Moving from a “Do it Yourself” to a “Make it Yourself” mindset, decentralized production and handcraft becomes more powerful. The New York Times writes about a cafe in Paris where you can use sewing machines to repair or create own stuff. One of the owners is an Austrian designer.

“I think it’s time for people to start making things for themselves,” she said. She and Ms. Duss are offering courses in sewing and will also invite other designers for demonstrations. They are also selling kits, which cost 30 to 100 euros (about $42 to $140) and include all the materials needed to create a design, like an easy printed top by the Antwerp label Pelican Avenue. Renting a machine for an hour is six euros, and a slice of cake with coffee is five.

Further reading on this issue:
Makezine
Maker Fair
Rapid prototyping
Hacker labs
Fluid Forms

The European Commission is engaged in analysing the relevance and contribution of design (thinking) to innovation; finally (public consultation, working document).

In parallel, they launched a dedicated website, containing a self-assessment tool (benchmarking your design-related activities with other (leading) organisations).

im Rahmen eines Workshops (3 Termine) in unserem Projekt Emergente Innovation (PDF, 3MB) sind wir auf der Suche nach einer/m Illustrator/in, der/die folgende Anforderungen erfüllen sollte:

• Schnelles Erfassen des Kerns einer (Innovations-)Idee
• darauf aufbauend deren rasche Visualisierung [on the spot] (per Marker und Papier)
• Zuhören können und eingehen auf teilweise noch unkonkrete Projektideen

Termine:
2.4.2008
3.4.2008
11.4.2008
jeweils ca. 13.30-18 Uhr

Ort: 1090 Wien

Bei Interesse bitte eine kurze Email an mich. Vielen Dank auch für’s Weitersagen.