Last month, we brought you news that, Glasgow School of Art graduate, Ian Guy had been nominated for his redesign of the intravenous valve system. Ian’s design is deservedly raising a few eyebrows and out of 500 candidates, made it through to the final 20 and is the only Scot. We urge you to take two minutes of your time to vote for him, and to help increase the chances of his invention going into production.

VOTE HERE

Ian Guy, a recent Product Design Engineering graduate, from the Glasgow School of Art, is running in this years James Dyson Award – a competition which champions innovative design engineering geared at solving real human problems. Ian, 20 years old, has spent the past year working with leading anaesthetists at Glasgow’s RHSC Yorkhill to tackle the problem of Air Entrainment in Intravenous Drip Lines.

As complicated as this sounds, Ian explains that “Air Entrainment is simply the problem of air bubbles forming in the infusion line. These bubbles cause a variety of problems, mainly staff distraction which consequently lowers patient safety – you don’t want to be wasting time removing air bubbles if a patient falls into a critical condition in theatre. At the extreme end of the spectrum these bubbles can result in fatality via air embolism – this is when a bubble passes into a patient’s bloodstream and stops blood flow. The solution seems initially surprisingly low-tech, however for me a true solution not only needs to solve the problem, but also be easily manufactured, implemented within an already over-complicated medical environment and also compete with existing less safe products price points, so for these reasons after exhaustive enquiries into more ‘sexed up ideas’ a simple modification to the existing drip chamber was the most viable option, both with respect to the engineering challenge, clinicians opinions and commercial viability.” Ian’s design includes the addition of a small floating seal which prevents “air entrainments from rigid fluid containers running dry – the most dangerous mechanism of entrainment due to the large volume of the air entrained, and the time consuming removal method.”

Ian’s simple redesign of the intravenous drip, could bring many benefits to hospital wards.

This year Ian has already placed 2nd in the University of Glasgow’s Big Idea Award, and won the Science, Engineering & Tech Category in the Scottish Institute for Enterprise’s New Ideas Competition securing funds to patent the device.

“Winning the Dyson Award would provide me with funds to secure the patent internationally and publicity to get under the radar of larger medical manufacturers who have the power and funds to take this project further.”

You can view Ian’s project, see the prototype in action and vote for Ian, by going to the James Dyson Award website.

Product Design Engineering is an undergraduate degree program and more information on the course and this years graduating students work can be found on the course microsite.

Susan Castillo has been working freelance on various commercial – and personal -  projects. She has worked closely with the Scottish magazine, The Coveted creating many of the main fashion spreads. She has exhibited in London at the Association of Photographers Gallery in 2008, and later went on to work on a collaborative show at SWG3. She was also shortlisted for the Terry O’Neil Awards in 2009.

Susan has worked in collaboration with The Scottish Ballet, Craft Mafia and Kabloom. Her work has been featured in The List, The Skinny and Image and Gestalten’s new book, Urban Interventions.

She currently has a solo show running at the Mussel Inn Gallery in Glasgow, ‘Deep’.  It’ will be running till May 5th and can be found at this map.

This is what she had to say about ‘Deep’:

“What I can say is that photography gives me a unique view of the world. It enables me to capture beauty and abstract moments that can often go unnoticed; it is a means of satisfying my desire for creative expression and experimentation.

‘Deep’ is the result of that desire, it is a project that began with underwater photography allowing me the opportunity to explore an environment that I was unfamiliar with, and then became more of an exploration of those qualities associated with that environment. Movement, a poised weightlessness and a calm sense of space are what ultimately drove the resulting work and which translate so well to the still image.”

I remember reading about this little beauty a year ago and drooling at the mouth over it. This is the Operator 1 (OP1) from Teenage Engineering, a hybrid digital synthesizer and MIDI controller which has truly raised the bar for aesthetic standards in synthetics. The clean minimalist design, grid like structure, colour choice and typography used throughout, really is beautiful. No idea on price yet or a confirmed release date, but it’s tipped to be soon.

Taken from their site:
“OP-1 is the all-in-one portable Synthesizer, Sampler and Controller. With additional features like the FM Radio and a G-Force sensor for pitch and bend effects. Beside a fresh and creative approach to sequencing with multiple choice of sequencers, you just have to love the OP-1’s built-in Tape feature.

Connect it to your computer and control your DAW with the common play, stop, rec, forward and rewind. Use the 4 rotary encoders and 8 x 2 dedicated quick keys for fast selections. Just use them with your software synthesizers. All in a portable package that fits next to the laptop in your bag.

When plugged in to the mini USB port the OP-1 shows up as a mass storage device. Ready for you to drag and drop audio files between your computer and the OP-1. The 4 tape tracks are available as well as sampled waveforms for you to manipulate. No additional software or drivers required!”

You can see more on their youtube channel.

A very original idea for a bird house. These were made by Glasgow artist, Robert Stewart. You can by them at Recoat’s online store.

Also, watch this space for an upcoming interview with the owners of Recoat Gallery.