Our inaugural Friday Photo is of a moment that we captured at this year's Armory Show in New York City, for which filmmaker, artist, writer, and all-around cult figure John Waters was commissioned -- with artist Mary Heilmann -- to interpret the image of the fair. Waters whipped up some charming photos of art-themed signage, and here he is simultaneously ascending the stage, shaking the hand of Armory Show director Katelijne De Backer, and preparing to talk to a global scrum of press about the late Colin de Land, who founded the fair with Pat Hearn, Matthew Marks, and Paul Morris.

Photo: Stephanie Murg

To finish the day up for this writer, before he prepares to rocket his way out to join forces with Stephanie and hopefully get to meet a few of you out in New York, we thought we'd go for a fun bit of stupidity with this story: "Group Finds Starbucks Logo Too Hot to Handle." It's a story coming out of San Diego, wherein a Christian group is upset over the coffee chain's new throwback logo, which features, gasp, a tiny image of a topless mermaid. Apparently, the bus to go protest the gay marriage legalization must've been full, so this group decided to go after the second biggest thing that makes them so angry they just want to spit and say "Heck!" But, in their defense, do we really want our children, when they're off buying their daily $8 mocha lattes after school, being titillated by disrobed merpeople? Call us old-fashioned, but when we look at branding icons, we want them civilized and clothed! Go back to your wicked sea kingdom, Starbucks!

An interesting piece that serves as a nice follow-up to a post we put up a while back about Motel 6 redesigning their room interiors: BusinessWeek's "Hotel Rooms by Design." The focus is on a local stop, Chicago's The James hotel, which has pulled out all the stops in making their rooms, and the entire building interiors itself, swanky and modern, in the hopes of capturing that higher-end market willing to spend $400 a night for a well-designed room (as opposed to the inexpensive $350-a-night rooms at the Chicago Best Western, we guess). But the larger reach of the story is whether or not all of this new trend of redesigning and uniqueness in the hotel industry is a good idea or if it's going to lead to a world of hurt as the economy struggles. It's an interesting piece, from all angles. Here's a bit:

Through the 1990s, the big names in hostelry -- Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Holiday Inn -- used design to convey consistency across all their properties. They rethought that cookie- cutter approach after Starwood Hotels & Resorts opened its first W Hotel in New York in 1998 and turned high-fashion, high-energy design into a marketing tool. Today, the industry's mantra is differentiation, with design supplying a property's "story."

"We now see design at the forefront of the planning process," says Roger G. Hill, head of the Gettys Group, a Chicago design shop that managed the Blackstone and Cass reno­vations. "Capital markets want to know far in advance what the ultimate project will look like."

Not long ago, we heard from the good people at Design Within Reach, answering our posted question about whether expanding their retail business into a massive new Toronto location was a good idea or not. Turns out, within two months, that Canadian outlet is one of their top moneymakers, even keeping pace with their New York locations. So it seems like DWR has turned things around and, in the interest of keeping that ball rolling, we ran across an announcement that they're planning to open two new locations, but with a slight twist. Starting in September, in both New York and Santa Monica, the company will open two DWR: Tools for Living stores. Instead of furniture, they'll focus on more cash and carry type merchandise, like artwork, devices for your office and other miscellaneous doo-dads. Here's a bit:

In the fall of 2007, Design Within Reach introduced Tools for Living as a category that encompassed everyday items from cookware to desk sets to portable dog bowls. The items offered are unique in how they solve a problem or make something more comfortable or easier to use. Their smart design elevates them from clever objects to functional tools. The new concept was an immediate success within the existing DWR channels, but it became evident that a store format that included salable inventory would fulfill consumers' desires to have merchandise in hand upon purchase.

In New York City, the DWR: Tools for Living store will be located at 142 Wooster Street, in a 3,500 square foot space that was the former site of DWR's first SoHo Studio. In Santa Monica, the Tools for Living store will be given a dedicated space within the existing Design Within Reach Studio at 332 Santa Monica Boulevard.

Now up for bid on eBay are HP laptops that PC Magazine commissioned nine artists and designers to give extreme makeovers -- think metal, spray paint, patent leather, and (in one instance) what appear to be mounds of colorful gumballs. Proceeds from "The Computerlicious Design Experience" auction, which runs through Monday, will benefit the National Cristina Foundation, a nonprofit organization that matches donated computer equipment with needy schools and nonprofit organizations. "We wanted to work with a select yet varied group of artists that would deliver creative, fun, and exciting works of art," PC Magazine editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff tells us. And it's quite a group: Shepard Fairey, fashion label DDCLAB, Paul Frank Industries, graffitist and street muralist de la Vega, handbag designer Rebecca Minkoff, Epiphany Media founder Coltrane Curtis, shoe design firm Matt Bernson Design, sculptor Peter Harper, and queen of interiors Suzan Fellman.

"The laptops had to be fully functional," says Ulanoff. "But otherwise the designers were not limited -- as you can see by the wide range of designs on the computers." Fairey's (current high bid: $1,150.00) has a decoupage-like flair that extends to the keyboard, while Minkoff's (current bid: $1,525.00) comes with its own smart handbag, a laptop-sized scaling up of her wildly popular "Morning After Bag." Fellman adorned her machine, an HP Pavilion dv6500t currently at $1,375.00, with a whimsical horse graphic that is repeated on the included carrying case. But who needs a bag with the laptop designed by Roberto Crivello and Savania Davies-Keiller of DDCLAB (now at $2,550.00)? They've wrapped HP's "Dragon" laptop in handcrafted leather. The big winner so far, however, is the Paul Frank-designed machine. Plastered with the lovable face of Julius the monkey, it has climbed from a starting bid of 99 cents to its current selling price of $3,333.33.

We love a good postwar corporate campus, and in our dictionary, under "corporate campus, postwar" is a stippled rendering of the 472-acre swath of Holmdel, New Jersey that was once home to Bell Labs. At the core of the campus is the 1.9-million-square-foot building designed by Eero Saarinen, who also designed the site's transistor-shaped water tower. In 2006, the property was sold to a developer who intended to raze the building and replace it with corporate offices, but ultimately scrapped the plan in the face of public outcry calling for the preservation of the original Saarinen structure, built between 1959-1962 and later expanded. Two years and a few task forces later, its fate remains undecided, but last month, such organizations as Preservation NJ, AIA-NJ, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation sponsored a charette to explore the adaptive use and green preservation potential of the Bell Labs site. Click "continued..." for a taste of the ideas.

Jason Fried from 37signals, who went from studio to product developer with wildly popular web-based business tools such as Basecamp; Matt Owens from Athletics with their studio-as-collective model; Joe Duffy and Eric Block from Duffy & Partners in their creative-plus-business partnership; Sylvia Harris from Sylvia Harris, LLC, who has gone from partner to solo, pursuing new kinds of projects with a new model; and Douglas Riccardi from Memo Productions who runs a small design firm while singlehandedly tackling large projects.

Meanwhile, WWD covers the preparations for tonight's show, noting:

Chanel took over the Raleigh for four days, shutting it down to the general public, with tight security protecting the property like a fortress. The show itself will feature a runway designed to mimic the curved lines of the hotel pool, and a celebrity list that is expected to include Diane Kruger, Zoe Kravitz, Anna Mouglalis, and Cat Power.

Our good pal Debbie Millman dropped us a line late yesterday, letting us know about a fun side project she's in the middle of that she thought you readers of our humble little site might enjoy. So we'll shut up now and let her do the talking:

I will be interviewing Michael Bierut at the HOW Conference next week in Boston and he came up with an idea that I would like to undertake. He thought it might be fun to solicit questions from people *before* the interview via the design community blogs and I was wondering if you might be able to assist us by posting a "request for questions" on UnBeige.

I have interviewed Michael on Design Matters, and in my book (wherein he waxes sentimental about his passion for folding laundry), so the more inventive the questions, the better! (and the more personal!!!)

In the request, folks can send the questions to designmatters@sterlingbrands.com

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]]> http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/conferences/help_debbie_millman_interview_michael_bierut_84860.asp?c=rss http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/conferences/help_debbie_millman_interview_michael_bierut_84860.asp?c=rss conferences Thu, 15 May 2008 11:02:17 -0500

Man, do we ever love it when Art Info puts together their round-ups of upcoming awards. This time around, they've collected the four finalists for the Tate's Turner Prize, which is perhaps the biggest, most important award an artist can receive (or so the good people at Turner would very much like you to continue to believe). The finalists this year are Mark Leckey, Runa Islam, Goshka Macuga and Cathy Wilkes, and Art Info has a great photo gallery to accompany their wonderful synopsis paragraphs for each of the artists. Read up on them now, as you're sure to hear their names again and again throughout the year, given that we're still a long way off from when a winner is announced: December 1st (those Turners and Tates love to stretch things out as long as is humanly possible).

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Perhaps in the face of the struggling architecture industry, Peter Eisenman offered up some thoughts at the recent Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland event (RIAS 2008) and Building Design was there to catch the whole thing, offering up a complete transcript of the six points he made to help get architecture back on track. It's an interesting list, which does everything from say that computers have made architects lazy, schools are letting students become passive and how we're at the end of a style of architecture, so we'd better prep for what's to come and start approaching the coming change now, so that our current work doesn't look so passe in the near future. It's a really terrific, very frank read from a really interesting architect, so well worth your time.

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]]> http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/people/peter_eisenman_talks_tough_to_get_architecture_back_on_track_84858.asp?c=rss http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/people/peter_eisenman_talks_tough_to_get_architecture_back_on_track_84858.asp?c=rss people Thu, 15 May 2008 07:00:19 -0500

Dropping in on the recent start-studded opening of the LACMA's new Broad Contemporary Art Museum in LA was The Independent's Karen Wright who was more interested in telling the tale of Renzo Piano and his newest creation than rubbing elbows with the likes of Tom Cruise, Cindy Sherman and Jeff Koons. Wright is clearly not a student of James S. Russell, as she oohs and ahhs over all the specifics of the architect's latest flashy museum. And without any of that hostility or worry that Piano has lost his edge, the piece provides a nice tour of the new building, which should be valuable until you get a chance to check it out for yourself. Plus, if anything, it's always fun to hear Piano talk:

The building was completed in a speedy three years. One triumph during construction was the closure of a street and removal of a garage, which was replaced underground. As Piano said, "In LA, to take away a street is a miracle, to take away a garage is like destroying the Colosseum in Rome!".

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]]> http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/events/on_the_ground_with_renzo_piano_at_the_broad_museum_opening_84857.asp?c=rss http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/events/on_the_ground_with_renzo_piano_at_the_broad_museum_opening_84857.asp?c=rss events Thu, 15 May 2008 05:15:20 -0500

You've seen the banner ads! Thrilled at the video! Lusted afer the peripherally-related art book! And now, it's nearly upon us: the Mediabistro Circus. Kicking off on the morning of Tuesday, May 20th, the two-day, three-ringed summit will focus on media-changing digital platforms and trends (notably video, mobile, and social). Among the speakers are Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson, executive director of Frog Design Tjeerd Hoek, and New York Times digital news editor Jim Roberts. The organizers remain cagey as to whether the show will include such circus staples as trapeze acts (Anderson has always struck as nimble), lion tamers, and tiny cars brimming with clowns, but we at UnBeige will be sitting near the front with our fingers crossed, and we hope to see you there.

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]]> http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/conferences/mediabistrocom_under_the_big_top_84877.asp?c=rss http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/conferences/mediabistrocom_under_the_big_top_84877.asp?c=rss conferences Wed, 14 May 2008 22:52:57 -0500

Andy Warhol did it. Damien Hirst will sell you a kit to do it yourself. Time did it, and now The New Republic has gotten into the act. We're talking, of course, about the art of painting by number. Our sister blog, FishbowlNY, noted today (via Portfolio) that The New Republic's in-progress paint-by-number Obama cover is strikingly similar to Time's paint-by-number visage of Howard Dean of four years ago, although TNR publisher Franklin Foer says that nobody at the magazine "has any recollection of seeing that cover." Someone needs to go talk to the art directors, because we suspect that both covers are homages to Richard Hess's famous drawing for Esquire's June 1967 cover (art directed by Samuel N. Antupit), which featured a color-by-number portrait of Lyndon Johnson on the occasion of his imminent birthday. The cover line read: "LBJ's birthday is August 27th. Color this portrait, send it to him, and make him happy."

Although Hess' DIY LBJ cover was bumped at the last minute for one of a sledding Jackie Kennedy cradling a pint-sized Eddie Fisher, the cover was widely exhibited and lauded, even making it into Hess' 1991 New York Times obituary. Hess was something of a paint-by-number expert, having worked early in his career to create pictures for the Palmer Paint Company's paint-by-number drawing kits. And clearly, his influence is felt to this day, if not always knowingly.

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]]> http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/magazines/magazines_paint_politicians_by_number_again_84850.asp?c=rss http://www.mediabistro.com/unbeige/magazines/magazines_paint_politicians_by_number_again_84850.asp?c=rss magazines Wed, 14 May 2008 17:34:39 -0500