(echo)witness

(echo)witness is evolving...

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:39:00 -0800

Dear friends, fellow appreciators, creators and doers...

We at (echo)witness are going through a big-time transition and we are putting our day-to-day operations on hold until further notice.

We are not exactly sure what it all will look like once we come out on the other site, but we know it will be new and simple and exciting and creative...stay tuned. Thank you for all your support. FORWARD EVER! Jim and Lena

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The power of the people

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:00:00 -0800

Why the internet is one of the greatest advancements for liberty in our modern age...

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WikiLeaks Headquarters

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 17:24:38 -0800

Pionen – White Mountain in Stockholm, Sweden, designed by Albert France-Lanord Architects, functions as the WikiLeaks Headquarters. It is housed in a former 1,200 sqm Cold War bunker (originally built as a World War II bunker); 30 meters down under the granite rocks of the Vita Berg Park in Stockholm. The starting point of the project was to consider the rock as a living organism. One of the original founders of WikiLeaks is architect John Young. Visit the Albert France-Lanord Architects site HERE for more info!

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EDITS

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:19:41 -0800

This is such a great idea. “Edits” is a poster series representing different genres of music. Each designer was asked to represent a musical genre using only one element and one typeface (stating the genre). See more here!

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Kids react to viral videos

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 18:44:32 -0800

Oh this is the perfect thing to watch on a Friday afternoon...Double Rainbows!

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Joe Fletcher Photography

Wed, 08 Dec 2010 22:50:28 -0800

We love Photography and we love Architecture. Conclusion: we LOVE Joe Fletcher's architectural photography. What a stunning portfolio (and gorgeous homes, all of them!)...He was born and raised in London, UK, studied painting at Chelsea College of Art & Design, receiving his BA in Fine Art, and later attended London’s Goldsmiths University, graduating with a MFA in photography. In 2003, he left soggy London for foggy San Francisco. See more of his amazing work on his site HERE!

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Ma Yansong on The Creators Project

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 17:15:26 -0800

Ma Yansong is one of China's youngest architects and the leader of the firm MAD. The firm has earned international fame and has created some stunning projects! I especially love his attitude towards the role architecture should play in our society. He Says: "People shouldn't fit architecture...architecture should fit people!" Check out the video below and read more about Ma Yansong over at The Creators Project HERE! (While you are there, make sure to check out some of the other amazing creators).

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Denis Dutton on TED: A Darwinian theory of beauty

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 18:36:06 -0800

This is a interesting TED talk, in which TED collaborated with animator Andrew Park to illustrate Denis Dutton's provocative theory on beauty -- that art, music and other beautiful things, far from being simply "in the eye of the beholder," are a core part of human nature with deep evolutionary origins. Also interesting to see the conversation this talk sparked on YouTube....check it out HERE!

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Chris&Ruby - Product and Interior Design

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 20:24:00 -0800

0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false Chris&Ruby is a young design team from Berlin working in product and interior design. Their self initiated projects deal mainly with furniture, lighting and living accessories, while their contract based work cover a much wider field. I am in love with pretty much all of their products and furniture designs. Simple and functional, modern and well-designed...these is a very inspiring company to me. The company was founded in 2008 by Ruby Piterek and Christoph Maennchen, after they met at the University of Arts Berlin, where they both graduated in Industrial Design. Go visit their site for more of their amazing projects HERE!

Tension, Please! is a set of two chairs (one with and one without armrest), the design is highly economical and ecological as it is assembled from one piece of plastic board and spanned into its shape by joining the two connecting points.

360 Degrees...I wish I had a bed like this. This design is so great - you can adjust the backrests and the side tables. So functional!

Boxoffice is a wall-mounted work station, which allows for easy access to all your work tools by simply folding down the work surface, and afterwards you can hide all that clutter by simply folding the desk back up.

Friedrich is a stool that was designed for a healthy fast food restaurant in Berlin. It never stands upright and must be balanced by the user, just like a gymnastic ball, except for the fact that with this chair the user can never fully loose control, but still get all the health benefits. And...they made it look so good too!

Library light was the 1st Price winner of the Heine Design award 2008. It is a unified light and book rest, "presenting your favorite magazines in the spotlight."

Personality socks: How fun are these?!....Give your chair a personality, make it look like a snob, lady, small town boy...Not only do they challenge you to play with what stereotypes and human personalities we associate with...socks...no, they also protect your floors from scratches...

Shamrock is a low chair that entices you to lounge and relax....Not only is it functional and easy to assemble, but it looks SUPER cozy!

Skinny's design focuses on its supporting rail, which becomes the main structural element, connecting the table top with the two metal legs. You need no screws to assemble this beauty-simply slide the legs onto the rail. I love the pop of red for the legs too.

Transfer allows you to insert a plate, so you can simply slide your freshly cut ingredients directly onto the plate. This allows you to have a clean cutting board for the next ingredient...I am in love with this product and i know it would make my life a whole lot easier (and a lot more fun!)

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The Selby - Lyndsay Caleo and Fitzhugh Karol's pad

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 18:41:53 -0800

Ok, first of all, i LOVE The Selby...If you all have never looked at the amazing interiors of creative folks from all over, you are seriously missing out...I fell in love with this one in particular: Lyndsay Caleo, a jewelry designer and Fitzhugh Karol, a furniture designer, share this pad...Does this not look so inviting and stylish?!...Check out more by The Selby HERE! and see the post on Lyndsay and Fitzhugh's home HERE! You can also check out Lyndsay's jewelry HERE! and Fitzhugh's furniture HERE!

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Residence in Kamikawaraya by Mitsutomo Matsunami Architects

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 20:31:27 -0800

Mitsutomo Matsunami was born in Osaka, 1977 and founded Mitsutomo Matsunami Architects Inc. in 2005. This is just one of the companies simplistic, clean designs...this residence in Kamikawaraya is so filled with light and demands quiet and calm...see more projects by Mitsutomo Matsunami Architects here!

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Simon Brader Illustration

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 17:09:28 -0800

Simon Brader is a freelance Illustrator and he works from his London studio. "By working with a combination of rich textures and vector curves his work is atmospheric and playful and creates exciting work for clients such as The Radio Times, Runners World, TES Magazine, MacUser, A4E Blueprint and Beers of the World." I especially love some of the Editorials like "A tribute to the death of instant Polaroid film." See some of his work below and see his complete Portfolio at his site HERE!

[ Editorial ] A tribute to the death of instant Polaroid film.

[ Editorial } 'He shot him, so we shot them.'

[ Editorial ] Radiohead launch their own social networking site

[ Editorial ] 'Following the path..'

[ Editorial ]

[ Editorial ] Whilst you're not looking...

[ Editorial ] Film Review - 'Kill Bill'

[ Editorial ] 'Via The Window' How secure is your computer?

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Yellow Arrow Project

Sun, 21 Nov 2010 20:03:19 -0800

Yellow Arrow was developed by Counts Media, Inc. The project grew out of an interdisciplinary collaboration between artists based in New York, Berlin and Gothenburg, with backgrounds in avant-garde theater, documentary performance, site-specific installation, non-linear narrative, experimental cartography, and interactive media.

Yellow Arrow is fundamentally a new way of exploring cities. A harbinger of the "geospatial web," Yellow Arrow began in 2004 as a street art project on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Since then, Yellow Arrow has grown to over 35 countries and 380 cities globally and become a way to experience and publish ideas and stories via text messaging on your mobile phone and interactive maps online. Participants place uniquely-coded Yellow Arrow stickers to draw attention to different locations and objects - a favorite view of the city, an odd fire hydrant, the local bar. By sending an SMS from a mobile phone to the Yellow Arrow number beginning with the arrow's unique code, Yellow Arrow authors connect a story to the location where they place their sticker. Messages range from short poetic fragments to personal stories to game-like prompts to action. When another person encounters the Yellow Arrow, he or she sends its code to the Yellow Arrow number and immediately receives the message on their mobile phone. The website yellowarrow.net extends this location-based exchange, by allowing participants to annotate their arrows with photos and maps in the online gallery of Yellow Arrows placed throughout the world. Read more about the Project HERE and check out their Flickr Stream HERE!

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Rob Tarbell

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 15:05:48 -0800

Rob Tarbell's drawings of circus scenes, horses and elephants, zebras and bears are so fantastical...check out more of his work on his site HERE!

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The Quarter Round Mosaic

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:44:11 -0800

The Quarter Round Mosaic is an interesting experiment and so aesthetically pleasing...The projects is a "geometric assembly exploring the influence of color in an arbitrarily generated field. Each mosaic is generated over time so that shapes placed earlier in the process have more influence on the composition. At a regular interval, a quarter round shape is placed in some empty grid space. The quarter round immediately polls all of its neighbors (existing or not) to determine the mean average color of the region. It then transforms itself to that color and rotates to some random orthogonal orientation." Design and code by Jared Tarbell....See some images below and check out the site HERE!

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The Volga House

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:17:03 -0800

This Wood Patchwork House by Peter Kostelov is soo interesting. very interesting use of wood and such a simple structure. It also happens to have won the Laureate of International Architect Award «A RCHIP 2009» in the category «Private House», the Laureate of Russian Wood Architect Award "ARCHIWOOD 2010 " and was the Grand Prize Winner at the XII International Festival of Architecture and Interior Design "Under the Roof of Home" 2010 ...Check out some pics below and see more images on his site HERE!

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Ric Stultz illustrations

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:59:31 -0800

Ric Stultz is an artist and illustrator from Milwaukee, WI. His illustrations are simple and to the point...You must see more of his work on his site HERE and check out his online shop to purchase prints HERE!

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Where Children Sleep

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 15:37:09 -0800

Where Children Sleep- stories of diverse children around the world, told through portraits and pictures of their bedrooms. This book was published by Chris Boot, and shows James Mollison's photographs of childrens' bedrooms from around the world. See some examples from the book below. Make sure to check out James Mollison's site for more of his photography work HERE and purchase a copy of the book HERE!

Four-year-old Kaya lives in an apartment in Tokyo, Japan

Four-year-old Jivan lives in a skyscraper in Brooklyn, New York, USA

Seventeen-year-old, 'X' lives in a 'favela' in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This unnamed four-year-old boy lives on the outskirts of Rome, Italy. He and his family all sleep on the mattress in the photograph

Fifteen-year-old Risa lives in a teahouse in Kyoto, Japan

Fourteen-year-old Rhiannon lives in Darvel, Scotland

Eight-year-old Harrison lives in a mansion in New Jersey, USA

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Featured artists: Team Rhodes

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 21:36:24 -0800

If you live in Nashville, you surely have heard of Team Rhodes...you may have seen Josh's paintings around town or seen some of Sarah's amazing photographs, especially her wedding shots...A couple of weeks ago we finally got a chance to get to know this creative couple a bit better...Jim and I took the opportunity and shot a couple of fun shots of them, below is what we came up with, Jim did the Photography and I took a lead with the Art Direction, which i really love doing...can you spot the Team Rhodes Monsters ?

Please make sure to check out some of their art and photography below and make sure to visit their site HERE! Here are just a few of our favorites by Josh:

Below are some of our favorite images by the lovely Sarah:

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Sagaponac House

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 13:40:31 -0800

Beautiful Sagaponac House designed by architect Richard Meier of New York-based architecture firm TsAO & McKOWN. This "custom-designed house for a hypothetical client explores the universal human desire for both orderliness and spontaneity, while firmly rooting itself to the landscape and creating privacy by shaping the terrain." This 4,500 square foot house in an east Long Island community looks oh so inviting...see more projects by TsAO & McKOWN here!

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