REMORANDOM Everything Interesting

To mark the launch of REMORANDOM 6 Remo is joined for this episode by his wife Melanie (aka Darling). REMORANDOM 6 is the penultimate volume in the rainbow series of seven; and Melanie has agreed, on short notice, to give us her impressions and identify her top 12 chapters from the new book. About REMORANDOM REMORANDOM is a printed biannual book series that celebrates Uncommon knowledge and everyt...

Remo’s guest for this episode of the REMORANDOM video podcast is Berliner Erik Spiekermann. Erik is an internationally renowned designer, typographer, type designer, entrepreneur and author. Some of his typefaces, e.g. FF Meta (the REMO typeface since 2008) and ITC Officina, are considered modern classics. In the early days of the internet, he set new standards for the global online distribution o...

In this episode Remo and Claudia are joined by Sydney-based design thinker James De Vries in a chat about communications design – and how, despite the ever-evolving media landscape, it all ultimately comes down to the art and craft of storytelling. James has had a lot of experience designing a range of newspapers and magazines both in Australia and Asia. He also worked at Harvard Business Review f...

Remo’s special guest for this episode of the REMORANDOM video podcast is Bob Mankoff. Bob was the cartoon editor for The New Yorker magazine for nearly twenty years, and before that he was a New Yorker cartoonist for another twenty years. Today, as president of cartoonstock.com , the world’s largest archive of single-panel cartoons, he continues pushing the boundaries of AI humour comprehension an...

Welcome to the special Chinese New Year episode of REMORANDOM. It’s the Year of the Horse. Here’s what we chatted about: Have you heard of Kowloon Walled City? Up until the 1980s, over 50,000 people lived inside a space of just 2.6 hectares, making it the most densely populated place on earth. It’s an interesting story. 📍 US President Trump loves putting his name on things. No monument is safe. N...

Remo’s special guest for this episode of the REMORANDOM video podcast is Kim Hastreiter, someone that he’s known for over 40 years. Kim is one-of-a-kind. A New York based editor, publisher, writer, artist, creative director, curator, connector and big ideas person, she is probably best known for co-founding the highly-revered and very cool PAPER magazine (the OG influencers) with David Hershkovits...

If you are of a certain age, you will be well aware of a home exercise contraption called the bull worker. How did it work and how did it become so famous? 📍 Behind the sturdy North American Adirondack chair lurks a history of design, theft, and sickly disease. We’ll tell you these stories. 📍 When your GDA needs a backup, there’s always the hanky code, the secret signalling system used by gay me...

Game changer has become an overused turn of phrase, but few would argue that it doesn’t apply to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band , a groundbreaking album released by T he Beatles in 1967. 📍 A charm of finches, a business of ferrets, a paddling of ducks, a kindle of kittens, and yes, even a barrel of monkeys. These collective words are called “nouns of assembly”, and we’ll explore their orig...

In this special episode of the REMORANDOM video podcast, Remo gets to chat with longtime friend and hyper-inventive Parisian designer François Scali about about his early career in Paris; his pivot to furniture, lighting and object design with “Nemo” in partnership with Alain Domingo in the early 1980s; his big break at the Pompidou Centre with the “Genitron” and its celebration of the Year 2000;...

Shortly after 8:00 AM on the morning of the 7th of August, 1974, something happened in New York City that has been called the artistic crime of the century. What was it? 📍 The original Birkin bag was sold by Sotheby's at auction not so long ago for over US$10 million. Who was Birkin and why the big fuss over her handbag? 📍 Listeners with kids will know all about The Elf on a Shelf. Unlike th...

The idea for L’Inconnue de la Seine [RR3:40] was contributed by Amsterdam-based Australian writer Matthew Curlewis. In this episode I speak with Matthew about that story of mystery, myth and invention. We also do some reminiscing about 20th century REMO (Matthew worked there briefly), and we finish with an interesting chat about the impact of AI on creative writing. Matthew is involved in some coo...

In this episode of the REMORANDOM video podcast, Remo chats with his wife (34 years and counting) Melanie, joining him from the kitchen in the same apartment. Melanie is the source of many ideas that are given life as REMORANDOM chapters. In this chatty husband and wife exchange, she talks about a few of them: Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board [RR2:42], Pebbling [RR4:54], The Smell of Rain [RR2...

  Gold Makes Blind is a bangle made from black rubber and gold, although you can’t actually see the gold. The thing about gold makes blind is that you are asked to believe . We’ll explain. 📍 The iconic Lockheed Lounge by Australian designer, Marc Newson was created in 1985 and retains its title as the world’s most expensive design object. What’s the story there? 📍 Three finger salute, but which...

Duct tape’s widespread popularity and multitude of uses has earned it a strong place in the popular culture. Who invented it and why? 📍 Go big or go home. So the expression goes, and Australia has certainly taken this to heart. We’ll be talking about some of our favourite Australian Big Things. 📍 Russian and Turkish Baths on 10th Street in New York City is still the best place to get hot and wet...

Remo chats with long time friend of REMO and REMORANDOM supporter Nigel Marsh about three of the ideas that he has contributed to the book series: The Shipping Forecast [RR3:74], Christian Crosses [RR4:19] and Parkrun [RR5:55]. Nigel is an interesting bloke. From leading global ad agencies here in Australia to launching worldwide movements such as Earth Hour – Nigel's career bridges boardrooms...

  📍 The Guinness Book of Records was a promotional stunt that became an international phenomenon. It all started with a thousand freebies left on tables in pubs.📍 In 1859, Thomas Austin of Barwon Park in Victoria released 24 wild rabbits from England for hunting. The rest is history. We'll explain why. 📍 Fraktur is surely the world's most emotionally loaded type font. It's been called the Nazi...

In this special edition episode of the REMORANDOM video podcast – Remo, freshly excited by the recent arrival in Sydney of advance copies of REMORANDOM 5, walks us through the process that was involved in bringing this latest volume to life. (His wife Melanie assures him that it is not boring.) About REMORANDOM REMORANDOM is a printed biannual book series that celebrates Uncommon knowledge and eve...

The Hindenburg disaster was one of the 20th century's most famous. Why did we ever think that a giant balloon filled with highly flammable hydrogen was a good way to move lots of people great distances across oceans?📍 The Shaka sign is a hand gesture that's usually associated with Hawaii and surf culture. Do you know what it means? 📍 There's an online meme that you would've seen....

How many people do you need in a room before it becomes, more likely than not, that the two of them share a birthday? Surprisingly few, as it happens. We'll explain why.📍 Iconic images of Ned Kelly's armour have become part of Australian folklore, but who made the armour and how?📍 Clouds get a bad rap in our society. The then-now-20-year-old Cloud Appreciation Society is dedicated to cou...

Alberto Alessi once called the "Juicy Salif", a citrus juicer designed by Philippe Starck, “the most controversial lemon juicer of the century”. Why was that? 📍 Canada has what’s referred to as a “Maple Syrup Reserve”. It’s also been called the “Fort Knox of Maple Syrup”. We’ll explain. 📍 The enduring popularity of "stripey things" is something that has been very relevant for...

Even if you're not familiar with the term “cheese pull” – you've definitely seen more than one of them. It's an old trick. We'll explain.📍 Rolling luggage is a mysteriously recent invention. Why did something so obvious take so long to come to our rescue? 📍 The scorpion and the frog is a fable that purports to teach us a lesson about the inevitability of human nature. What happen...

 Remember the Aeron Chair during the tech boom of the late 1990s? It's hard to think of a piece of furniture that has been so closely associated with a particular period in time. Marilyn Monroe once declared to a reporter that she wore nothing to bed other than a few drops of Chanel No.5. Why was this perfume such a phenomenon? How does one animal manage to kill an astonishing 436 people? The...

Whatever happened to death by quicksand? For a while there the culture was obsessed with quicksand, but it’s gone off the boil. We will explore. 📍 Once you look at Girl with a Pearl Earring, you can't take your eyes off her. There a reason for that, and it has much to do with brain science. 📍 Who was Fosbury … and what’s the Fosbury Flop? 📍 And finally in this episode, we introduce you to t...

Canary in the coal mine is not just an overused metaphor. It really was a thing. We'll explain what that was about. 📍 Gumby, the famous green claymation character with the triangular head has a connection to avant-garde filmmaking. What's that back story?  📍 And what about Angostura Bitters? The label is too big for the bottle. How did that happen?  📍 And finally, in this episode, we ta...

📍Who invented the mosquito coil, and what is it actually made of? 📍 There is a fantasy coffin tradition in Ghana. Don’t know what we’re talking about? We’ll explain. 📍 These days it’s an open secret that professional wrestlers are just faking it. There’s actually a special word for that. We’ll let you in on the secret. 📍 And finally in this episode, we look at the origin of the word Serendipit...