That’s new: Get your precious leather bags custom designed! A groundbreaking idea by German “Tanner + Tailor“. (Nomen est omen…) And the very best thing about it: The customers have the choice whether they want their new bag, laptop-bag or wallet rather in a classic or colourful and freaky design. However, still, leather has its price, hence don’t count on getting out of the deal under 100 Euros.

Nouveau chic: Finest leather in German top quality, and all that according to individual custom wishes and needs. Say bye bye to middlemen and distances, now that there’s online communication the dialogue between customer and provider gets more and more important. (Almost like in the old times when you went to your tailor and told him what bag you would like to have…). At Tanner + Tailer customer’s e-mails go straight through, directly in the heart of production. Hear ye! Well, well! Not half bad!

The principle does not vary very much from the systems of other mass customization companies. The customer chooses a type of bag, clicks on every components. Once she has chosen all types of leather she wants and the way she prefers the seam and the lining: voilá…the bag is finished. In almost no time the bag of her dreams will wait for her at her doorstep. I, for once, am a fan of fancy, individual bags as a current attendent. I can buy a perfectly normal bag pretty easy in a shop around the corner. But a customized bag of the brand “Katze” (yeah, you heard right…you can even add some golden or silver letters to your bag in order to BRAND it the way you prefer!)

P.S.: Dear Gentlemen. Dear Lords of Creation. If you managed to read until this point I really thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have earned a little hint: Buy such a bag! Buy a bag for your girlfriends, beloved, wives, daughters, grandmothers, cousins…trust me: they will be very grateful !

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A few days ago I introduced the terms Generative Design & Generative Art. Today I like to show you some wicked Generative Designs & Art in action. A broad spectrum of lampshades, tables  and other wonderful things created with generative methods.

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Kram/Weisshaar Breeding Tables:

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FOC – Freedom of Creation Lampshades

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MGX Lampshades:

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Geoffrey Mann Lampshades and Sculpture:

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Thomas Kräftner – Diploma Project “Coded Beauty – Die generative Methode als ästhetische Praxis der Computergrafik”

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OpenEndedGroup – Working with processing

A video that shows you how fast you can create objects with
generative methods (written in processing in this case)

Field — Processing Plugin overview from OpenEndedGroup on Vimeo.

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The comfy chair:

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Stefan Kainbacher – Generative Visual artist

Neon Golden vs. Tiefschwarz @ Conrad Sohm, Part. II from Stefan Kainbacher on Vimeo.

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Bye bye compromises! At least as far as the picking of the right (wedding-, engagement-) rings are concerned. Paragon Lake with its virtual display case has something in store for every budget, every taste and every occasion. They clearly want to disburden world’s male population of their hardest decision. „Every man in possession of a good fortune“ (thank you, Jane Austen) should now not only be in want of a wife but also be able to buy the proper ring for his beloved. (Designed by himself!)

Today, Paragon Lake’s customers consist of both, jewelers and private, individual customers. Only three years ago, in 2006, the founding fathers of Paragon Lake, Matt Lauzon and Jason Ruben were still students, when they explored personalization and other new ways that people shop and realized there was an opportunity to drastically improve the way fine jewelry is bought and sold. They were excited about this idea. (BTW: Who is not excited: Online you can bake your own bread, cook jam, design jewelry and box lampshades. Fantastic!) Their vision was to conquer the world with their jewelry. And truly: Today, three years later, Paragon Lake is a successful enterprise.

And how does the whole thing work? To ask your graceful beloved to be your bewedded wife you need 1 portion of bravery (essential), 1 string-quartet (optional) and 1 ring (the most important thing in the whole operation). How bad would it be, if the ring wasn’t meeting the high expectations of your lady-lover? In this case Paragon Lake has the solution prepared and is eager to help you. You can choose the ring you like and later change the details you want to. Colours, stones, gold, silver, bronze. Do it yourself! I promise- when you follow this instructions your next engagement will be a success!

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Dr. Vino shows us a rather simple but yet funny and “vivid” DIY project on the wine talk that goes down easy blog – the moss landscape in a bottle

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via dornob.com

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Patchwork blankets are great! Cosy, easily to produce and they have still kept themselves a certain chic. Patchwork walls, though, are better by far! They are innovative, easy to design and (*drum roll*) they even gleam in the dark!

White walls already belong to history, now interior architecture dictates ornaments, colours and forms. They are (again-let’s only think about the 60s and 70s…) a stable element of stylish living- and bedrooms. For those who don’t want to settle on one pattern and who search for a possibility to design their walls individually, the designer Shane Crozier created the right thing.

In the name of innovation, he invented Patchwork anew: Modular light tiles, a fusion between „family patchwork quilt and home-made stained glass windows“, who are made of small framed 150x 150 mm transparent OLED emitter. One can paint on them with standard water based acrylics and once they are finished hang them on one’s walls. Then, the only thing to do is to wait till it gets dark. When the owls howl and the croakers croak it’s time for the decoration-elements to show their true colours. They start to gleam!

For the rare occasion that the way you designed your tiles doesn’t appeal to you anymore, you can easily wash the colour off and paint them again. So you can easily add new pizazz to your home.

Images by Yanko Design.

Via Yanko Design.

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Patchworkdecken sind toll! Gemütlich, leicht zusammen zu nähen und vor allem haben sie noch immer einen gewissen Schick. Patchworkwände jedoch sind besser! Sie sind innovativ, selbst gestaltbar und (*Trommelwirbel*) leuchten sogar im Dunkeln.

Weiße Wände gehören der Vergangenheit an, Ornamente, Farben und Formen sind mittlerweile (wieder) fixer Bestandteil von stylishen Wohn-, Schlaf- und Kinderzimmern. Wer sich nicht auf ein einziges Muster festlegen möchte und sowieso mehr die Möglichkeit sucht, Wände individuell zu gestalten, der ist bei Designer Shane Crozier an der richtigen Adresse.

Der Innovation zuliebe hat er die neue Art des Patchwork erfunden: Eine Art Bausteinkasten aus gläsernen Fliesen, die jeweils aus 150x 150 mm transparenten OLED Emittern bestehen. Mit Acrylfarben auf Wasserbasis bemalt man die Fliesen, befestigt sie an den Wänden und wartet bis es Nacht wird. Dann, wenn die Eulen heulen und die Unken munken, zeigen die Deko-Elemente ihr wahres Gesicht: Sie fangen an zu leuchten.

Wenn einem das Muster nicht mehr gefallen sollte, kann man die Farben einfach abwaschen und neu bemalen. Somit bringt man immer wieder neuen Schwung in die Wohnung und wird dem alten Design keinesfalls müde.

Images by Yanko Design

Via Yanko Design

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For decoding a QR Code (What the heck is a QR Code?) you just need three things:

1. A Java enabled mobile phone with a reasonable camera

2. A QR Code (like the ones lasered in the QR Code Belt Buckle)

3. A QR Code reader software (Kaywa Reader, Quickmark QR Reader, i-nigma, Beetagg,

(find even more readers on mobile-barcodes.com)

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And how does it work? Watch the video to learn more:

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About two weeks ago I posted the article “Mass Customization WON’T Make it for a Mainstream Business Model“  in which I mentioned the reason why so many companies experimenting with “Create Your Own” products stuck or even fail.

I also noted that the ominous Design Space (or Solution Space as Frank Piller e.a. call it) can serve as a source for  Mass Customization’s “salvation”.

I additionally mentioned that we use Creative Coding (to be understood as a certain kind of programming based on mathematical rules) to define Design Spaces and thus enable our customers to easily create their own products.

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Today I am introducing  Generative Design & Art, which are expressed best by Creative Coding and explained best by this quotes:

Generative Design allows to produce new designs automatically by the push of a button. A basic form, pattern, or object is automatically modified by an algorithm. The result: infinite random modifications of the starting solution (within a solution space set by the designer).
Frank Piller

Generative Design Processes is about the modeling of initial conditions of an object (its “genetics”) instead of modeling the final form.
@eloisapaola

Generative Art is a term given to work which stems from concentrating on the processes involved in producing an artwork, usually (although not strictly) automated by the use of a machine or computer, or by using mathematic or pragmatic instructions to define the rules by which such artworks are executed.
Adrian Ward

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Next time I’ll show you some awesome Generative Design & Art in action!

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Als Fan von Lichtschwertkämpfen in denen schlussendlich immer die böse Seite von der guten Seite der Macht besiegt wird, ist mir der neue Wasserspender von Whirlpool auf Yanko Design ins Auge gesprungen. Das glatte, elegante Design des kleinen Wasserfilters erinnert stark an die kleinen Druidenhelferleins aus Star Wars. Und der mit Jedi konformen Lichtschwertfarben (wie Skywalker Blau und Darth Vader Rot) beleuchtete Wasserstrahl macht aus dem Chaac Water Dispenser endgültig ein Muss für mich.

Doch nicht durch fiktionales Filmdesign a lá Star Wars ist dieser Wasserfilter inspiriert sondern durch die mexikanische Maya Göttin Chaac, die dem Mythos nach für Donner und Regen verantwortlich zeichnet.

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Paragon Lake macht Schluss mit Kompromisslösungen beim Ringe aussuchen. Für jedes Budget, jeden Geschmack und Anlass soll etwas dabei sein, in ihrem virtuellen Schaukasten. Damit wollen sie einige der schwersten Entscheidungen im Leben eines jungen Mannes im heiratsfähigen Alter um Welten vereinfachen: Verlobungsring frei (zur Gestaltung)!

Heute beliefern sie Privatkunden genauso wie Juweliere:  Dabei fing alles so einfach an: Im Jahr 2006 waren die Gründerväter  des „Vorbild Sees“ (Übersetzung frei nach Leo.dict.org), namentlich Matt Lauzon und Jason Reuben noch Studenten und gerade dabei, die Personalisierung und andere neuartige Wege des Einkaufens, die das World Wide Web so an Land schwemmt, zu erforschen. Sie waren begeistert! (Natürlich! Wer ist das nicht, wenn er herausfindet, was man im heutigen Zeitalter alles machen kann! Im Internet Brot backen, Marmelade kochen, Schmuck designen, Leuchten boxen! Fantastisch!) Sie hatten eine Vision: Schmuck wird die Welt erobern, übers Internet. Und wahrhaftig: Heute, nur drei Jahre später, ist Paragon Lake ein erfolgreiches Unternehmen.

Wie funktioniert das Ganze? Um die holde Geliebte und zukünftige angetraute Ehefrau nach ihrer Hand zu fragen braucht man: 1 Portion Mut (unerlässlich), 1 Streichquartet (optional) und 1 Ring (das Um und Auf der ganzen Angelegenheit!). Wie schlimm wäre es, würde dieser eine Ring nicht den Ansprüchen und Vorstellungen der Angebeteten entsprechen? Hier bietet Paragon Lake die Lösung: In Eigenregie kann ein Ring ausgesucht werden, dessen Einzel- bzw. Bestandteile können dann geändert werden. Farben, Steine, Gold, Silber, Bronze, alles kein Problem! So wird die nächste Verlobung garantiert zum Erfolg!

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