Tackling the transport puzzle

They say video games rot the brain, but in the case of Anton Garland, they turned him on to a whole new career path. It wasn’t until after a mammoth Gran Turismo 2 session that the design student realised he could combine his passion for all things automotive with his love of architecture. Currently shut away in below-zero temperatures at the Umea Institute of Design in Sweden learning about cars and everything to do with designing them, Garland is already looking forward to getting his teeth stuck into new challenges post-graduation—namely, creating a solution for Auckland’s infamous transport problems in 2030.

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Design time

Want to find out how to be in two places at once? Science hasn’t quite cracked that one yet, but you can certainly get pretty close with the help of technology, as one of the talks at the first Design Assembly event for the year will cover. Along with discussion on the recent escalation of ideashare and working with wanderlust, there’ll be fresh inspiration in the form of photo collaging, and an insight into what went into creating the first Make Something group art show, held in November. And as goes without saying,  plenty of time to mix and mingle with fellow designers. February 23 at Artspace on K’ Rd, Auckland from 6pm.

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Web talk in the windy city

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Six-legged spy

Imagine seeing this thundering towards you on a direct collision course. US military robot X-RHex moves with purpose, its six half-wheeled legs enabling it to conquer steps, concrete or sand with equal ease. A recon dream, horror movie fodder for the rest of us.

Bullet with kiwi wings

Media Design School was named the fourth best creative school of the decade by YoungGuns last year—the only school from New Zealand to win an award. And once again it has reason to smile with recent Adschool graduates Ed Knowles (frontman of Kiwi band The Checks) and Charles Twaddle taking home a Silver Bullet for ‘Reflections’, an ambient outdoor advertising campaign for HSBC that plays on famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Sydney Opera House. “It’s absolutely brilliant to win a Silver Bullet—the most genuine excuse we’ve had for a beer all year,” says Knowles.

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Film your way to France

Speaking of young guns, if you’re under 25, here’s your chance to win a trip to Paris. The OECD’s celebrating its 50th anniversary by calling on young people worldwide to create a short video describing their vision of “progress”. Simply upload your video to YouTube and register online by March 1; three winners will be invited to the OECD Forum in May with all expenses paid, where they’ll meet and greet officials and media from around the globe. More details here.

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Geek meets chic

Fashion designer Diana Eng of Victoria’s Secret and Project Runway fame is in town. And if you’ve ever wanted to learn how to make an inflatable dress or a garment that glows, she’s your woman. As CoLab’s first artist in residence for 2011, she’ll be hosting a series of “Geek Fashion” workshops as well as displaying her own work at AUT’s St Paul St Gallery until February 5.

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Watering holes fit for a king

As a part of an effort to make London parks both more functional and beautiful, the Tiffany & Co. Foundation recently teamed up with The Royal Parks Foundation to devise a competition to find the ultimate drinking fountain. Result: not one, but two winning concepts. The joint champions were all-in-one brass number Ben Addy’s Trumpet, which will emit gurgling noises as punters gulp, and Robin Monotti’s Watering Holes—a granite slab featuring holes that dogs, kids and adults can slide their heads through, that’s only ever so slightly reminiscent of the medieval stocks.

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Bringing maths to the masses

What would life be like on a Mobius strip? This educational, entertaining and whimsical video, Wind and Mr Ug, tackles that very question in one straight take. It comes from Vi Hart, a “full-time recreational mathemusician” who recently graduated with a degree in music, not maths, and was also the brains behind the viral “Doodling in Math Class” videos.

From comfort food to comfort seat

They don’t get much more flexible than Sofa_XXXX, which can grow and contract accordion-like, expanding from a chair into a couch and vice versa. But that’s not the most incredible thing. It’s constructed almost entirely from eating utensils. We’re talking 8,000 chopsticks, to be precise, and designer Yuya Ushida says it can support as many as three people.

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Quote of the week

There are about 150 of us design students locked away in some kind of isolation tank where the weather’s nineteen below outside, which tends to focus the mind a bit.

- Anton Garland on suffering a little for the sake of education