Diamond Handbag

Created by Japanese designer Ginza Tanaka, the platinum bag valued at £1m has been set with more than 2,000 diamonds + its diamond shoulder strap can be detached and worn as a necklace or a bracelet, while the 8-carat pear-shaped diamond centrepiece surrounded by a cluster of eighty-one smaller diamonds can be taken off and worn as a brooch.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7443742.stm

London Jewellery Week, sponsored by Coutts, runs from 11-15 June, 2008.

Useful links:
www.ginzatanaka.co.jp
www.londonjewelleryweek.co.uk

Fans of designer couteur will love it.

On Persuasion

(via Amazon) The book Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges by Antonin Scalia + Bryan A. Garner was great. Here is what they have to say:

- Know your audience
- Lead with your strongest argument
- Communicate clearly and concisely
- Close powerfully and say explicitly what you want your audience to do
- Banish jargon
- Hone your public speaking skills
- Dress appropriately
- When you're not on your feet, you're on stage
- Look judges in the eye
- Don't chew your fingernails

Though the ideas are for developing briefs and arguments to persuade judges, I think the 10 rules listed above apply to any business situations.

Video Games Update

David Kirkpatrick writes about video games and their application for immersive experience + issues of marketing, sociology, and Internet culture + other viewpoints @ http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/06/technology/games_change.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008060606

Useful links:
http://worldwideworkshop.org
www.gamesforchange.org
http://globalkids.org
www.girlstart.org
www.amd.com

I think games can embody any values and be on any subject and many would go the extra mile to have an immersive experience.

Louise Bourgeois's Art

Louise Bourgeois is an artist and sculptor. Peter Plagens writes about her unique styles and persona, her long career + other viewpoints @ http://www.newsweek.com/id/140278

What a remarkable woman and artist. At 96, she is precious and inspiring!

Green In Politics + Business = Good Environment

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom talks with Dana Goodyear on what it means to be green in politics and in the world, from 'Stories from the Near Future,' at the 2008 New Yorker Conference @ http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2008/newsom

Useful link:
www.sfgov.org/mayor

Very inspiring. We need more leaders like Gavin Newsom, really.

Beauty + Geek

I found Erik De Nijs, designer of the Keyboard Pants very interesting, in fact, I liked it. http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2008/06/erik-de-nijs-yo.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brucesterling/sets/72157605496145298

Useful links:
www.hku.nl
www.oooms.nl

Design + Science

PAX Scientific’s elegant Lily impeller was featured in the Design and the Elastic Mind exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City (Feb 24 - May 12, 2008). The exhibition highlighted examples of successful translation of disruptive innovation into usable objects and explored the relationship between design and science. http://www.paxscientific.com/news.html#MoMa

Useful links:
www.moma.org
www.paxscientific.com
www.jayharman.com

Random Thoughts

One of the great tragedies of life is that when we really need advice, we're unlikely to listen to it. When we are young and clueless, people give us the benefit of their wisdom, and we sneeze at it. Later, when we finally see that what we do not know exceeds that which we do, we're already too calcified in our opinions to heed the answers that are blowing in the wind. Thus we go our own way, sometimes staying on the right road, sometimes toddling off merrily into the ditch.

- Stanley Bing

How true!