But the cogs in the Hulger factory have been turning for four years, with the intent to create “The world’s first designer lightbulb.”

Is it possible to have ‘masculine curves’? Yes, its gorgeous, but its form suggests durability and resilience. The plumen bulb uses 80% less energy and lasts 8 times longer than its incandescent brothers. This fact in itself is somewhat impressive. Couple that with the knowledge that this bulb could be used in basically any situation that requires lighting, from classrooms to art galleries, because of its soft, non-invasive light, and we’ve found the winner of the Brit Insurance Design Awards.

The bulbs are on sale for around £19.99, which isn’t cheap, but they last for about 8 years.

So. It is actually.

Buy them here.

Tower Bridge

When Jason Hawkes first took to the skies, Global Positioning systems were still in their infancy. Apparently, it’s quite difficult to figure out just where you are when you’re dangling out of a helicopter in nothing but a harness.

Lloyds building

Jason has been shooting from the skies since 1991, and has specialised in aerial photography through-out his career.

Not only does he produce these stunning snaps of London at night, but he manages to create a sense of beauty in the banal; sights that we would usually struggle to admire. For me, it is because of that, that these shots are the ones which truly show his talent.

Fawley Oil refinery

Power station chimneys

To read more- http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/london_from_above_at_night.html

This classic turn-of-the-century locket has been redesigned by Emily Rothschild to fit more appropriately into the current era. With this, its what you see is what you get. Instead of opening it up to discover a picture of your beloved, you can find many, many pictures. And also word files. And excel spreadsheets. But whatever turns you on….

A reflection of Porthminster beach

If any one wants to write an article, on any design piece at all, please email me at lucistephens@hotmail.co.uk .

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An important reason to hire a professional to create a truly unique retail interior is that they will strive to parallel the approach taken by the designer of the product.

For example the Neil Barrett Flagship store in Tokyo, by Zaha Hadid. The design concept is based on the minimal cut of the brand`s fashion design and corresponds with this approach in using the same design parameters of fixed points, folding, pleating and cut outs. As with many of his clothing collections, the shop is entirely in monochrome.

The design of the store plays with the complementary characteristics between men and women. This is echoed in the furniture design on both floors through the formal language and tactile quality of the materials used. The furniture on the ground floor is designed as a strong, masculine and dynamic form whilst the piece on the first floor enunciates femininity through more fluid contour lines.

Zaha Hadid was the perfect designer to choose for the flagship store, because of her affection for black and white, and her tendency to design buildings that look like they’ve been folded, rushed and pleated, exactly like Neil Barretts creations.

Low and behold, a new page for ‘Guest Writers’. And, sooner than you could ever imagine, that blank page waiting to be filled with wit and intelligence will overflow with information from various genii I happen to schmooze with on a semi-regular basis.

Happy reading!

P.s Let me know if, in your opinion, they are utter crap, and they shall be stricken from thy list. Also, try not to compare them to me, they can’t help being less interesting/intelligent/beautiful.

Sprinkle this polymer onto a layer of oil and in seconds the polymer and oil bonds, forming a sponge-like material that can be easily removed from water. This polymer is specially formulated to bond quickly and safely to many types of liquid hydrocarbons including crude oil, diesel fuel and gasoline, which are the most common oils to be transported via ocean liners. The bonding is so complete that it literally encapsulates the liquid hydrocarbons in seconds.

The polymer has yet to be tested on genuine oil spills in the ocean, as if it didn’t succeed the ramifications would be huge, but if it did, this could prevent the devastation caused by the destruction of sea life. The substance works so quickly that it completely halts the spread of these viscous oils.

This honestly is the most awe-inspiring invention I’ve come across in all my research for this blog. There should be so much more funding for products like this, which instead of attempting to prevent disasters (which is often completely fruitless and a complete money-pit) simply make the effects of these problems completely insignificant.

My statistics have suffered terribly for my troubles…. my 70 daily readers have plummeted to about 10 a day but hopefully when I’m back on track again you’ll all flock back to me.

Keep watching…