OK, prepare to be impressed. Not by me - by this guy's revelation. Also, prepare to recognise and admit that we humans are not as "superior" as we often think - it appears that evolution has actually caused us to forget how to open bananas properly.
Watch and enjoy:
(If you already knew this then I bow in silent recognition. I, like many others, did not.)
Originally sighted on swissmiss 
Yesterday saw the very first of @swissmiss' "Creative Mornings" series outside of the US and here in her home country - Switzerland!
As if that wasn't special enough, she only managed to organise this premier in the Zürich Headquarters of FREITAG®!!! Famed for their cult courier bags and accessories, the Freitag Brothers' family business is now recognised as one of the top brands in the World - not bad when you consider that Graphic Designers Markus and Daniel Freitag first started out with less than CHF 1500 earned from small jobs back in 1993.
The location is perfect for a Creative Mornings get-together: An old factory hall with floor-to-ceiling racks of cut and rolled truck tarpaulin, along with other "repurposed" materials used to make the FREITAG products, a raised office floor swathed in black tarp-like material and an open area which was set up for Daniel's presentation - right next to where the truck tarps are washed.
Yes, they have to wash every single truck tarp that comes into the factory, every day. The "Washman" - the specialist responsible for ensuring that the tarps are washed correctly - told me he washes around 2 Tonnes of tarp PER DAY! That's a lot of washing!
Clean tarp:
Daniel's presentation was very enjoyable - and inspiring. The brothers were brought up by their parents to reuse things and respect their environment. This is a central philosophy for their entire business. He talked of the cradle-to-cradle concept and it's role in their approach.
The presentation "tent" was, in itself, an example of great reuse and innovation: A truck tarp-draped framework with integral screen and beamer, raised above some very cool tarp-wrapped cushioned benches (one of which you've seen part of above).
The key word, and concept, of the day was "Recontextualisation":
Take "throw-away" items like truck tarp and recontextualise it - not just recycling but using it in a new context, making it into something different but, at the same time, something new. "Nobody wants to own trash", as Daniel so succinctly put it.
After the presentation and the excellent coffee and bakery goodies provided by local bakery Jung, we were able to wander around the factory and snap away to our hearts' content while, of course, mingling and chatting a lot about what we'd just heard.
The event itself was excellent - great fun, informative and inspirational. Swissmiss (Tina Roth Eisenberg - THANK YOU!) and her team have the edge on many other organisers of similar events with their approach, the organisation (flawless) and their clever "conversation-opener" badges handed out before the event with a leading question for which one has to provide an answer intended to spark conversation. Much better than the old name badge.
Here's one of my favourites from yesterday (not mine):
Simply click the photo to go to the Flickr photoset where you can see another 89 badges 
More photos can be found on Flickr and the rest of my iPhone snaps will probably end up there at some point in time.
Click here to show Flickr search results for Creative Mornings.
Last, but of course not least, thanks to Daniel Freitag and the rest of his team for being such great hosts!
It was fun. I hope that the series continues and we get to take part in many more Creative Mornings here in Switerland!
While at the Creative Mornings in the Freitag HQ this morning I did my usual "thing" and photographed frantically, capturing the usual mixture of abstract and otherwise with my trusty iPhone. I'll be uploading the pics and writing more soon but I wanted to pose a question regarding this one photo:
Look very closely at that coffee stirrer (that's the white plastic thing in the middle).
Is it levitating?
Apart from being an extremely cool recontextualised factory (thanks for that word Daniel ), is the FREITAG® factory part of the matrix?
Stay tuned...
So. After a bit of a pre-summer (technically summer, but pre-summer meteorogically speaking ) break, the Weekly Wordle is back!
Something rather ironic about the Weekly Wordle this week is that @swissmiss is a prominent feature in the pattern - and I finally had the opportunity to meet her this morning at the first ever "Creative Mornings" session at the Freitag Headquarters here in Zürich!
More about that excellent event in another post - here's the Weekly Wordle:
Anonymous hugging made a pretty big impact too
Happy weekend all!
Well, the Swiss Federal Office of Topography have shown a total disconnect with reality and launched what could possibly be the most expensive iPhone Application ever: Swiss Map Mobile 2009 iPhone Edition.
According to their website, the App provides
digital national maps of Switzerland 1:25 000, 1:100 000, 1:500 000 and 1:1 million
and gives a
Complete range of functions for CHF 4.40
- although it only comes with HALF A MAP SHEET!
Don't worry though - you can buy one or all of the 8 map "sections" for your very own unlimited use for the bargain price of CHF 89.00 EACH - a total of CHF 712.00 for a fully-functional iPhone maps application for Switzerland.
Oh, and one more quote from their website:
* Important: the sections are not yet available at this moment. The approval of Apple is pending.
Maybe this will be seen as the ultimate show-off application by a few rich business tycoons, once (if) it's all finally approved for the App Store?
I think I'll stick to google maps with the extra features it offers, such as street view, etc... for FREE.
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