Merry-Go-Round: A Collection Made of Waste Material
by: design milk, 2013-01-24 15:00:18 UTC

Gothenburg, Sweden-based design studio, Design Stories, set out to create a collection made of industrial waste material produced by local companies. Working in collaboration with a group of producers and artisans called Returhuset, Merry-Go-Round was born. The pieces are made from materials that would normally be thrown away as trash and the results are a charming collection of lamps and tables with an interesting story to tell.

The Drawstring Lamp, made by Svensson Markspelle, is constructed with a screen that originally was made to filter sunlight, making it the perfect material for a lamp. Structure was already built into the textile so the lamp forms its organic ball-like shape on its own.

To complement the shades, they designed fabric power cords to go with each lamp.

The Odd Table takes usable parts from broken tables and chairs and assembles them together into new pieces of furniture.

Photos by Hendrik Zeitler.

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© 2013 Design Milk | Posted by Caroline in Home Furnishings | Permalink | No comments



Sculptural Floor Lamp by Zurn Design
by: design milk, 2013-01-25 17:00:19 UTC

Zurn Design introduced me to their modern wood furniture and decor and I was taken by this atomic-era style lamp. Like a giant sculpture in your room that also features mood lighting.

The floor lamp, called No. 41, is made entirely of wood sitting on iron legs, with a hanging glass orb shade. Kinda digging it.

Go check out zurndesign.com for some more impressive craftsmanship, inspired by the Danish masters.

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© 2013 Design Milk | Posted by Jaime Derringer in Home Furnishings | Permalink | 1 comment



IMM Cologne: [D3] Design Talents
by: design milk, 2013-01-25 19:00:36 UTC

One of the absolute highlights of imm cologne was [D3] Design Talents, a selection of award-winning products from up-and-coming designers. The tenth [D3] contest saw 671 submissions from students and recent graduates from all over the world. Just 21 products from 27 designers were selected. And from those 21, these were my favorites…

This folding screen entitled “And A And Be And Not” by Berlin-based designer Camilla Richter is made from different color transparent sections, which change color according to the light and where you’re standing when you look at it. The shapes and colors created by the piece itself and by the shadows and reflections are mesmerising.

Combinations of semi-reflective glass and colorful patterns continue the theme of reflection and morphing geometric shapes in London-based Kim Thome‘s Reflection Range – Berlin and Circus.

I first spotted the New Old Light by Lin YiHsien, Shih HsiaoChun and Yeh TingWei at Tent London during the London Design Festival in September. It’s a fascinating combination of traditional and modern, East and West, and simple and complex. The soft diffused light turns into a focussed spotlight when the shade is pulled down.

Swell by Dutch designer Rachel Griffin unites the conventional production phases into a single step. The foam expands to fill the fabric and at the same time acts as a binder between material and frame. Because the foam expands differently every time, each piece is unique.

It was great to meet Dennis Parren and see the CMYK Lamp in person, as we’ve featured it on Design Milk before. He describes the CMYK Lamp as “the light that colors the world.” It uses LED technology to cast shadows in cyan, magenta and yellow.

Julian Sterz explored the relationship between objects and the meaning we attach to them in his diploma thesis – what is it about a chair that makes it a chair? In 3/4-Platzhalter-Stuhl one chair becomes four with the missing parts replaced with a metal frame. Each chair loses its functionality but retains its identity.

Again challenging seating conventions, Slagbaenk by Danish Rasmus B Fex is a deceptively simple concept. It uses two chairs and five boards to form a bench with integrated storage space. The dimensions of the bench are dictated by the length of boards used to join the two chairs.

One of the most talked about pieces at the show, and certainly the most moving, was Engineering Temporality by Tuomas Markunpoika Tolvanen, also previously featured on Design Milk.

Inspired by the declining health of his grandmother due to Alzeimer’s disease, Tuomas covered items of furniture with a network of welded steel rings before setting them on fire so that only the steel rings remained; “memories of things that were once objects of emotional attachment.”

German designer Ellen Heilmann presented “The Royal Family,” a modular family of stools, which can be taken apart and used as tables and cushions.

Dear Disaster was created by Swedish designer Jenny Ekdahl in response to recent global disasters.

Inspired by infographics, and representing the sea and the sand, the 2,000 wooden scales can be moved back and forth to help people process what they’ve seen. The tiles are incredibly tactile and strangely calming.

Per by Tim Mackerodt is a freestanding object; part glass room divider, and part lamp. The bulb is held in a double volume of hand blown glass by a light fixture concealed in a cork.

Tina Schmid explores the transition from graphic shapes into the three-dimensional objects, with this “picture of a cube” made from a system of jointed rods, that folds out into a table as seen above.

Berlin by German designer Daniel Becker is an updated version of the tiles that cover traditional ceramic heating ovens. The three-dimensional form increases the surface area, allowing the oven to give off more heat, and creates a beautiful geometric pattern.

And last but not least, Pilu by Leoni Werle. These see-saw lamps have an oak base which enables the lamp to switch between two positions. The toadstool shaped lampshade is jointed so that it points downwards in either position. Every detail of the aesthetic right down to the cabling has been carefully considered.

With thanks to Modenus and BlogTourCGN sponsors, Miele, Blanco, Mr Steam, Du Verre Handware, Axor and NKBA. 

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© 2013 Design Milk | Posted by Katie in Home Furnishings, News + Events | Permalink | No comments



Video: On a String Table by OK Design
by: mocoloco, 2013-01-24 20:07:42 UTC


An Eco-Modular Classroom That Helps Kids Learn
by: fast company, 2013-01-24 16:45:00 UTC

Temporary classrooms, trailers, portables, classroom cottages--call them what you will. There are 300,000 of them in the United States, where 7.5 million students go to learn. Yet these "temporary" rooms often stay rooted for an average of five years, meaning structures designed to be a quick band-aid for enrollment overflow or construction become fixed classrooms.

“That’s our challenge,” Allen Post, an architect at the Perkins+Will architecture and design firm, tells Co.Design. “Temporary classrooms are loud, you can’t see, you’re in a dungeon--they’re inhospitable to learning.”

Read Full Story

This Electric Car Ferry Makes Getting Your Car Across The Ocean Cleaner
by: fast company, 2013-01-24 17:00:12 UTC

Known for the breathtaking fjords that pepper its coasts, Norway is a country that runs on ferries: Hundreds links isolated fjord towns and islands with the mainland. But despite the country’s famed commitment to environmentalism, ferries can be a dirty business. A single ferry serving the route between western Norwegian towns towns Lavik and Oppedal, for example, burns through 1 million liters of diesel per year, churning out 570 metric tons of carbon dioxide and 15 metric tons of nitrogen oxides as well.

Starting in 2015, that ferry will be the first to be replaced with an electric one— designed by Siemens as the world’s first electrically powered car ferry. If successful, the technology has the potential to be replicated across Norway, replacing all ferries used for trips a half hour and under.

Read Full Story

Unilever Moves Zero-Waste Goal Five Years Closer
by: Environmental Leader, 2013-01-24 15:44:46 UTC
More than half of Unilever’s factories achieved the goal of sending no waste to landfill in 2012, prompting the company to speed up by five years its goal of zero waste to landfill by 2020. By the end of 2015, Unilever’s 252 factories worldwide will not sent any non-hazardous waste to landfill, the company announced [...]

Better than advertised: Fiat 500e rated at 116 mpg-e
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2013-01-23 05:06:16 UTC

When Fiat revealed the 500e at the L.A. Auto Show, it estimated that its first U.S. electric car would score a miles per gallon gasoline equivalent fuel economy of 116 mpg-e city, 100 mpg-e highway and 108 mpg-e. The official Environmental Protection Agency rating is in, and it's significantly better than estimated. .. Continue Reading Better than advertised: Fiat 500e rated at 116 mpg-e

Section: Automotive

Tags: Electric Vehicles, Fiat

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NASA and Autodesk Collaborate on Sustainable Building Performance Monitoring
by: Sustainable Design News, 2013-01-23 09:48:17 UTC


Via Motors: The Environmentally-Friendly Answer to America's Truck Woes?
by: Core77, 2013-01-23 14:30:00 UTC

There are people who want to own a truck, and people who need to own a truck. I'm of the opinion that you can get rid of the former, but not the latter; while American truck sales are slowing down for the first time in years, either due to the high cost of gas or the stigma of owning an environmentally-unfriendly vehicle, my theory is that the wannabes are simply being weeded out while the need-to-bes are standing firm. If you work in one of the trades, or feed your family by doing something that requires you have a strong back, chances are you need a truck. The green movement is not going to sway you and you just curse more at the gas pump.

Since the trades aren't going away (God willing), how can we resolve environmental responsibility with the need to drive big-ass vehicles? One promising answer comes from Via Motors, a sort of automotive co-developer that takes Detroit's existing machines and renders them, through technical wizardry, electrified.

Because Via modifies existing trucks, that means you can get the big-ass Silverado with the Crew Cab, or a GMC Suburban if you need to haul enclosed loads, or a GMC cargo van if you need to abduct shrill environmentalists, and still clock about 100 miles per gallon. Via vehicles will go for 40 miles before the gas engine even kicks in, making it the perfect local runabout; should you need to travel further distances, the gas engine will carry you another 300 miles before you need to tank up.

As for power, Via's Vtrux (the hacked Silverado) produces 402 horsepower, so you can throw both Little Sal and Big Sal in the crew cab while still hauling a half-ton in the bed. But here's the real killer app: For those working in remote locations without electricity--you've undoubtedly seen utility trucks hauling those wheeled generators behind them--the vehicle doubles as a generator. That means you can leave the gennie in the garage and plug your power tools directly into the truck. You can also, in a blackout, use the vehicle to power your house.

The only thing that will prevent individuals from jumping on the Via bandwagon right away is the asking price, which is estimated to start at 79 large. You can make that up in fuel savings over time, depending on how much you drive, but that's a big nut for a lone tradesperson to cover. I'm hoping Via sets up a financing branch with attractive rates, at least until their manufacturing costs come down enough for the regular Joe to buy in.

In the meantime they're targeting the people who can cover the nut and will realize the long-term savings: Fleet owners.

Via is currently taking pre-orders for $1,000 a pop. Deliveries are estimated for mid-2013.

Here's a look at their vehicles (and a test drive) taken by Jay Leno and featuring Via CEO Bob Lutz, of GM and Chrysler fame:

(more...)