G's latest spweings from twitter...
Aircraft re-branding… Very cool!
February 5th, 2010 | No Comments »Once in a while something comes along that I think is too cool for school. This is one of them.
South Africa’s Kulula airlines did a rebrand and while they were at it, decided that educating people about their aircraft might be a cool thing to do along the way…
Massive Attack – Splitting the Atom
February 4th, 2010 | No Comments »A wee bit of entertainment from the legendary Massive Attack.
Oh yea, the video is really cool too!
Massive Attack-Splitting the Atom-directed by Edouard Salier from edouard salier on Vimeo.
Vyrus: Delicious moto goodness
January 29th, 2010 | No Comments »How to welcome in 2010 around here? Especially since it’s a month late!
As usual, I have been swamped with more things to do than I know what to do with so this week I had an easier one, after getting that bit older, and also remembered that Mag100 has been sitting here, feeling quite rightly neglected.
The first post for 2010 is about two wheels, though not of the human powered variety. For the majority that don’t know, of late I have been spending a bit too much time in front of CAD, doing up designs for the new Mountain Cycle bikes, the’ San Andreas ’20” and the ‘Zen II’. No easy feat considering the heritage attached, especially to the San Andreas, a bike that 20 odd years ago changed the thought process of designing mountain bikes and still today has influence.
It’s been a long time since those days when I was at Ducati (Cagiva Group SpA) as a staff designer, for what amounted to a shorter than expected time. The mid 90′s was not one could call a stable time for the marquee, and being paid in envelopes full of cash and having to make trips over to Switzerland every few months to re-stamp the passport, was not a way to feel secure, despite the best of intentions! Since then I have done all sorts of design work but have dabbled in mtb’s and frames on the side on and off. In the late 90′s I even designed and had made a FS design that actually worked pretty damn well, but finding the right materials and skills to turn it into production here in Sydney turned out to be near impossible. Regardless, I have always kept up with what’s going in in both the bike and moto worlds.
Heading head long into designing new platforms for Mountain Cycle has dredged up all those hours spent in the past dealing with all this sort of ‘stuff’, so working on it was just like dusting off the cobwebs and having a quick fresher course. Luckily we have some very cool engineers on board as well…. god send! And that’s where I stop telling you about what we’re doing.
But it brings me to the actual point of this post.
I am one of those people to whom design is important but in saying that, it has to be intelligent design. I think I am past the point of silly rubbish that looks good but ultimately is shit; maybe I was never there? Nope, that’s not true, I’ve done some of that type of design…. shhh! Regardless I’m finding that with the MC work, like with Lab-Gear – I’d like to design something outlandish and faddy but have found, by some internal need, that I have to design something clean and efficient. Cool, but with no loose bits, nothing that I will look at in a year and think WTF was I thinking?
So, when I saw the Vyrus it just struck a nerve. It is by all accounts a revamped Bimota Tesi and then later a RADD (aka James Parker’s R.A.D.D out of the US) but regardless it is pure design function, which is what made me fall in love with the Tesi the first time around back in the very late 80′s. Every part of this thing makes sense but more than that, it is true design in that it does not take something that ‘everyone does because it’s easy’, ie. a standard chassis design, but re-thinks how and why a moto should go together. In doing that, it creates an aesthetic that is, at least to me, to die for yet also be engineering brilliance.
So finding Vyrus on the interwebby was a super way to kick of 2010 here at Mag100 and was something I thought worth sharing.
The vid is worth the watch.
[more here: vyrus.it]
On the Western Front…
December 9th, 2009 | No Comments »
It’s been soooo quite here the past month or more, I’ve actually pondered keeping Mag100 running! Seriously.
But I keep coming back and even see I have an article half finished, so that’s something to do over the break. So what’s been going on?
Apart from starting to go over Lab-gear operations with a fine tooth comb, fine tuning what we do and the way we do it, I have been hard at work with a little company called mountain Cycle. I started being involved with them back in 2008 and over the past month that involvement has blown up into a pretty full on gig. We just re-launched the moutaincycle.com website with an all new web store and after a few days of down time will start hard at it for 2010. It’s like starting from scratch, there’s an awful lot to do, design and management wise but the team, based in SoCal, are great. I think it’ll be good things for 2010.
Locally, we also just wrapped up our last event for the year, the VVC Christmas bash. 10 hours in weather you only usually dream about. It was a small affair but everyone had a good time and it’s always amusing to watch people get dirtier and dirtier, even muddy, despite the fact that it was as dry as a bone. We have a rest until next May, which is when the next event will be and historically, it’s a pretty big affair. Lots of time to rest.
So, as I cut the last of the orders for 2009 today, I can look forward to spending some quality time with Lab-Gear and start on all the little projects I have for it. Finally!
Over and out for now. 2010 will be more interesting around here, so until then have a great break and a Merry and safe Christmas.
g
PS: And what does the pic have to do with anything? Nothing, I just like it.
Very cool
November 16th, 2009 | No Comments »
Serge Gainsbourg – animation des graffitis sur 5 ans du mur rue de Verneuil from Arnaud Jourdain on Vimeo.