50 years from the first American ascent of Mt. Everest, Mountaineer Jim Whittaker shares some personal thoughts and perspectives on his life.
“Being out on the edge, with everything at risk, is where you learn and grow the most.” – Jim Whittaker
Via Adventure Blog
I’ve been a fan of Mr.Freedom for several months, since he designed a fashion line inspired by the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and linked to my Huarache Blog about traditional Mexican footwear .
I think we share a broad curiosity about design and culture. Searching for the origins, learning about evolution and process to get a better understanding and see a bigger picture.
Besides selling unique vintage clothing, footwear and accessories, Style Anthropologist Cristophe Loiron also researches and crafts iconic fashion pieces at his Store/Atelier in LA. Sharing the wealth by making select rare designs available in different sizes.
A cross between a museum and a vintage store, visit Mr.Freedom on Beverly Boulevard in LA not just to find unique clothing rooted in history, but also to learn about fashion, culture and history.
Unique design perspectives, like his “Les Apaches” line inspired by the style of Parisian Gangsters of the late 1800′s.
Or his “Viva la Revolución”’ line inspired by Mexican revolutionaries from the early 1900′s.
Alternatively check out the Mr. Freedom website and scroll through an endless catalog of timeless fashion design.
Via Mr. Freedom
MATAERIAL was developed between the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) and Joris Laarman Studio (famous for its “Bone Furniture“).
Now imagine if the printer could move and if more printers worked together.
Outdoor-gear companies are probably the key to proactively developing a more sustainable culture.
Why? Because outdoor-wear is probably one of the most influential drivers of environmental awareness. Encouraging consumers to enjoy nature and appreciate its importance.
Outdoor brands not only merge merge fashion and function, but also provide us with armour against the elements, suggestive advertising, the inspiration and confidence to explore the trail, river, or ocean.
Just like a surfer values clean water and a trail runner values green forests, those and countless other outdoor activities can provide the incentives to make lifestyle choices with lower environmental impact.
Although most outdoor clothing and footwear is still far from being sustainable, heading out too meet nature today will encourage us to make more environmentally friendly choices tomorrow. To nurture and protect the natural environment that we have learned to love.
Have I been drinking too much Kool-Aid? I don’t think so. Outdoor culture can benefit us in many different ways.
For example living in the outdoors also helps you to understand how to make do with less. Learning that too much gear weighs you down and how to appreciating the essential items. The same is also true about life and a sustainable future.
The more we can promote experiencing the outdoors and design for it, the better it will be for us. Because if you don’t know nature, you can’t know that its worth preserving.
Potentially making outdoor-gear companies the most effective ambassadors for environmentally sustainable design and living.
“I love the idea of adapting myself to a situation rather than buying a lot of stuff”. – Yvon Chouinard, Founder of Patagonia
Traditional footwear from around the world, never ceases to surprise and fascinate me.
Discovering old and sometimes forgotten constructions that reveal many footwear creative design solutions and celebrate the ingenuity of man.
Compare a few designs evolutions below, from their traditional crafted origins to their technical modernity:
The Opanak from the Balkans and the Nike Long Ball Lace, where both uppers are woven into the sole.
The Huarache from Mexico and the Nike Air Woven, where the upper is completely woven and that of the Huarache directly into holes in the sole.
The Lapti from Belarus and the Nike Water Cat.
For more images of traditional footwear visit the SONS Museum Ethnographic Collection.
For information about woven Mexican Huarache Footwear visit Huarache Blog.
A lifetime dedicated to understanding and developing urban planning of the future, proactively designing to solve the problems humanity might face one day.
A comprehensive thinker and visionary, Paolo Soleri leaves us with many important legacies. His work has introduced us to balanced designs where nature meets technology, designs that encourage positive and healthy communities, perspectives of a lean design and examples of environmental accountability.
I was lucky to see the models of the 2 bridges below during a visit to Arcosanti 5 years ago. Arcosanti is Paolo Soleri’s experimental town in Arizona, the embodiment and research of his concept of “arcology” – the fusion of architecture with ecology.
Incredibly these bridge designs that are over 50 years old, have the same deconstructive aesthetic language that many of the most important architects are busy developing today.
Paolo Soleri – Tubular Bridges – 1959
“The use and consumption of the income of the earth, and not of its capital, is essential if we want to keep open our options for the future” – Paolo Soleri, 1970
Can we design product that encourages positive behavioral changes? For example, by motivating consumers to become healthier, or reducing consumer pollution.
Designing for behavioral change is text book for advertizing and marketing creatives, but how often do product designers incorporate it into their design thinking? It can be said that the athletic footwear design has encouraged a more active society to develop. But what other positive behaviors can be encouraged through design?
Probably one of the most famous behavioral changing footwear designs was the 1968 Onitsuka Tiger Cortez, later known as the Nike Cortez. Its thick, cushioned foam sole design encouraged the leisure running and jogging culture to develop.
The Onitsuka Tiger Cortez.
But what other shoe designs have encouraged behavioral change and how often do designers think about designing for it?
Below are a few examples of footwear that have encouraged behavioral performance related change within the running footwear market.
The Nike Free.
The Vibram 5 Fingers KSO.
The Luna Sandals LeadCat.
The “Designing for Social Change” TED Transmedia 2012 talk by Andrew Shea introduces us to consumer behavior, habits, how to disrupt them and change them.
What are some of the design triggers that can influence behavior change?
On a side note regarding behavioral change, below is another video of a recent environmental initiative in Mexico City. The Mercado de Trueque encourages locals to exchange their recyclable waste for fresh local food produce. The initiative also promotes the development of local farming which creates jobs and reclaims unused urban spaces.
“Fixing is the unsung hero of creativity. And it really shouldn’t be. It’s the most common, humble and beautiful form of creativity. Let’s wear that belief proudly. Let’s notice and celebrate these little everyday triumphs, and help others see their value. We made this to fuel the conversation about why a culture of fixing is so important”.- sugru
This past year 74FDC has covered a variety of environmental design perspectives and uncovered interesting product that is Heirloom, Upcycled, Rebuilt and Recycled, to show that commercial opportunities exist. But what about product designed to be fixed by the consumer? Product that can engage, educate and reduce environmental impact.
Can designing product which encourages the consumer to repair it when it wears out or breaks, create a commercial advantage? How can a product be designed to make repair compelling? Maybe by designing modular products where each part is aesthetically compelling enough to have its own design appeal, so that purchasing a part provides a similar consumer experience to buying a complete product. Is personalization another compelling reason to repair?
Like the Creo Shoe design by Jennifer Rieker. By offering modular sole design upgrades, the leather can be left to do what is does well, AGE. While the rubber sole can be upgraded with new designs when it wears out. This system would allow for easy recycling, reduce labour and resource consumption involved with making entirely new footwear.
This hybrid design philosophy would also allow traditional injected footwear brands like Melissa, ccilu, Crocs and Fessura to expand their footwear line.
Patagonia did an interesting series of shoe designs with removable soles in 2008. The idea was to make footwear long lasting and that once the sole wore down you could walk into a Patagonia store, pick up a new sole and replace it yourself.
The Patagonia Rum and Coke.
The Patagonia Sugar and Spice.
The Patagonia Toast and Jam.
The Patagonia Salt and Pepper.
Medieval footwear known as Turnshoes and Wooden Pattens used a similar system of removable sole, which also benefited indoor and outdoor use.
Via St. Thomas guild
If the parts are available, most product is already designed to be repaired. Sometimes the repair is hard, or technical and it can require specialized tools. But fixing something, when done right can provide a great sense of accomplishment and empowerment.
A combination of determination, learning and skill, I remember replacing the hard drive on my MacBook Pro, or adjusting the valves on my motorcycle, realizing that specialized technicians are human just like me. Enabling the consumer to fix is democratic, inclusive and educational. Three social characteristics worth nurturing in this increasingly complex and interconnected world.
New advanced footwear sole designs that can easily replace old and worn out soles, essentially upcycling and encouraging shoe recycling. Upper parts that age well can be kept while other parts that are worn out can be replaced. Shoes that can also be donated and then easily refurbished to make compelling rebuilt designs.
For more on design for repair and upgrade check out my posts titled “Buy Less Buy Better, Make Memories Not Junk – Rebuilding, Another Environmentally Friendly Alternative” and “Upcycling’ – Design and Creative Recycling“
After all cars are fixed and car parts/labour contribute to both the global economy and company revenues. Can designing for repair be a viable commercial option for footwear? And what would new footwear designed for repair and upgrade look like?
What is the purpose of Design Narrative, how important is it and to whom?
What is our Design Narrative saying and how can it be improved?
If our Design Narrative were comparable to literature, what kind of book and how good would it be?
How is Design Narrative evolving?
Is your Design Narrative important, original and can it be shared?
New Balance is Laser Sintering the sole of some of their running spikes.
Via CounterKicks and Hypebeast
úkata is proud to offer their first Huaraches for sale.
The "Cien Clavos" Huaraches are made by José Martínez from the small town of Mazamitla, nestled in the pine covered hills of the Sierra Tigre in Southern Jalisco. José Martínez is continuing in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, making the same traditional Huarache designs.
Via SJET
The Nike Vapor Laser Talon might be the first mass produced 3D printed footwear component. The ramifications of which could have significant environmental and ergonomic benefits.
3D printing has the potential to create cost effective regional and even localized manufacture to:-
1. Reduce pollution from shipping and transportation.
2. Provide cost effective custom made footwear parts that are shaped from personal 3D scanned data taken directly from the users foot.
But how will the the Talon and all the future 3D printed soles be recycled? Imagine local recycling facilities supplying local athletic footwear retail outlets with plastic, to 3D print personalized soles in-store while the customer waits.
For more information on the potential of 3D scanned sports footwear check out my post titled “Organic Form – Inspiring New Directions in Design and Manufacturing“.
The first 3D printed athletic footwear sole was introduced in 2006 by Trevor Prior and Greg Lever with their Prior 2 Lever fully custom made Assassin football boot. The Assassin offered a 3D printed sole to the exact shape of the consumer’s foot using Selective Laser Sintering; providing the perfect fit and customized performance.
Utterly demoralizing as the footage appears I’m still not sure if this movie has a place on this blog. After all it isn’t inspiring, nor is it informing my design thinking. It’s about something that we already know. And little can be elaborated and said about this very clear and straightforward insight into the threat that pollution poses to nature, besides that even in the face of tragedy there is hope.
For this reason the incredibly powerful message and the determination of the filmmakers must be shared. Thank you Chris Jordan and your team.
I’m not sure if a Heirloom perspective is still relevant today’s design world, but if the retro trend was anything to go by, consumers are very receptive to nostalgic design. Because of this and it’s environmental potential, the subject of Heirloom Design deserves some consideration.
As a child I grew up eating at a trestle refectory dinning table very similar to the one below. It belongs to my mother who inherited it from her father, who inherited it from his father and so on. This same table has been used to eat off for more than 300 years and has probably been in the family for just as long. Sometimes I ponder over all the stories it could tell, if this table could only talk.
Looking at the table I wonder which products I can buy today that might still be useful and beautiful in 40 or so years when I’ll be old and wise? What products I’ll inherit and which ones I’ll hand down?
However Heirloom and antique products are not only romantic expressions of heritage and lineage, they’re also another opportunity to reduce the current environmental impact of consumer waste. The environmental benefits of Heirloom product are twofold, by handing it down we avoid creating waste and by receiving it we avoid using natural resources.
There was a time when a lot of product was built to last and inherited, but what product made today can be deemed “hand downable” and why?
4 factors determine the longevity of a design:-
1. Functional Relevance
2. Strength (hard-wearing)
3. Aesthetic
4. Repairability
5. Emotional Bond
Next consider today’s products and the reasons for their obsolescence and disposal:-
1. Rapid technological innovation that quickly makes many designs outdated and obsolete.
2. Most materials cannot hold up to prolonged use without failing.
3. A Fashion culture of seasonal “perceived obsolescence” that makes products aesthetically dated.
4. Many products are not designed for cost effective repair and are replaced rather than fixed.
5. Consumers are drawn to novelty and change.
I agree that these are all factors that have shaped the design industry into the thriving business that it is today and also paved the way for my personal career. But at what cost? And is there an alternative progressive design perspective waiting to replace the current one?
Nowadays Heirloom products which stay useful, hard wearing, aesthetically relevant and repairable have become rare and remarkable, and only a few of the iconic designs from yesterday continue to be made today.
Below are a few examples of what I consider Heirloom product, interestingly many are from England.
The Brigg Umbrella and the Barbour International Original Jacket.
The Mont Blanc Meisterstuck and the Eames Lounge Chair.
The Jaguar E-Type (no longer in production) and the Rolex Submariner.
But which of today’s new designs will still be produced in 100 years time and what is being made today that will be handed down tomorrow?
We live not according to reason, but according to fashion” – Seneca, 1st Century AD
Despite the longevity that makes Heirloom product more environmentally friendly, is there still a place for Heirloom product in our modern culture? Do we even like old product which is handed down to us? And are we interested in using a product for such an extended time that we expect to hand it down to our children?
Exploring the potential of Heirloom would make an interesting challenge within our specific design fields. But in order to design, produce and experience new Heirloom product we must begin by defining it. Starting with the following questions we can begin developing a heirloom design perspective:-
1. What long term uses and functions are best suited for “Heirloom” product?
2. What materials will stand up to the test of time the best?
3. What aesthetic can stay relevant and survive is such a dynamic fashion culture?
4. How do we design product which encourages repair instead of disposal?
5. Can we design product that offers long term discovery, or one that changes over time and to which we can create an emotional attachment?
Is there a way to design with a heirloom design perspective and continue providing the same financial rewards to sustain our design industry? Can heirloom design be applied to high volume product?
And lastly a personal question, what Heirloom products do we wish we had?
