OneWorld TV - Floating Gardens (IRIN) - Climate Change in Bangladesh

Coriandoline: Friendly houses for girls and boys is a community housing project in Italy. The project was developed through a participatory process. The children were asked about their needs and expectations and the architects and designers listened. The website for this project is amazing...especially exploring the neighbourhood and the different buildings, murals, gardens and hiding spots!

We didn't ask them to design solutions and we didn't hand them a pencil so that they could try to be architects. Spontaneity, innocence, naïf - they are simple solutions to complex themes.

Shown below are some of the childrens' illustrations.

Architecture has been suffering a profound crisis of identity in recent years. The only novelties introduced are marginal and do not have a profound effect on projects; they relate to performance and comfort levels. The great revolution that might liven up the years to come will come from new participation of individuals, and will depend on designers' ability to listen. Participation and listening - especially to people who have never been listened to, the future dwellers. People who have been ignored for a very long time can be an unexplored mine of ideas.

Here is an article about Coriandoline in UTNE.

Some Websites and Projects - Participatory Design ...

Institute for Participatory Design

Participle

Human Centered Design Toolkit

Here is an illustration I finished this evening.


I really wish I could have seen the New Amsterdam Village that was featured in New York City last September.


And it is for this reason:

In addition to the New Amsterdam Village, which represents a more "traditional" version of Holland, a demonstration model of a Dutch greenhouse will be showcased. The Netherlands is a world leader in greenhouse innovations and the Dutch have made great strides in energy saving technologies in this industry. In this special greenhouse visitors can familiarize themselves with flowering lilies, greenhouse vegetables, special micro vegetables and a bumblebee colony. Also a model of the electricity producing greenhouse can be found there, as well as an overview of the latest technologies and research in the Dutch glasshouse construction sector -ny400.org

Oiseaux sells beautiful vintage nameplates, like the one found below.


I love the crafty flower creations of Laurie Cinotto. Pictured below are some of her beautiful paper and fabric boutonnières.


I stumbled on Grant Hanna's website. I really like his painting titled Navigator (My Swampland) pictured below.


Land-Rich's mission is to provide beautiful objects that symbolize the quality, functionality, and sustainability of simpler times. Each quarter they will debut a new edition of products. Below is their Tallow Berry Bulb, now a part of Land-Rich's permanent collection.


Some blogs to take a gander at...

Twig & Thistle Stationary and Crafts
Eat Drink Chic Stationary and Crafts
Treasuring Lovely pattern design by Jessica Gonacha Swift
Tinderbox Dublin-based creative network
Green Wedding Shoes Beautiful and colourful photography of fun-themed weddings

Here is a little of what I've been working on lately...

I am trying to make regular digital photographs have a Polaroid quality. Here is a photograph I took at the fair and have been playing around with. Shown below is the before and after.




At the flea market, I picked up some children's books from the 1950's. I always think the illustrations would make great stationary. I made a couple with some of the illustrations I found.




Finally, I am starting to teach myself patterns, more to come, these are just a few I made this evening.