~Yale Arts Library Blog~

Light-emitting wallpaper set to wow Audley Jarvis TechRadar 4/14/08

An enterprising young designer from the Netherlands has invented what has to be the ultimate in home illumination – light emitting wallpaper.

“The back layer is a silver-based solution that conducts electricity, while the layer above this contains phosphorous pigments that light up. On top of this is a flexible, transparent ITO conductor layer, with regular wallpaper placed on top to act as the final, outwardly visual layer,” he explained.

The result, when it’s switched on, is a visually stunning wall-of-light that can be turned off and on, just like a regular light.

Visit the artists website here.

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Image: Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

Robert Rauschenberg, Titan of American Art, Is Dead at 82 Michael Kimmelman NYT 5/14/08

Above: Five Franklin Place, New York

Check out more new architecture and design at Kanye West’s Blog.

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Photograph: Karl Blossfeldt

After photographing flowers, buds and seed capsules for thirty-five years, Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) published his masterpiece Urformen der Kunst (Art Forms in Nature) in 1928. See a portfolio of the work here.

The German sculpture used his photographs of plants to teach students about design elements in nature. He once said, “The plant never lapses into mere arid functionalism; it fashions and shapes according to logic and suitability, and with its primeval force compels everything to attain the highest artistic form.”

More of his work here. Plus check out the Peabody Museum’s Manual of Leaf Architecture.

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This innovative building, built by Sanyo in Japan, not only collects an impressive amount of energy from the sun, it also functions like a giant lite-brite.

The World’s Coolest Solar Collecting Building? Ecoble 1/7/08

“The so-called Solar Ark has over 5,000 active solar panels generating over 500,000 KWh of environmentally friendly energy. Nearly 500 multi-colored lighting units placed between the various solar panels can be activated to create a variety of shapes and letters on the sides of this enormous structure.”

More on the Solar Ark here.

And check out a live display of solar energy created at Yale here.

More info about Yale’s solar energy system here and read about Yale’s solar racing car here.

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“Chip Kidd designs some six dozen books a year. Some, he also edits. Occasionally, he even writes one. It’s been seven years since Kidd’s first novel, The Cheese Monkeys. Its sequel, The Learners—The Book After The Cheese Monkeys is the reason for his two stops in New Haven next Wednesday.”

Arts: Oh, You Kidd: You don’t need to judge every Chip Kidd book by its cover. By Christopher Arnott, February 14, 2008 New Haven Advocate

Posted by: Tanya

Furniture designers, STLLoftstyle, are running an interesting piece on urban furniture and other innovations aimed at alleviating homelessness in cities. Check it out here. Pictured above is Michael Rakowitz’s ParaSite Project.

“The ParaSite Project is the idea of Artist Michael Rakowitz. Essentially, the ideas was to provide portable, temporary shelter, the relies on easily accessible goods, and uses the urban environment. Rakowitz solution are these air tents made of plastic bags that provide heated shelter via the exhaust from HVAC units. You can read more about it here.”

Posted by Chris

Experimental public art troupe, Creative Time, has published a book and true to form, the book itself is the result of an art installation. Each book cover is a unique display of colors, sounds and weather recorded in New York. The A&A’s copy of the book shows information collected from Battery Park on 9/8/06 at 12:34PM. Find information about the making of the cover and more here.

From the book description: “For more than 30 years, Creative Time has been an avatar of public art in the city, working to engage art and the environment, artists and the public. Creative Time: The Book shows how a single organization made it possible for thousands of artists to present awe-inspiring works that engage, taunt, seduce, enliven, and transform a city.

“Creative Time artworks have been seen in spaces both lofty and modest. Light projections have appeared on the Beaux-Arts entrance to the New York Public Library and from Ground Zero in the now famous Tribute in Light Memorial to 9/11. Signage has popped up on Times Square’s Astrovision screen and along the boardwalks of Coney Island. Music has blasted in Central Park as well as under tunnels in DUMBO, Brooklyn.”

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image: readymade magazine

Check out this collection of interesting furniture design at STLLoftstyle.com.

Plus, the amazing folding chair and how to grow your own furniture.

Posted by Chris

image: Banana Republic

Truth vs. Advertising: The Banana Republic Architect Ads Gawker.com

“Gawker: Do you think these ads will inspire a lot of youngsters to become architects when they grow up?

Frankie: If I were a high schooler with architectural aspirations seeing this, it would probably be too seductive to resist. Five years in a design program, however, at a sufficiently respectable design school will bleed most of the color out of this person’s palette and leave them crushed and vulnerable enough to fully engage the profession.”

Related: The Most Glamorous Jobs Salary.com

Posted by: Chris

Read about the history of the folding chair HERE.

Check out what Russian designers have done to these buildings in Moscow City. Visit the website here.

Grow your own stool or table frame! (It will only take five years….)
Find out how at: Grown Furniture.

Detail from a bookcase at the Arts of the Book Collection.

Image taken from the Yale Book Arts page.