Ubaldo Vitali doesn't neatly fit into our current crop of 'Next Listers' who are on the cutting edge of technology. He doesn't program robots or create interactive art. In fact the machinery and techniques he employs are centuries old.
Vitali is a master artisan – an alchemist. In layman terms, a silversmith. And his artistic output is split into two categories: uniquely contemporary creations and conservational restoration.
Vitali was born in Rome, Italy in 1944. He's part of a family of goldsmiths, reaching back four generations. While studying sculpture at an Italian college, he fell in love with an American girl and followed her back to New Jersey. Since then he hasn't left New Jersey and set up his workshop in the small town of Maplewood. Though an ocean away from his family, he's managed to create unparalleled works that have been recognized by American conservationists.
"He represents a moment in American craft history that's past, and yet he represents a standard that I hope just yet won't evaporate," said Ulysses Dietz, the Newark Museum Curator of Decorative Arts.
The pieces Vitali creates are breathtakingly beautiful, each containing a consciousness of the old world wrapped within contemporary modernist designs.
In 2011, Vitali received a phone call from the MacArthur Genius Grant committee with news that he was being honored with their top award. A prestigious honor in which the recipient receives $500,000 with no strings attached to continue their work.
"The committee who chooses the MacArthur Grant [recipients] look for people who are doing innovative research or looking at things in a new way, and pushing the field forward," said Janet Zapata, a former Tiffany & Co. archivist. "To me Ubaldo is one of the foremost silversmiths in this country, if not in the world."
The Next List is proud to present our profile of this kind soul and wonderful craftsman – Ubaldo Vitali.
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It’s easy to see that Bjarke Ingels is creative and passionate about architecture. His designs are amazing and his ideas are breath taking.
Ingels is a “Next Lister” because his vision and his approach to design are changing the way we think about the world as it is.
To Ingels, buildings are more than just monuments. They are part of an ever evolving landscape. Each one is a unique challenge with problems to solve but also an opportunity to add value or beauty to lives of the people who will live in them or work in them every day.
He tackles the challenge with intelligence, intensity, humor and heart. Bjarke Ingels has big ideas about the future of architecture and isn’t afraid to pursue them. But he’s an agent of change because he is challenging us to re-think what architecture can do for society and re-imagine the world as it could be...a little bit more like our dreams.
Take a look at our profile of Bjarke Ingels, another great agent of change.
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This week on The Next List we're featuring a fourth generation master silversmith and recent recipient of a MacArthur genius grant (half a million dollars!) - Ubaldo Vitali.
Ubaldo is on The Next List as an "agent of change" because, in a world where the speed is stuck on run – he's teaching us to stop, listen, and look at unparalleled pieces of art. As new technology permeates our daily lives, Ubaldo Vitali is working hard to push forward a centuries old practice while emphasizing interaction with "real objects."
Tune into CNN Sunday at 2 P.M. E.T. to see the full profile of Ubaldo Vitali.
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By Mark Milian, CNN
New York (CNN) – That a popular video-sharing website is retooling its layout to highlight, of all things, the video on each page seems like a head-slapping idea.
But that's exactly what's happening at Vimeo, an online video site with an artsy fan base.
Vimeo, which is owned by Web media giant InterActiveCorp, began welcoming some subscribers and nonpaying users to a test version of its new site Tuesday morning. The website is painted in pastels, with large fonts and videos.
The revision was conceived of in 2009, the company said, and development has been going on for more than a year, Vimeo CEO Dae Mellencamp said in a recent interview here at the company's headquarters. FULL POST
His enthusiasm for the ukulele is infectious. His mastery of the instrument is jaw-dropping. Hawaii-born Jake Shimabukuro was chosen to be our first musical "Next Lister" – not only for his virtuosity on the four-stringed instrument but also for fundamentally altering how the instrument is perceived by millions of people.
You don't have to look too far to see that the ukulele's popularity is on the rise. Underground ukulele clubs are popping up. Bands are being formed. Even celebrities like Warren Buffet, Eddie Veder and Francis For Coppola have found solace in the ukulele's simplicity. A quick search for 'ukulele' on Youtube will yield tens of thousands of creative covers and original diddies that inspire and delight. Search 'Jake Shimabukuro' and you'll find that several of his videos have been viewed by millions – a testament to his skill and popularity.
Shimabukuro truly believes the 'uke' is an instrument of peace, hence the title of his new album: "Peace, Love, Ukelele." And, indeed, Shimabukuro's amiability personifies the album's credo (although, his quick and volatile hands while rapidly strumming his uke seem anything but peaceful).
Shimabukuro's approach to songs on the ukulele often shatter convention. There's an unexpected sophistication that defies the instrument's perceived limitations. His musical palette is eclectic – encompassing rock, jazz, old 'uke' standards, and covers of songs no one would ever think to play.
Watch The Next List's profile of Jake Shimabukuro, and you'll see why he's another one of our agents of change.
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By Mark Milian, CNN
(CNN) - Of all the digital bells and whistles that Comcast put into its next-generation cable box, executives were surprised about one hum-drum feature that was most popular during testing.
"They love being able to check the weather," Tom Blaxland, a senior director for the company's Xfinity TV digital platform, said in a recent interview. "That's actually the most popular app we have."
"They say it's amazing," he added. FULL POST
By John D. Sutter, CNN
(CNN) - With all the buzz about SOPA and PIPA you may have missed another important acronym: OPEN.
The OPEN Act is being touted by its sponsor as the moderate alternative to those other two anti-piracy bills, which are causing all kinds of controversy in U.S. Congress and on the Internet. Sites from Wikipedia to Google and - you're on the Internet, you've already seen all this - were protesting those other two bills by blacking out or altering their sites on Wednesday.
The reason I bring up the OPEN Act is not because it's a stellar piece of legislation. It may or may not be. But what it definitely represents is a new way of thinking about the legislative process - a Wiki-ed out, crowdsourced, digitized version of bill writing. FULL POST
Everyone knows the host of CNN's The Next List, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is a multi-talented individual. He's a neurosurgeon, a television show host, an author and scuba diver. But now you can pencil in 'fire eater.' Yes, you read it correctly, fire eater.
Out in L.A. filming a profile on the highly creative artist collective Syyn Labs Dr. Gupta had the opportunity of sampling a fiery feast presented to him by Eric Gradman, a lead engineer. Hardly a stranger to extreme challenges Dr. Gupta took to fire eating like an pro, extinguishing the flames in a single gulp.
Stay tuned to CNN's The Next List, airing Sundays at 2 P.M. E.T. on CNN, to see more with Dr. Sanjay Gupta. And coming soon we'll have an extraordinary show on the eclectic bunch who make up Syyn Labs.
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By The Next List staff, CNN
(CNN) - This week on "The Next List" we're featuring a rising star in the world of architecture – Bjarke Ingels. His bold, innovative ideas are pushing the boundaries of design around the globe – from his native Denmark to Asia and now the Manhattan skyline and beyond.
For Ingels, architecture is the marriage of a fantastic, utopian vision with a detailed approach to design.He's not just dreaming up pie-in-the-sky projects. He's building them.
To Ingels, though, what's most important is to work from the heart. Architecture is not about building monuments but contributing to society and creating possibilities for human life, he says.
Tune to CNN Sunday at 2 p.m. ET to see the full profile of Bjarke Ingels.
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By John D. Sutter, CNN
(CNN) - Got a question? A new Q&A site called Beepl already knew that.
Well, kinda.
Not only will the site give you an answer to the question that's on your mind, it claims to know what types of questions you're likely to ask before you ever type them into the site's question-answer interface.
"Beepl ... understands the topics that questions relate to and users’ interests and expertise so that questions automatically reach the best people to answer them," the company said in a blog post on Monday, as the site went live to the public after three months of private trials. "It achieves this by employing natural language processing and machine learning to create a real-time network of experts in which questions are re-routed and matched to the most relevant users, marking Beepl out from similar Q&A sites." FULL POST
Each week, CNN's "The Next List" profiles innovators, visionaries and agents of change. They’re not household names just yet, but they’re movers and shakers in their own worlds. We’re introducing them to you because these individuals are steadily mapping the course to the future with their new ideas.
WHO: Host Dr. Sanjay Gupta
WHEN: Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. ET - All new time!
WHERE: Only on CNN
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