One place that I really enjoyed visiting is the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, one of the most unique adventure attractions that I have ever seen. It’s an amazing trip to the top of the Mountain Station from where I could appreciate a fantastic overview of the city. The sensation of riding up to the mountains is indescribable. It’s so exciting! Everyone should definitely have this experience.

By 1950, technicians were moving ahead on designs for the Tramway, spending more than $250,000 solving riddles of road and tower construction. Funds for the construction of the Tramway were raised by the sale of $8.5 million in private revenue bonds. Since the attraction opened in 1963, more than 12 million people have been safely transported by the Tramway into these unique mountains up to the Valley San Jacinto State Park, located 8.516 feet of altitude.

At the Mountain Station tourists can enjoy a cocktail lounge, restaurants, breathtaking views, hiking places, 14.000 acres of pristine wilderness, and during the winter, can also have a lot fun playing around with snow.

Modernism Week in Palm Springs
From February 16-26, the city will be celebrating the Palm Springs Modernism Week and I have been asking myself “How would I define desert modernism”?

I am hoping to attend this incredible event, and check out what’s new in modern design, architecture, and culture in Palm Springs. This upcoming event will offer 11 days of attractions as tours, films, lectures, an architectural symposium, educational events, fun parties and even more!

Don’t miss it!

courtesy photo from limitemagazine.com

For more information about the modernism week in Palm Springs and the Aerial Tramway, check out the websites below.

http://www.modernismweek.com/

http://www.pstramway.com

It turns out that I don’t have to travel far to discover cool new products! This Connect event had many peeps from the life sciences and tech companies. Held at a large outdoor courtyard, with life music and great food from The Wild Thyme Company, a slew of new companies showcased their latest wares. And there were 3 companies that stood out …

The first one is Sovereign Earth. Steve Hess, the president of SE was kind enough to go over their latest innovation in portable water filtration technology with me. You can filter water everywhere you go! (Joe and I would love to get a couple when we go hiking/camping). I want a yellow bottle. Talk about avoiding the hassle of boiling water when camping, or using a tiresome pump filtration system or using non eco-friendly plastic water bottles. This time you have a choice!

The second company is Cleatskins. I have always found myself annoyed, walking around the gym in my spinning shoes. With Cleatskins, you can slip the skins over the cleats! You have to watch their funny video!

And the last company is Elliptigo. If I hadn’t chugged down my beer or wore my heels, I would have taken this 8S model for a test ride.

And all this – in sunny San Diego!!

Hosted by the founder and CEO of Blue Mine Group, Michael Lurie presented a 3-hour segment on strategy and business model design. In the first half of the session, Michael discussed why we need a new approach to business models and having an agile strategy and why there was a spike in patent applications from 1990 – 2010. 2 main reasons contributed to the spike.

#1 is technology development mainly digital technology reaching critical mass. Of course, we are talking about the internet/ dot.com.
#2 is available markets more than doubled. Free markets opened up in countries like China, Russia and India.

Being the only creative person in the room and watching the interactions between older VP types was very interesting to me. Most of the events I’ve attended, whether in Vegas or San Fran, were mostly filled with 25 to 35 year olds in jeans with their latte and MacBook Pro, discussing the latest ideas and their startup gigs. Here in San Diego, the scene is quite different. I have only just started attending CONNECT events. Actually I have only been to 2 CONNECT events. Both were filled with VP’s (typically white), in their late 40′s to 50′s.

I can’t help it. I am an designer and an observer. Noticing little details like this is what i do. Watching human interaction: how they feel, who they hang out with, what intrigues them…Anyway, I could write a whole new blog piece based on my observations.

So back to the workshop. A couple of interesting things that Michael talked about:

Agile Strategy – To us creatives, this is what we do DAILY. We may not be aware of this term, but seems like there are thousands of business books written about it for business people. Software peeps often implement the Agile Software Development strategy. The word agile as we know, means organic, having flexibility. Well, that’s what it is. It’s basically building a framework that is flexible and not so rigid, where ideas/ strategies, interchange, taken apart, plugged back into the framework, at any phase. And because it’s a “legit” formal strategy, workers and managers won’t freak out as much when strategies get moved around. I know…it’s fascinating, having a strategy to make us a bit less stringent about strategies!

So according to Michael, there are 2 types of business.

Traits of Zone A type businesses:
They view markets as: Closed, few, large and evolving
Their strategy: PLANNING
* Command and Control
* Market share is key
* Focus on execution
* Disciplined commitment
* Company = Business

Their business types:
* Few, large, slow
* “Good Enough” products
* Established value chains

And there’s the Zone B types:
They view markets as: OPEN, many, small, fluid
Their strategy: AGILE
* Innovation and collaboration
* Market discovery is key
* Focus on design
* Flexible and adaptable
* Company is NOT business

Business types:
* Many, small, fast
* Complete solutions
* Low cost value networks

Obviously, we are the Zone B types working a lot with the peeps in Zone A. And that has always been our biggest challenge!! Michael stressed that companies need to be in Zone B to compete and survive in the 21st century. But of course, many of us know that the Zone A type business have been following this recipe for success for 30-40 years!! Can we train old dogs new tricks?

Yes we can! Look at P&G, with Claudia Kotchka innovating the company by implementing design thinking. Look at Apple, Virgin, Starbucks. Of course it can be done. But I think it has to come from the top! CEO’s, VP’s and their management team have to embrace the new Zone B type strategies. You can’t have ONE team member in the entire organization, fighting this uphill battle. The change has to come from every member of the organization, starting from the top.

So which type are you? Zone A or Zone B?

(Text descriptions below are taken from the self-guided tour map handed out at the tour.)

CATTAILS: Chihuly appreciates the interplay of hard surface, colored glass and natural elements. There is a hit-and-run element to his garden glass, and he enjoys moving the pieces around.

WHITE TOWER: Was first viewed in Jerusalem ten years ago. Bright, playful and colorful, Chihuly believes it is a fitting introductory element to the Salk installation. The glass was blown in France. The Tower is positioned to line up with the entrance to the main courtyard.

NEO-REEDS: Chihuly loves botanical gardens and conservatories, and sculpting these outdoor elements. His first outdoor botanical exhibit was in Chicago’s Garfield Park about 15 years ago.

MACCHIA: These are samples of the largest of his “set pieces”, that is objects intended to sit on something else. The word “macchia” means spotted in Italian, and Sculptor Italo Scanga, a longtime close Chihuly friend, helped him coin the term for these pieces.

THE SUN: Though it is one of Chihuly’s most well-known sculptures, this is the first time the incredibly vibrant piece is viewed with the Pacific ocean as a backdrop. Its choice seemed obvious to Chihuly, given the stunning Salk location. There are many physcial challenges to installing this huge piece in just a few days, and there was ongoing debate within the Chihuly team about whether it could be done. But Chihuly insisted, and here it is.

Work in progress of The Sun installation.

RED REEDS: The spear-like 8 to 12-foot reeds are produced by Chihuly glassblowers in a commercial glass factory in Finland. Every February the team rents the factory so they can produce extra-long glass pieces. The factory has special oversized annealing ovens on conveyor belts. After the reeds are blown they are placed in the ovens to slowly cool so they do not experience thermal shock. The vertical shape and bright color of the reeds was inspired by gardens.

FLOAT BOAT AND FLOATS: Chihuly purchases old wooden boat hulls and refurbishes them for this purpose. This particular boat was first seen at the de Young Museum, and is the largest one Chihuly uses. In the foreground, in front of the canted craft, spilling forth, are this dramatic floats. They range in dimension from grapefruit to beanbag chair-size. Chihuly loves using raw materials like wood, tin, and concrete. The Salk could not be a more perfect setting for his work.

GARDEN GLASS: All of Chihuly’s garden glass is the result of experimentation between the artist and his glassblowers. The piece are imagines, blown and refined and then he names them.

The installation was not complete when I went this morning. I have yet to see the North Chandelier and South Chandelier. Hopefully someone will email me some photos and I can add to this posting.

I think most of the tours are sold out…but you may want to give it a shot. Here is the web link! Enjoy!!

Loteria is a game of chance played with 54 cards that represent significant icons in Mexican culture. Aardvark Letterpress, in celebration of their 40th Anniversary, commissioned eighteen L.A. specific artists to create an L.A. centric letterpress Loteria card in a limited edition of 100.

Artists include: Greg Colson, Richard Duardo, Angel Gonzalez, Daniel Gonzalez,
Sammy Harkham, Karen Kimmel, Claudia Laub, Dave Lefner, Mel Lim, Marc Lumer, Dan McCleary, Andre Miripolsky, Cristina Padron, Somsara Rielly, Casey Ryder, Rick von Dehl, Ed Wexler and Ernesto Yerena.

If you are in that area, you have to stop by and check it out. Our award-winning (Creativity Annual Platinum Award Winner 2009) Tokyo Pequeno Bunnyzilla will be on display.

LA Council President Eric Garcetti, gave a remarkable speech on how LA is truly the epicenter of art and the Los Angeles Loteria Series captured the diverse culture of Los Angeles. (I have to admit, I feel so honored to representing my “Asian” peeps in that series!) It was wonderful to see the city is actively involved in the arts and supporting our work.

Ardvark Loteria team at LA City Council

The Los Angeles Loteria Series I is a museum quality edition that includes the following artists: Greg Colson, Richard Duardo, Angel Gonzalez, Daniel Gonzalez, Sammy Harkham, Karen Kimmel, Claudia Laub, Dave Lefner, Mel Lim, Marc Lumer, Dan McCleary, Andre Miripolsky, Cristina Padron, Somsara Rielly, Casey Ryder, Rick von Dehl, Ed Wexler and Ernesto Yerena.

Creative Gifting

CREATIVE GIFTING LAUNCHED
We recently launched a new section called Creative Gifting under our Joy Paperie. Check it out!

Tiny Ginger Showroom in NY

Held at Tiny Ginger’s brand new showroom, we managed to pull many fans, press and buyers to celebrate Ginger’s new space. Holding a trunk show is a great way to sell off-season inventory and mingle with fans. My highlight was of course, just hanging out with other ethical, respected, women-designer entrepreneurs and pick each other’s brain on sales strategies, manufacturing problems and trade shows!

Origami Bijou collection on display

Fans were so awed by Cindy Ng’s Origami Bijou collection. They all loved her CRANE silver necklace.

Patisserie Co.

Everyone loved the cards from Heejo Chen, owner/designer of Patisserie Co. They were perfect for the summer cocktails and party events!