Nature
Design:
Client:
Date:
This beautiful and wild looking dog was virtually on the edge of extinction when Bill Carpenter and his Yellowknife based Eskimo Dog Research Foundation brought the breed back from the brink. The Canadian Eskimo dog are direct descendants of the polar wolf, tamed and trained to be used for packing, hunting and as sled dogs by the locals. This breed is Canada’s oldest, with genetic roots stretching as far back as 2000 years ago.
December 17th, 2009
Design:
Client: Toronto?
Date: 2009
Cutting into what must be at least a thousand layers of paper, the guerrilla artists made a perfect little pocket for some greenery. Evidence of what was probably a nighttime adventure, is left on the concrete below.
Via the wonderful KITKA design toronto.
October 9th, 2009
Design: Lawrie McIntosh
Client: Massey Harris Ltd.
Date: 1953
Now known as Massey Ferguson, Massey Harris produced this popular model of Hay Baler for many years. Self-powered for producing and tying bales, it was nevertheless pulled, but not powered, by a tractor. The hay lying in a field was collected by a rotary pickup and transferred across to the square baling chamber (on the left side of the machine) where it was compressed into discrete rectilinear bales, tied with twine, and ejected out the back. Most bales today are a large and cylindrical shape, but the smaller rectangular bales we typically see used for seating and decoration are still the old square bales made from a machine such as No.3.
-Greg Ball
July 17th, 2009
Design: Posterchild
Client:
Date: 2009
The newly-transformed planter box is illustrative of the point that forgotten pieces of urban furniture may be used to beautify the streets of the city with very little effort.
-Olivia Chen
Via the excellent Inhabitat.
July 8th, 2009
Design:
Client:
Date:
“BC Bud is a generic term for several varieties of potent cannabis grown in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The term has almost become a brand name, especially in California, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho and Washington, to where most of the province’s cannabis is exported”.
Via Wikipedia
June 22nd, 2009
Design: Keith Downey and Baldur R. Stefansson
Client: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), Saskatoon, SK
Date: 1970s
Paraflyer
Developed in the early 1970s through old fashioned plant hybridization, Canola oil has quickly become a staple oil for industrial and personal uses. Modified from rapeseed, which has a large erucic acid concentration found to be carcinogenic in high quantities, Canola was developed to lower levels of this acid to make a cheap healthy oil source.
Originally dubbed as LEAR (Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed), this did not have the appropriate connotations to become a beloved household brand. Thus Canola oil was born, derived from the words CANadian Oil Low Acid, and a new oil entered our lives.
Canola oil is high in unsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids, which we’re told are good for us. However, there is an increasing amount of evidence that Canola may actually be harmful in some cases, especially from the industrial processing associated with extracting the oil. Read more here…
-Graig Sutherland
Sources:
- Sally Fallon & Mary G Enig (2002). “The Great Con-ola”. WestonAPrice.org. Retrieved on 2009-06-10
- “Richard Kieth Downey: Genetics“. science.ca. 2007. Retrieved on 2009-06-10
- Storgaard, AK (2008). “Stefansson, Baldur Rosmand“. CanadianEncyclopedia.ca. Retrieved on 2009-06-10
June 11th, 2009
Design:
Client: Canadian Sport Horse Association
Date:
June 11th, 2009
Design: Jeremy Hatch
Client: Biomimicry Guild and Kohler
Date: 2008
These remarkable ceramic recreations of natural objects were created for the popular Biomimicry Guild. The Guild is advocating the understanding and application of natural systems as design strategy and uses these replica’s to teach companies how to incorporate sustainable solutions. The replica’s are eerily accurate, it is almost impossible to pick out the natural elements. With waves of novelty ceramics being produced today, it is refreshing to see the practice applied in such a useful and needed way.
-Todd Falkowsky
April 28th, 2009
Design:
Client:
Date: 2008
Photo: Doug Pete
April 23rd, 2009
Design:
Client: Parks Canada and the Government of Alberta
Date: 1995 – 97
I took this snapshot of a wildlife overpass in Banff National Park a few summers ago. When this section of the Trans-Canada Highway was twinned in the nineties, two of these bridge structures and various underpasses were installed at strategic locations in the park, providing safe passage to wildlife and hopefully minimizing the impact of increased traffic volume. Wildlife underpasses were first used in Banff during the eighties and similar overpass structures exist on European highways, but I believe this design was the first Canadian application – hopefully many more will follow.
To better understand how wildlife use the passages and possibly improve their design, scientist utilize surveillance cameras and other equipment to monitor every animal passing through the structures. According to this data, increasing numbers of deer, cougars, bears and other wildlife are using these crossings. After they were installed, roadside mortality dropped by more than 80 percent. Based on this success rate, the design is now being extended through Lake Louise as well.
I’m not sure if the tracking data reveals any particular animal design preferences (for overpasses or underpasses), but from a human perspective there’s something to be said for high visibility. Overpasses like this one are great looking reminders that in the park we’re the visitors and with a little effort we can learn to be gracious guests.
-Michael Erdmann
Click here to watch a recent CBC story about this design.
April 16th, 2009
Design: MoiMoi (Claire Ironside, Angela Iarocci, and Andrew Hladkyj)
Client: HarbourFront Centre
Date: 2007-08
Photo: Bernice Iarocci
FishNet is a two-part project comprised of a craft phase, where children from 25 Toronto based schools, learn and understand the habitat of local fish and make textile copies of indigenous species (like little stuffed pillows), and part two, a release phase “occurs when Harbourfront Centre, acting (metaphorically) as a fish hatchery, sponsors the ‘release’ of the crafted textile fish” and fills their main gallery with all the kids copies swimming around the space.
“When complete, the project will have combined the creative talents of approximately 2,000 students, educators, artists and designers for the purposes of exploring the multiple themes of sustainability, collaboration and activism”.
-Todd Falkowsky
April 13th, 2009
Design:
Manufacturer:
Date: 2008
Photo: Scott Radnidge
Via Vancouver is Awesome.
April 7th, 2009
Design:
Client:
Date: 1961
March 28th, 2009
Design:
Client: The Manitoba Museum
Date:
Photo: Graham Powell
March 2nd, 2009
Design:
Client: The Manitoba Museum
Date:
Photo: Graham Powell
March 2nd, 2009
Previous Posts