I recently returned from an unforgettable adventure in India. There was colour, chaos, crowds, and a whole lot of culture. The food put every one of my taste buds to work and the sights and sounds were unlike anything I’ve witnessed before, but the most unique tour occurred at TARAgram in the city of Orchha in Madhya Pradesh, India.

Recall a time when you’ve come across the perfect shirt or dress, only to be disappointed that it didn’t come in the colours you hoped for. Or when you’ve loved the style of a certain shirt or dress so much you decided to buy multiple colour variations just because. Most of our female readers can probably relate (maybe some of our male ones too)! Not specifically borne to address this dilemma, but Toronto Fashion Designer Breeyn McCarney and Creative Technologist Christopher Lewis have mixed fashion and technology in the Paper Dolls dress collection that could lead to solving our future shopping woes.

Dear Readers, Vidafine had a chance to visit the OCAD University Industrial Design Thesis show in May and is excited to share with you some cool finds! The scope of their thesis topics were broad, ranging from innovative products to holistic systems and services “that would change the way we live, think, work and play”. The overall success of the show demonstrated the amount of hard work the students have put in the last 9 months. It was a difficult choice, but we have selected two projects to showcase. We hope that these posts inspire you to think creatively and also to gain a new perspective in the role design plays in your everyday life.

Eat+Learn – Ansis Kalnins

As a student working around tight timelines and schedules, it is difficult to maintain a balanced diet and nearly impossible to find the time to go grocery shopping. That is why I was drawn to this particular project by Ansis Kalnins that aims to help many young students to learn how to eat properly. One of the main challenges is the multitude of food planning decisions that happen when they go grocery shopping. Eat+Learn is a food suggestion platform tailored specifically for these students. It clearly and simply shows them how to assemble complete meals right there in the grocery store.

Fallen Rock Productions is a socially-conscious theatre company that combines philanthropy with the performing arts. Every year, the company produces a large-scale musical to raise funds and awareness for a charitable organization. Fallen Rock musicals are a great option for Torontonians looking for high caliber musical theatre without the sky-high ticket prices of Mirvish productions. This June, Fallen Rock will grace the Bathurst Street Theatre stage with its highly-anticipated production of RENT.

Part of my job as an educator is to teach students how to be proactive citizens who stay informed about what’s happening in the world around them. My goal is to teach them that anything is possible and that they have the power to bring change. After learning about the devastating earthquakes and tsunamis that struck Japan this past March, I felt it was important to inform my students of the tragic events and encourage them to make a difference for the people of Japan.

If you don’t know already, I’m a huge foodie and find it extra amusing when I hear news or trends about food. I stumbled upon this while browsing through my RSS feeds and thought that it is ingenious! I assumed that something like this has to have been created already but after doing a quick Google search, everything linked me back to the Poilâne Forks and Spoons.

Poilâne is a French bakery that is known for making delicious breads, pastries, desserts and spreads. They have two stores in France and one in London. They have come up with a new and innovative way for people to eat desserts and appetizers and that’s their flavoured forks (the more popular ones) and spoons.

It’s like a Lego set except it’s life sized and extremely useful towards building a ‘small civilization with modern day comforts.’ Open Source Ecology is a movement driven by the efforts of farmers, engineers and supporters focused on developing tools for replicable, open source, modern off grid “resilient communities.” They firmly believe that “everyone in the world should have access to the technologies they need to escape poverty.” Using their open source industrial machines as a guide, one needs only to secure the scrap metal necessary and put in the labor in order to create fully functional farming and industrial equipment. From tractor pulls and bulldozers to hay balers and saw mills, this collection named the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) includes all the necessities to create a small village.

We at Vidafine love design and innovation with a cause. In a time when environmental initiatives are guiding principles for many organizations, we love how companies, through simple acts, are helping to replenish our planet with its natural beauty. That’s why we really appreciate how companies like WeWOOD are sharing their mission of creating a more sustainable future with the help of their customers.