Not sure if Bansky has hit Berlin or not really, but now you have a better chance of finding out. Adidas has created an iPhone app that acts as map and guide for locating street art in Berlin. So, if you’re tired of yet another museum or monument, take to the street gallery with the Urban Art Guide. Backpacking ain’t what it used to be.

It’s been almost a year since the first and only time I’ve been to La Habana, Cuba and since then the country has moved even further away from the isolationist history (imposed or voluntary) of the last 50 years towards globalization with the rest of the world. One of the things that left a lasting impression on me was just how little things had changed in Cuba since 1959 compared with the rest of the world.

Peter Moruzzi, an architectural historian by trade, has published a book examining Cuban life in Havana prior to the rise of Castro. In his words…

This book explores Havana from the perspective of an American tourist visiting the city during the first half of the 20th century and, many decades later, as a 21st century visitor intent on rediscovering the city’s astonishing past.

Included in the book are a great display of “before and after” photos worthy of a look. The book also reminds me of a great trip I took a year ago and somewhere I need to go back to visit. (pics from my trip on flickr)

Having just returned from HOW Design Conference, I have a hundred stories and many photos to share about the last five days in friendly Boston. But before I do that (and to buy me a little bit of time to get organized), let me just post this photo of a fake mustache (synthetic! Eww!) and tell you about the most important reason anyone should go to a professional conference. Not the workshops, not the inspiring talks, not the networking lunches, not the studio tours, not the vendor trade show, not exploring a new city, not even the partying.

The best reason to go to a conference like HOW is the potential that you’ll meet a very cool person who you should really know. Someone you soon discover is really rather like you—imagine that! A designer meeting a like-minded designer? At a design conference? No way!

And this has to do with a fake mustache…how? Well, here’s what happened. At the end of the first day of the conference I exchanged cards with some interesting folks—one of whom became an instant friend. It didn’t take long for our new friend to admit she had slipped into the local costume store and bought fake mustaches of all shapes and insisted we wear them out (I went with “The Rogue” obviously). Which we did of course. To the opening keynote. To dinner. To drinks. To a local jazz club. We’d have worn them all night had the sweat and laughter not caused them to eventually fall off.

Did I mention this new friend and the others in our group were girls? Yup. Two Canadian dudes wandering the streets of Boston until dawn (in search of breakfast of course) with three of the coolest mustachioed girls you’d ever meet. We looked like a bunch of freaks escaped from Barnum & Bailey.

(Gotta love the graphic design on the mustache packaging by the way. Like we need instructions to remove the staple first? Oh wait, maybe they’d analyzed their audience and knew there’d be drinking involved.)

It’s common knowledge (among those who know me) that I love Cuba. My wife and I were married there. I may not entirely agree with their politics, but the Cuban people are amazing—perhaps the warmest and most enjoyable culture I’ve encountered in my travels. To visit Havana is an adventure in history, politics, architecture, music, food, drinks and language. If you haven’t been, go.

In the past few years, my role with GDC has happily collided with my love of Cuba, first with the sold out Colours of Cuba holiday fiesta party we hosted in 2005, then the Shared Dreams Cuban design exhibit we were able to bring to Vancouver in 2006. Now, I am again fortunate to be able to travel back to Cuba as part of a small delegation of GDC designers to the Icograda World Design Congress being hosted in Havana October 20–26, 2007. We’re also bringing with us two deserving young GDC student members selected from an impressive field of entries to expose these young designers not only to the diverse Cuban design scene, but to the international design landscape early in their career.

A GDC colleague of mine, Robert Peters of Winnipeg’s Circle Design, is also a fan of Cuba and has made numerous trips there, studying their culture and design community. He recently published a wonderful and well-researched article in Communication Arts called Cuba Si! about life, history and politics on the embargoed archipelago and their impact on the design community. Peters himself is an inspirational Canadian design leader—there’s a great interview with Robert Peters on NetDiver if you’d like to learn more about his personal history and perspectives.

I prefer to prepare for travel by reading fiction set in or about the places I intend to go, but aside from travel reference material, have never used texts of the non-fiction variety. Having just returned from my trip to France, I just got the latest DWR newsletter from DWR Founder Rob Forbes in which he chronicles his own recent France holiday. Rob questioned the contrast between the ornate chateaus and the surrounding utilitarian architecture and sought to investigate the notion of simplicity in design by applying John Maeda’s The Laws of Simplicity to his own France observations. A very interesting read and a great way to inject a new perspective on your travels.

That was the mantra of Airstream founder Wally Byam, but in 2000 architect-designer Chris Deam gutted a vintage trailer to create a booth for the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. Turns out DWR, purveyor of iconic furniture, liked it so much they now offer a special DWR version of this Airstream, only $49,066 USD. Divided by the three times a year I get camping, that’s only about $16,000 a trip for me. But for those whose aesthetic sensibilities are disturbed by today’s space-agey dome tents, maybe it’s worth it.

Recently while in France I did a double take when I saw an ad for Nespresso featuring George Clooney. Stars selling their image (souls) out for big bucks in markets other than North America is nothing new, but I thought this one was so very similar to the scenario depicted in the movie Lost in Translation with Bill Murray I could almost see good old George suffering from insomnia in his luxury Paris hotel between photo shoots!

Check out the ad compared to a still from the movie: