photos from DailyMail

Confections #18, 2006

Earlier this week I came across these photos by artist Amy Stevens. And in case you aren’t exactly sure what they are of… well they’re CAKE! YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY! Well I guess really the cake part is secondary to the fabulous decorating and backgrounds!

Check out More of Amy’s Confection photos.

Confections #26, 2007

Confections #42, 2007

Confections #54, 2007

Obama Wins 2008

With all the talk of Red and Blue States some might imagine US citizens are born dipped in one or the other color… but looking back you can see that the pendulum of democracy has no permanent palette.

Nixon Wins 1972

Every dog has his day/color…

FDR Wins 1936

Roses are red and violets are blue but the US can’t decide between the two… If you want to see more or hear a great catalogue of speeches or read a sea of documents visit : The American Presidency Project

What is the big deal? Looking at the companies product line, I find Tata a more interesting brand. Practical with style meets old money. Jaguar has been a tired line for years. Maybe Tata will bring some needed color.

Ford was certainly doing nothing interesting with these cars. East takes west! It is about time. I’m sure Indians have had enough of boring ol’ stiff upper lipped Range Rovers trashing their back country…

MOMA is talking color. According to curator Ann Temkin, somewhere mid-century, artist began seeing color in a new way. With the advent of commercial paint in a myriad of standardized colors the artists pallet became available at the local hardware store. Pop art in a can. Pantone geek heaven.

Of course if you happen to be in Raleigh, NC rather than NYC you can stop by Designbox and see what a local artist does with actual paint chips from Lowes. (see left side. Trademark style of Shaun Richards).

Wandering this show requires comfy shoes or else wheels. So you must weave your way between booths, skateboards, and people bounding on the latest springy leg contraptions.

As a member of IDEAS, a design/trends collective subsidized by ISPO itself, we set up some simple displays, sell our color cards and let people rifle through our portfolios.

Though the more eager ones among us try to sell from their “book,” I prefer to wander the show during the day searching for new material and get insights to new trends in fabrications and design. Then at night, hang out with the IDEAS gang to discuss what we’re doing/thinking, and what we’ve seen from our various viewpoints. This can happen all over Munich, but tends to conclude at the famous Shiller (Boxing) Bar started by Andrea Lanweider and Hans Fretz.

I was folded into IDEAS by Nadine Cino who was recruiting more American designers at the lackluster Super Show to join a group of exceptionally talented designers from all over Europe, Japan, and even Iceland. Part of the benefits of being a member was to exhibit at ISPO and get involved in color trends with a diverse set of perspectives. The application process was pretty serious but the more I knew about the group the more eager I was to join this network and they welcomed me quite warmly.

In the early days we had color meetings during the ISPO show. My first meeting included the visionary Vittorio Giomo who successfully predicted the dominant trend of charcoal greys in apparel (years ago) by refocusing on the naked human body – and then building a pallet that complemented this perspective. It was an eye-opener to take a philosophical approach to color like this but I loved the process and could certainly appreciate the results. Each season has a group of IDEAS members selling their insight on coming trends. Unfortunately these trend meetings are done in between ISPO’s now, and I cannot swing the extra trip.

Eventually IDEAS helped inform us for the concept for Designbox. Like most associations of creative people, IDEAS has a “dynamic uncertainty” that plagues the group on who we are or what we will become next. For me I see that these times are usually accompanied by a drop in new applicants.

But when a new member shows up, the older ones have to help explain what the group is and the positive aspects of different members they might otherwise criticize. In the end it’s the new energy of a fresh member who makes a group gel. If in Africa, “it takes a village to raise a child,” I believe that in creative networks “it takes a newcomer to build the village.”

What is a “Candlestick?”: this word actually means “thing that holds a candle.” The dictionary, Wikipedia and lots of candle sites all agree—but we couldn’t. I mean, the only part that looks like a stick is the actual candle, right? We went through tons of names. “Candle Holder” sounds clunky. “Single Candelabrum” sounds hoity toity. So, after all the research is over, we are sticking with “Candlestick” but using “Candle Holder” at least once in the description.

What’s another name for “off-white?” We went through the Sherwin Williams swatch fan as well as their super cool online color visualizer, took informal surveys around the office, and even found a list of color names on eBay (who knew?)! There are a lot of names for off-white: French Vanilla, Alabaster, Antique White, Winter White, Shell, Oyster, Ecru and Bone, to name a few. Seems there are lots of preconceived notions with each color. “Bone” seemed to be one of the best descriptors, but we’re talking about faces already…adding “bone” to the description seems a little creepy. Anyway, we went with Bisque because it relates to pottery (and because it has a Q in it – YEA), but in the process, we also learned that Bisque, the soup, is not necessarily white-ish. In fact, it’s often red-ish, with the word having more to do with being smooth or pureed than color. But by the time we learned that, we had all grown to like the word, so to hell with it. It’s Bisque (until further notice).