2010 - Year of the Egg

I drift back into the subliminal ether, confused as to what awoke me in the middle of the night. Was it the cries of my stomach from the over indulging of Christmas cake or the crowing of the neighbour's dyslexic rooster... Suddenly, I am staring blankly at endless cartridges of organic fluid. I am confronted by choice, a choice that questions the conflict between my immoral and moral values. Do I choose battery eggs or free range???

User integration within society and their social interaction can be measured and compared to the mentality and structure of combining ingredients within a recipe. As your masterpiece grows, the introduction of each ingredient influences the properties and character of the existing components. Recipes, like laws, are to be followed to retain consistency between the various elements and is a precaution put in place to help prevent the opportunity for discrepancies to occur.

No matter how careful you nurture them into an environment, it still only takes one bad egg to undo all the hard work that laid the foundation for your creation. These experiences barely scratch the essence that shape our attitude towards the obstacles we face each day. Whether you relate the above methodology to a relationship, career or materials within the process of a design it is how you choose to deal with the situation at hand that decides the outcome.

So here is to 2010. A year of uncertain obstacles generating experience and promoting personal growth.

Unconventionally Unique!

While joyful clouds played in the sky, projecting patterns on the mountains beneath them to display their creative selves, I visited the beautiful vineyards of Marlborough while traveling around New Zealand last month. Cellar door after cellar door a lot was left to be desired in a realm where atmospheric propositions are waged on the pureness sense being that of taste. I was taken away by the vineyard Seresin Estate. Their 'all natural' approach to wine making, hand picked and only harvesting the wine in sync with the transition of the moon. Unconventionally, as beautiful as the wines were, to my surprise the sensual experience of taste quickly became that of 'touch'. In my hands was not another overly mass produced wine tasting glass, but a carefully crafted vestibule that reinforced the true direction and being of the wine on offer. Or so i thought...

My exploration, experiencing where marketing meets design was briskly halted by the 'ill purposeful' deformities of the product. Where the methodology and character behind the design creation has been lost and became a cloned byproduct of today's mass production techniques.

Design with a story IS a design with a purpose...

Movember 2009!

Unfortunately, Movember is over for another year and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who have contributed either financially or have made sacrifices of the physical or even the 'romantic' kind for such a great cause. Raising $1080 in my first year as a Mo Bro, I have my work cut out for me to better that amount next year!!

Yes, it was damn itchy. Yes, it didn't match my eyebrows and yes my nick name for the month was "The Walrus" from my loving partner. But through all the negative experiences was a plethora of positives as a Mo Bro. The laughter, support and banter between mates, strangers and sponsors alike complemented this innovative and interactive fund-raising campaign. I have loved every bit of it. Bring on Movember 2010!

Garage Education 2.0!

                                             [Image: Carriage Works - Sydney]

We have grown up in a culture where your lifestyle or career 'status' is driven by your academic studies. It is now generally accepted that those who excel at scholarly activities go and work in an office and those who don't usually pick up a trade. So where did we gain this misconception that applying a more hands-on and physically demanding career path is less socially accepted as an integral role in today's society? In short it began at the very place that benefits the most, the secondary education system. Like all powerhouse marketing campaigns, the education system is up there with the likes of Microsoft and Apple. While less subtle you quickly find yourself becoming another chess piece to replace others before you. Brainwashed during the years of adolescence, their ability to influence your decisions even after you have seen your contract through does not become apparent until it is too late.

In truth, the focus on the 'how' and not the 'why' that enables these 'lesser beings' to bridge that gap between the non-tangible and physical realm of design.  Where tinkering laid the foundation for innovation. It is the collaboration of the tinkerers and academics that further evolves our future. Future Tense recently discussed the importance of how Australia has embraced tinkering and have become a country of tinkerers with Alex Pang - Futurist, Associate Fellow at Oxford University's Said Business School and Managing Editor at Encyclopedia Britannica.

Futurist Alex Pang believes the products, technology and designs of tomorrow are being discovered today by people who like 'tinkering'. Tinkering isn't just wasting time in the back shed, it's taking objects, or even ideas, and making them better. From open-sourced software to a hotted-up motor-mower, it's all tinkering according to Mr Pang.

So to conclude, I will take a leaf out of Bert Monroy's book and finish by telling you to sit there and play. Playing is the best way to learn. It shouldn’t be considered “work.” Work could never be that much fun.

Sculpture By The Sea 2009!!

The 13th Annual Sculpture By The Sea is underway between Bondi and Tamarama. This coastal walk has been transformed into an interactive sculpture park for free public viewing and consists of over 100 sculptures by artists from Australia and across the world. The beautiful blue sky, the warmth of the sun as it is dissolved by the coolness of the sea breeze and the variety in artistic expression satisfied the media hype leading up to the event and still, a lot of the sculptures lacked context compared to the other 'installations'. I understand that some may have been more site specific than others, but when you have the Balnaves Foundation Sculpture Prize winner May Barrie's - 'Time and Tide Granite Monolith II' situated amongst the sprawl and not proudly perched on a cliff face boldly expressing the importance of 'her' existence and the influence 'she' has over the surrounding elements is hard to swallow. I would have loved to see more contrast between sculpture and habitation.

        [Media Image: Balnaves Foundation Sculpture Prize winner May Barrie's - Time and Tide Granite Monolith II ].

After attending the event last year unprepared, this year was the perfect opportunity to take my new Canon 70-300mm for a spin before exploring southern New Zealand in a few weeks time. At times I felt that there was an eccentric disconnection to the sculptures through the longer focal length compared to my Canon 17-85mm. Other times I was delighted to find that these constraints placed on me as the photographer, while limiting, forced me to adapt and maximise photo real estate. Below are a selection of my favorite photos for the day from a series which you can find on my Flickr page.

 

 

 

 A lot of  inspirational photos can be found at the Flickr group Sculpture by the Sea so make sure you check them out.

My Veronica!

                                   [Image: Media Studio - University of Newcastle].

As a society of digital consumers you are in denial if you believe your lifestyle has not become more reliant on computers. The application of issuing names has evolved and is no longer applicable to just cars, boats, pets etc; They are now common in most electrical appliances, muscling the greatly accomplished automobile from the top of the food chain for being man's best toy. I have Larry (laptop), Penny (PSP) and Irene (Ipod) to name a few.

I spend all day around a computer, yet I am impervious to that fact when I am at home. The harmonisation of computers and mobile phones takes the love obsession further. We fight, laugh, cry and even spend the night together on those critical deadlines. In the near future we will see a new niche market, 'Center for the Digitally Disturbed' where addicts will go for treatment that will accommodate social media detoxing through to virtual enemas for blogger buffs who find themselves 'backed up'.

Humans are supposed to be the pinnacle of creation, yet through our own exploration with technology we are deceivingly trained like pets. I type this post in a state of revelry, not quite awake nor asleep. Pushing all the right keys, I am a constituent of her as she is of me. Constantly drawn towards her presence. My life evolves around her sleek and carefully manufactured body. My weakness. My Veronica...

Design AID: Assistants In Distress!

 [Image: Erik Dixon by David Jackson].

Zack Arias and his team are at it again. In particular, their studio manager Erik Dixon, who was invited by Brad Moore of the Scott Kelby team to be part of their ongoing Guest Blog Wednesday series. Creatively mirroring the intense reality of Transform to create Stroke, this lighthearted approach towards the treatment of design assistants within workplaces around the world was a pleasure to experience... Again  ;o)