eroded cork stool ES3 by im LAB
by: Designboom - Weblog, 2013-04-22 21:10:29 UTC

exposed like a rock crevice, the modular cork stool system is influenced by the natural processes of erosion.

The post eroded cork stool ES3 by im LAB appeared first on designboom.

Fresh From The Dairy: Patterned Pillows
by: design milk, 2013-04-18 18:00:25 UTC

I’ve picked some pretty patterned pillows for this week’s The Design Milk Dairy roundup. It’s Spring, so many of you might be Spring cleaning, or perhaps you’re changing out some of the Winter decor in favor of something with more color or pizazz (yes, I said pizazz). Well, here you go:

Above: Scales by Steven Womack

March 1927 by Three Of The Possessed

5050 No.1 by Martin Isaac

Drieh by Paola Fischer

In an ongoing effort to support independent artists from around the world, Design Milk is proud to partner with Society6 to offer The Design Milk Dairy, a special collection of Society6 artists’ work curated by Design Milk and our readers. Proceeds from the The Design Milk Dairy help us bring Design Milk to you every day.

TED: Skylar Tibbits: The emergence of "4D printing" - Skylar Tibbits (2013)
by: TEDTalks (video), 2013-04-04 14:56:21 UTC
3D printing has grown in sophistication since the late 1970s; TED Fellow Skylar Tibbits is shaping the next development, which he calls 4D printing, where the fourth dimension is time. This emerging technology will allow us to print objects that then reshape themselves or self-assemble over time. Think: a printed cube that folds before your eyes, or a printed pipe able to sense the need to expand or contract.

Parrish by Konstantin Grcic for Emeco
by: Dezeen, 2013-04-22 13:52:12 UTC

Milan 2013: a collection of furniture designed by Konstantin Grcic for Herzog & de Meuron's Parrish Art Museum in Long Island has gone into production with American brand Emeco. (more...)

Stay Gold Mary Rose: Gorgeous bracelets made from recycled vintage teacups
by: TreeHugger Design, 2013-04-18 11:00:00 UTC
Delicate and refined, this collection of jewelry is made with repurposed vintage bone china.

Everything Old is New Again: Furniture with a Repurpose
by: Jetson Green, 2013-04-09 08:40:04 UTC

Here are some of our favorite designers who salvage and repurpose discarded materials into art that functions as furniture. Take some inspiration from these artists and get creative in your workshop. There are lots of ways that you can make everything old become new again!

Gruba Repurposes Wooden Roller Blinds

Gruba is Argentinian architects Gabriel Pires Mateus and Maria Constanza Nuñez. Committed to creating “spaces and objects that provide alternative solutions,” they have designed a line of furniture, S.O.S. de Barrio, made from wooden roller blinds that Buenos Aires residents typically discard. Recycling the bits and pieces, they join them together into chairs, coffee tables, and loungers that revive the commonplace into a sophisticated elegance.

Most of Gruba’s work is focused on salvaged materials. Their “La Cartonera” line of tables is made from corrugated cardboard sheets that manufacturers have discarded because they weren’t of the best quality for their purposes. They also repurpose recycled wood into flooring and paneling.

Oxyd Factory Repurposes Automotive Parts

The Oxyd project gets its inspiration from the metal on old cars, with a special penchant for corroded, dented, and scratched materials that “bear the mark of time, weather, and wear.” From found objects, mostly the hoods and trunks of antique automobiles, they fashion tables, artwork, and accessories that occasionally incorporate logos or decorative details from the original piece. The one-of-a-kind creations are frequently named by the make, model, and year of the automobile from which the materials were salvaged. Accessories include coasters and iPhone cases.

Balzer + Kuwertz Repurposes Shipping Pallets

German designers Yanik Balzer and Max Kuwertz have teamed together to design a set of three chairs from a single Euro pallet “with almost no waste of material.” The EUR-pallet (a.k.a. Euro pallet) from which these chairs are crafted, comply with the European Pallet Association (EPAL) specifications which prescribe dimensions of 47.2”×31.5”×5.7” and a pattern of 78 nails. Not new to upcycling, Balzer + Kuwertz won the 2012 Core77 Design Awards honor in the DIY category with their Ready-Made Design Objects.

Get inspired to make your own shipping pallet furniture or check out what’s for sale from Gas & Air Studios, another group of innovators who are making everything old become new again.

 

Hybrid solar system boosts natural gas powerplant efficiency by 20 percent
by: Gizmag Emerging Technology Magazine, 2013-04-18 06:55:22 UTC


Hybrid Energy Harvester Uses Both Sunlight and Vibrations to Generate Electricity
by: Inhabitat , 2013-04-17 21:54:08 UTC

Why just harness light or vibration individually when you can use both to create electricity? Making sure to fully exploit both sun and sound simultaneously, researchers from Sungkyunkwan University and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology in South Korea have engineered a novel new device standing only 300nm tall. Publishing their work in the most recent issue of Nanotechnology, the team explained how their hybrid harvester could take advantage of the separate sources of energy to produce a single, constant output of electricity.

Read the rest of Hybrid Energy Harvester Uses Both Sunlight and Vibrations to Generate Electricity

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Post tags: dae-yeong lee, Electricity, hybrid harvester, Light, nanotechnology, piezoelectric generator, power, samsung advanced institute of technology, silicon nanopillars, south korea, Sungkyunkwan University, vibration

New Tiny Lithium Ion Battery is 2,000x More Powerful and Can Charge 1,000x Faster
by: Inhabitat , 2013-04-17 21:57:49 UTC

With lithium ion batteries, it used to be that you would have to choose between power and storage capacity. But researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have proven that it is possible to have the best of both worlds with their new microbattery. Led by William P. King, the team published their results in the journal Nature Commincations this week. Their technology could enable radio signals that could be broadcast 30 times farther and create devices 30 times smaller. The amazing new battery is able to be charged 1,000 times faster than rival batteries, and it’s about 2,000 times more powerful than its competitors.

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Post tags: anode, cathode, charge, electropolishing, lithium ion battery, microstructure, nature communications, power, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, william p. king

This Pod Is The Wheelchair Of The Future
by: fast company, 2013-04-17 17:00:13 UTC

The Ropits, or Robot for Personal Intelligent Transport System, is a single-seat buggy designed to improve the mobility of the elderly or infirm. Drivers control it from a tablet, specifying where they want to go, or where they want to be picked up.

Weighing 450 pounds, and narrow enough to go along sidewalks, it has a top speed of 3.7 miles per hour--walking pace. Hitachi has been working on Ropits since 2011, recently testing it on the streets of Tsukuba. It says it has a margin of error of about 3.3 feet (1 meter).

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