I have been walking by Christopher Furman‘s storefront gallery for several years here in Chicago where he often displays two or three of his robotic objects whirring away for passersby to enjoy. Through strange coincidence it turns out we have a mutual friend and after a quick email he pointed me to a video for his beautiful installation The Crowd. Christopher is currently working on a theater company called, yes, the Chicago Robotic Theater (!). Stay tuned for more info this summer.
This audio remix of NFL Summer Camp aired a single time in 2001 on FOX TV’s “Under the Helmet” and subsequently won an Emmy award. Created and edited by Michael DeMirjian.
A new promotional video for the upcoming TEDxAustin conference directed by Garret Johnson and produced by the great folks at Public School. After creating the concept they shot it in just one day.
I’ve never seen these incredibly candid photos of President Obama before. For someone who runs this site I can’t imagine how these have eluded me. (via how to be a retronaut)
A-1 Scrabble Designer Edition is a student project by Andrew Clifford Capener in which he proposes the ability to order a game board with customized typography. Yes!
The set would come in the font of your choice or with an assorted font pack. The scrabble board and interior box are made out of solid walnut, and the exterior box is made from birch. Each of the 6 board pieces is magnetized to fit together perfectly and each piece slides nicely into its respective slot in the box and is secured by interior magnets as well. The interior of the exterior box as well as the bottoms of the 6 board pieces are lined with cork, to protect them while in use.
A game board this sexy could reinvigorate an entire industry. Nice work Andrew. (via lovely package)
I’m thrilled to share the work of graphic designer Martin Pyper with you. Martin runs a small, award-winning design studio in Amsterdam called mestudio where design, craft, and time-consuming repetition converge to create incredible typographic layouts. I couldn’t imagine how much time these projects consume so I shot a quick email to Martin. As it turns out some work like the “Frontiers of Reality” stop motion clip can take up to a week to complete (though he had to repeat it at a larger scale), while he was able to do the “Boring” type using hundreds of steel pins in just two days.
The fact that it is all so time consuming is precisely the point; it is a perfect antidote to the crazy deadlines and usual design work I do sitting behind the Mac, this stuff slows me down, makes me think about materials, the structure, feeling and way type works in the real physical world, back to the roots of typography before the digital age, but also combined with the digital age.
Pyper’s work isn’t limited to kite string and steel pins though. He has also chosen as a medium sugar cubes, playing cards, and laser-cut paper. Thanks for sharing Martin!
Five new photos from Martin Stranka available as high quality prints from 5 Pieces Gallery. (via poster district)
Iwona Przybyla created this DIY embroidery calendar concept that would come packaged with the materials needed to stitch the typography for each month. I think regardless of your skill level with needle and thread you would feel pretty accomplished finishing the year. Really beautiful. (via typography served)
