CHI'S

9400 Bike Parking Tower in Tokyo

Via Laughing Squid

Warrior: Hip Sneakers from China

By Sean Leow From PSFK Shanghai

''During the 1970s, Warrior (回力) brand sneakers were the hottest shoes in China — its bright, clean design a sharp contrast to the drab homogeneity of Communist China. Continuing into the 1980s, the shoe remained a status symbol for Chinese teenagers who were well-off enough to don a pair of famous Warriors.

But as China opened up economically, so did the marketplace for sneaker brands. While the 50 year-old Warrior name was still well-known in China, it was no longer well-known as one of the premier Chinese brands. Instead, Warrior shoes became the shoe of the working class — worn by poor construction workers, elderly women and rural citizens looking for a pair of cheap, durable shoes, not an expensive brand name (and mark-up).

Fascinated by this story, a graphic design student from China recently released a photography book which features people wearing Warriors in various areas of China. Each copy of “Book of Warriors” comes with a pair of Warriors. The author, Shumeng Ye, hopes to use the Warrior brand “to tell the story behind the shoes and show a different side of China. Not the industrial and economical power, but the daily life of a country with its own distinctive sneaker culture.”

Interestingly, Warrior-type shoes are making a comeback among the (ironically) hip set, who covet the relative obscurity of the Warrior in Western culture. In Europe, a similar shoe retails for EU 40-50, which is a significant markup over the China price (EU 2-3).

Below are a couple of Shumeng’s Warrior pictures along with the cool retro packaging that some Warrior shoes come in.''

(Pictures from Warrior website)

Nike Flywire

Sruli Recht's Cardboard Table

From Sruli Recht

Wowlab: Virtual Rain

From Wowlab via Make

Prada - Trembled Blossoms

The Skoda Limousine

Via The presurfer

S(tool)

Via Iaac

By English Designer Langton Stead...

Adam's Apple

From The Museum Of Modern Fiction via Neatorama

Singapore-based Josef Lee's take on the biblical story of Adam and Eve together with Steve Jobs and the Macbook computer.

For a ''mature'' audience...
Click here to see the full cartoon

Peg Pencil by Yuta Watanabe

Via Swissmiss

Mindscape

From Mindscape via LostAtEMinor

''Sitting on a grass lawn may be pleasant, but it isn’t always elegant when you’re wearing nice clothes or you have back problems. The people at Japanese design firm Mindscape have taken the Chia Pet model and applied it to some pretty rad lawn furniture. Now you can have the best of both worlds — the soothing, chlorophyll-filled softness of grass and the ergonomic comfort of well-designed seats.''

Flash Memory Card Holder

Via Core77

From the Coroflot portfolio of : Tom Kenworthy

(Nottingham, UK)

Featured project : Flash Memory Card Holder

Tom Kenworthy's Flash Memory Card Holder concept makes a valiant effort to exhume forgotten cards from bottomless junk drawers and dusty pen holders, uniting memory devices, old and new, as one.

The Casulo: Your Room In A Box

Via Notcot.org

Neuroscience Stamps

Via Mindhacks (image collection from Boing Boing)

The Neuroscience for Kids website has created an online exhibition of neuroscience-themed stamps that depict everything from drugs to brain scans.

The Paperless Home

From the NYT via Treehugger

Pushing paper out of the door
By Hannah Fairfield for the NYT
Published 10 February 2008
Image from the NYT website

Excerpts:

...
“Paper is no longer the master copy; the digital version is,” says Brewster Kahle, the founder and director of the Internet Archive, a nonprofit digital library. “Paper has been dealt a complete deathblow. When was the last time you saw a telephone book?”
...
A paperless world isn’t automatically a boon for the environment, though. While these digital toys reduce dependence on one resource, they increase it on another: energy. Some devices are always plugged in, eating electricity even when not in use, and gobbling huge amounts of power when they are. Others, like digital cameras and laptop computers, use electricity while they are recharging.

Full Article here

Uncarriable Carrier Bags

Via Neatorama

By UK ad agency Mother London - Uncarriable Carrier Bags

Architecture Playing Cards

Via Notcot.org

Images of many top 20th century architecture designs...

The Evolution of Tech Companies Logos

From Neotarama via Coudal

Mydeco: 3D Online Furniture buying

From Mydeco via Springwise

''A new home decor website from the UK lets shoppers experiment with room planning and buy directly from a wide range of retailers. mydeco, founded by lastminute.com's Brent Hoberman and Martha Lane Fox, aggregates products from over 500 retailers and combines this wide selection with 3D planning tools that let users view and share the rooms they create.''

Magnetic Curtain

Via Core 77

Floria Kräutli's Magnetic Curtain...