News & Events
Sep11
World's first 3D car printed and assembled live
2014 at 11:16 am by admin | Comments Off
The biannual International Manufacturing Technology Show, which takes place at the McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois, often focuses on the future of technology in the manufacuting workplace, including automobiles, medical facilities, green tech, and more. Automobile company Local Motors is set to tread new ground at this year’s IMTS, which will take place from September 8th to the 13th, by showcasing one of the newest and fastest growing technologies in the industry: a live printing and assembling of the world’s first 3D car!
The car, known as the Strati, will be printed over the course of 44 hours throughout the event, and will be assembled and driven on Saturday, September 13th. While the printed car will still have to use conventional non-printable parts such as the battery, motor, and suspension, the completed Strati vehicle will use only 40 parts throughout its chassis. This unprecedented event will be the first time a 3D car is printed and driven, and serves to showcase the possibilities of 3D-printed vehicles in the future. Local Motors also plans to release the plans for the Strati’s 3D printed components for purchase in the near future.
Sep10
Flower Carpet 2014 blooms in Belgium
2014 at 01:25 pm by admin | Comments Off
The city of Brussels in Belgium has once again become host to the latest entry in the biannual Flower Carpet ceremony! This event, which began in the year 1971 as a means to bring life and color to the city of Brussels, has since become a regular undertaking for Belgian artists and community members alike. This year, dozens of volunteers worked alongside accomplished artists and gardeners to make the carpet bloom in front of the Grand Palace’s main square in a matter of hours, and laid down a total of over 750,000 flowers in order to create the carpet.
This year’s flower carpet, which honors Turkish immigrants, is comprised mostly of begonias, which are renowned for their resilience to changing weather. The flowers are packed into prepared soil on a special way that prevents them from being blown away by the wind, and is treated against the summer heat. The finished result measures in at around 1,800 square meters, or 19,000 square feet!
By the carpet’s completion at nightfall, a special light show event was held at the carpet to commemorate the occasion, using sparklers and overhead lights to create a dazzling display. A testament to the beauty of natural art, the wait now begins for what 2016’s Flower Carpet has in store for us!
Sep10
Sanrio launches HELLO KITTY MEN project
2014 at 12:39 pm by admin | Comments Off
Hello Kitty’s 40th anniversary has been targeting fans all around the world, with a variety of new events and releases throughout the world. Sanrio’s next step takes aim at often-overlooked adult male Hello Kitty fans with their new HELLO KITTY MEN project! This new project includes the conception of a brand-new male-focused brand of merchandise, and hopes to tackle the notion that Hello Kitty is a franchise solely for female fans.
The first step in the new HELLO KITTY MEN project is a collaboration event with Japanese department store Hankyu Men’s Tokyo, which opened its doors earlier today, and will feature unique t-shirt designs as well as a featuring a panel hosted by Yuko Yamaguchi, known as the designer of Hello Kitty! This event will stay at the Hankyu Men’s Tokyo location unil September 16th, with more HELLO KITTY MEN projects planned for the future.
Sep08
GM announces smart cars by 2017
2014 at 01:07 pm by admin | Comments Off
GM, or General Motors, has been producing automobiles and other means of transportation since the company was founded in 1908, and have announced that they plan on taking the next step in driver comfort and safety by producing “smart” cars by the year 2017! This news came at the opening ceremony of the Intelligent Transportation Society World Congress in Detroit, Michigan, and detailed current plans for implementing the new vehicle-to-vehicle technology into a number of GM’s releases in the coming years, along with showing off booths to replicate the functions of the new tech.
The first car that will carry the new communication will be the 2017 Cadillac CTS, and will then be applied to other cars across GM’s lineup, including Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC vehicles. The cars will utilize new technology that will allow these vehicles to communicate with other cars in a 300 meter radius, and will keep track of the location, speed, and direction of travel of other cars. This technology will assist in reducing traffic congestion and preventing accidents by warning drivers of upcoming dangers and other vehicles.
GM is also creating an automated driving feature for upcoming Cadillacs, titled Super Cruise, which will allow drivers to select a lane and let the vehicle take over, adjusting speed and braking on its own. The Super Cruise technology is meant for assistance in heavily congested traffic, as well as on long drives on interstate highways. Unfortunately, while GM will implement these new vehicle-to-vehicle technologies into their cars by 2017, the full effect of this revolutionary technology will not be apparent until other motor vehicle companies follow suit and equip their own cars with the tech. Until then, GM plans to continue making strides in creating auto technology to make driving for people all over the world a safer experience.
Sep08
Hello Kitty jet takes flight this fall
2014 at 11:31 am by admin | Comments Off
In celebration of Hello Kitty’s 40th anniversary, Sanrio has teamed up with Taiwanese airline company EVA Air in order to take Hello Kitty and friends to the skies with the Sanrio-themed “Hand-in-Hand” jet! This jet is a Boeing 777-300ER plane, and will begin operations on October 29th, 2014. The plane, which depicts Hello Kitty and a number of other Sanrio characters like My Melody, Badtz-maru, Keroppi, and more, originally made its debut last September.
The “Hand-in-Hand” jet will fly round trips between Taipei, Taiwan and Paris, France following its October launch. On top of that, the jet will be returning to the skies with its staple of unique Hello Kitty themed merchandise, including themed menus, seats, signage, cutlery, and even Sanrio-styled lunch items! The jet will join with EVA Air’s other Sanrio-themed planes currently in circulation, and will continue flying for the foreseeable future.
Sep07
Florentijn Hofman unveils new art at London
2014 at 03:23 pm by admin | Comments Off
Florentijn Hofman’s Rubber Duck recently departed from Los Angeles docks after a popular series of events following the Tall Ships Festival, but the Dutch artist shows no signs of slowing down as he has unveiled a brand-new inflatable art piece at London’s famous River Thames! Titled the HippopoThames, the new sculpture is over 68 feet long, and was created to commemorate the Totally Thames Festival which will take place at locations through the River Thames for the rest of September.
Hofman’s HippopoThames is based on prehistoric hippos that used to inhabit the River Thames, and is scheduled to be displayed at the Nine Elms distcit in London until its departure on September 28th. Although there have been no announced plans on if the HippopoThames will visit other locations along the river or even worldwide, Hofman will surely be debuting more art pieces across the world in the neat future.
Sep07
Nickelodeon hosts LoopdeLoop animation event
2014 at 02:47 pm by admin | Comments Off
Nickelodeon Animation has teamed up with animation site LoopdeLoop in order to create a unique animation event in Burbank, California! LoopdeLoop, an online animation community dedicated to inspiring creativity and unique work from animators all over the world, holds monthly competitions in which a specific theme is chosen, and any artist can submit a short animation in that theme. The site’s goal is to make fun, achievable goals for animators and to bring the community closer through competition and collaboration. This goal will be highlighted at the new event with Nickelodeon, which will be free to attend and enter for all members of the artistic community, and the event marks the first time a LoopdeLoop event will be sponsored by a large corporate network.
The event, which is scheduled to take place on October 3rd, will be accepting submissions from all members of the LoopdeLoop online community until 11:30 PM on September 21st. The focus will be on the current LoopdeLoop bi-monthly theme, which is childhood. During the October 3rd event at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio, all submitted entries will be displayed, and voting will take place in the audience as well as from select judges from the international animation community. This screening will surely be a fun time for artists and animation fans alike, so make sure to give it a look, and keep an eye open for future LoopdeLoop events and competitions!
Sep04
Back-to-school specials at TOMODACHI
2014 at 02:56 pm by admin | Comments Off
With summer coming to a close in the following weeks, it’s time for students across the nation to head back to school. TOMODACHI’s here to make the transition a little easier this year with some brand-new back-to-school merchandise and deals! We have a number of notebooks, pencils, supplies and more available for students of all ages at both our Rosedale Shopping Center location as well as the Mall of America. On top of that, TOMODACHI is now carrying a wide variety of new bento items, including bento boxes of all shapes and sizes, chopsticks and utensils, food decorating kits, and more, as well as new coloring books, origami paper, and bags! Make sure to take advantage of our special deals on stationery, including our buy 3, get 1 free offer on all pens, pencils, and erasers! Make sure to come down to either of our locations to check out our new merchandise while you can!
Sep01
Engineer creates 3D-printed castle playground
2014 at 01:07 pm by admin | Comments Off
Minnesota architect and enginner Andrey Rudenko has put his homemade 3D cement printer to work in creating a life-size castle playground in his very own backyard! The project has been over two years in the works, with Rudenko posting regular updates on the status of his printer and the project on his YouTube channel. The castle, which features detailed inner architecture and separate rooms, was only the test for the printer, and now Rudenko wishes to begin working on a full-scale house with his concrete printer. While houses have been 3D-printed in less than a day in the past, these houses have simply been the outer walls, with no inner architecture. Hoping to change that with his own printer, Rudenko believes that 3D printing will help lower production costs and make a safer environment for construction workers in the field.
Aug28
Artist recreates Totoro house in paper
2014 at 11:33 am by admin | Comments Off
“My Neighbor Totoro” is one of Studio Ghibli’s most iconic and popular films, known worldwide and even featured in Studio Ghibli’s own logo. One diligent fan has now paid tribute to the 1988 classic animated film by recreating the Kusakabe house from the movie entirely in paper!
The artist, known as Kurosuke on the Japanese website Nicovideo, uploaded a production log of the project, which spanned two and a half years of work. The kit is based on a 1/150 scale official papercraft diorama kit of the house, though Kurosuke had to significantly alter the original structure to achieve the look intended for the project.
The house features screen-accurate architecture, and was hand-painted by Kurosuke in order to match the weathered appearance seen in the movie. Not content with simply painting on details, the artist even cut out 1800 individual scraps of paper in order to create the tiled roof of the building, along with adding actual weathering effects to wood panels across the house!
The finished result, which turns the house into a miniature masterpiece, features a detailed diorama with dirt, trees, and plant life in order to make the display as close to the movie as possible.