The Rubber Stool by the Japanese design studio H220430 uses 100% recycled rubber to create a comfortable seat made from only one part and a few bolts. The stool can be rolled up or stored flat when not in use, and is naturally cushioned by nature of the material used.
— Via DesignBoom
Cricket Trailers are awesome little camping trails designed by an ex NASA rocket scientist. The trailers have everything their larger counterparts have just with out all the extra room and without the need for an F350 turbo diesel to tow them. You get a full bed, cook-top, and even a shower!
When I was young I had a toy sail boat that I adored. I played with it all the time, sailing in the pond, creek, and even the bath tub. The Wooden Giants toy ship series by Papa Foxtrot, a new toy brand from London-based design studio Postlerferguson, feels like it could be one of those toys your kids play with until the paint wears off, then wish they still had when they become my age.
The toys are replicas of the The Emma Maersk, The Arctic Princess and The TI Asia, three of the largest cargo ships in the world, and are lovingly crafted out of hardwoods. Each of the ships has cargo that can be loaded and unload.
Behind the sheer gigantic complexity and abstraction of the global logistic system hides an intriguing beauty of radical functionality and almost organic, nerve-like organization. We aim to translate its machine protagonists into a very familiar format of classic wooden toys and objects. Wooden toys were on the height of success in the middle of the last century and quickly got pushed aside by a tsunami of cheap plastic toys and now barely occupy a niche segment.
The Wooden Toy Ship mini-series is about reintroducing a sense of the grandeur of current technological feats to the wooden toy. The quality of the materials, reduced aesthetic and sense of technological optimism draw on the classic language of wood toys, while the updated subject matter introduces essential aspects of global modernism into the home.
R&L Goods is an interesting company with some really great products. The company is based on a collaborative live/work space between two creative couples. They purchased two adjoining duplexes in Seattle, WA and combined the ground levels into one large collaborative workspace. Out of this collaboration the R&L Goods accessories collection was born. The collection features Moleskin covers, bill folds, and card cases. The patterns are bold and vibrant and accent the pieces nicely.
R&L isn’t just a brand – it’s a lifestyle based on collaboration!
In 2008, two creative couples merged their funds and lives to purchase a tidy side-by-side duplex in the Scandinavian neighborhood of Ballard in Seattle, Washington. With separate living spaces above, the basement garages were joined to create a shared work space for all!
On the Right – Jean & Chika’s home-business studio and R&L Goods central. Well stocked with 4 sewing machines, cutting tables, a loom, a knitting machine, and countless fabrics and notions from years of compulsive collecting. All R&L Goods are designed and made right here!
On the Left – a workshop for house projects and a general mess space. Past times and current obsessions include slip casting, laser cutting, re-upholstery, door refinishing, leather working, and bicycle maintenance.
The joined yard is full veggies in the Summer and weeds in the Winter and (as usual) we have some grand plans in mind. Jean wants a chicken coop, Dylan wants less lawn to mow, Jared wants a fire pit, and Chika wants to eat all the Kale and Arugula they can grow.
From collaborative home/business ownership to collaborative projects and picnics – we believe in working together to achieve more than the sum of our parts. We aim to offer casual, yet distinctive everyday necessities that compliment the Right&Left sides of your brain, the creative and logical sides of your life.
These beautiful “Garden Tools” by Israeli designer Itay Laniado are part of the 240 short listed entries for this years designboom competition, “Design For All.” The competition is held in collaboration with the Seoul Design Fair 2010 and includes more than 5100 entries. The collection of tools is the culmination of research into the manufacturing process of simple tools as well as the specific forms need for the tools themselves.
The project approaches garden tools from a material, aesthetic, and functional investigative perspective. The bulk of my research focused on the development of a technique of bending and stretching wood into functional forms while maintaining the simplicity, both of the production process and of the working approach of the tools. In addition, I conducted a formal investigation into developing the shape of the blades both in the design and in the bending process. The project includes six final objects: sickle, axe/machete, spade, shovel, scythe and bow saw. Each piece is created from wood (oak) and stainless-steel blades.
— Via designboom
Ladies & Gentleman is a great little company releasing some really fun new products this year. Both Chalk It To Me Piggy Bank and Superior Servers are whimsical reinterpretations of existing products. They have a sense of humor about them while still adding usability and value to the product.
The Victor bike by Christophe Robillard is as unusual as they come. It’s a minimalist’s dream on 2 wheels. Robillard removed all the material he could from the bike by using a tube bending process that left him with a skeleton structure of a frame. The benefit, other that the bike looks really cool, is that all the costs of building a traditional frame are cut in half. The amount of metal forming required is drastically cut as is the number of welds that are traditionally done by hand.
The bike features an integrated rear wheel fender and reflectors on both the front and back. My only concern with the frame is that the back wheel may wobble with the flexing of the frame, something I’m sure he has taken into account.
— Via DesignBoom
Israeli designers Shay Carmon and Ben Klinger recently released a series of 4 new furniture designs. Among them are, Two Leg Table, Separation Shelf, Touching Lamp, and Leaning Chair. All 4 pieces show the design duo’s mastery of the materials and their attention to detail.
— Via DesignBoom
Moa is a series of handmade baskets by the German design team of Marcel Basau and Eva Marquerre. The basket are made using a new process Marquerre created back in 2008 for the Nido glass fiber stool. Elastic yarn is woven on a wooden stretcher and then drenched in resin. The stretcher is pressed down over a form and secured. Once the resin has dried, the stretcher is removed from the form and the finished piece is cut off and cleaned up. Its a brilliant process that not only creates sturdy baskets relatively quickly, but the are amazingly beautiful.
— Via DesignBoom
Flow2 is the second iteration of the Flow kitchen concept by Studio Gorm. Flow2 seeks to understand the relationship and interdependency of the way we use food in our lives. The process of preparing food to the growing of food is all taken care of in one simple setup. I love this idea, and although Flow2 isn’t practical for everyday use, the thinking behind it could help us to shape a more efficient food cycle in our kitchens and ultimately our homes.
Flow is a living kitchen where nature and technology are integrated in a symbiotic relationship, processes flow into one another in a natural cycle, efficiently utilizing energy, waste, water and other natural resources. It provides a space not only for preparing food but an environment that gives a better understanding of how natural processes work. A kitchen where food is grown, stored, cooked and composted to grow more food.
The Flow products can be used independently but are far more effective when they work in concert as part of a larger system. The individual objects are relatively uncomplicated, acting as simple vehicles for the more complex natural processes to do the work. This kitchen is developed as a flexible system where resources are reused by several elements creating a dynamic flow between the products.
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