Chip Foose manages to get into everything it seems.  He is a true designer being able to use his talents wherever requested while pulling off great work.  Check out his latest endeavor with Oakley.  With shoes and watches being, dare I say every designers fetish, Foose can knock this one off his list.  I appreciate the fact that he always includes artwork in his projects.  Maybe not here in his actual shoes but the packaging is exploding with a composition of shoe sketches inter mingled with of course a hot rod and palm trees.

Hit the jump for more images….

[pics courtesty of notcot]

MB&F creates some amazing timepieces.  Designer’s are always known to have some interesting hardware on their wrist, but I have never seen anything this awesome.  The inspiration behind this piece is from the designer Maximilian Büsser’s childhood passion for assembling model plane kits.  This sculpture would look right at home with your arm hanging out the window of a mid 50′s Chevy or even next to the huge center vents of a Jaguar XJ.  This is truly a product that is sure to inspire and make its way onto a few designers image boards.  And you may ask, what is a horological machine?

Horological Machines are as much, if not more, art and sculpture as they are micro-engineering: they are machines which tell the time rather than machines to tell the time.

By designing and constructing three-dimensional machines rather than wristwatches, MB&F are able to break free of the constraints imposed by traditional horology and create kinetic art.

Check out the MB&F site for other works of art and hit the jump for more images.

[pics from notcot}

Mini has always had the most fun and creative marketing group.  Here is yet another example taking advantage of people standing around staring at an empty conveyor belt.  This would be the first time I would actually enjoy waiting for my luggage which is of course always the last one to come off the plane.   I can’t figure out why other brands have not taken some notes from Mini.  Oh wait, I know.  No other brand has a fun factor to it.

[pic via Cool Hunter]

[thanks to Design Milk for the find]

Visualization techniques are constantly evolving.  It started with stone in cave, then pen to paper, then computer modeling and now we are finally getting into the hologram arena.  Holograms have always teased us in movies such as the landscape being spun around in the movie Avatar.  We are so close to having that capability.  This video shows a new form of holographic visualization used for architecture.  Imagine the possibilities of it in the automotive and product world.

Picture going into a sales meeting and showing the customer this.  Get a full size hologram of a car and show multiple versions in a clinic without ever having to make a prototype (maybe then the price of cars would come down).  This kind of visualization could greatly speed up the development process.

Holographic Architectural Imaging by Zebra from Core77 on Vimeo.

Here is some more info on the product from Freshome.

Traditional 3D visualization tools are limited to 2D display technology (computer monitors for instance). Zebra’s holographic images are unlike anything you have ever seen. The image literally “floats” in the air. You will be tempted to reach into the image with the expectation that you will touch the object being presented. You can move around the image to view it from a wide variety of angles with no special glasses or other viewing aids. In this video you’ll see Michael Klug of Zebra Imaging demonstrating their holographic architectural representation system. Zebra Imaging makes digitally-mastered, actively-animated, true-color, full-parallax holographic images. These holographic images are available in full color, or in monochrome (green). Zebra’s holographic images can be scaled to any size, large or small. By tiling together multiple tiles, it is possible to create large city maps, full sized cars, humans, and machinery. The minimum you have to do is supply the digital data set–Zebra can do the rest

[via freshome][thanks Sean]

Like everyone who watched the unveiling of Apple’s new IPad yesterday, we have to throw in our two cents.  Were we disappointed?  Kind of, but give some credit, it had a lot to live up to.  I don’t want to repeat all of the issues that everyone else is talking about so I will focus on a Pro and a Con that relate to the auto/ design industry.  Lets start with the negative.

CON : Deisgn Language

Apple took a very safe move by not progressing the styling/ interface of this device.  As they so obviously pointed out, it is familiar to everyone who has used an IPhone.  The touch, interface is all an easy and familiar transition.  My question is……since they are now on top of the industry and no one seems to be able to beat them, is it too much of a risk to keep pushing and possibly do something that is not received well?

Hmmm, it is starting to sound like they are turning into the auto industry.  Small, minute tweaks that consumers are “comfortable” with.  Yes, how dare I compare the beloved and progressive Apple to the prehistoric slow moving auto industry.  I hope I am wrong.  Because if Apple stops innovating who is going to push forward?  I am sure I am just over reacting, since it is just one product.  The IPad is being way over-analysed before it has had a chance to prove its worth.  This is a product that could mature very well once the apps get developed for it.  This leads me to the positive for design.

PRO : Digital Sketchbook

The apps for the IPad will create the real need for this device.  As a designer I am looking at this product as a digital sketchbook.  Apple showed the Brushes app with all of its layers and brushes.  I am hoping Autodesk will follow with their Sketchbook app.  I love this app on my IPhone and the sensitivity is pretty darn good for my finger.  So could the IPad become the poor man’s Cintique?  There are pens you could buy for use on the IPhone, although I have not tried one to see how well they work.  Would a $499 price be acceptable for a portable sketching device?  I bet we see a new affordable Cintique at a portable size on the market in six months.  Apple could really capitalize on the creative consumers with this product.

Those are my thoughts on the “magical” product.  Am I going to get one?  So far I would say no, but as Will Ferrel once said “Once it touches your lips (fingers) it taste (feels) so good!”

This Interactive Recreational Entertainment Vessel (iREV) is a pontoon with a specific purpose.  10 people can sit around the central low smoke charcoal grill or a number of other modules that can replace it.  This is quite the floating bar but at 24g’s you can buy one hell of a pontoon boat.  Still it is a pretty cool product for floating around with friends.  It is also environmentally friendly with 45% reclaimed material,  80% recyclable and it is made in America.

The way we interact is definitely changing.  Cell phones do everything but make calls anymore and cars have turned into being a  getting to work necessity instead of the Sunday joy ride.

The IPhone has certainly changed the mobile phone market.  It is more about how “I” chose the Apps and customized this into a media device.  Oh and by the way it also makes phone calls.

Could the same be true in automotive marketing?  Is the car no longer about being automotive transportation but more of a device?  The new, well new in the U.S. Nissan Cube is debuting as a “Mobile Device.”

I think this is the beginning of an auto manufacturing finally finding a way to communicate to the younger generation.  The new generation of buyers is not all about horsepower and bling.  They do not want to think about spending money on gas and would rather spend it on tech/ media devices.  They want a place to hang out with their friends and share music, away from the parents.

Stay tuned and lets see if this isometric rounded box can entertain the newbies and take their parents money.  …..But all my friends have “Mobile Devices.”  Can you hear it now?

We hope you all had a good long weekend.  We sure did.  As you unpack and realize you can’t find your phone charger, toothbrush, beer bong, etc., then you may want to check this out.  Perfect for all your media accessories the Grid-It system is a clever and simple way to customize your storage needs.  Cocoon has developed an elastic grid system that will hold whatever you want in place.  They have also developed a pretty sweet line of lap top cases, messenger bags and the such to put the Grid-It product into.  This is a pretty cool product for not too shabby prices.  Check it out here.

I am sure you have all seen the Microsoft Surface.  An amazing product and can’t wait for it to be mainstream.  So what is after the coffee table Surface?

Oh Hello is a digital media company that developed this video for Microsoft.  I cannot speak to the validity of the video or why it was made, but it is easy to believe this happening in another 10 years.  Check it out for an insane dose of hope / inspiration for the future.

Microsoft Sustainability from Kray Cédric on Vimeo