Abject Object, the Los Angeles chapter’s project, is making progress and continues to meet weekly to work with the Downtown Women’s Center on the design and production of four textile-based products. The four prototypes in development are all wearable garments that can be used as something else - the Hood Bag, Sandal Rug, Hammock Wrap, and Pocket Scarf. The chapter continues to explore how the construction might be simplified and optimized to incorporate desirable skills such as sewing, weaving, knitting, and crocheting.

Abject Object, will assist the homeless individuals in Los Angeles in finding healthy, creative, and educational ways to move towards self sufficiency. Working directly with the Downtown Women’s Center and members of the homeless community as co-designers, the chapter design team will collaboratively develop and produce functionally simple, easily made objects from inexpensive, recycled or readily accessible materials.

Moving from a “hand out” to a “hands on” model of rehabilitation that can easily be adopted by other organizations or in other cities, the project offers opportunities for the homeless to acquire lasting skills, positive leadership experience, and prospects for self-sustaining economic growth by selling products back to local communities.

**Chapter meetings are held Sunday afternoons, from 2-3 in Culver City or Hollywood. Email Kim Karlsrud, LA Chapter Head at kim (at) projecthdesign (dot) com to join the chapter or for more details.

Sandal Rug

(More images via Flickr here)

Want to wear your design activism on your… well, bumper? Need a great holiday gift idea for the humanitarian/designer in your life? Get your Project H “design can change the world” bumper stickers (T-shirts and greeting cards too!) from our Project H Cafe Press store. Buy one, ten, twenty, or fifty (discounts for bulk purchases).

BUY PROJECT H SCHWAG NOW >>>>

“Match Me” game user testing at Providence YWCA

After a few months of hard work from our talented design team, here’s the latest on the Design For Education project:

— Our concept in development is a “learning landscape” based on a grid of tires (sketch below) to be constructed as a playground and framework for math learning at the Kutamba school in Uganda in January 2009. The grid of tires allows for both a playspace, outdoor classroom, and a flexible system for math games which can be adapted, scaled, and added to over time.

— Four initial games have been designed to teach basic addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication: “Match Me,” “Math Musical Chairs,” “Which One Is Missing?,” and “Around The World.” These games were tested at a “playdate” with designers at Pratt in New York, and at the YWCA in Providence, RI with children ages 6-11 (above). The feedback has helped us to tweak and edit the game rules.

— This week we say goodbye to Project H intern extraordinare and Design For Education lead designer Heleen De Goey, who is returning to Eindhoven, Holland. We have loved having her talent, humor, and expertise and will miss her terribly! Heleen will continue to be involved in the project and will travel to Uganda in January to facilitate the construction and in-classroom implementation of the math games.

— We would like to thank all who have helped us with feedback, educational expertise, and various other contributions over the past few months. Special thanks to Rob and Carol Auld and Jackson Kaguri from the Nyaka Foundation, Matt Miller of Architecture for Humanity, Andrea Livengood from the Kentfield School District, Sayuri Stabrowski from KIPP Infinity, the Pratt School of Design, Ideablob, and Advanta.

More updates to come, and check out our Design For Education Flickr feed for more photo documentation.

Project H’s New York chapter is designing educational math toys for developing and US retail markets, based on the Kutamba AIDS Orphans School in Uganda (an Architecture for Humanity building).

AND WE JUST WON $10,000 from IDEABLOB! Their monthly contest awards $10K to the best small business idea, and Project H is the September winner. Thanks to all who voted for the project! Read the press release via Ideablob here.

Our design team consists of Heleen de Goey from Eindhoven, Holland (she just arrived September 1 and hit the ground running), Dan Grossman and Kristina Drury, New York Chapter Heads, Neha Thatte, and a team of Pratt Design Management graduate students whose strategy expertise we’re lucky to have!

More about the project: Project H worked in collaboration with Architecture for Humanity earlier this year at the Kutamba AIDS Orphans School (sister school to the Nyaka School, also in Southern Uganda and funded by the same organization, gathering case study research regarding the education system, in-classroom needs, curricula, etc. The design team will develop a locally-produced version of the math toy for Kutamba with broader distribution in the developing world, in addition to a sister US retail version based on the same system. View photos of the Kutamba school case study here.

STAY TUNED IN THE COMING WEEKS FOR PROJECT UPDATES, PHOTOS, AND MORE.

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Following our fund-and-deliver Hippo Roller trip to South Africa, the new San Francisco chapter of Project H is taking the reins and re-designing the Hippo Roller for improved shipping efficiency for wider distribution and a lower price point. In partnership with the Appropriate Technologies Design Team/Engineers Without Borders, we’ll work with Hippo Roller to find design and engineering opportunities that will make the Hippo Roller more widely manufacturable, less expensive, and potentially more functional with additional attachments.

If you’re interested in joining the Project H San Francisco chapter, we want your design expertise! Come to our next meeting if you’re interested- please email Ryan Duke, SF Chapter Head, for details: ryan@projecthdesign.com.

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Watch Emily Pilloton’s lecture at this past May’s Metropolis Magazine’s “Make Good and Prosper” conference at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York. Emily discusses her recent projects and travels to South Africa and Uganda, Project H’s humanitarian design mission, and the Project H “anti-manifesto,” published on Core77, which serves as a call-to-action for product designers to “stop talking big and start doing good.”

VIEW THE FULL VIDEO VIA SCRIBEMEDIA HERE>>>