Results tagged “design”

Designer Rebekah Rauser's nifty "Redeploy Rug" was selected as one of the semi-finalists in Apartment Therapy's annual Design Showcase competition. The Austinite's creation is a wool/wool-blend piece crafted from military surplus blankets:

For many designers and artists, typeface is an obsessive indulgence; after all, we are constantly visually inundated by the twenty six forms that make up our alphabet. An exhibit honoring the art of type is opening tonight at Domy Books. Alphabet will feature dozens of artists and their innovative interpretations of our lettering system including hand drawn illustration, experimental typography, found objects, and mixed media. Work by well known type designers including Ken Barber and Ed Fella will be joined by that of rising artists such as Hjärta Smärta and Andrew Jeffery Wright (who had a solo exhibit at Domy back in March).

This afternoon at SXSW Interactive, two leaders of the NYT's design team will be discussing how old media is reinventing itself to change with the times and educate attendees about how they are using emerging technology to lead the paper of record through the next great wave of customizable, interactive content.

Ray and Charles significantly influenced the world of industrial design, photography, architecture, graphic design, and even film. On Thursday, the Austin chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, or AIGA, will be showing a selection of the films of Charles and Ray Eames at Domy Books. The event kicks off Reel Design, a "film series for the design-conscious" sponsored by AIGA Austin.

The Blanton's latest special exhibit, Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture, opened this weekend and will be on display through May 17th. The show covers the diverse cultural advances and innovations in design that came out of the West Coast around the late 50s and early 60s. Birth of the Cool focuses at first on the visual art and architectural styles that typify mid-century modern design.

Landscape designer, nursery, and gift store, Big Red Sun, has recently held a few art exhibits at their chic East side shop. They hosted an East Austin Studio Tour party last fall and are currently exhibiting a design show that kicks off tonight. The exhibit, Sustainable Narratives, celebrates "the pursuit of integrity and beauty in the everyday object" and features work by local designers and artists. Sustainable Narratives will include funky furniture pieces, modern architectural accessories, and contemporary photography and video art.

The Decoder Ring Design Concern is a giant among the visual communication world that happens to be based in our humble little town. We've long enjoyed the multidisiplinary studio's fine art prints and screenprinted rock and roll posters, but a perusal through their online portfolio speaks to how ubiquitous and powerful the Decoder Ring design team is. They've done the CD packaging for some of our favorite albums, designed Shiner billboards, developed the SXSW logo, and even made Whataburger look retro-cool. Decoder Ring recently moved all of their design and production to an East Side studio space, and are consequently opening their doors to participants in this year's East Austin Studio Tour. In accordance to their penchant for team work, the Decoder Ring designers all took turns in answering some questions for Austinist.

In case you hadn't realized, music poster art and design is a a medium all its own. The creative effort that goes into each print and poster is a labor of love, artists finding new and inventive ways to combine elements from a band's own vision, their own voice, as well as actual information.

Psychedelic music came of age in Austin in the 60’s thanks in large to The 13th Floor Elevators and the emergence of The Vulcan Gas Company as a community and a venue to support the genre. (Check out this site for a history.) The Vulcan Gas Company (316 Congress Ave.) shut its doors in the 70’s but lately there has been a renewed interest in the era in part due to Scott Conn’s Dirt Road To Psychedelia documentary. The Black Angels must also be blamed thanked for this rejuvenation; the local outfit has paved the way for a new generation of psychedelic acts with their impressive 2006 release, Passover. A full-length follow-up is expected this May.

Spiderhouse (probably one of Austin's most representative coffee shop-bar-patios) is hosting a full evening of music and fashion this Saturday, dubbed Fashion Freakout.

Photos of some of the items to be shown at Fashion Freakout at The United States Art Authority (next to Spiderhouse) on Saturday, February 16th.

Her hand-sewn, saliva-marked, grass-stained outfits were reality show ratings gold, but after six episodes former Austinite and University of Texas graduate Elisa Jimenez took the dive on last night's episode of Bravo's Project Runway.

City Council Member Lee Leffingwell and the City of Austin seek resident and visitor input alike for a major City of Austin website redesign via the Austin Go survey. Up until January 4th, you can tell the gub'ment just how you'd like their new-fangled webhighwaytubes to assist you by filling out the online survey on such topics as how you use the City of Austin site, how you'd like to see it improved, and how you rate redesign areas such as navigation, timeliness and accuracy of the online information the city provides, and security of personal information.

Intelligence reports now reveal that Iran is *not* making a nuclear bomb. Remains to be seen whether this will make a difference to Bush, who just doesn't like the cut of their jib. Damn! What is it with the Senate and thirteen-year-old boys? Brad Pitt, perhaps in a contest with Angie to see who can adopt the most people, takes the entire Lower Ninth Ward under his wing. Two popular musicians were recently murdered...

The allegorical narrative of Moses bringing down the Ten Commandments represents a massive backwards step for humankind, culturally and intellectually...Modern monotheism’s overlooked Pandora’s Box.

Venezuelan voters didn't want Chavez as a ruler for life after all. Putin's party wins the Russian election, warns against Westerners who may say the election was unfair. Best feminist candidate: Obama? Later this week, Romney will publicly address his Mormon faith and how it may affect his possible presidency. Looks like it will be Texas v. Arizona State at the Holiday Bowl. Conan O'Brien will pay his "Late Night" crew from his own...

Photo from AIArchitect.com We recently came across this fascinating master's architecture project by UT Arlington alumnus Jason Mellard. Drawing from Star Wars and "biomimicking" the clam shell, this archipelago of futuristic donuts would function as a self-sustaining aquatic research platform, designed to allow scientists to study marine animals and fish in their natural habitat for extended periods of time. From AIArchitect: The research spheres consist of laboratories, classrooms, computer labs, viewing platforms, holding tanks, offices,...

Comic from ToothPasteForDinner.com State science curriculum director Chris Comer says she was forced to resign today according to the Austin-American Statesman. She walked away from her nine-year career with the Texas Education Agency amid accusations of insubordination and misconduct, both of which appear to be connected with her apparent bias against the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to the theory of evolution. The senior adviser on statewide initiatives, Lizzette Reynolds, who previously served...

Some would rather vote for a yellow dog. Image from DemocraticStuff.com Lou Dubose presents Bill Of WrongsTuesday, November 27BookPeople (603 N. Lamar)Free, Starts at 7pm[info] Fiery Austin columnist Molly Ivins was once described to us as "equal parts sugar, spice, piss, and vinegar" by friend and fellow yellow-dog-democrat Bob Mann. To this day we still can't think of a better way to describe her. Her death last January left a deafening silence — gone was...

Photo of Emily Tindall and Leslie Chastain courtesy UT Dep’t Theatre & Dance Ashes, Ashes8pm Saturday, 2pm SundayWinship Drama Building (UT Campus)[info] | [tickets]Ashes, Ashes, closing this weekend at UT, is the most visually-impressive theatrical work we’ve seen anywhere in quite awhile. We’ve even been to lower-end Broadway productions that didn’t have half the visual whammy of this retro-futuristic extravaganza. We simply couldn’t tear our eyes away from the post-Victorian steampunk fantasia created by the...

Image from Zilker Park Residences. Sandwich king John Wooley is building a condo for himself and 73 of his closest market-selected friends near the shores of Barton Creek and Lady Bird Lake. Beloved Austin icon Wanfu Too will be displaced. Check this website later for details about the Save Wanfu Too Benefit Concert. In a surprising twist, Wooley appears to have support of the Zilker Neighborhood Association, partly because the project will require no variances...

Waller Creek Design Workshop. Image from City of Austin News Austin Music Commission's Town Hall Meeting Notes AMD Sued Over Birth Defects Plant a Tree for Freedom Waller Creek Design and Vision Workshop At This Rate, We're Having Our Next Happy Hour in Cancun Pangaea: It's For Real, Y'all UT Biologists Propose Biodiversity Institute Save BookWoman! Austin Music Commission Considering Plan to Stop the Rock They've Got the Lasers... Now All You Need is...

Image from Austin City Connection. Waller Creek Design Workshop9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007Austin City Hall (301 W. 2nd St.)[info] City Council Member Sheryl Cole and the Waller Creek Citizen Advisory Committee are asking the public for input regarding the Waller Creek corridor at a design workshop 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007, at Austin City Hall. Displays from the joint venture engineering team will be, uh, displayed. Silly ideas like...

Photo courtesy 31 Corn Lane StitchSaturday, November 10Austin Convention Center (500 E Cesar Chavez Street)Doors at 4pm, Fashion show 9:30pm, Tickets $10[info] | [tickets]31 Corn Lane is all about girls wanting to have fun. It's the brainchild of three sisters—Teeter (the youngest), Amy and Heather Sperber (the latter two are identical twins who rock out with The Boxes). We've loved their pony necklaces, novelty totes and bright floral print belts ever since we saw them...

All state constitutional amendments passed in the election yesterday. Famed architect Frank Gehry is being sued by MIT for the design for the Stata Center. "Product of a judicial system dominated by men": According to the Board of immigration appeals, genital cutting isn't enough to grant asylum, but forced sterilization is. Anti-Musharraf protesters angry about emergency rule were beaten by police in Pakistan today. Surgery to remove 4 extra limbs from an Indian girl...

Soon, you too could be like these dudesDabblers in diabolical death-ray design and general gadget geeks will soon have another outlet—as though Maker Faire and Dorkbot weren't enough—to satiate their craving for homemade mechanical wizardry. Hailed as a "paradise for tech tinkerers" and created by one of the brains behind MythBusters, TechShop launched in the Silicon Valley a little over a year ago, and now has plans to open a franchise in Austin. The open-access...

Image from RCIS.org Solar Austin Happy HourTuesday, November 6Artz Rib House [map]6:30-8:30pm[info]Solar Austin gathers for their monthly happy hour Tuesday at Artz Rib House. Renowned science fiction author and founder of Viridian Design Movement, Bruce Sterling, will be the featured and the topic will be Future Trends in Solar. Best known for his eight science fiction novels, Mr. Sterling is also a contributing editor of WIRED magazine and a columnist for MAKE magazine. He has...

Album cover of McLemore Avenue, Booker T. & The MG’s The hilarious kids of ColdTowne bring their audience-driven film/music/improv spectacle, 3, 2, 1 Kill!, to the new downtown Drafthouse digs Austin Music Commission hosts a very important town hall meeting tonight at Momo's on the resurrected sound ordinance proposal, which could dramatically transform our city's live music landscape -- and not in a good way Stitch, Austin's ultimate gathering of D-I-Y fashion and design, takes...

Photo courtesy Jessica Plymate StitchSaturday, November 10Austin Convention Center [map]Doors at 4pm, Fashion show 9:30pm, Tickets $10[info] | [tickets]Jessica Plymate revives the art of appliqué in super rockin' way with Aorta Designs. Gone are the days of mom's innocent poodles sewn on skirts. Jessica's animals are hardcore; drinking wine and smoking cigarettes. What is your design/art background? This is where I have to confess I have no formal training in design, art or anything. I've...

The Austin Contrarian did a nice post yesterday on the Design Commission's Density Bonus Recommendations. A "density bonus" isn't quite what it sounds like - developers don't get a bonus for building more density. Instead, developers pay the city (generally to provide money for parks, affordable housing or mass transit) in exchange for the right to build more density. Parks, affordable housing and mass transit are all good things, but density is also a good...