NEWS

Double D’s : A Café in a Double Decker Bus

Double D’s : A Café in a Double Decker Bus

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Food trucks have been on the rise lately, but in Asheville, NC there is a café that takes food on wheels to a new level.  Double D’s, a coffee shop located in downtown Asheville, is located inside of a bright red double decker bus.  It is parked on downtown Biltmore Ave., and has been in operation for over twelve years from the same location.

The bus is a 1963 Lodekka model double decker bus came from Bristol, England where it was a public transportation vehicle in the 1960’s and 70’s. It somehow ended up in Atlanta, Georgia in the 1970’s and was as a “party bus.”   The bus ended in Ashville in 1999, and has been a coffee shop every since.

Entering Double D’ s, you duck your head to get under the spiral stairs that go to the second floor.  The café is on the first floor, and has a tin roof ceiling and red chairs. Coffee, espresso, and local bakery are for sale, and the chai tea that I had there was good.

On the second floor of the bus, there are reupholstered bus seats with tables that are painted or have mosaic tiles on them.  The atmosphere is funky and upbeat, and when I was there, people would greet each other and talk when drinking coffee up there.    Double D’s has an outside courtyard with tables, and the sometimes have live performances outside.

More history and information about the menu and barristas can be seen on their website, and you of course can stop by and ask questions at 41 Biltmore Ave. in downtown Asheville.

Image Source:
Kristen Baumlier
Links:

http://doubledscoffee.com/

 

Getting Better and Better – An Update from Food Font Development

Getting Better and Better – An Update from Food Font Development

Posted on by Kbaumlier

The Food Font design is continuing and getting better!    The interface design has evolved to have smaller  icons on top, a resizable workspace, and no layer panel.  The Food Font alphabet selector, background selector, and other tools have been created.

This weekend I am meeting with a colleague who does interface design and programming and we will work on the design document that outlines the mechanics, programming details, and overview of the tool.

The design goes on!

Tomi Astikainen – Living in a Gift Economy

Tomi Astikainen – Living in a Gift Economy

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Whenever I am looking for interesting things on the web, I will check out what events or workshops the creative group Pixelache are having in Helsinki, Finland.  I checked their site yesterday, and saw that there was a speaker/ potluck event called Living in a Gift Economy with Tomi Astikainin, who is a writer and advocate of the creative commons and unrestricted knowledge who has been living without money for over 3 years.

Since 2010, Astikainen has been living a moneyless lifestyle, and has been traveling around talking about the gift economy.  The idea of a gift economy is based on the idea of community, sharing, and paying things forward.  At the core of this is the idea of helping others without asking for anything in return.  Astikainen writes on his site, “On a personal level it’s fairly simple: let others know what you need and contribute what you can, by doing what you love to do. When you help others, don’t ask for anything in return. When offered money ask them to pay it forward, i.e. help someone else!”

On his website, you can read some the answers to questions that he is frequently asked.  When asked about why he lives without money he writes, “Money had its place and time in the history of human race but now it’s an obsolete institution that does more harm than good. Because there’s always more debt than money in the monetary system, it creates a profit motive on all levels of society. That profit motive pushes us to dire competition with each other, feeds dishonest behavior, increases fear and decreases trust between people. I didn’t want to have anything to do with a system like that anymore. I wasn’t content just to survive; I wanted to live and enjoy life, to see if I could learn to trust other people again, depend on them and lead a fulfilling life.

When asked about food and how he eats he responds, “ People that you meet on the road are by and large very generous and giving. I eat when people offer me food. Sometimes I ask for leftovers from restaurants or just grab whatever is left on the table. When there is a possibility to use a kitchen I go dumpster-diving. Half of the food produced globally ends up thrown away.

Astikainen has written several books that are all available for free as a download on his site.  I downloaded his book called Sunhitcher, which is described as “a story of Remmus Reverof, a guy who embarks on a hitchhiking journey completely without money. It’s about finding love within you, in your relationships and in life in general.”

To download Astikainen’s books, read more of his FAQs, or learn more about living in a gift economy, you can check out his website.

Image Source:
http://www.tomiastikainen.com/
http://moneyless.info/
Links:

http://www.tomiastikainen.com/

http://moneyless.info/

 

The Tree Cafe in Stockholm – Now Serving Tea and Cookies

The Tree Cafe in Stockholm – Now Serving Tea and Cookies

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Ever have a picnic under a tree?  What about in a tree? Byggstudio, a creative design company, has created a mobile café that is made to be installed in and around trees in Stockholm, Sweden.  The café, which is called the Trädkafé or The Tree Caf is  part of an exhibition called Sommarland that is part of the  Arkitekturmuseets Projektrum.

The café is comprised of modular componants that ianlucd wood seats and ladders that are hung in a tree, and provide a place for people to sit in or under a tree.  The menu at the café is nature inspired, and includes fir tea with maple syrup, bread with chestnut cream, and tree stem cookies.

The café itself is made of fir and oak, and provide a fun, simple experience to have some food in a natural setting.

More information and pictures of the café can be seen on the byggstudio website.

 

Images:

http://www.byggstudio.com

 

Links:

http://www.byggstudio.com

ZeroLandfill – Upcyling Heaven for Artists, Educators, and Creative Types

ZeroLandfill – Upcyling Heaven for Artists, Educators, and Creative Types

Posted on by Kbaumlier

Where can you get a pile of carpet samples, recycled paper, empty binders, glass samples, and other materials all in one place? ZeroLandfil is an award winning upcycling program held seasonally that supportslocal artists and arts educators while reducing waste that would usually goto the local landfill.

The project started in 2006, when the ZeroLandfil project team partnered with the architectural and interior design community in identifying, diverting from local landfills and re-purposing back into the community over 882,000 pounds of expired specification samples that hold value for other audiences that include artists and educators.

The ZeroLandfill site has an area where anyone can create a “Project site,” and ways to connect to interior designers and architects who have expired specification samples at certain times of the year. A drop off location is setup for expired samples and materials to be dropped off.  These are then sorted, weighed, and stacked by volunteers.  Usually a Pop Up event is scheduled- for those interested to come and get materials, also called a “pollination date.”

When I checked on the ZeroLandfill Cleveland Facebook page, the next Pop Up event is scheduled for March 16 at the trailer outside of the Cleveland Museum of Art at 1:30.   If getting a stack of paint chips, carpet, paper, wallcovering books, or stock photos sounds like something you want or need, check out the ZeroLandfill site for more information.

Image Source:
http://www.facebook.com/ZeroLandfillCleveland

Links:

http://www.zerolandfill.net/

http://www.facebook.com/ZeroLandfillCleveland