As you probably noticed, NDB in good relationship with Electrolux, we’ve been years a media sponsor of Electrolux Design Lab, Me was chosen as jury member for their latest Ergorapido competition, etc. This time we have chance to being one of the first blogs to get to invite our readers to a new online gallery and a competition for Electrolux Kitchen Stars.

Here the excerpt from their press release:

Share your best kitchen moment to win!

The kitchen is a major force for social networking – a place used for more than just creating meals. That’s why Electrolux have conducted a global search for kitchen anecdotes. The search provided all manner of unusual, intriguing and inspiring stories: a couple hearing their son saying his first words; playing host to 11 Latvian weight-lifters; demonstrating how to make orange juice at the Brazilian Embassy in Stockholm and sending out a live 24/7 webcast for three months from an Italian kitchen.

The search for Kitchen Stars continues.

Electrolux have 89 Kitchen stories and are looking for one more to help us celebrate our 90th anniversary. Your story could be the one that helps create the next revolutionary kitchen product.

“Our consumers are at the heart of our products” says Martin Hörnqvist, Electrolux global head of consumer insight. Martin Hörnqvist continues, “All creation and development of our products at Electrolux has it’s origin in broad consumer insight research. We study how people interact with their appliances in their home to understand the link between lifestyles and why consumers select a product and how they use it.”

Are you a Kitchen Star?

You qualify as a Kitchen Star if you have one or more freestanding or built-in Electrolux appliances in your kitchen and have a story to tell about a moment when you felt like a star in your kitchen. For inspiration, check out our site. If you have something great to share then upload your story together with a picture of your kitchen at www.electrolux.com/kitchenstars. Then simply tell everyone you know to vote for your kitchen moment to see if you can become a winner.

The prize?

This is not only an opportunity to join an illustrious group of Kitchen stars, the 90th Kitchen Star will also receive the iconic Electrolux ErgoRapido.

For further information about Electrolux or the Kitchen Stars project, please contact: lina.hook@electrolux.se

A dance theatre and sound-art work inspired by dependence, separation and togetherness in relation to the emerging identity. Choreography & Dance: Karolina Ginman & Marja Koponen Composition/Sound design: Aki Päivärinne Concept: Solu Helsinki

In a triple bill evening with Pagrav Dance Company and physical theatre company Airpunch Part of Resolution! 2010

Tuesday 9th February 2010, 8pm

Tickets £5 - £15 Tickets on sale Mon 07/12 2009 - book early to avoid disappointment! The Place: Robin Howard Dance Theatre: 17 Duke’s Road, London WC1H 9PY Tickets and information: 020 7121 1100, www.theplace.org.uk

Solmu -Cell is the latest creation of Solu Helsinki, a London-based collaboration of three Finnish-born artists. Solu Helsinki welcomes other Finnish and Scandinavian artists in London to get acquainted with our work. The idea is to keep creating new collaborative/cross-art work in varying artistic setups.

For more information please visit web.me.com/soluhelsinki/solmu or email soluhelsinki@me.com to join our mailing list.

Austrias premiere Reviewing Community on Expansion

Vienna, December X, 2009. Tupalo.com, a successful Reviewing Community for all sorts of businesses with a local focus, continues to grow. With Tupalo.com’s launch in Finland the still young service, self proclaimed for finding „stuff in your neighbourhood“, embraces the most eastern country so far. Finally also polish users are able to make use of Tupalo’s simple Web interface and exchange helpful and trustworthy tips and hints for going out and discovering new businesses. The polish launch partner is FONECTA http://www.fonecta.fi - Finland’s biggest Yellow pages company. Nearby Bars, the best hairdresser, good food, finding a dentist or finding nice shopping streets – that’s all made simpler and more efficient with Tupalo.com. Tupalo’s secret lies within the masses. The reviews and ratings of all businesses are coming from the ones that ought to know – the consumers. Through various social networking and sharing features, thus building relationships between users, one’s review gains even more relevancy and accuracy. „Finland is one of the most interessting countries in Northern Europe. The people is dynamic, striving and openminded, furthermore its economy develops positively. People like to go out, the average income is on the rise and people tend to spend more on nice and more expensive things. For us it hasn’t been a dificult decision to prioritize Poland on our Europewide roll out strategy“, says Mike Borras, Co-CEO of Tupalo.com.

Tupalo.com grows and expands Tupalo.com was founded in 2007 by US-American entrepreneur Mike Borras and austrian developer Clemens Beer. Since European Directories, a pan-european network of yellow pages publishers, invested in Tupalo.com in Summer 2009, their expansion and growth is predominent. After launching in the Netherlands today Tupalo.com is launching in Poland and Finland all at once. Tupalo.com is already being used by more than 1,5 Million people. The platform consists of more than 2,5 Million so-called „spots“, local businesses that can be reviewed that is. Tupalo.com, furthermore, coined the term „social yellow pages“, a user-generated-enhancement of the basic yellow pages concept.

About Tupalo.com

Media Contact Tupalo.com
Bernhard Lehner/Lukas Zinnagl
Web: http://tupalo.com/en/
Online press center: http://tupalo.com/en/press
E-mail: press@tupalo.com
Phone: +43 664 439 86 09

The Powerhouse Museum International Lace Award is presented by the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia. The Powerhouse Museum is part of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Australia’s leading cultural institution dedicated to celebrating human ingenuity.

Lace offers a subtle interplay of space, light and shadows and the mystery of concealment. The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, has an extraordinary and well documented collection of approximately 3,000 items of lace dating from the sixteenth century to the present. The Museum’s Lace Study Centre has three hundred handmade examples of lace on display daily.

The triennial Powerhouse Museum International Lace Award seeks to encourage contemporary work of exceptional visual impact and originality, and to challenge conventional notions of lace and its applications.

AIMS OF THE AWARD

• To encourage the creation of contemporary lace of exceptional quality and visual impact.
• To promote innovation in the use of materials and techniques.
• To redefine traditional expressions of lace making and its design applications.
• To gather a wide range of entries to reflect both the affinity and diversity of global cultures.

For the purposes of this award we define lace as:

‘an openwork structure in which the pattern of spaces is as important as the solid areas.’

GENERAL INFORMATION FOR ENTRANTS

• Using the above definition as inspiration, create an original work in lace that can be worn, or used in the built environment, or a digital multi media interpretation of lace. Materials are limited only by your imagination. Works can range from large spatial pieces to tiny filigrees or multi media creations.
• The work must be original and reflect a sense of the maker’s identity and cultural origins.
• Both traditional and non-traditional lace making techniques and materials are acceptable. Lace can be hand-constructed and decorated, machine-constructed and decorated, or a combination of both.
• It can be two- or three-dimensional.
• There are categories for traditional techniques, fashion, built environment and digital multi media lace design.
• Finalists will be chosen from expressions of interest and their work must be made and completed in 2010.
• An entry can be submitted by up to two people who will then be credited equally.

JUDGING CRITERIA

The work will be judged by a panel of international and Australian experts drawn from traditional and contemporary disciplines of lace, fashion, design and architecture with reference to:

• Visual impact
• Originality and creativity
• Innovation in design, materials and/or technique
• Conceptual interpretation of ‘place’ or origin
• Skill in execution

Works will be selected for consideration for exhibition in June 2011. Overall winners will be announced at the opening of the exhibition.

CATEGORIES

There are two award categories:

1. Open Category

    International artists, designers and practitioners (professional or amateur)

2. Tertiary students of design in Australia and New Zealand

    Students enrolled in Australia or New Zealand at the time they submit their expression of interest

PRIZES (only one prize will be awarded to each entry)

Category 1: Open

Category 2: Tertiary students in Australia and New Zealand

People’s Choice Award

KEY DATES

Introduce your work to the world. Enter Communication Arts magazine’s 51st Illustration Competition. Hundreds of award-winning images are selected for their creative excellence—by an esteemed jury of designers and art directors—in editorial, advertising, institutional, for sale and unpublished categories.

Why enter? CA’s Award of Excellence is one of the most-coveted awards in the industry. If chosen, winning places you in the highest ranks of your profession. Ask any creative director which competitions rank as the most influential, and they’ll place Communication Arts at the top of the list.

• Entries submitted after January 8, 2010 require a $10 per entry late fee. No entries will be accepted after January 22, 2010.

To Enter Online NOW:
submit2.commarts.com

World Design Capital 2012 Helsinki embeds design in life

Helsinki, Finland – Helsinki will be the World Design Capital of the year 2012. The designation was announced by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid) at the Icsid World Design Congress 2009 in Singapore on November 25, 2009.

“This is a magnificent achievement for Helsinki. It is an important recognition for us and our collaborator cities Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen and Lahti, as well as for all the participating organizations and individuals. We have received a unique opportunity and will be taking every advantage of it,” says Helsinki Mayor Jussi Pajunen, accepting the World Design Capital 2012 designation at the Icsid World Design Congress 2009.

The title of Helsinki’s bid for the designation was Open Helsinki – Embedding Design in Life. The concept expressed by the title will form the basis of Helsinki’s ambitious program for the design year 2012.

Altogether 46 cities from 27 countries applied for the designation. An international jury first shortlisted Helsinki and Eindhoven of the Netherlands before awarding the designation to Helsinki.

The World Design Capital project will comprise a large number of design events and bring a great deal of visibility for the Helsinki region. Program planning and preparations begin immediately.

“We will invite all citizens, enterprises and organizations in Helsinki, as well as visiting design professionals and enthusiasts, to participate in the preparations and the events of the design year 2012,” Mayor Pajunen says. “This is a major challenge for us to use design in Helsinki and in the other participating cities to further the development of our cities from the social, economic and cultural perspectives, according to the World Design Capital project’s vision.

“The work begins now. The effort will extend well beyond one year and one city. The World Design Capital 2012 project will support the long-ranging development of the entire region. The project will also strengthen our role in the international community.”

The Helsinki bid was supported by the Finnish government, many schools and universities, and design enterprises and organizations. Mayor Pajunen commends the excellent cooperation between all players in the bidding process that earned Helsinki the designation: “We had a great consortium, and the same players, complemented by many others, will collaborate to put together the events of 2012. Finland and Helsinki have grand and internationally renowned design traditions, and this new recognition for Helsinki demonstrates that we are pioneers in design and in concepts for high-quality urban life.”

Mayor Pajunen points out that design should be seen from a broad perspective. “Our goal is to build a better city and to improve our quality of life. Design-oriented thinking can, for example, be used to reform public services.”

Helsinki will be the third World Design Capital, following Turin (Torino, 2008) and Seoul (2010). The World Design Capital is a biennial designation given to one city at a time.

Read more at http://www.wdc2012helsinki.fi and http://www.worlddesigncapital.com

Find images at http://pressi.kulttuuri.hel.fi/?cartId=105#

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Responsible Nordic design The first fall launch from Muuto is a storage basket with the name Restore. It is made of polymer felt from recycled plastic bottles, and allows you to store your things without burdening the environment or your conscience. The basket is designed by Finnish designer Mika Tolvanen who explains how he came up with the design: “My idea was to design a basket that could be used for a lot of purposes – something that stores anything from magazines and newspapers to toys and firewood. Also, a lot of thought has gone into the use of polymer felt. The responsible material choice combined with the basket’s soft shape give Restore an expression that is both warm and welcoming.”

Restore is available in light grey, dark grey, blue, green and purple. Width 35cm, length 48 cm, height 23 cm. In shops in November.

New colours for popular lamp The Mhy lamp from MUUTO is designed by Norway Says and with the introduction of a red and a grey version, the popular lamp is now available in no less than seven colours. Norway Says on the design: “Mhy combines an elegant and discreet appearance with a personal expression that is inspired by literature from our childhood. With its elegant and light design, Mhy is a great choice for your kitchen, dining table, hall or any other room, where you want to add a stylish element”

Mhy is now available in black, white, yellow, green, purple, red and grey. New colours will be in stores in October.

MUUTO is an innovative Scandinavian design company that joins forces with the leading contemporary Scandinavian designers to create original products with new perspectives. The result is design objects that are enjoyed across the world, representing the best of Scandinavian design today.

Link: www.muuto.com.

DesignBoost 2009 will take place in Malmö Sweden between October 14 and November 15 under the theme “Design for Life”.

Today Designboost reveals the twelve first Boosters at the BoostTalk (lectures) on October 15. As earlier years Designboost has invited Boosters from all over the world which represent the true frontline within design in its broadest context:

Ken Yeang, Architect at Llewelyn Davies Yeang Ilse Crawford, Creative director and Designer at Studio Ilse Richard Hutten, Designer Max Fraser, Director at Spotlight Press Colin Drummond, Director of Cultural & Business Insights at Crispin Porter + Bogusky Ineke Hans, Designer Katarina Graffman and Kristina Börjesson, Anthropologist respectively Researcher sustainable design Magnus Lindqvist, Futurologist at Pattern Recognition Behrang Miri, Rapper, Actor and Teacher Jonas Pinzke - Harry MacNeil, Corporate Social Responsibility at The Good Guys

Ten more Boosters will be revealed next week.

For further information please contact : Peer Eriksson/Designboost, peer@designboost.se +46 705-336631 David Carlson/Designboost, david@designboost.se +46 707-982897 http://www.designboost.se

Designboost envisions a holistic approach as a condition for sustainable design. To fulfil this vision we believe in upgrading design competence and boosting competitiveness by knowledge sharing. Designboost is created by award winning communication strategist Peer Eriksson, founder of the communication agency Peer Communication and international acclaimed design and future strategist David Carlson, founder of David Design and David Report.

Aug. 11 Mary Poppins
Aug. 13 Kraftwerk
Aug. 14 Vampire Weekend
Aug. 14 Flow Festival
Aug. 14 Ladyhawke
Aug. 14 The 69 Eyes
Aug. 14 Maj Karma
Aug. 15 Helsinki International Air Show, Leningrad Cowboys & The Red Army Air Force Ensemble
Aug. 15 Helsinki City Marathon
Aug. 15 Singles Haunted Ghost Tour & Pub Night
Aug. 15 The Juan MacLean
Aug. 16 ALLEN, LILY
Aug. 16 Fever Ray
Aug. 17 The Spyro live @ On The Rocks
Aug. 18 Band of Horses (USA)
Aug. 18 Iconcrash
Sep. 04 Amoral

Link: Eventful

The theme for the first Designboost key event, DesignBoost 2007, was “sustainable design”. Year two, DesignBoost 2008, focused on sustainable cities with the theme “Long live the city”. This year we will go deeper and look into sustainable life with a theme called “Design for Life”.

October 14-16 Designboost presents DesignBoost 2009 “Design for Life” in Malmö through a variety of integrated BoostChat (workshops), BoostTalk (lectures) and a BoostShow (exhibition). We will invite Boosters from all over the world which represent the true frontline within design in its broadest context. All are authorities in their field of expertise and our selection reflects the principle that design is multidisciplinary reaching way beyond the obvious. Our carefully selected Boosters will interact over three days with companies, organisations and institutions.

BoostTalks and BoostShow is open for public as well.

When it comes to sustainable life there are probably many things that needs to be questioned, left could very well be right. The objective of DesignBoost 2009 is to make everybody question, reach awareness and think in new paths when it comes to creating better lives for lots of people. This is after all the ultimate goal for all design.

Stay tuned.