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March 30, 2007

Advice for the weekend

It's easy to over-complicate things. Make life simple for yourself.

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March 29, 2007

Spaghetti work

This is the metro map of New York back in 1972. Watch a very charming interview with its creator, the Italian Designer Massimo Vignelli (who developed as well the visual identity for Benetton and Sisley in 1995) here.

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CS3 launch

In the tradition of Apple, Adobe now also broadcasts the launch of the Adobe Creative Suite 3. www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/launchevent/webcast/

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March 28, 2007

Dirty Found

So today our dear buddy Purdy left us but before parting he passed me this link to post. It's a whole collection of dirty found ephemera sent in from the public stemming from the magazine Found. There is some really interesting and naughty little notes and photos on their so have yourself a little perve here! And keep your eyes peeled for any future dirty found things, cheers Purdy and all the best with your venture after Fabrica.

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Youssou + I

Oh weird. I was just about to post my picture of Youssou and I when I saw Chris had beat me to the punch. Oh well, there's room for all.

Here you can see me with my buddy Youssou. Thanks again Reed for the shot.

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Me + Youssou

This morning there was a surprise happing in Fabrica. Youssou N'Dour came for a short visit to talk about future collaborations with Fabrica. We had coffee and cookies together. It was great.

Here you can see me with my buddy Youssou. Thanks again Reed for the shot.

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ReBlogged by christian etter on Mar 28, 2007 at 04:13 PM | Comments (4)

Black Gold

Multinational coffee companies now rule our shopping malls and supermarkets and dominate the industry worth over $80 billion, making coffee the most valuable trading commodity in the world after oil. www.blackgoldmovie.com

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March 27, 2007

Saul Bass in LA

The work of my personal hero, the designer legend Saul Bass (1920–1996), can be seen these days at the Ruby and Hurd Galleries in Los Angeles. More infos here: www.swisslegacy.com/index.php/2007/03/23/saul-bass-the-hollywood-exhibition/.

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ReBlogged by christian etter on Mar 27, 2007 at 05:08 PM | Comments (3)

Fernando Acquarone has entered the building

And we have a new entry. The film maker Fernando Acquarone joined us this week.

Fernando (on the right) trying to navigate that space shuttle safely through space.

What were you doing before coming to Fabrica?
In Rio at Carnival. Before I was studying at the New Film Academy in NY. And before that I was in Rio again, working as a Film Editor.

You grew up in Brazil?
Not exactly, I grew up in Egypt, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina and Canada. And now I'm grown up.

How come?
Because my dad's a Diplomat we always had to follow a nomadic lifestyle.

What do you think about living in Italy?
Things are much slower here than I'm used to.

What do you expect from your time in Fabrica?
Uuh, I don't know really... To develop skills in post production regarding film and also in Graphic Design.

Anything else to say?
Vote for me.

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ReBlogged by christian etter on Mar 27, 2007 at 02:41 PM | Comments (39)

the 90's bandwagon

It only makes sense that Magic Eye is sweeping the nations for a second time. The 80's fad has fizzled out, and now we remember the 90's in our technologically advanced 2000's sort of way.

Behold, the Magic Eye animation:

Of course this is just a screen shot of the magic eye animation. Click on the picture to lead your forth. Put your nose to the screen and slowly pull back. Repeat that multiple times.

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Techno Tuesday

via technotuesday.com

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March 26, 2007

Fumetto

Fumetto is a really cool comics competition that takes place in Luzern Switzerland each year. I entered, but only placed in the top 45. Poor me. Anyway, you can view the winners online here.
Above image from Birgit Weyhe from Hamburg, one of the lucky winners.

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Guess what...

Julia just finished her first game for Benetton Play... You have to guess which movie or book is... hmmm... stage.benettonplay.com/staging/toys/charade/

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March 23, 2007

Sebastian Horsley

Some of you have probably already heard of Sebastian Horsley but if you haven't I strongly recommend you learn a little about him today. I just did. He is a fascinating artist who uses "method" painting which means he basically lives and breathes his subjects before painting. He is the first westerner to travel to the Philippines to be crucified and he documented it all in the name of art, its incredible check it out here.

But he also has another dark side, he is addicted to sleeping with prostitutes and claims to have been with over 1000. If you saw this months Creative Review you will understand the image above, if not you can read more about it here on CR blog. But, for me the most fascinating article was by the Observer, it starts like this .....

I remember the first time I had sex - I still have the receipt. The girl was alive, as far as I could tell, she was warm and she was better than nothing. She cost me £20.

I was 16 then and I'm 41 now. I have spent 25 years throwing my money and heart at tarts. I have slept with every nationality in every position in every country. From high-class call girls at £1,000 a pop to the meat-rack girls of Soho at £15, I have probably slept with more than 1,000 prostitutes, at a cost of £100,000.

Need I say much more? Its fascinating he's such an interesting character and I'm off to discover more about him now.

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March 22, 2007

Montage-a-Google

Grant Robinson's "Montage-a-Google" is a simple web-based application that uses Google's image search to generate a large gridded montage of images based on keywords (search terms) entered by the user.

search result for: Fabrica Department Head

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ReBlogged by matt prins on Mar 22, 2007 at 01:03 PM | Comments (2)

Condoms and Cucumbers

In response to yesterdays 'natural porn' I posted Chris forwarded me this link to the Swiss governments 2003 HIV awareness campaign. Really simple and unoffensive concept but communicating a vital message.

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March 21, 2007

Call for Grafitti Discussion

Why do people keep saying that?

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ReBlogged by matt prins on Mar 21, 2007 at 04:52 PM | Comments (6)

Natures Porn

Yesterday Matt told me the p-spot was getting less and less sexual which I had to completely agree with. I guess it has been because I have been spending my days surfing endless design blogs and discovering so much interesting design instead of sexual things! So I'm making up for the lack of sexual content by posting some natural porn i received in an email this morning! Racey enough for you Prinns?

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ReBlogged by pia on Mar 21, 2007 at 04:00 PM | Comments (27)

Psst...

Psst! is out with new animation shorts. Real nice ones, organized by Bran Dougherty-Johnson from New York: www.psstpassiton.com

Via swissmiss.

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ReBlogged by christian etter on Mar 21, 2007 at 03:37 PM | Comments (3)

Reed Young / Photographer

Reed is probably the hardest working guy at Fabrica. And you can see from his brand new online portfolio, why he is in so much demand around here.

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March 20, 2007

Interface

Jeff Han from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences in NY shows possibilities of a multi-touch screen. Just love this shit. Watch the presentation here: www.ted.com/tedtalks/tedtalksplayer.cfm?key=j_han

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Typographic Illustration

Thanks Michael for passing me this typographic illustration site, it's really simple but beautifully effective animation. Check it out here.

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ReBlogged by pia on Mar 20, 2007 at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)

NYC Condoms

On February 14th 2007 New York City launched the free NYC branded condoms. It is the first nation with an official brand of condoms and they are available all over the city for individuals and organizations. With the help of a new internet ordering system they have increased the distribution of free condoms from 2.5 million per year to 18 million per year. That is a staggering amount to distribute so lets hope that with that volume of free condoms circulating the STI rates and unwanted pregnancies will dramatically be reduced. I'm so impressed by this fantastic scheme, it sets an example for other major cities worldwide to follow in the footsteps set by New Yorks Department of Health. Check it out here and if you're in the city go get yourself some from one of the distribution points here.

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Techno Tuesday

via technotuesday.com

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March 19, 2007

Solitude in Photoshop

Life can get pretty god damned stressful. I think all the clutter and the noise surround us in the every day rat race has more than just something to do with that. Wouldn't it be nice to spend some time inside of Gregor Graf's photos?

Graf takes the city of Linz and completely purges it of signs, emphasizing the architectonic and structural features of the city, making the streets seem unreal, culturally interchangeable and alien.

via VVORK

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Isotta

Isotta from the factory floor has a nice new website: www.isotype.it

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ReBlogged by christian etter on Mar 19, 2007 at 04:27 PM | Comments (0)

Little People

I'm a fan of most tiny cute things and this 'little people' blog by street artist Slinkachu is a favorite. He manipulates tiny shop bought figurines and places them in everyday city situations and photographs them. The idea behind this project was to capture the feelings of isolation and loneliness often associated with living in a city. The little people are then left to fend for themselves with only the most observant passers noticing them. Its such a simple idea for street art but can you imagine going to a toilet and finding this little guy snorting his huge wrap of coke? Wonderful art and I plan to return to London and keep my eyes peeled for these little people. A great blog with some really interesting images and scenarios on so go see it for yourself here.

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Wooster Collective

Wooster Collective is a site dedicated to showcasing street art from all around the world. The above work is by artist Mike Newton who says "i noticed how the police would move the homeless from street to street, doorway to doorway around the town. this gave me the inspiration for my latest piece "removing me wont solve the problem" a kind of twist on the removal of graffiti." There is some great pieces on this site, check it out here.

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ReBlogged by pia on Mar 19, 2007 at 03:03 PM | Comments (0)

Sony Bravia

Fantastic advert for Sony Bravia featuring a dramatic display paint explosions. Check it out here it really is a stunningly beautiful concept for communicating colour.

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ReBlogged by pia on Mar 19, 2007 at 10:49 AM | Comments (1)

March 16, 2007

Simsalabim

That's for the weekend... have fun.

Done by Reed.

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ReBlogged by christian etter on Mar 16, 2007 at 04:53 PM | Comments (0)

Margaux Lange

If you're a fan of Barbie and also love jewelry then you'll probably love the work of Margaux Lange! Check it out here its a fascinating mix of pieces of Barbie and Ken some far more intricate than others but its all inspiring and a fresh new idea that I've not seen done before.

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ReBlogged by pia on Mar 16, 2007 at 12:26 PM | Comments (4)

Wim Crouwel

French design magazine étapes just released a new video with Typographer Wim Crouwel. This interview was recorded during his solo exhibition at Galerie Anatome in Paris.

Via Swiss Legacy

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ReBlogged by christian etter on Mar 16, 2007 at 11:27 AM | Comments (0)

Pee Spot

My dad as some of you know spends most of his time surfing the internet, (mostly editing wikipedia hence my nick name for him wikipeter) but today he found these amazingly designed toilets. Check out the huge variety of innovative and crazy places to have a pee here they are incredible but this one topped it for me! It brings a whole new meaning to creaming in the toilets! Genius and perfect p-spot design!
Cheers pops.

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ReBlogged by pia on Mar 16, 2007 at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)

March 15, 2007

Brian Donnelly

I've just stumbled across this very interesting Canadian artist Brian Donnelly who I throughly recommend you check out. His paintings have a beautiful and fresh style and an amazing photo realism to them. On his site he even has a contest you can enter here. Well as he says its not so much of a contest as a dare to get a tattoo of one of his logo designs then if you can prove you've done it he'll send you an original painting! Ummm interesting contest to say the least! His photo pages also had me giggling behind my screen, this site definitely got my day off to a good start. Check out the wonderful works and character of Brian here.

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March 13, 2007

Cheater Checker

My God i've just discovered the Cheater Checker and yes it does exactly as the name suggests! This program has been devised to install onto your computer and it spys and records all movements of the user so you can check out exactly what someone has been doing on it! It is legal to install onto your own computer but it is suspected that it is being installed onto others computers which is of course not legal but vital if you want to catch someone in the act of virtual cheating or worse!

It's crazy and personally I hate the product but as I well know you often have no idea if someone is cheating on you. But I leave you with this final and slightly cheesy thought as Elvis once said ... we can't go on together with suspicious minds! Listen to the King and don't dip down to the Cheater Checker but if you're interested check it out here.

Ooops that's three posts today, back to my real work now!

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ReBlogged by pia on Mar 13, 2007 at 03:41 PM | Comments (5)

DAVE

Fantastic short film by Will Perrens who is yet another Brighton graduate and also Natti's friend. He made this for 'Straight 8' film competition and was awarded runner up and had it screened at Leicester Squares Vue Cinema. Check it out here and you'll see why I posted it on p-spot! But be warned listen with head phones on or volume down it gets a little dirty in parts! It's great.

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Techno Tuesday

via www.technotuesday.com

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Singles

Reed passed me this article he found in National Geographic this month about singles in America. It may be of interest to some of you considering a relocation to the States after here. . . . so girls be smart and head west and boys get your asses to the east!

Single and looking? Lonely singles' chances of finding mates are influenced by which side of the Mississippi River they live on, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Western urban areas tend to boast an excess of single males, while the eastern cities feature a predominance of females. Demographers say a few key factors shape this trend; notably, 58 percent of college students are women, giving most of East's numerous college towns a female majority. After graduating, legions of these women join the white-collar workforce, which is 51 percent female and centered in big cities such as New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C. Areas with more single men often have large numbers of illegal immigrants, some 58 percent of whom are male and generally work either in districts that rely on agriculture or in cities with booming construction sectors, such as Las Vegas. - Peter Gwin

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March 12, 2007

Bad apples

We love Apple. Apple knows more about clean design than anybody. So why do Macs, iPods, iBooks and the rest of their product range contain hazardous substances that other companies have agreed to abandon? A cutting edge company shouldn't be cutting lives short by exposing children in China and India to dangerous chemicals. www.greenpeace.org/apple/

Also via Max.

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The Devil wears Dior

My friend Max Poglia did record this scene last Saturday in the fancy Via Monte Napoleone in Milan.

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ReBlogged by christian etter on Mar 12, 2007 at 12:06 PM | Comments (230)

March 09, 2007

Not Wanted Creativity

Colors magazine has just launched it's 70th issue, on the hot-topic of (no, not Britney Spears) China. It's a beautifully photographed issue featuring an astounding amount of work by just two young photographers, Chen Jiaojiao and Peng Yangjun.

However, for the public presentation this week in Beijing, it appeared that the Chinese audience wasn't so impressed by Fabrica's token 'Wanted Creativity' ad (drawn by yours truly). And so the page featuring a cute, cartooney likeness of Mao was subsequently ripped out of all copies for the presentation.

Maybe they just didn't like what that pink panda's right hand was up to.

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The Great Fire Wall

With this new web site you can check if your website is available in China... or if the Great Fire Wall has censored you... www.greatfirewallofchina.org

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March 08, 2007

Obrigado Dilla

Some of the best I have heard in the last weeks... Share the love... J Dilla: www.stonesthrow.com/news/obrigadodilla/

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ReBlogged by christian etter on Mar 8, 2007 at 03:31 PM | Comments (3)

Test of time

Swiss Graphic Design History
Yet another example of how flickr is awesome, and how Swiss posters still manage to impress.
thanks alex

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International Women's Day

This morning I was greeted by my dear Cosimo holding a wonderful bunch of mimosa (tiny yellow flowers) which they use here in Italy to mark International Womens Day. A day to celebrate women, how wonderful. I then had another lovely bunch of mimosa on my desk at work from Matteo who was celebrating all the women in our department. What lovely men we have here at Fabrica, so keen to honour and celebrate us girls. So I decided to invite another honourable man Mr Etter to guest write the p-spot today and tell us all about what womens day really means. So a big thanks to Chris and to all you lovely ladies out there have a wonderful womens day... over to you Chris:

Thanks Miss P... Being Swiss, I like to break down problems into neutral facts. And here they are:

Violence against women is the most common but least punished crime in the world.

It is estimated that between 113 million and 200 million women are demographically "missing." They have been the victims of infanticide (boys are preferred to girls) or have not received the same amount of food and medical attention as their brothers and fathers.

The number of women forced or sold into prostitution is estimated worldwide at anywhere between 700,000 and 4,000,000 per year. Profits from sex slavery are estimated at seven to twelve billion US dollars per year.

Continue reading "International Women's Day"

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ReBlogged by pia on Mar 8, 2007 at 02:32 PM | Comments (2)

SUCK UK

Brilliant door mat design from SUCK UK that could be useful depending on who your guest is! Check out their website here they have some other really innovative product designs, the bottle openers are another favourite of mine. Oh and a fantastic name, very pspot!

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March 07, 2007

Techno Tuesday (The Website)

Without further hesitation, I present the official online home for Techno Tuesday.
http://www.technotuesday.com

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Big Brother State

Please watch this video, by David Scharf. Via fwa.

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Emigre

Looking for fonts? Or patterns? Check these wallpapers by Emigre. (In the picture: Ed Fella's FellaParts font).

via nakedgarlic

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March 06, 2007

Techno Tuesday

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Italia: Great art, crappy logo

Following the public release of Italy's new national logo, design professionsals in the country are freaking out at it's apparent horrendousness (four fonts in one logo, mamma mia!).
And so a petition has been formed to the ministery of i-don't-know-what saying it sucks. (sorry it's in Italian).
And there is also great discussion about it here.

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March 05, 2007

Technical Difficulties

Sorry for the inconvenience, but the Fabrica blog is experiencing some server problems. Please bear with us while we handle this dilemma.

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March 02, 2007

Shtoriesh

Some of us suckers also do good things. Shtoriesh by Matt Prins. Filmed by Brad Hasse.

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ReBlogged by christian etter on Mar 2, 2007 at 02:42 PM | Comments (7)

Aquarium Drunkard + NEVVER

Two great blogs that offer a great selection of music.

The first: an Aquarium Drunkard,

dishes out classic rock and newish mostly folky, indie rock, hitting a summery softer note, finding a great selection of rare and live tracks from today's most beloved musicians. Also available are, as of late, 25 ultra lovely podcasts, interviews and links to band sites.

The Second: NEVVER

puts up one mp3 matched with one (beautiful) image each day, most of which are movie stills I think. The music is quite ecclectic, a little darker than the aforementioned, very cinematic, a little creepy cool. All in all very nice.

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ReBlogged by matt prins on Mar 2, 2007 at 02:13 PM | Comments (9)

Sex Is No Replacement For Chocolate

I've just discovered this UK design studio youarebeautiful set up by Kerry Roper. Check it out. Her work is really beautiful and of course I picked out this wonderful and appropriate advertising for the chocolate company, Thorntons. Oh how true it is, hey?

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ReBlogged by pia on Mar 2, 2007 at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)