“And he sailed off through night and day

and in and out of weeks

and almost over a year

to where the wild things are.”

Noah Brier, one of the founders of Percolate, was recently interview in Fast Company where he addressed the meaning of innovation.

After reading Josef Schumpeter, who is known as one of the first people in our industry to really talk about innovation, Brier came up with his own interpretation of what innovation in today’s world needs to mean.

“Innovation is part of a process that involves creating something new (invention), figuring out how to commercialize it (innovation) and then actually getting to adopt it (marketing).”

The interview also asked Brier, “How do you go about creating a culture of innovation?”

“If you buy my definition above then creating that culture involves both committing to inventing (or at least watching the market very closely) and then having a group of people in place with a keen understanding of the market dynamics and the ability to understand how to take an idea that is often half-baked and turn it into something the market will buy into.”

I love how Brier connects the dots here. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the work that comes flying our way but it’s important to take a step back and really assess if we’ve pushed the ideas far enough. It’s about making the time and creating the space so that we have the ability to truly innovate for our clients.

You can read the rest of the interview here.

I have fallen in love with the work of Cristiana Couceiro.  She is an illustrator/graphic design/collector extraordinaire based out of Lisbon who uses anything from newspaper, vintage photos, pieces of paper, books etc…to create her works of art.  These are just a few of my favorites.  Some of them were done for her clients like the NYTimes, Wired, Nike and Audi.  Others are from her personal portfolio.  You can see more of her work here.

Today we celebrate 80 years of Johnny Cash.

This weekend I watched Waste Land, a documentary about the Brazilian artist Vik Muniz.  The film documents the creation of a series entitled “Pictures of Garbage,” which are portraits of garbage collectors called “catadores” in Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest  landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.  The film follows the three year project from start to finish as Muniz and the catadores collaborate on the process of creating these works of art.  It’s an incredibly inspiring film and one that gives a voice to a community of people few know exist.  One of the most inspiring aspects of the film is that Muniz donates 100% of the proceeds to the catadores so they can educate, protect and improve the living conditions of Jardim Gramacho. To date, the project has contributed nearly $300k.   You can read more about the film here.

One of my New Years resolutions was to no longer sleep with my iPhone next to my bed.  No more checking emails as soon as my eyes open.  No more sending off late night emails that could wait until morning.  So our “charging station” got moved to the other side of the room, which meant we lost the other function of our phone–the alarm clock.  For the last couple weeks we have been using the classic Braun Travel Clock, my husband’s from growing up, but it lacked a snooze button.

So the hunt began.  Our requirements were simple–well designed, slim profile and a snooze button.  We scoured blogs for “best alarm clocks,” “modern alarm clocks,” etc… to no avail.  Then, on a rainy Saturday afternoon we popped into Moss and came across what I am now deeming the perfect alarm clock.

Designed by Jasper Morrison for Swiss brand Punkt, the AC 01 is everything we were looking for and more.  I love how simple and intuitive the controls are and in addition to a snooze function, glow-in-the-dark hands and dial, it also has an led light that illuminates with a simple push of a button.  You can buy one online here.

“[Y]ou can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
– Stanford University commencement address, June 2005.

Ai Weiwei, one of China’s leading conceptual artists, recently installed his piece, Sunflower Seeds, into the interior of the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall.  While at first glance all of the seeds look nearly identical, the exhibit actually consists of 100 million porcelain seeds that were each individually sculpted and painted in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen, which is known as the “porcelain capital” in China

When the exhibit was first installed, visitors were invited and even encouraged to walk, touch and  lay down in the seeds but last week they announced that the exhibition is now no longer open for human interaction due to the dust created when visitors walked on the seeds.  Either way,  I think the connotations typically associated with the term “Made in China,” is brought into question.  The exhibit is up until May 2011 so if you are in London in the next seven months be sure to check it out.

*Photographs from the Tate and The Guardian