Inspiration: A visual feast - the beautiful fusion of contemporary dance and fashion

I absolutely love the stunning flower form results of this collision of contemporary dance and fashion. Created by Fashion Film magicians Nick Knight of SHOWstudio and Tell No One, this fashion film was created for AnOther Magazine's SS11/12 issue.

It is almost as beautiful as watching real blooms unravel and reach for the sun!

Do bling & ballet go together? Of course they do!

Over the last few months we've been busy creating the branding, print materials and web site for Starfire Jewellery by Shweta Agarwal. This weekend sees some of her stunning diamond creations being worn by the ballerinas of the Queensland Ballet at the Swan Lake Gala tomorrow night.

I'm looking forward to frocking up and enjoying an evening at the ballet... it is sure to be a visual feast with plenty of bling and graceful beauties!

Branding and website created by visure

Change your behaviour & improve your life with a roll of some cleverly designed dice...

I am always looking for ways to be a better human being, spending valuable time reading lots of interesting books and trying to think of ways I can connect with those around me. Problem is, with so much to read/do/remember and so little time to do it all, I really do struggle sometimes.

For this reason I have added these very cool dice onto my 'wish list' from santa (A better list than the one suggested by 'GiveEmThis' featured in yesterday's post)... They are DiceForChange and are a beautifully simple and playful reminder to introduce new routines and actions into my life.

With the Eco, Kindness and Wellness Dice I'll be prompted to 'walk or cycle to work today', 'hug someone today', 'Think positive today' or best of all 'Slow down today'. There's the very tactile wooden variety or the apps versions you can buy via the itunes store.

The dice are designed by the very inspiring 'creation studio' Creative Heroes in the Netherlands and join a suite of other products including Drive - a game designed for young visually impaired gamers. Love your work Creative Heroes!

Image © Creative Heroes

A very special tree house design - I want one!

I just saw this amazing mirror tree house on Treehugger and would so dearly love to be able to hide out in one! They are now available to make your own with TreeHotel handling the construction...   See the full story at Treehugger.

What a beautiful way to be a part of nature... now I just need a good spot for one!
Design by Tham & Videgard Architects. Photo by Peter Lundstrom, WDO.

Pedalling for delicious smoothies...

I absolutely love the concept behind The Smoothie Cycle... repurposed bicycles and blenders put together to create an energy efficient and fun blending experience! My Strawberry, apple mint and ice smoothie was divine! Perhaps my pedalling effort made it taste even better as I'd had to work for my treat?

Creating a deliciously healthy business...

This brilliant business idea shows you just how you can create a sustainable business which not only is profitable, it also helps people eat healthy while providing opportunities for disadvantaged people with job opportunities... Wouldn't it be great to have this here in Australia?

Spotlight on an amazing human being: Aimee Mullins

I first came across TED at the Design in Daba 2005 conference in Cape Town when it's creator spoke about his website ted.com. The great thing about this site is that it is filled with amazing people who are creating, questioning and pushing the boundaries.

A recently published talk by a Aimee Mullins is one I really wanted to share with you. She shows how she has embraced design to not only be a functional part of her life but also an outlet to create conversation to express her very unique self. Amy not only is a record breaking athlete, a model and activist, she's also one of the most joyous and inspiring people I've heard speak.

listen to her talk at http://www.ted.com/talks/aimee_mullins_prosthetic_aesthetics.html

Photography by Nick Knight sourced from Aimeemullins.com

Helping Japan

A few great examples of putting creative skills to good use... these artists and designers have put their hearts into raising money for Japan after the devastating earthquakes of recent times...

http://www.helpjapannow.bigcartel.com/

 

Artwork by Pomme Chan

http://designforjapan.tumblr.com/

Artwork by Rob Dobi

A pretty cool use of mobile phone technology

Have you ever considered how it would feel to be unable to smile? To not be able to express joy with the simplest facial expression? To essentially become an outcast in your community because of the way you look?

Back when I was in Grade 3 my best friend had a cleft lip which she had been lucky enough to have operated on when she was little. Her scars were her main concern, but to me she was just a pretty girl wanting to fit in with all of the other 'normal' kids.

Memories of my friend immediately came to me when I saw pictures of similarly effected Tanzanians while flying back from Africa to Australia last month. The big difference for people with this condition in Africa is that much of the time they are bullied, sometimes rejected by their parents or worse can die of malnutrition because they can't eat properly.

The inspiring thing to me was that these people, many of whom are young children, are being given a second chance at being part of the community through mobile phone technology. As you may or may not know, Africa has been using mobile technology to provide access to money in lieu of bank accounts since 2008. Essentially a text through money transfer technology can be shown to a wakala (street stall agent) to receive the cash. Perfect for a country like Tanzania that lacks accessible banking infrastructure for the majority of people (who typically earn less than a dollar a day).

And to see now how the design of such a simple system which utilises cheap, accessible mobiles to help patients with fistula (a devastating and isolating childbirth injury) and cleft lips and palates is nothing short of inspiring. An organisation called CCBRT is now using the Vodafone M-PESA technology to quickly transfer money to ambassadors who have identified a patient. This helps get the patient to Dar es Salaam to have an operation and their new life can begin.

Have a look at the CCBRT website to see what else they are up to... http://www.ccbrt.or.tz