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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Mystery Oreo Vault in NYC Takes You on a Weird Tasty Trip

04 Feb

[ By Steph in Design & Guerilla Ads & Marketing. ]

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What’s behind the giant Oreo-shaped vault door mounted to a bright blue garage in midtown Manhattan? Curious passersby who decide to approach and find out for themselves will have the most authentic and rewarding answer to that question, but the rest of us can live vicariously through photos and video of this clever interactive ad installation promoting the cookie brand’s new flavor.

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Once you open that portal-like door, a sign greets you with this message: ‘Welcome to the Oreo Wonder Vault – Pull the lever to begin.’ Follow the directions and a box of free cookies will come sliding down a conveyer belt, delivered directly to you via slide. This time, it’s ‘Filled Cupcake’ flavor.

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Oreo tells Ad Week that as many as 50 prototype flavors and over 100 additional ideas can be in the Wonder Vault at any time, and it can take up to 18 months to perfect each one before it’s ready for release. “The limited edition process never stops; we have lot of flavor ideas just waiting to make their way to the world.”

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The fun installation is located somewhere near 18th street between 7th and 8th Avenues, and appears to have already delivered all the free cookies it had to offer. The new flavor will be in stores on February 8th.

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Popping Off the Page: 15 Sculptural 3D Paper Art Creations

04 Feb

[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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Defying the typically two-dimensional and impermanent characteristics of paper, these artists cut, sculpt, glue, twist and fold the material into fantastical and unexpected forms. The notoriously thin and fragile material transforms into baroque wigs, complex architectural scenes, cars, animals, religious iconography and even rollercoasters, some retaining a sense of fragility and ephemerality while others seem surprisingly solid and strong.

Baroque Paper Wigs and Costumes by Asya Kozina

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The elaborate towering hairstyles of yore are recalled in a new form by Russian artist Asya Kozina, who sculpts the wigs from sheets of paper. She also created a series of paper dresses inspired by Mongolian wedding costumes. “This is art for art’s sake, aesthetics for aesthetics – no practical sense, but they are beautiful. In this case, paper helps to highlight the main form and not be obsessed with unnecessary details.”

Interior Impressions by Simon Schubert

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Looking like rubbings from a more permanent relief sculpture, these paper impressions by Simon Schubert are actually relief sculptures in their own right, mimicking intricate interiors through careful folding. Says the artist, “The works often show interiors from the end of the 19th century reminding the spectator of ‘haunted mansions.’ The pictures of the endless hallways with closed doors, the blind windows, the empty halls and the winding staircases appear to be single views of tremendous, labyrinthine building, which seems to continue ever further into the white.”

Cut Paper Rollercoasters

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Known for spectacularly detailed paper cutouts that take on three dimensional form, artist Bovey Lee is back with a new series depicting the culture clash she experienced after a move from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles. “Speaking to the motivation of my relocation, the works also feature imagery associated with romantic relationships, and wedding bouquets, engagement rings, cakes, and eternity symbols populate the pieces. In these works, I draw parallels between one’s romantic relationship and our relationship with nature.”

Abandoned Architecture Paper Collages by Lucy Williams

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We’ve seen abandoned architecture incorporated into or transformed into art in a variety of different ways, but never before in the form of cut and layered paper. British artist Lucy Williams creates amazingly realistic-looking reproductions of deserted mid-20th century modernist architecture, from homes to swimming pools.

Religious Iconography by Carlo Fantin

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Artist Carlo Fantin combines religious imagery with social media culture in a series of meticulously cut paper illustrations. “I want people to have a physical relationship with my art that tis not just confined to the distance of their arms. I want people to experience how the image changes as they walk away from it. At a very close look the piece seems to be abstract, when you step back the image comes to life.”

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Popping Off The Page 15 Sculptural 3d Paper Art Creations

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Veggie Factory: World’s First Vertical Farm Run Entirely By Robots

03 Feb

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

robofarming

Taking vertical urban indoor farming efficiency to the next level, a new automated plant coming to Japan will be staffed entirely by robots and produce 30,000 heads of lettuce daily.

spread indoor farm

The so-called Vegetable Factory is a project of Spread, a Japanese company already operating vertical farms. Located in Kyoto, its small army of bots will various seed, water, trim and harvest the lettuce.  Spread’s new automation technology will not only produce more lettuce, it will also reduce labor costs by 50%, cut energy use by 30%, and recycle 98% of water needed to grow the crops.

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“The use of machines and technology has been improving agriculture in this way throughout human history,” says J.J. Price of Spread, tells Tech Insider. “With the introduction of plant factories and their controlled environment, we are now able to provide the ideal environment for the crops.”

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Like other vertical farms, the benefits of this approach are numerous, including: reduced waste, controlled runoff, more efficient use of space and the ability to produce food locally (reducing cost, time and waste associated with rural-to-urban transport). Meanwhile, the fear of automation is becoming a reality, say critics, while advocates point out that this will free up factory workers to potentially engage in more interesting occupations within the same industry (if herding robots is considered interesting, at least).

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McSki: Lovin’ It at a Ski-Through McDonalds in Sweden

02 Feb

[ By Steph in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

mcdonalds ski

You barely have to stop on your way down the slope to grab a burger and fries at the McDonalds ski-through window, located on a popular resort in northwest Sweden. The location has been open since the mid-‘90s and can seat 140 people inside, though most seem to choose the grab-and-go option. Why bother taking off your gear when you can just chow down and then hop right back on the lift?

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Meanwhile, in the small Swedish town of Pitea, locals get only four hours of sunlight a day in the winter, with temperatures hovering around minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit. That means most residents use snowmobiles to get around, leading to bizarre scenes like the one pictured below.

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As weird as the McSki McDonalds might be in comparison to the ones in your neighborhood, it doesn’t even break the top 10 most bizarre locations of the fast food chain around the world. In addition to the world’s largest McDonalds, a UFO-shaped location and a brandless, minimalist ‘Quarter Pounder’ experiment in Tokyo, there’s the rotting carcass of a ‘McBarge’ floating in an inlet in Canada.

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Time Capsule Apartments: 10 Perfectly Preserved Interiors

02 Feb

[ By Steph in Culture & History & Travel. ]

time capsule chicago

Never-updated interiors may be considered ‘dated’ within a decade or two of being in style, but give them some more time and they become vintage time capsules capturing the essence of their particular era, from swinging ’70s penthouses and pristine ’60s kitchens to luxurious Parisian apartments abandoned during World War II. Frozen in time, some of these interiors lay abandoned for decades before being rediscovered, while others have finally been sold after never being updated by their elderly original owners.

Chicago Condo Untouched Since the ‘70s
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Untouched for decades, a swingin’ 70s penthouse in Chicago’s Winston Towers condo recently went up for sale for just $ 158,000, with the original furniture, decor and even bottles of perfume on the bathroom shelves still intact. The 1,877-square-foot three-bedroom condo would have been considered garishly dated in the ‘80s, but over forty years after it was furnished and decorated, it’s like a living snapshot of the tastes that were popular at the time and has big appeal for vintage enthusiasts.

Paris Apartment Untouched for 70 Years
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Thanks to a wealthy estate that paid its bills without checking on anything too carefully, an apartment in Paris was left isolated for 70 years after its owner fled the city during World War II. The interiors are exactly as she left them, full of vintage Parisian treasures, including a 19th century painting by celebrated Italian artist Giovanni Boldini of the owner’s grandmother, actress Marthe de Florian. The time capsule was discovered after the woman’s heirs decided to take an inventory of her possessions.

Scott’s Hut & Shackleton’s Hut, Antarctica
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100 years after explorers built their own wooden shacks on the freezing, windy, desolate continent of Antarctica, the structures are exactly as they left them. British adventurers Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott and their crews created the dwellings and stocked them with whiskey and brandy, which can still be seen on the shelves and tables today. It’s a wonder that the shacks – made to be temporary at the time – are still standing, but conservators have restored the landmarks to eliminate damage from decades of water seepage, age and abandonment. The extreme cold preserved artifacts like newspapers, scientific equipment and cans of food.

Garage Full of ‘Brand-New’ ‘60s Cars
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Imagine opening an old, seemingly forgotten garage to discover a treasure trove of ‘50s and 60’s cars in near-perfect condition, some of them driven less than 10 miles. Long time owners of a dealership in Pierce, Nebraska, a couple who are now in their nineties had been storing the vehicles for decades, and finally decided to liquidate their inventory in 2013. The collection includes Impalas, Chevelles and a 1956 Chevrolet Cameo Pickup. All were ultimately auctioned off to the tune of $ 2.8 million.

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Time Capsule Apartments 10 Perfectly Preserved Interiors

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Art of Photography: NYC Blizzard Photo Looks Like a Painting

01 Feb

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Photography & Video. ]

blizzard photo painting art

As roads closed and kids turned staircases into sledding hills and snowboarding slopes across East Coast cities during Jonas, one photographer stopped to shoot a few pictures that turned out looking like modern-day impressionist paintings.

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Photographer Michele Palazzo managed to capture not only the swirling snow around the structure, but an installation of snowflakes inside mirroring the exterior weather. Despite Sprint and Apple logos, hallmarks of the present age, there is something timeless about the composition.

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According to Colossal, “the snowflakes you see in the window of the Flatiron are part of a paper origami installation by Chelsea Hrynick Browne in the Prow Artspace. The cloudy atmosphere and gusty winds creates patterns that appear uncannily like brush strokes. You can see more of Palazzo’s shots from the morning of January 23rd on EyeEm.” (See more storm photos, thumbnails above, over at the EyeEm Blog).

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Long Term Angle Parking: 12 Cool Cadillac Ranch Copies

01 Feb

[ By Steve in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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The legendary Cadillac Ranch can’t be beat but it CAN be copied! These 12 tinny tributes to Amarillo’s angled auto art shift flattery into high gear.

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Cadillacs may be iconic symbols of those Fabulous Fifties but by the time the Space Age was in full flight, pop culture had ditched finned land barges in favor of “lowly” but well-loved VW Beetles. A half-century later, classic Bugs are a rare sight on America’s roads though you’ll find plenty at the Slug Bug Ranch in Conway, Texas! Kudos to Flickr users Jenny McG (thedefiningmoment), Kent Kanouse (Snap Man) and The Atomic Kid 1959 for bringing out the best in the Bug Ranch’s buried but be-dazzled Beetles!

Truckhenge, Boathenge, Bushenge…

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Lumping Ron Lessman’s varied automotive artworks into a “truckhenge” is rather all-inclusive – the Shawnee County, Kansas denizen has deployed a host of land and water craft in several distinct henges.

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According to The Vagabond Glovers’ Meanderings, “Shawnee County health and zoning officials got after him to clean up his yard, and when they told him to pick up his trucks, he decided to take their orders literally, and pick them up, then plant them back down in the ground the way he saw it done in Texas at Cadillac Ranch.” That’s tellin’ ’em, Ron!

Small Wonders

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Old and busted: car smashups. New hotness: Toy Mashups, which just happens to be where photographers Josh Cornish and Kyle Hillery snapped the above installation and its inspiration in May of 2012. Unlike the original Cadillac Ranch created by art collective Ant Farm (Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels) and eclectic landowner Stanley Marsh 3 back in 1974, no backhoes were required to set the miniatures in place. Well, maybe a teeny tiny toy backhoe.

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Nice that both Miniatur Wunderland (c/o Knitrageous) in Hamburg, Germany and Un Petit Monde saw fit to apply graffiti to their scaled-down Cadillac Ranch tributes. It’s doubtful visitors to these installations will be allowed to personalize them, though.

Lying Solo

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Wow, Christine has really let herself go! Actually this is/was a 1960 Plymouth Fury while King’s krazed killer kar was a ’58 model. We’re not certain whether the vehicle’s owner had Cadillac Ranch in mind when he tilted this seemingly sharp Oldie But Goodie into its diagonal semi-grave but the finned beauty sure could use some company.

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Long Term Angle Parking 12 Cool Cadillac Ranch Copies

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Cyberpunk Sunset: Artificial Sun Lights Up Warsaw Skyscraper

31 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

warsaw downturn fake cyberpunk sun

The developers behind a new tower rising in downtown Warsaw, Poland, have added a sunny surprise to the side of the building, aiming to brighten the moods of citizens during dark and cold months of winter construction.

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A temporary installation, set to stay in place until the floors are occupied, was made to “brighten up the lives of people during this depressing winter time, when the days are short and you miss the sun.” It was intentionally lit on Blue Monday, thought to be the most depressing day of the year.

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The 42-story Q22 tower is a neomodern office building developed by Polish firm Echo Investment and designed by APA Kury?owicz & Associates with collaboration from Buro Happold Polska.

80s cyberpunk

Intentionally or otherwise, the entire project evokes images of retro gaming graphics and vintage cyberpunk films like Bladerunner, in a way (perhaps depressingly) reminding residents of just how much winter they still have lying in wait.

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Bloomframe: Window Morphs Into a Balcony in Seconds

30 Jan

[ By Steph in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

bloomframe

Transforming from a flat window into a balcony at the push of a button, the Bloomframe design is not only available for purchase after years of design refinements, it’s also set to be the defining feature of an entire apartment building. Amsterdam-based architecture firm Hofman Dujardin won the Red Dot Design Award back in 2008 for the concept, which manages to be both innovative and attractive, eliminating some of the bulk seen in similar designs.

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Think of it as the balcony version of a Murphy bed: you press a button and something useful pops out of the wall to offer you more space and functionality. Operated by remote control, the balcony looks like an ordinary window, except with an opaque metal panel where the lower pane of glass would normally be. Activate it, and an electric motor drive will extend out the top frame, pushing the lower one down into the balcony’s floor.

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The whole process takes about fifteen seconds to complete, and the result is a real balcony with enough space for two people to sit down at a table and enjoy a meal. It was conceived specifically for spaces where traditional balconies aren’t logistically possible, like apartment renovations or warehouse conversions.

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When a dozens of them are installed in a single apartment building, like Hofman Dujardin’s proposed housing block, the result is a dynamic, constantly changing facade pattern. “In the winter the facade is closed, during spring the facades open like a flourishing flower,” say the designers.

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Smog-Sucking Tower Cleans 30,000 Cubic Meters of Air Per Hour

29 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

smog sucking machine

Successfully crowdfunded last year, the Smog Free Tower has just gone from concept to reality; these machines are now using green energy to create zones of smog-free space in public places in Rotterdam.

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Daan Roosegaarde’s Smog Free Project may not be a complete solution to urban air pollution, but it can at least carve out breathable spaces in key city spaces like downtown squares and public parks.

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Each 20-foot tower is lightweight and elegantly designed, running on about the same amount of electricity used by a water boiler (1,400 watts). Their low-energy ionization technology also powers LEDs that light the structures up at night.

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The device sucks smog in from above then using a small positive current to charge ions, which in turn attach to fine dust particles.

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The particulates processed by the tower are to be compressed and turned into jewelry including rings and cuff links, or packed into transparent cubes, available to crowdfunding backers and others who wish to support the project as it continues to expand and grow.

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New towers are planned for cities in particularly urgent need around the world, including Beijing, Paris, Mexico City and Los Angeles. As a solution to environmental issues in cities, this may only be a first step, but at least it can provide some relief – a breath of fresh air for smog-weary citizens.

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