Rickshaw Art

by Lost At E Minor

The most popular means of transportation in Bangladesh and the some of Southeast Asia is the rickshaw. A mode of human powered transport, in Dhaka (the capital of Bangladesh) there are over 600,000, and this makes for some stiff competition for business. One of the main tools in this competition for customers has become the use of decor and artwork on the rickshaw.

Rickshaws in Bangladesh are decorated from bumper to bell with paintings, engravings, tassels, embroidery and even gold leaf in an attempt to attract customers. Incredibly diverse the rickshaw owners, the 'maliks', commission 'mistris' to paint the rickshaws and each have their own tastes and budgets for their fleet. The most important aspect of the art is that it be eye-catching.

The backboards of the rickshaw serve as the focal point of the artwork. The largest blank canvas available, paintings on backboards usually depict rural scenes, animals, the rich and the famous, great monuments and religious symbols. The best time to view the Rickshaw artwork is during rush hour in Dhaka. Just lean back and appreciate the visions of thousands of maliks and the expressions of thousands of mistris as you sit in standstill traffic.

BCXSY: Golden Glory

by Brian Fichtner

Eindhoven-based designers Boaz Cohen and Sayaka Yamamoto operating under the studio name BCXSY, are creating some very concept-driven products. Their latest collection, Forever!, attempts to define the indefinable through a series of objects touching on preciousness, the nature of death and immortality.

One part of the Forever series that caught my attention was Golden Glory. A story of appropriation, the designers altered generic plastic objects by covering them in 23.75 karat gold leaf and arranging them in unique compositions. According to Boaz and Sayaka, “the concept behind Golden Glory is to explore the idea of a product's "value." Not even a century ago, "made in china" (or some other Far East land) would mean craft, precision and unique objects. Nowadays, generally speaking, it’s quite the opposite. What we did is take the cheapest, identity-less, meaningless, mass-produced plastic objects and through the hard work of hand gilding, and the re-arranging in unique and numbered (one-off) compositions, gave them a new exclusive identity." The resulting narratives, while defined by seemingly odd groupings, serve to release the plastics from the arena of the mundane. More info at BCSXY and images after the jump.

Rockwell x Alife x Patta: Everybody Mid Rap

by Tim Yu

A collaboration between illustrator Parra Rockwell, Amsterdam's Patta and seasoned veterans Alife, the Everybody Mid Rap has some texture and color details that made me take notice.

A mix of materials, including Nubuck suede, nylon and leather, compartmentalizes the vibrant, otherwise monochrome blue, making for an appealing contrast in textures. The clear sole, red trim and alternating lace holes are also an attractive touch. People lined up at the Patta sneaker shop in Amsterdam yesterday for the world release of the mid-top. I might see you in the queue when it drops stateside on 3 May 2008 at Alife flagships and online at Rockwell.

Check out the stop motion animation by Parra released in conjunction with the sneaker on YouTube and have a a closer look at the sneaker after the jump.

Herb Snips

by Doug Black

Essentially a pair of scissors with multiple parallel blades, herb snips effortlessly expedite the tiresome act of mincing. With their help, scallions or other fresh herbs can instantly transform into a manageable, chopped pile. This take on herb snips features five three-inch stainless steel blades stacked on each silicone-coated arm. And although they'll likely remain in the arsenal of only the most pampered chefs, they also double as great low-tech household shredders. (Also on Cool Hunting: Shredding Scissors.)

You can buy the herb snips for $13 at Chef's Catalog.

Gadget Nation

by Doug Black

When considering the success of the iPod it's easy to forget the thousands of failed inventions left in its wake. Steve Greenberg's new book, Gadget Nation, attempts to shine a light on some of the homegrown entrepreneurs who face the daunting climb toward widespread acceptance. Subtitled "A Journey Through the Eccentric World of Invention," the book looks at average Americans' creations, which run the gamut from handy to outlandish. Take for example the Octodog, which creates the octopus-shaped frankfurter you see below. Superfluous perhaps, but it does reflect the creative compulsion behind the millions of patent request every year.

The majority of the book features this kind of ostensibly useless creations that one might find on Chindogu, Craplinks or the aptly titled Un Cool Hunting. Greenberg looks at oddities like bird diapers, a handle for carrying a turkey around the kitchen and the "Flat-D," a flatulence deodorizer that can be affixed to the underwear (all pictured below).

The book lumps inventions into eight categories based on use addressing all the necessities of life, such as sleep, food and excretion. Each invention includes a "Stat Bar" that offers information about the product and its creator. It lists age and location as well as the startup costs compared to the money made. Sadly, few inventors featured broke out of the red and made an actual profit on the thousands spent devising it. And even more sobering, a considerable portion is still hovering around the zero-dollar mark. Such is the all-to-frequent fate of the entrepreneur.

The book is available now for $20 from Sterling Publishing as well as Amazon.