Wetsuits are both functional and protective, but why must they all look the same? Is there some unwritten law that dictates we shed our individuality to blend into the monotone waters? Not to challenge Mother Nature’s art direction but it’s high time for a change. With that in mind, I took up the challenge to create an alternative. With custom inks and unique printing techniques, I was able to map textures onto the suits to create original designs that evoke the mysteries of the seas.

The first edition contains four original designs: a rusted iron diving suit evoking the days of Jules Verne, the anatomic musculature suit as a homage to our inner strength, a wet suit which gives the illusion that the wearer has been attacked by a group of hungry sharks and finally a whale shark patterned suit that celebrates the brilliance and originality of our natural water world. More images in post. Soon available. For requests please contact me.

 

We are in a state of perpetual war – with ourselves and with the eco-system that sustains us. Perpetual war breeds perpetual fear. In the present context, this fear stems from our extreme desire for authenticity and manifests itself in our collectively insatiable culture of consumption.

Deep down, we are afraid we may never be satisfied. An expanding archive of branded myths and icons feeds this fear. Designer Gas Masks is an attempt to visualize this state of mind. Because it is only by first acknowledging and then challenging fear that we will all be able to breathe a little easier.

Levi’s initiated the Back Pocket Art project to raise awareness for the fight against Aids. They invited me and about 25 other international artists to come up with a design based upon their famous 501 back pockets. These ‘little pieces of art’ are going on auction for the benefit of an ‘Aids Foundation project’ against the ’stigmatization of Aids’ in the Eastern bloc countries. There are contributions from artists such as fashion designers Bas Kosters, Daryl van Wouw and Marlies Dekkers. Graphic artists like Ottograph, Out of Order and Kingchuub. There are even contributions of music band members from Moke and Voicst. All of the contributors used the Back Pocket as a flat canvas. I wanted to experiment with a 3D object and bring the Back Pocket Art project literally to life.

]]> http://bydiddo.com/?feed=rss2&p=52 0 http://bydiddo.com/?p=29 http://bydiddo.com/?p=29#comments Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:25:43 +0000 admin http://bydiddo.com/?p=29 We use technology to feed our insatiable curiosity for translating the unknown into the symbols and syntax of our known world. Simultaneously, technology feeds and enables both this curiosity and our need for translation. However where there is translation, there is bound to be noise. Despite the implications of the term, all noise is not created [...]]]>

 

We use technology to feed our insatiable curiosity for translating the unknown into the symbols and syntax of our known world. Simultaneously, technology feeds and enables both this curiosity and our need for translation. However where there is translation, there is bound to be noise.

Despite the implications of the term, all noise is not created equal. Whether audio or visual, some noise is qualitatively different, more stimulating than others. And yet we treat it all with the same disdain. Like an abnormality. A distortion. An error to be avoided, ashamed of and erased. If, on the other hand, we could let go of our arbitrary values, we might glimpse for a moment, perhaps even decipher, the aesthetics of the so-called ‘error’.

Experimental data suggests that human vision is not quite as straightforward as school curricula would like us to believe. The image at the back of our retinas is not a faithful reflection of the object in front of it. Instead, what we actually see is an interference pattern. A composite of present external reality and our stored visual memories. A simultaneous distortion of encoded intent and decoded content. Of subject and object. More holographic than photographic.

Everything is an interference pattern, a distortion. It’s just a question of which distortions we are comfortable with. Exposure to new sights on the peripheries of perception will stretch our senses, and open up new playgrounds for unleashing our curiosity. Who knows what patterns we’ll find in the chaos, once we meaningfully start looking for them. Maybe all we need to do is open our eyes. And look at things long enough for them to blur out of focus, and reveal what is otherwise concealed beneath the pixilated surface.

* available as wallpaper and prints.

Supperclub keeps total control of the application and can change or upload new content any time. As well as the main interface. Friday night at 10 pm the application transforms into night mode, opening up new content and possibilities. Besides packaging, product design and the mobile application a marketing strategy of night animal themed print and video was created.

 

Frank Gehry participated in a pitch for a new integrated resort on Sentosa Island, Singapore. He proposed an enormous organic structure consisting of several domains. The resort was to host a huge Atlantis themed museum, botanical gardens, water parks, health spas, hotels, casinos, etc. Together with Chris Pacetti, in service of the Arnell Group New York, I worked on the Aquabrid concept for the Museum domain.

To make the museum richer, we hatched the idea of letting visitors interact with evolution and create their own characters. Along theway visitors have the opportunity to alter, generate, mix and duplicate new water-based species, a.k.a. Aquabrids. I worked on the media concept, character research, development and visualization and created proposals for architectural projections.