About the competition: “Our fellows in the first world often come to visit and give us their well intentioned but often very problematic “solutions”. We thought, why don’t we pay back? Dx1W is a competition for designers, artists, scientists, makers and thinkers in developing countries to provide solutions for First World problems…”

To learn more, visit: Design For the First World : The Competition.

Click here to read The New York Times “The Moment” story!

I recently launched a new arts and culture destination site called ArtSlope.com. It’s a strong complement to the blog, I think. Check it out to see some of the week’s coolest news in design, art, photography and fashion. Thanks!

Check out artist and designer Lincoln Mayne‘s new geometrically-inspired t-shirt collection, Geometry Lessons, at Coolhunting.com. To order, visit LMaffair.com!

*image courtesy of Gestalten, © Gestalten 2010

“Objects of Life,” a collaborative exhibit by rock legend Patti Smith and fashion photographer Steven Sebring, opened this week at the Robert Miller Gallery. It’s a complement to the pair’s Sundance-award winning documentary, “Dream of Life.” It’s also a must -see. For more info, check out my review for The New York Times Style Magazine.

When great design inspires healthy living, there’s not much more we
can ask for. Y Water’s perfect union combines a cool and kid-friendly,
100% recyclable bottle with removable, biodegradable labeling and
a flavored, vitamin- and mineral-rich, low-sugar, organic beverage.
Once empty, the container becomes a toy that kids can link to other
bottles through biodegradable, connectable rubber “Y knots,” letting
them create spaceships, animals, robots, or whatever else their
imaginations can dream up. When all is said and done, parents can
log onto www.ywater.us and receive a free mailer to send the bottle
back for recycling.

The cheery Y-shape inspired the drink’s name, a playful riff on two
of the most commonly asked kiddie questions: “Why?” and “Why
not?” As Y-Water designer Yves Béhar says, “The brand, the bottle,
the graphics, the name … everything is one, connected by the idea
of giving a smarter, healthier and much more fun experience. The
category is so bland, so un-original … but kids are open-minded to
new and creative things, and that is what we wanted to give them.”

To read my full review for Clear Magazine, click here.

Check out my interview with Dutch designer Marcel Wanders for Clear Magazine‘s December issue here. Marcel was a real pleasure, speaking about his new retrospective exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (his first major solo show in the US), how he’s changed as a designer over the last two decades, his latest collaborations, and what he’s learned in his career thus far….

*images courtesy of Marcel Wanders Studio and Clear Magazine

AREAWARE presents STOP SHOP, a new pop-up-shop boldly located in NYC’s Port Authority Bus Terminal sporting an impossible-to-ignore Christmastime theme dubbed “a delirious technicolor holiday midnight dream.” Setting itself apart from the rest of the pop-up-shop-pack, STOP SHOP was designed by International Lampoon Item Idem, Ltd. , (the moniker for Japan-born, NY- and Paris-based conceptual artist Cyril Duval and partner Kalena Yiaueki), and curated by photographer Keetja Allard in collaboration with creative director and retail consultancy Philip Attar Creative.

Fashion, design, furniture, toys, jewelry, accessories, and object d’art range from $13-$3500, from the likes of Kid Robot, City Foundry, LM.affair, VPL, threeasFour and many more. Check out my full review at Coolhunting.com.

This winter, the Art Institute of Chicago presents German designer Konstantin Grcic‘s first US solo show. Grcic has made a career of subverting and reinterpreting familiar social and cultural references in such a way as to make them strangely, fascinatingly, unfamiliar. His minimalistic work sharpens the senses, making us question common objects we so often take for granted, and how they define the spaces in which we move. Chairs, desks, lamps, kitchen equipment, you name it: all just different enough to raise our antennae, but still recognizably approachable.

I had the opportunity to preview the exhibit for Clear Magazine‘s December issue, and the full story is available by clicking here.