Mer-chan: technocuddly, cute, arty, geeky stuff from Asia and beyond » Design

World Cups, Designer Balls

Mercury Zootcracker — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 02:35:11 +0000

Is this your World Cup ball of choice…

The World Cup is under way in South Africa! And we’re having a ball! The official match ball is the Adidas Jabulani, and it’s revolutionary design is already causing quite a stir. Some say it wobbles too much. Some say it benefits strikers. Some say it penalizes goalkeepers. Some say its patented GripNGroove technology helps them out. So many questions, with a single answer: Who will lift the cup at the end?

What we do know is this: the new ball reduces the number of panels from 14 (in the last World Cup) to a measly 8. And the 14-panel design was already a major reduction from the 32 panels of the traditional black-and-white soccer ball. The familiar pentagon-hexagon design is actually a truncated icosahedron (or bucky ball). Its sharp black and white contrast was specifically designed to appear more visible on live B&W television broadcasts (which BTW is the same design philosophy that inspired the Panda Seal Mamegona and the Yakuza Brush).

A complete visual guide to the evolution of the World Cup ball can be found here.) And with such a contentious design history, we are excited to see that designers are rising out of the stands to muck it up with soccer hooligans. ATYPYK offers their take on the official match ball below. It’s a traditional design in shape, but the color palette says it it all. A stark reminder and a social commentary for the 2010 tournament hosts, which now call themselves a “Rainbow Nation.”

… or this?

This Bubble Won’t Crash

merchan — Tue, 18 May 2010 10:34:46 +0000

Elaine McLuskey invented the “social spheres” speech bubbles so people could chat above the background noise in a noisy pub. Geekologie says they’re astronaut helmets that will help you get the girl or at least the freeze dried ice cream and Tang. They reminds us of Mer-chan’s canversate, where we try to allow intimate connections even in loud, crowded pubs. When you use it, you can actually feel the other person breathing. A cell phone doesn’t support that type of connection. And we’re in love with the girl in the on the right who is dishing the gossip and vibing Beth Ditto.

MoM@ W@NN@

merchan — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 08:01:03 +0000

The Architechture and Design Department of the Museum of Modern Art has acquired the @ sign for its collections. This symbol is so ubiquitous and intangible, what does it mean to put in in a museum’s holdings? “It relies on the assumption that physical possession of an object as a requirement for an acquisition is no longer necessary, and therefore it sets curators free to tag the world and acknowledge things that ‘cannot be had.’” I hope they include Urban Dictionary’s definition of it: “A symbol standing for the word “at” that in turn symbolizes laziness and stupidity. I mean, seriously, who sat down and thought up a symbol to shorten a two letter word? WHY?”

Is the @ sign too nerdy for rappers to use it in their names? I can’t wait till MOMA acquires the $ and Curren$y, Nipsey Hu$$le, and Ke$ha can play at the opening.

Art Dubai Wrap Up

merchan — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 04:12:49 +0000

It was a buoyant, joyous time at Art Dubai, almost in defiance to the current economic situation. People were slapping each others’ backs, joking about being a shit gallery next to the toilets.

Har har nothing Duchamp hasn’t heard a zillion times already. But seriously, did anyone else find the layout strange this time? Maybe there were more decorative pieces, and the scale was smaller. The art seemed packaged and ready for buyers to hang above their sofas. Gone were the full size Chinoiserie Cadillac from last year. No more saluting monkeys sitting on pastel oil barrels either. Just commercial art beseeching “buy me!”

Since I’m hooked on phonics, say this gallery’s name: “Kamel Mennour”. Say it fast, maybe with a flat midwestern accent. At first I thought it was conceptual art, but it appears to be a legitimate gallery. I’m sure it sounds totally different in a delightful Parisian accent and I know Mer-chan means something idiotic in another language. But the sign still made me do a double take.

Binary Barbie

merchan — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:40:39 +0000

Step aside Rosie the Riveter! There’s a new techno-chic on the bloc. Barbie has a new life as a computer engineer. Women and technology are often at odds in the cultural imagination, so we’re glad to see everybody’s favorite glamor girl geeking out. But will it get more young girls interested in tech careers? The new doll has glasses, a Bluetooth equipped cellphone, and a geektastic t-shirt covered in binary code. We like the concept but the shirt design has a bit of a retro 80s feel. We’ve always thought that Binary Love needs a more classic style: 1’s and <3's forever! Get a shirt for yourself, and a bib for the baby!

Tallest Tower of Mystery

merchan — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:39:37 +0000

Less than a month after it opened, the tallest tower in the world closed itself to visitors. We went up the Burj Khalifa (even though the signs still bore its original name, Burj Dubai) the day before it shut down indefinitely due to concerns of the elevator failing. Although there has been no official reason for the closing, newspapers all over the world picked up on the image of the 124 story elevator plunging down the “tower of terror.” We didn’t notice anything strange in the Burj’s elevator ride but once at the top of the Observation Deck, it was dusty and extremely windy. We felt the building sway and got motion sickness. We also noticed broken glass on the outside deck, which was already closed for maintenance. Were broken windows part of the problem for the Burj? The problem with the windows was raised by observers as early as 2007 and again in 2009. For whatever reason that it shut down, let’s hope the Burj Khalifa opens soon (with the utmost safety!) as a proud symbol of Dubai.

Tallest Tower of Mystery: Real Reason Why Burj Khalifa is Closed from Katy Mer-chan

A Touch of Design

merchan — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:50:23 +0000

Remember when audio tours were the future of museum displays? But why just hear about the works when you can feel your way through an exhibit? Apple recently donated 100 iPod Touch devices to the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum for their new exhibit. These greatest hits of design are brought to life by an ocean of interviews, audios, and animations in the palm of your hand. The exhibit is labeled Design USA: Contemporary Innovation and looks back at the winners of the first ten National Design Awards. If you ever wanted to wander through the museum with an award-winning designer as tour guide, here’s your chance. Lose yourself in the world of your iPod, then zoom back out to have a better understanding of the physical object sitting on display. We still can’t touch the objects themselves, but we can poke and caress their digital histories to our heart’s content.

Milton Glaser at the Touch of a button. We <3 it!

Javant Garde Meets Cute with Harajuku

merchan — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 07:07:50 +0000

The Washington DC Textile Museum is showing a Contemporary Japanese Fashion exhibit. To kick it off, they teamed up with T-MODE, the organizers of anime and gamer convetions. The result was haute couture combined with cosplay, which results in a harajuku fashion show. It’s interesting to see the influences of design greats such as Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto get filtered down to the likes of Angelic Pretty and MA/MAM. But the inspiration goes both ways, and its undeniable that runways have long been borrowing from street style. Check out the pretty kitty cat walk, but watch out like all goth lolita fash, its got claws!

It’s On, Tenori-On

Katy Chang — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:06:25 +0000

My lust for music far exceeds my musicality. That’s why I’m eagerly awaiting the plastic orange TNR-O tenori-on, the electro-instrument created by Yamaha and artist Toshio Iwai. The tenori-on looks like a hybrid of Battleship, Connect Four, Tetris and Simon and “lets you enjoy playing without any knowledge of music or musical performance techniques.” Sounds in tune with my sensibilities! Little Boots rocks the tenori-on in this video for Remedy:

Atomicpunk Computer

merchan — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 07:53:38 +0000

It’s only the 5th, but 2010 already has wonderful neolgisms like terror-prone and environmental refugee. May we humbly introduce another one? Atomicpunk. Not to be confused with the Van Halen album or the tribute band, atomicpunk describes the literature, art, design, pop culture and subculture happening now that references the Atomic Age, with all of its technological progress, paranoia, destruction, and optimism. Why should all ye new-olde tech be lumped into steampunk (which we love on its own way) that references the Victorian era? Atomic-era designs need to have their own classification. Examples of atomicpunk include the Brionvega tv and the Philco PC redesign by California-based SchultzeWORKS. There are even comments debating whether this is or isn’t steampunk. This isn’t, but it is atomicpunk.