Brit Insurance Design Awards: My Votes

Brit Insurance Design Awards

Architecture:

The Tape Installation by Numen/For Use

I found this tape creation to be really cool, and remind me of playing with tape as a child.  I thought it was very interesting that the concept for this was drawn from a dance performance and was turned life size. it also reminded me of hamster cage tubes.  

Furniture:

Thomas Heatherwick's Spun Chair is an innovative and interesting design for a chair. I thought that it kind of made sitting down fun, and suitable for people of all sizes. It's one of those things that you're kind of timid to try out for yourself but once you do you're glad to have tried it. It feel like you're about to fall over and then you just kind of spin around in circles like a top. 

Transport:

The Barclays Cycle Hire by Transport for London and Serco

I think this is a great idea for any city, I wish Chicago and Madison did this. Anyone can pay a pound to enjoy the sights of the city in a completely new way tan being driven around by some tour bus or walking until your legs collapse. This system also promotes exercise and healthy living as well as a 'green' way of getting to know London. 

Graphics:

Homemade is Best by Forsman and Bodenfors for IKEA

This interesting and artistic way of arranging different recipes is visually pleasing. The symmetry of the arrangements and the calming color scheme make the presentation interesting and beautiful. Everything looks so perfect and precise, which kind of goes with the idea of cooking-- people are always trying to get the exact amount of each ingredient needed. 

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Within minutes of entering the Wim Crouwel exhibit I was pretty disinterested. The posters lined along the wall were pretty small and not that eye catching unless the had extremely vivid or neon colors. The room was much too large to keep winding around the below the waist level cases that seemed to contain papers and images all very similar. The room was hot and over all quite boring. 

I'm not exactly sure why, but the overall exhibit kind of reminded me of a sculpture in Chicago- an untitled piece by Picasso in the Daley Plaza. Perhaps the rigid lines remind me of the text and architectural-esque quality of Crouwel's work. The colors used in the posters did remind me of some of the works by Mark Rothko who used vivid contrasting colors a lot to make them stand out against each other- as Crouwel seems to do.