Month of Design in Ljubljana

Posted on 06/11/2012 by DARMA

Here in Ljubljana (Slovenia) autumn means cold, rain (and sometimes snow), beautiful colors and inspiration. A lot of events about design, theater, cinema are happening and the new light invites to see things as if it were the first time. Perhaps one of the most popular events is the Month of Design, the capital becomes a traveling museum, with exhibitions, pop-up stores, conferences, performances, parties…

Darma visited the core of the celebration just the day it opened and we were fortunate to attend the conference about Helsinki World Design Capital 2012.

Here more information about the event in the words of the organizers:

Month of Design is an annual festival of know-how and creativity in design. It offers platform for a discourse focused on exploring the role of design in creative industries, business, culture and social practices. The main aim of Month of Design is to increase the competitiveness of businesses and society, establish knowledge transfers between developed and less developed economies, and emphasise the strategic, economic and cultural advantages of design.

This unique month-long design event is held in and around the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. This year it is dedicated to a specific topic of global relevance – Thinking the Future.

Inspiring workspaces

Posted on 12/10/2012 by DARMA

Cheer up your tuesday: inspiration with the coolest movie posters

Posted on 09/10/2012 by DARMA

Brand’s brain-wash

Posted on 04/10/2012 by DARMA

Fortunately or unfortunately, the brands are part of our life and, even more, are set in our brain in an almost alarming way. We are able to identify more logos than featured works of art and to sing more jingles than songs that have sold thousands of albums around the world. Advertising is almost universal, timeless and, in some cases, when that advertising gets old, it becomes “art” (see Coca-Cola or Pepsi vintage posters).
Don’t you believe it? Well let’s do a test, how many brands can you identify in the following pictures?

By the way is an initiative of Dorothy, a design studio in New York.

Creative challenge completed: the non traditional solution for a traditional print media

Posted on 14/09/2012 by DARMA

Sonera express the speed concept of its 4G technology through a mobile game in a traditional and static media. Great!
Agency: DDBHelsinky

Vacation challenge: be completely offline

Posted on 23/08/2012 by DARMA

Tomorrow Darma goes on Holidyas. We’ll, that’s not really true, because we’ll dedicate a couple of days to work in Hotel Villaró project in Barcelona, but most of the time, we’ll try to enjoy and have fun. I was reading a really interesting article in Amalio Rey’s blog (in spanish) about how important is to disconnect completely during holidays. I confess that while reading, I felt kind of giddy and started to look for excuses to avoid the tips Amalio gives us. Luckily, in Blog.[cumClavis] I found the words I was looking for.

While Amalio finds that is essencial to disconnect during holidays, Manel from CumClavis defends the idea of feeling free to do what we want in every moment. I’m more for Manel’s advice but it’s true that Amalio’s answer is totally right: What usually an alcoholic feels like? (in all their shades, including the “workaholic”) keep drinking the same brew. So maybe to keep on hooked on our addictions couldn’t be good… Anyway I suspect that trying to put aside our virtual life during holidays is, at least for me, more stressful than staying stuck to it!

Amalio defends the need to disconnect and relax. To rest is a human necessity and to disconnect is a must to renew and refresh our knowledge and creativity. I couldn’t agree more, but when I do this and I need to go back to work after a few days, I can’t avoid the vertigo, I feel depressed and even I’m little bit lost in front the computer, I lost the rythm and I feel less productive. So, as Manel says, it’s not bad to keep connected to our daily life: check e mails, take a look to the social networks, read and write blogs,… I have the feeling you can’t not “erase” who you are, and we can’t deny that we are more and more “homus digitalis” with human-technology relations.

So, who’s right? Amalio or CumClavis? I promiss myself to try to be as analogical as possible during the holdyas, but I’m already worried about the WIFI connexion in the airport… I think I’m not going to be able to keep myself clen and sober….

Anyway, we wish you all a great end of August and, if not sooner, see you in September!

Fonts:

– ¿Desconectar?

– Amalio Rey. Elogio a la desconexión.

– Vacaciones y sobre-exposición digital.

– Apaguen los móviles y apaguen campamento (Elogio a la desconexión)

Today’s world through 1900 eyes

Posted on 20/08/2012 by DARMA

Even today, we believe that in a few years we’ll be able to fly, teleport or have a weekend house in the Moon, but how naive are these thoughts? In the 1900 some french artist presented a serie of painting and illustrations exposing how the France will look like in the early XXI century. In the Public Domain Review words:

France in the Year 2000 (XXI century) – a series of futuristic pictures by Jean-Marc Côté and other artists issued in France in 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1910. Originally in the form of paper cards enclosed in cigarette/cigar boxes and, later, as postcards, the images depicted the world as it was imagined to be like in the year 2000. There are at least 87 cards known that were authored by various French artists, the first series being produced for the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris.

We found all the creations really interesting, not only for the vintage look, but also the creativity and ingenuity of the early XX century society.
What do you think? do you like them?

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Font: Public Domain Review

All images: Wikimedia Commons

El año 2000 visto por los ojos del 1900

Cómo se veía el año 2000 en el 1900

France in the XXI century

France in the year 2000

Predicting the future with pencil and paper

That obsessive pleasure

Posted on 10/08/2012 by DARMA

The London born artist based in Brooklyn, New York Shantell Martin has definitely written her name all over it. When Ms. Strauss and her partner, Holly Hobart invited Shantell to move into the top floor of the 1890s brownstone they own in Bedford-Stuyvesant, it was understood that she would draw on the walls. “It seemed natural we’d let her have this large canvas on the top floor to do her thing,” Ms. Strauss said.The plan was to only decorate a smaller section in her bedroom, but she couldn’t put the pen down.The result makes it clear and obvious.

Via NYtimes, photos by Trevor Tondro