All Photos By Gail
“To be a visionary designer, I want to design products for myself first,” designer Kazuo Kawasaki has admitted. After a car accident left him partially paralyzed at age 27, Kawasaki created the Carna Folding Wheelchair for himself in 1989. Rather than resembling a piece of medical equipment, his vision was for it to become part of his wardrobe. Continue reading Eye On Design: Kazuo Kawasaki, Carna Folding Wheelchair
Photos By Gail
The original International Symbol of Access (image below) was designed in 1969 by Susanne Koefoed. Enlarged above is the Accessible Icon, a recent redesign that portrays a person in forward motion, propelling through space. Surrounded by small images that depict various iterations, the new symbol represents people in wheelchairs as dynamic, rather than static bodies. The Accessible Icon Project began as a social intervention with the goal of making cities more inclusive.
Continue reading Eye on Design: Accessible Icon By Tim Ferguson Sauder
Photos By Gail
I’ve never seen one of these symbols in any colors other than white or blue, so of course this Pink Handicapped Accessible Sign caught my attention immediately. This symbol was spotted at The Ace Hotel on 29th Street just east of Broadway.
Just so you know.
“So, I had this strange dream that we were at some art installation and they were showing a Louise Bourgeois piece and then they brought her out in a wheel chair.
After the thing, you disappeared and I was looking for you because you had my camera and I wanted a photo op with Louise. She had on these pink clogs that were like elevator shoes… somehow, I put them on and then I saw you in the distance in a parking lot. I said to Louise that I’d be right back. I was calling your name but you didn’t hear me, and I was running through the parking lot screaming your name. Louise was then chasing after me in her wheel chair trying to get her shoes back, I really wish there were services from the Lifestyle Home Lift every where she goes, that way she wouldn’t struggle that much.
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And then I woke up.”