bellows-style shelter: http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/09/03/matthew-malone-recovery-shelter/ and http://sustainabledesignupdate.com/?p=918

folding greenhouse: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/05/folding-greenhouse.php

polyscene: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/dna.php?username=47699758@N00 (thanks to Dom for this one)

folding magnetic curtain: http://mocoloco.com/archives/005086.php (introduces a nice random element) and http://www.designspongeonline.com/2007/02/hannah-allijn.html

water carrier: http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20080522/2008-next-generation-winner-the-pleated-bucket (click on the image thumbnails to right)

Bouroullec Cloud for Kvadrat: http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2009/01/bouroullec-cloud.php and http://www.dezeen.com/2009/01/16/clouds-by-ronan-and-erwan-bouroullec/

Is this the best time in living memory to change design, not just the economics of business?

Or is it best to lay low and button down the hatches until it all blows over? Widfires are dangerous and indiscriminate. Only then we can rebuild what we had and resume business as usual?

DIY guitar picks - “Beat the World Economic Crisis by turning your credit card debt into sweet, soothing music. Cut those cards and play the blues. It’s cathartic and down right good for the soul… “ read on at source http://designotherwise.com/?p=199

Discarded powerline insulators as candelabras. “Once carrying many more watts than a single candle could dream of, old rotten wooden power poles and rusting conduction cables give way to return these pearls to the earth. Why not leap-frog the electricity utilities with their own detritus?… “ read on at source http://designotherwise.com/?p=204

Here is a very odd site that I came across while perusing the inter-web.

See more shots like this at http://manbabies.com

Capitalising on the depth and scope of design talent available across the state, Victoria’s design festival has something for everyone: design professionals, novices and even the uninitiated.

The four key elements of the Festival are:

The Premier’s Design Awards - Designing the future of Victoria

(Applications close 7^th May 2008)
(Awards ceremony 16^th July 2008)
(Exhibition at Melbourne Museum 17^th July - 3^rd August 2008)

Design Capital - Australia’s design and business conference

Design for Everyone - The Festival’s cultural program

Design:Made:Trade - The trade and wholesale showcase for innovative design

For more info visit State of Design

Stall prices:
>Single site $430.00 incl. gst 2.5m frontage x 5m deep
>Intermediate site $580.00 incl. gst 3.75m frontage x 5 m deep
>Double site $740.00 incl. gst 5m frontage x 5 m deep
>Super site (please note there is a limited number of Super sites) $POA size on application

Operating on the traditional principles of a market, the Melbourne Design Market features up to 50 stallholders- in this case designers and retailers- coming together to sell products to the community.

A stringent selection process applies to all stallholder applications, ensuring only the highest quality, commercial products are admitted. It is this high standard which distinguishes the Melbourne Design Market from all other events.

Applications close: 5pm, Wednesday, 4 June

For more info and trader application form

It’s built in Flash, and has clean workflows for both building, sharing, and remixing others’ fonts. And the best part is that when you’re done, you can download a TrueType version of your font for use on the desktop.

Just wish they had a history stack and ‘undo’ manager.”

[via]

The main thing here is to make sure that none of your household furniture is featured in this competition to find the ugliest furniture in the world:

check out Pretty Ugly Furniture. You never know, you might win something?

ABC3D

Is a book by Marion Bataille which explores the alphabet in 3D form.

The video shows what I mean a lot better than words:

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If you like it, you can preorder on Amazon

Crumpler ABC

Crumpler bags (Designed here in Melbourne) have a great interactive / animation of the the various letters

Father and son

Two takes (an artist and a 4 year old) on representing the alphabet in brush strokes:

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