Building an Olympic 'Lego'cy

So we’re all getting excited about the Olympics coming to London!? (Well some of us are). Admittedly, it is very London centric, and for those living in the North I can see why they all feel a bit peeved. I was peeved the day my £500 ticket gamble resulted in no Olympic tickets at all. Yes, the system for buying tickets was dreadful and rewarded those with more money to gamble with, but if you persevered like me, getting a ticket was possible. I’ll be off to see the reigning Olympic water polo champions Hungary play Montenegro as well as World Champions, Croatia, play Spain – this is quite exciting! I’ve also bagged some ticket to see the game of ‘Handball’ played in the basketball arena. Handball is not only a term used in football to denoting cheating, it’s also a bizarre sport played avidly by countries such as Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. By all accounts it’s super fast paced and you’re guaranteed at least 20 goals at each end! Some say it’s a mix between football (without your feet), netball and basketball, we shall see!

What excited me nearly as much as bagging some Olympic tickets was the release of 9 Lego minifigures representing the British Olympic Team! Anyone who knows me will also know I love Lego, particularly the minifigures. I’m also a bit of a pro at feeling the little foil packets to work out which figure is inside. This said, I did find the latest bunch of minifigures difficult to work out, but you’ll be happy to know I still managed to find them all! And here they are! Ace!:

Design of the Week (No.4)

Stir-ring my Imagination this week is:

(No.4) The Fred and Friends Kitchen Kong Gorilla Whisk

How fun is this?! I'm all for adding a bit of fun to an everyday item and this does that perfectly! I don't know how well it functions but I'd have a little smile on my face every time I got this out of the drawer! It retails for around £9 which I think is a great value pressie for one of your loved ones... (hint hint).

Design of the Week (No.3)

It's time for 'Design of the Week', yeah! And this week, contrary to what I'd planned to do (introduce a product from a different designer each week), I'm returning to design firm Qualy for my inspiration. I spotted this design last week and loved it! So...

Stir-ring my Imagination this week is:

(No.3) The Qualy Four Seasons

I love a little play on words, and this is great. Each little pod holds a different condiment. So your salt is in the 'winter' pod, your chilli flakes are in the 'autumn' pod etc! I'm not sure how successful the 'spring' pod is but hey, I forgive them for that. What a clever bit of thinking! Great work Qualy!

Cheep Shots

Thought I'd share with you three photos I took of a baby Great Tit that was born in the broken stump of our apple tree. We think this little fella was the runt of the nest, he was better at hoping than flying. I'm happy to report though, that having not seen them for 2 weeks since leaving the nest, the other morning we spotted four baby Great Tits munching on our bird feeder. Finger crossed, this little guy was one of them!

RSI is a pain in the neck... and shoulders, back, elbows, arms, wrists, hands and fingers!

Designing products all day sounds like fun doesn't it? Well some days it is, and you can get a real buzz from it, other days it's a chore (like any 9-5 job, correction 9-5.30). But I enjoy what I do. That is until my little demon kicks in. I've been working pretty intensely on computers for 10 years now and to start with it was no problem. But in the last 4 years I've suffered pretty badly with RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury). For those of you who are not very familiar with this, it's a condition by which pain and discomfort is brought on by repetitive action. In my case, intense use of a mouse and keyboard.

When I trained to be a designer we were still using pencils and marker pens to do design mock ups (this makes me sound really old now!). We'd regularly be in the workshop turning our ideas into sculpted forms or working prototypes. My working day was varied. Then I became a professional designer and everything changed! The pace and expectations changed, everything was wanted instantly, there was no time to re-draw a widget in green to see what it looked like. Photoshop and Illustrator replaced my paper, the mouse and keyboard my hands.

Unfortunately, spending 7 hours working at a computer all day in a very intense and stressful environment has effected my health. Last year I spent over £1000 at the chiropractors straightening my twisted spine (after years of bad posture at my machine). I've also had to live with nasty aches and pains in my shoulders, back, arms, elbows, wrists, hands and fingers, not fun I tell you!

So why am I writing about this on my blog? Well, it's not for sympathy (although I'll take it!), it's to highlight the fact that you all need to take real care of yourselves! Once you start getting RSI it's very difficult to get rid of. It's only by stopping what causes the symptoms that you can fix it. So when you earn a living (like me) using a computer, it makes stopping (or even taking regular breaks) very difficult.

As a regular feature in my blogs I'm going to highlight some ways you can help yourselves. I've read some great articles on coping with (or avoiding getting) RSI, and I'd like to share it with as many people as I can.

Sorry to preach guys, but this is something I feel really strongly about. Whenever possible my posts will be witty and fun, but occasionally, it's good to get serious. RSI is crappy, let doctor Rik fix you!

Take care,

Rik x

Design of the Week (No.2)

Welcome back to my weekly feature post entitled 'Design of the Week'.

Stir-ring my Imagination this week is:


(No.2) The Qualy Sparrow Salad Set

 

The minute I set my eyes on these two little sparrows I was in admiration of such a wonderfully simple and beautiful idea. The 'ikkle' birdies perch on the side of the bowl where the lip has been raised to accommodate them. Their tails fan out to form the shape of the salad spoon and fork. I love all the gentle curves in this design, particularly the way the bowl and birds flow together. I don't own this yet, but really want it. I've given up dropping hits to friends and family...

The Qualy Sparrow Salad Set retails at around £30 and is available with sparrows in green, white or black.

I can't decide which colour I like best...