Design Democracy

TreeHugger wants to know what green design is

designplant — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:05:52 +0000

Treehugger will be covering the ICFF, North America’s biggest design festival and will be asking “what is green design?” with these 13 questions. Keep an eye out for any answers and intriguing new developments!

A step in the right direction

designplant — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:02:21 +0000

Dell have announced that they will no longer be exporting e-waste but dealing with it domestically, a bod move or a greenwashing excercise to stay one step ahead of the cometition? Either way it is still a beneficial move for the environment.

Read the article on TreeHugger here

Eco Warrior sails across the Pacific in a plastic bottle boat

designplant — Sat, 16 May 2009 21:57:26 +0000

TreeHugger has an article on David de Rothschild, who plans to sail across the Pacific Ocean in a boat made from used plastic bottles.

“In a few weeks David de Rothschild, one of the world’s most desirable eco-warriors, will set sail across the Pacific Ocean on a plastic catamaran, called the Plastiki. He will be headed towards the Great Pacific Garbage Patch which is a garbage -covered region of the ocean, several hundred miles wide.He is doing this, along with a crew of six, to alert the world to this hideous “natural” phenomenon which has been collecting there at least since 1999 and is killing seabirds and fish in the area.”

Check it out here

It’s simply FAB!

designplant — Sat, 16 May 2009 21:50:27 +0000

Pioneered by Niel Gershenfeld at MIT, personal fabrication is all about people making their own tailored products themselves, and represents the same revolution personal computers had for empowering the people but with physical objects. FAB labs are like factories that can create (almost) anything, except they are on a domestic scale, fully open source and open to the public and provide a possible route towards local, individually perfected and fully repairable, upgradeable and recyclableproducts in the future.

There is a Show in Philadelphia, US, focusing on this..

“The FAB Show will feature several digital fabricators or ‘Fabbers’ – small, self-contained factories that can make almost anything, right on your desktop. Fabbers use 3-D printing technology to create solid objects from digital data. The FAB Show will feature two open-source Fabber projects Fab@Home and MakerBot, along with artists, designers and researchers who are currently using this technology including Sabin+Jones LabStudio, Mark Ganter and Bathsheba Grossman.”

Check it out here and I strongly suggest you read Gershenfeld’s book on the matter “FAB – the coming revolution on your desktop – from personal computers to personal fabrication“

Found through Core77

The best use of scraps core77 has ever seen!

designplant — Sat, 16 May 2009 21:37:12 +0000

This fantastic waste paper basket made from wood scraps appeared on Core77, check out the full article here

Products from waste cometition: Ample Sample

designplant — Sat, 16 May 2009 21:22:37 +0000

Ample Sample is an annual competition where designers are encouraged to re-use carpet samples to create innovative new upcycled products.

“Ample Sample 2009 challenges you to “Rethink. Reuse. Upcycle”, and repurpose these samples, after their usefulness to a design project, to make a design product. Winning designs will be judged upon criteria of aesthetics, purpose, ease of creation, creativity, durability, number/volume of carpet samples or Tryks used”

The deadline has passed for 2009 entries but the Ample Sample website has many pictures of past entries and winners to inspire you! Check it out here

Design Democracy at Tren Park – The Movie

designplant — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:36:21 +0000

Video documenting the Design Democracy event at Trent Park on 30-04-09. Thanks to all participants!

Hanger Lamp 360 Video

designplant — Sun, 03 May 2009 15:37:07 +0000

Hanger Lamp 360 Video

Originally uploaded by DesignPlant

Video of the Hanger Lamp rotating through 360 degrees

Making a Vinyl Bowl

designplant — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:58:50 +0000

Making a Vinyl Bowl

Originally uploaded by DesignPlant

Video of me making a Vinyl bowl by heating up a 12″ record in the oven and pressing it into a ceramic bowl to shape it.

Goddess of Garbage

designplant — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 13:00:47 +0000

Carol Tanzi, known as the GODDESS OF GARBAGE, is an award-winning interior designer who has received national recognition for using recycled materials and re-use items to create home and office furniture and accessories.

Check out her site here