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A group blog composed of scientists, show hosts and producers, Correlations is the official blog of WIRED SCIENCE. Tips, questions or comments? E-mail us at correlations@kcet.org.

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Damon Gambuto

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Clifford Johnson

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Ziya Tong

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06.10.08

Dwell Wrap Up

by Damon Gambuto Department: Culture

So I made my way to the Dwell On Design Exhibition this past weekend and snapped a few photos for those of you who missed it.

Okay - the LA Convention Center is rather extravagant (if a bit airport-y). I always enjoy walking into the soaring, steel lattice entry to see the banner of the event I am attending.

The purveyors ranged from beautiful, over-priced design to tragic, eco-conscious, over-priced design (it did look a bit like this Dwell conference is still getting its sea legs). The award for the least appealing environmentally-friendly design goes to:

Ugh. Even their silly backwards logo bothers me. I'm not a WIRED mag screw-the-spotted-owl-and-go-nuclear kind of guy, but do I really have to get splinters when I get into bed to be an environmentalist?

Elon Musk was represented by his Tesla Roadster which is as cool as it is impractical. Turns out, Elon also has a company called SolarCity which you can hire for all your solar power needs. Isn't that great to hear? He does solar power too. I swear I'm not jealous of his internet/futurecar/spaceship/solar power empire.

Of course there was a sampling of prefab homes. The coolest was the Marmol-Radziner model.

But theirs can easily run you into the eight figures. For a prefab. Really. A more exemplary use of the efficiencies of prefabrication was presented by HOM. The model you see here can be yours for about $250K

Finally, my Best in Show award goes to a quiet, furniture designer whose pieces made me sigh with pleasure when I touched them (mind out of the gutter, please). His name is Jerad Mack and his company is IZM (think "ism"). The website describes the IZM aesthetic as "prairie modern" which I wanted to dismiss as silly design-speak, but, after a second thought, it seemed a graceful translation of the style. Jerad's as gentle and pleasant as his furniture and of all the business cards that were stuffed into my hand during the show, his is the one I am going to put in the rolodex. Here is the man and his work at the exhibition. Lovely work, Jerad.