Random Ramblings... http://www.blog.bentopliss.com ...from Ben Topliss posterous.com Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:27:00 -0800 Repair It Yourself http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/repair-it-yourself http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/repair-it-yourself

 

 Shoes are one of those products that, with the rise of consumerism and mass production, evolved drastically from a completely repairable object; and the active social-economical structure that existed around shoe repair is slowly disappearing.
 
Shoes, both crafted and industrially manufactured, are almost always assembled through irreversible connections, stitching and/or gluing. This means that components such as the sole and the upper, although commonly made of two very different materials, are inseparable. Throughout use, shoes are worn and damaged both in the sole and in the upper.

These shoes are designed with a reversible connection between the sole and the upper, allowing the repair process to be more transparent in relation to the material the individual component is made of.

 

Photos and words: Courtesy of Eugenia Morpurgo

 

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Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:29:00 -0800 Truth Hurts http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/truth-hurts http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/truth-hurts

Sure, having an iPhone is pretty cool, but there are a couple of catches to it. Nico Ordozgoiti's designed these wallpapers to keep that in mind.

 

You can download them here: Obsolete / Friends / Clothes / Car / Drop

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Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:16:00 -0800 Infrared Hong Kong http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/infrared-hong-kong http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/infrared-hong-kong

Hong Kong-based designer Yiu Yu Hoi turns his fast-paced city into a slow moving dream with the use of infrared photography. He first learned about this technique from photography forums which got him "totally fascinated" with how shockingly different he could make his city scenes appear.

Look through his photos and you'll notice that Hoi seeks out trees in Hong Kong, making them look vibrant in their pink-ish tone. "The glowing trees can be obtained in-camera, but they are bluish straight out of camera," he tells us. "A more natural reddish tone could be available by simply swapping Blue and Red channels in Photoshop. That is a very popular, yet powerful way to develop colored infrared photos."

Infrared photography has the ability to show us what the eye cannot see, it's the art of capturing invisible light. These days, digital photographers can use filters and image-editing software like Photoshop to achieve this otherworldly effect.









Yiu Yu Hoi's photos can also be found in the third issue of his quarterly publication 16HOURS Magazine, Urban. 16HOURS is the result of two designers, each on opposite sides of the world, collaborating on a magazine aimed to get you inspired from each and every angle of life. A quarterly publication where each issue is based around a specific theme, to date there has been: Wanderlust, Home and now Urban. To capture these themes and feelings in print they collect art to showcase from photographers, designers, illustrators and writers from around the world.

It's called 16HOURS because that's the time difference between Calgary, Canada and Sydney, Australia, the two cities where you'll find the designers who curate and put the magazine together.

 

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Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:29:00 -0800 Top Ten: Music Artists 2011 http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/top-ten-music-artists-2011 http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/top-ten-music-artists-2011
According to my last.fm stats, these are the my most listened to artists of the last 12 months. Its also a pretty accurate representation of my favourite albums of the past year.

1 Cut Copy - 330 plays
2 Metronomy - 264 plays
3 Tame Impala - 239 plays
4 Daft Punk - 234 plays
5 The Chemical Brothers - 233 plays
7 LCD Soundsystem - 183 plays
7 Caribou - 183 plays
8 Radiohead - 182 plays
9 Arctic Monkeys - 152 plays
10 Chromeo - 142 plays

With the below being my most listened to track of the year:

 

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Tue, 20 Dec 2011 08:42:00 -0800 Lego Production Factory in Billund, Denmark » Design You Trust – Design and Beyond! http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/lego-production-factory-in-billund-denmark-de http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/lego-production-factory-in-billund-denmark-de

1239 Lego Production Factory in Billund, Denmark

Minifigure heads on the Lego production line in Billund, Denmark, where two million Lego pieces are made every hour. This machine, one of several similar ones in the factory, can paint different expressions on each side of the heads.

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The Billund factory’s ‘Cathedral’ warehouse, which is ‘manned’ by eight robots and 15 automatic cranes.

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Minifigures are assembled on the production line.

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Left: The Toy Story characters; and a virtual Buzz Lightyear – the lines in the background indicate brick size.

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Lego heads in the painting machine.

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One of the 12 production ‘legs’ in the factory – the finished Lego pieces are stored in the Cathedral.

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Left: A large minifigure welcomes visitors to the ‘Idea House’; and completed products on display.

(I think the photography is by Alex Howe?)
via designyoutrust.com

 

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Tue, 06 Dec 2011 06:29:00 -0800 Hydro Power Project http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/hydro-power-project http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/hydro-power-project

 Hydro Project plots the  the construction of dams in Ethiopia and China. The series by photographer  Rüdiger Nehmzow, portrays the relationships between nature and how human endeavour can control it for its own benefit. I find the scale of everything really mind blowing.

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Tue, 29 Nov 2011 03:27:00 -0800 Sexy, Simple Sony: The TR-1825 Radio http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/sexy-simple-sony-the-tr-1825-radio http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/sexy-simple-sony-the-tr-1825-radio

It's quite a feat of industrial design to produce something in 1970 that still looks contemporary 41 years later. Sony handily achieved that feat with their TR-1825 radio, a modernist cube that you slid open to expose the speaker on the front face while simultaneously revealing the controls up top.

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Sony Design's History page states,

"Released in 1970, when Sony had become the first Japanese company to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Sliding the faces on this cubic radio reveals a speaker in front and controls on top, a unique design at the time. One version of its packaging commemorates the World Expo in Osaka, held in March that year, and many expo-goers picked up the radio as a gift"

 

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Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:31:00 -0700 A reason to go to Blackpool? http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/the-comedy-carpet-blackpool http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/the-comedy-carpet-blackpool

For me, the most interesting thing about the Comedy Carpet (one of the UK’s biggest ever pieces of public art which opened yesterday), is the typography and its actual production.

Collaborative artist, Gordon Young was inspired and supported in researching the content for the carpet by Blackpool-based comedy expert, Barry Band and historian and writer Graham Mccann, and on the typography and layout by graphic designer Andy Altmann of why not associates.


image: blackpool council

Production
Five years in the making: one of the most complex pieces of public art ever commissioned at first sight, the comedy carpet looks as if the text is painted, but in fact each of the 160,000+ letters has been individually cut from 30mm solid granite or cobalt blue concrete, arranged into over 300 slabs and then cast into high quality, gleaming white concrete panels. The letters range in size from a  few centimetres to over a metre so viewers can enjoy it both close up and from the  glass viewing platform in the blackpool tower eye.

The scale and incredibly complex nature of the work meant that comedy carpet team even had to set up its own bespoke studio to make the artwork. after several months of research with input from chemists and engineers the comedy carpet team devised new techniques and recipes for production including a special mix to produce the hardest and whitest of concrete and the perfect blue that won’t fade. The process of making each of the 320 slabs involved many complex stages from cutting, sorting, fettling, and laying out each of the letters, to a 3-stage casting process, curing, trimming, grinding and polishing. and that’s before it was transported to Blackpool for the installation on the headland.


gordon young selects letters for a part of the comedy carpet
image: blackpool council


image: blackpool council


image: blackpool council


image: blackpool council


section of the 'carpet' being cleaned
image: bbc


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Created as part of the major regeneration of the promenade, the comedy carpet was commissioned by blackpool council, with part of a £4m grant from cabe’s seachange programme. catchphrases, jokes and songs from more than a 1000 comedians are now immortalised in concrete and granite artwork which is situated at the foot of  blackpool tower.

Artist Gordon Young has been working in the public realm for over 20 years creating pieces that mine rich seams of social history, engage communities and extend the relationships between art and architecture. at the heart of all gordon’s young’s work is language - words that entice, fascinate and on the comedy carpet, amuse.  titter ye not, just like that, oooo-er matron, nudge, nudge wink, wink, oh betty! suit you sir, yeah but no but, what’s on the stick vic? , in the comedy carpet young has created a giant 'giggle map' immortalising the UK’s favourite comedians and comic writers fromthe hey day of music hall to 21st century stand up.

 

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Thu, 29 Sep 2011 03:14:00 -0700 ready steady bang http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/ready-steady-bang http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/ready-steady-bang

Cute little pixel iphone game, reminds a bit in styling and simplicity of canabalt.com.

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Download the game from the App store: itunes.apple.com/​gb/​app/​ready-steady-bang/​id447588618

Or for more information go to facebook.com/​readysteadybang

 

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Tue, 20 Sep 2011 07:41:00 -0700 Bare Essentials http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/bare-essentials http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/bare-essentials

A nice joint project from de Groot and Dennis Nalden, reducing the best known characters to simple geometric shapes and colours. The series entitled "Bare Essentials" features 50 illustrations.

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from Fubiz™ http://bit.ly/n8LpjD

via ifttt

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Wed, 07 Sep 2011 15:26:00 -0700 Double Exposures by Andre De Freitas http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/double-exposure http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/double-exposure
 Amazing photography by illustrator and photographer Andre De Freitas




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Mon, 05 Sep 2011 03:30:00 -0700 Fancy a brew? http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/fancy-a-brew http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/fancy-a-brew

Cookie Splash! by Siebe Warmoeskerken






Colorful and beautiful series by Netherlands based photographer, Siebe Warmoeskerken.

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Fri, 02 Sep 2011 07:49:00 -0700 skateboarding/riding/parkouring/bmxing/highlining awesomeness http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/boardingridingparkouring-awesomeness http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/boardingridingparkouring-awesomeness

Skyliners Paris trailer

Ryan Doyle: Parkour in Mardin

Solitaire: A Backcountry Skiing, Snowboarding, and Telemark Film

Pi

India : Oxelo Skateboards

Stunt Poetry

sebmontaz.com
redbull.com
sweetgrass-productions.com
thomas-blanchard.com

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Tue, 30 Aug 2011 03:07:00 -0700 Donuts on Deansgate with @JensonButton and @TheFifthDriver http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/donuts-on-deansgate-with-jensonbutton-and-the http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/donuts-on-deansgate-with-jensonbutton-and-the

Yesterday Jenson Button took to the streets of Manchester in his Mclaron MP-23, tearing up Deansgate to Albert Square and back in again whilst 55,000 fans cheered him on. 

Glad we got down their pretty early as we got quite good spot at the turning point by the town hall, where we got sprayed with bits of tyre/road as Jenson performed burnouts right infront of us. The Q&A was pretty interesting, especially after we had just been ejected from behind the fanzone by an angry security man for sneaking in with some of Jensons party!

Check out the videos at the bottom, as they attempt to portray the noise and power of it all - like angry elephants smashing their way around Manchester!

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This video filmed by my mate @stevo9856 is awesome!

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Jenson getting a bit sideways on his final run back towards Deansgate.
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Jenson heading to the Q&A session - just after we had been ejected by a grizzly security guard. Lewis Hamiltons suit and car.

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Tue, 09 Aug 2011 02:59:00 -0700 Whimsical products made by The. http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/whimsical-products-made-by-the http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/whimsical-products-made-by-the

A selection of cool, random and cleverly designed products from New York based product designers, The.

Anti-theft lunch bags
Stop those bullys at school/work nicking your sandwiches!

Framed objects Walls notebook
Walls Notebook is a notebook / sketchbook that features 80 pictures of "clean" NYC walls instead of blank pages. Write, draw, paste, or doodle on these inspirational backdrops. You'll be one step closer to being the street artist you've always wanted to be … minus the jail time. Stacked cups
What appears to be two or three cups nestled within each other is actually only one cup.
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Speak-er
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thinkofthe.com

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Fri, 29 Jul 2011 02:14:00 -0700 When the fairytale is over... http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/when-the-fairytale-is-over http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/when-the-fairytale-is-over

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Snow White, after the prince's kiss. (Photo: Dina Goldstein)

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Where Cinderella went after the ball. (Photo: Dina Goldstein)

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Rapunzel in treatment. (Photo: Dina Goldstein)

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Little Red Riding Hood's bottomless basket. (Photo: Dina Goldstein)

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Still waiting for Sleeping Beauty. (Photo: Dina Goldstein)

"These works place Fairy Tale characters in modern day scenarios. In all of the images the Princess is placed in an environment that articulates her conflict. The ‘…happily ever after’ is replaced with a realistic outcome and addresses current issues… Disney’s perfect Princesses [are] juxtaposed with real issues that were affecting women around me, such as illness, addiction and self-image issues."

annalsofamericus.com/art-imitating-reality/life-after-the-fairy-tale-ends/
fallenprincesses.com/

 

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Mon, 20 Jun 2011 01:30:00 -0700 Anatomy of a computer virus http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/anatomy-of-a-computer-virus http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/anatomy-of-a-computer-virus

Great motion infogram from Australian motion designer Patrick Clair from Australia about the "open-source weapon" Stuxnet.

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via: http://blog.iso50.com/24484/anatomy-of-a-computer-virus/
http://vimeo.com/patrickclair

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Thu, 09 Jun 2011 10:06:00 -0700 Disney's Multiplane Camera - 1957 http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/miguex-at-computerlove-disneys-multiplane-cam http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/miguex-at-computerlove-disneys-multiplane-cam 20110606_223926_disney.jpg

If you use After Effects, you will enjoy the true origins of the Camera Layer / 2.5D animation from this video. Technology keeps advancing so fast, and has allowed laptop computers to recreate and improve this same techniques once put together by people wearing slacks and dressy shoes. Good to think about this next time you press that "render" button :)


via: Accent

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Sat, 28 May 2011 03:05:00 -0700 No Tankers http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/no-tankers http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/no-tankers

Clever posters by Rethink for the Dogwood Initiative as part of their ongoing "No Tankers" campaign. The posters change as it rains - check the video below.

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Thu, 26 May 2011 05:27:00 -0700 Exceed Maximum - BMW http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/exceed-maximum http://www.blog.bentopliss.com/exceed-maximum

Here's a nicely executed concept for BMW M3 Coupe at Hamburg Airport utilising a 50x2m light wall in the middle of the arrival hall to portray a car that exceed limits by exceeding its limits.

Advertising agency Serviceplan created a headline out of half letters, the super shiny floor then reflected the other half. As a result, BMW doubled the media space for free.

After discussing this a little bit, we concluded that they've missed a trick with the standard car shot at the end and that something more inventive continuing the reflections theme could have been done. The orientation of the type is changed from the first word to the second, so you are alredy reading it with your head turned which would then suit a car shot from either the front or the rear.



Advertising Agency: Serviceplan, Munich, Germany
Chief Creative Officer: Alexander Schill
Creative Directors: Alexander Schill, Maik Kaehler, Christoph Nann
Copywriter: Andreas Schriewer
Art Directors: Manuel Wolff, Savina Mokreva, Roman Becker
Others: Robin Ruschke, Michael Falkensteiner

via adsoftheworld
via designyearbook.com

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