Studio Forbes - Blogtag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-13896172008-07-31T08:19:14-07:00TypePadSlow – Humans Presenttag:typepad.com,2003:post-535047602008-07-31T08:19:14-07:002008-07-31T08:31:09-07:00Here is a video of a somewhat goofy bike race held in San Francisco last week: the final heat of a “Slow Race”. Who could ride most slowly over 50 yards of grass in field in Golden Gate Park? This “Tour de Fat” was a benefit for the San Francisco Bike Coalition and Ridge Trail group, two local nonprofit groups who advocate alternative transportation solutions to cars. The event drew quite a crowd. In the final race the contestants were also required to down a pint of beer before crossing the finish line, and their efforts were accompanied by a...Rob ForbesSuper Normaltag:typepad.com,2003:post-510952982008-06-10T13:32:26-07:002008-07-24T15:16:12-07:00“Super Normal is a reminder of some pretty obvious points, as well being what we consider to be a pointer to a more sophisticated approach to design than the purely visual.” - Jasper Morrison The word “normal” was hovering around the ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) last month, seeded by an exhibition at the Vitra showroom gallery entitled Super Normal. “Normal” means something like average or standard, something definitely not “innovative”, and is not a term usually celebrated in modern design. Combine “super” with normal and you get all kinds of definitional contradictions and ambiguities. The show was curated by...Rob ForbesThinking Diffrent About Stufftag:typepad.com,2003:post-503318762008-05-26T14:21:34-07:002008-05-27T08:08:19-07:00I’m not sure if Steve Jobs would have enjoyed the Maker Faire that was put on just down the road from Apple’s headquarters in Silicon Valley earlier this month. Upon entering, the very first piece you come upon is a mobile robot-like head - built entirely out of Apple components - emitting computer-generated sounds. Like some inbred offspring of R2D2, this is nothing cute. It’s visually clumsy, goofy, clever, weird, disturbing, curious, fun, irreverent, and anything but Apple-elegant - as great a contrast as you could find to iconic Apple symbols such as the slick cubic glass storefront on 5th...Rob ForbesCircus Milanotag:typepad.com,2003:post-491232722008-04-28T09:48:55-07:002008-07-31T14:51:28-07:00I just returned from the colossal annual design fair in Milan (Il Salone di Mobile). This event has become so huge that it draws more visitors (300,000+) than “the sum of all the other major design events worldwide” according to Design Boom. Only religious pilgrimages draw more people to one location for an extended stay. In addition to the massive official fairgrounds site, there were over 400 satellite design events in surrounding stores, parks, galleries, and public spaces. The spectacle itself is more remarkable than the work displayed – transcending its content like Carnival or the Oscars. Of the many...Rob ForbesSpotting Bikes and Birdstag:typepad.com,2003:post-481629342008-04-09T09:11:23-07:002008-04-09T09:39:19-07:00People-watching is one of the great pastimes of travel. We learn a lot about a place by studying the parade of characters past a café or through a public square. There are limitless clues in their attire, bearing, mannerisms. Studying bikes can be equally rewarding. The insights about local design, history, technology, use of materials can also tell us a lot about a place. Even the details of the bikes can be loaded with cultural information. This became obvious to me in Amsterdam, the bike capital of the western world, where bike lights/headlamps stood out as a unique design feature.Rob Forbes