United Nude Adds The Stealth Bag To Their Line of Architecturally-Inspired Fashions.

Since I first introduced you to United Nude's architecturally inspired shoes back in March of 2009, then more of their shoes and their collaboration with fashion designer Iris van Herpen, the company continues to expand their product line.


above: Iris van Herpen X United Nude Crystallization limited edition shoe for S/S 2011.

They have added more unique shoes for women to their collection, recently introduced a men's collection, a unisex hat, wallets and now, the Stealth Bag.


above: United Nude Launches Men’s Capsule Collection for Spring / Summer 2011

above: the Hollow men's shoe has a peek-a-boo carbon fiber heel with traditional leather upper


above: the Stealth hat for men and women was introduced in AW 2010

The United Nude Stealth Bag, like the wedge shoe in the same family is inspired by the straight lines of the Stealth F-117 fighter plane.







The Stealth leather bag is available in four different colors and costs $295
Purchase it here.

Solar Powered Soft Rockers (Video & Gallery) By MIT Professor & Students

Professor of the Practice of Architecture, Sheila Kennedy, and a group of Design, Architecture and Engineering students from MIT have designed solar-energy storing modern wood rockers on which you can lounge and chat or charge. Smartphones, cell phones, mp3 devices, laptops and other gadgets can be connected via USB. What's more, the soft rockers are designed with a solar powered ambient light that gives them a soft glow in the dark.











above: Image by SOFT ROCKER TEAM: Sheila KENNEDY, MIT Professor of the Practice of Architecture; James BAYLESS, KVA UC Intern; Kaitlyn BOGENSCHUTZ, KVA UC Intern; Wardad INAM, MIT PhD Candidate, Electrical Engineering; Jungmin NAM, GSD March I 2009, KVA Designer; Shevy ROCKCASTLE, MIT Smarchs 2011; Phil SEATON, MIT March 2012; Matt TRIMBLE, MIT March 2009, RADLAB; Adnon ZOLIJ, MIT BS 2010, Electrical Engineering

Soft Rockers description and video from MIT:
Recharge yourself and your electronics while relaxing with friends outdoors in Killian Court. The MIT SOFT Rockers are smart, clean energy charging stations disguised as outdoor rocking lounge furniture. Unlike conventional ‘hard’ urban infrastructure, The SOFT Rocker leverages its environment in a dynamic manner by using the human power of balance to create an interactive 1.5 axis 35 watt solar tracking system. Soft power electronics designed for this project charge the 12 ampere-hour battery and store solar energy harvested during the day. Put your body weight in play with an interactive, real time energy harvesting feedback loop that senses how you orient the rocker to the sun. Charge or run any USB device from speakers to cell phones and bring your friends to enjoy cool lighting loops at night for social gatherings.



The leaf-like loop form of the SOFT Rockers explores how standard softwood panels can be mass-customized to adapt to the latitude and sun angle of any site using parametric design software and automated fabrication with a lightweight Kuka robotic arm. The SOFT Rocker combines hi-tech and low-tech design strategies: it produces electricity but engages the body and works like furniture “by hand”; it mixes sun tracking and social dynamics; it is a site specific object and a flexible form family of ‘soft’ wood construction. The SOFT Rocker blurs distinctions between pleasure and work and recasts power generation as an integrated and distributed public activity rather than a centralized, singular off-site project of ‘engineering’.  

SOFT ROCKER TEAM: Sheila KENNEDY, MIT Professor of the Practice of Architecture James BAYLESS, UC MArch 2014, KVA Intern Kaitlyn BOGENSCHUTZ, UC BS Arch 2013, KVA Intern Wardah Inam, MIT PhD Candidate 2015, Electrical Engineering Jungmin NAM, GSD MArch 2009, KVA Designer Shevy ROCKCASTLE, MIT SMarchS 2011 Phil SEATON, MIT MArch 2012 Matt TRIMBLE, MIT MArch 2008, RADLAB Adnon ZOLIJ, MIT BS 2010, Electrical Engineer Vicor, Inc. MIT gives special thanks to: • Vicor, Inc. Applications Engineering provided power electronics support. Picor, a subsidiary, provided Cool-O-Ring controllers for battery/load interfacing. • Global Solar, Inc. Technology Development Team provided advance samples of Gen II flexible photovoltaics. • LightTape, Inc. Assisted with manufacture of custom electroluminescent lighting materials • Peter Murray at Fine Finish, Inc., in Waltham, MA.  

images and info courtesy of Arts at MIT

Google Launches A Powerful TV Spot To Hype Their Chrome Browser.

A smart, moving and demonstrative new 90 second tv commercial achieves a dual purpose: introducing people to both Google's latest Chrome browser and Dan Savage's anti-bullying project, It Gets Better.

"It Gets Better" for Google Chrome:


The 90 second commercial is one spot in a new campaign for Google Chrome (another spot in the campaign is Dear Sophie) which premiered last Tuesday night during an episode of GLEE and shows people using Google Chrome’s toolbar and YouTube to record videos for the It Gets Better Project to empathize with and give hope to gay teenagers who fear bullying.

The ad shows some examples of videos uploaded to YouTube to support the project by people and celebrities:




According to the NY Times, The Google ad campaign, called “the Web is what you make of it,” is the biggest offline campaign ever for Google, which has typically shied away from advertising. It declined to disclose its spending plan.

The ads zero in on the computer screen, showing what people are typing, uploading and sharing, similar to the “Parisian Love” ad that aired during the Super Bowl in 2010, which told the story of an American exchange student who falls in love with a woman in Paris.



“We try to get rid of everything but the user and the tools and let you feel what is happening there, without a lot of commentary from Google itself,” said Andy Berndt, vice president of the Google Creative Lab, which created the campaign with the ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty.


Full Credits
Agency: Google Creative Lab
Client: Google
Executive Creative Director: Calle Sjoenell
Agency: BBH New York
Executive Creative Director: Pelle Sjoenell
Executive Creative Director: Robert Wong
Associate Creative Director: Jesse Juriga
Art Director: Steve Pack
Art Director: Caprice Yu
Copywriter: Jeff Johnson
Head of Broadcast: Lisa Setten
Project Manager: Jessica Beavers
Web Content Research: Nickerson Research
End Tag Graphic: Buck
Music Supervisor: Search Party Music
Executive Producer: Stephanie Diaz-Matos


The "It Gets Better" campaign, started in 2010 by Dan Savage, now boasts contributions from a number of high-profile names, including President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and, as seen in this video, Woody from Toy Story." (The Advocate, 5.03.11)

You can download Google Chrome here

From Durer to Dali, Famous Artists Paint Their Mothers Part Two of Two.

For Mother's Day weekend, I'm sharing portraits of "mothers" by various painters ranging from the 15th century to the present. Yesterday was Part One, a look at portraits of world-renowned artists' mothers prior to the 2oth century and today is Part Two, featuring more contemporary portraits from the 20th and 21st centuries. For more information and caveats, see yesterday's post here.

Franz Marc, portrait of his mother, 1902:

Georgio di Chirico, portrait of the artist's mother, 1911:

Egon Shiele, Mother Sleeping, 1911:

Juan Gris, portrait of the artist's mother, 1912:

Edward Hopper, Elizabeth Griffiths Smith Hopper, the artist's mother, 1916:

Salvador Dali, portrait of the artist's mother, 1920:

Norman Rockwell's Mother Tucking Children Into Bed (for which his mother Irene was the model), 1921:

Grant Wood, Woman With Plants (his mother), 1929:

Arshile Gorky, portrait of the artist's mother, 1936:

William H. Johnson, Mom Alice, 1944:

Alice Neel, My Mother, 1952:

Lucian Freud, The Painter's Mother, 1973:

Andy Warhol, silkscreen of his mother, Julia Warhola, 1974 :

David Hockney, Mum, 1985:

Daphne Todd, Last Portrait Of Mother, 2009:

David Kassan, portrait of the artist's mother, 2010:


See Part One here.


Oh, and Happy Mother's Day!