NEW YORK DESIGN WEEK–WE WISH THERE WERE MORE
Every year in May the weather’s mood lightens and the Manolo Blahnik’s can be risked on city streets again. The occasion? NYDW of course, with a rich street scene for the design cognoscenti, the perfect counterpoint to the workaday exhibits at the ICFF, in that great beached whale we call the Javits Center. I’ll let the pictures tell the story, below. One observation though… EVERY big city in the States should gather their creatives and put on a show. Good for business, the economy, jobs, fun, restaurants and Sparking. I see the giant events put on in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Milan and elsewhere and it’s clear they really perform an important function. If we want economic development in this country you need to develop. Hello! Anybody out there?
Back to the Big Apple, at its shiniest. First– thanks to our friends at ICFF, Artemides, Kartell, CITE, Design Within Reach, Blu Dot and the muNY Exhibition. Best!
BY THE WAY
If you look closely in the gallery above, you’ll spot Yves Behar from Fuse Project, Metropolis Editor Susan Szenasy, designers Manuel Saez and Colin Nourie, Scott Henderson, Stefan Spoerl from Humanscale and Nasahn Sheppard, Charlie Paradise and Jorn Vicari from Smart Design. Nice seeing you, folks!
WHIRLWIND IN CHINA
Hi Folks– Just a quick note on our progress over 15 days in China.
Spark started in Beijing (BJ), landing amidst the annual Spring sandstorms. NOT nice, spent two of 4 days cooped up in Gehua Hotel, although truthfully, I needed the time to write proposals. We’ve been asked to help with programming for the BJ Design Week.
So the only touristy stuff we had time for was an exquisite meal of (what else!) Peking Duck at the famous Da Dong restaurant. Truly up to its billing (thank you Anthony Bourdain). Our Spark winner and good friend, Joaquin Huang shared some good time together. He graduated GAFA and jumped right to Nokia/Beijing. Bright fellow! We also visited and lunched at the lovely Opposite House Hotel near Dong Yue Miao. This property was created by renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, whose exterior “stuns with an emerald green glass overlay.” Well, it was pretty nice, and the food was great in their courtyard cafe… and over the courtyard door was an admonition writ in stone, suggesting we all nurture our inner Spark. I’d have to agree!
Next stop– Guangzhou (GZ), in the Pearl River Delta, China’s vast manufacturing center. It is also the base of SparkChina, our cooperation to promote SparkPro competition entries, Our friends at CitiExpo and in the GZ government made us very welcome indeed, with proposals of deepening our involvement and bringing more elements of Spark to the region and country. We also spent quality time with Prof. Tong and Asst Prof. Haishan Deng of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts– they are good friends and offer wonderful insight about Chinese design and designers.
This morning I’m looking out at bare brown fields of rubble from the 26th floor of our Shanghai Holiday Inn Express. The hotel is somewhat near downtown, next to the train station, and all but surrounded by construction debris. Jackhammers rattle day and night (hence the 26th floor!) and residents struggle to stay cheery– through slightly strained smiles they predict all will be finished in one month, in time for the World Expo. They’ve been under this duress for over a year, and I believe their relief is at last at hand. (BTW– this is a very nice, modernist, spare but cool hotel… let’s see–US $60 here, or $400 at the W. Hmmmmm.) (And only $38 during this blasted construction.)
Interestingly– ALL construction stops May 1, for six months, during the World Expo. Better get cracking, boys!
So, best be getting on with the day– first another proposal for BJ, another for GZ, then meetings with some great Shanghai design resources: Cathy Hwang and Rudy Muller at CBI and Parson Ge at PG Design & Branding. Tomorrow we are off with Prof. Jan Von Holstein to visit a brand new College of Design & Innovation at Tongji University. Jan sits on the Board and teaches at this interesting school, the creation of a stellar international academic committee.
Then we’re on to Hong Kong, for more rounds of research, friendship, Design and probably, sigh, proposals. This is shaping up into an exciting year for Spark’s international program, with prizes, awards shows, exhibitions and more.
All Best
–Peter
DIRECTION FINDERS
San Francisco. Mid-February. 57 degrees, a little foggy. Spark Interface Council met to chart 2010 roll-out of ProSpark & PopSpark. Scene: war room at Autodesk Design Gallery, home of USA Spark Exhibition, Jury & Awards Show.
On-board the Sparknwagon:
-Drew Takahashi, Filmmaker, Founder of Colossal Pictures
-Todd Lappin, Editor, websites like Cnet, CNN and Wired
-Nate McLaughlin, VP at FGI Interactive (home of Spark)
-Erin Bradnor, Autodesk Database Interpretor & Spark Sector Commander
-Nirman Bisla, Spark Energy Manager & Fallen Architect
-Clark Kellogg, Collective Invention, Spark Chief Thinking Officer
-Yours truly, Founder
-Kit Hinrichs, Foundation of Spark
Ronna Tannebaum, Margeigh Novotny, Maria Giudice and Joe Kwong couldn’t make it, and Jared Hendler stayed stuck in NY snow. But we had their input and soldiered on.
Clark, Todd & Nirman
What a fun meeting premise– taking a cool hard look at the current web setup, a version of which will continue to serve the ProSpark side– and imagineering the needs and look of the PopSpark community– to be created from whole cloth.
We want PopSpark to be a warm & friendly place you check into every day. We want the competition Challenges to come from the community (the POPS). (See http://twitter.com/sparkawards). We want the POPS to build a pool of challenge ideas and rank them, and the most POPular become the current challenge. That way, we can focus the community on one challenge at a time.
Sites like DIGG and REDDIT are much simpler– you just submit a link that you like. We want something that the POP creates. That’s a massive difference in commitment and involvement– which is wonderful if we can help it happen.
It would be interesting to list all the many ways a POP can interact with the community: 
–Submit Challenges
–Vote on ”
–Comment on ”
–work on a design
–form up with others and collaborate on a design
–Submit a design
–vote on ”
–Comment on ”
–View rankings of ”
–Adjust/add to or otherwise improve their entry
–Spread the word, lobby for votes
What else, folks?
Drew View?
Best!
–Peter
SPARKS OVER NEW YORK
Recently arranged a rare mid-winter SparkMeet with Council members Brent Oppenheimer, OH+CO Principal; Susan Szenasy, Editor in Chief, Metropolis Magazine and Manuel Saez, Principal of his own design firm (and creator of the award-winning CMYKelectric bike). We met on a brisk, brassy day at Monster Sushi on 23rd Street. These are always interesting exchanges–not least because we are good friends, so there is much catching up to do.
Susan is always a delight–another world-citizen like Brent, she brings the perspective and keen eye of many years of design teaching, criticism and journalism. She’s a child of the old forms, print and fonts and paper (like self!) yet adroitly expresses herself in the latest media to loyal audiences of all ages. Although all magazines struggle, new forms are on the horizon that will afford the continuation of professional writing and design.
(As Brent points out– the recently launched Apple Tablet– the iPad, is the harbinger of new interactive media tools that provide COLOR screens, ease of downloads, various payment schemes, thousands of apps and print combined with music, video, wifi and mobile. Many devices will follow.
In the real world, Brent also recommended the Design Indaba (its conference just took place), the South African organization that sprang into action as the country embraced democracy. Some wonderful people, work and ideas. “All very pertinent to Spark as well,” Brent commented. designindaba.com/
We quizzed Manuel about his CMYK bike plans. “Manuel–What a courageous decision– you’re a designer, taking his product to manufacture and market himself!” Manuel pointed out that this is not unusual– Tom Dair at Smart Design and Bob Brunner at Ammunition frequent these swirling waters. As Tom once mentioned… “Sometimes it pays off. Other times, you just want to forget about it.” On an optimistic note, Manuel has floated a plan (contact Manuel @ manuelsaez.com for more info), has secured manufacturing and is engaged in early marcom efforts. Sweet bike– put Spark on the mailing list!
So then to Spark. We focused on three projects and their linkages– 1. the new public Spark competition– how it works, who could partner, defining success; 2. the build-out of the Sparks Over China success– more/better! Plus logical brand extensions like touring exhibitions and educational sessions; 3. the evolution of the Spark Awards– a continuing effort to polish and finesse every aspect, from outreach to systems to judging and awards. These are giant subjects, and consume many of our Council and Board meetings. Why do we do this? And why do so many brilliant designers of all levels of experience spend the time and effort to help? Because we use these meetings to guide and plan changes. The idea is to remain relevent, with an ear to the ground, listening to the winds of change, chance and need. We Spark when you Spark.
Next Meets: San Francisco in February. UK in March. Shanghai & Beijing in April… God willing.
Best!
–Peter
ENTERED, JUDGED & CELEBRATED
And we were SO busy getting it on! The third Spark was a solid success, by any measure. The work was of excellent caliber, mostly aspirational and inspiring. The jury was challenged with an exciting array of designs in many media, from ceramics to steel. Check it out at the Sparksite:
Visit http://www.sparkawards.com/Galleries/09_Winners/09_Jury_Pix.htm
and http://www.sparkawards.com/Galleries/09_Celebration.htm
SO–WHERE’S SPARK BEEN LATELY?
Good question! Sparking, of course. After the incredible climax of the Spark Judging and Awards Celebration, we dug into the complex process of awards trophy and certificate production. Essentially this is all hand-work, with something unique for all the finalists and winners.
But adding to the fun was the production of the Sparks Over China Exhibition and mini conference for early December. In mid-November we pulled together the Spark winners– hi-res images or real pieces, for air shipment to China. Plus every conceivable media from mug-shots of the winners to videos, documentation, etc. This went into the able hands of our CitiExpo partner in China, Ready Zhang and our great task-ms-tress, Mabel Mai, who got the job done. We flew out on the 29th– first to fulfill our happy duties to the Global Design Network in Hong Kong.
GDN is part of the giant Business of Design Week, one of our favorite design expos and highly recommended. Fellow delegates included good friend Julia Chiu, of Japan’s Good Design Awards (and soon to be President of ICOGRADA), Geoff Fitzpatrick, head of the Australian Design Institute and Kigge Hvid, CEO of the INDEX Awards. Then we were off to the Guangzhou Design Fair, for some real Sparkn’ Chinese-style.
This delegate- stuff is not easy. One is kept busy from 830am to 11pm, in a constant whirl of meeting politicians, dignitaries, banquets, award-shows (we handed out trophies at 4 of them!), TV and magazine interviews, speeches and jury-duty for the Kapok award.
Our Spark mini-conference went very well. After the PK pitch (with excellent translation by Ding Zhong), Professor Tong, President of Design at the Gungzhou Academy of Arts related his tale of journeying to America, visiting many of the top design schools and judging Spark.
Also Asst. Prof and 2008 Spark winner Haishan Deng (on the left) spoke about the experience of Sparking, and why more Chinese designers should be entering competitions.
Then we handed out Finalist Certificates. These folks were SO happy! But BEST of all was the exhibition of Sparks. All of ‘em, from the last three years. Quite an accomplishment to get everything together–especially 09– in such a short time. We were so proud to see this great work being honored in China.
The work was in display cases or mounted on silk panels by students from GAFA, working with the Citiexpo team. Just beautiful. Great job.
So it went, so it goes. Blowing in the wind.
Back in Hong Kong, we found time for some deep thinking about our friendships and progress in this exciting land. Without getting too blogged- down, I think much is done for peace and cooperation–and progress and freedom– in weeks like this. So maybe we should all just get out there and meet people and make plans and just DO It. Because you can. And it helps. And you’ll get rich– inside. Thanks for the Sparks, China!
BACK TO BASICS–SOME SIMPLE STUFF ABOUT THE SPARKAWARDS
LOOK-SEE
The 2009 Winners Galleries are full of fascinating and inspiring work. Visit:
http://www.sparkawards.com/09_Winners.htm
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We have all just been through an amazingly tough year. We hope and pray that the worst is now in the past, we’ve passed our trial and the new year will be happy, sustainable and prosperous. All best!
2010 SPARKS: ENTER ONE
This year will be an exciting adventure for Spark and Design. In our continuing search for fresh and relevent design interaction, we are launching PopSpark this Spring. Can’t publish many details yet, but PopSpark will encourage personal creativity and focus on specific arts and media throughout the year. It will compliment the original SparkAwards “ProSpark”, which continues in the Fall.
2010 SPARKS: ENTER BOTH
Which Spark is right for you? PopSpark is a forum for individuals, who may respond to a creative challenge in a specific discipline they enjoy working in. It is not for corporate or design firms. The Spark Design & Architecture Awards– ProSparks are the home for all professional firms and entrants– and aspiring pro’s.
ALL DESIGN
ALL DESIGNERS
WELCOME!
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LINKED YET?
Our new group is now over 415 members. Join the buzz!
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=1815249&trk=anet_ug_hm
OR HOW ‘BOUT THAT TWITTER! JOIN US THERE
Spark’s intrepid Communications Director, Mark Charmer, guided the creation of: http://twitter.com/sparkawards
CONTACT SPARK
Spark may be reached at +1.914.481.6106 or via email at info @ sparkawards.com. Visit www.sparkawards.com for more information. For competition details, try the ever-popular FAQ section at http://www.sparkawards.com/Call_for_Entries/FAQ.htm
SPARK WILL BE BACK SOON
Take care of yourselves!
