DoerCast Episode 6 - The Design Conspiracy

Ben and Kingsley are among those great doers who also share their knowledge and experience. They kindly accepted our invitation to be part of Filter Design Competition, help give feedback to the participants and hold one of those really funny and inspirational workshops. Just as they kindly accepted our podcast invitation, and answered all the questions we’ve been bugging them with, even though they were very tired.

They’re founders of the Design Conspiracy, which started as the dream of some college friends to do cool stuff. To "create intrigue and provoke reaction", which is an aim anybody working in our industry should have, in my opinion. We talked about how they started, and how they currently manage the tension between being friends and colleagues, about the company’s great policies, about handling a small firm which is growing. And of course, we’ve also asked them about their projects.

And of course, we talked about design in general, how it feels like to be a designer, measuring effectiveness in design, user generated content, design being the new management consultancy and sustainable design. Actually, we’ve talked about so many things, that it would be better to just download and listen to the conversation.

Cause we’ve even spoken about Kingsley’s musical career, as part of a band called Passarella Death Squad. And you can listen to samples of their work in the second part of this episode, as well as on their myspace page.

We enjoyed doing this podcast a lot, because the guys are not only brilliant, but also extremely open, funny, and modest. Hope you enjoy it as well.

The fact that our podcasts are more like free conversations than actual organized interviews is quite clear, and this time Cosmin also joined us. Also thanks to Radu for featuring in the second part of the podcast.

To listen to Part 1 (about 45 minutes long), click here; to listen to Part 2 (about 30 minutes long), click here; or subscribe in iTunes using the feed to not bother about links, downloads and parts.

DoerCast Episode 5 - Frantisek Storm

DoerCast is starting a short, but impressive, design series; this episode features Frantisek Storm, one of the world's best type designers, who came to Romania to open an exhibition of the Czech Cultural Center of Bucharest at Una Galeria. Mr. Storm was also kind enough to hold a type design workshop for Filter Design Competition.

Diana and I got to speak to him, a colleague of his and a student of theirs (whose names, I must say, regrettably, I didn't understand)on the third day of their stay, after they visited the National Art University and after seeing the Stencils of Bucharest. We discussed about different approaches to academic education, we discussed about type and type design, about Bucharest, stencils and street art.

One of the best moments of our discussion was when Mr. Storm showed us his Stencilul Font - a font that was inspired to him by a stencil in Bucharest, and that he put online for anyone to download for free.

So, to listen follow this link, or use the feed to listen in iTunes.

Thank you to Monika Stepanova and Ana Blidaru for your help and support

DoerCast Episodul 4 - Trei Parale

Inainte sa ii scoatem la ceai si sa inregistram o discutie cu ei, i-am ascultat pe cei de la "Trei parale" in concert. Si putem spune ca ne-au purtat prin locuri si prin timpuri de care am simtit cum ni se face dor, fara sa fi avut vreodata contact cu ele. Ne-au facut sa ne simtim "rasfatati", pentru ca ne-au spus povesti la fel de frumoase cum ascultam cand eram foarte, foarte mici. Asta pentru ca prietenii de la "Trei parale" sunt o "adunatura" de artisti foarte speciali, care se incapataneaza sa nu lase muzica veche romaneasca sa se piarda.

Despre etnomuzicologie, despre cercetarea prin sate cu trei case, despre cobze si chiar despre manele intr-o frumoasa poveste despre pasiune.

La insistentele noastre, Trei Parale au si blog.

Pentru a asculta, download de aici. Pentru a va abona in iTunes, folositi acest feed.
Postul mentionat de Florin in timpul podcastului este acesta.

DoerCast Episode 3 - Dumitru Gorzo

My first contact with Dumitru Gorzo's work happened in 2003, when I saw some weird cocoons invade the center of Bucharest. I found out, afterwards, what they were and who was responsible, and laughed at the way the media presented them. And the rest is history.

Dumitru Gorzo is a unique artist in Romania's landscapes: he is a shocking appeareance, but never shocks just for the sake of it; he is controversial, which is just another way of saying he provokes people to think; he is a truly original artist; and he is very hardworking, doing a lot of work, and having at least one significant personal exhibition a year.

We had the great pleasure of talking to Mr. Gorzo one cold winter evening, after he received a prize from Cuvantul cultural magazine, on Calea Victoriei, in the little park that is found next to the ugly big monument. We're truly sorry for the cold.

The discussion wanders for about 45 minutes from Rostopasca, the village, brands and Romania's new law on religious cults, to pornography, masters and apprentices in art and not only, evolution, street art, communism, and the Romanian Orthodox Church. It ends with Sex Pistols' I am an anarchist.

To listen - please use this feed to subscribe in iTunes, or download directly from here.

Photos taken from Metropotam. (uninspired) photo-editing by alex.

DoerCast Episode 2 - Mihai Mitrica

Cu o intarziere care se datoreaza mai ales sarbatorilor, iata si cel de-al doilea episod al podcast-ului nostru. De data aceasta, “la microfon” se afla Mihai Mitrica, unul dintre fondatorii asociatiei Este'N'Est. Noi l-am cunoscut pe Mihai drept "omul din spatele Anim'Estului", asa ca am discutat cu el despre povestea primului festival romanesc de animatie de anvergura, despre oitza de pe afisul Anim'Est, despre animatia romaneasca si despre planurile pentru editia urmatoare. Si am mai discutat si despre celelalte proiecte foarte interesante pe care le pregateste Este'N'Est: Fest'Asia (festivalul filmului asiatic) si Sibiu Film Fest, care va combina filmele mute cu orchestra live.

Ii multumim mult lui Mihai, de care vom mai auzi cu siguranta, si speram sa strangem cat mai multi oameni dornici sa il ajute sa duca la bun sfarsit aceste proiecte si sa inceapa si altele. Si multumim si prietenilor de la Oricum, in bucataria carora am inregistrat.

Pentru a asculta, click aici. Pentru a va abona in iTunes, folositi acest feed.

DoerCast Episode 1 - Sofa Surfers

We have been very fortunate that Sofa Surfers, or, properly speaking, half of them, came to Romania in November 2006. Our magical friends from Oricum together with the Pheonix Foundation made it all possible, and Bucharest rocked on the massive sound of Markus Kienzl and Michael Holzgruber, all backed by Timo Novotny's visuals.

Sofa Surfers started making music in the middle of the 90's, when electronic music was dominated by a DIY revolution coming from the techno arena; it was the first time when bands could produce their own music, without being forced to work with private studios or labels or whatever else; in a way, that resembles what is going on now with blogs and podcasting and videocasting.


The discussion with Timo, Michael and Markus starts from what/who is Sofa Surfers and why they came here, discusses a bit the "Vienna Sound", and touches many other subjects until it ends with Timo Novotny's impressions of Bucharest. The podcast ends with Markus Kienzl's "Dundy Lion" track as it was mixed by Al Haca in one of their 2005 sets (and this explains one of my questions from the podcast).

The interview was taken on November 25th, 2006, at about 8pm, in Eclipse, right before their concert there; I am quite satisfied by the sound quality of the podcast, as I had to record it with my Powerbook, I had no headphones available to check out the sound, so I pretty much based the settings on chance. Diana and I will soon acquire a proper recording device, but until then I hope the content of our podcast will make the small glitches bearable.

You can download the podcast from here [.mp3, 33.1 MB], or you can listen to the podcast below:

Edit: You can now subscribe to our podcast directly in iTunes by using the following feed that is guaranteed to work with iTunes. All you need to do is copy and paste the address of the feed in iTunes->Advanced->Subscribe to Podcast.. iTunes will automatically check for new episodes of our podcast.

Thank you for listening!

first post

i was in the train on my way to the mountains when i realised how many interesting people i've come into contact with lately, and how much i've learnt from them. and how much i'd like to share their doings, thoughts and opinions with others. So i called Alex and said : "Let's do a podcast!". And he said: "the first recording is on it's way". And that's how we started it.

We'll try to talk to people we admire and whom we consider to be actual doers, regardless of the field they come from. Some recordings will be in English, some others in Romanian. We're not yet sure how to deal with this, so please forgive us being rather clumsy, both with the interview structure, and with the technical side. We're open to suggestions, critics, and anything else which might help things work better. Let's see what happens !