Sunday, March 28, 2010
Handmade Nation
Handmade Nation is a documentary by Faythe Levine about the lives of indie artists, crafters, and designers. It was really interesting to get the viewpoint of people in the "Do It Yourself" Movement. It was also striking to see that people are able to run a small business from their homes or out of little boutiques successfully instead if selling their products to large corporations who would mass produce and sell them. The dedication and time the people put into their artwork really shows and its really inspiring.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Beautiful Loser
The movie was quite entertaining to watch. It was efficient in depicting the lives of those deemed at "losers" who are content with their lives. From the time we hit elementary school, we are bombarded with aspirations for jobs of the future and are led to believe that art will just be a hobby. For the people in this film, it is inspiring to see how they stick next to their passion and avoid being sucked in by the mainstream ideals. They emphasize the reality that when people become older, they "grow up" and stop creating. "you stop involving yourself in the joy of coloring and creating" Even for me, I don't have the time to paint which I miss a lot because I'm constantly consumed with work. The movie reminded me of how I was led down this path into a designer : my love of arts and crafts during childhood.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Ted Talks
Eiizabeth Gilbert on Nurturing Creativity
Elizabeth Gilbert was insightful on the why creative people are driven to think that they are mentally unstable. She points to the 20th Century death count of creative minds both literally and figuratively. For instance, she says that one author said that with every book he wrote he died a little. "Creativity and suffering are inevitably link and artistry will lead to anguish," notes Gilbert. By this she remarks that as creative people, we are driven to believe that we must fear that all our years of work will never amount to anything and that the humiliation of rejection will kill you. She goes on to say that in Ancient Greece and Rome, creativity was believed to come from an unknown source or spirit. In Roman, this spirit was called a genius, which was thought to be a magical divine entity that would assist and artist in work. People that that it protected against narcissism, thus success was not wholly your responsibility nor was failure, due to the presence of the genius. Later, after the Renaissance, people themselves were referred to as a genius rather than having a genius. She says that this was a mistake for it led people to believe that one person was is responsible for all production and it puts too much pressure on one individual which has led to our demise. It interesting to hear that she goes on to tell that sometimes creativity and inspiration is a floating thing which we have to grasp. Its a canny idea, but its enlightening on the idea of spirituality of creation. "Don't be afraid of success and failure, continue to do your job. If your job is to dance, do your dance."
Yves Behar on Designing Objects That Tell Stories
Yves Behar, industrial designer and founder of FuseProject, talks about the greater importance and possibilities of design. As a child, he was very into experimentation with combination and design which led him to design school. He tells a story about when he started in the industry outside of school, his first job focused on just designing the outside branding. This led him to start his own company, Fuse Project, in San Francisco to turn design into transformation of objects such as a a coffee table that can fold into a stool and then into a flat object. He emphasizes "Design isn't just about slapping skins on a product but about designing the entire human experience." This definition of design is something I will forever keep with me because it gives my endeavors greater meaning beyond creating aesthetics. It's inspiring the way he focuses on transformation. For instance, he worked to design the first watch with a changeable interface so the time can be viewed both horizontally and vertically. This was done so the user could see the time without awkwardly bending the elbow. Additionally, he says that his design work creates value. For instance, Y-Water was product were someone wanted to create a healthy drink for his children without a high fructose concentration. Everything from the design of the inner product to the outer container to reusability is about purpose. When the bottles are done being used, children can connect them to create figures, thus it becomes a toy. This talk by Yves Behar was very inspirational and he will now be an icon whom I look to for insight.
Steve Jobs: How to live before you die
Steve Jobs gave this commencement speech to Stanford's graduating class in 2005. He offered some really inspirational pieces of advice to help me put into perspective the way I approach life. The first important thing he said was "You cannot connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect the dots looking back. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. Believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path, and that will make all the difference." This was really striking because we all go to college with this set idea that it will lead us to a degree which will in turn lead us to a successful job. However, we never stop to think that we should just live our lives with the belief that things will work out. Another important thing was that he stressed that you have find what you love. The only way to do great work is to find what you love. For me, I have always been passionate about all forms of design and even though may counselors have advised me to enter the medical field, I could not give up my true passion for design. In all, Jobs' speech enlightened me to take a step back from the structured environment I have lived in for the past 18 years and evaluate the true meaning of living.
Elizabeth Gilbert was insightful on the why creative people are driven to think that they are mentally unstable. She points to the 20th Century death count of creative minds both literally and figuratively. For instance, she says that one author said that with every book he wrote he died a little. "Creativity and suffering are inevitably link and artistry will lead to anguish," notes Gilbert. By this she remarks that as creative people, we are driven to believe that we must fear that all our years of work will never amount to anything and that the humiliation of rejection will kill you. She goes on to say that in Ancient Greece and Rome, creativity was believed to come from an unknown source or spirit. In Roman, this spirit was called a genius, which was thought to be a magical divine entity that would assist and artist in work. People that that it protected against narcissism, thus success was not wholly your responsibility nor was failure, due to the presence of the genius. Later, after the Renaissance, people themselves were referred to as a genius rather than having a genius. She says that this was a mistake for it led people to believe that one person was is responsible for all production and it puts too much pressure on one individual which has led to our demise. It interesting to hear that she goes on to tell that sometimes creativity and inspiration is a floating thing which we have to grasp. Its a canny idea, but its enlightening on the idea of spirituality of creation. "Don't be afraid of success and failure, continue to do your job. If your job is to dance, do your dance."
Yves Behar on Designing Objects That Tell Stories
Yves Behar, industrial designer and founder of FuseProject, talks about the greater importance and possibilities of design. As a child, he was very into experimentation with combination and design which led him to design school. He tells a story about when he started in the industry outside of school, his first job focused on just designing the outside branding. This led him to start his own company, Fuse Project, in San Francisco to turn design into transformation of objects such as a a coffee table that can fold into a stool and then into a flat object. He emphasizes "Design isn't just about slapping skins on a product but about designing the entire human experience." This definition of design is something I will forever keep with me because it gives my endeavors greater meaning beyond creating aesthetics. It's inspiring the way he focuses on transformation. For instance, he worked to design the first watch with a changeable interface so the time can be viewed both horizontally and vertically. This was done so the user could see the time without awkwardly bending the elbow. Additionally, he says that his design work creates value. For instance, Y-Water was product were someone wanted to create a healthy drink for his children without a high fructose concentration. Everything from the design of the inner product to the outer container to reusability is about purpose. When the bottles are done being used, children can connect them to create figures, thus it becomes a toy. This talk by Yves Behar was very inspirational and he will now be an icon whom I look to for insight.
Steve Jobs: How to live before you die
Steve Jobs gave this commencement speech to Stanford's graduating class in 2005. He offered some really inspirational pieces of advice to help me put into perspective the way I approach life. The first important thing he said was "You cannot connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect the dots looking back. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. Believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path, and that will make all the difference." This was really striking because we all go to college with this set idea that it will lead us to a degree which will in turn lead us to a successful job. However, we never stop to think that we should just live our lives with the belief that things will work out. Another important thing was that he stressed that you have find what you love. The only way to do great work is to find what you love. For me, I have always been passionate about all forms of design and even though may counselors have advised me to enter the medical field, I could not give up my true passion for design. In all, Jobs' speech enlightened me to take a step back from the structured environment I have lived in for the past 18 years and evaluate the true meaning of living.
10 Photos - Lights
Here is a compilation of ten photos where I looked at amusing forms of light fixtures. How they affect surroundings and forms shape was interesting.
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