Winter

It seems that my blog posts have become seasonal.

Woke up to an amazing frost today, it was a shame that the sun wasn't, but all the same it was nice to be treated to a true winters day.

I decided that I would go do some work in Offshore and brought my camera along incase anything caught my eye. I had very cold fingers by the end of the day, looks like the frost is here to stay for a couple of days and there might even be some snow on the way. An amazing start to winter, hope it stays this cold for the entire season!

Autumn

Autumn has arrived and with it comes beautiful colours.

London Design Week 2008

About a week ago I headed down to London to check out the Design Week and also to visit two design practices, with my course. The trip was an interesting experience and in a way inspiring but from a slightly odd perspective. Anyway it got me thinking about design and also injected some motivation in me for the start of the academic year.



I headed down on at the start of the week and assuming since the event was called London Design Week that there would be lots of stuff on, in reality all the events up to Thursday were very small, which meant I did a lot of trooping around London to see very little and then as of Thursday had little time to see everything as it was all going on at once all over the place. This was a bit frustrating and I will learn from the mistake, I was also kind of expecting to see a lot more interesting gadgets and uses of technology than I actually did in reality. Most of the products I saw came from the more arty, thought provoking side of product design, the side of which I am not particularly involved in but all the same enjoy certain aspects. I especially enjoy playful design, a little tongue in cheek. People who design objects with a completely different purpose to what their original use was for. I think in a way people feel that this form of design is a bit pointless and almost of waste of money, but I tend to think of it as a usable form of art or sculpture. A product with a message, that you can interact with as opposed to looking at it from a distance surrounded by do not touch signs.

I was interested to go check out the new designers exhibition, as it is interesting to see what work graduates produce. The show was varied, a mix of products and graphic design, I particularly enjoyed the work of James Plant with his removable lightbulbs being a particular point of interest for visitors. Glowing spheres suspended from the ceiling by guitar cables, the spheres could be removed from the cables and moved around the room as a transportable source of light. The idea was playful yet functional, it was funny watching people's faces as someone would pull the bulb off the cable.

Tent is a major exhibition space during the festival held at the Truman Brewery in Shoreditch. It combines new work, by designers and also old design classics sold by showrooms across britain. 4 Designers stood out here, Tom Price produced 5 chairs in a series called Meltdown. These were essentially random off cuts of plastic based materials, melted together to form chairs. I liked the use of obscure materials, and the fact that the process of manufacture was still completely visible, the designs weren't essentially about the final visual outcome but about the process.



Pencil bench by Boex was another highlight, essentially a bench with a series of holes drilled into it and then hundreds of pink pencils placed in these holes. Watching people tentatively sit down in fear that they would snap the pencils, and then to be surprised by the comfort, again a fun and playful design, the choice of pink pencils added an nice aesthetic touch.


The showstopper came form Freshwest Design (I think, should have probably taken a note of the name at the time!). Yet another chair probably not functional as a chair. Based up on the small wooden toys with little animals held together by pieces of string, which when you pressed the underside of the base of the toy, would cause the string to loose tension and the animal to collapse. Well they applied this idea to a chair, really intriguing and eery to watch. You would be looking a this chunky chair and then suddenly to everyone's shock it would just collapse. But what really made the design was when it became a chair once more, it was as if the wood became possessed or there was someone in the room controlling the chair, it would essentially come back to life in a way that was hard to believe. Unfortunately I can't find any info on it but I would imagine somewhere on the internet there is a youtube video of the design.

Finally I visited DesignersBloc, this event was set up gorilla event to 100%design attracting newer practices and a more laid back attitude. There were lots of interesting pieces of work and it was well exhibited in an interesting and none pretentious environment. One idea that really stood out, and I wonder if the designer really realised the potential of the idea was by 1000 Volt Design. In a series called Punchuation, was a plate that had a hole in it so it could be hung, I get the impression this was just a playful idea, but is actually an extremely practical way of storing plates both in a shop and at home.

Overall it was an interesting week, that really had nothing to do with my degree. Although I definitely got something out of it, and really appreciated the craft and aesthetical element to product design. It made a change from the user focused, engineering side of design that I am currently working in.

J

Post travel blues, synical brits, the future of the budget traveler and pavey ark?

Well I have now returned to the beautiful land of Britain and have yet to have not seen a cloud in the sky, it now feels like winter and I am wondering when I will see blue skies again. The weather with out a doubt has an affect on how we live our lives and our mentalities. I am sure Britain would have a more european vibe if the weather would allow us to hang out in lovely squares sipping coffee and watching the world go by. We would also make more time for leisure, as we would be able to enjoy the outdoors as opposed to cowering away from it in our lovely dry offices.

Anyway I left LA, and enjoyed a lovely 10 hour flight back to London. I spent the journey sitting next to an English couple, who definitely fitted one of my many british stereotypes. I am not a fan of flights back home as it means that you have to rapidly have to come down from your holiday and be faced with british people moaning and queing. Anyway the guy I sat next to really fitted my moaning brit stereotype, having chosen his seats on a aeroplaneseatexpert.com or something making sure he got the best seats on the plane. He didn't like the fact that I pointed out that probably the seats in first class were better than his. When we got off the plane he started moaning to me about the fact that people stand on escilators slowing him down, people need to seriously chill out, why is everyone in such a rush?

Anyway it was quite cool arriving in London, as it isn't like arriving in the rest of the UK. I used to think that London wasn't that cool in comparison to other european cities but it seems to have changed recently. Although I think what makes it cool is the fact that it is such an international city therefore not really british. I stayed in Shoerditch, the coolest of the cool neighborhoods, I like the place but at the same time its hard to take it seriously it is just too cool for itself. What makes the neighborhood cool is the fact it is full of galleries and creative industries they are here because rent was cheap, however the neighborhood has become so cool that they can no longer afford to be based there and I assume the edginess will soon be removed the area will be gentrified as the scene moves further east or maybe north? The place has a strange irony about it.

Hoxton Graffiti

I feel I learnt and experienced a lot from my travels, I enjoyed traveling by myself and enjoyed meeting people. America has many flaws, and I am sure California is not the place to experience them all, it gets slated, I slate it but at the same time life in California is good and I very much enjoyed my time there. Most people were genuinely nice, the quality of life for most was excellent and the great outdoors were amazing. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years, I feel that America is about to go through a change in fact I feel it has to, so it will be interesting to see what the place feels like in a couple of years time.

Couchsurfing, craigslist and gumtree are definitely the way forward for budget travellers and I think these sites bring an overall different outlook on life. Next time I go travelling I would like to use couchsurfing for my accomodation and ridesharing sights to try and get from A to B, this would be very cost affective and give you the opportunity to meet people of that country.

On an entirely different note, I got out in the lakes over the weekend and sampled some climbing, this time on Pavey Ark overall a good day, did one of the best routes I have done in the lakes Golden Slipper HVS, the second pitch is a dream, relentless climbing on lovely rough edges every move balancy and technical. We then put a dampner on this excellent climb by doing the shittest climb I have ever done, right next to it, which was essentially a bit of gardening on a just off vertical green slab of slime. Still though, nice to get out into the mountains and enjoy what home has to offer.

J

Public Transport Rant

Before I came out to the states I was a little reluctant to travel solo for two reasons: One I thought it would be hard to meet people as they would likely assume I was a terrorist due to the fact that I am not from America, the second that I wouldn't be able to get to many places because I didn't have a car. My second reason was completely just, and I in fact feel a little trapped in California. 

So Bush, wont sign any greenhouse gas bills etc, and the US blames asia for destroying the world. Currently everyone over here is going crazy about the price of gas, which incidentally is half the price of that in the UK. Obviously things are beginning to affect people over here and soon people are going to want to/have to reduce their emissions. A challenge for the average american, how can they do this with out public transport. 

There is no public transport network. Getting from a to b is a nightmare and it is often cheaper, quicker and more convenient to rent a car and drive. Getting across large distances is a tiring and arduous affair, and once you get to your next city getting about is often equally as challenging. 

The US cannot reduce its emissions without improving its public transport, this needs to happen and it needs to happen fast. I in fact predict it will happen, it kind of has to. So I guess now is the time to invest in amtrak and greyhound. 

J

Carl and Ginger

I have been staying with Carl and Ginger for a couple of days now, I met them through Duncan as they are good friends with their family. Carl and Ginger are amazing!

They are two well travelled, californian, bohemian, hippie architects. Well this only begins to describe them. 

Their house is located up in the hills, towering redwoods surround the house and every day I lay in their hammock looking down on the pacific and watching the humming birds suck at the nectar from the flowers infront of me. I feel that this place has its own eco system, and you can not help but feel calm and relaxed being here. 

Bathing is another unique experience inspired by Japanese culture. To have a bath, one must first in the morning drain, what is essentially a big metal cauldron, fill it and light a fire underneath it. It is such a relaxing experience just sitting in this of hot water, watching the stars above you and listening to the bamboo screen sway infront of you. 

Carl and Ginger are wonderful people, incredibly intelligent, well travelled and educated by their travels, welcoming, caring and probably most of all giving. I find being around them inspiring, inspiring in the sense that they make me question things and consider things that I have yet considered.

Yesterday I went to watch Carl work on the job, he has an unbelievable knowledge of trees, forestry, carpentry and many of tangents of these things. Watching him I felt I learnt a lot, he was also with people who were theoretically as experienced as him, but yet they were still learning from him. In fact by sharing his knowledge with these people, Carl has probably jeporodised some of his business. But he clearly doesn't care, he wants people to benefit from his knowledge and for people to do stuff correctly. Watching some of the people ignoring his advice, was annoying to watch and very hard to understand, why would you not listen to someone who clearly knows more than you and not be willing to learn from them?! Arrogance I guess, this is  a "quality" that this couple most definitely doesn't have.

The other striking thing about them is that they are happy, extremely happy. These people are not poor, but they still have to worry about paying the bills and all the other mundane worries of life, but this is not important to them, being happy with life is and they clearly are. 

I would love to stay here and learn more from them, and one day I feel I probably will. They are absolutely amazing people and I feel very lucky to have met them.

J

A month of many wondrous adventures

Well I am writing this blog post pretty much in the same place that I was sitting a month ago, in the hills of the redwood forrest above Santa Cruz. 

I am staying with some "friends of friends" I guess, and this place can only be described as good for the soul. Full of peace and tranquility, a good place for a break from the manic life of travelling. 

Up on leaving SB I travelled up to SC for a night and was treated to spending the night looking out over the pacific in a tepee (purchased from tepee.com if you ever need one!). It was an amazing night and I got to catch up with Duncan and discuss the pros and cons of the american dream, the conclusion..... society is pretty screwed but all the same california is a nice place to live. 

After that we headed to San Fran to sample its delights and meet my girlfriend who was due to arrive that evening. I had high expectations for San Fran, from talking to people I was given the impression it was similar to Vancouver, ie many hippies. In reality this was not the case, it is a surprisingly grungy town, I have a feeling it is a bit like Glasgow in the sense that it doesn't make a great first impression but the more you get to know it the better it becomes. Certainly a place with lots of interesting people. 

Having had our metropolitan fix, it was time to head to the wilderness and on the way sample the amtrak. Amtrak is a pleasant way to travel but unfortunately they aren't that organised loosing one of our bags. One long day of travelling behind us we finally ended up in Toulumne Meadows and by some fluke bumped into George and Mason (his climbing partner) and got ourselves a campsite. 

We then spent the next week hanging out and basically watching George climb, the highlight being an unbolted ascent of Bachar/Yerian. This turned out to be pretty big news and the next time we had internet access we discovered george was all over the climbing sites. 

After a week in Toulumne we headed down to Yosemite valley, for more climbing. The valley despite its beauty does not compare to Toulumne, Toulumne in fact makes the valley feel like a small city. All the same it is a pretty amazing place, with granite towering above you in all directions. Here we met 3 people from Portland who were looking for people to climb with so Eva and I jumped at the opportunity and finally got a week of good cragging in. This was great fun and I finally got introduced to "freedom climbing" ie crack climbing, something I could definitely get into. 

The week ended and I was left by myself for the first time on the trip, with the plan of meeting everyone in roughly a week. Since I didn't get any climbing done up in Toulumne I decided to return and try and climb some of the routes I had been staring at. Things just began to fall into place. As I got off the bus, Justin and Sara (the people I met in the valley) pulled up and a guy who just got off the phone came over and asked if I needed a partner and if we needed somewhere to stay, the answer being yes and yes. The place to stay being very important since the campsite was booked up. Two days of awesome climbing ensued before Justin (actually spelt Jasin) and Sara left to continue their travels. At this point two girls who we had met moved into the campsite and my next little climbing adventure began. 

Tori and Sara, two super cool, pysched climbers from Tahoe, perfect people to share a site with. They also had more people visiting so I spent a couple of days bouldering with them as well as having a couple of long awesome multipitch days. That weekend everyone left and I was alone once more for a couple of days, I took this time to soak up the beauty of Toulumne some more and just relax. 

Sara then returned and we had another week enjoying the wonders of Toulumne. In my mind I have never been to a more ideal place, beautiful scenery, crystal clear rivers, amazing climbing, quiet, cool people, just a great place to end up spending two weeks. 

Sara and I were however about ready for civilisation, in particular showering, electricity, none camping food and toast! So we headed to Santa Cruz for the weekend to soak up the wonders of society. Still you can't go too many days with out climbing, so her boyfriend took us to Castle rock, a mini font in the mountains above santa cruz. I also got another california tick and tried my hand a surfing, which is very difficult. 

And after a couple more unforeseen I find myself back in Bonny Doon writing this blog entry. Only a couple more days of my trip left, and since I have no fixed plans there is still a little time for some adventure.