beautiful model known as the “Urban Umbrellas,” which can be seen below. While businesses will not be mandated to have these in place, the combination of lower maintenance costs and a better view of the buildings than the current models provide will hopefully provide enough incentive to help make our daily treks a little more pleasant.
A similar competition is now being headed by the National Endowment for the Arts. The guidelines can be found here. A total of 15 $25,000 to $250,000 grants will be given to cities that have the best design projects aimed to enhance public spaces such as parks, libraries, public buildings, memorials and streets. While the budgets may not be excessive, it’s always nice to see an understanding of the importance of maintaining a certain aesthetic in these busy urban environments.
Interesting article about designing future products. Would you use something like this or is it too conceptual?
I was recently privileged to visit the Dia Museum in Beacon, NY and caught the tail end of the Sol LeWitt Drawing Series that has been on exhibition there for the past three years. LeWitt is known as one of the forefathers of the conceptual art movement. He penned two manifestos, published in the 1960s, that explain the theoretical foundations of his art: “In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work… All decisions are made beforehand, so execution becomes a perfunctory affair.” All of LeWitt’s works are ideas, written as a set of specific instructions that can be executed by any person, at any time. Consequently, each instance of his work is a variation on the theme of his original concept. LeWitt’s works explore the fundamentals of geometry, often using the most basic of writing implements, pencils or crayons.
This being told, I knew nothing of LeWitt when I stumbled upon his works at Dia. As I walked through the vast exhibition space, I was silenced by the enormous, detailed wall-drawings. I felt a sense of awe when I realized the pointed attention and discipline that went into executing his designs. Why was I so captured by these simplistic line forms- geometry… on walls… in pencil?
I now equate my experience with LeWitt to the way that I feel in nature: awed. contemplative. connected. LeWitt builds art, with reason and care, as the universe builds life- one line and circle at a time.
Though the Sol LeWitt exhibition at Dia has come down, you can view a retrospective of his work at MASS MoCA through 2033!
Corbis, the stock photo and footage resource, offers these fun pinhole camera downloads, called Readymech Cameras. Created by NYC-based design firm, Fwis, it’s difficult to choose which camera design is the coolest. Luckily, you can easily play with them all. Every camera design is meant to be printed, cut, folded, and then modified with a roll of film and some household materials.
For more info and all the downloads: Corbis Readymech Cameras
Fwis
Content © CO-OP 2011.
