Herman Miller Embody

This past week, Herman Miller unveiled it’s latest office chair, called Embody. Though the Mirra and Celle chairs before it could also be considered successors to the famous Aeron chair, Embody is the first to come from the Aeron’s designer, the late Bill Stumpf.

sweet.

The chair, which is said to have been inspired by a comfortable pair of shoes, supports the body with multiple layers of suspension systems, while a mesh fabric cover allows air circulation. The really cool stuff, though, is in the back. Designed to mimic the shape of the human spine, the backrest maintains proper posture at all times, while an array of H-shaped supports eliminates pressure points. The narrow top of the backrest allows for a better range of motion than wide-backed chairs.

Chris C. Hill, senior project engineer. nice.

All this technology equates to a healthier chair, which anyone who has spent considerable time in an Aeron chair (or one of its many respectable competitors) will tell you is well worth the money. It also gives the chair a high-tech look that is sure to be more polarizing than the somewhat understated, by comparision, Aeron. By only showing Embody in bright colors like orange, lime green, and light blue, it seems Herman Miller is trying to encourage people to be a bit more adventurous in their office decor. There will be 13 fabrics and 3 finishes to choose from when it goes on sale in early 2009.

Of course, the chair befits Herman Miller’s commitment to sustainability by being 96% recyclable. Furthermore, it will be manufactured in green facilities in Michigan, China, and the UK to minimize shipping distances.

I, for one, can’t wait to take Embody for a test-sit as soon as it hits showrooms later this month. With a list-price of $1,595 and a perfectly good Mirra chair waiting for me at home, hopefully I won’t fall in love.

sources:
CNN Money
Luxist
Gizmodo
MLive
Apartment Therapy Chicago
SlashGear


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The World Without Us

Anyone that got an A in science class will love this book. In The World Without Us, Alan Weisman writes about what would happen if humans suddenly disappeared from the earth, leaving everything else intact. What plants and animals would thrive in our absence, and what would die off? What parts of the world would quickly erase all traces of humanity, and what parts will bear our environmental thumbprint for ages to come? It’s a simple premise, but the author goes into such fascinating detail that you will never look at the world around you in quite the same way.

If you’re at all interested in eco-friendliness or sustainable design, do yourself a favor and pick this one up. You won’t be disappointed.

For additional info, check out the book’s website.

For additional reading on the topic of sustainable design, check out Cradle to Cradle, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, also highly recommended.
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Vintage Starbucks

I recently visited Seattle and went to the first Starbucks at Pike’s Market. Being an avid coffee drinker, I had to go to see where the retail phenomenon started. The store was very similar to the mainstream roll out in terms of colors, textures and overall feel. The original Starbucks logo still hangs in triplicate outside the shop and is in my opinion much better than the more common one we all know.





Repetition turned up a lot in my visit early Friday morning to the market (the Starbucks store, a gourmet food shop for example). I arrived there before it was actually open but noticed the cues everywhere as the vendors were setting up. Just a reminder that this simple design element creates visual interest and relevance in large-open areas. Even with coffee beans and salmon – presentation is everything!

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Fashionation

We all know and love thecoolhunter.net as a resource to be up to date on all things design. Well, now they have come out with a new site called Fashionation www.fashion-ation.net!

Fashionation is a site for fashion lovers. Whether you’re interested in street style, runway, or fashion photography; it’s a site to be inspired by and keep up with current trends. Fashionation gets all of their information from the very best fashion magazines around the world, and puts the articles on 1 convenient site. No more spending tons of $$$ on multiple magazines!

The site also lets you post to your social networking profile, or email certain aricles to other fashion savvy friends who are interested in being in the know.

There are still aspects of the site that are under construction, but keep checking it out for more updates!
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Kinetic Energy!!!

I am excited about Ford adopting its new design language called "Kinetic Design". "Kinetic Design" means energy in motion. The concept appeared at Frankfurt Motor Show with the debut of the iosis Concept, a four-door sedan that featured clean angles, a sharply sloped windscreen and large wheels. Many of its design themes are now on the S-MAX and Galaxy MPV’s and the 2007 Mondeo. It is very hard to design something that evokes certain emotions and is aesthetically pleasing at the same time. If you have both combination working then you have a winning design. As far as I can see, Ford translating kinetic design DNA into their other model lines is working quite well. Unfortunately, a lot of these cool designs won’t be making it to the States. Which begs the question; how come Europe always gets cool designs?? Especially when it comes to small hatchbacks..... Read More......

FUSION OF MATERIALS

Alexander Pelikan has come up with a new technique that fuses wood and plastic together. This is an exciting step for furniture design. The composition of the furniture is unique with the random placement of plastic combined with the rigid nature of wood; creating an effect that looks as though the wood is painted.

Check out the video to see Pelikan demonstrate his technique!


Alexander was born in Germany and completed his bachelor’s degree at the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2006. He also opened up his own studio, PeLidesign www.pelidesign.com.

Hunn Wai is another designer that demonstrates an interesting fusion of materials. In the pictures below it looks as though the wood is melting into the plastic.




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fun with COLORS

Color can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be. There are tons of websites out there that let you have fun with color, if you know where to find them. Here are a few that I’ve found...


Multicolr Search Lab - Idée Inc.


This nifty tool lets you search Flickr’s images by color. Choose up to 10 colors from the palette on the right and be amazed at the results. (clicking the same color more than once increases its presence in the search results)

I used it to create this homage to PANTONE® 143 C.




COLOURlovers.com


Keep your finger on the pulse of the colour community with the help of this awesome site. Browse and download the latest palettes and patterns created by people just like yourself, or submit your own for judging. Be sure to check out their blog as well for loads of inspiration.


Color Palette Generator


Need to create a color palette from an image? Are you too lazy to do it yourself? Would you rather have your computer do it for you mathematically, using calculus or something? Then check out the Color Palette Generator on DeGraeve.com. Who knows? It might come in handy some day for you graphic designers out there.

That’s all I have right now. Post your favorite color sites in the comments!
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