AND THE AWARD GOES TO...

Weetu jumped left to LA for The National Council of La Raza's ALMA Awards, a tribute awards ceremony celebrating pioneering Latinos in music, television and sports. The event aired September 18th on ABC. Weetu was backstage to film a public service announcement around voting initiatives and the upcoming census. This year some of the biggest names in entertainment were in attendance, including co-hosts Eva Longoria Parker and George Lopez.

If you happened to watch the show, you may also have caught the last PSA weetu created for NCLR... unless you have Tivo or had to use the facilities. (Clearly we spent a little too much time behind the video cam or in traffic and not enough time taking cool pictures).

NOT ALL FUN & MOJITOS

Weetu made their 3rd Innagural mecca to Miami for the HD Boutique Conference, held September 14-15th. Though some sun was soaked, it wasn't all mojitos. The first day of the conference, Carly was up at the break of dawn (or so it seemed) to meet with the NEWH Sustainable Hospitality Committee. The committee discussed goals to meet important initiatives, including their primary mission to "Lead the hospitality industry to educate and promote sustainable practices that achieve a balance between environment, economics and social equity".

The NEWH Sustainable Hospitality Website will be refined and expanded over the next several months. If you're in the hospitality industry now is the time to sponsor, as this is sure to be the resource directory for Sustainable Hospitality.

WEETU WET & ARTSY

Thanks to all of those brave souls that fronted in the rain for The Guerrilla Truck Show last Tuesday. Morlen Sinoway and DIFFA Chicago put on a great show. Trucks backed up to the loading docks in Fulton market revealing tons of great work by different artists. Soaked to the bone, it was reminiscent of tailgating with beer, wine and art (and without having to attend a football game afterwards). Good times! Kudos to the artists as well. We went home with a sweet "coil lamp" created by Craighton Berman

.

DIFFA thanks all the truck sponsors and DIR for providing the printing for the signs. We look forward to an even bigger turnout next year. For more pics of the event, taken by Nathan Kirkman for DIFFA, go to http://www.nathankirkman.com/DIFFAGTS/

GUERILLA WATCH

Even though NeoCon comes without the usual parties this year, there are still fun times to be had... and for free!! Come out to play Tuesday night (June 16, 6pm-9pm)! The Guerrilla Truck Show is going to be better than ever this year. DIFFA/Chicago's Auxiliary Board and Morlen Sinoway team up to help support local artists and raise awareness for HIV/Aids. Artists are given the opportunity to showcase their designs inside of trucks, sponsored by local businesses, in a unique street fest environment. Bring your friends!

WEETU ZOO WALKS THE WICKER

WEETU is the go to for innovation in design... but converge the talents of our WEETUzoo and we go beyond that of a typical design studio. When posed with the challenge of submitting an RFQ for our local Wicker Park-Bucktown Chamber of Commerce marketing campaign, we opened the zoo cages and formed the perfect WEETUzoo team. With our award winning marketing, film, editing, sound, graphics and photography team we strapped on our sneakers and hit the streets to explore all that the neighborhoods have to offer. After 36 hours, a half dozen falafel sandwiches, miles of walking the streets and climbing buildings, we put together this little snipit of entertainment to highlight a fraction of what Wicker Park and Bucktown have to offer. Click and enjoy... and if you're in the hood be sure to stop by the stoop for a cold one. 

(hold out for the timelapse at the end)

 

MILAN MILAN SOLO CON TE. MILAN MILAN SEMPRE PER TE.

Our friend Irakli Kiziria shared some of his favorites from the Salone Internazionale de Mobile. His standout fave was Martin Margiela. You may know that Margiela has a sweet cooperation with Diesel. These pics are from the press pack. Table legs as tables, shelving brackets as shelving, doors as carpets. Despite everthing being white, it looks far from sterile, and mostly avoids the furniture barn or haunted house look.

I liked his Kartell pics, as I usually find what they do to be very playful. Various characters were printed on thick plush carpet that hung from the ceiling and dropped cool shadows on their respective walls. Here the tattewed dewds. Elsewhere whirling dervishes and acrobats. And oh, Kartell is in bed with Barbie now too. That cougar slut.

grüße aus Deutschland.... and more about Irakli Kiziria at www.designprovocation.com

"WEETU'S ON A MEXICAN -WOAH- RADIO"

No, it's not a Wall of Voodoo-1982 cover band. WEETU launched a new marketing and ad campaign for Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) this month focused on encouraging legal pathways to U.S. citizenship. The first part of this multil-lingual, multi-year initiative will air throughout Chicagoland airwaves via UNIVISION's family of radio stations. As reflected by its tagline of "Protect the Life You Know (Protéje la Vida que Conoces)," the overall campaign concept touches upon the real concerns that U.S Legal Permanent Residents
have around their tenuous U.S. residential status.

Below are fifteen-second and thirty-second Spanish versions of the
radio spots:

:15 ICIRR/UNIVISION Radio Spot
:30 ICIRR/UNIVISION Radio Spot

CS INTERIORS - WEE ON WHEELS

Super thanks to CS Interiors magazine for tracking us down and including us in their summer-2008 issue. As we continue to plug away at developing new concepts, it's excellent to get a little attention in our own backyard. We look forward to sharing more of what happens in our wee-studio perching over the city on the west side.

(For those of you who know us and had quite a giggle over the "duo of cool" header - knowing quite well the truth behind the spoofy poses and dark sunglasses - give us a break ...okay? My grandma loved it and has it stuck to her cork board next to her recliner.)

VIVALASWEETU, HD 2008

The dynamic duo from WEETU went west for the HD 2008 show in Vegas. Finally WEETU was actually ASKED for their critical judgment! The kind folks at HD invited Linda and Carly to comb the exhibition halls in search of the best exhibit booths. It was a grueling task, but WEETU was in good company with Jillian Van Dresser, (The Van Dresser Company) and Jeffrey Williams (BBG-BBGM). Following hours of review, the judges submitted their scores and WEETU retreated to the hot desert sun for an hour of people watching and pooling prior to jumping back into the HD festivities.

But that’s not all! WEETU also gave a seminar presentation on Saturday, May 17th. Special thanks to those hard-core early risers who came with sunglasses and coffee. WEETU felt your pain and appreciated the support.

WEETUSCHNITZEL

WEETU jumped the pond to collaborate with German Event Company, Uniplan, on a festival and dealership event for a leading European car manufacturer. As the architectural partner, WEETU worked closely with the team on concepts for the event strategy and overall experiences, including designing the site layout, architectural structures and interior environments. Despite Carly Cannell of WEETU’s lack of bratwurst consumption, the collaboration was extremely positive. Cannell also learned that gummy candies are made in Germany and eating them daily has negative effects on one’s body, but positive effects on hair and nail growth.

WEETU looks forward to future collaborations with the team at Uniplan.

FAREWELL TO THE NO-TELL

WEETU Takes First Place at HD Boutique in Miami!

Sometimes it pays to not sleep. After noticing a call for entries about a week prior to the entries being due, and only deciding to go for it 36 hours prior to the deadline, WEETU put all the thoughts and inspiration they have collected from years of travel and design to create “the MoMotel.”

(press release)

WEETU designers' revolutionary MoMotel(c) is cutting-edge; eco-friendly. (MIAMI) Sept. 18, 2007 -- WEETU CORP. design studio debuts The MoMotel(c), a modern, eco-friendly lodging alternative for everyday travelers, at the Hospitality Design Boutique Exposition & Conference, September 18,19 in the Miami Beach Convention Center, where nearly 3,800 attendees and 750 exhibitors will gather to view new design talent and radical innovation.

'When it comes to innovation, WEETU says no way to creating just another luxury hotel, and hello to The MoMotel: a stylish, eco-friendly place where the American masses can eat, sleep, and connect with local culture," says Carly Cannell, President, who entered the MoMotel concept in the conference's Radical Innovation Competition.

The MoMotel shatters the traditional notion of chain motels, transforming roadside lodging into regional cultural hotspots, attracting music, art and film events to different areas across the map. Building off structural exteriors of existing cookie-cutter motels, The MoMotels are wrapped in durable mesh imprinted with eye-catching location-specific graphic images which highlight the history and natural terrain of individual locations.

"Motels across America plead, 'Please hide me!'" says Cannell. "So we recycle those ugly branded boxes into architectural roadside attractions, wrapping the exteriors with graphically printed skins that allow the structure to visually adapt to their natural context." The MoMotel includes eco-friendly features such as implementing green roofs landscaped with indigenous plants, recycled specifications for interior finishes and use of biodegradable supplies. Healthy food options include vegetarian and vegan meals. The MoMotel conserves space and caters to needs of diverse travelers; rooms come in different sizes: MiniMo, MoMo and Big Mo.

"We downsize unneeded elements of traditional motel room space, eliminating unnecessary components while upgrading the environment's look, feel and most of all, function," says Linda Wallack, Vice President. "WEETU approaches the MoMotel concept from users' needs."

Affordable pricing is geared towards entrepreneurs (business travelers with minimal budgets), adventurers (weekend travelers wanting to check out a new cities, music, art, culture), retired vacationers (conservative with funds and don't want an over-abundance of luxury) and business travelers (frequently on the road, wanting to stay away from the heart of the city and instead closer to the local scene). "Low budget shouldn't mean lowly lodging," says Cannell. "The MoMotel is cultural and classy."

Radical Innovation Competition finalists will be announced at the conference. The winner will be revealed on September 19 at 2pm EST and receive a $5,000 cash prize.

METROPOLIS, "THE COLOR FORECAST"

Carly Cannell and Kevin Estrada were asked by Metropolis Magazine to contribute their approach for the Mind/Body/Soul Collection for Durkan Commercial and specifically, the color named “hot”. They write, “Our team doesn’t begin our process with picking color; we derive color from our explorations and experimentation. With flooring, our intent was to achieve a product that interacts with a space through depth, shadow, transparency, and reflectivity. Using 3-D modeling software, we created dimensional patterns. Hot was derived from the shadows that the patterns yielded, while the highlights were a deep jewel-tone red - hence the name.”