I ran across this awhile back and it just blew my mind. I've always had a strong respect for engineering. My dad and brother are both engineers and have invented some amazing things. My brother in particular is one of the most brilliant guys I've ever met. Theo Jansen's work makes me wish I could follow in their footsteps. I'm really attracted to the idea of creating organic almost living forms and to see this done through well crafted kinetic engineering is really inspiring.
A pretty sweet take on the iconic VW bus the Verdier concept has everything you could ever need on a road trip. I specifically love the Wassily Chair inspired camp chairs, nice touch.
So here it is, the launch of my first blog. I've been meaning to do this now for quite some time. My intent is to fill this space with the things that I love and that I feel are worth sharing. Be it something I've collected, created, wished for, or found crawling through the web. Please drop by now and again -- comments are much appreciated.
For my first entry I thought I'd start with the very beginning of my design object collection / obsession. The lamp above was my bedside reading lamp when I was a little kid. Mom picked it up at a garage sale somewhere near Eau Claire Wisconsin back in the early 70's. She grew to think it was pretty ugly but I always drawn to it. Maybe it was the form, color (orange my favorite) or size, I just don't know. Whatever it was, it means an awful lot to me. I can still remember many sleepless nights pouring over some book on dinosaurs under this lamp's soft yellow glow.
It was produced by the Laurel Lamp Manufacturing Co. of Newark New Jersey in the mid 1960's. I think it resembles Aero Saarinen's Tulip Table, I wonder if he designed these lamps or if his work was the inspiration, either way it's beautiful.
Disaster struck several years back when one of my cats knocked it off my desk shattering the globe to pieces. I recently found a semi-suitable replacement (it's a bit big) but I still miss the frosted original. If anyone knows where I can pick a replica globe please let me know. I might just pop for a vintage sucker on Ebay at some point but they're so damn expensive. Still it might be worth it...