Designers, Designers, Designers: Sophie Griotto  

Posted by Felicity

Yes, another post!

I love my designers, whatever style of designer they are! This time I decided to blog on one of my favourites: Sophie Griotto, a graphic designer! And no, she isn't Italian (at least I don't think she is...), she's French! I think she is absolutely amazing at what she does, because of her perspective on what she creates: (quote is taken from her own website: http://www.sophiegriotto.com/ )

"Mon regarde est sensibilisé par la femme contamporaine et urbaine. Je recherche l'accesoire et l'attitude qui vont accentuer sa personalité et son originalite..."

" I look sensitively at the contemporary and urban female. I seek the accesories and attitude that accentuates her personality and originality..."

I think that quote definitely reflects her work and the originality of her work!





The Future of Architecture: Club Watt  

Posted by Felicity

"It's called Club Watt."

"It's called Club What?"

"No Club W - A - T - T!"

"Oh."


That was the given response whenever I mention this green and totally cool club!Yes, if you are in Rotterdam, Holland, and absolutely love House, Club and Trance music like I do, check it out! Club Watt is a state of the art club. Why you may ask? Well, it's their dancefloor. This dancefloor allows clubbers to generate energy by dancing on it. This is allowed by you guessed it, piezoelectric crystals! Green and fun, what could be better than this hot nightspot!


Club Watt's greener than green dancefloor. 

Great Kuler Themes  

Posted by Felicity

Hello all, I am a Kuler member and there is nothing more I love than showcasing themes that are faves of mine (that aren't done by me of course):

- Cozumel by Jamiegrasso

- Hand Me Downs by Jedis

- Classique Victorian by Misatakashino

- Pomengrenate Drip by Nightdragonz

- Tinsel and Bows by B_wiebe

- Rubber Tree by Lr

* Please visit http://kuler.adobe.com/ to vote and/ or download these themes, and see more themes*

Designers, Designers, Designers: David Weeks  

Posted by Felicity

Now when I read magazines, I don't always read everything. Sometimes I find out that it was a good idea, and other times I find that I have missed out on some cool and important stuff! Today, I found out it was the latter, when I re- read the July/ August edition of Azure Magazine, and boy did I find out some cool stuff! Who did I find today, that I should have found out about a long time ago? Well, it was a fab designer called David Weeks, who is based in Brooklyn, New York.

David Weeks was born in Madison, Wisconsin and educated at the famed Rhode Island School of Design in 1990 and since working extensively with the amazing jewelry designer Ted Muehling has come up with great designs (and check this guy out, he has worked on several collections with Ralph Pucci International) in not only lighting but many other aspects of interior design.

David Weeks's Sing Sing Dinner Tray which
was created for Kikkerland. (I believe it is still
distributed.)















David Weeks's Hanno Toy for Areaware is made of sustainably grown beechwood.

The Future of Architecture: Prefabrication  

Posted by Felicity

Firstly, I am not a great expert on architecture, quite far from it, but I love the topic and today I wanted to get started on reporting on a certain topic that is of great interest to me: prefabrication. Now for some of you, this may ring a bell if you had visited the Museum of Modern Art in New York, sometime during August of this year. So yes, if you saw the MoMA’s fabulous exhibit called Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling, I will be digging and dwelling on this shared topic with you for the next couple of weeks. 

However, some of you might already be asking, what is prefabrication? Well, prefabrication is the process of building the components of structure at one site (i.e. a factory), and then transporting it to the building site. Yes, prefabrication is that simple. So what's so great about it? Well, the great part is the process of prefabrication. In theory, prefabrication is the reduction of time and cost for building a certain structure by having a majority of the components used to construct the structure being built already then shipped to the construction site and then having all the parts bolted together. This reduces the amount of time used to build the components of the structure and the structure itself and also reduces the cost of labour too. 

Prefabrication, however, is not only about keeping cost and time low, it's also about sustainability. Since prefabricated or modular building's components are not built on site, but are provided through an external source, prefab structures are inexpensive to build but reduce the amount of energy and waste generated on site. Unfortunately, however, prefabrication has its cons as well. Since the components of a prefab structure are not built on site, the components of a prefabricated structure have to be transported to the site from the factory. These built components will be quite large, not only requiring careful handling but decreasing the amount of space a transportation vehicle has to carry these components unlike the transportation of raw materials to the construction site. This decrease in space in the transportation vehicle means a higher cost in hiring trucks or other transports to carry the parts of a prefab structure, and with the price of oil climbing, it may be hard to find many engineers and architects who will be willing to put sustainability in front of climbing costs.

___________________________________________________________________
Articles and blogs on Prefabrication:
- http://www.momahomedelivery.org/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefabrication
- http://www.fabprefab.blogspot.com/
- http://prefabcosm.com/blog/2007/07/23/prefabrication-laboratory/

Hello!  

Posted by Felicity

Hi world,

         My name is Felicity and I am pleased to set up my new blog! Interestingly enough, some of you may know of me through my Kuler series: Subtlety of Hue! For those of you who don't, I recommend checking it out (my themes! :p), and also a lot of others. Kuler is one of the most amazing sites out there for designers of all sorts and for those people who just love colour (me for example). When I got started on Kuler last year, I found it to be another outlet for my creativity and I learnt a lot from the "older" members who were there.

         But now, time for a little something about me, I am a big fan of trance and house music. I love experimenting with Photoshop and Illustrator, however, I am still a newbie on Illustrator. I consider myself pretty conservative... but don't worry I am not a neo - con! Not yet anyways! My favourite authors are JK Rowling, Khaled Hosseini, and the editors of Azure Architecture Magazine!