Design of the Week (No.6)

Stir-ring my imagination this week is:

(No.6) The Eva Solo Citrus Press

This little gem is great for two reasons, not only does it look super sexy, but it's also practically solves two of the great problems with most conventional squeezers; it catches the pips and it catches the juice (without p**sing it everywhere!). I love the detailing; the matt silver squeezer, the matt black funnel filter and the little ripples in the base of the glass. If there was one criticism, it's a bit pricey at £45, but I still want one!

Johnny the Pirate, it's been promotional!

Any product designer will tell you, the joy and reward of our job is seeing the finished product out there in the market place. Ironically for me, this is quite rare. The promotional merchandise I design at present is sent all over the world, so to see it ‘out there’ isn't that regular an occurrence. 

I did have some joy earlier in the year with the Cravendale Kermit Backpack promotion. This was a massive UK promotion and involved a large scale marketing campaign including a TV and cinema advert. It was great to say “I did that!” and ever greater kudos witnessing Kermit the Frog holding my product in the promo ad! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggGvYd9-OCU 

Kicking back with Kermit (the backpack)

But saying that, you do occasionally get ‘fan mail’, which can be a lot of fun to read and a great talking point in the office. We recently received an email from a lovely Canadian gentleman and super fan. Jonathan, a 45 year old ‘big kid’ with a background in classical animation, collects toys and merchandise to “pass on to his son as he gets older”. At the time of writing his email, Jonathan’s son was yet to be born (although all being well, he’s now a proud daddy!). Super fan Jonathan then went on to praise all the great merchandise we have created in the past and list some of his favourites. It would seem he’s probably got a better historical collection in his basement than we do at work! The crux of the email was that he’d seen our ‘The Pirates, Band of Misfits’ money tin and hoped he could get permission to purchase one from us (for his son). We, of course, sent him one for free for writing such a nice letter and sending us a great photo.

And for everyone’s amusement, here he is!: 

Johnny the Pirate 'Super Fan'

The range of promotional merchandise I did for 'The Pirates, Band of Misfits'

Thank you Jonathan, you make all the hard work worthwhile! Keep collecting, your son will love you forever! And I guess this is a little warning to me given the amount of toys I already have around my own house... I need to invest in a basement before my wife chucks me (and my toys) out!

Rik x

Blogger goes AWOL...

OK guys, so I set up a new and exciting blog and you’re just getting into it when the posts stop! Where the heck has he gone, it was just getting interesting... typical! Well, I apologise for staying quiet for a couple of weeks, my life has been a bit manic!

I decided to soak up a bit of sport and did it in a big way! Firstly I travelled up t’North to watch the British Open in Lytham St.Annes. This is where my folks still live and have a house by the course. This meant that, not only could I nip home for lunch and avoid paying £7 for crap fish and chips, I could also watch some of the golf from the bedroom windows! And seeing as the camera Nazis were stopping me taking photos on the course I got my zoom lens out from our house! It is really surreal to see old misery guts himself, Tiger Woods, pass the house you grew up in! Anyway I had a great weekend taking to the course on the final day and watching champion Ernie Els tee off on the last. Watch carefully on BBC iPlayer and you’ll spot me in the crowd, fame at last! 

The view from my parents house

A shot of Tiger from the back window

The 18th grandstand

I then took the first of my two planned trips to the Olympic games! I’ve got to say, the experience was amazing! All the staff and volunteers were so friendly making for a fantastic atmosphere. Add to that witnessing two awesome games of water polo and having a good nosy around the Olympic Park, I had a brilliant time.

View of the fabulous Olympic stadium

In the pool, Hungary prepare for their Water Polo match

Shot of the action

Me and the misses

I’ve popped four photos up for you, but if you’d like to check out some more (there's some lovely ones!), here are three links to my Facebook pages: 

Olympic Games - London 2012:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150992319933553.423273.513778552&type=3&l=4e4c3a5553

Water Polo - Hungary v Montenegro:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150992355753553.423275.513778552&type=3&l=9a6463b88b

Water Polo - Croatia v Spain:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150992367128553.423276.513778552&type=3&l=a907b2ab02


P.S. Congrats to the Great Britian team, you are doing amazingly well! Had a magical night last night watching Jess, Mo and Greg, truly inspirational! Shame our footy boys still can’t take penalties... never mind!

Design of the Week (No.5)

Stir-ring my Imagination this week is:

(No.5) The Alessi Diabolix Bottle Opener

The Alessi Diabolix (also known as the 'Little Devil') has to be my favourite bottle opener. Not only does it look great, it's also a damn good bottle opener and feels great in the hand! I have had a yellow one of these little beauties for a few years now and he still makes me smile every time I get him out of the drawer. You can buy one for around a tenner. Fun, functional and more fun, devilishly good!