When I visit Beam and Anchor I leave with wood envy.
(Source: beamandanchor, via americanstandardsupplyco)
M1937 U.S. Army Denim Pullover
(Source: autoentropy, via charlie-berg)
Enrico Dini and 3-D Printing
Since 2006, the ease and accessibility of 3-D printing to the general public has significantly increased. This quickly developing technology allows anyone with a basic knowledge of computer modeling programs to realize their own designs in the 3-dimensional world with little skill needed in manufacturing the finish project. Although the price tag of these machines can still cause a heart to stop, the price will continue to drop like all new technologies. Alternatives such as subscription based 3-D printer co-ops also have begun to form, allow paying members access to machines, as well as helpful workshops (check out Ottawa’s Artengine Open Workshops!). These household printers can be fitted to print a number of materials, primarily an assortments of plastics in varying colours and qualities. These are heated into a liquid and printed through a nozzle. The plastic dries very quickly and subsequent layers are printed one over the last, gradually building the form from the base up.One architect has taken a special interest in the idea. Enrico Dini believes that the future of not only architecture, but also the very way we construct buildings will be based around 3-D printing. To put it simply, he has taken personal size 3-D printers and blown them up to a size capable of printing forms large enough to live in. Instead of heating up plastic to print small plastic jewelry or figures, he prints a specially made adhesive onto sand. Once a layer is printed he sweeps over the still wet compound another layer of sand. Repeat this process several thousand times and voila: you have a sedimentary settlement. The results of Dini’s hard work create an elegant structure evocative of the natural elements and processes that formed well-known settings like Manneport in France that so enthralled Monet. Dini gives his buildings an organic quality that is unrivalled, equally in part to the materials and process. If it were not for the placement of windows and doors you might think it was a natural formation made of limestone, battered by wind and air for centuries.The technology remains far from perfect, as structures over two storeys have not fully been realized. No doubt the ideas of Dini have contributed greatly to the burgeoning field. Dini’s efforts have accelerated discussion on the materials and sustainability of human habitation, and perhaps he will be the immortalized as the first in a long line of 3-D print architects.- Daniel Cairns
Big appreciation for artists making use of rapidly developing technologies.
Carlo Aiello for ICFF 2013: Parabola Chair
Just when I think all design has gone retro: BLAM WE’RE SITTING IN THE FUTURE
Though I feel like there’s a black hole/butt joke in there somewhere…
Thomas Feichtner
FX10 Lounge Chair
Can’t get enough of this incredible designer.
Stacking stools
Stacking stools
Alvar Aalto (1898–1976)
Probably manufactured by Artek
Finland
Designed 1929–30
43.2 x 38.1 x 38.1cm
Solid birch and birch plywood
Museum no. W.50 to C–1977Devising rigid bent elements that could simultaneously serve as leg and support for a seat was the object of considerable research by Alvar Aalto and can be seen in several of his plywood reliefs. For Aalto, the creation of a structural element that could serve simultaneously as a horizontal and vertical support was a ‘type’ solution in wood, analogous in its importance to the concrete piloti or the antique Doric column. He called the standard leg of his three-legged stools the ‘Doric’ leg or the ‘bent knee’.Aalto and Otto Korhonen patented (in Scandinavia and Britain) the method by which the Doric legs were formed: thin sawcuts were made along the grain of a birchwood lath (most of the length of which formed the leg), thereby allowing the necessary flexibility to bend the piece at the top. Into these slots were glued thin sheets of veneer, which, when set, maintained the right-angle bend. At first, the L-shaped legs had to be manufactured by hand, forming the tight curve out of the separate veneers of wood as it was glued, but a machine was soon developed that could perform this action in a hot press. The stool is reduced to its basic industrial components: an L-shaped leg and a circular top. Dozens of stools could be stacked in a corner, and the resultant spiraling form became a motif of displays of Aalto furniture in the 1930s and ever since.
The Vanilla Workshop
We wouldn’t be able to make it across the country without the generous material, social and emotional support from our sponsors. So where possible we’d like to give you a look into these awesome companies that are full of caring & passionate people. At the core of LIOTR is a genuine desire to do some good in the world, and each of our sponsors shares the belief and passion that is driving us to cross the US on two wheels.
We’ve been spending a lot of time over at The Vanilla Workshop lately getting ready for the ride and working out the details of the custom Speedvagens that Andrew and I will pilot. We’ll have a few more Vanilla Workshop posts for you before the ride begins that dig into the details of the bikes, from fit to fabrication to finish. But in the meantime here are a few quiet shots that were captured on an early morning in the workshop.
Vanilla, the holy grail of unnecessarily beautiful bicycles.
(via demanddesign)
A Selection of Chairs from the office of Charles and Ray Eames (1952)
Charles and Ray Eames pioneered modern furniture and industrial design beginning in the 1940s. They were responsible for some of the most innovative chairs of the 12th century, in which they explored the “honest” use of materials, including wood, fiberglass, plastic, and metal wire, and advanced manufacturing processes. (2011 Eames office, LLC)
(via charlie-berg)
Harold Tichenor’s website dedicated to the history of trade blankets, more specifically the Hudson Bay Point Blanket, has some great information on these iconic textiles. These wool linens got their name from the lines (or “points”) woven into the edge of the of the blanket, which served as a way of easily communicating the size and price of the blanket without having to unfold it during trade. Have a look at Harold’s site and learn a bit more about the origins of this now trendy bedding.
