Hole Punched

Dutch jeweler, Gensine Hackenberg creates these simple yet clever ceramic jewelery pieces by literally punching circles from existing traditional chinaware. The concept and the pieces themselves are seemingly simple, but the juxtaposition of the old and the new is thoughtful and more than well executed.
It's all about seeing the origin of the material and the story that she's created for both the tableware and the jewelery pieces together that makes the concept more than ordinary. I love using existing objects and transforming it in whatever ways. It's part of appreciating the origin, story and character, and at the same time giving the object a whole new life and value.

Who do they think they are? Bunch of Socialists?

Found out about this design group awhile back via Core77 called Platform 21.
And guess what? They're Dutch...go figures.
Actually, they're more like a design platform. They're stationed in a crazy Space Odyssey-style chapel in Amsterdam and use the space as their public laboratory where they have design "repair" stations and workshops of all sort, and most importantly, its where people exchange creative knowledge and ideas.
I don't know about you...but they sound like a bunch of Socialists to me! Don't they know that government sponsored design groups, universal health care, and public universities don't work? The whole system is gonna fail and we're gonna be laughing at them from the U.S.of A when that happens......any day now....I can feel it!

Anyways, Platform 21 developed this concept called Repair Manifesto. Their moto "Stop recycling. Start reparing." It's all about repairing what you have....using your creativity.
Sounds a little fishy...I think this is a governement conspiracy to brainwash the people to make them think they're doing something good when in fact they're just trying to use the people for free labor.
Here are the 11 things on the Repair Manifesto: Read it (click photo) and you be the judge. I can't say that I'm totally convinced about this whole repair "manifesto" propaganda.
These chairs have been repaired with duct tape.....clever.....but have they been fully tested? are the child safe? pet safe? dishwasher safe? did they test it by locking bunch of cats in a room with those chairs and see how it holds up after a bunch of cats scratching on it? They failed to address any of that!And here we have cracked walls repaired with Lego blocks (concept by Jan Vormann, I wrote about him last December) You know what this means? This means that they're robbing every child in the Netherlands of their Legos in order do construction repairs for the city!! And look at the poor Asian lady slaving away....she was probably just a tourist that ended up getting forced to work for them! Unbelievable!
This one is just ridiculous....web repair advertisement using yarn on actual spider webs!! I almost died when I saw this. The concept and the story is just way too hilarious. I can just see the spiders getting pissed off waking up with a bunch of words on its web....Ahem, I mean this is serious. The Dutch are so poor that they have to infringe on the resources of a spider for advertisement!Now that you have a clear idea of what life is like in the Netherlands and how grim it is, doesn't it make you appreciate the life you have as an American? They're in such bad shape that they actually have to start using broken objects and repair them! Its just unthinkable!
As Americans we should REALLY be grateful of how privileged we are and how we can afford to buy new things and dispose of them even if they're not broken. The idea that someone has to use their tools, hands, and creativity to fix something is simply unrealistic!
I don't know about you but I got better things to do than fixing something with duct tape and hot glue.
I contribute to the world by educating my readers through my blog about important current issues like this (and few other issues like what awesome thing I got and want)

Sigh...It's only seeing how other parts of the world are suffering is when we realize how lucky we truly are as Americans to be living in the land of Freedom.....oh, and also Bald Eagles, too. They go hand in hand of course.


To the Dutch (if you're American born citizen, DO NOT read this!):
Ahem...Everything I said above about the Dutch and your country was all just an act for my American readers. It's okay, they don't know that both Dylan and I have been to Amsterdam and think it's the BEST place ever! I have to be extra harsh on you guys so we don't seem suspicious and "unpatriotic"...whatever that means.
So we're cool, right? I can go live in your country and hang out with your awesome people anytime, right?
What? No?! WHY NOT?!
GOD!! I'll do anything....I'll repair ANYTHING and EVERYTHING you want me to!!! I just wanna live in Amsterdam!!!! Please just let me live there!!! PLEEEEZE?!!!

BRITE lite RESULTS!!

Hello! We apologize for the delay!! We held our first BRITE event on May, 16. We FINALLY went through the photos (I took 400+ photos!) and can now share with everyone what a fun event it was!

Just to backtrack a little, Dylan & I and Christa & Nin (from Cafe Weekend) teamed up to organize this design charrette (and a trial run) with a mission to start connecting people through interactive and spontaneous design activities. We're calling it the BRITE Collective.

For this first event: BRITE lite, LOCAL DESIGNERS & CRAFTERS teamed up to participate in a spontaneous 4 hour community scavenger hunt/design-build to create ready-made lamps from household and second hand materials.
There was a good turn out with 18 people (total of 9 teams) who participated that day. We asked people to bring materials to share with everyone and there were a great mix of lamps that came from it. We gave every team a BRITE lite kit...which I had a little too much fun with. :D
Everyone also got a special wooden BRITE badge! Our plan is to do that for every event! ...I mean , who wouldn't want to be rewarded for such accomplishments! A simple badge is a perfect item that says "HEY! I accomplished something today and that's a wonderful feeling! (blank stare and a giant stiff smile)" And THAT's pretty darn special, wouldn't you agree? We were all about making this event special. Christa even went and got some cheerful balloons!
It was a beautiful Seattle day so we were able to open the garage door at the Hiawatha community space and some people worked outside or walked to the nearby Goodwill Dearborn to hunt for interesting materials for their lights.
Nin and I were in charge of documentenging the event...we followed people around trying taking candid shots capturing their process at the Goodwill. And in the process of taking photos, I crept around like a creepy stalker trying not to get noticed....and also trying to stop myself from shopping. That was hard.Oh and look! Here's Steve with his new Friend! Apparently he decided to replace his hand with a rubber dinosaur head instead. Oh! all the wonderful things you can find!
It was so inspiring to creative energy in the room and see everyone brainstorming, sketching, playing ,and exploring with materials. It was just amazing to see everyone use ordinary things and turn it into something extraordinary!!

Okay I'll stop with the talking.. On with the results!

Here are some lights people made in 4 hours! Drum roll.....

Pair of hanging lights made with walnut edge banding and paper cups by Lindsay & Sena.

Table lamp made with stainless thermos and glass coffee pot by Joelle & Steve. Hanging shade made with wire ring, staples, and letter envelopes by Mat & Dylan. Table lamp wit braille paper and Stevie Wonder record at the base by Christine & Nick. Hanging chandelier made with mix match of magazine organizers by Chika & Cat.Come see TONS more photos here to see the entire process! The lights will also be exhibited at JOIN's Ctrl Alt Design show at Ouch My Eye, beginning June 12th, with the opening starting from 7-midnight.

If you like what you're seeing and would like to know about our future events, please join our BRITE facebook !

Thanks to everyone who participated. It was a very fun day and great way to kick off the BRITE Collective!!