This is my first post in a while, but I had to get this out. I’m currently participating in the YouTube Competition sponsored by the advertising firm Ogilvy, and I’m giving myself some props. I hope you enjoy!

I’ve recently been working on this project in Berkeley where we’ve abstracted the archetypal house in a modern way. You can see our design for this cottage here shrouded by the palm trees.

Herzog and DeMeuron take this archetypal house to the extreme by extruding the form out like house “logs’ and stacking the logs up five stories as if it were a children’s toy. Simply amazing.

VitraHaus / Herzog & de Meuron | ArchDaily.

leapfrog tag junior book pal for children

Recently, my mother in law gave my son a tag junior from leapfrog. This toy is magic. You just set the device down on a leapfrog book, and it will read the text of the book or identify any of the images in the book. For instance, if you place the device over a picture of an elephant in the leapfrog book, an elephant noise might come out of the device.

I understand that there are little microdot patterns in the printing of the books which the tag junior device can read and then respond to. This is really an incredible technology, but i want to use this device to read more than just leapfrog books. I’d love to be able to pass secret notes with this device almost like an art piece or some sort of interactive urban exploration device. But I need a crack first.

So, I’m calling all experts in the hackosphere: Can you crack this device? It seems to be locked down tighter than anything because I cannot find an online crack nor even any reference to people trying to crack this device. Come on! Nothing? I know nothing of the underground world of cracking hardware devices, so maybe all this stuff is child’s play. If so, please leave a comment and help a brother out.

Christmas is just around the corner, and it recently occurred to me that a wonderful gift you might consider giving to your lady-friend is a device that can produce ecstasy. I must admit to you, I have not tried any of these stimulating devices myself. In fact, I’ve only chosen them based upon their innovative design promises or upon their beautiful craftsmanship. So, I cannot guarantee that any of the following clitoral stimulators, vibrators, dildos, and massagers will bring you an orgasm. Of course, if they don’t at least they look really, really good on your shelf or hidden underneath your bed.

The prices of the sex toys Design Crack presenting range from under $100 to several hundred. The materials range from the standard rubber to stainless steel to 24 karat gold to fine delft porcelain. And although I can’t give you, dear reader, a play by play stimulatory (is that a word) rating of each sex toy, I’ve provided links to each vibrator that give you more than enough information to give you an informed purchasing decision. Quite frankly, you may consider buying more than one of these devices and consider many items in your arsenal.

The We Vibe clitoral and G-spot vibrator

This was the least pretty and least expensive of the devices I’ve added to the collection, but the shape of the design makes me wonder if it wouldn’t be the most affective. If the We Vibe lives up to its promise, it will create quite a buzz.

The OhMiBod Music activated vibrator

When discussing vibrator innovation, you have to mention at least one iPod activated device. I’ve included two. One is an app, and one, the OhMiBod, is a vibrator that pulses with the music bringing a new edge to your favorite hip hop or house music. If you’re feeling a bit adventurous, try some heavy metal to stir your juices.

iVibration: Bring your iPhone to the next plane of usefulness

Philips Warm Sensual Massager

This is the most corporate looking vibe. It almost seems as if you should shave with this device rather than rubbing your hoo with it. But, I can only assume it works wonders simply because Philips has worked decades to make their intimate products incredibly fun to use.

Eleven Steel Dildo by Njoy

Steel seems a little cold, it sure looks good.

Olga gold plated vibrator by Lelo

The Olga is beautifully designed to find all the right spots. This vibrator is probably the one that I could see James Bond giving to his lover as a memento for conquering an international crime syndicate. Maybe this one could be renamed “Goldfinger” because it will make you sing like Ethel Merman.

Bone vibrator by Tom Dixon for Myla of London

Tom Dixon designed this. I don’t care how well it works. Tom Dixon designed this. Buy it.

Minx vibrator by Shiri Zinn

I spent quite a bit of time exploring Shiri Zinn’s website, and although this particular vibrator might look a little hokey, her zeal for experimentation and user experience leads me to believe her little machines are moan inducing explosions waiting to happen. I urge you to check out Miss Zinn’s site and look for the strapons which are pure artwork. I would love to mount these on the wall if my wife would let me.

Fuck Design Vibrator by Citizen Citizen for Jimmy Jane

Jimmy Jane has went out of its way to brand itself as the high design of sexual pleasure. They’ve hire Citizen Citizen to create the “Fuck Design” limited edition model of their popular bullet vibe, and I can’t stop looking at it. JJ guarantees all parts (I think), and has made quite a brand promise… which comes with a steep price. This is the vibe for the woman or man who needs it all.

Delft Ceramic Dildo

I like this dildo the best. It does not vibrate, but it does look like something you’d pull out of the china cabinet and put on your dinner table as a centerpiece at thanksgiving (which might add for a spicy evening). The dildo is corked at the bottom which leads me to wonder if the dildo is meant to carry warm water adding to the glow of sensations you might feel. Or, it could be a really hot stash box. What do you put in yours?

This past year has been so much fun at Design Crack. Over the last year, I’ve featured several hundred products from the insanely clever to the fabulously opulent. Today, I’ve decided to focus on the opulent ones and pull out ten from the archives that just made my jaw drop when I saw these. Seriously, if any of you own one of these items and want to share your experiences with the product please contact me. I’d love to know if the product gives you as much pleasure now as when you had first bought it.

1. Refrigerator by Gorenje – $10,000

This may be one of the flashiest, most insanely gorgeous, and at the same time functional gadgets I have ever seen. A Few minutes after I spent time with this refrigerator, I immediately thought of Angelina Jolie.

2. Muon Speakers by KEF- $145,000

Recently, I’ve come upon the Muon speaker. Muon speakers are, quite frankly, the most opulent speakers ever made at an unreasonable price of $145,000.

3. Wally Power Yacht- $25,000,000

This is the Wally Power 118 super yacht. The boat at first looks as if it’s a high speed cigarette boat used for racing, and in a sense it is a racing boat at it’s core. But don’t let the shape fool you. Inside the boat are three modern staterooms.

4. Maybach- $250,000

The Maybach- So what’s so special about this car? First, it’s built like a custom home. The buyer goes to the design studio and chooses dozens of options for the car…

5. Tramonto by Fisker- $150,000

The Tramonto by Fisker is one of those things that comes around very rarely in a lifetime. That is, how often do you have the opportunity to buy one of 150 of the finest designed, finest built cars in the world?

6. Seitz Digital Wide Format Camera- $18,000

The Seitz 6×17 digital large format camera is something that needs to be seen to be believed. It is, quite honestly, the most amazing digital camera ever made. Where do I start?

7. Louis Vuitton $42,000 handbag

Maybe I watch too much crappy television? I don’t know. But, I was watching the Preview Channel – you know, the channel that scrolls the TV guide at the bottom while washed up child actors talk celebrity gossip- the other day when the woman on the show started barking on and on about Louis Vuitton’s $42,000 handbag.

8. Vividus Bed Hastens- $50,000

I’ve been looking at Hastens beds for the past year or so ever since they started their latest media campaign in the design magazines. In this time frame, I’ve actually experienced one of these beds, and there is no doubt that they are unrivaled.

9. Henk Suitcase- $15,000

HENK is absolutely one of the most beautiful rich people’s items I have ever seen. It’s incredibily customizable, richly detailed, superbly functional.

10. Diorette Collection- $42,000

Victoire de Castellane is the queen of enamel and jewels, and her new Diorette collection for Dior shows off her skills better than ever. The rings are huge, bold, chunky. It’s like wearing a little forest on your finger.

This really is one of the freshest and most novel concepts for a watch I’ve seen in a while. The watch by Alexandros Stasinopoulos portrays three intertwined tape measures that move with the time. I have not quite figured how to describe the relation between time and space, but I’m sure there is one.

I’ve always wanted to do a watch that gave you different facial expressions to relate the time to you. For instance, 8am might show an expression of someone bleary eyed but refreshed where 2 am might show bloodshot eyes and extra bags.

ora | alexandros stasinopoulos | strategic+product design

I saw this at Yatzer, and I really appreciated the above piece for where it brought my imagination.  The piece by metal garden furniture DeCastelli is not meant to be a dining table, I don’t think. I think it’s meant as pure vision of landscape on a miniature scale. But it occurred to me that this design could make a perfect dining experience. The mountains and the forest represented in this work could bring new rituals and new sensations to a dining experience. For instance, the plant could be a fragrant herb used to complement the food’s flavors. The mountains could be perfect vessels to cook Indian breads or simply to remind the eater where their food comes from. Maybe new forms of dining tables could arise based on the way their structures interact with the cuisine presented to them.

The small gardens of DeCastelli | yatzer | Design Architecture Art Fashion +more.

I saw this clock on one of the design blogs, and I fell for it. The simplicity is commendable. The clock face is soothing in it’s movements. Then, I watched the you tube video on Mr. Lumb’s site, and I developed a slightly different opinion of this time piece. Here’s my insignificant complaint: at certain times of the day, the inner circle slips to the right a bit revealing a lighter circle beyond. This looks sloppy, quite frankly. It takes away from the clocks perfection and makes me question the viability of the design in its current state.

Clock – Meine Homepage.

China Design Now is a broad review of China’s contemporary design, fashion, and architecture which is on exhibit at PAM in Portland, OR through the next few months.

The show is broken into three categories which revolve around the three major cities: Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing. From what i’ve seen, there is no real opportunity to wrap the aesthetic into a neat little package. But if I were to generalize, the architecture is boundless while the product design is derivative. Beyond derivative, they outright copy things as shown in their “BlockBerry” blog entry. This is a hilarious entry showing advertisement of Obama endorsing what is a fake Blackberry.

Honestly, how fun would it be to just do an exhibit of Chinese knock-offs?

CHINA DESIGN NOW PORTLAND.

I’ve been bored lately with just talking about design objects. I’m an architect, and I’ve recently been obsessed with what I’m calling “temporary architecture”. Temporary architecture , to me, is simply the space created and removed over a short period of time, like for an event.

So I ask you all, dear readers, to tell me if you’ve been somewhere recently that made you feel special in the moment when, normally, you would not consider that space as special.

My first example is a Palio dinner in one of the contrade of Siena. The Palio is an annual horse race that pits neighborhoods against each other. Before the race, a vast dinner is held in each contrada where thousands of neighbors come out to eat in the street. At the head table the guest of honor is the horse.

This example transforms a city street into a dining room for thousands with light, tables, sounds, colors, flags, and people. And although Siena has a natural and man-made beauty that transcends this temporary architecture of the Palio Dinner, I would argue that the temporal experience of the dinner is the basis for falling in love with the city of Siena. The event is fleeting and only a memory, and it’s this intense memory of civic transformation that truly creates the lasting impression of a city rather than it’s day to day stasis.

Temporary architecture also helps resolve what is really important for inhabitation. Is the importance of space derived from a static building’s material quality or sculptural aesthetics? I would say no, and that these qualities only augment an architectural experience which is more based on a memory of a building at that moment. So architecture is just the moments at which we experience it and the temporary elements which affect the static buildings at that time.

Flickr Photo Download: Palio, Onda Dinner.