Tag Archives: Shenzen

A Designer’s Dream Hotel

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From gel pens and dotted notebooks to transparent toothbrushes and perfectly tailored shirts, MUJI has been an integral part of my life and many others around the world. Founded in Japan in 1980, MUJI’s origin was a thorough rationalization of the manufacturing process with an eye to creating simple, low-cost, good quality products.

Opening their first hotel, MUJI has done what I’ve only ever dreamt of and filled an entire building with their gorgeously designed and manufactured products, and are allowing people to use them and live amongst them. Opening up early next year, the MUJI hotel will consist of 79 guest rooms and feature recycled woods, cloudy plastics (Polycarbonate) and many other materials that follow the brand’s signature aesthetic of their furniture and accessories from their line. MUJI has ensured that every fine detail, even down to the texture of the towels and the grains of the recycled wood has been considered heavily and settled on to ensure one’s trip is as mindful and restorative as possible.

Designer: MUJI

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Huaqiangbei Translations & Map Book: The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen

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Huaquiangbei in Shenzhen, China is widely recognized as the world’s best electronics market. Hundreds of vendors sell gadgets, accessories and components in both retail and wholesale. But the language barrier and the size of the place makes it an intimidating destination. That’s why hacker Bunnie Huang – co-creator of the Novena open source laptop – wrote a book to help fellow hackers and entrepreneurs find their way around the market and communicate with vendors.

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Bunnie’s The Essential Guide to Electronics in Shenzhen is based on his decade-long experience with Huaqiangbei, ranging from buying parts for his own projects to giving tours to venture capitalists. The book is filled with Mandarin-to-English translations of both technical and everyday terms and phrases. It also has maps of the area and has pockets for receipts, business cards and other small documents. Finally, the book has miscellaneous tips regarding travel, identifying fake items and more.

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You can check out more sample pages here (pdf).

Bunnie already finished the book, but he wanted to gauge public interest before committing to a large print run, so he setup a fundraiser on Crowd Supply. Pledging $30 (USD) gets you a copy of the book as a reward. You can also pledge $50 to get two copies and $460 to get 20 copies.

[via Boing Boing]