design democracy is a yearly competition based on the belief that mass customization is a viable alternative to mass production. unlike ponoko, this competition is based on free trade in design patterns that you can then make yourself at your local highly computerized wood shop. but given that finding and manufacturing this kind of product […]
Category Archives: marketing
design for the (tech-savvy) masses
Also posted in 2d, 3d, conviviality, customization, fabrication, furniture, futurecraft, open objects, product design
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vending bits
at logan on my way to tokyo i spotted this sony-branded vending machine selling cameras, memory cards and ebook readers. it is a strange experience to see these expensive electronics being commodified and it points out the worrisome disposable nature of these increasingly commonplace material- and resource-intensive products. maybe a more sustainable solution would be […]
Also posted in energy, fabrication, materials
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carpet tag
Construction is immaculate in Japan – every thing is perfectly cut, fitted, joined. It is so perfect that the builders are willing to be associated with their work. Every carpeted room (I saw) features a little tag, the size of a postage stamp, screwed into the corner of the carpeting. The tag bears the name […]
Also posted in fabrication, futurecraft, materials
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ipods cause cancer
i first saw japan tobacco’s surreal ‘tobacco etiquette‘ advertising campaign five years ago in the tokyo subway, and i thought it was just a unique and japanese way of discouraging smoking by appealing to a sense of communal responsibility. only yesterday did i see that the anti-smoking vignettes are interspersed with totally unrelated advice against […]
Also posted in 2d, possessed products, visualization
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pop-up catalog
i discovered issey miyake‘s haat store in aoyama (tokyo) – a line of clothing that, unlike pleats please and APOC, is totally dependent on hand-craft. the elaborately wrought pieces are made by hand either in india or japan. the line is designed by makiko minagawa, miyake’s long-time textile designer, and the focus is on the […]
Also posted in 2d, 3d, materials, open objects, tangible
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company history
visiting DNP headquarters in gotanda (tokyo) this past week i was reminded of the japanese corporate custom of maintaining a prominent exhibit about the company’s history, its roots, regardless of how far they’ve come. at 130 years old the company is commonplace in japan, where there are over 50,000 corporations older than 100 years. beyond […]
Also posted in open objects, product design, soft/glowing
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consumers and the machine
alex rosenberg makes blown glass objects the old-fashioned way, and he made a video comparing his slow, hand-crafted process to industrial mass-production. whereas his objects are hand-crafted and locally made, retailers sell cheap, machine-made glassware at a fraction of the cost of real blown glass. the machines are faster, but not necessarily better. blow-molding leaves […]
Also posted in conviviality, customization, fabrication, futurecraft, materials, open objects, possessed products, product design
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future shop
etsy is a revolutionary on-line store where individual makers can sell their goods. unlike existing shopping portals etsy relies on novel means of promoting individual sellers and motivating a social network. for example, there is a ‘buy local’ button that shows you only designers within your neighborhood, a ‘time machine’ that reveals what is being […]
Also posted in blogogracy, conviviality, customization, fabrication, futurecraft, open objects, product design, visualization
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