Protein^® Feed

We have seen almost every product getting draped in the eco-friendly attire. It sometimes appears as if designers and technologists are hell bent on delivering an environment safe alternative for everything. The Transparent Surfboard by Atelier Yanagi can open a new ‘green’ arena for sports equipment. The ace-maker of sport equipments is working on a surfboard made out of 100 % recyclable material (PET & Balsa-wood structured hybrid) with no compromise on performance and safety.

I wonder if the rider would be interested to see what lies beneath his/her board while surfing!

Hi-Can is an “High Fidelity Canopy” designed by Italian designer Edoardo Carlino at Deta Design.

The Hi-Can features beautifully designed equipment that allows you to surf the web, watch movies, play games, and listen to music all from the comfort of your bed. There is even a slick looking control panel on the headboard that allows you to control other gadgets in the room.

At this point, the Hi-Can looks as though it is only a concept that is "coming soon."

Sony has a great new ad campaign for their digital audio players, created by Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, helmed by art director Eron Broughton. The agency took Sony's earphones and literally mapped out the subway systems of London, New York and Sydney, mimicking a traditional subway map. It's a simple idea but powerful in its execution, giving Sony a much-need dose of coolness. Now all Sony needs to do is apply that principle to its actual products.

Celebrating 30 years of the iconic Lego minifigure designed by Jens Nygaard Knudsen, iconeye put together a gallery of highlights showcasing many of the personas from over the years.

A simple change to the design of the gallon milk jug, adopted by Wal-Mart and Costco, seems made for the times. The jugs are cheaper to ship and better for the environment, the milk is fresher when it arrives in stores, and it costs less.

Apparently consumers may need some re-education about how to most effectively pour from these new jugs. The pouring issue is significant enough that many retailers (including Sam's Club, Costco, and Walmart) are giving demos.

I just hope someone starts designing some nicer labels for it...

Sam and Will Boex of Cornish design company Boex 3D Creative Solutions have recently had one of their designs chosen to be stocked at Liberty in London.

Their 'Pencil Bench' is a contemporary, fun piece of furniture that features 1625 bright pink pencils, individually sprung and mounted. Each pencil can be removed and used.

Surfwear company Billabong is using a new material called ECO Supreme Suede for some of its boardshorts and swim suits. The exclusive material is eco-friendly made from recycled textiles and plastic soda bottles (rPET). The company says its cool new material doesn't sacrifice on quality.

Not so long ago, you didn’t even know the sex of your baby until the day of birth. Today, we’ll know just about everything there is to know -- especially now that expectant mums and dads can gaze upon their progeny with the help of Echographic images 4-D. Apparently, these are the best medical images available. Echographic imagery is not new, but it has not been widely used for this purpose.

The team behind the Danish pavilion at the World Expo 2008 in Zaragoza, Spain consists of three Copenhagen-based firms — architects Spektrum Arkitekter, graphic agency Loop Associates and communications agency 2+1.

The Danish pavilion houses Círculos de Agua (Circles in the Water), an exhibition about sustainable living and lasting solutions that echoes the World Expo 2008 theme of water and sustainability. Círculos de Agua highlights Danish technologies that have started out small yet have the potential to affect global change. The underlying message is that everything we do spreads like ripples through water.

Unlimited credits are in the offing for whoever brought the majestic Al Green together with producers ?uestlove and James Poyser. Green’s new album, ‘Lay It Down’, is the best cut of soul you’re likely to hear all year. With guest spots featuring Anthony Hamilton and John Legend this is one very modern album and an absolutely essential addition to your Al Green collection.

Finisterre, a small 4 year old company based on the cliff tops of St Agnes, has won major national recognition at the Observer Ethical Awards for their ethical standards and dedication while building up a portfolio of outdoor clothing encompassing ground breaking R&D in fabric technology and a range of natural and recyclable fibres.

A Leeds University research team headed by Prof Burkinshaw has developed the Xeros washing machine that uses thousands of reusable plastic chips to remove and absorb dirt.

The little plastic chips clean clothes by pounding the dirt out of them. Some 20kg (45lbs) of chips are added to the machine along with one cup of water and detergent. The chips can be used for up to 100 cycles, or about 6 months of washing.

The machine uses just one cup of water per cycle which is less than 2% of the water – and energy – of a conventional model.

And, what do you do with those 20kg of plastic chips after six months? Will they disappear in 3 months just like the plastic bags?

A enlightening hole full of crap and trash won a $200,000 grant from the World Bank. More specifically, Lebônê Solutions is one of 16 winners in the World Bank’s Lighting Africa 2008 Development Competition for their work on implementing Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) to provide light to rural Africans that are currently stranded in the dark.

In most African countries, 95% of the population is living off-grid with no access to electricity. Lebone's solution is the implementation of a combination of highly efficient PLED lights powered by MFCs. These fuel cells run on animal and plant waste and naturally occurring soil microbes.

Ah the lengths people will go to for a great location and even greater views. “Separation Creek House” by Jackson Clements Burrows Architects takes cliff building to knew heights. Built on a forty-five degree incline, the property presented unparalleled challenges. ‘Most of the one hectare site was too steep to build on. Only a few hundred square metres offered space for a building,’ says architect Graham Burrows, one of three directors of the practice. ‘We wanted to create a dynamic sculptural object. But we also wanted to take advantage of the views,’ says Burrows. Perched on a base footprint of barely seven by nine metres, this tranquil looking house seems to blossom out of the hillside like a squared mushroom.

Transparent House Studio is not ready to throw in the towel just yet, they just introduced a beautiful alternative to your basic sealed concrete flooring. “Concrete Art” is a beautiful way to enhance any room with pretty much any design you can think of. Contrasting the cold austerity of concrete, these floral designs are a great way to enhance any room. This design concept allows for the application of any pattern to the surface, either when pouring or afterwards when the concrete has set.

Jonas Samson, an innovative interior designer from the Netherlands, has created a new kind of wallpaper that also serves as a light source. Samson's wallpaper will enable us to use two-dimensional light sources instead of the 3D lighting fixtures currently in use around the world. The light emitting wallpaper can be turned on and off and is made of light emitting diodes (LEDs), which consume very little power and are relatively cheap.

Help is a new line of healthcare products designed by Richard Fine who was inspired when shopping for pain relievers for a headache. The experience only made his head hurt more: the ugly packaging screamed out slogans under the neon lights, adding to the confusion.

Fine’s response was to create simple packaging out of 100% recycled soft molded paper pulp, designed to be calming. The first two products are “help I have a headache” tablets and “help I’ve cut myself” bandages.

So now we know that 'help' is at hand!

11 - the beautiful game is GRO design and Tim modelmakers's new table football table scheduled to be exhibited during Milan Design Week (from April 16th - 21st, Via Forcella 8, Milan).

For many of us, table football is a game that is close to our hearts, holding cherished memories of our childhood and youth.

It's all in the wrist action apparently!

Record breaking attempt: Earthrace, will attempt to circumnavigate the globe running 100% biodiesel, and with a net zero carbon-footprint.

Demonstrating further commitment to the cause, the skipper Pete Bethune underwent liposuction and donated enough to produce 100ml of biofuel, while two other, larger volunteers also had the procedure, making a total of 10 litres of human fat. This in turn produced seven litres of biofuel, which could help the boat travel about 15km.

Utah Saints - "Something Good '08"
by tkf

Pleasantly surprised that Ministry of Sound decided to pick this up for a refurbishing.
The Utah Saints have pulled off some great some stuff in their career, and hopefully this brings them back on tour.

Gotta love this video, too. Not going to say much about it, but it's a small pleasure.

Florian Krautli’s magnetic curtains design is something that makes interior designers queasy.

The idea behind these curtains is to allow the owner to shape the curtains however desired, thus providing the perfect amount of light, separation and such. Then again, the magnetic curtains would eliminate any kind of smooth, swooping lines that curtains are accustomed to and that interior designers thrive off!

Onlymatt's house is going to full of these I heard.

We ventured down the rabbit hole of design and stumbled upon this interesting Wonderland inspiration called “Fungus Chair” by China’s Mad Hatters, MAD Design.

Architect Ma Yansong, designed this public seating area for MAD as part of a public art project at the Zhangjiang business park in Pudong, Shanghai.

By incorporating modern materials and an interlocking design, these mushroom seating solutions offer a twist on public park seating usually only seen by Alice herself, and after all, Ma Yansong is a fun-guy.