Concept Architecture sketches, Foster and Partners

Architects and designers dreamed a lot about how to redesign Ground Zero, here a sketch of Tower 2 by Foster and Partners.

Photo and info Via: architecture.about

Ester Negretti paintings - Como, Italy

Ester Negretti is an italian painter, she lives and paints in a small village close to Como in Italy. Ester started very early to love the Art of painting studying first Leonardo's masterpieces and later the "maestri" of Impressionism.
Today she developed a very personal painting style representing the strong contrast between realism and abstract. The use and control of color becomes very important to her.

I personally like very much how she plays with positive and negatives spaces, the use of light and the balance she controls in her compositions. There is always a focal point well defined that helps, a good artist.

For more info I suggest you to visit her website esternegretti

Info and Photos Via:valtellinarte

MIAMI Murals - Graffiti Art

The Graffiti is a very controversial type of Art, in Italy lately there is a debate if and how let Graffiti artists to express themselves legally. In big and small towns city halls are trying to find a way to authorize part of their territories to make Graffitis.

There are some of them I really like (but few..), in London recently there has been one sold for a lot of money because this phenomenon is becoming something to use and promote to make money.

here a good axample from Miami: the murals "Art on the walls".

Photo and info Via: thecoolhunter

Happy birthday Luciano Bove's blog!

Dear friends,

today, 23rd of January 2008, it is axactly 1 year that this blog is live on the net! It is useless to let you know how I enjoy keeping this daily contact with you, so I will let numbers talk at my place.

During this first year of blogging more than 90 countries visited this blog for a total of 22,415 visits and 27,537 pages views and more than 245 posts written and published.
The actual avarage of visits per day is between 80/90

In November 2007 this blog got a Page Rank (PR) of: 4 (still valid today)
The Technoraty authority is: 35 (not too much)
Alexa ranking is still not well performing, it is: 2,310,620 (it went down in % during last 3 months, I'll do my best to bring it up again)

I hope that all subjects periodically treated and published are of your interest, I'll keep on writing my articles about tips and help to young talented students of Art schools and colleges around the world.

Most of all I would like to thank you for your encouraging visits and comments, you are the real motor of this blog...thanks again and stay tuned!

Luciano

Photo Via: www.photobucket.com

Art Center Global Dialogues Barcelona, Spain

This blog would like to let you know about this event that will take place in Barcelona Spain on the 7th of March 2008.

"Hi, my name is Ansley Garner and I am heading up PR and Communications for the Art Center’s Barcelona project. It’s too good to be kept a secret so I thought I would like to share some of the Art Center Global Dialogues: Disruptive Thinking, event’s details with you.
When the Art Center Global Dialogues was still a wishful idea, we decided that the conference would need to be held in an emblematic and original location in this architecturally disruptive city. We chose Palau de la Música..."

Please follow at http://www2.artcenter.edu/dialogues/main.php to find all the necessary infos to participate.

Info and photo Via: http://blog.globaldialogues.eu/ by Ansley Garner

Bic's art by Juan Francisco Casas, Spain

Juan Francisco Casas is a spanish artist aged 31 that makes Art using a bleu Bic pen.
The interesting thing is that Juan Francisco does it in a very large scale, his pannels are 2 X 3 meters and his precision is very tight. The illustrations look like photographs in bleu tone.

Currently Juan Francisco is a student at Reale Spagnola Accademy and on an exchange program based in Rome, Italy.

At the Fernando Pradilla Gallery in Madrid you can admire the " Grandes Obras" (big masterpieces) of Juan Francisco all done with his personal bleu Bic pen technique (which I studied in Art Center a long ago...).

Photo Via: www.corriere.it and www.astrolabio2006.it

"Ludovico" lamp by Renato Marsala

This lamp named "Ludovico" has been designed by Renato Marsala an italian designer from Sicily.

He works with neon lights using their flexibility to reproduce interesting combinations, almost like a modern suspended sculpture. The concept is good and very direct, the detailing of electrical connections very well done.

For more information about this designer I invite you to visit his website.

designer: Renato Marsala
www.renatomarsala.it
for Salone Satellite 2007

Info and photo Via: www.youngdesigner.it

Food cans sculptures!

In N.Y. there has been the 13th Design and Building Competition. This year all projects have been realized by architects and engineeres using "food cans".
So here ou have a photo that give a clear idea of this funny and cool result.

Source Photo and News: www.repubblica.it

Master in Design and its importance today

Hi folks, today I would like to tell you a bit about the importance of Master programs in Design offered by many Design schools around the globe.

I decided to treat this topic because sometime, during my visits in schools, students ask me if it is adviced to follow a Master Program after the Diploma and if this is a key factor for a company hiring designers.

First of all I have to tell you that since my time in school (Art Center in 1989) things changed a lot. At that time a good respected Design school diploma plus your talent was good enough to have a strong possibility to find a job. Today everything has changed because of many reasons like timing/technology/globalization/quality/competition.

In the last 20 years we have seen a lot of new Design schools appear on our planet and the evolution of their scholastic programs and methods have changed (not always in a good direction...), we assist today to a sort of mass production of young talents all in competition for few job openings a year.

Now, lets see this situation from professionals' point of view. How do I get in contact with the best talents to hire few of them? How can I see who stands out to offer a chance? What type of skills do they have after 3 or4 years of school?

The Master Programs in Design today are important to help in a mutual way the student and the industry.
A good Master Program is organized to give the opportunity to concentrate the student's skills and talent on one (or 2) projects on a longer period of time to analyse, implement, study, detail, criticise, develop fully a project followed by dedicated professionals there to explane following a different teaching criteria.
The relationship between the Master Program student and the "designer" teacher, during this year, is at a higher level. The intention is to reproduce the feeling of beeing at work, respect a breafing a planning a series of steps important to get to the point on time and with professionality.
I would like to say that this type of experience is very different from a stage in a Design studio, they are two different type of activities with different goals and objectifs. (So do not mix the two).

In order to assure to yourself a good Master to follow you have to choose the right Design school, this is a clear condition to make sure that your money is still an investment for your future and not just a nice (expensive) piece of paper added to your personal record.

In this post I will not tell you in which school to go (even if I do have my preferences...), however I can suggest to search in cities like: Detroit, Pasadena, Torino, Milano, Pforzheim,Tokyo & Bratislava.

Hoping as usual to have been of help I wish you the best!

Photo Via: www.blog.hoejberg.dk

Stockholm Furniture Fair 2008

The Stockholm Furniture Fair/Northern Light Fair, the world's biggest trade fair for Nordic design, will be open in Stockholm from 6th to 10th of February 2008.

The event is expected to attract over 40,000 visitors, about 5,000 of whom will be foreign buyers, architects, designers and journalists.

Fore more detailed infos please visit their website at: www.stockholmfurniturefair.com

Infos via: http://www.dexigner.com

Photo via: www.stockholmfurniturefair.com

The Art Center Summit, Pasadena CA

Systems, Cities & Sustainable Mobility

February 5 - 7, 2008

Art Center College of Design South Campus 950 South Raymond AvenuePasadena, CA 91105

"Within the next 20 years, five billion people—representing 60 percent of the world’s population—will reside in cities. To meet the needs and aspirations of an increasingly urban society, design will play a crucial role in helping to anticipate and create the solutions which will enable these complex systems to function sustainably. "

Who Should Attend

Designers, engineers, planners, scientists, product planners, urban planners, industry leaders, government officials and leading educators who are seeking creative new ways to achieve sustainable mobility through design.

Please find all the info at: http://www.artcenter.edu/summit/

Source and photo Via: www.artcenter.edu

Santa Cruz DESIGN + INNOVATION CENTER

Plantronics Inc. and the City of Santa Cruz Economic Development Department are the sponsors of the brand new Design and Innovation Center of Santa Cruz in California.

"The Santa Cruz Design + Innovation Center will be an educational resource for its members. We’ll host speakers, forums, and conferences. We’ll partner with programs at Cabrillo College, UC Santa Cruz, and the local K-12 schools. Together, we’ll educate each other and the rest of the world on why design matters and why Santa Cruz is a perfect place for the creation of innovative design."

The "Launch Event" will be on:

Friday, January 18, 2008
Plantronics Headquarters345 Encinal St., Santa Cruz, CA, 95060

at 5:00 pm

For more info please got o the following website:
http://santacruzdesigncenter.com/events.html

Embrio, light Design

This lamp named "Embrio" has been designed by Olivier Grégoire, it is made of one piece in ceramic and can be composed to create a very interesting composition playing with its paryticular light diffusion.
Its Design is very pure and simple and for this reason I think longlasting.

Info and photo Via: www.leblogdeco.fr by Manuel

Silver Scissor a bracelet by Thomas Jaillot and Marco De Michelis

Thomas Jaillot and Marco De Michelis designed this particular bracelet, a great idea that breaks the rules in a very new and appealing way.

Info and Photo Via: www.coscablog.it