One Plus One Equals Three

Bicycle Link-a-rama

Many readers of this blog (I know where you live – I have a map – see the bottom of this site) will know of my predilection for the humble bicycle. So simple in its design and engineering and so incredibly efficient at energy transfer – and they come in nice colours too. Here's a bunch of bicycle-related links.

+ Here comes the Asian 'carry bike'
+ Amsterdam = bike-friendly
+ Japan's pedal-powered rollercoaster
+ The saddle sofa
+ A bicycle vending machine
+ Extreme Utility Cycling
+ Body Geometry bike equipment
+ Vintage cycling posters
+ more...

OTT Re-con-potato Chip Pack

I am not normally a consumer of reconstituted potato chip snacks (such as Pringles). I have no idea why anyone would want to reconstitute a perfectly good potato, but in the quest to bring the readers of 1+1=3 the latest information and commentary on packaging design and on design's impact on the environment, I happily munched into this pack of Smith's Original Stax whilst on holiday in New Zealand recently.

The chips (or chups if you're from NZ - joke) taste OK. It's the pack design that sticks in my craw: it's completely over-the-top.

I've Got You (Under My Skin): Nanette Carter

The intriguing work of Peter Bauhuis a German jewellery design-maker was featured at Melbourne’s Gallery Funaki in 1996. One of his remarkable pieces was a seemingly elaborate gold ring topped with a shard of crystal. Staring down through this tiny window, the heart of the valuable object could be seen. It was a piece of detritus. A blue plastic ring like the ones that snap off the spoon that comes with a small paper bag of sherbet powder – the ultimate worthless freeby. On closer inspection the gold wasn’t elaborately worked either, it was a mostly random accretion of metal in drips and gobbets. This design remained in my imagination because of its playful approach to the idea of jewellery as an object of value, for its reference to the childhood veneration of simple objects that serendipitously come our way and because coating was the fundamental aspect of its construction.