Our designers are getting excited about New York Design Week 2012, the main event of which has typically been ICFF.

As the “off-Javits” exhibits downtown gain popularity and ICFF itself finds more critics, the rapid change of the business of furniture design has become a hot design week topic. Do we still need these big shows? Has the process really become more democratized?

Tongues firmly in cheek, our design team was determined to find out how to make it in this brave new world. Initial exploration produced less-than helpful results. Don’t fret would-be Charles and Rays, we’ve done the hard work for you. Good News! Turns out being a furniture designer is easier than ever. Check out our simple flow chart below:

Click to Zoom

As a design consultancy, we are typically concerned with the parts of our brand that our clients come into contact with most often. From website, to proposal, to final deliverable, we aim for a consistent look and feel and a distinct Kaleidoscope fingerprint. So why, we asked, were we continuing to make first impressions in a stark meeting room lacking any shred of culture? The Mt. Adams room was born.

As the first in a series of proposed meeting room makeovers (named for Cincinnati’s “Seven Hills”), The Mt. Adams Room is a mashup of modern design, eclectic employee heirlooms, and historic imagery. It’s more representational of who we are as a collective, and lends a more personal vibe to the conversations that take place inside. Two details that really elevate the space are the blinds-turned-mural of the inclined railway (thanks to Kelly and Trevor) and the live edge table by Such + Such.

Like all good design projects, this room makeover is iterative. What do you think of this space? How can we make it better?

After establishing our first Chinese presence in Kunshan earlier this year, we’re excited to announce that we’ve opened our Shanghai office. Read more about it on PRWeb. K’SCOPE Director Mu-kai Shen weighed in on the experience:

Expansion into Shanghai is a logical next step. Starting from Kunshan helped us better prepare for Shanghai’s highly competitive market. I believe our key to success will be securing our unique core values, and at the same time being flexible to adapt to this environment. Working in an international fashion is not just about embracing the language and culture; it also involves tolerance for new perspectives.

photo by cuellar.

As a company that spends a lot of time designing in the medical space, it was impossible for us to be at this year’s 2012 NYC Auto Show and not notice similar trends emerging in both the health and auto industry.

The biggest connection we saw between these two industries was the strive to enhance performance with the addition of sensors and modern materials. We are looking for everything to be smarter and more self-aware these days and in the case of cars and the human body this is often reflected in the pursuit of health, protection, and performance.

Health = Hybrids. They don’t just get good gas mileage anymore and they are certainly more than just a car. Rather, the hybrid is a complex computer capable of relaying real time information. The BMW “i” concepts successfully embody this organic integration of the driver with technology.

The Fisker Automotive solar roof

Protection is parking sensors. Your car’s outer layer is how other people judge the car’s health, much like your own skin. Assisted parking has been widely adopted across manufacturers, ranging from the mid-level manufacturers to the new Lamborghini Aventador. Next step, force fields!

Parking sensors on the front of the Aventador

Performance: This year cars stopped hiding behind their shiny coat of paint. Satin paint jobs place the emphasis on what the car truly has to offer. There is a natural, “make-up” free honesty about a more subdued finish that lets us see the finer details in a car’s design.

A couple satin finishes

As designers it is important to remember how emerging technologies affect different product spaces and to make sure we use that information for inspiration in our own fields of expertise. Has anyone else been to an auto show this year and noticed trends that connect back to your industry? Let us know!

See more photos from the show here!

Cincinnati is one of five mid-size cities selected for the project, and we’re excited to be one of the teams chosen to participate. For an idea of the types of concepts that come out of this project, check out some of work by St. Louis team Brain Drain:

The past few seasons have been about restraint. A display of wealth was a distasteful tell of your indifference to a sober state of affairs. Luxury, however, is a tough habit to break and we see it returning now with a referential nod to excess past… long past.

While it borrows heavily from baroque themes, the modern twist is a “look, don’t touch” attitude conveyed through aggressive details. Every rose has its thorns. The shameless use of gold was balanced with irreverent deconstructions of a classic forms.

AAUGA’s Executive President Larry Kleinkemper interviewed Jake Baxter and Mark Mock from the Kaleidoscope visualization team during the Cincinnati User Group meeting on April 5th, 2012.  The interview covered the team’s success of the recently completed “Digital Library” of medical animations for Ethicon Endo-Surgery.  The purpose of this library is to educate surgeons and nurses about instrument features, instructions for use and clinical benefits of the products on an iPad interface.  The interview will be among other speakers from Laika, ILM, and ReelFX.

See full list of tour dates and speaker lineup at http://digitalheroes.aauga.net/

One of the six trends featured in the most recent edition of Wanderlust, the Future Perfect (an homage to one our favorite retailers) highlights the convergence of machine techniques and hand-crafted warmth.

Technology plays an important role in the products we use today. Precisely machined patterns and detail hint at the complexity and sophistication it takes to bring these products to life. These manufacturing techniques are constantly reinventing the concept of craft. Traditional techniques, once painstakingly created by hand centuries ago, are now reproduced in mere seconds by computer controlled processes.

Future Perfect is a reaction to the technology in our lives; either strongly for or against it. It’s about the two faces of perfection; the kind we can program, and the kind that can’t be duplicated.

There are 19 tips in total, but here are some of our favorites. What’s your best travel tip?

• Learn the language and try to say thank you.
• Take twice the cash and half the stuff.
• Take advantage of work trips. (They’re paying for most of it!)
• Your weather will suck. (If it’s raining in Spain, it’s still Spain!)
• And finally: Never pass up a chance to pee.

“Reclaim” has been a material trend for a few years now. You immediately get a vision of a table made from scraps of a ransacked warehouse. While that aesthetic is still present, it has now matured, kicking and screaming, into its own established style. Despite its conservative roots as a reaction against excess, this trend refuses to be somber. Pieces are thrown together like so many flea market finds, each having their own story. The joy is in the vulnerability and the warmth is difficult to deny.

This all about making, crafting and curating our surroundings. While it doesn’t reject sustainability, the aesthetic has evolved past a practical reuse for reuse sake and developed approachable warmth. There is a price for this more mature approach, but it’s not about splurging, it’s about the challenge of creating something new and interesting from familiar components.