NEWS

Teachbox: A Toy Design for Emergency Supply Boxes

Teachbox: A Toy Design for Emergency Supply Boxes

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Each year, millions of boxes are shipped to developing countries by organizations like UNICEF, where food and medical supplies are needed. Designers Milad Mohajeri and Ali Haji came up with a idea for the boxes to be used for toys, and not to be used for just kindling. Their simple design integrates printing designs with perforated edges, so that they could be popped out and assembled like puzzles.

The designs when assembled become animals, vehicles, and people. Abuot their design, Tuvie writes, “Upon unpacking, most of these boxes are disposed of while these plain boxes enjoy a powerful potential to be creatively reused. In this concept, a sustainable solution is presented, based on which the simple model of 3-D puzzles is perforated on the boxes sent by UNICEF.”

Images of their design can be seen on tuvie.com

Image Source:
www.tuvie.com/teachbox-concept-trains-childrens-creative-mind

Links:

www.tuvie.com/teachbox-concept-trains-childrens-creative-mind

Food and You: An Animation About Our Food System

Food and You: An Animation About Our Food System

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Oxfam International Youth Partnerships (OIYP) is a global network of young people, aged 18-25, known as Action Partners, who work with their communities to create positive, equitable and sustainable change.  One issue that the group works on is about food and sustainability, and specifically getting the word out about our food system.

It has been reported that the in the last 50 years, industrial food companies have led us to unsustainable food system.  The system relies on oil in order to sustain it, and it takes 10 calories into our food system for every 1 calorie we get out.  The chemical fertizlizers are creating unhealthy soil, and we are not able to use all of the food that we grow.

An animation called Food and You, uses motion graphics to  illustrate issues that have created our current food system and then presents the transformation that is already underway to bring about change. The piece ends by asking,” What can you do to help grow the movement?”  Want a fun big picture of a serious issue?  Food and You can be seen on the OxFam’s Youtube. Channel.

Image Source:
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3cGEqBrlVzM


Links:

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3cGEqBrlVzM

oiyp.oxfam.org.au

 

 

 

Market Makeover – An Online toolkit for Making Healthy Changes in Corner Stores

Market Makeover – An Online toolkit for Making Healthy Changes in Corner Stores

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Places that do not have much healthy food available, often called food deserts, are all over the US, in urban and rural areas.  Sometimes they exist in places that ironically used to grow food, and are usually in low-income communities.   In these locations, there is food to eat, but it’s not usually healthy food.  Often there are few supermarkets, and there is a lot of land in between them.  In these areas, junk food and fast food become the most available food.  Individuals who live in food  deserts often are overfed but undernourished, prone to overweight, obesity, diabetes and chronic illnesses.

In various cities in the U.S., various groups are partnering with corner stores to work to get the stores to carry healthier food choices.  A group from L.A., called Market Makeover, who has worked to do makeovers at over three stores,  has create a website with resources  to help any  group try to plan, partner, and work to create a  “market makeover” in any city.

The project was created as part of  the South L.A. Healthy Eating Active Community Initiative (HEAC), local high school students, and Public Matters.  The groups worked together to transform 3 stores and out of the experience they have compiled a combination of helpful realworld information and creative, innovative strategies.  The resoruces are available  in multiple presentation formats including downloadable pdfs, videos, and other information.

One main message of the group is that there is not one single quick fix to get fresh food into neighborhoods that don’t have it.  In the planning area on the site, there are resources that include a community resource mapping, a food assessment worksheet, food fact sheets, and marketing materials.   In the During Area, there are materials to support developing strategies for different retail stores, information about transitioning a store, and also insights and advice from groups that have worked on doing a Market Makeover.

The site also has YUMTV, a video channel that has videos that use humor to present issues about food and health, and food challenges called, “So You Think You Can Cook?” All the videos, materials, and information can be seen on the Market Makeover website.
Image Source:
marketmakeovers.org
Links:

marketmakeovers.org

Save Food From The Refrigerator

Save Food From The Refrigerator

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Before the invention of the refrigerator, foods were stored in low-tech ways to store food.  Refrigerators have been widely in use for less than 100 years, and have become the main way that most of us store our food.  Many of the foods in the fridge could last as long and even taste better if they were not in the fridge.

Korean designer Jihyun Ryou, has developed a series of storage designs that uses traditional techniques of storing food that she learned from her grandmother and other elderly people in the community.  On her site she writes, “We hand over the responsibility of taking care of food to the technology, the refrigerator. We don’t observe the food any more and we don’t understand how to treat it.”

One unit called The Verticality of Root Vegetables is a shelf/container made of Maplewood treated with beeswax, which houses two containers filled with sand.   Carrots, green onions, and other root vegetables can be stored easily in a vertical position, which allows the organism to save energy and remain fresh for a longer time. This shelf and sand gives a place for them to stand easily and the sand helps to keep the proper humidity.

Another piece, called the Symbiosis of Potato + Apple is another wooden unit that has a lower space for potatoes, that are kept in the dark, and a space above for apples to be stored.  The apples emit ethylene gas, which prevents the potatoes from sprouting.

Other storage units include ways to store spices, ways to store eggs so they can breathe, and ways to store vegetables that will stay fresh longer when at room temperature.

Ryou’s project aims to re-introduce and re-evaluate traditional oral knowledge of food, and to connect us back to the relationships of food that exist.  More of her designs, and a book about the project  can be seen on her website.

Image Source:
www.savefoodfromthefridge.com

 

Links:

www.savefoodfromthefridge.com/

 

SOUP: Mandy Barker’s Images of Ocean Plastic Debris

SOUP: Mandy Barker’s Images of Ocean Plastic Debris

Posted on by Kbaumlier

The “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” is a floating expanse of waste and debris in the Pacific Ocean that covers an area twice the size of the continental U.S.  It is comprised of mostly plastic debris that is suspended in the sea.  Designer and photographer Mandy Barker has created a series of images called SOUP which is made of plastic debris collected from the beaches around the world, which presents a unique view of what it would be like to swim through garbage in the sea.

To make the images, she photographed pieces of plastic and beach trash in clusters that she positioned and grouped by color or value.  The pieces are photographed on black velvet, and the debris appears to be deep in the sea with a current of water creating the formation as it floats. Each image’s description lists the “ingredients” which might say for example, “plastic oceanic debris affected by the chewing and attempted ingestion by animals. Includes a toothpaste tube. Additives: teeth from animals.”

The images were inspired by Chris Jordan, who created a well-known photograph of the plastic pieces that were found inside albatross chicks after they died.   Barker’s images have been featured on many websites and blog this year, and you can see the on her website.

Image Source:
mandy-barker.com

Links:

mandy-barker.com