Manhattan Lamp
A quick midnight idea. Floor lamp based on skyscrapers of similar form. i thought a detailed shade would be too much… 
31337 (Elite) Phone (for Social Networks)
The 31337 (Elite) Phone is a handset for the social networking era. It attempts to align social networking with real life.
Contacts are added by linking with sites such as Facebook and Twitter. 31337 then takes available contact data from the users friends lists and adds them to the address book.
the device is a minimal stripped back handset, that is capable of inbound and outbound calls. camera, speakerphone, music, video and internet functionality has all been removed for the sake of functional transparency and ease of use.
All functions are controlled by the minimal 2 button, 2 dial interface, with a scrolling interface providing feedback.
Measurements:
Height: 85.0mm
Diameter: 15mm
1337 (LEET) Phone
The 1337 (Leet) Phone, is an unashamedly geek mobile handset. It is a tribute to the HP 25 calculator, MS DOS, and good old numeric keypad amongst other things. It smacks in the face of mobile trends and removes all modern bells and whistles in favour of the simple joys of matte black and functionally adequate technology yes. it will fit in your front shirt pocket…. COMING SOON: 31337 (elite). the fashionable older brother.
Sydney Dust Storm
Ok, so i’m way late on getting these up. In fact i only got round to looking at the shots tonight. not too bad all things considered. i do wish i’d taken more time to take some more/better shots though. when i woke up at 5am it was amazing. even by 7:30 to 8 it had died down a bit though. these were taken at about 6:50 am while driving to work. driving and operating DSLR isn’t something i’d recommend 
but there aint many other ways to get a shot of driving over the Anzac Bridge without the benefit of a passenger.
I tried to make a HDRI of the Anzac bridge one by splitting and merging 1 RAW file. not the ideal way to create a HDRI from what i’ve read, but this is my 1st go at it and i didn’t know anything about them when i was taking these so live and learn. at least i’m smart enough to always have my camera set on RAW.
on another note i’m looking at investing in a fisheye lens for it. i’ve always wanted one of those 
Seeking Collaborators
I’m looking for a few people to collaborate on the Ricochet project i’m working on. Just a bit of fun, so no money involved or anything like that. it’s simply to try to get some interesting input. so here are the details: I’m looking for people of any creative background who wants to be involved, so graphic, product, whatever… the project is simply to create an elegant aircraft based on the ‘classic’ era of motorsport, i/e pre-war retro styling. and we’ll see what innovative and interesting thinking we can develop along the way that’s about it really, anyone who’s interested, just let me know.
Ricochet Sketches
been finding time for 1 or 2 of these a night. this will be i suppose the 1st really public showing of what the spirit of Richochet is 
…Ricochet
Just to show that i’m not idle…
such a long way to go. I really wish i had a better library of presets, swatches, symbols etc setup for ID work. something i never seem to get around to doing…
Digital Painting
High time I restarted my old goal of getting halfway good at digital painting. Damn i’d love to be able to do it well.
ok so these aint great, but it’s a start i suppose
Richocet
Ok, so here’s a couple more images of my new project and it’s progression
New Project!
I’ve started a new project. I’m not going to say what it is just yet, but i think it’s the most fun (and challenging) project i’ve attempted thus far. If it goes well i plan to go the whole hog and get rapid prototyped parts made and build a physical model of it. (i’m thinking something about 500mm in size. so not too large but decent enough)
in any case, here’s a quick teaser image. now back to work!
New Book
As reference for my new project (and just for the coolness of it) i bought a copy of “Motorcars of the Classic Era” today. 200 or so pages of photos of pre WWII automotive gems. I must say it’s one jaw dropping good book. not just for fans of transportation design, but the close up shots of the details, bonnet mascots etc are truely stunning and a brilliant source of inspiration!
Poor Idea No. 3 – Bomb Clock
Ok i know it’s been a while. but thats what happens when you move cities and start a new job. hell i don’t even have the internet at home, and my computer is sitting 15cm above the floor on my tablet box….
anyways, here’s another poor idea. A pipe bomb clock. During the day it displays the time as per usual. but once the alarm is set, the display changes to a count down timer.
send your friends running for cover (or a home decorating store) with the bomb clock!
Website in the works.
A website building I will go. Nothing to see yet but stay tuned!
http://www.zierlabs.com
Work
Ok so after a spell of unemployment and nothing to do I’ve made the move to Sydney and I’m working full-time in a design studio. Feels good to get back into it. Unfortunately the freelance work is picking up at the same time so ironically now I have the opposite problem!.
ps. My entries to the OSRAM contest died in the bud!
swine flu?
after a week off with swine flu it feels good to be back in the land of the living.
A Quick HiFi Thought
ok so this isn’t the most considered of concepts I’ve ever put my name on, but it gets the message across at this point in the process. I love my music but i hate the current way that it is disseminated (is that the right word?) I don’t want to fire up my $2500 computer every time i want to play an album, and besides, the speakers in a computer suck.) you can upgrade to good external ones, but whats the point? you still need to fire up the computer to use them…. I away like the old fashioned HiFi’s, where you don’t need anything extra. i particularly like that they are considered a piece of furniture in their own right and don’t need a table/desk etc to sit on.
So this HiFi is a free standing mp3 based version made out of a single aluminium extrusion. stable? not really, Ergonomic? errr… may need some work. I think i’ll take this and make it kind of a cross between a touch screen kiosk, a piece of furniture, and a HiFi system.
Just a table
Eventually i’ll get rid of my coffee table/japanese style dining table (which is a slab of cheap particle board resting on some empty boxes, and has been for about 2 years…) maybe i’ll make my own. just tossing up some quick ideas. nothing special really at all, but i think i want something with either castors of some wheels of some description.
Breathing Patchwork
“Breathing Patchwork” can be seen as an amalgamation of the tradition of the family patchwork quilt, and home-made stained glass windows.
A wall of illuminated artwork is built up using the modular light tiles. Each light tile is made of a small, framed 150×150mm transparent OLED emitter. Layered onto this is a sheet of clear acrylic, onto which an image can be painted using standard water based acrylics.
During the day the artwork is translucent in the same way that a traditional stained glass window pane is, but at night and in low light, the OLED emitter can be turned on to create a backlit “stained glass” mosaic.
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Zierlabs Sputnik
Zierlabs Sputnik LED lamp and storage chest.
In 1957 the Sputnik was launched into orbit, and in 2009 it crashes into your living room.
The Zierlabs Sputnik features 4 individual LED antennae that can pivot on a universal joint to allow it to both fill a space and fit into crevasses. The base of the storage compartment is weighted with the power adapter and the sputnik can rock freely on its base without overbalancing.
Warning:
The Zierlabs Sputnik is not designed for lightsaber fights.
