A panel of 10 men and eight women has been chosen as the jury for the 2010 IDEA Awards, says John Barratt, president and CEO of Teague, and IDSA 2010 Jury Chair. Drawing from 38 countries, the IDEA (International Design Excellence Awards) program, sponsored by the Industrial Designers Society of America, is a top international competition honoring design excellence in products, ecodesign, interaction design, packaging, strategy, research, and concepts.
The diverse group reflects the organization's commitment to fielding a globally-sourced jury. "The competition is open to international entries, so we made sure to have jurors from the U.K., France, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands, and others who have had global work experience," Barratt said.
The jury also includes student representation, given the competition's large number of student submissions.
Barratt conceded that he had made a point of recruiting women from an industry often noted for its shortage of female representation. "When I participated in the jury last year," he says, "I noticed that oftentimes the women were more engaged, and many had very succinct points of view. More importantly, being on the jury is a substantial commitment, so I wanted people who had similar values and work ethic--and a sense of humor."
The deadline for the competition has been extended to February 15, says Barratt, to encourage entries. Judging will take place in April, with winners announced in the July/August issue of Fast Company, IDSA's Media Partner.
"The judging is pretty intense," says Barratt. "It takes place over three 10 to 12-hour days. Earlier rounds are vetted by pairs of judges online and in conference calls, a process that can consume 30 to 40 hours of work."
Winners will be honored at this year's IDSA international conference, to be held from August 5 to 7 in Portland, Oregon.
Eric Anderson, IDSA President, says the site of the conference will make for a particularly lively meeting, and a perfect pairing with the event's theme, "Do It Yourself" Design.
"The design culture in Portland makes it the perfect place to explore the DIY idea," he says. "Is it opportunity or threat? That kind of activity is natural there, and we'll get outside the hotel and have break-out sessions that will leverage the city."
IDSA's leadership team has spent a significant amount of time this year discussing how to broaden the organization's reach and appeal to a younger audience, and to designers working in small and medium-sized firms. Anderson says the upcoming regional conferences will help communicate the organization's strategic plan.
"We've celebrated too narrow a slice of design," he says. Going forward, IDSA will take a look at design across the board, exploring not just product design, but experience design, interactive design and design thinking.
Teaming with Fast Company is part of that expanded vision, he says. "We're extremely excited about the new partnership. A lot of our members are deeply connected with Fast Company, and we're aligned with the spirit and directional thinking of Fast Company's reporting."
The awards ceremony last night at the Edison Ballroom in New York wasn't quite as glam as the Grammys. Lady Gaga didn't don a head dress of Swiffer pads and accompany herself on a washtub. Pink didn't descend from the rafters on a rope made of HandiWipes while belting out "Let's Get This Cleaning Started."
But revelers celebrating the 20th annual "Product of the Year" awards were pretty pumped anyway. And why not? I was certainly enthusiastic, given that my witty cocktail repartee was enhanced by the Cinnaminty scent of my breath, thanks to one of the winners.
Every year, the Product of the Year awards recognize the household products that distinguish themselves over the 25,000 that are annually introduced in the United States alone. If that sounds daunting, imagine trying to get shoppers' attention in an average American supermarket, which typically stocks 60,000 items, according to "Supermarket Guru" Phil Lempert, who hosted the evening's festivities in a sparkly tux.
"When times get tough, it's all about innovation," he said to the crowd, sitting at tables drinking innovation-enhanced cocktails in which LED-powered ice cubes flickered.
While many of this year's winners seemed, frankly, less breakthrough innovation than brand extension, there were a few stand-outs. I particularly loved Colgate's tiny "Wisp" toothbrush, with its bead of embedded toothpaste. Perfect for going from the office to an evening event! Ideal for red-eye flights where you have to brush your teeth on a plane! Super cute!
Other winners in the program, which focuses on consumer packaged goods, were Pledge Multi Surface--a cleaner that works on both your dining room table and your flat screen TV , Nescafe Dolce Gusto--a nicely designed single serve coffee machine, Sprite Green--the first soda sweetened with Truvia, Cesar Treats--pet snacks flogged by the cutest dog to shill a product since the late, great Henry (R.I.P.) on the Beneful bag, Moser Roth chocolates--a premium chocolate at a reasonable price and Springfree trampolines--billed as the "world's safest trampoline." The winning trampoline team took the stage, jumping, as the Poynter Sisters blared "Jump" on the ballroom's sound system.
The point of the whole exercise, according to Walgreens chief Innovation officer Colin Watts, is to help consumers cut through the clutter on their supermarket shelves. "Think big, act small, scale fast," Watts implored the crowd, citing a mantra he had learned at Coca Cola. Walgreens isn't doing too badly on that count itself. Last year, it delivered 5.5 million flu shots in its stores--fully 5% of the U.S. total. It's now moving into chronic care management with free blood glucose screening. Walgreens may soon be your health care provider of first resort. But we digress...
Products of the Year earn the right to display their celebrity with the organization's red seal of approval. "It not only provides a distinguishing mark, but backs that mark with a one-two punch: chosen by other shoppers and 'new,' a powerful motivator of trial in a jaded market," says Herb Sorensen, the scientific advisor for TNS, the research firm that conducted the survey.
The Product of the Year survey, started 24 years ago in France, now operates in 28 countries. More than 100,000 American shoppers voted on the products topping this year's list. To qualify, a product had to demonstrate innovation, and have been launched in the prior year.
According to the folks at Product of the Year, the designation is a massive boost to a company's marketing efforts, increasing retail distribution and sales by an average of 10-15%.
This year's winners:
Hair Care--Pantene Pro-V Nature Fusion Shampoo and Conditioner from Procter & Gamble
Hair Color--Perfect 10 by Nice 'n Easy from Proctor & Gamble
Personal Care-- Secret Clinical Strength Waterproof from Proctor & Gamble
Laundry Products--Tide STain Release from Procter & Gamble
Carpet Care-- Resolve Deep Clean Powder by Reckitt Benckiser
Household Products--Glade Sense & Spray by S.C. Johnson & Son Inc.
Home Cleaning Products--Pledge Multi Surface by S.C. Johnson & Son Inc.
Coffee Systems--Nescafe Dolce Gusto by Nestle
Beverages--Sprite Green by the Coca Cola Company
Oral Care--Colgate Wisp by Colgate Palmolive Company
Personal Hygiene--Afrin PureSea by Schering-Plough Consumer Health care
Pet Food--Cesar Treats by MARS Petcare U.S.
Children's Products--Springfree Trampoline by Springfree Trampoline Inc.
Andre Kikoski, the architect behind The Wright, the newly-redesigned restaurant at the Guggenheim in New York, confessed that he was totally intimidated when he landed the commission for the project. Who wouldn't be? The very thought of designing a space that would fit into Frank Lloyd Wright's Fifth Avenue masterpiece would strike fear in the heart of any but the most arrogant or self-deluded.
But, after spending weeks of digging through research on Wright, and poring over the museum's archives, Kikoski and his team felt comfortable enough to begin. "Once I admitted my own terror, we all had a cathartic sigh and got the creative juices flowing. Once we embraced it, it became clear what we needed to do."
The result is a small but inviting space tucked in the museum's southeast corner that captures the spirit of Wright's iconic structure but isn't cowed by it. "We packed 100,000 square feet of ambition into 1,600 square feet of space," Kikoski says, over coffee in a cafe not far from his Tribeca office.
Kikoski, who has been nominated for a James Beard Foundation Awards for Outstanding Restaurant Design, and was named one of New York Magazine's "New Garde of Ten Designers," has a resume long on restaurant and residential design.
The project, which was begun after the recession was well underway, never had the luxury of a blockbuster budget. Still, Kikoski was determined to create a space that was both contemporary and complementary to Wright's design.
Critics have called the space "a gem within the Guggenheim," proving you can create a jewel even without a Trump-sized wallet.
Here's the skinny on the project:
Name of Restaurant: The Wright
Location: Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th St., New York
Date it opened: December, 2009
Chef and Cuisine: Rudolfo Contreras Modern American cuisine, inspired by the bold personality of Frank Lloyd Wright
Designer: Andre Kikoski
Design Brief: Create a first-ever addition to the iconic museum, and a restaurant that would be an appropriate space for fine dining and the viewing of art, including a site-specific piece for the permanent collection.
What went before: The space was a cafeteria, with carpeting over the terrazzo tiles, and a stainless steel cafe counter made by the company that manufacturers Sikorsky helicopters. "It curved in two directions and was so carefully wired that if you cut it wrong it would spring in both directions," Kikoski says.
Design Highlights: The sculpted, calibrated interior grew out of studies of the geometry that Wright used throughout the building. "We used Wright's geometry to create sculpted, torqued forms that sweep through the resturant and give it a place within the language of the museum and its iconic architecture, but are uniquely its own. It's both Wrightian and never something Wright could have done," Kikoski says.
Among the room's features are a curvilinear walnut wall layered with illuminated fiber-optics; a bar clad in a custom metalwork and topped in seamless white Corian; a blue leather banquette, and a layered white ceiling canopy. Kikoski designed the tables, chairs and barstools, and the football-shaped communal table, derived from a shape used throughout the building. That shape led to elements in the ceiling and banquette. "Everything radiated from it," Kikoski says.
Special features: Artist Liam Gillick's vividly colored extruded aluminum wall sculpture, "The Horizon," rims the room. Gillick and Kokoski worked closely to make sure that the art and architecture were in perfect harmony. "Our use of color was muted and restrained, while his is vibrant and audacious," says Kikoski. "We were both committed to the idea that this had to work like the museum, where the symbiosis of art and architecture exhibits perfect complementarity."
With a wall of windows overlooking Central Park, and cocktail tables by one of Zaha Hadid's pet designers, Robert--the restaurant atop the new Museum of Arts and Design--starts with both enviable design cred and a million dollar view.
The first serious restaurant by owners Brian Seltzer, whose day job is as an internist, and Michael Weinstein, chairman of Ark Restaurants, this venue is a tribute to Robert Isabell, Manhattan's top shelf wedding designer, who died last year. Pronunciation note to the pretentious: That's "Robert" as in the Duluth native Isabell was, not a Frenchified Ro-ber, as in The Colbert Report.
On Thursday through Saturday nights, the neon-hued space becomes a piano bar, attracting the crowd spilling out of Lincoln Center, up the street, and other party folk looking for a place to ogle the view, listen to music, and sip cocktails.
If Robert were on Facebook, here's what its profile page might look like:
Name: Robert
Location: Museum of Art and Design, 9th floor
2 Columbus Circle, New York
Opened: December 2009
Chef and Cuisine: Brady Duhane, formerly of Union Prime./American-Mediterranean
Design Brief: A curated environment of contemporary design and art, commissioned specifically for the restaurant, in keeping with its art-focused location
Previous Incarnation: When it was Huntington Hartford's Gallery of Modern Art, the 9th floor housed a Polynesian restaurant, The Gauguin Room. It was totally gutted when the building was renovated.
Design Challenges: The building's small footprint and lack of storage space made designing the small kitchen to be hyper-efficient even more critical.
Design Highlights: London-based designer Phiip Michael Wolfson, who worked with Zaha Hadid early in her career, and has since gone on to establish a thriving art furniture career of his own, designed the room's most dramatic furniture. The most striking pieces are a 15-foot sculptural steel Sound Wave communal table and a flock of brass and polished aluminum cocktail tables called Lollipop Variations--doubtless a reference to the famous lollipop windows on the Edward Durell Stone-designed original building.
Pink plexiglas mobiles in the center of the room, and orange plexiglas boxes on the periphery, all lit by LED lights, were designed by Johanna Grawunder. A large, flat-screen TV on the back wall features a flower-patterned video installation.
Philip Michael Wolfson designed an undulating communal table with a nod to Zaha Hadid's swoopy design vernacular.
Wolfson's cocktail tables have mirror-finished legs, which reflect the ceiling's neon for extra dazzle.
On the night of November 30, 2009, a mere four days after the first anniversary of the terrorist attack on Mumbai's Taj Majal Palace and Tower, hotel executives sat down for dinner at two of Taj's newly-reopened restaurants, the iconic Harbour Bar and its upstairs neighbor, Wasabi.
Despite the gala surroundings, it was a somber affair, befitting the tragedy that had played out in the hotel a year earlier, as four Punjabi terrorists rampaged through the rooms, killing guests and staff and setting fire to the jewel in the crown of the Taj Hotel empire. One hundred seventy two people died in attack on the city, which has been called India's 9/11; 141 of them were massacred in the train station, the streets, and a Jewish Center, and 31 in the four-day siege on the hotel.
But the restaurant's reopening was also an important symbolic gesture, both for a city whose confused response to the attack had been widely criticized and for Ratan Tata, the 72-year-old chairman of the Tata Group, which owns the hotel. Following the disaster, he vowed that the hotel and its restaurants would re-open in one year. "We will move forward and not look back," he told his staff.
"The amazing thing was, that the terrorists attacked architecture, and the Taj was using architecture as one of the elements to help the healing," says Diego Gronda, the creative and managing director of Rockwell Group's Madrid-based European office, which redesigned both the Harbour Bar and Wasabi, master chef Morimoto's Mumbai outpost, which was credited with first bringing Japanese cuisine to India.
The Harbour Bar, the first restaurant in India to secure a liquor license, was particularly damaged. According to London's Sunday Telegraph, the room had been the site of a gun battle between Indian commandos and the terrorists, and the walls were peppered with bullet marks and shrapnel from grenades. Wasabi had suffered extensive fire and smoke damage.
Days before the attack, New York-based Rockwell Group had been discussing a major master plan of the whole property. Gronda himself had been in town to present some aspects of the plan. But all that was put on hold in the face of the larger challenges before the hotel and its staff.
Instead, Gronda and his team raced to develop plans for the restoration of the two restaurants. Wasabi proved simple: "We presented our design and got approval in 15 minutes," Gronda says. But the Harbour Bar was another story. "Everybody in Mumbai had a partial vision of the bar," Gronda says.
Since it opened in 1933, hotel guests and Mumbai residents had celebrated significant occasions in the space. People fielded marriage proposals, toasted big business deals, and celebrated special events at its tables. Over the course of its history, the restaurant had had four separate incarnations--originally as a glam Art Deco performance space, with a piano, and most recently as a nautical bar, with diving bells as decor. Each era had its adherents, making consensus around a new design difficult.
"We did three different presentations, over the course of two and a half months," Gronda says. The Rockwell team solved the competing visions by sampling a bit of each. "We decided not to do a theme bar but to reinterpret all the elements within a contemporary look," he says, "with winks to the Art Deco era and others, all within the arches of this old Victorian building."
Dominating the space is a bar made from a huge chunk of marble from Udapur, which replaced the original wooden structure. Despite being new, looks as if it's been there forever, which was exactly the point.
On the walls are pieces both by Indian masters, and by their protégés, another deliberate nod to continuity. "We thought it was important to establish a sense of pride in India's heritage, as a way of continuing the symbolism of rebirth," Gronda says. The Harbour Bar now houses close to $1M in art.
The major overhaul also allowed the Rockwell Group to raise the level of the floor enough that guests could actually see the Gateway of India harbor, a feat not possible in the old space, despite its name.
The restoration of Wasabi was less emotionally fraught, but equally demanding. The restaurant, which is one floor above the Harbour Bar, and accessed from its entryway, had previously been reached via an ugly spiral staircase. Gronda replaced that with a dramatic red staircase, that looks like it had been crafted out of origami.
There's no signage, but Morimoto devotees will recognize that the road to the master's omakase begins with the route mapped by his signature color.
Upstairs, Gronda decided to take one smallish space in the room, in a turret in the corner, and turn it into a private dining room, as well as a dazzling beacon for the hotel. He installed an enormous bronze-clad domed lamp, that was forged in India, traveled to Denmark for further crafting, then on Poland for finishing, and hung it over a round table that seats eight. "It's the only point that you can see from the entrance to the hotel," he says. It's become signage for the hotel, and quickly established itself as the hottest table in town.
The ramped-up deadline was a special challenge, Gronda says, given the normal pace
of work in India, and the fact that the hotel's infrastructure
had to be repaired before designers could get access to the actual
space. Ultimately, they did much of the work off-site and then installed it over the course of two and a half months. People worked round the clock, he says, with some workers sleeping at the hotel so they wouldn't have to waste time traveling to their homes.
Plus, the pressure to make the restoration dazzling presented its own psychological hurdles. "They told us, 'Make us proud around the world,'" Gronda says. "'Make it an international venue.'"
Touring the premises a year later, Tata declared himself "pleased."
Last spring, as retail sales were tanking worldwide, the Italian design firm Alessi ramped up. On Wednesday, at its flagship Soho store in New York, the company announced that it would unveil three collections in 2010 instead of the usual two, so as to accommodate the firm's record number of products (see the collections in this slideshow).
From curvaceous mixing bowls, done in collaboration with the world's most renowned pastry chef, to a cunning bathroom trash can, conceived by one of the masters of Italian design, the spring collection offers an extraordinary marriage of form and function, as well as a resounding vote of optimism that the global economy is poised for a sharp rebound.
Asked about last year's sales, Silvano Guglielmazzi, from Alessi headquarters in Crucinallo, Italy, was candid: "Usually, when sales are bad in one region, they're better in another," he said, over cappuccino and pastries at the coffee bar in the front of the Greene St. shop. "But last spring, they came to a dead stop everywhere at once."
By contrast, by the fourth quarter, things were looking decidedly rosier, says Paolo Cravedi, director of Alessi's U.S. operations. "In December, business went like this," he said, describing a hockey stick-like trajectory with his arm. What's more, he says, even after Christmas, sales continued their brisk pace.
Marti Guixe, a Catalan designer, who created Alessi's Boulevard Raspail shop in Paris, was on hand at the preview to show off his new line for the company. One of the most charming items was a blank wall clock, that buyers can personalize with their own way of marking time. At the clock he created for the Soho shop, it was 10 after "Desire" when the meeting broke up.
One of the most intriguing items in the collections was the set of pastry tools by matali crasset and Legion of Honor winner Pierre Herme. The mixing bowl features a bright orange bump on its side, the better to cuddle while whisking. "You hold the bowl like this," Cravedi demonstrated, tucking the vessel in the crook of his arm. "The design is based on the carnal relationship chefs have with their bowls." Indeed!
Other stand-outs were a plastic cutlery set based on the design of Czechoslovakian fighter planes by Jan Kaplicky, a set of bamboo accessories by the Campana Brothers, and a collection of bathroom products--including the aforementioned trash can--by Piero Lissoni.
Take a look at the slideshow for a preview of the spring offerings.
Santiago Calatrava has often been called the most
lyrical of the current crop of starchitects. Today, the New York City
Ballet announced that it will give the Spaniard a chance to apply his
architectural and engineering skills to the most lyrical of the
performing arts.
NYCB's ballet master Peter Martins has invited Caltrava to design
several multi-functional stage sets for four world-premiere ballets
during the company's spring season, which begins on May 4. The sets are
expected to embody Calatrava's recurring themes of movement and flight,
an inspiration made visible in his work for the Milwaukee Art Museum,
whose roof sports two steel "wings" made of 36 fins that can open when
the wind off Lake Michigan isn't too stiff, and his design for the
transportation hub at the World Trade Center, whose spiky roofline was
inspired by the idea of a child releasing a dove.
By designing for the ballet, Calatrava joins an elite company of
architects. Philip Johnson was the only previous architect to be
invited to design for the ballet, and that was way back in 1981.
Fittingly, the ballet's season is centered around the theme of
"Architecture and Dance." It will feature seven world premiere ballets,
and four commissioned scores, all dedicated to Lincoln Center's 50th
anniversary. Architecture will be a theme outside the halls as well, as
the arts complex is nearing the completion of its multi-year rehab by
architectural firm Diller Scofidio and Renfro.
Calatrava's set designs will be the staging for ballets by Benjamin
Millepied, premiering May 22; Melissa Barak on June 5 (for whose ballet
fashion designer Gilles Mendel will create costumes), Mauro Bigonzetti,
premiering June 10; and Peter Martins, premiering on June 22. The
Martins work will be set to a commissioned score for violins by
Esa-Pekka Salonen, formerly of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and now
with the London Philharmonic.
Calatrava's sets will be built in a warehouse in Manhattan.
Ben Foss was a bright kid, but as a student, he struggled with
reading even the simplest text. Afflicted with severe dyslexia, he relied on
parents and tutors to read him his homework since the words on the page made
no sense to him. At Stanford, he managed to earn two advanced degrees by
laboriously scanning books and then running them through synthetic speech software
so he could comprehend the words.
As an adult, much of the content he wanted in professional
journals and magazines wasn't available in audio form.
So, when he was hired as a researcher at Intel, he vowed to make designing a
reading device one of his first priorities. At CES 2010, his brainchild, the
Intel Reader made its debut. "Feelings of loneliness are often the
experience of not being able to read easily," he says, based on years of trying. "We hope to open the doors for people who have dyslexia, blindness or other
reading-based disabilities."
The device, designed by Silicon Valley design shop, Lunar, for Intel's Digital Health Group, is about the size of a paperback book or a hand-held video game. It works by taking a picture of a page of text, then converting it to speech.
"It's designed around the ergonomics of reading," says Gretchen Anderson, director of interaction design, at Lunar. "It's purposefully not designed as a digital camera. You can use it with your elbows on the table, at the right height."
There are an estimated 55 million people with dyslexia, low vision or blindness, who find reading printed text difficult or impossible. In addition to students, the device is designed to be convenient for older people who find it hard to read restaurant menus or mail, and it has clever tactile cues, such a corner cut off like a dog eared book and buttons distinguishable by feel and location, to help the blind orient themselves.
A portable capture station allows users to scan larger amounts of text, such as complete books or journals. They can be saved, much as one would with an ebook, for listening later. The device comes with earphones for listening privately, in the car, or in class, and files can also be
exported to MP3 players.
The device has been endorsed by the International Dyslexia Association and will be available for about $1,500 through CTL, Don Johnston Incorporated, GTSI, Howard Technology Solutions and HumanWare. The capture station costs an extra $400.
"At CES, we see people who love their iPhones," says Lunar's director of engineering, Robert Howard. "When Intel demo-ed this, people who have dyslexia could see their futures change when watching the device. It's truly a transformative device for people who haven't had a lot of transformation in their lives."
Raise your hand if "Get a New Job" is at the top of your list of New Year's resolutions. Whether you're currently "spending more time with your family," or toughing out another year in a company you would have surely fled in a better economy, you're probably wondering what you can do in 2010 to improve your chances in a brutal market.
Nick Corcodilos, aka the "Ask the Headhunter" guy, recently published a new book chock full of tips for the thorniest of job-hunting problems: "How Do I Change Careers?"
Unlike job hunters roaming the turf of a familiar industry, career changers face even more daunting hurdles. They typically don't have a network of industry friends, they don't have a resume stuffed with industry-specific accomplishments, and they often face the dismal prospect of having to jog down a few notches in the corporate hierarchy to make up for lack of experience.
If those hurdles aren't enough, they're often going about the process in all the wrong ways, says Corcodilos. "They're all victims of brainwashing about what it means to look for a job," he says. "The current wisdom says to crank up your network, polish your resume and get it out there. It's all oriented to having you get your documents out there, in the hope that somebody will figure out what to do with you."
That's all wrong, Corcodilos says. Instead, job seekers should practice reverse psychology. Enough about you! What about the person who needs to fill the job?
"The notion of building your personal brand is pure bunk," he says. It's a narcissistic view of how you get ahead. It's about feeling the employer's pain. If you want to pull off a career change, you need to give hiring managers a specific business plan as to why they should allow you into the organization."
Here is Nick's radical plan for devising a more fruitful job search.
Step 1: Give yourself the freedom to explore. Forget that you're looking for a job. First, you have to figure out where you want to go. We're talking "blue sky" here. So head to the library, an old school but shockingly useful treasure trove of helpful information. Forget the Internet. Too focused, too virtual. Right now, you need to roam the periodicals section, allowing yourself the luxury of following wherever your interest takes you. After you're done reading In Touch and Rolling Stone, sidle on over to the trade publications and start nosing around. Gather up a few publications that interest you, and see if you can find any patterns. Jot down notes on stories that generate a spark. Start drilling down into specific companies, taking notes on their business prospects, their revenue, their problems, their successes. And start taking names. The people mentioned in stories about a company are typically their movers and shakers. You'll need them for Step 2.
Step 2: Armed with information about four or five--no more!--companies where you think you would enjoy working, pick up the phone or ferret out an email to get in touch with the people on your list. Don't ask for an informational interview! They'll drop you like a hot potato! Instead, come up with some thought-provoking question that might inspire the person on the other end of your missive to engage. Ask them what they're reading these days that influences their work, ask about an industry issue. The point is to establish a connection, get a little more information, and see if this industry is actually one that would be a good fit.
Step 3: Simultaneously, you should be figuring out how to meet more people in the industry you've targeted. What are the events, training programs, blogs, online communities, and organizations that attract these folks? If you can connect with some of them via friends, all the better. Just remember: The key is to talk shop with them not belabor them with your career aspirations. Ask for advice and insight--not job leads.
Step 4: If, after all this researching and chatting, you're still keen on the new industry, you need to figure out how your current skills map to a future employer's needs. Figure out the work function you're most interested in and the skills it requires. What are you missing? Do you need more education or training? Is that a deal breaker? You may have to trade income and status for a chance to learn the ropes.
Step 5: If you're now as up-to-speed as you're ever likely to be, it's time to get serious. With a grasp of the problems and challenges your prospective employer is facing, you're now ready to draft a business plan for the job you want. This doesn't have to be too detailed. You're not expected to know the nitty gritty of the company's balance sheet. The goal is to demonstrate you've been thinking about THAT COMPANY's specific problems, and what you could do to help them.
Step 6: Using the contacts you've developed, try to find a manager who might hear you out. This is NOT about answering a posted job listing. This is about all those jobs that never get posted--or don't even exist until you've shown that they should create a job just for you.
Step 7: Now, for the tricky part. Let's say you've impressed the hiring manager with your creativity and pluck. but you still don't have the background that the other folks on his or her team have. Time to negotiate! Point out your relevant skills and suggest that if you meet a certain number of milestones toward new skills in a certain amount of time, you can revisit the compensation question. Changing careers often incurs costs, but you should treat it as an investment.
The market is admittedly tough, Corcodilos concedes, but "good companies are still looking for good people who can help them make a profit." Why shouldn't it be you?
Winners will be honored at this year's IDSA international conference, to be held from August 5 to 7 in Portland, Oregon. 
But revelers celebrating the 20th annual "Product of the Year" awards were pretty pumped anyway. And why not? I was certainly enthusiastic, given that my witty cocktail repartee was enhanced by the Cinnaminty scent of my breath, thanks to one of the winners. 
Other winners in the program, which focuses on consumer packaged goods, were Pledge Multi Surface--a cleaner that works on both your dining room table and your flat screen TV , Nescafe Dolce Gusto--a nicely designed single serve coffee machine, Sprite Green--the first soda sweetened with Truvia, Cesar Treats--pet snacks flogged by the cutest dog to shill a product since the late, great Henry (R.I.P.) on the Beneful bag, Moser Roth chocolates--a premium chocolate at a reasonable price and Springfree trampolines--billed as the "world's safest trampoline." The winning trampoline team took the stage, jumping, as the Poynter Sisters blared "Jump" on the ballroom's sound system.
On the night of November 30, 2009, a mere four days after the first anniversary of the terrorist attack on Mumbai's Taj Majal Palace and Tower, hotel executives sat down for dinner at two of Taj's newly-reopened restaurants, the iconic Harbour Bar and its upstairs neighbor, Wasabi.
There's no signage, but Morimoto devotees will recognize that the road to the master's omakase begins with the route mapped by his signature color. 
Marti Guixe, a Catalan designer, who created Alessi's Boulevard Raspail shop in Paris, was on hand at the preview to show off his new line for the company. One of the most charming items was a blank wall clock, that buyers can personalize with their own way of marking time. At the clock he created for the Soho shop, it was 10 after "Desire" when the meeting broke up. 
Unlike job hunters roaming the turf of a familiar industry, career changers face even more daunting hurdles. They typically don't have a network of industry friends, they don't have a resume stuffed with industry-specific accomplishments, and they often face the dismal prospect of having to jog down a few notches in the corporate hierarchy to make up for lack of experience.
