Heath Ceramics and House Industries are launching Heath house numbers, three-dimensional clay tiles celebrating the legendary Neutra and Eames fonts.

The Heath artisans are uniquely qualified to create a three-dimensional ceramic representation of House Industries’ two-dimensional typographic world. Each clay tile is glazed in a matte finish with a raised, unglazed number. As with all Heath tiles, Heath house numbers are pressed, hand-glazed, trimmed, and kiln-fired. They fuse simple, crisp lines, geometric forms and rich glazes in bold and classic colors. The two companies designed the tiles to be modular and easily integrated within a Heath tile installation, as well as to be displayed on their own with the use of a beautiful, modern track system—available in either salvaged teak or stainless steel.

“Bringing the Neutra and Eames-inspired fonts to life in clay form is so exciting to us,” says Heath Ceramics Creative Director Catherine Bailey. “Forming these beautiful and refined type-shapes out of an imprecise material, like clay, creates a fantastic contrast. The finished piece becomes as interesting as what’s likely to be housed inside the homes where the numbers preside.”

Richard J. Neutra was a rare personality whose character combined an uncommon aesthetic ability with a profound sense of civic responsibility. His physio-psychic architecture linked living spaces to their surrounding landscapes, physically and intellectually enriching the entire being. Impressed with Neutra’s design sensibilities, House Industries consulted with his son and partner, Dion, to produce Neutraface—an extensive font family based on the lettering that adorned many Neutra buildings. Since first releasing Neutraface in 2001, House Industries has continued to expand the family of typefaces with alternative, condensed and slab-serif styles.

Charles and Ray Eames are among the most important American designers of this century. House Industries worked closely with the Eames family for over ten years to gain access to some of the more obscure archive materials, to seek approval for the designs and to get a feel for what Charles and Ray would have wanted in a font family that bears their name. The Eames Century Roman family has eight different weights, from a distinctively delicate thin to a bombastic extra black. Corresponding italics are on double duty with their subtle nod to Ray Eames’ handwriting style while also providing an accompaniment to the Roman styles. Keeping with the Eames philosophy of balancing form and function, House also developed a special stencil version of the heaviest weight of the text family.

The Neutra numbers (3x6 inches) are offered in museum black and mid-century white, while the more playful Eames numbers (4x4 inches) are available in bright yellow, paprika, and museum black.

Dodoplan, a design studio from Poland, has created holiday decorations. They were executed for the Stary Browar Art and Business Centre, an institution which follows the principle of 50 50, where 50% is designated for art, while the other 50% is determined by the commercial aspect.

The project was spurred by the annual witnessing of masses of containers full of plastic Christmas trees and cheap ornaments flooding the worldwide market.  Opposing themselves to the global unification of holiday symbols and rituals, the designers reached to the roots and created ornaments inspired by traditional handicrafts, combining them with fresh, contemporary design.

The direct inspiration was "Pajaki" (Spiders) – a Christmas ornament which used to be hung under the ceilings of traditional Polish homes.  It was made from locally sourced materials, such as straw, tissue and yarn.

Dodoplan created star shaped modules, which then form expanding, concentric structures, a reference to the original "Spider's" shape.

550 elements were hand-crafted by Polish folk artists, a key aspect of the project.  Furthermore, a workshop was held, giving designers and artists an opportunity to teach Poznan residents how to make traditional holiday decorations, alongside an exhibition of the rich history of crafted spiders that inspired the Project (exhibition and project running till 15th January).

This book brings together contemporary graphic design promoting sustainability and the fight against climate change.


Essays look back in time to posters and ideas that set the stage for the current movement (World War Two posters, images of international cooperation, posters from the environmental movement in the 1960s and 1970s) and address the state of the poster: what is the efficacy and mode of distribution for purposeful, message-oriented graphic images today?

The bulk of the book is given over to a compilation of the best posters on the theme of sustainability by a variety of contemporary artists (both emerging and established), among them Shepard Fairey, Vier5, DJ Spooky, James Victore and Geoff McFetridge. These posters, which have a strong graphic presence and which never rest on the tired slogans of the past ("Save the Earth," etc.), show that graphic design does not passively respond to the zeitgeist--it helps shape it.

The book, which is sustainably printed in the U.S., reproduces 50 of these posters as tear-outs. Also included is a section on action, with documentation of designs at work in the world: on buses, billboards, protesters' placards, graffiti, t-shirts and so on. This movement is about a new form of patriotism, one that exhibits pride of place, but not fear of others.
 
Book for sale on Amazon: Green Patriot Posters - Images for a New Activism
Edited by Edward Morris, Dmitri Siegel.
Text by Michael Bierut, Thomas L. Friedman, Steven Heller
Edward Morris, Dmitri Siegel (Metropolis Books)

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum announces winners and finalists of the 11th Annual National Design Awards, which recognize excellence across a variety of disciplines.

The Product Design Award is given to an individual or firm for exceptional and exemplary work in the design of consumer goods, technology, or home and office furnishings.

This year, the award has been given to Smart Design.
Founded in 1980, Smart Design is a multidisciplinary design consultancy led by Davin Stowell and Tom Dair. Smart Design uses insight and innovation to develop consumer products that meet peoples’ needs, answer market demands, and solve critical manufacturing challenges. Projects are designed with a focus on connecting with the end user and have included OXO Good Grips kitchen tools, the SmartGauge instrument cluster for the Ford Fusion Hybrid, New York City taxi graphics, medical devices for UCB, and HP Photosmart compact photo printers.

OXO Good Grips Kitchen Tools
Starting a revolution, one potato peeler at a time.

New York Taxi Graphics
Checkered past, bold new vision.

Johnson & Johnson Reach Wondergrip
Designed for kids, not miniature grown-ups.

Johnson & Johnson Operating Gowns
Breathable protection in the OR.

UCB/OXO Cimzia® Prefilled Syringe
Cimzia® is an innovative biological medication that can greatly alleviate the symptoms of Crohn’s Disease and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

The 2010 National Design Award nominations were solicited from a committee of more than 2,500 designers, educators, journalists, cultural figures and corporate leaders from every state in the nation.

	The Initiative for Architecture and Design on Film announces the world premiere screening of its latest documentary, Contemporary Days: Robin and Lucienne Day Design the UK.
Robin and Lucienne Day

The ninety-minute film premieres on May 15, 2010 at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, DC. A question and answer session with Director Murray Grigor and Cinematographer Hamid Shams will follow the screening.

Robin and Lucienne Day transformed British design after World War II with striking furniture and textiles that signaled a new era of modernist sensibilities for everyday living. Robin’s revolutionary furniture designs introduced materials such as plastic, steel and plywood to homes, offices and schools.

His stacking polypropylene chair endures as an icon and now graces a Royal Mail postage stamp.

Commemorative British stamp with Robin's chair, Manufactured by Hille, 1963

Lucienne’s abstract textile designs brought accessible elegance into the homes of postwar British consumers.

Helix Fabric - Lucienne Day - Manufactured by Thomas Somerset, 1970.
Printed Linen (Collection of Jill A. Wiltse and H. Kirk Brown III)

The Days’ fresh design approaches, including their contributions to the Royal Festival Hall in 1951, helped fuel the artistic and commercial awakening that led Britain out of the devastation of World War II.

Armchair for the Royal Festival Hall - Robin Day, 1951

The film traces the Days’ personal and professional progression over the course of their careers, spanning more than seventy years—from their days at the Royal College of the Arts in the 1930s, through their long heyday at the forefront of British design, to their recent rediscovery by new generations of design aficionados.
World Premiere Screening.

Hillestack chair - Robin Day - Manufactured by Hille, 1959

Herb Antony Fabric - Lucienne Day - Manufactured by Heals, 1956

World Premiere Screening: 'Contemporary Days: Robin and Lucienne Day Design the UK'.
Design Onscreen-The Initiative for Architecture and Design on Film.
Saturday, May 15th, 2010
Washington, DC
7:30pm film start time (run time: 90 mins)
Tickets must be purchased in advance via the Design Onscreen.

The May 15th premiere event has been scheduled to coincide with the opening of 'Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-century Britain', an exhibition featuring Robin and Lucienne Day’s work, among other influential British designers, at Washington DC’s Textile Museum. The exhibition at the Textile Museum is from May 15 through September 12, 2010.