Amazing Architect Elizabeth Diller had a fantastic presentation this afternoon. She spoke about two projects, one of which readers will be quite familiar with: The High Line, something I’ve written about a few times. What I didn’t know about was the number of different eco-systems that existed there naturally because of all the varying environments throughout the length of the line from things like tall buildings, shadows, sun, etc– She called it agri-tecture. Diller also took us through the Blur Building, an awesome building built for the Swiss Expo in 2002, it’s best described as an architecture of atmosphere. Water is pumped from the lake it’s set on, filtered and shot into the atmosphere around it as mist through 31,500 high-pressure mist nozzles. Inspiring!

Recently, It’s been getting me down that so much stuff I want to get my hands on isn’t readily available in the U.S. Case in point: Saint Augustine Academy’s menswear, a rock-and-roll dripping, awesomely tailored line out of Australia that’s only barely available in a few stores in California and New York. I know I shouldn’t care, it’s not like I can wear guys clothing- but this latest line from two boys down under really, really, should be taking up some more American shelf space. What I love most about this line is that the pieces are so good at standing alone- you can do the whole get up and get an A+ for emo, if you’re into that– but just one of their seriously sharp button ups, cardigans, or trenches packs enough style and personality to medic an entire outfit (without requiring that you be in a band). I can’t believe there’s only six places carrying this right now, but next year I’ll probably be whining about Nordstrom scooping them up, so I’ll keep my mouth shut. The best online selection I can currently find is at Azalea, so go get some before the middle schoolers discover it.

We have grown quite fond of what MINI Cooper is doing as a car company– they’ve managed to create a well built and enticing compact car that has grabbed the attention of the multitudes; it doesn’t hurt that they offer their customers the option of full customization. The newest online advertising campaign from MINI also grabbed my attention. It takes the form of an action film series called ‘Hammer and Coop.’ You really have to see it for yourself. At the end of each episode they prompt you to either forward the experience to a friend or, of course, go to the MINI Cooper website to customize your own Coop. Hammer and Coop are giving us 6 episodes of cheesy action enjoyment, complete with fast driving, tacky lines, sexy women, a separate music video (quite the 80’s ballad), and even an action name generator that has you input your name and spits back your ‘action name’– mine’s ‘Jigsaw Seawolf.’ The first 4 episodes have already run, but the final 2 are still to come. Quite the cliffhanger they have us on…

Garment production is a thing customarily reserved for China– we are starting to see some American factories surface, but most of them are either in L.A. or NYC and tend to be either prohibitively expensive or too far away from home-base to allow for effective quality control. Not a moment too soon, Motor City Sewing is breathing some relief into our domestic apparel production deficit. Located in the Russell Industrial Center in Detroit, Motor City Sewing has high aspirations to become a Midwestern hub for high-end, small batch garment production. Owners Sarah Lurtz and Sarah Lapinski are driven to that end, and seem to possess the ingredients for success (they’re intimately familiar with this type of production through their own menswear line, ‘Wound‘). Spurring an industry in Detroit is certainly a challenging endeavor, and if it can be done, it’s going to take seriously dedicated efforts from people like the Sarahs. Our buddies over at Wrath Arcane have recently moved their production to Motor City Sewing, and have only good things to say about the whole operation; I’m certainly rooting for them!

Via Metromode

The Peace Initiatives Institute is using a mix of TV advertising, animation, and activism to make a difference in regions dealing with social strife. It’s the first organization to combine TV ads with comprehensive in-class teaching to teach young children to move against the tide of deeply rooted social prejudices that have had (and continue to have) devastating and infectious effects on societies worldwide. Pii’s first program, called the ‘Media Initiative For Children– Northern Ireland,’ was successfully launched throughout Northern Ireland in 2005. It has shown initial signs of success, reaching 200 schools to date, and aims to reach all preschool age children throughout Ireland by 2008. The Northern Ireland project was just a first step– Pii hopes to take its Media Initiatives for Children to other regions in the near future. Each initiative is launched with significant input from local partners, ensuring that it reflects the local culture and is sensitive to the entrenched beliefs of the adult community in any particular culture. While Pii is certainly not the be all end all solution to achieve world peace (as the founders will readily admit), it’s addressing the problem from the right angle by focusing on children. Pii is a non-profit organization and accepts donations if you want to give.

Chris Jordan’s astute societal observations have me really impressed with all of his photo projects to date. In his most recent, ‘Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait,’ he deftly puts societal habits that have “vast and bizarre” statistics associated with them (whether consumer, environmental, violence, etc.) into perspective with large scale photos. ‘Cans Seurat,’ shown here, depicts 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds. Other favorites of mine are ‘Handguns’ and ‘Denali Denial,’ both shown after the jump. You need to understand that these works are best viewed in person because only then will you be able to appreciate the magnitude of the pieces; but at least these jpgs should perk your interest. Look for Chris’ upcoming solo exhibits in NYC and L.A. I have to credit my good friend Nadia with this find– she’s certainly fascinated with consumption and waste!
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This week I had the chance to try out a SnowQ ski carrier, and I was impressed with its ‘utility per simplicity’ factor. While the folks at SnowQ advertise the product as a ski sling that allows you to easily transport your skis, boots, and ski poles on your back while you walk from your car to the lift, or trek about the backcountry while keeping your hands free to deal with other stuff, I recommend only using it for the latter– otherwise you may look like a Texan. I do give my stamp of approval to this product for on-piste hikes where you don’t necessarily need a pack with all of your avalanche safety gear (because ski patrol has safety controlled the area), but want to free up your hands for balance during the climb– the hike to Highland Bowl at Aspen Highlands is the first place that comes to mind. The sling is easy to use, folds up to fit in your pocket during non-use, and even has a built-in whistle on one of the plastic clips so you can send out cat calls to that girl that just kicked your ass up the mountain. SnowQ also makes an ‘Accomplice‘ snowboard carrier that works like the ski carrier for you snow surfers out there. You can buy directly form their site for a meager $20– well worth it if you ask me.

“Dedos” may mean “fingers” in Portuguese, but it means innovative design the world of kitchenware concepts. Using shot glass design as inspiration, Felipe Zanardi is changing the actual drinking experience. Zanardi, a Brazilian designer, has changed glassware by putting the handle inside the glass, so it actually becomes part of you. Connect with your favorite liquid of choice, creating a whole new experience– could this design be the next step to revolutionizing branding differentiation in beverages? Find out soon. The Dedos design will be available in a couple months in Brazil, and we'll be sure to let you know when it's available stateside.

TED was not only described to me as inspirational, passionate and unique, but also as mind boggling– sometimes almost exhaustively so. Today started early, I attended the pre-conference breakfast where TED Prize winners from last year updated attendees on their progress, issues and steps towards ultimate success– I encourage you to check out some of their wishes and how far they have come, it’s quite amazing. Not long after the breakfast, the real conference kicked off with one of the most passionate, heart-felt, and moving presentations I’ve seen in a very, very long time by none other than John Doerr, one of the, if not THE most well-known venture capitalist. His speech was about how scared he was for the future of the world– how his generation had put his children, and his children’s children in such jeopardy. He spoke about how despite all the positive work on eliminating CO2 and harmful emissions in places like Brazil, and around the world– it still was not enough, and the current efforts were not even close to what’s needed. I met him later in the afternoon to thank him and he said simply, we must do something now to change this or we’re not going to last much longer on the earth. I look forward to re-watching his presentation when it’s available online– it’s not to be missed.

Doerr was followed by Nogozi Okonjo-Iwela a surprise addition to the program for many. When she took the stage I had absolutely no idea who she was or what she was here to talk about– and that unexpectedness was greeted with a humbling look into Africa like I’d never seen before. Nogozi is the Former Nigerian Finance Minister, and her short 18 minute speech honestly left me with a different view of the financial situation in not only Nigeria, but Africa as a whole. Nigeria and much of Africa is further along in their economic growth than they’re given credit for. Her speech was packed full of interesting growth statistics and ended leaving me in thoughts about Africa as a place for entrepreneurs, and a place for immense positive change. She left saying Africa is Open For Business.

Other highlights from the first session included Zipcar founder Robin Chase talking about mesh networks, the poet Rives obsession with the phrase “4 in the morning” and how it repeats itself throughout history. The first session called ‘Open For Business’ ended with Lawrence Lessig– founder of the Creative Commons movement. His presentation was absolutely fantastic and really spoke to me. That’s going to be a fabulous TED talk when it’s up on the internet for everyone to view!

The second session of the day was much different, it was called Truth & Invention. Although Erin Mckean, Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford American Dictionary was fascinating, and Nano-technologist/author Ted Sargent equally so– A humble and passionate Artist and Designer by the name of Jonathan Harris stole the show for many. We covered his project WeFeelFine many moons ago and it’s not surprising he has been working full-force on his latest project called Universe, slated to be online sometime next week! Nathan Myhrvold, former CTO of Microsoft was also great. He spoke about penguins, photography, dinosaur hunting and much more– and in 18 minutes gave me both the realization and validation that knowing a little about a lot of things is okay, like becoming a mini-expert on everything that interests you.

The third session was called simplicity– presenters like designer John Maeda and illustrator/artist Maira Kalman spoke so passionately about what they do and why they do it. Alan Kay debuted new revelations about the $100 Laptop initiative. By this third session the mind-boggling feeling had fully kicked in for the day.

The final session was the most important of the whole conference, it’s the session called I Have a Dream, where three prize winners get to present their individual wishes. The three prize winners were photographer James Nachtwey, author and scientist EO Wilson, and former president Bill Clinton. What was so interesting to me was that on one hand each of these individuals do such drastically different work, while they’re very, very similar on the other. Nachtwey’s speech was very moving– the war time photographer in my eyes is likely the most important photographer of my lifetime, if not the entire 21st century. When he took the stage he admitted how difficult receiving this award in front of so many people would be, as he has spent a majority of his life being invisible–blending into crowds of people, troops, etc taking photographs on the front line. The best way to describe his speech is to give you a quote by him: “I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated.” His wish was for us to help him break a a story that the world needs to know about in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age. He hasn’t yet shared the story he is working on– but I have my guesses. You can read more about his wish and what he needs to make it a reality here.

EO Wilson’s acceptance speech was very different, he said at first he stood on stage speaking on behalf of the ‘little things in the world’, the insects, bacteria, etc. His scientific studies have led him (and many other scholars) to believe that if we destroy the insects in the world, the rest of the world won’t function properly, and therefore will not continue and cease to exist. His wish was that we will work together to help create the key tool that we need to inspire preservation of Earth’s biodiversity: the Encyclopedia of Life. You can read more about his wish and what’s needed to make that happen here.

Last but certainly not least was a speech and wish by President Bill Clinton. His speech was fairly casual and refreshing– Every other time I’ve ever seen the former president, let alone any president speak it has been with a teleprompter in a suit and tie with an American Flag pin on their jacket. I think he obviously hit his stride with his Clinton Global Initiative momentum. He spoke about, no surprise to many, Rwanda– but what was most interesting is that while solving the major issues in Rwanda he wants to create a foot print and system that can be deployed in thousands of other places around the world in need. His wish was for us to help create a better future for Rwanda by assisting his foundation, in partnership with the Rwandan Government, to build a sustainable, high quality rural health system for the whole country. Clinton’s words resonated with me because I recently saw an interview where he was asked what, if anything, did he regret about his time in office– and he said he felt like he could have and should have intervened and stopped the genocide in Rwanda– but he didn’t. You can see more details about his wish here.

Presentations like these really put life, and what we spend our time doing throughout it into a serious perspective…

More TED to come tomorrow!