Highlights From DesignTide Tokyo 2009

Each year during Tokyo Design Week, DesignTide Tokyo features top design innovations from a variety of fields. With today marking the end of the five-day event, we’ve highlighted three projects below that we find particularly inspirational.

Jaeun Park: Light To Write

Jaeun Park’s Light To Write lamp houses a pressure-sensitive switch mechanism; the light inside activates when the pencil is removed, and switches off when the pencil is replaced. A boon to anyone whose best ideas come as they’re falling asleep, Park’s lamp comes along at a time when we’re seeing other energy-efficient home lighting devices. To wit, see Jun Yasumoto’s book-powered reading lamp.

Jaeun Park

Nitipak Samsen: The Buttons

The Buttons from nitipak samsen on Vimeo.

The above video demonstrates Nitipak Samsen’s recent collection of experiments, most using conceptual control mechanisms to highlight issues of shared or limited resources. Of particular note:

• Consequences: A light that can be activated only using the side of the switch with a surface that wears away quickly, reminding users of the fragility of the environment.
• Weighted Waiting: By allowing the elevator door to open only after a length of time relative to the number of people attempting to board, this elevator contrasts users’ efficiency (time spent) with the planet’s well-being (energy used).
• Limited Resources: Of the six devices controlled by this mechanism, only three can be active at any given time. If one light too many is switched on, the mechanism automatically switches off another device.

The Buttons

Kollektiv Tokio: code:Tiwiki

The code:TiWiKi project has given each of three hundred handcrafted miniatures its own name, color, and personality, and has spread them throughout the streets of Tokyo. Through the QR codes each holds on its back, passersby who find the TiWiKis are sent a playful message reflecting the personality of the miniature, and instructions to upload a snapshot to the project’s geotagged map.

code:TiWiKi

[via Tokyo Art Beat]