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FEATURED POSTS
28 February 2012
Decorative Concrete
Bradford gets its 'Mirror Pool'
Finally Bradford has got something to be proud of that will help put them back on the map.
The central landscaping and eagerly awaited 'Mirror Pool' has been completed, after years of city centre development being put on hold.
City Park in Bradford, designed by Gillespies landscape architects and urban designers contains the largest city-centre water feature anywhere in the UK, at 4,000 sq metres, and the UK’s tallest urban fountain which reaches a spectacular 100ft.
The masterplan for Bradford City Centre was original drawn up in 2003 but wasn't submitted for planning till 2007 before starting on site in late 2009.
The park centres on the Grade I Listed, 19th Century City Hall and helps to connect attractions like the National Media Museum and the Alhambra Theatre with new transport hubs.
Now the city is starting to look like a place where people will want to live and this can only help bring back the developers who pulled out in the peak of the recession.
27 February 2012
Lighwave 11 released !
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to make a post for all you Lightwave fans out there. I have always been a lover of Lightwave but have found that it was somewhat left behind by the competition in recent years.
Lightwave is one of the most widely used 3D packages on the market today. For a long time it sat in the background, primarily used for its extensive modelling set. Studios would do a vast amount of their 3D model creation in Lightwave then export to another package for their animation and rendering needs. Newtek (the creators of Lightwave) have been working hard to pull back those studios and to improve the software's all round effectiveness so it is not simply used as a modeller.
The last few releases have implemented various features such as a vastly improved renderer as well as cutting edge animation tools. Lightwave has always been a very capable application in all areas of 3D visualisation but it is only recently that Newtek have decided to start pushing and advertising its features. Lets hope they continue to do so and that Lightwave takes its well deserved spot as the top software for 3D visualisation.
The link below leads to the new features Newtek have implemented in this release.
Lightwave 11 Feature List
3D Visualisation
www.sovibrant.co.uk
Fords on Film/TV
Following the incredible success of my recent Ford Cortina 50th Anniversary blog (so far two people have ticked the 'cool' feedback box and one of them wasn't me), I thought I'd follow up with an article about classic Fords in classic films. Or a least old Ford's in films or TV:
1969 Mk 2 Ford Cortina 1300 - Michael Caine, Get Carter (1971):
1962 Ford Anglia Deluxe - The Young Ones, Vyvyan (Ade Edmundson)'s car, driven in to the student's front room, 1982. See also Harry Potter - Ron Weasley's flying Anglia):
1976 Mark II Ford Capri 2.0S, Terry McCann (Dennis Waterman), Minder - series 1&2 (see also Doyle's Capri in The Professionals):
1979 Escort Mk 2 RS2000, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998):
Lock Stock also featured a 1984 Mk2 Ford Transit:
Sierra Sapphire Cosworth (exact model varies per series), Spender (Jimmy Nail)
1974 Ford Cortina Mk3, 2000E - Life on Mars Detective Gene Hunt (Glenister):
1976 Mk1 Ford Granada 3.0 Ghia - John Thaw in The Sweeney 1975-80's
...and also a 1973 Ford Consul GT:
I'd better stop now, as this is supposed to be a 'design' blog, and I may be stretching the imagination to suggest that all these cars are design classics, or indeed the shows (Spender and the Sierra for one)
24 February 2012
Just paper?
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The below paper sculptures are the beautiful works of art Jeff Nishinaka.
Using only paper, glue and a sharp knife, Nishinaka creates an incredible new level of origami and with artwork selling for thousands.
Many of Mr Nishinaka's pieces, which usually measure from 2ft in height, are snapped up for around £5,000. But one tree sculpture, which measures an incredible 20ft high, was sold to the five-star ANA Hotel in Tokyo for nine million yen - or £66,000. The piece, which was commissioned to celebrate the hotel's fifth anniversary, took four months to complete.
Nishinaka’s commercial portfolio includes some prestigious clients such as Bloomingdale’s Galleries Lafayette, Paramount Pictures and Coca Cola. Actor Jackie Chan is a close friend of the artist too!
Design
22 February 2012
The New London Bus
Back in November 2010 we blogged the old London Routemaster bus as a design classic (routemaster blog link).
This week saw the introduction of the new London bus, the NB4L, or less formally, the 'Borismaster', designed by Heatherwick Studio (www.heatherwick.com) and built by Wrightbus.
The new bus echos the old classic Routemaster by reintroducing a rear door in addition to the front and side doors. The glass then wraps elegantly around the rear and up to the first floor, following the internal circulation. This principal also applies to the front stair, resulting in light, airy interiors with clear and sylish fenestration.
17 February 2012
Silver Surfer
Having skied for many years and spent whole seasons waiting for those very special powder days, I fully understand the drug like experience every powder junky craves.
There's no better feeling for a snowboarder or skier to find deep virgin powder after a big dump of snow the night before.
However when I saw this striking video , not only does it help visualise the floating experience, but beautiful lights the power snow from the snowboarder LED suit.
Pro Snowboarder William Hughes said “Filming in the suit was the most surreal thing I’ve done in 20 years of snowboarding”
It's also a great way to beat the queues and get first dibbs on some fresh tracks !
See video link below
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIX3ntiTV-g
Design and Photography
www.sovibrant.co.uk
16 February 2012
Artist of the Week : John Brown
Afternoon bloggers This week's Artist of the Week is one of the more well known traditional artists. For the past several years John Brown has worked with some of Hollywood's biggest films including Aliens Resurrection and Superman.
These days however John has swapped the big screen for the lecture theatre my starting his own sculpture training centre. Figures & Focus School specialises in teaching the techniques required in Hollywood Visual effects, sculpting and casting.
Just check out some of the models and concepts below.
Sovibrant / Artist of the Week
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