Francois' AT-UM Horizon Table
Nearly ten years ago, UM Project owner François Chambord found his life’s calling: to design and create modern and innovative furniture. He applied his fervor for user-centric design to AT-UM, his fusion of Horizon with the traditional desk for a new kind of collaboration station – part easel, part studio desk and part table. In this post, François gives us some insight into his creation from when the sample we shipped him arrived at his workshop to its debut at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. Q. AT-UM. That’s an interesting name. Tell us about it. A. I have always liked short names, hence the name of my company UM Project and many of my products like the NGL table or the SMPL table. They are strong and memorable; punchy sound bites. I also like when names have a certain amount of geekiness and a technological feel, as well as mystery and poetry. AT-UM could be the name of a computer or strange machine, but also the name of a friendly robot. AT-UM also works as an acronym that means the “Activity Table by UM Project,” which is the perfect description of this piece. The name is also a subtle reference to Star Wars AT-AT, one of the many incredible machines of the saga. Q. Your design allows people to use Horizon in both modes – tabletop and all-in-one. Talk about the design process for accommodating this. A. I was immediately seduced by the versatility of the Horizon, working...
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Change in ThinkPad design typically evolves rather than making radical moves. Talk to stewards of the brand, David Hill or Aaron Stewart, and each of them will tell you that any tweaks to this hallmarks’ design come only after hours of excruciating and detailed thought. You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who says we change for change’s sake. So when we do, it’s deliberate and for the better. That said, it’s hard to make everyone happy. Any time we make the slightest change, we get reams of comments – some “thank you” and “I love this,” and some, “What are you doing?” and “Don’t mess with it.” We truly appreciate those strong voices because it shows us your passion for technology and ThinkPad. To reach the top, products and companies continually reinvent themselves – just look at eBay or Amazon. We’re doing it too by moving from a PC company to a PC+ technology company with new products like smartphones and smartTVs in many countries across the world. To take it back to ThinkPad, we want to retain the right amount of ThinkPad-ness that satisfies our loyal customers who’ve always valued it while modernizing ThinkPad under the influences of consumerization’s focus on simplicity, interoperability and connectedness. We’ve pinpointed that important balance with the new ThinkPad T431s, a laptop that answers the question, with...
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When indie filmmaker Michael Suan set his sights on creating a silent action movie, ThinkPad laptops came into play – not just as high-tech props but as the engine to slice and dice thousands of hours of raw footage and then the tool to stitch the digital frames into the master art form that Suan had continually imaged and reimaged in his mind. In the following Q&A, we delved into the mechanics of his latest creation and how he transformed the abstract into a 114-minute long piece of film noir. Q. Tell me about the film – what’s it about and why the name AKP: Job 27. A. AKP: Job 27 is one of those things that I've talked about doing since film school. Every time I mentioned the idea people would tell me how crazy I was. The notion of shooting a feature-length film without a single line of spoken dialogue in a modern setting seemed far-fetched to say the least. But having seen Luc Besson's "Le Dernier Combat" and Kim Ki Duk's "Bad Guy" I was certain that, given the right story, the film could be done. You see, unlike traditional silent cinema that contains no sound and uses title cards for dialogue, AKP: Job 27 uses a form I call modern silent which contains sound but no dialogue at all. The film plays the same as any other film with sound, but the characters do not speak on screen - ever. This is a style of filmmaking that I've been exploring throughout my career, and only now have I placed it into a feature-length form....
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We recently had the privilege of sitting down with "Project Runway" fashion designer Josh McKinley to talk fashion, technology and the ultimate article of clothing--confidence. We loved seeing you at the Lenovo Yoga launch event in October. Can we tell our fans what you presented? I was so privileged to be a part of the Lenovo launch event and could not have been more humbled to help demonstrate the use of the Yoga from a fashion design standpoint. The technology and flexibility of Yoga is definitely going to be a game changer for the design world! Its flexibility and user-friendly functions are a huge asset for designers on the go. Could you tell us more about your sketches? What’s great about the “Skitch” app that I was working in is that, even if you are still sketching by hand, you can upload your sketches and photos and take wonderful notes via the application. From a presentation standpoint, it’s great to be able to polish the image and take notes on the fly when a design concept pops into your mind. What were some of the most interesting questions you got asked at the launch event? I think the most interesting question was “Can this computer really change the way you approach design?” Simply stated, the response to that question is “YES.” If we allow ourselves to be open to change and simply welcome it, there is no telling what abundance of greatness can come our way. I firmly...
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Viewer response to “The Pursuit”—the new Lenovo action-thriller featuring our heroic Yoga PC—has been phenomenal. The short film is directed by Martin Campbell, the man behind Hollywood blockbusters such as “Green Lantern,” “Casino Royale” and “The Mask of Zorro.” “The Pursuit” is currently making waves all over the world, airing in television markets in many countries. The video continues Lenovo’s recent tradition of creating high-energy, engaging films for our major product launches. (You may recall “Seize the Night,” the film we released in June to highlight our Ultrabooks.) “Part of the start for the Yoga breakthrough was the success we had with Ultrabooks,” said Parker Ransom, Lenovo’s Director of Advertising. “It really felt like we hit on something with the cinematic treatment, and it resonated really well with young people, which we liked.” Saatchi & Saatchi, Lenovo’s global advertising agency, identified a list of possible directors for “The Pursuit.” The person we immediately put at the top of that list was Martin Campbell. “There was just no way we could pass up a James Bond director,” said Erin Heath, Lenovo’s director of global advertising. “The direction and...
