Do you remember the audio cassette? I love them - yes, I still do. I have grown up listening to tapes on my very first Sony Walkman with Dolby something or other (there was even a switch to activate it). It was great fun. I remember the first cassette tape I bought: Michael Jackson’s Dangerous. What an album. I had multiple Walkmen during my audio-career, mostly from Sony but also some ultra-slim models from Panasonic (because they were simply cheaper than the real thing from Sony). I was listening to mixtapes on the bus, train, car, bike… you name it. Everywhere I went. That explains the tinnitus in my ears. But the qualities of those plastic rectangles are simply amazing. It’s different to a vinyl record because a record is cherished more. Tapes were disposable, people recorded over them again, and again and again. What I most loved about tapes was the audio quality. The bass was warm and everything else slightly muffled. The click-noise it made when you loaded them into the player was brilliant. I remember driving to holidays listening to the same three tapes I took with me. Not the 8GB I’ve got now on my iPod…

Someone sent me photographs of icebergs with peculiar shapes and stripes and I started to investigate what the cause was. According to the Australian Antarctic Divison writes:

“Icebergs are formed from the glacial ice that has built up from snow falling on the Antarctic continent over millennia. This ice consists of pure fresh water. The ice flows slowly to the coast and breaks off either from glaciers or from ice shelves. Because the ice shelves are very thick and are floating, the seawater beneath them interacts with the glacial ice. As seawater is drawn deep under the ice shelves by the oceanic currents, it becomes supercooled. Under certain conditions it can freeze to the base of the ice shelf. Because this ice is formed from seawater, it differs from the freshwater ice of the ice shelf. Often, the frozen seawater contains organic matter and minerals, causing it to have a different colour and texture. Thus icebergs broken off from the ice shelves may show layers of the pure blue-white glacial ice and greener ice formed from frozen seawater. As the bergs become fragmented and sculpted by the wind and waves, the different coloured layers can develop striking patterns.”

Momentfactory has designed this interactive digital installation in Montreal/Canada. If you want to see similar things done digitally, head over to the V&A and visit the current DECODE exhibition - very cool.

I found this little gem of a book/postcard holder today in a small cafe near Shoreditch High Street. I have never come across this simple solution and thought it works very well. The book you see in the middle is Martin Usborne’s “Joseph of Hoxton”, which I can highly recommend.

I went to the Science Museum in London today in search of inspiration about my current project (exhibition design about the Industrial Revolution in Britain). On the way to a different level, I found a boomerang lying on the windowsill. Of all places, this toy landed on the best place it could have - on the window sill of a Museum devoted to educate, inform and promote Science. The physical attributes of this flying toy are fascinating and it was funny to discover it so left behind but still prominently on this hidden exhibit display.

We were asked to design an installation for an imaginary window front of a restaurant/bar in the area of Kings Cross and were given a list of designers/agencies to work for together with two words on which our concept has to be based on. My designer: Thomas Heatherwick. My words: soft, color. Final design: ‘amber’. Inspired by Heatherwick’s work based on discovered rather than crafted shapes, I designed an installation which is a source of light and refers to stalagmites to show the continuous but slow change of Kings Cross, producing very soft light, which will add and enrich the already toned down and intimate dining atmosphere.

For someone who didn’t like sketching and thought he wasn’t good at it, I am actually sketching quite a lot. They’re by no means masterpieces or very good sketches, but I enjoy doing it and I think I’m getting better at it. It feels nice to draw and use real paper and ink rather than technology. Believe me, normally I’m always up for the new gadgets, but after saying good-bye to one of the biggest social networking sites, I found my way back to writing letters to my friends and family. Quality rather than quantity. I wish more people would strive for that.

The reflections on the mirrored counter located in a confiserie in Basel are simply stunning and work well with the curved shape. It further creates interesting shapes and images of the rather large interior.

Discover what kind of type you are. Password ‘character’. Fun provided by Pentagram.