From the looks of things, Chris Rubino knows how to mix work and play. The NYC based designer, a 2006 ADC Young Gun and possessor of a shining list of lustworthy clients, hasn't abandoned his personal pursuits in order to achieve success. In between putting in hours for the big boys (Banana Republic, The NY Public Theater, and Uniqlo to name a few), Chris spends his time making museum quality posters for his favorite bands and jetsetting across oceans to display his artwork at solo shows.

Read on as we chat with this young whippersnapper about art, design, and all the stages in between.

Joshspear.com: Tell us about your personal history in design.

Chris Rubino: When I moved to New York right after graduating my portfolio was full of paintings and clips of bad abstract animation. I was lucky enough to find a job in which I was told "we can teach you how to design but not how to draw." I made a bunch of bad record covers, a good friend and discovered typography. Over the next few years I was given great opportunities with a couple higher-end design firms until I felt very ready to be on my own. Seven years later I am still sitting here, hopefully moving forward.

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We all know that protecting the environment has shifted from a nice-to-do to a must-do. One of the most promising, but still mostly unexplored, frontiers is green energy. As the world finds new ways to harvest nature to create power, it's inevitable that designers and engineers will find increasingly innovative ways to mix this technology into our lives.

Created by Australian design firm Büro North in partnership with the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab, the VEIL Solar Shades do more than just transfer sunlight into energy. They also, thankfully, look really damn cool. Unlike old skool solar panels, the shades have an organic, natural sloping design. The pattern across the top looks like the veins of a leaf, harkening to the photosynthesis that solar collection is modeled after. Partially funded by the Aussie government, the VEILs are designed for schoolyards where they have the practical benefit of shading tykes from the hot sun.

The shades are also meant to actively engage both kids and adults in their operation: markings on the base show which positions are best to get maximum energy collection at different times of the day, and they are lightweight enough for a child to adjust. Underneath the awning, an LED feedback system shows whether the shades are getting enough sunlight. A pattern of indicator lights glows green if the shade is getting enough power, but turns red if the shades need to be re-positioned. Brilliant.

The folks at Barcelona’s artist and designer consortium, ROJO, have been on our radar for quite some time now. Their wonderful design books, coupled with a multitude of other artistic endeavors, have more or less become staples of our design diet. Luckily for us we’re still hungry for more, because as our preferred purveyors of Spanish design perfection, they’ve got even more goodies for us to eat up. This time the group behind ROJO Magazine is going beyond print and product collaborations by expanding into the world of video art. Their new site, ROJO TV Online focuses on bringing art fans the best video talent around, completely ad free. Not only can you see astonishing work created by artists such as Robert Seidel, Antenna, and Javier Longobardo, but if you fancy yourself a master of the moving image, there’s an open call to submit your own pieces. So go ahead … show the art world you’re a creative force to be reckoned with.

Living in New York is more or less a tale of two cities. It’s either a center-of-the-universe tourist trap or the place that millions of us call home. For city dwellers there are certain unspoken truths that are common knowledge, yet remain less apparent to those visiting. You can’t read about them on any “I Love New York” T-shirt or learn about them on any Grey Line tour bus. However, if you find yourself in town from May 30th from June 15th you might just gain some insight into the five boroughs from Chris Rubino’s The Center of Something Exhibit at Chashama on West 44th Street. The Brooklyn-based artist/designer (read more about him here) has created an installation highlighting an assortment of “souvenirs” that combine the fantasy of tourism with the realism of actually living here. In addition to souvenirs, Rubino also uses hand drawn screenprints of maps, advertisements, and signage to create a strange melding of both worlds. Catch the opening night reception on May 30th from 6 to 9 p.m, to get a first hand look … before the tourist throngs.

Luxury. Binary. Juice. Is there a limit on what people will pay to nourish themselves through the medium of fruit juice (and, um, nutritional gel)? It seems as though MonaVie has set out to answer that question — a little social experiment if you will. “Let’s pack 19 fruits into a wine bottle (including acaí — wooo!), chalk it up to the Balance-Variety-Moderation philosophy, and charge about $45 per bottle.” MonaVie has been around for a few years now, but I just heard about it. Given that it is sold through a MLM (multiple level marketing) system, that doesn’t surprise me … maybe those peddling it are too ashamed to announce the price to potential customers. At any rate, I (reluctantly) can’t wait to try the stuff. Hopefully it’s coming to a martini bar near me someday soon.

I have a couple of questions for our readers: (1) Have any of you tried the juice? (2) What are your thoughts about products sold this way (is it an automatic turn-off or do you let the quality of the product speak for itself)?

As promised, here are the winning entries for our Tokidoki Mimobot contest:

Winner, Timothy Nakayama

This is my story, about what happened to my friends and I, the day when our island sunk into the realm of dreams and almost disappeared from reality.

This is my story, written by me, Pirate Nero.

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