Link About It: This Week’s Picks
Self-serve restaurants, Martin Parr’s advice, 2010’s best inventions and more in a look back at this week online
1. Reserve
Refinery29 puts their own spin on the recent upsurge of online flash-sales with the introduction of Reserve, a weekly newsletter offering an exclusive, limited-time deal on Refinery-approved shopping events, brand sales, and more.
2. Boxee Designers Explain Out-of-the-Box thinking
Adding to the hype around the long-awaited launch of the Internet-to-TV Boxee box, FastCo Design spoke to the firm Astro Studios to learn about their experience designing the Boxee hardware and from where the box gets its unusual form.
3. Dezeen Watch Store
One of our favorite sources for design inspiration, Dezeen opened up shop in London and online for their collection of select designer watches, which include striking timepieces from the likes of Naoto Fukasawa and Crispin Jones.
4. Brighton Photo Biennial
Photojournalist Martin Parr, curator of this year’s Brighton Photo Biennial (the first frame-free photography festival in the world), shares his views on the “creativity and cultural awareness” of Brighton, the evolution of his work over the years, and his advice to aspiring photographers: “work hard and connect with your subject.”
5. Caked Up!
Benefiting Art Start, an organization that offers resources and a creative outlet for at-risk NYC youth, designers Kiel Mead and Chad Phillips curated “Caked Up!”—a custom cake exhibit presented by The New York Creative Social Concern.
6. Josh Owen Menorah
This solid cast-iron menorah is “traditional in construction and modern in conception,” says designer Josh Owens. The integrated tray catches wax drippings or holds a used matchstick, and with use the menorah will develop a beautiful patina.
7. Joby’s GorillaMobile for iPhone 4
Updated for the
iPhone 4, Joby’s GorillaMobile adds a bumper that stays on your phone to combine everyday protection with easy tripod attachment, among other clever features.
8. The 50 Best Inventions of 2010
What do plastic-fur coats, the iPad, and the first synthetic cell have in common? According to Time, they were important enough to be chosen as part of their list of 50 Best Inventions of 2010.
9. IPad Photoshoot
An interesting (and probably expensive) method of lighting a
photoshoot is documented in this video where the photographers constructed a wall
of lights out of iPads.
10. Interview with Andrea Panconesi
Peddling its collection of fashion-forward threads online since 1999, in an interview with the Florence-based Luisa Via Roma founder Andrea Panconesi reveals the many advantages and challenges he’s faced building an online empire.
11. The Story of Electronics
Annie Leonard takes a look at the life cycle of electronics from
the factory to the dump in this fantastic animated short, The Life Of Electronics. Ms. Leonard adresses the
implications and consequences of products “designed for the dump,” from
horrible health issues to environmental waste.
12. Cafeteria-Style Dining
Tasting Table breaks down the new cafeteria-style dining trend, highlighting three food courts that take eating among the masses to a new level. Apart from the much sought-after new additions—Eataly and Hill Country Chicken—Tasting Table calls out Food Parc for “Techno-Geeks,” Hudson Hall for “Prep-Schoolers” and for the jet-set crowd there’s Todd English’s upscale Food Hall at The Plaza.
