This Little Piggy Cried "Humanitarian" All the Way Home.

above: A philanthropic Piggy Bank set for children

Michigan-based Materious, in an effort to teach future generations about compassion and to help parents raise future humanitarians (Lord knows, we could use more), has designed a great-looking, fun and educational way to save money and turn your little ones into caring citizens.


above: the set shown in glossy pale pink (also available in white)

In an effort to teach their own child about compassion, kindness and caring, Stephanie and Bruce, the talented couple behind the design firm, came up with Piggy, a set of beautifully designed savings banks, in glossy white or pale pink, that nest together.

The larger “Momma” Piggy bank is for a child’s personal savings, and the smaller "Little Piggy" bank is for the child's charitable savings.





PIGGY FEATURES
* Hand-cast ceramic
* Set of banks: one ‘momma’ and one ‘baby’
* Modern, minimal design
* Glazed in pale pink or bright white
* Small pig nests with the large ‘momma’
* Removable bottom plugs on each
* Ships safely in fun “quote box”

The box in which the adorable nesting Piggies are packaged is covered with great quotes about compassion:


Quotes that embellish the box:
•If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. - The Dalai Lama
•We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. - Winston Churchill
•I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. - Maya Angelou
•It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it. - Albert Einstein
•Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. - Mahatma Gandhi
•No one has ever become poor by giving. - Anne Frank
•Compassion is not religious business, it is human business, it is not luxury, it is essential for our own peace and mental stability, it is essential for human survival. - Dalai Lama
•A good heart is better than all the heads in the world. - Edward Bulwer-Lytton
•In separateness lies the world’s great misery, in compassion lies the world’s true strength. - Buddha
•To care for anyone else enough to make their problems one’s own, is ever the beginning of one’s real ethical development. - Felix Adler
•The life of a man consists not in seeing visions and in dreaming dreams, but in active charity and in willing service. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

THE POWER OF PIGGY
This simple product, Piggy, can truly make the world a better and more compassionate place. Piggy helps teach kids about charitable giving, with the hopes of inspiring new generations of caring, sharing, philanthropic citizens. With 12,000 children born each day in the US, imagine the social impact if just a fraction of them learned powerful lessons of gratefulness and kindness to others.

USING PIGGY

Materious suggests that children learn to set aside 10% of their income to charity. Parents can discuss with their kids about who they would want to help most. When the baby bank is filled, a special event can be planned to deliver the money to the charity, or a trip to the bank and post office to mail a check.

The goal is to create positive feelings of doing good will make an indelible mark upon their character and place philanthropy as an important and intrinsic aspect of their life.


Buy the Piggy Nesting banks here (They donate 3% of the profits to charity)

For resources on possible charities, go to the 'Charity' tab of their site.
The designers want to know your own inspiring story, send it to them here.


above: Stephanie of Materious, with her inspiration.

Materious is also the company who brought us the fabulous Samurai Umbrella.

all images and info courtesy of Materious and special thanks to Stilsucht for bringing this to my attention.

Adding Comfort To Culture. Vitra Launches Fully Upholstered Versions Of Classic Eames Chairs.

The famous molded side and armchairs by Charles and Ray Eames, originally created in fiberglass in 1950, then made in plastic, now made of polypropylene, have become a little more comfy with the fully upholstered versions recently launched by Vitra.



The Eames plastic armchair (sometimes called the 'potato chip' chair) and the Eames plastic side chair, available in eight shell colors, are now offered with your choice of 13 different colors of Hopsak upholstery and black or white piping.

Hopsak upholstery colors for the armchair:


Shell colors for the armchair:


Hopsak upholstery colors for the side chair:

Shell colors for the side chair:


When you add these options to the base options (R-wire, wooden, X-base and La Fonda base, you get a large number of possible combinations. Casters are also available on the armchair.


above: the four base options for either chair and casters.

Black piping:

White piping:

Detail of black piping:


all images courtesy of Vitra.

You can purchase these upholstered Eames chairs from twenty twentyone or find a dealer through Vitra.

Exploding House in Bodrum, Turkey By GAD

Bodrum is a Mediterranean port-trade settlement in the Southwest of Turkey. The area boasts a rich history of over three thousand years, including Hellenistic times. The venerated scientist Heredot was born there and sculptures by artists including Leochares, Bryaxis, and Timotheos were exhibited there and can now be found in museum collections around the world. The outdated codes restrict new forms of architecture being introduced to the landscape.



To overcome this and create a more flexible building type, GAD created a house made from three separate buildings – a metaphor for a single building that has been “exploded” into many parts.




Operated electronically, the windows have the capacity to slide open flush to the ground, allowing for sea breezes to flood the interior.



This innermost space is the focal point of the house and is connected to the three houses by a series of concrete ramps that reconcile the building with the landscape. An additional slope that can be used as a sun deck and for light recreational activities descends to the contiguous swimming pool located on land set at a slightly lower grade from the house.



From here the ramp leads down the hillside to an additional self-contained apartment building that is set within the land and hidden from the house above.



Each individual unit, which complies with the regulatory size of 75 square meters, is built next to one another with a narrow space in between and is linked by a glass atrium. Conceived as a single house, each building has a separate function: a master bedroom and bathroom; a kitchen and dining room; and a guesthouse with an adjacent study room.



The central glass vestibule acts as the entrance to the building as well as the main living area with 180° vistas of the stunning landscape and bay made possible by floor to ceiling windows.






The open-plan of the main house ensures that it is light and airy, a must in the summer. As a secondary precaution, the roof of the building is covered with pools that collect rainwater.


above: the water cascades from the roof of one of the buildings to the other and is then circulated back round, creating a natural cooling system for a hot climate.



The “Exploded House” reinterprets traditional dwellings in the area, yet its angular structure that fits into the clefts in the hillside, remains in keeping with the natural environment and when seen from above the pools mirror the surrounding landscape and the endless vista of the bay and help mask the presence of the building on the hill.

Architects: Gokhan Avcioglu / GAD
Location: Bodrum, Turkey
Interior Design: Hakan Ezer
Client: Vedat Semiz, Sureyya Semiz
Site Area: 5,000 sqm
Project Area: 600 sqm
Project Year: 2003
Photographs: Ali Bekman, Ozlem Avcioglu

Agent Provocateur Launches New Campaign With Lingerie Lookbook And Short Film From RSA.

Known for their luxurious and sexy lingerie, Agent Provocateur has just launched its new Betty Sue campaign featuring Kirsty Hume in a a two minute film by Ridley Scott's production company, RSA. The short film accompanies a print campaign and lookbook of filmic stills (all shown in this post) and video shorts. These individual elements of the campaign support an Autumn/Winter 2010 lingerie collection which takes inspiration from strong female protagonists from late 20th Century Hollywood cinema.

From Classic Lalique To The New Starck Version - A Look At All The L'Air Du Temps Bottles Since 1948.

It was announced a few days ago that the classic Nina Ricci perfume bottle for the L'Air du Temps fragrance spray has been redesigned by omnipresent designer Philippe Starck as a special limited edition.

This is not the first time the L'Air du Temps flacon has been redesigned. The original bottle design introduced in 1948, was made to emulate a sunburst and had a frosted glass insert in the top. Only 3 years later Robert Ricci had Rene Lalique of Lalique crystal design a bottle that has since become a classic. Numerous iterations of dove-topped bottles have appeared since then, culminating in the newest modern version by Philippe Starck.



Below are all the bottles produced for the fragrance, in chronological order.

The first L'air du Temps bottle, 1948:

In 1951 Lalique crystal created the now iconic bottle with the two frosted doves atop the swirled clear crystal flacon.

1951, Lalique bottle with 2 doves:

From 1951 to present, Lalique Crystal made numerous limited and special editions of the classic bottle which included variations on the number of doves, the color of the doves and the color of the bottle. The one anomaly? In 1996, Lalique made a winged version of the bottle that did not have the doves.

1955, single dove:

1991-1993, colored doves:

1996, winged bottle:

1998, globe bottle:

2004, gold bottle:

2005, amber bottle and doves:

2006, pearlized bottle:

2007, prestige bottles:

60th Anniversary bottle:

And most recently designer Philippe Starck has taken the symbolic two doves and abstracted them for the newest limited edition of the perfume and topped one of the wings with a silver cap.


The newest bottle called L'Air du Temps by Starck will be available as a 45ml spray launching in October 2010. This limited edition is reported to cost 69 EUR ($89).





About the perfume (from the Nina Ricci site):
L’air du temps - Nina Ricci Perfume


The icon fragrance from the Nina Ricci house was born in a creative and joyful spirit in 1948. The perfect harmony of an enchanting elixir, the symbol of femininity and eternal youth. the emblematic values of L'Air du Temps remain universal: Peace, Purity, Freedom and Love. L'Air du Temps is also the air that we breathe, the mood of the moment, the reflection of each era. L'Air du Temps… An unequalled moment of emotion.

Fragrance : Spicy Floral
This fresh and timeless fragrance is a unique combination of contrasts. The legendary accord of spicy carnation and gardenia is subtly tinged with rose and jasmine from Grasse and caressed with sandalwood and iris for even more sensuality. A fragrance of emotion, L’Air du Temps exudes a mysterious power of seduction. Its fragrance blends into the personality of each woman to bring out her sensual charm and refinement.

Buy L'Air du Temps products here

Nina Ricci
Philippe Starck
Lalique Crystal