For The Terminally Juvenile

A snoopy phone, finally!!

2009-10-23T17:51:00.001-07:00

I collect those, but my favorite are the 70's Hello Kitty and the 80's Mickey. Now I can have the small snoopy one.

O and its nose works as a flashlight!! Thank you Cloned in China!

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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Pitcher that gurgles!

2009-07-31T16:14:00.000-07:00

Received as a gift by Lauren, this lime pitcher gurgles whenever you serve water, a nice incentive to drink more!

WOW Pod for the hardcore gamer

2009-03-20T14:51:00.001-07:00

Here it is, the video about the WOW Pod, a collaboration Cati Vaucelle and Shada/Jahn that you can visit at MIT Museum from March-September 2009!

The WOW Pod is an immersive architectural solution for the advanced WOW (World of Warcraft) player that provides and anticipates all life needs. Inside, the gamer finds him/herself comfortable seated in front of the computer screen with easy-to-reach water, pre-packaged food, and a toilet conveniently placed underneath his/her custom-built throne.

When hungry, the gamer selects a food item (‘Crunchy Spider Surprise’, ‘Beer Basted Ribs’, etc.) and a seasoning pack. By scanning in the food items, the video game physically adjusts a hot plate to cook the item for the correct amount of time. The virtual character then jubilantly announces the status of the meal to both the gamer and the other individuals playing online: “Vorcon’s meal is about to be done!” “Better eat the ribs while they’re hot!” etc.

When the food is ready, the system automatically puts the character in AFK (‘Away From Keyboard’) mode to provide the gamer a moment to eat. When the player resumes playing, he/she might just discover his/her character’s behavior is affected by the food consumed in real life — sluggish from overeating or alternately exuberant and energetic.

The exterior of the WoW Pod mimics the look of authentic WOW architectural structures, whose swaths of flat, pixellated surfaces digitally recreate the built environment of an imagined past. But upon crossing the threshold and entering into the WOW Pod’s interior, the player finds the digitized look actually becomes the real life experience that World of Warcraft simulates.

WOW Pod web site

Playing with food these days ...

2009-01-13T16:38:00.000-08:00

... is apparently ok!

Muuto's Plus salt-and-pepper mills, by the Oslo-based trio Norway Says, remind us of old-school stacking rings for kids, but quality craftsmanship turns them into something more like Memphis than Mattel. Made from stained and lacquered beech wood, the white dispenses salt, the black, pepper, and a multicolored tower has separate grinding chambers for both -- ID Magazine

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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Sigmund Freud Action Figure

2008-12-09T16:41:00.000-08:00

My friend Michael Lew offered me this action figure a while back so that it can talk to my collection of Barbie dolls. This was a pretty elaborated gift, so as the gift period is approaching, that might be a good one!

"Celebrate the great achievements of the man responsible for modern psychotherapy with this Sigmund Freud Action Figure. Each 5" tall figure captures Freud in a pensive pose, holding a distinctly phallic cigar. Prop him on your desk or nightstand to inspire you to explore the depths of your unconscious and embrace the symbolism of your dreams."

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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Experiencing architectural work!

2008-12-04T11:51:00.000-08:00

I love installation that invites for participation in experiencing it. Magma’s installation is called “head-in - im kopf” based on the idea of properties of materials, form, color and light exploration. The team includes Anke Noske, Hendrik Bohle, Dominik Jörg, Lena Kleinheine, Ksenia Kagler, Yohko Mizushima, Lena Kleinheinz, Martin Ostermann and Ben Reynolds.

Visitors bend down under the fabric into which openings were cut. Through these holes, visitors pop their heads up into the orange space to view drawings, models and photographs suspended from wires -> found on coolhunter.

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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XXL football table!

2008-09-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

An super accommodating football table with its 22 spots! Advertising stunt for Amstel beer, for a promo during the European champions league finals. This table could accommodate 2 full football teams (22 players). The table can be fully dismantled and put into 6 flight cases for transport.

Bronze cast Hello Kitty

2008-08-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

Hello Kitty by Tom Sachs, ink on formcore and hot glue. See also the bronze cast edition

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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A new vision for the Wii

2008-07-06T08:31:00.000-07:00

Design Matin did it again, but this time with the Wii so I could not resist posting it! The Wii can be hanged in the wardrobe and is called the Wii-ranger (in English Wii-organizer)

Using its vibration function, the Wii is very useful for kitchen application:

The Wii can be connected to any lamp!

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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Toy canvas

2008-06-30T07:49:00.001-07:00

This summer I am doing Yard Sales. I found great vintage toys that I will post soon. But most importantly, I found a kit on how to make your own finger puppets!!! It is funny to think that we need a "kit" in order to make something that simple. But it is true that a self contained box with felt, sticker eyes and pens make things so much easier! At least, it invites to start something.

I also found on the web this new DIY (do it yourself) plush toy for ... artists only. The canvas shape has changed these days, and repetitively takes the form of a Ninja toy. I find the toy-canvas fun, but not that inspiring. Nothing less inviting to create than a white plush silhouette. I guess having a silhouette to depart from brings the artist into decoration mode. I wish the results will explode the toy shape itself and reinvent the shape or something ...

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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Lego at the kitchen table

2008-06-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

Being bored at the kitchen table is not an option anymore with Joel Hesselgren 's set of salt and pepper shakers made of Lego. Then you can decide: More salt? More pepper? by just moving a red block around!

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile

chu-keshi

2008-05-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

An original eraser for the gift shop at the Chichu Art Museum.
It can be sad to see the corners of a new, snow-white eraser wear down and get dirty, so Nendo design wanted to create an eraser that already felt lovingly worn in, like a secondhand T-shirt or a pair of vintage jeans. With its sloping angles, the chu-keshi eraser is less likely to feel old or worn out!

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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Mixing your toothpaste flavors!

2008-05-13T20:50:00.000-07:00

FlavaRama is a dental toy that allows a user to mix a custom toothpaste flavor. The user pumps base flavors into a separate chamber and then can expel the mixed flavor onto their brush. The current design incorporates toothbrush holders and clear twisting connection tubes.

Design Team: Mark Cote, Jiang Wei Zhu, Karlen Ruleman, Michelle Lustrino and advisors James Penn and Andrew Carvey

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile

Air bubble wrap calendar

2008-05-13T20:05:00.000-07:00

A calendar with air bubble wrap. Realizing each day by snapping a bubble. Design by Nendo.

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile

Miniature

2008-05-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

What is so attractive about miniature models for electronic devices? Maybe we are in love with these small scale models, because as children we constantly dreamed on having a toy version of our parents' luxurious turntable equipment or the mysterious Reel To Reel! Also the nostalgia of the tangible knobs plays its part ...

The miniature offers tiny components so difficult to hand craft!!! So I selected here insanely cute hand-made cardboard models by Dan McPharlin. Check out his selection ...

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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Mario in the paper!

2008-05-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

Nintendo Ds Paper
Uploaded by benouite

Pretty awesome interactive Mario! Thank you Etienne!

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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What a neat thing for the dark!

2008-04-26T19:01:00.001-07:00

What a fun idea! I can see so many children be into this! Designed by Alexander Lervik, this Sense light swing is made of plastic with fiber optic lighting inserted.

On a dark summer night the swing creates a spectacular light show that lights up a whole garden in the most beautiful way.

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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Playmobil fever

2008-04-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

Superbe selection of playmobil + art work with playmobil!!! ->Here<-

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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Train Graffiti

2008-04-26T06:56:00.001-07:00

You can graffiti on your own train! White resin train with float off decals for you to customize: ->Here<-

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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I am terminally juvenile!

2008-04-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

I think this blog is the right one to receive my latest project!

My recent project Picture This!: Algorithmic film assembly using toy gestures
What is it? A new input device embedded in children’s toys for video composition.
A new form of interaction for children’s capturing of storytelling with physical artifacts.
What does it do? Children craft videos with and about character toys as the system analyzes their gestures and play patterns. As they play with the toys, they conduct film assembly.
Research in human computer interaction I propose a new genre of Gesture Object Interfaces. It relies on the analysis of gestures coupled with objects to represent bits.

Research project I created at the MIT Media Laboratory at the Tangible Media Group with my adviser Dr. Hiroshi Ishii.

Check out the Picture This! web site !

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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Animated wheels

2008-04-19T18:13:00.001-07:00

Spoke POV is an easy-to-make electronic kit toy that turns your bicycle wheel into a customized display! The project includes a free schematic design, open software for uploading and editing stored bitmap images, and a high-quality kit with all the parts necessary to build your own. Designed by Ladyada!

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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The juvenile spirit of fashion

2008-03-13T22:46:00.000-07:00

How did Alexander McQueen end up working with Puma on a new line of shoes? How did John Maeda decide to collaborate with Reebok? Why does mass customization, the new frontier in business competition in 1995, appear to only have started in 2007 in the fashion industry? I always find fascinating how marketing converges with fashion and how designers always have a very passionate discourse about it.

A stylist shoe by Alexander McQueen & Puma

All these questions are attractive to me, I read on business, fashion, trendy blogs, but the answer is that it exists a specific process from conceptualizing a piece of clothing to distributing and branding a new category of product.

"There are professionals involved at every step - from conception to production to retail - making the fashion industry full of interesting and well-paid career opportunities for people with an interest in style. On the creative side, for example, you can make your mark as a patternmaker, assistant clothing or accessories designer, fashion illustrator, or style editor. The business side includes jobs such as fashion or apparel buyer, visual merchandiser, fashion coordinator, and merchandise manager." - Fashion school finder

I found a fashion catalog that regroups the fashion schools all across the US, e.g. fashion schools in California, fashion schools in Los Angeles, in New York... It presents the history of fashion with bios of fashion designers, the various careers in fashion as well as some featured fashion articles. A great resource if you are into fashion and are trying to make sense of the field.

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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Video games in the stapler

2008-03-31T21:47:00.001-07:00

Researching into the possibilities of applying video games interfaces to the office environment, by Oscar Diaz

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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Interactive Toy Vending Machine

2008-03-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

Capsule toy vending machine, commonly called "gacha-gacha" in Japan, was introduced to Japan in 1960's and became very popular. Nowadays many kinds of capsuled toys are sold not only to children but also to young or elderly people.

Existing capsule vending machines just give capsuled toys. The authors of this work propose a new platform that enables customers in front of a vending machine to play with toys and the machine. The machine presents a worldview and stories of toys, and invite for interacting with them.

This project is a cooperative research project between Kentaro Fukuchi (The University of Electro-Communications), Kaori Enomoto, Yu Izawa, Fusako Kusunoki and Hideki Kaji (Tama Art University).

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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Nozoki-Hana

2008-03-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

Nozoki-Hana, designed by Yuichiro Katsumoto, is an installation made to discover and imagine scents. A life-size red box is positioned to let the visitor see memories behind its wall, through scent and sound.

Posted by Cati Vaucelle @ The Terminally Juvenile
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