Adaptive Re-use and Augmented Reality.

Watched a Boomtown, herky jerky camera shot video this Sunday morning with Kara Swisher interviewing Thomas Goetz, Wired magazine editor and author of “The Decision Tree,” advocating that we act as enthusiastic sheep, embedding medical sensors under our flesh as a novel, fun and informative way to monitor our biological functionings for medical data mining.  What Futurama movie didn’t they see?  These are the same Earthlings who reject and scold their natural beauty and inject mold poison into their faces to insure permanent fembot smiles. (OK, we agree…Botox could be considered adaptive re-use and augmented reality at it’s finest.) We suppose when 2012 hits these same bots will be beamed up through their implanted sensors leaving the rest of us to smell flowers, enjoy communicating with our precious bodies and friends and live silly and respectful on Planet Rock…wired to digital by choice and freedom. We say less data and a deeper more intuitive tapping into the rich library of body and Earth wisdom.

COMMiti ego is a collective design house envisioning and implementing Adaptive Re-use and Augmented Reality as new blueprints for how we hardwire digitally and creatively with real, pre-industrial soothing softwired remedies for Living. We shake our Avatar-like dreadlocks in a shower of Stars over blinding and binding acceptance of positioned “New Tools,” designed to separate us from our own intuition and self-empowerment or the greatest technology ever invented…Biology and the Web of Life.

Future Vision Holds that Adaptive Re-Users are Survivors and basically are having more fun.  Like a Parkour leaper over the constructs and debris of consumer culture, we adapt making beautiful from the solid “waste” into minimal impact, high-end design for Life as we decide to dance with Druids and imbibe elixir tonics made from Mayan heritage seeds.

Here, we forage and augment reality with Adaptive Re-use, add in some art, design and sensory delights for a luxurious mash-up from our network of friends and resources designed especially for 9 friends and mogul clients such as Barack Obama, Tom Ford, Martha Stewart, Len Burnett, Lady Gaga, Aby Rosen and Ian Schrager…some who don’t know they need us yet, but soon will;-)

ONE. Even More Color and Fun in The White House for July Fourth

Lush edible organic gardens, Malia and Sasha cavorting in bright frocks and Slow Food White House lawn picnic parties…we all saw this in our dreams and it is Real! Westweek 2010 Urban Design Award winner, Sean Knibb creates sculptural masterpieces for outdoor living for international celebrities and the urban gardens of Los Angeles. His ingenious bright straw bale chair idea is great for the Obama kids and pals while the “Prescendential” parents and friends discuss, laugh and eat at his indoor outdoor dining table made from reclaimed wood. A community comes together and celebrates and dines on a nurturing, oxygen filled meal prepared fresh from the edible garden.

Initially envisioned and prompted to Obama by Alice Waters of Chez Panisse for the White House lawn, the edible garden has become a lifestyle, if not a requirement, for those who want an impressive and available food source, while returning to the agronomic roots of our predecessors.  A Slow Food, slow soothing of the collective soul of humans and earth, it is a bio-high, to feel fit and hear friends and family chewing, ooohing and ahhhing while feeling the enzymatic rush and security in knowing exactly where and what you are eating really came from.

Sean Knibb’s Centranthus collection crosses indoor outdoor specification boundaries, realized through an environmentally low impact production process. Powder coated and polished angle irons of forged steel and polished aluminum create a part vessel part frame for the re-purposed soul of the living, grandfathered wood through a process of organic re-construction. Sean’s furniture is available from Abbott Kinney bungalow store in Los Angeles or here on his website.

Instead of fireworks, COMMiti ego recommends an orchestrated plaid light installation by artist, Vicki da Silva, a co-collaborative and symbolic art experience made by everyone at the picnic for a real Rainbow Child meets The White House reality.

The best ideas always come from colorful dinners, in fact, one half of COMMitti ego chewed on this very blog post at designer, Holly Hunt’s hosted Westweek 2010 dinner at chef Mark Peel’s Campanile, as a guest of interior designer Bret Witke.  Tom Ford, Julianne Moore, Bruce Cohen and Dean Factor, to name several, are fans of Bret’s designs for homes and restaurants. Holly Hunt‘s showroom is a soothing temple for designers who mandate clean lines and luxury.  Campanile itself is adaptive re-use, as the 1929 building is considered a historic landmark designed by 1929 by architect Roy Sheldon Price for Hollywood legend, Charlie Chaplin and adaptively re-used as the original home and creative love child of Nancy Silverton’s artisan bakery, La Brea Bakery.

TWO. “Martha, how ’bout some adaptive re-use and high-tech design flava to  your Connecticut kitchen…”

Martha’s clean and perfect vibe could use some sky, earthy dust and some Busta. Kevin Busta, that is. The other half of COMMiti ego saw him at recent The New York Times, Architectural Digest Show in New York City and really loved his pitchfork chair. Kevin re-purposes the remnants of his hometown Cleveland’s utilitarian rustbelt past. The shopping cart chaise could hold kitchen guests and was a past collaboration with partner, Doug Meyer. Kevin’s art, made from factory blueprints, was recently spotted by Joyce Wadler, writer of the Currents column in The New York Times, and the birds on a wire, Nature meets Man’s Plans, seems just perfect for Media Mogul Martha.  For years we made cards and wrapping paper from a mother-lode of old factory blueprints we found and we love their dusty color and feeling the earnestness and industriousness inherent in the paper.

For inspirational cooking, we love Murphlab’s A History of The Sky, a time lapse photography project of the sky for a whole year by Ken Murphy. It’s another collaborative artwork like Vicki’s, here on Kickstarter you can actually “own” a piece of this art and other similar projects, a new example we love, of art, community and tech interwoven into our lives…the philosophy of COMMiti ego.

Luxury combined with patina is the best prod for our minds to evolve into a compassionate and real soft place, one that integrates all facets of life for true seeing. Crafty Martha would be the perfect guide to The Middle Earthlings of our United States to adapt the beauty of sustainable living beyond just dutifully bringing a grocery tote to the shopping market to fill the modern kitchen.

THREE. The Only Home Possible for Lady Gaga

Freaky, famous adaptive re-user of imagery that is a bit uncomfortable and brash, oh what does your home look like?  COMMiti ego would orchestrate a COMMissioned design back-up group that will match your delicious culture mining stilet-toe to stilet-toe.  Your COMMiti ego girl group of artisans are Eren Yorelmazer, Michael Schmidt, Gary Gibson and Pamela Sunday for starters.

First, meet Eren Yorulmazer from Istanbul, our chosen interior designer for his scouting of visionary and salivation-worthy spaces. We hear your music loud and imagine him turning you on with his bold and crazy way with a bolt of velvet, his new European guiltless love of gilt and loud antiques and custom swathing of vistas, fabric and combo innocent nouveau riche boyyyeeee and big eeeeeEGO gestures.

Next we visit our pal, Michael Schmidt, already a designer of Gaga goodies, such as her crystal crutches in the Paparazzi video and bubble appliques for her Rolling Stone cover, and everything in between for girls like Madonna, Cher, Tina, Grace,Dita, Courtney, Bjork and boys like the Rolling Stones, Elton, Iggy, Karl, Marilyn and Lenny K.  We would commission Michael to create furnishings, specifically, hardware to open doors based on belt buckles or brass knuckle rings in adaptive re-use Gaga style. We’d also place an order for some intricate laser cut walls in combo with Michael’s famous chain-link fabrications utlilizing industrial cast-off materials.

For the element of quirk we would roll up to our friend, Gary Gibson, the artist,interior designer at his Los Angeles gallery retail store reflecting ersatz items with an intention to inspire and embrace letting one’s freak flag fly. Gary sets a precedent for those who function outside the confines of traditional design or traditional offerings, creating spaces that invite, excite and envelop the user.
Earthen bowls with bumps and lumps would work well against the Gagaluxe and we suggest they be filled with champagne and golden Swarovski-iced Sippy straws for effect and served up with some dirty cherry pie ice cream. Some lumpen furnishings or stellary thrift shop relics will nestle into Gaga’s home perfectly.  One of our favorite effects is a wall top to bottom of portraits, an edited crew spanning time, century and technique and we’d be sure to include this ink on wood adaptive re-use portrait from Gary’s inspired cache.  And we would love to see what Michael Koch, the designer of this woolly felt tote found at Gary Gibson, would do with pillows or emerald green, silk-lined dressing gowns for Gaga household guests.

We also recommend Pamela Sunday‘s sea creature ceramics and think her bio-physicist buttoned-up manners and way would quite suit Lady Gaga. (We shared the biggest laugh recently with Pamela, and we hardly knew each other, so we suspect subversive humor under Pamela’s frock) We are sure a Q and James Bond relationship will result in COMMiti ego’s COMMissioned earthy ceramic toys of all sizes and shapes to fit the Gaga universe of body, home and garden.

FOUR.  The Show Must Go On…from Coney Island To Urban Gardens

As Gaga nods to feathered birds before her, we honor Bette Midler, the original showgirl turned urban garden pioneer.  After a show or tirelessly campaigning for urban gardens, we see Bette in her home or personal garden walking, talking, resting and contemplating on a Douglas Thayer bench, exquisitely made from planks of Coney Island boardwalk. The sensibility and zen-ish output arises from Doug’s quiet workshops in the bucolic hills of Massachusetts, a co-reality with Bette and her New York Restoration Project busy reclaiming, restoring and revitalizing open spaces throughout NYC and providing environmental education programs. Hundreds of South Bronx residents and families gathered to celebrate this just completed Target Bronx Garden in the South Bronx, pictured here. Delores Delago, we adores ya. Have a seat, rest your green thumbs and  take a load off from feathering New York City with your green wand!

FIVE. A Little Fishy Ruffage for Tom Ford and Other Single Men

See we like sleek like anyone else, but sleek and slick as in Salmon? These fishes have endurance, faithfulness and will swim upstream to the death. All the things a single man needs. It’s the roughness we see could adding a spot of further chic to TF’s burgeoning moguldom beyond fashion and film. White salmon skin leather would be a luxe repurposing worthy of Tom Ford and ES, the Patagonian company fashioning a waste by-product of the salmon industry into a tough new texture for manly chic. Ain’t nothin’ more manly and recycling-sexy than a massive mountain spewing snow water rapids and feverish, glistening sleek salmon leaping upstream towards it. Or is there? (hint to men: invite and catch more women upstream and upstairs with these kinda Natura Sexa images instead of mere etchings…)

SIX. Adapting The Soul Train Vibe To The New Green for Len Burnett equals

The Sea and Reclaimed Sunken Treasures.

Dear Len, now that you reclaimed the Soul Train and Vibe brand, penned your “Black is The New Green” book, the island beach house is minutes away.  I know you are passionate about green living, fine art and islands, so, COMMiti ego would like to make some design suggestions for your abode.

First: The Sea Sense Surround. We recently visited Stephan Crasneanscki (that’s his sea photo above) to listen to his company, Soundwalk’s excerpt of The Ulysses Syndrome, an immersive sound journey following the route of Ulysses along the Mediterranean Sea. Capturing hundreds of millions of soundwaves flying over the surface of the waters surrounding Turkey, from boat radio waves to storms and creatures, the result is an opera of randomness that soothes in a fractal fashion. Len, as the media mogul at the head of Uptown and now two of the famous music media brands ever…preceeding your own…hey, it’s Your Ocean.

Next: Sit and Ground. Definitely listen to this while chillin’ in a encompassing chair done up in a sea blue dyed, recycled European linen tablecloth from Beyond France, while your toes enjoy the history and emotion in reclaimed wood floors. Not just any wood, but thoughtful planks of deep Earthly thanks, made from 150 to 1500 year old virgin growth sunken treasures, The Cornerstone Floor Group uses Heart Pine and Cypress logs from the Mississippi river and Louisiana swamps and bayous. Floated down major rivers during the timber rush of the late 1800 and early 1900’s, many sunk before they reached their milling destination during the timber rush in the early 1900’s. Anaerobic deep waters filled with minerals are infused into these recovered timbers creating colors, tones and emotions of the highest grade. We are sure your artistic and sensory mogulness will appreciate, if it’s good enough for Lenny Kravitz, it’s good enough for you.  Cheers! COMMiti ego

SEVEN. Steve Jobs: A Little more Thank you, Please in The Apple store

Love the Apple stores, but we beg for a bit more organic and community interactivity beyond speeches or concerts given the brand’s vital value exists due to creative and passionate users.  Time to augment reality with some charity and clarity and connection…and fruit.

Fruit is the essence of giving. Apples are knowledge. Knowledge is giving and many businesses are finding ways to incorporate this into their brand. For example, our most loved Merci Merci store in Paris, created by the owners of Bonpoint, and pictured above, mixes books and nooks to read in, a cafe and a huge helping of profits which go to build schools in Madagascar or Droog, New York where the immersive design not only offers “things for sale” but stimulates the imagination like a gallery or playground.

What about green island pods of apple trees in the Apple store?  In Milan, for example, a living ‘orchard’ designed by Dutch architect Ton Matton, was grown in Garibaldi Railway Station during the week of the recent, Salone del Mobile, Salone 2010 (14th-19th April.)  aMAZElab presented the eighth edition of the GREEN ISLAND event, dedicated to urban green spaces and biodiversity with dozens of fruit trees planted in coloured pots, maintained with a special self-feeding system. A little fully-functioning urban orchard (the fruit could be picked by passengers) metaphorically enhanced the idea of the Station as an ‘agora’, a space of sharing, meeting, exchange and cultural ‘nourishment’.

If our Capitals of Consumer Culture, such as The Palace of The Apple, and the biggest brands act, many more will follow.

and if it’s possible for a brand…how about a city?

EIGHT. Aby Rosen and Ian Schrager: Adapt, Re-Use and Augment The Reality of Hotel as “Mini-Citi”

Depression needs Solace. Desert needs Las Vegas. Recession City Detroit needs developer Aby Rosen, visionary hotelier Ian Schrager and COMMiti ego.  We see a destination Detroit hotel to make an All-American city into a Las Vegas-style brave new world sensation, an energy cycling Mini-Citi for modern design industry to stimulate a new economy there. A Mini-Citi interacting with the environment and businesses will contribute much more than tourist traffic…we see mini industries and brave new worlds.

For our COMMissioned COMMiti ego Mini-Citi Design Team, we choose vertical farmer Dickson Despommier, glass artist Alison Berger, Soundwalk’s Stephan Crasneanscki, Mass’s Stephan Valter and for inspiration, artist Gerald Edwards lll and his surfing buddies, the Goons, who have developed sustainable surfboard manufacturing materials, treehouses, and Bollywood style dance party beach cleanups…Fun.

The image at the opening of this post and this hotel photo is from Gerald Edwards lll. We really like his conceptions of Augmented Reality and our vision is to team him with Stephan of Soundwalk and Stephan of Mass, designer of programmable, interactive wall scenes, for visual thrills and sounds around a core lush bedroom atrium by our pal, Eren.  Surrounded completely by windows, guests are offered a choice of programming or visions into the real worlds outward and an actual vertical working farm for the inner view…Wow.

Kind of like Ikea maximizing space for dorm dwellers and newlyweds, cubic space maximization for skyscrapers and cities have Dickson Despommier, Prophet of the Vertical Farm, espousing for four times as much space usage, convertable water, methane energy back to the grid from compost.  Kind of Nordic Nerdy and Scientifically Sexy to have this futuristic organic farm in a circular atrium tended by lab-coated scientists and farmers. Multiple custom soundtrack options as well, because Detroit Techno is the Grandparent and who knows what seed music industries can conjure in this New City?

After the visual feast, hotel guests can retreat to their bath, we envision a new kind of spa with immersive rituals in a hand blown glass, organic shaped, luxury sized healing pool filled with mineral and herbal waters complete with individual vessels for subconscious thought distilling. With Alison Berger, who has designed for Hermes and Frank Gehry, we are in good hands.

Alison’s glasswork reflects her childhood love of fireflies, Victorian apothecary medicine bottles and her stories etched into glass. Recently Detroit has become a birthplace of new artisan studios up from industrial ashes, and can we order up some gorgeous glass with our car windscreens? We see Master artisans like Alison supplying the hotel and an industry to manufacture American design in a new arts and crafts movement.

Utilizing the factories in Detroit, other mini design industries could be extend from the hotel design. Pryor Callaway already creates sculptural seating from old car bumpers and Kevin Busta’s lamps made of car mufflers could be positioned as new design classics, and go into micro into mass production for jobs and profit.

We imagine participatory guidebooks as souvenirs of the experience can be printed on demand on flax paper, grown in the urban gardens of Detroit as a sub industry. Gerald‘s “Field Guide to the International Survivalist” is the perfect prototype for Adaptive Re-Users imagining new worlds as they push natural boundaries and participate in the revitalization of an American city while they vacation.

…and since food is the best osmotic, non-robotic experience that reflects our state of composition and connection, the Eastern half of COMMiti ego nominates a Detroit version of Williamsburg’s Pies n Thighs for this Americana Monument.  As a guest of the family Geldzahler, Kayte specifically, we recently brainstormed and loosened our belts in honor of chefs Sarah Buck, Carolyn Bane, and Erika Geldzahler serving up Southern comfort to the Williamsburg masses.

Vegetarian is next, but One Giant Step for Peoplekind at a time, Moguls! In the meantime, just say No to Bo Toxins and yes, to New COMMitis of egos, in concert for A New Reality.

NINE. YOU. YES YOU. MOGUL OF THE MOMENT.

What Ya’ll Gonna Do?

Post by Jade Dressler and Kelly Lebwith who are COMMiti ego.

COMMiti ego’s collective concepts have realized intention full-filled, intuitive, imaginative and solution-focused visions that embrace a common sensual denominator as our balanced beings throw down branding in the mediums of textiles, clothing and accessories for living, interiors and expanded experiences through TV show concepts to live public events.

The phone rang… we answered the call and have been asked to imagine for and have enjoyed some serious play time with Mogul Originals from Snoop Dogg, Oprah Winfrey to Icons such as Disney to Dogtown Zboyz and Designer Luminaries such as The Bill Blass and The Oscar de la Renta to Visionaries Diana Vreeland, Steven Sprouse and Paul Smith.

Our design manifestos have spun micro-luxury details such as earthy pod sculptures for Aveda stores and spawned branded, personal accessories for Frances Ford Neibaum -Coppola’s private reserve gift list.  We have envisioned macro-concepts from top to bottom design renovations of adobe homes in New Mexico collaborating with solar energy experts to Macy’s department stores’ concept and identity environment upgrades to introducing travel experts to the first new hotel in Lake Como in 100 years to [hush hush] applied strategy, focused Feng Shui consultations for state government offices.

Conceptualized and activated visions for full-spectrum campaigns and events for brands and clients span virtually from A to Z, from work with American Express to Louis Vuitton to VH1 and XXL, the hip-hop magazine.

We have orchestrated elements for events from a benefit fashion show adaptively re-using a former railway station for a pioneering, hand-made organic cotton clothing collection for 700 guests to international brand launches for Speedo’s highest tech swim gear with International Olympic gold medal winning athletes including Michael Phelps.