If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives): HP

Play a game of hide and seek with over 30 endangered creatures on the limited edition HP Mini by Studio Tord Boontje. Inspired by harmony in nature and designed by world-renowned industrial designer Tord Boontje, it is intricately crafted using HP Imprint 3D, a world’s ﬁrst in 3D surface technology.

The Partnership

World-renowned industrial designer, Tord Boontje, is a recipient of multiple prestigious design awards and many of his pieces are displayed in museums around the world. HP and Tord both share a common philosophy – to be socially and environmentally responsible, and to inﬂuence others in doing the same.

The Design- A World's First

This exclusive HP Imprint 3D ﬁnish is beautifully adorned with ﬂora that weaves delicately around endangered animals, creating a mystical, layered effect.

A closer look reveals shy animals hiding delicately within the ﬂora – like taking a walk in the woods and discovering animals along the way. But these are no ordinary animals – many are endangered animals such as the polar bear, the blue whale, the red squirrel – just a few of the many creatures relying on us to help sustain the world that we share.

Make smarter choices for the environment

This HP Mini features a 10.1-inch mercury-free LED backlit display for increased energy efﬁciency. With packaging and user guides that are made 100% from recycled materials and printed with soy-based ink, you can now play your part for the environment.

Personalise

Awaken your senses and enjoy wallpapers and special icons* designed by Tord Boontje, plus a customised Stardock MyColors™* desktop theme for a truly personal experience. Matching accessories are also available separately:

Easy access, easy sync

Gain fast access to the Internet with HP QuickWeb#, even without booting up. Instantly sync all your favourite music, video and ﬁles via HP QuickSync.
Buy The HP Mini 110-1135NR by Studio Tord Boontje

HP and Artist/toy designer, Pete Fowler have teamed up for a great interactive co-op project that allows you to create your own animated movie with Pete Fowler's Monsterism characters and HP's technology.

Called Toyrama, you can create your own animated movies, pick music, scenes, create dialogue and then submit your film.

The Press Release reads as follows:

Singapore, Aug 2, 2007 – Embarking on magical adventures is not just for Shrek-like ogres and furry animals from Over the Hedge anymore as HP kicks off a unique contest that invites digital animators across Asia Pacific to create, design and direct short, animated skits using high-performance workstations and graphics tools.

Christened the HP Toyrama Contest, this online competition developed by Arc Worldwide Singapore challenges the best digital content creators in the region to create innovative and rich multimedia stop-motion animation starring five toy characters named Sancho, Farm Girl, Ranger, Jogger and Green from Monsterism Island, designed by cult toy designer, Pete Fowler. The contest has two categories – the Open segment, for enthusiasts, amateurs or students with a passion for animation; as well as the Professional segment, for the more proficient animators.

They even have a "professional category" (see below):

Below is a nice example of the "How To" (created by my friends over at NOTCOT), just click on it to enlarge:

So, check out Toyrama and have some fun.

More For Pete Fowler Fans

For all you Pete Fowler Fans, he's also just created a KIA spot in the uk:
Pete Fowler creates new animation for Kia advert

Illustrator and designer Pete Fowler, best known for his work with the Super Furry Animals and his Monsterism.net Website, has animated an advert for Kia's new Picanto range.

The advert is directed by Pete Candeland of Passion pictures, the man responsible for four of the Gorillaz music videos, which similarly made use of the work of cult illustrator Jamie Hewlett, creator of Tank Girl.

This is the first time Fowler's characters have been animated using computer graphics. The challenge for Candeland and his CG team was representing the 2D characters in 3D while keeping Fowler's trademark style. In order to do this, Candeland and Fowler decided to keep certain objects, together with the backgrounds, as flat graphic elements. The 3D characters were then built in Lightwave and animated in Messiah before compositing the background elements in After Effects.

The Kia advert is being screened in TV ad breaks now.

To see more of Pete Fowler's work, click here.