Fermat's Room (La habitación de Fermat)

La habitación de Fermat is a Spanish thriller in which 4 mathematicians are invited by who they know to be one of the greatest mathematicians (a man under by pseudonym of Fermat) to solve an enigma in a secret location. In order to choose these guests, Fermat sent out a puzzle to a large number of mathematicians that he knew of, and only those who managed to solve this puzzle were invited to meet him, and solve another - or so the guests thought! When they arrive at the secret location they discover that they have in fact been tricked and the room they are in gradually begins to close in on themselves if they do not manage to solve each puzzle they are presented with in the given time.

The film keeps you on your toes, and it is quite enjoyable too, to try and work out the puzzles yourself before the characters do! The only problem is that as the film is in Spanish, one has to make sure to read the subtitles in order to know what is going on, but as it is a thriller we want to keep focused on the screen as well, so in parts of the film, as it becomes more tense, it is hard to choose between the two!

The film is directed by Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sopeña, and has won numerous festival awards. It's a great thriller with a twist and good too if you enjoy maths or logic problems!

Fiona Crisp - Subterrania

One of the exhibitions I did see at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art was the Subterrania photography exhibition by Fiona Crisp. Crisp is an artist who has become known for creating installations of large-scale photographs that question the ontological presence of the photographic image. Her current exhibition shows photographs which, at first glance, do not really seem linked, but they unite in the fact that they are all of sites of some historical importance or interest, but are now open as tourist sites.

The Subterrania series of photographs all create a strong sense of three dimensional space, and when one looks at the pictures we are overcome by the intensity of the interiors; the pictures almost suck you in and make you feel like you are there. There is also a forceful sense of direction in the photographs; we are made to look forward, almost through the pictures as if seeing the route by which we can escape, if the intensity becomes too strong.

Crisp has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally, and is represented by Matt's Gallery, London and is held in the collections of The Tate Gallery, The Government Art Collection, The Arts Council Collection, Worcester City Art Gallery and private collections.

The Tipping Point

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell is a book that explores the psychology and meaning behind trends; how some become internationally popular and how others fall to the wayside. For many years people have thought the way that trends occur to be mysterious and inexplicable, however Gladwell's investigations prove that if one looks at the evolution of these trends, the processes involved in each are strikingly similar.

I think back to the major trends that have occurred as I have grown up: the popularity of Converse shoes as opposed to other trainers, facebook as opposed to bebo, UGG boots, and perhaps the biggest trend of all - iPods. Lets take iPods as our example; they were not the first mp3 player to grace the digital market, and looking at the very first models, they were probably not the most attractive either. However, something or someone decided that they were the way forward, and now we see virtually no-one with any music player other than an iPod. This is the sort of thing that Gladwell explores, and explains, and it's very interesting to discover that it's not just good design or good marketing that soars products into international popularity, but that certain types of people play a huge part in getting those products to the top.

Studying a degree where marketing and advertising is a key feature, it is fascinating to learn that a good product alone is not enough to make it sell thousands; knowing lots of the right people (Gladwell describes them as connectors, mavens and salesmen) and making your product appeal to them is really the key to success.

I won't spoil "The Tipping Point" any more for people, but I strongly recommend this book as a thoroughly interesting and insightful read if you are the sort of person that enjoys finding meaning in what before seemed like it could not be explained!

Normann Copenhagen

On a recent visit to Newcastle, I visited the Baltic Mill museum set in a lovely location right on the River Tyne. Unfortunately there weren't actually many exhibitions on as they were working on exhibition changeover, however, we did have a great time looking at what was available in the gallery shop!

Art galleries and museums always, I find, have interesting and fun things for sale in their gift shops, and the Baltic was no exception. I even saw a collection of the Penguin Book deckchairs that we have in the grass studio in the school of design! However what caught my eye were the products by a company called Normann Copenhagen. The company produces modern, innovative homeware by a series of different designers, and you can view their products here. These products were not all available in the museum, but out of those that were, my favourites were the strainer, the cognac glass and the washing up bowl. Shown below is the strainer; I love this product as conventional strainers are usually quite big and are difficult to store without decent amounts of cupboard space, but this can just be folded down flat and takes up so much less space! It would be great to have something like this in my uni house!

Love Food Hate Waste

Lovefoodhatewaste.com is a web campaign that exists to, well, the name says it all really! The website provides tips on saving money when buying food, where to store certain goods so that they last longer, and tips on how to use up leftovers into tasty meals instead of throwing them away.

I saw an A4 advertisement for the site in a magazine whilst I was in the waiting room at the dentist, and I thought it was really cleverly and humorously done. Things like recycling, energy

saving etc are all things that are difficult to encourage people to do; it is hard to know, too, from which angle to approach the issues from. The guilt angle might work on some people but people don't like feeling guilty, especially if the issue is not completely their fault, so in many cases people just try to forget about the issue and then it seems like it has gone away and they don't need to worry about it anymore. The 'do your bit to help' angle might work a bit better but people are so used to that kind of message that it is as easy to ignore as the next.

Love Food Hate Waste takes an interesting approach to the problem of food waste in which the campaign says 'Whatever food you love, we can help you waste less and save upto £50 a month'. This way people feel like the site is made to help them, whereas by taking the site's advice, they are actually helping it too!

IKEA - Futura vs Verdana

In the last couple of months, the new 2010 edition of the IKEA catalogue has been published, however this year's edition has caused havoc in the design world. Not because IKEA have upped their renowned low prices, or that their furnishings are now old fashioned and ugly, but because they have changed their signature typeface from a customised version of Futura to the widely used meant-for-screen Verdana, invented by Microsoft.

IKEA's lifetime has spanned over 60 years and branding has always played an important part in the company's success - with Futura being an integral part of their branding. However, cutting Futura from the brand has seen hundreds of designers complain that in doing so, IKEA have also cut their excellent and much admired understanding of design. An IKEA spokeswoman (Monika Gocic) states that the typeface switch was made as it is now more cost-effective and efficient, as well as being a simple, modern-looking typeface. Verdana is also available in a large number of different languages so the catalogue can be printed in all the countries in which IKEA operates.

But Designers are not happy. According to "Time" magazine, the online forum Typophile closed its first post on the subject with the words, "It's a sad day." A letterpress printer in Melbourne by the name of Carolyn Fraser uses a metaphor to explain the problem: "Verdana was designed for the limitations of the Web — it's dumbed down and overused. It's a bit like using Lego to build a skyscraper, when steel is clearly a superior choice." Some people are so unhappy about the situation that a petition has even been going around - Ursache's petition - and as of August 27th it has gained over 700 signatures! So who knows, will this reaction provoke IKEA to revert to Futura?

Amersham, The Water Tower - Grand Designs

I live in a town called Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, which is linked to a nearby town - Amersham - by the aptly named Amersham road. About a third along this road, on the left, is the water tower that I guess is a kind of local landmark, and suffice to say my family and I were very surprised to see it on an episode of Grand Designs when we were in Cornwall!

The tower was actually converted a good few years ago, but we had no idea that anything was going on, and it was very strange to think that the tower and its extension are now a luxury family home. I don't often watch Grand Designs but when I do it's always very interesting to see people's dreams for very unlikely properties turn into amazing realities. Channel 4 states "There are few Grand Designs with the style, quirkiness, and architectural integrity of this now famous water tower conversion - a triumph that's a fine example of how an empty industrial building can be repurposed for modern and elegant family living." The water tower before its conversion is shown below, and you can visit Channel 4's website here to view pictures of the converted tower and extension.