About LED
Surely this is just a coincidence and they've listed it for the sake of completeness, but do you find it a bit funny that Hershey's Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Sleigh Bells are kosher?
Everyday objects of reasonable price that are well designed for their category: I first found the Roadster pencil at RISD's student store. Compared to the sea of blue Staedler pencils, this one is a keeper. Since early September I've been entranced by clearly canadian's new designs. The drinks are the same or similar to what they used to be, but the new bottle designs are really top notch. Each flavor has its own color and intricate ticket-background style pattern. Also note the inversion of negative space on the diet bottles; nice touch. Piave is an old Italian company that has, apparently, been making great toothbrushes since the 20s. I've written about this before, but it still amazes me how durable these things are. (Note: I have changed toothbrushes since writing that other piece, I made sure to grab a handful last time I saw them).
In NY, I had the opportunity to see the new American Folk Art Museum designed by Billie Tsien and Todd Williams. In the center of the structure is a stairway that winds up through the floors and to the side of the stairs is a fiberglass installation that's supposed to act as some sort of light well. The fact that it doesn't convey light at all renders it a little dissapointing. Throughout I felt like the building was already a bit 90s, but at the same time it's a successful attempt at merging the seemingly oposed aesthetics of industrial chic and the warmth of natural materials. Circulation space was very limited and this turned out to be the architectural theme of my visit to NY. The next day a trip to the Prada store yielded an amazing experience, I really like the space, but it too has frustratingly small circulation spaces. A lot of the critiques of that space center around it being too packed, &c. which is a bit unfortunate. Prada stores are usually pretty empty and Koolhaas seems to have designed it with this in mind, but when a project has this much hype it becomes an attraction all to itself (complete with people playing in the dressing rooms 'just to see'). In a way, then, it's unfortunate that the influx cannot be accomodated, but in reality the design is not for them. This, however, is still not an excuse for passageways that are small even for one person. (It also doesn't address the fact that Prada is going to have to diversify their offerings to stay afloat. Their cosmetics line is the first to invade more common department stores like nieman marcus, but they're going to have to do even more. Prada remains one of the few big-name pret-a-porter companies with almost no presence in the typical American mall. This elite isolationism works well in times of economic flushness, but when the screws are tighetned people are much more likely to drop money for new sunglasses or cologne at the local department store than they are to fly to NY for the weekend and stock up on $400 tshirts.)
If you're in NY don't miss the Henry Darger show. Think Morton Salt girl with horns and wings. Also of note is the hanging system the museum has devised for this show. All of the pieces are encased in two-sided (Darger painted on both sides of the paper) glass and metal frames which rest in little hooks. The entire show can be re-organized in a matter of minutes.
For the people I've talked to recently about luggage: Mandarina Duck makes the best luggage I've ever used. If you live in the US, however, you've been out of luck until now. Flight 001 in NY is selling the new Duck line. Victorinox (the swiss army people) also make well-priced luggage. Their paratrooper bag has served me well and is just the right size for a couple days worth of business clothes.
Lastly, this is for pableaux because I'm sure he'll appreciate it more than one would expect.
--Posted 02/20/02 08:45PM