A gorgeous short film on making ink by The Printing Ink Company.

http://www.theprintinginkcompany.ca/

Anatomy and Machinery Combined

I have come across photographer Andrew Chase, who also produces furnishings. He has created a series of sculptures of animals made out of machine parts. It is interesting looking at them in relation to my collaboration with Will and combining anatomy and machinery.




      http://www.andrewchase.com

Collaboration with Will

I met with Will, and we shared some ideas on what we want to collaborate one. We came to the conclusion that wall pieces, surface pattern, interiors and retails graphics combined is the route to go down. We also shared some initial research, images and designers that we think could work for this project. Our subject matter is human and animal anatomy and mechanical studies.


These sketches are by illustrator and graphic artist, Adolf Lachman. I love how he combines anatomy with machinery in his work, this was my initial inspiration for the direction we are taking with this brief.

        http://adolflachman.cz/





Will came across a designer call Josip Kelava, these pieces in particular are really relevant to what we are wanting to do. I think that the mixture of type and image works really well. The contrast of the intricate, detailed anatomical drawings against the clean cut typography is really effective.

   
         http://www.josipkelava.com


In terms of media, me and Will have decided to experiment with different print and production methods. Layering different materials and three dimensional print is also something we are interested in finding more about.




 

 Daniel Widrig is an artist and architect and experiments with different layers, levels and textures in his work. The bottom image is called 'Drapery' and is made from polystyrene using a CNC machine (Computer Numerical Control). I love the play with texture and curves, but it may be hard for me and Will to achieve this effect on our own. The top images of 'Pathfinder' however may be easier for us to accomplish.
 

 
 
    http://danielwidrig.com/

Japan Matsuri

I have begun looking at the London based festival Japan Matsuri. I have started with their website, which at present has limited information on it, and their Facebook page.

The word Matsuri means festival or holiday, and the Matsuri was historically sponsored by a shrine or temple as part of the practice of "Honouring your Ancestors". Matsuri 2012, which is to be held in October is only the fourth festival running, so it is quite new.

Considering that this festival has been running since 2009 I have not heard of it. According to the website, they do have a good turn out each year, however as a Londoner I feel that it's bad that it didn't reach as far as me. This is be something I would be greatly interested in going to if only I had heard of it without going into great research.

Valuing Water

Me and Francesca have decided to collaborate together on a RSA competition brief to do with reducing water wastage.

We started our research on 'Virtual' or 'Embedded' water.

Virtual water (also known as embedded water, embodied water, or hidden water) refers, in the context of trade, to the water used in the production of a good or service. For instance, it takes 1,300 cubic meters of water on average to produce one metric tonne of wheat. The precise volume can be more or less depending on climatic conditions and agricultural practice. Hoekstra and Chapagain have defined the virtual-water content of a product (a commodity, good or service) as "the volume of freshwater used to produce the product, measured at the place where the product was actually produced".^[1] It refers to the sum of the water use in the various steps of the production chain.

Professor John Anthony Allan from King’s College London and the School of Oriental and African Studies was the creator of the virtual water concept,^[2] which measures how water is embedded in the production and trade of food and consumer products. For his contributions he was awarded the 2008 Stockholm Water Prize.^[3] In his awarding, the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) stated that "Virtual water has major impacts on global trade policy and research, especially in water-scarce regions, and has redefined discourse in water policy and management. By explaining how and why nations such as the US, Argentina and Brazil ‘export’ billions of litres of water each year, while others like Japan, Egypt and Italy ‘import’ billions, the virtual water concept has opened the door to more productive water use."

Allan (2005) stated: "The water is said to be virtual because once the wheat is grown, the real water used to grow it is no longer actually contained in the wheat. The concept of virtual water helps us realize how much water is needed to produce different goods and services. In semi-arid and arid areas, knowing the virtual water value of a good or service can be useful towards determining how best to use the scarce water available."

There are, however, significant deficiencies with the concept of virtual water that mean there is a significant risk in relying on these measures to guide policy conclusions. Accordingly, Australia's National Water Commission considers that the measurement of virtual water has little practical value in decision making regarding the best allocation of scarce water resources^{[citation needed]}.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embedded_water

We stumbled across the website of a studio called Provokateur. They are a design studio based in Hampstead, London that focus on ethical design. They produced a design campaign called Tap, which aims to encourage people to drink more tap water and scrap the bottle, as it is far better for the environment. 

I think the whole concept is brilliant, and I feel the logo is very well thought out and effective. The imagery used in this campaign is a similar approach to what me and Francesca feel would be appropriate for our brief.

http://provokateur.com/enterprises/tap/