Bruce Nussbaum has suggested a new program that is a spinoff of the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) project. He suggests putting as much design innovation into helping old folks as was put into the OLPC. So, how do we start? I guess the first area would be to conduct a great deal of interviews to see what the oldest generations in our society really want. Is it more companionship? Is it a way into more self expression? Is it more human activity? Is it to share wisdom? Maybe it’s that some people need more familiar or easy to use interfaces. It’s so hard to speculate on innovation until we know what people might benefit from through research and experimentation.

I’d hate to make a guess, but from what I’ve seen of the older generations, self expression and activity are the most important factors and not necessarily the need to create a broad social network.

I’ve observed this with my wife’s boss Lawrence Ferlinghetti, owner of City Lights Books. He is nearly 90 now, and yet he continues to paint, write, ride a bicycle, and go into work a few times per week. He’s friendly but not terribly talkative. He really spends a good amount of time with very few people. How does he keep it up? I think Lawrence does it through the creative process. It keeps his mind fresh even if his body is starting to fail. He seems incredibly content, too. He also does not know how to use a computer. He seems to sustain himself and his contentment by never setting up these boundaries to what he should do as an older gentleman. Just this striping of the mental boundary of retirement, I believe, could lead to a more content society.

of my Chinny Chin Chin as the nursery rhyme goes. Chinny Chin Chin is the name of a design collective based in Australia, and I’m not sure what this has to do with this outstanding collection of  products they’ve made, but my guess is the domain name was available. Or maybe there are three people in the collective, and they are pigs? At any rate , who would not want a generic get well card if you’d broken an arm?  Or a matchbox car that feels like it had been through New York in the 70’s? I would definitely like these!

Radius Design is a hugely talented German based design firm. I’m always tickled pink when I get press releases from companies with so much talent because when I see their work I feel like the quality and design speaks for itself, and why would they need me to expose their product? Definitely check out their website for a number of beautifully designed products. Radius Design tackles magazine racks all the way to barbecues and all sorts of housewares in between.

What I’m showing of theirs today is the Home Flame Collection. It’s sort of a fireplace alternative. The Home Flame Collection comes in a number of options including a fireplace-like version, but there are table versions and even floor versions of this flame. This product uses a clean burning fuel which allows the flame to be placed almost anywhere. My humble opinion is that I would love to have one of these devices simply for the light it creates. My parents had a fireplace, and I was addicted to its warm glow. The only drawback I see with the home flame collection is the de-materializing of the hearth. Homes with hearths create a focal point that is fun to be around. The hearth is this indescribable warms that cannot be replicated by a sleek stainless steel box that is no bigger than a toaster. Radius Design’s product is the next best thing to the real deal, though.

I find it extremely exciting when designers send me the images of their prototypes to show on the blog. Even better than that is when the designs are as glorious as the T33 Lamp by Paris based design studio, Triode. They have smart marketers over at this design house because this lamp is just up my alley. Unfortunately, the lamp is quite you in its evolution, so I wasn’t given a size or material composition of the lamp, but it appears to be composed of six soft pods that are connected via hinges to create a somewhat kinetic and sculptural arrangement. Another maybe more visceral way of describing it is six glowing waffle irons strung together like pearls. However you spin it, I find this work lovely, warm, and inviting. I think Triode is on to a successful product.

This week, as you may or may not know, is National Design Week. Copper-Hewitt, for the past several years has created sort of a design spectacle every fall (with help from Target) that honors the design achievements of the past year. They offer awards in the categories off Architecture, Interiors, Product, Fashion, and on down the line. One very exciting addition to the National Design Week is the People’s Design Award (or PDA, as I like to call it). The PDA is a place where people nominate and vote online for their favorite design THING. This thing could be a person, a building, a product, or a phenomenon, just as long as it’s something that can be judged by the people. I’ve found it to be a very fun popularity contest for designers. Unfortunately, as of writing this post, the site is down, so you can’t see how the results are faring.

Finally, I wanted to commend Cooper-Hewitt for their teen design fair. This sort of inspiration for entering design is the sort of support kids need to understand the depth and diversity of design as a career.

Check out These links for more info:

• National Design Week Events
• People’s Design Award

Check out this month’s Fashion Issue of Texas Monthly. There, you will find a some beautiful photo spreads, great tips on fashion, and an illustrated version of myself along with five other bloggers who write about fashion and design and are from Texas. That’s right. I’m from Texas. Yeeehaw! And, I’m now a cartoon.

I would like to thank Kristie Ramirez for creating such a beautiful magazine and selecting me to write a very quotable quote (click the image above to read the quote). This, inclusion of Design Crack in an actual printed publication just goes to show that magazine editors are true masochists, and they better enjoy what they do because Ms. Ramirez had to contact me no less than six times just to get two measly quotes and a picture. I respect her for her diligence and can only wonder how much more difficult it would be to get a good interview from a fashion prima donna. Thanks again, Kristie!