V&A membership campaign

In an effort to boost membership, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, has teamed up with Rose Design to produce a series of print ads.

Rose Design worked with photographer Nick Turpin and copywriter Jim Davies to create the posters, which aim to highlight the benefits of becoming a member.

The posters all feature black and white shots of visitors enjoying exhibits and objects from the V&A's vast trove of historical artifacts.

Swing to infinity

An installation at the Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Denmark by German artist Thilo Frank, allows visitors to swing into the infinite.

“The Phoenix is closer than it appears” is a 4 x 4 x 8 meters box that contains a swing in the center, and the inside is covered in mirrors on all sides, creating infinite versions of yourself as you merrily swing away the time.

The external is also mirrored to reflect the scenery of the room it is housed in, whilst also providing solitude for those inside the box.

This is an innovative and fascinating piece of art, and we hope that it comes to the UK one day.

Swing to infinity

An installation at the Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg, Denmark by German artist Thilo Frank, allows visitors to swing into the infinite.

“The Phoenix is closer than it appears” is a 4 x 4 x 8 meters box that contains a swing in the center, and the inside is covered in mirrors on all sides, creating infinite versions of yourself as you merrily swing away the time.

The external is also mirrored to reflect the scenery of the room it is housed in, whilst also providing solitude for those inside the box.

This is an innovative and fascinating piece of art, and we hope that it comes to the UK one day.

Pantone song titles

Pantone is a brand that many will recognise and the folks at Chic & Artistic have created this innovative and clever idea of matching the colour chips to songs.

The series, called "panto'n'roll", replaces the name of a colour in a song title with one of the famous Pantone cards, for example 'blue suede shoes' or 'yellow submarine'.

Very simple yet wonderfully creative, we love it, and they mention on their website that they will producing some posters of these too, just email them at pantonroll@chic-artistic.com with the one(s) you like. 

You can see all of the series here.

Can you think of any songs they may have missed?

B&Q rolls out new brand strategy

B&Q has released a new brand strategy, courtesy of Karmarama, to help drive sales.

Called "Handy Prices", the campaign will see the DIY business lower the prices of hundreds of products, predominately those used on a more regular basis, and keep them at this new lower price, permanently. 

The campaign is the first piece of work completed for them by Karmarama since their appointment last year, and may come as a surprise to some as they are without a Marketing Director since the departure of Katherine Paterson in October, the spot being covered in the iterim by brand director David Hutchinson.


The campaign will run on TV, radio and print. The TV ad is shown below, the most notable thing is the lack of products in this ad, so it will be interesting to see how this approach works for them. Take a look for yourself and let us know what you think.

Sculpture from stacked chairs

For the 2012 Abu Dhabi Art Fair Japanese artist, Tadashi Kawamata, created a huge structure out of chairs.

"Chairs for Abu Dhabi" took five days to create and reached the 20 foot high ceiling of the gallery it was housed in.

It created a focal point for the event and a pavilion for people to try to escape the hustle and bustle of the fair and proved to be a popular meeting point.

Tadashi is renowned for using recycled materials or scrap, using metal, wood, plastic and, in this case, used chairs, ranging from sofas and benches to stools and arm chairs.

A stunning structure that 'pays homage to humanity’s diversity, unity and interconnectedness', according to the artist.

Images from Daniel Suarez for Reuters

Dyson takes on all in one taps

After creating innovation in the vacuum cleaner and hand-dryer worlds, James Dyson is taking on the all in one tap, producing a tap with their Airblade technology built in. 

The new tap uses the Dyson V4 motor, which 125 engineers have spent 15 years working on, costing over £40 million to develop. All this goes to prove that despite this time of austerity Dyson has continued to invest in design and technology.

There's a lot of different statistics being thrown about at the launch, but the ones that grab the most attention are the reduced carbon emissions; 67% less than traditional hand dryers and 62% less than paper towels.

The company has also developed new Airblade hand dryers that are smaller and more efficient than previous models.

Take a look at the hand dryer tap and the new motor in the video below.

Top 10 public spaces

Boca Do Lobo has  featured on their blog  the Top 10 public spaces, architecturally speaking.

The feature has some amazing examples of innovative design and amazing engineering from all over the globe, including the Floating Movie Theater, Thailand, El Bosque de la Esperanza, Colombia and possibly our favourite the170 foot Trampoline in Russia.

The list is a great representation of architecture from 2012 that is accessible to all, and helps to make the world a better and more fun place to live. Enjoy!

See the full list and read more about them here.

Fancy a seat with some style?

Creative furniture company Sixinch is giving away their amazing Hex Stool.

It's very easy to enter; all you need to do is email them at pr@sixinch.eu with your name by the 28th February, and you will be entered into a draw to win one of five of these funky bits of furniture.

Sixinch specializes in the design and manufacturing of high concept foam coated furniture and architectural products.

Find out more here.

Shoreditch Rooms

Created in 2010 by Archer Architects, the concept of the Shoreditch Rooms was to create a 26 room boutique hotel together with day spa facilities. 

The venture set out to complement the existing facilities offered by the famous Shoreditch House Members Club in East London. It was built on the remaining vacant plot of the Tea Building/Biscuit Building, situated adjacent to and above the existing entrance to the club.

The plot used was previously occupied by the White Swan pub, which had sat empty and unused for many years falling into a state of disrepair. The design is a contemporary box structure which rises from behind the facade of the old pub, retaining the existing characteristics whilst embracing the challenging composition of the high level additions, clad in corten steel.

The building was shortlisted for several awards, including the Hackney Design Awards and the Wallpaper Magazine Best Business Hotel.

'Ugly' public buildings get make-over

A Dutch designer, Roeland Otten, has decided that power substations and public toilets are too unsightly and so has given them a make-over.

The project has taken him to Rotterdam and Amsterdam, where he has used different methods to make the buildings blend in to the urban landscape. 

‘City Camouflage’ employs mosaic tiles, paint and photographic prints affixed to the outside of these small buildings to make them less visually offensive.

A variety of creative solutions has either helped them to blend in or provided the public with an insight into what they are actually for.

Counting with fingers takes a new meaning

In a new publicity campaign, Leo Burnett Toronto has created a count down for the start of the new series of popular zombie TV series "The Walking Dead".  

They have installed a hoarding in Toronto Union Station, featuring two zombie hands, that countdown to the start of the new series. To add to the gore, when a day passes a finger is physically removed from one of the hands and left there to "rot". The company also arranged for some actors to dress up as "walkers", the name the show gives to the zombies, and wander around the station on the Wednesday whilst chained to cement blocks. They also gave away t-shirts and set up a competition via Twitter to win one of the digits from the hands.


This is a great bit of fun and will have an impact but alas it could put a few commuters off their breakfast.

The show starts again in Canada and the US Sunday 10th February, and in the UK on Friday 15th February.

Looking for love? Doughnut company has the answer

If you're looking for love this Valentines Day then Krispy  Kreme may have the answer: they have once again released their Love Roulette game on their Facebook page and website.

The game is a bit of fun, matching you with one of your Facebook friends, regardless of gender, preference or relationship status (we were matched with married people and those of the same gender on some attempts), and then it offers you a voucher to get a free doughnut when you buy one of their new Valentines Day doughnuts.

A clever idea to help promote their new doughnuts and inspire you to buy one for that special person in your life!

Play the game on Facebook here or the website here. Enjoy!

bam! wins YAP MAXXI 2013

Turin-based studio bam! (bottega di architettura metropolitana) has designed the winning entry of the 2013 Young Architects Program (YAP) MAXXI in Rome.

YAP is an annual competition that supports and promotes young and emerging architects in collaboration with MAXXI Architettura, MoMA/MoMA PS1 of New York, Constructo of Santiago and, for the first time, Istanbul Modern, Turkey.

The winning design, called "He" is intended to attract and impress viewers, with its massive scale and innovative ideas. 
The project will see the MAXXI facade transformed with a giant yellow prism-shaped balloon, which will provide shelter from the sun during the daytime and light the area in the evening throughout the summer.

As well as providing shade "He" will also drip water, creating a refreshing curtain for the public trying to escape the heat, whilst in the evening it will drench the area with a warm yellow glow as it rises up to the height of the museum, acting as a lantern in the sky.

Being installed on the 20th June 2013 for the duration of the summer, "He" will then be deflated, with it's Helium being collected and used for scientific and medical research, whilst the balloon itself will be recycled.