What better invention than a car that is driven by air could be made in times of climate change where the price for the barrel oil climbs over $100? Since years Guy Nègre is assuring the motor industry that he has got the key to this new technology. And already in 2002 the media (e. g. in the German business magazine »brandeins«)reported about the serial production of the new wonder-cars to be started that year.

What’s behind the idea? Nègre developed an engine that runs with compressed air instead of fuel: air is compressed in vaults and by expanding again in the engine it produces power that is used to run the engine. As a tankful of air only lasts for 80 kilometers (50 miles) and the car then would have been connected to a power plug to produce compressed air, the car will also be built in a version that Continue Reading »

A special day for a honourable farewell: at the age of 90 designer Ettore Sottsass died on Monday 31 December 2007 in his house in Milan. Sottsass helped to lead Italian design to worldwide reputation in the 60s and became famous for several objects: one unforgettable ikon is »Valentine« – the glaring red portable type writer he designed in his 30 years lasting co-operation with Olivetti.

Sottsass opened his first studio in Milan in 1947 and since then he worked as an architect and designer. Only a few weeks ago he participated in building up a Sottsass retrospective in Trieste that is still running till March. Working for major companies like Olivetti, Knoll, Artemide or Venini, the designer never forgot to be at the forefront of the design avantgarde and cultivate an intelligent design discourse, concretised by movements like »Anti-Design«, »Studio Alchimia« or »Memphis«, that run counter to the idea and principle of »form follows function«.

More information at New York Times. General information about Ettore Sottsass from Oxford University Press.