2007 Tokyo Motor Show

by Tim Yu

The 40th Tokyo Motor Show 2007 will be held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba City from 26 October-11 November. In preparation, the big Japanese automakers have begun rolling out some of their futuristic concept cars. If it's any indication of what's to come, we're excited to see what else is in store. Here are our two favorites so far.

More of a personal transportation device than automobile, Toyota's new i-Real makes the Segway look like an old Saturn. A futuristic wheelchair of sorts, the i-Real builds on the previous i-Swing model producing a faster (tops out at 20mph), more agile and more energy efficient prototype. All of the three-wheeler's controls are located close to the armrests and the wheels can extend, reclining the passenger for high speeds or contracting inwards for more maneuverability.

via Electro Plankton

Toyota's main Japanese competition, Honda, might have one-upped them on the concept front with the Puyo. Instead of traditional aluminum or sheet metal, Honda uses a strong but flexible gel-like material that is supposedly safer in collisions. I love the scissor wing doors that open up and out and the back-lit headlights. Even better, the Puyo can turn 360º in place and is completely transparent from the "belt line" offering better visibility. With no right angles or corners, it is a smooth, cute design and, powered by a fuel-cell, it's environmentally friendly too. A minimalist pod-like interior and joystick steering cement its place in the future.

via Jalopnik.

Kacy Maddux: New Drawings

by Jacob Resneck

Kansas City artist Kacy Maddux, whose headless sketches in the University of Chicago Renaissance Society's "All My Pretty Corpses" exhibition caught a lot of attention in 2005, is to be featured again in the Windy City.

This time her fine illustrations are to be featured in a solo exhibition at the Gescheidle gallery in downtown Chicago. These free-hand drawings appear to riff on the theme of anatomy and symmetry while remaining fairly abstract. It's an interesting installment in this 27 year-old artist's career, presenting "empirical information metaphorically, and intuitive misunderstandings literally." The result is equal parts new age and science class, to stunning effect.

New Drawings
Opening Reception: 12 October 2007, 6-9pm
Conversation with the artist: 13 October 2007, 1-2pm
12 October -10 November 2007
Gescheidle
1039 W. Lake Street, 2nd floor
Chicago, IL. 60607 map
tel. +1 312.226.3500

Oliso Frisper Vacuum Sealer

by Ami Kealoha

Bulky design, fussy mechanisms and the trickiness involved in resealing the bags offsets the glory of vacuum sealers' ability to keep our precious Roquefort, pineapples, mushrooms and the like at their freshest. In steps Oliso's Frisper Freshkeeper to the rescue. With its compact egg-shaped design, stupid simple operation and bags that open and reseal almost effortlessly, the Frisper solves all the problems of your grandma's vacuum sealer and then some.

Its patent-pending technology makes sure that it works quickly and powerfully to suck the air out of the specially designed bags. Unlike other models that require alignment with the entire edge of the bag, the device seals along predesignated spots making it easy to position. The modification means that the Frisper is about a quarter of the size of other sealers, not much larger than a person's hand—something that those of us who store their vacuum sealer in the basement, unused, are pretty stoked on. It's great when reinvention improves on usability, but better yet when it makes it useful at all.

The other key innovation is the bags themselves, called Vac-Snaps. Oliso's system replaces the sealing edge with a zip top closure, which not only facilitates the easy sealing process but makes them far easier to reopen (without the need of scissors and knives) on the fly. Made of a multi-layer material, they can be reused (though not for meats) and microwaved or simmered for reheating.

The Frisper is $100 from Oliso (or use their store locator) and comes with five each of the Vac-Snap quart and gallon size bags. Replacement packs will set you back $12 for packs of 20 and 14 respectively.

About Time

by Watchismo

Dutch designer Buro Vormkrijgers' rotating concept clock "About Time" reveals the passing of time by rolling around your desk and telling time in one long continuous sentence. Vormkrijgers intends for the cone-shaped clock to subvert the minute-to-minute planning of today's over-booked lifestyles by simply telling you "It's about six o'clock" or "it's almost seven now."

It's a similar concept to the approximated timing of the Vinta Tilt Clock I featured a while back, as well as the One-Handed Watch.

Made from black anodized aluminum, it measures 230mm wide x 90mm deep and is $179 from Generate.

Also on Cool Hunting by Vormkrijgers: Woofer

Interview with Amanda Levete

by Leonora Oppenheim

Size + Matter, it could be said, was one of the most viewed events of the London Design Festival last month. Two installations by two of the U.K.'s leading architects—both women—were placed outside the cultural hub that is the Southbank Centre that thousands of people walk by everyday. Urban Nebula by Zaha Hadid used pre-cast concrete to create a darkly dramatic public seating sculpture. (Pictured right.) Prototile by Amanda Levete of Future Systems used Corian® to create a modular screen structure as a spacial intervention. (Pictured below.) I checked in with Amanda about how and why she got involved in this project.

Can you tell us what the origins of this commission were?
The project Size + Matter was commissioned by Ben Evans who is the director of the London Design Festival. It was about the idea of taking a material and exploring it in ways that haven't been done before, so that you push its boundaries both technically and aesthetically.

For me that was really interesting because there was no brief in terms of its function, it was really a very abstract way of looking at something. So I thought I could explore the ideas that I am looking at in buildings at a scale that's really large; that is somewhere in between a building and a piece of furniture.

Were you able to choose your material? Did you choose Corian®?
Yes, I love using it, but we've always used it in interiors and facing materials, it's never been used structurally before and I wanted to demonstrate that you could use it as a self supporting structure.

And the concept behind your installation?
There was this idea of the repetition of the motif and creating a screen, but one without a boundary. It is perforated and is about the relationship of solid to void. It is quite a complex double-layered system and double curvature. So the idea is that you can reassemble it in any form. There are obviously limits to the height because of the structural properties, but it does show that with a single motif you can create very complex forms.

What interests you most about the form you've used?

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Black Kids

by Lost At E Minor

We haven't been this excited by a band in a long time. Florida's Black Kids have crept under—and now over—the radar through a demo and some serious internet buzz from NME and Pitchfork. Not only are they ridiculously good, they've also offered their four-song demo, Wizard of Ahhhs, for free on their MySpace page. Sweet.