I’m very excited about this wonderful new space in the Winston-Salem arts district! DeLurk Gallery is funded by a local art appreciator, and a group of seven very talented local artists are running it cooperatively, bringing a tremendous variety of creative vision and warmth to this emblem of  idealism for the community. I stumbled upon it accidentally (looking for an art supply store actually) but was instantly drawn to the space. I’m thrilled to get a show there so soon. In addition to showing my collages I’ll cover three interior columns in knitting and showing a video of a social design project I was part of. I’ll give a closing presentation on this as well,  and it’s a great honor for me to tell people about this project. It’s also inspiring for everyone to hear, so a total win-win, and I’m really looking forward to it. Hopefully even art lovers from neighboring cities will come check it out because it’s a great gallery that needs/merits a lot of support and North Carolinians are very good about taking advantage of the relative proximity of so many separate scenes. I’m hoping to get some t-shirts made as well, just to round it off. Stay tuned for more details.

This past Saturday morning I yarnbombed seven cement planters around the corner from my house in Carrboro with the help of several friends. It was part of a city-approved project called Yarnboro, and several other knitted creations were installed nearby at the Century Center, Town Hall and the Farmer’s Market. I’ve never done this before and it wasn’t easy, but I’m very glad to have had the experience and the community seems ecstatic about the results. I’d love to get permission to paint the planters as a more permanent solution to their massive drabness – they line a municipal parking lot on a busy street next to a great coffee shop and across from a very nice restaurant yet this patch of real estate was just a huge expanse of gray and beige. The knitted “tube tops” will only be up for a month – let’s hope I can get the go ahead on a paint job to keep the new look going.

This view of a poor urban neighborhood in Sao Paulo Brazil stunned and amazed me with its surprising and skillful use of color. The architect, 74-year old Ruy Ohtake, had just finished a luxury hotel in the city when community leaders in a nearby slum confronted him with a new challenge. He took the bait and was encouraged enough by the community’s own participation in the project to keep doing more. He believes aesthetics go a long way to improve our quality of life. I will say more on this subject later. For now, here are more details on this project. More photos can be found on his website though the text is all in Spanish.

I like how gt2P — that stands for Great Things To People — is thinking and operating. In their own words, “That is how the concept of digital crafting was born, based on the implementation of digital design methodologies and the experience and the know-how of Chilean artisans, who feed and contribute to qualify each “generative algorithms” or DNA. Through this concept gt2P has succeeded in communicating its ability to investigate, explore and experiment with new materials and processes, and integrate technologies CAD/CAM with traditional techniques and knowledge.”

By combining this approach with the use of sustainable materials, gt2P demonstrates how a commercial design studio can cater to wealthier consumers and still act responsibly within the local community and environment.Read about the hexagonal shelving system pictured above.

Get your Ohm on and Ohm out with this wall-mounted, energy-efficient, and enlightening light source, coming soon.

The above image is from a mail order catalog that will soon go out to Felissimo customers in Japan, so they can order the awesome clothing and home products made from the Hope fabric that I designed that is handwoven in Bangladesh. The page on the left shows these necklaces that are made from the fabric scraps to reduce waste and the little pendant is a golden bicycle wheel. What does a bike wheel have to do with hope and Bangladeshi weavers? Well, as it turns out — a lot. With money from the “Infinite Hope Fund” created by this fabric project, several of another Japanese product known as Cycloclean — bicycle-powered water filtration systems — will be given to the Bangladesh community. In fact, the company that designed Cycloclean, Nippon Basic, will apparently be starting up production in Bangladesh to save money and improve the local community at the same time. I just found this out Tuesday night.

The realization that what was already a super cool collaboration to provide Bangladeshi weavers with jobs (and incidentally there are now 300 weavers employed from this project alone, up from 30 before) is now unfolding into a focused effort to increase access to clean water significantly, and that this innovative generosity is coming from a country who suffered its own incredible natural disaster in March of this year that is still reeking havoc on its economy and physical environment, not only touches my heart, but also strengthens it and reminds me that big, important changes can happen and are, and inspires me to keep looking for ways to be a part of it.

If you catch yourself feeling pessimistic about the world we live in and where it’s going, or your own life even, just change what you’re paying attention to. There is so much to be proud of and happy about. Noticing that and experiencing it on a personal level can make all the difference in the energy you have for your own challenges, as well as to those around you. We can’t do anything when we are dispirited, but when we enjoy the meaningful successes in the world as our own, then we have the hope of the world behind us and everything we need becomes possible. On that note, dear Japan: Domo Arigato Gozaimasu. Thank you so much for your inspiring gifts to everyone. I love you and hope that 2012 will be an amazing year for you as a nation as you recover from the earthquake of 2011. Read more about Cycloclean via physorg.

It’s the night before Thanksgiving and while writing a friend I got on the subject of meaningful work and remembered that access to clean drinking water is the number one health/survival issue in the world yet I’ve done nothing about it in any way. So – this is a start, as well as the start of a new Thanksgiving tradition for me, to research a major humanitarian issue, raise awareness, and donate to a worthy organization that is making significant progress in alleviating the problem… because to me, true gratitude isn’t real as just a feeling, it’s got to be an act — of giving and caring and asking others to care too. And there are so many things to care about of course, but this is really the most basic, urgent one for the most people: according to water.org, nearly a billion people lack access to clean water. I’d like to congratulate PATH for their excellent progress in developing a new household water treatment filter, in collaboration with a wonderful company, Seattle-based Cascade Designs. Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart. I hope everyone will read about your efforts and support them by donating or spreading the word so that one day we all can enjoy a Thanksgiving that is happy AND hydrated.

I’ve noticed (and blogged about) many architectural projects that push eco-friendly to  a whole new level. From MIT’s experiments with literal treehouse neighborhoods that grow and sustain themselves, to community schools submerged into lush landscapes, proposals for “living architecture” vary in complexity, but they share a simple theme: building with nature –instead of on top of it — is the way of the future…even if it takes decades to do it.

The Patient Gardener, by Stockholm-based VisionDivision for Italy’s Polytecnico di Milano Campus, is another example of this architectural wisdom, and I am excited to see the effect that it has, though we’ll be waiting a while to find out. But in a world that seems addicted to speed, I’m grateful for these sensible pioneers who are digging deep and slowing down. If you can, take a second to check it out.

How ironic that in a city of a million weavers, almost no one owns more than one item of clothing. Grameen Check, a fabric production initiative formed by Grameen Bank just a couple of years ago will change all that. I first learned of Grameen’s founder, the Nobel Prize-winning economics professor and social visionary, Muhammed Yunus, when I picked up his audio book from the sale rack of Powell’s in Portland almost a year ago exactly. I was preparing to drive across the U.S. to relocate closer to family, and Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism was the only audio book out of seven that I could get to play in my car. Thankfully, I was riveted, enthralled and inspired for thousands of miles and couldn’t get his ideas out of my head. Over the next few months I tried unsuccessfully to develop first a kid-focused nutritious snack business (The Rawleigh Lama) and then a community healing arts center (Boylan Heights Healing Arts) in my new home base of Raleigh, North Carolina. A lack of finances, partnership, and simply the process of transitioning to my new life proved too many obstacles to overcome at this stage. So it is extra exciting to have become involved in Professor Yunus’ vision anyway, by winning the contest to design the next Grameen Check pattern. And in light of those fresh disappointments, it’s even more meaningful that the theme of the contest was “weaving hope.” I feel so honored to play some role in this incredible endeavor which is serving the world in a practical way and simultaneously changing so many lives for the better. And I am so inspired by the good people I have connected with in the process, such as Haruko Smith, who authored this introduction to Grameen Check as well as this insightful interview with Kazuhiko Yazaki, the president and CEO of Felissimo Corporation of Japan. Read these stories and realize how you can be part of a global culture of happiness. Then check out pics of the handbags that Felissimo is making out of the new Hope check fabric. And stay tuned for updates as the line launches in January.

I recently received this sneak peek at the first couple of items that have been created with the Hope Check Pattern fabrics that I designed for Grameen Felissimo in their collaboration with Design 21, a design network  that promotes social change, and I had to share it.  I am so proud to be involved with this project and just thrilled with the results so far – can’t wait to see more! Check my home page for the full story on Grameen Fabric and Japan-based design company, Felissimo, via my friend Haruko Smith for Design 21.