Masters of Design

ETHICAL STATEMENT: TRANSFORM

Nathan P. — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:24:04 +0000

The Embodying Ethics series from Rohan Chhabra is swell – objects that transform/can be modified into representations of the raw material or source of the object. Particularly intense: the leather trouser that transforms into a cow leg.

Cow Leather Trouser

There’s slick videos at the website showing the transformations.

Evan Lewis Demonstrates Power Hammer

Asenath — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:08:44 +0000

It was far more awesome than I was able to capture on my crappy little camera…

8-Point Handtie

Asenath — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 18:08:13 +0000

During a tour of Interior Crafts, we got to see a lot of the behind the scenes work that goes into upholstering. This clip shows a worker doing an 8-point handtie. Each spring is tied at 8 different points. Tying the springs together allows weight to be distributed more evenly, and helps prevent sagging in the cushions over time.

Apparently, before recession cutbacks, they used to have a whole line of workers doing the knots, and they’d all compete to see who could work the fastest. After seeing this one guy do it, I can’t even imagine how impressive a bunch of guys racing each other would be…

(Sorry about the resolution. I didn’t wanna wait 46 minutes for the original file to upload. So I exported it and took the smallest of 3 files. I’ll try to put up a better quality one soon. <3 )

It’s Recyclable AND Biodegradable

Nathan P. — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 14:26:05 +0000

Eco Paper Party Plates made of bamboo and sugar cane byproduct. I actually really like the little corner handle details.

The Value of Stuff

Nathan P. — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:19:09 +0000

Oldie but goodie – very interesting article on stuff by Paul Graham from 2007.

It wasn’t always this way. Stuff used to be rare and valuable. You can still see evidence of that if you look for it. For example, in my house in Cambridge, which was built in 1876, the bedrooms don’t have closets. In those days people’s stuff fit in a chest of drawers. Even as recently as a few decades ago there was a lot less stuff. When I look back at photos from the 1970s, I’m surprised how empty houses look. As a kid I had what I thought was a huge fleet of toy cars, but they’d be dwarfed by the number of toys my nephews have. All together my Matchboxes and Corgis took up about a third of the surface of my bed. In my nephews’ rooms the bed is the only clear space.

Stuff has gotten a lot cheaper, but our attitudes toward it haven’t changed correspondingly. We overvalue stuff.

Read the whole article here.

Yike!

Nathan P. — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:11:14 +0000

Presenting to you: the Yikebike.

Game changer for urban commuting? Or just silly?

yikebike.com for more!

Open-Source Restaurant

Nathan P. — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:41:26 +0000

Crowdsourced restaurant in the Netherlands that opens all of it’s info – recipes, how to build the furniture, how to build the restaurant – is from Instructables.com.

At the Instructables Restaurant

Crowd-sourcing, reusing materials, innovative concept – hell yeh. I wonder if the food is any good.

(via springwise.com)

IDSA Materials and Processes on WordPress

jordantheperson — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 05:22:09 +0000

http://idsamp.wordpress.com/

Graphic Design Aids

Nathan P. — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:14:38 +0000

from paper-leaf.com

So Paper Leaf has put together a list of free graphic design tools for download. I have yet to peruse the e-books, but it’s definitly worth checking out the links for textures and brushes. They’re big time savers for putting together presentations, if nothing else.

Alexander Pelikan’s Plastic Nature Series

Asenath — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 21:06:02 +0000

Really cool use and integration of different materials.

The process and other pieces from the series are on the designer’s site…which I can’t seem to set up a link to. So…

http://www.pelidesign.com/plastic1.php