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Luxury Design as Theater and Digital Craft at the 2016 New York Design Week Satellite Shows

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This year's New York Design Week lineup proved the week of festivities have much more to offer than the go-to design fairs. Whether you scoured Brooklyn, downtown, or even way uptown, there were a wide number of shows from designers big and small to enjoy. On top of several small shows, we also saw collaborations from unlikely partners—take for one, how fashion label Hermés and theater director Robert Wilson came together to create a refined furniture collection (presented in an avant-garde and highly theatrical setting). All in all, the landscape of presentations were diverse enough to satisfy every kind of design enthusiast. 

View of Collective Influence: Nendo at Collective Design
Each year, Collective highlights the career and work of a single designer or studio. This year, Tokyo-based nendo is front and center with an installation of lighting and cabinets located in the entrance to the fair. The exhibit highlights the studio's iterative process with several dozen variations of cabinets that translate a sense of movement through an abstract notation of the way drawers swing open and close.
Photo credit: Core77
CW&T and A/D/O present Roto-Jam at Collective Design
Art and design studio CW&T was on site, working on their process piece, Roto-Jam. Their material exploration has led them to a process of particle jamming, to produce thin-shelled casts out of re-usable, dynamic molds.
Photo credit: Core77
Danh Circled the World by Austin Swick at Collective Design
This sinuous bench made of solid white oak was shown as part of an exhibition put on by Cranbrook Academy of Art's 3D design department, entitled Fine Design for the End of the World. Each student responded to apocalyptic ideas in a series of critical, reflective design objects. The form is inspired by the mythology of snake-god Danh, who circled the world like a belt "binding it and preventing it from flying apart in splinters."
Photo credit: Core77
Drift Sofa by Fernando Mastrangelo Studio at Collective Design
The Brooklyn-based designer has extended his Drift series with this sand and cement sofa, upholstered in silk velvet.
Photo credit: Core77
Ian Stell at Patrick Parrish Gallery's booth during Collective Design
Ian Stell is showcasing the latest works in his spellbinding series of transforming pieces, painstakingly crafted out of wood and brass pivots. The latest evolution of the work features the use of color laminate, a move that further complicates the way we read the surface of each piece as it contracts and expands in its various incarnations.
Photo credit: Core77
Studio Proba x Bower for Sight Unseen at Collective Design
Studio Proba and Bower teamed up to explore forms, materials, textures, and colors in an immersive, multi-sensory exhibit. With recurring themes of water and reflection, the collection included their Nirvana rug, Waterline chair, Water mirrors, and the ever-present tranquil sounds of the Pivot fountain.
Photo credit: Core77
Chris Wolston for Sight Unseen at Collective Design
The Brooklyn and Medellín-based designer expands on his trademark technique of aluminum sand-casting in this new collection, shown against a bespoke wallpaper he collaborated on with Designtex. Wolston applies the technique to aluminum foam sheeting most commonly found in architectural sound-proofing to create a discordant collection of tables, lighting, seating and tabletop objects.
Photo credit: Core77
Fort Standard booth at Collective Design
The Brooklyn-based studio showed their latest collection, Qualities of Materials. Instead of pursuing new materials, the duo decided to experiment with the most traditional, natural materials—wood, stone and leather—and find new structural and expressive potentials within them. The collection includes a chair made of layered and rolled leather, a dining table and bench set made up of hundreds of thin maple wood slats assembled into structural triangular tubes, and a stone cabinet.
Photo credit: Core77
Material samples at Fort Standard's booth at Collective Design
Photo credit: Core77
Lamp Show at the 99¢ Plus Gallery booth at Collective Design
An exhibition of objects made by over 30 contemporary artists and designers. Ranging from "designed," functional works to conceptual explorations of the function of light, the show aimed to provide a platform for designers and artists to expand their practice and challenge definitions of art, design, and functionality.
Photo credit: Core77
View the full gallery here

12 Different Designs for Movable Bridges, Animated For Your Pleasure

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Watching Frank Howarth and his son build that model of the bi-level vertical-lift bridge, I got to wondering about different movable bridge designs. I'd never seen that unique bi-level variant before; what other solutions have engineers come up with when a bridge has to be moved out of the way for a boat to pass?

Turns out there's at least a dozen different kinds of movable bridges that have been realized around the world. Helpfully, Wikimedia Commons contributor Y_tambe has animated their transformations:

Drawbridge
Bascule Bridge
Folding Bridge
Curling Bridge
Vertical Lift Bridge
Table Bridge
Retractable Bridge
Rolling Bascule Bridge
Submersible Bridge
Tilt Bridge
Swing Bridge
Transporter Bridge

Got a favorite? I love how the Rolling Bascule design completely prevents any Blues Brothers or 2 Fast 2 Furious bridge-jumping moments. And no, I will not be judged by you for watching and enjoying 2 Fast 2 Furious, what I do on my own time is my own business.

Thanks again to Y_tambe for putting in the time to create these! You can click on his/her bridge page to see static shots of the real-life versions of these bridges alongside the animations.

A Brief History of Panhard, the Weird and Wildly Popular French Automaker

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American cars have at times been the fastest and flashiest, but rarely have they been the strangest. In my opinion, the French are truly the masters of bizarre cars. Sure, every major car maker has made an oddity or two, but it seems the French made it a point of pride to design cars that flew in the face of whatever everyone else was doing. Citroen was likely the most successful in this pursuit, with their very odd, but wildly popular 2CV and DS models. Panhard, however, was not as successful with their offbeat ideas.

Panhard began selling one-off custom cars in 1890, making them among the world's oldest car companies. In its first few decades, Panhard was a hugely influential car maker, in many ways laying out the platform for what "modern" cars would become. By WWI, they were one of the largest automakers, as well as successful race competitors around Europe.

As automobile design started to shake out in the 1920s and manufacturers began to figure out more solidly what did and did not work, Panhard refused to do anything totally mainstream, offering idiosyncratic Knight style sleeve valve engines in their cars. Though mechanically innovative, Panhard's styling was fairly run of the mill. They took a radical turn towards the unusual in 1936 with the introduction of the Panhard et Levassor Dynamic.

Panhard et Levassor Dynamic.

The Dynamic was unusual looking, with a three-piece front windshield and three windshield wipers. It featured innovative yet awkward streamlined styling with headlights integrated into fenders and large bubbly curves all around. The car was rather ponderous looking, being wide enough to comfortably seat people three abreast in each seat. The steering wheel was positioned in the center of the dash, the driver between the passengers in the front. It was claimed this offered better visibility, but it was also significant in that the car could easily be driven in countries with either right or left hand drive.

In actual use, it was awkward and the driver was moved to a standard off center position just a few years later. Perhaps the most innovative features of the Dynamic were its independent front suspension and unibody design (the frame was built into the body, rather than a body sitting on top of a frame), a first for French luxury cars, and the industry standard today.

Production of cars ceased for the large part during WWII. After the war, Panhard was back at it and making even weirder looking cars with unconventional drivetrains. Steel was strictly rationed in France at the time. Panhard decided they would try out aluminum, the manufacturing of which had increased for the war effort. Although more expensive than steel, according to Jean Panhard's calculations, they would still be able to make an aluminum bodied car for a reasonable price. Unfortunately his calculations were wrong. 

Panhard had not accounted for the waste that would be created when cutting out the body panels for the cars from aluminum sheets, instead only calculating for actual aluminum used. This resulted in each body costing more than three times what it would have cost if made out of steel. After a few years, Panhard was close to bankruptcy and forced to revert back to steel for much of the body. Unfortunately, they didn't have the capital to retool and create new body stamping dyes and had to use thicker sheets of steel to match the thickness of aluminum initially used, resulting in added weight. That said, Panhard was still making interesting and innovative cars. They just weren't as light.

The 50's and 60's Panhards also had an unusual engine to go along with their space pod styling and aluminum body work. They employed an air cooled four stroke flat two cylinder engine. Although unusual, it was actually a surprisingly powerful little power plant. When compared to their German competitor, the Volkswagen Beetle, the Panhard Dyna looked positively sophisticated. It had four doors, was roomier, more powerful, quieter, more fuel efficient, and was just a tad more expensive. Unfortunately, they didn't have the legendary marketing campaign that the Volkswagen did (the "Think Small" campaign as it is known, is a veritable Citizen Cane of advertising).

Sales dwindled in the home market and the brass at Panhard couldn't figure out how to interest other countries in their well made, weird little cars. By the mid-60's the firm was gasping for life. Their styling was odd and dated and their two cylinder engine was on the verge of obsolescence. Panhard, desperate for cash, was selling off more and more of itself to Citroen. By 1965, Citroen had full control over Panhard. Citroen gave the company one last shot to develop a successful car, the ultimate result being the Panhard 24. The new model was largely the same old underpinnings with a sleek new body. It was a pretty good car, but it was too little too late. 1967 would ultimately be the last year Panhard would make automobiles.

written by Luke Murray, originally for Hand-Eye Supply

Design Job: Design the Future for the World's Biggest Brands as the Next Interaction Designer for Ziba in Portland, OR

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Interaction Designers at Ziba are thinkers and makers. We have a passion for solving problems and creating experiences people love. We communicate digitally through form, function and motion. Our intention is to humanize technology and create the best possible user experience. We consider motion, structure, and beauty equally, and strive

View the full design job here

Studying Boatbuilding Gives You an Edge as a Furniture Designer

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We've seen time and again that shipwrights comprehend materials and techniques on a level well beyond your average furniture design grad. From Tom Sullivan's incredible "The Accidental Designer" story to Louis Sauzedde's unparalleled wisdom to Brendan Ravenhill's transition from boatbuilding to industrial design, it is clear that being trained to construct seaworthy craft out of wood fills your brains and hands with a unique level of knowledge.

Add design talent to that skillset and you've got a formidable combination, one that ought give you a leg up on your furniture design competition. Here's the latest example: Furniture design prodigy and shipwrighting-trained Nathie Katzoff, who at the tender age of 28 already runs his own company, Seattle-based NK Woodworking | Design, and has a host of design awards under his belt.

What I found most interesting is that Katzoff is interested in reinstating the old-world master craftsperson and apprenticeship system we touched on here. As he states in the company's mission statement,

A century ago craftsmanship was highly valued. Master woodworkers built staircases that were the centerpiece of homes, crafted furniture that were works of art, and used time-honored joinery techniques to hand shape the wood. But over time our society has become a throwaway culture where stairs are put together like Legos out of cheap stock parts from China and furniture is mass-produced and not expected to last.
The intention of NKW is to do the exact opposite. We are a team of passionate woodworkers and craftsman, all pulling together to create truly spectacular work. We create functional art that will last generations.

Check out Katzoff & co.'s work here.

Better Bike Turn Signals At Your Fingertips

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Today in silly but promising bike design: bike turn signals that might not blow! The idea of hands-free turn signals for bikes has inspired many, many product designs, few of which make any damn sense. Of those that do, most require donning dorky apparel, integration with the frame, or a departure from the usability of traditional lighting. Today I'm looking at the Blinker lights currently on Kickstarter, which buck that trend a few ways.

These lights are the first product launched by new company Velohub. To start out, I really appreciate Velohub's core premise that vehicles (and thus their operators) ought to be able to speak the same visual language if they're going to be able to safely understand and navigate one another. Also up front, I'm not loving the lights' form. Simplicity, security, and sexiness are pretty crucial in accessory design, and these whale tails get an arguable 1 out of 3. But even if they seem clunky, they might make up for it in practicality. 

The lights themselves look like the bridge on a 90's sci-fi spacecraft, and they use that width to display a long line of LEDs. The white front puts out around 200 lumens, the red rear offers 100 lumens in the back, all powered by rechargeable batteries. Left alone they function like standard if wide bike lights. But with one click on the bar-mounted remote, they double as turn signals. 

The front and back are tethered using RF tech, so one click activates both front and back blinkers. They also feature an accelerometer & gyroscope that lets the rear light do triple duty as a brake light, brightening as soon as it feels you slow down. The final lighting feature is an optional laser running light, intended to display on either side of the bike and give viewers a clearer sense of where the bike is in space. 

The lights attach with a sleeve fit and magnetic closure, rather than a snap fit or band. The designers say this system is strong enough to withstand the bumps and grinds of a daily ride, and without testing one I'll have to take them on their word. The brackets appear simple to install and fairly versatile, and the attachment appears easy to disengage once you're parked.

The Blinker lights recharge via mini USB, and once in use, the remaining charge level displays on the LED array when you first turn them on. As reported, the life on the 1600mAh Li-ion batteries currently comes out to around 1 charge per week, when used for around 1 hour per day, which is pretty dang competitive considering their multi-functional design.

I can't help but wonder about some of the specific design decisions though. Why is the rear turn signal white with a red center, when tail lights are almost universally red and red LEDs traditionally have better battery life? Conventions vary a bit internationally, but here in the States riders with their light colors displayed backwards from the standard white-front/red-rear have gotten me distracted. Even as a very bike-aware rider and driver, gauging a bike's direction of motion head-on is difficult in the dark. Adding to confusion is the opposite of Velohub's goal of creating a more consistent visual language for transportation.

Interesting bracket design

Does the width of the rear light look bonk-susceptible to anyone else? It might be my curvy personal build, or my dramatic dismounting techniques, but I've often found myself smacking into rear mounting accessories when they're wider than your saddle.

Less pressing, do the runner lights really advance their purpose? Local standards differ on the legal amount of passing room to give cyclists, but the 1 or 2 foot buffer that these lines suggest is much narrower than I'd want to encourage. They highlight where the bike is, which is nice, but if the idea is to imply staying outside of that space, they aren't asking for much. 

The best part of this design is, hands down, the single click remote. Because bike riders vary so widely in physical confidence and (sadly) knowledge of road rules, this simple system could appeal to a wide array of people. Clunkiness included, the Blinkers seem like a new nod at making turn indicators that wouldn't suck for everyday cyclists. 

Does this seem like a promising blend of old and new ideas? Or an overly lo-fi version of a tool like the Hammerhead? Will this lead to a biking dystopia filled with slow old cyclists who hog the road and never turn off their blinkers?

Starling: The Wearable That Helps Parents Boost Their Child's Brain Development 

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Starling is a science-backed wearable device that can boost brain development in young children. Research has proven that the number of words a child hears throughout the day strongly predicts future vocabulary, IQ, and emotional well-being. Starling keeps a running count of spoken words through direct verbal engagement. Pair it with the VersaMe app to set word count goals, monitor engagement progress, and set challenges. Shaped like a friendly little star, it is soft, seamless and safe, attaching to babies’ clothes via a tethered magnet. Design is good when it’s in perfect harmony with the user, and even better if its value extends into a lifelong benefit like Starling. Starling launched on Indiegogo in Fall 2015 and was fully funded in less than 1 day.

View the full content here

Turning Polluted Rivers Into Watercolor Paint

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Here we see folks pulling off the difficult trick of turning something disgusting into something beautiful, using art. The ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, a public advocacy organization based in the Philippines, has been trying to clean Manila's polluted rivers. In order to draw attention to their horrific state, they've collaborated with creative agency TBWA\Santiago Mangada Puno to turn dirty river water into something else: Watercolor paint.

They then commissioned local artists to use it to create images with:

The resultant "Dirty Watercolor" exhibition is currently being presented at The Rockwell Center in Makati City. For those of you in the Manila area, sorry we caught this one a bit late—the three-day show closes tomorrow. All proceeds will benefit the Foundation.



Furniture Designed to Enable Rituals: Jongha Choi's Cigarette Chair

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Designer Jongha Choi has been getting a lot of buzz on his De-dimension furniture pieces, the ones we spotted at Milan. To refresh your memory, here's what his fold-flat, Shaker-furniture-meets-M.C.-Escher pieces do:

Those pieces are polished and function beautifully. But we also found a very different style of piece in his archives, something that's more contraption than furniture. Check out his amusing Cigarette Chair:

While it's obviously not meant to be practical nor saleable, I love the idea of exposing and enabling the ritual associated with a particular piece of furniture in a particular location at a particular time. Seeing Choi's creation made me think of:

- Pulling out a chair at your kitchen table in the morning, and a glass of orange juice materializes while the shades open

- Sitting in an easy chair to cause a nearby lamp to switch on while a pair of reading glasses appear

- Sitting in your bed at night causing the shades to close, while a phone charger materializes out of your nightstand

If you created a Cigarette-Chair-like contraption, what would it be, and what ritual would it expose?


Iconic Graphic Designer Continues His War on War

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In the heyday of anti-war demonstration, Seymour Chwast's graphic work held a radical point of view that steered clear of right-wing tendencies while also dramatically veering away from rigid formalist notions in graphic design. An avid protestor throughout the 60's and 70's, his work consistently addressed the importance of creating progressive work—both stylistically as well as the responsibility of an artist to promote their ethical and political viewpoint.

Chwast's efforts are just as relevant today in a rapidly evolving political space rife with forceful rightwing populism. His new book At War with War, a project between Chwast and editor Steven Heller currently gaining traction on Kickstarter, brings to focus some of the graphic designer's iconic designs while also highlighting a large number of new works on the subject.

For some protest is a fashion; for Seymour, protest is a conscience.
Bob Dylan and Joan Baez in 1964 standing with one of Chwast's iconic anti-war posters. 

The main focus of the book is a series of woodblock print illustrations charting a 5000 year history of conflict, violence and war. An extension of one of his earliest anti-war works from 1957,  A Book of Battles, the book combines Chwast's illustrations with lines on war from historic philosophers with satirical illustrations in the same vein of Honoré Daumier and Otto Dix. 

Chwast at work on his woodblock prints

Project partner and editor of At War With War, Heller says of the project, 

Seymour's desire was to present his reaction to war in its purest form. To put his gut on the page. To set aside his interest in color and mixed media and use what would allow him to focus on the ideas alone: marker on paper; just black on white. His technique serves the content and the intention — to viscerally connect with the audience and bring front and center the horror and waste that is war."

Bringing to light issues regarding war that have traversed thousands of years while also cleverly addressing topics of today (i.e. some entertaining illustrations of Trump), the book solidifies the fact that for Chwast, his fight on war is for life—just as Heller says, "For some protest is a fashion; for Seymour, protest is a conscience." 

Chwast's iconic "End Bad Breath" anti-poster
A page from "At War with War"
Donald Trump by Seymour Chwast

"At War with War" is currently seeking funding for publishing on Kickstarter and is set to release November 2016— support the project here.

Ask a Footwear Design Expert

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Exciting news for aspiring sneaker designers: The Pensole Footwear Design Academy, in collaboration with the City of Portland, is providing an opportunity to have your questions about the industry answered by the pros. At the end of each session in their upcoming Saturday School program, Pensole founder D'Wayne Edwards is assembling experts to answer whatever questions you've got about footwear design, within six different sub-topics.

So here's your chance to ask those burning questions, and watch the responses in a live, online Q&A. Here are the categories you can ask about, and the dates each video will air:

Product Marketing

(Will be answered on July 2nd)

Footwear Design

(Will be answered on July 9th)

Color/Material Design

(Will be answered on July 16th)

Shoemaking

(Will be answered on July 23rd)

Development Process

(Will be answered on July 30th)

Retail (Selling & Buying)

(Will be answered on August 6th)

Submit your questions in the comments below, preceded by the category. For example:

"Shoemaking: Is it possible to have the uppers attached to the sole by means of...." 

Be sure to get your questions in before the relevant dates!

Design Job: Spend Your Summer in the Shop as MIT's IDC Shop Tech in Cambridge, MA

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The MIT International Design Center (IDC) is seeking an innovative, detail oriented, hands-on person to help upgrade and maintain the IDC shops, office and classroom facilities. The start date is flexible depending on the candidate, though no later than June 20th. The temporary appointment is for this

View the full design job here

Matthias Wandel Demonstrates the Superiority of the European Window Design

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The merits of architectural styles from different regions can be endlessly debated. But there is no question that European tilt-and-turn windows are simply superior in design and function to American windows. During a stay in a hotel in Germany on a rainy day, I marveled at the ability to tilt the windows open at the top without any fear of letting water into the room. And swinging them open is far easier, ergonomically speaking, than the absurd crouch-and-hoist maneuver required to get the windows of my New York apartment open.

Here Matthias Wandel, on a trip to Germany, demonstrates the superiority of the design:

If you're interested in puzzling out how the mechanisms work, you can investigate the patent drawings here.


Industrial Design Gets a Voice at This Year's TechNet Meeting

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With their ability to innovate and use design thinking to enact positive impact across various scales, designers are uniquely positioned to bring a refreshing perspective to policymaking. In an exciting move for the ID community, RKS Design Founder and CEO Ravi Sawhney has accepted an invitation to join TechNet, a national, bi-partisan advocacy group of CEOs from 70 US-based tech companies. The list of corporations involved include big players like Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Cisco, eBay, HP, Intuit, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, PayPal and Visa. 

Sawhney comes to the group with experiences that include involvement in over 40 start-ups as well as pioneering a psycho-aesthetics design thinking methodology. His most recent project, LoanGifting, was launched earlier this year as a platform to unite those with student loan debt with their extended communities of friends, family, affiliations, and employers to help them tackle the burden of their loans and become debt-free. 

At TechNet Day 2016—which took place on April 27, 2016— Sawhney and his fellow members met with White House and congressional leaders, including Nancy Pelosi and Paul Ryan. Among the topics discussed was how to make the United States more globally competitive by encouraging economic growth, creating jobs and preparing students for the modern workforce. They also addressed the rising demand for UX designers and the huge impact they will quickly have on the job market as the technology industry sees unprecedented growth rates. 

"Are we going to be a country that leads in innovation?" asked TechNet founder and ex-CEO of Cisco, John Chambers. "We're falling behind, the longer we wait on the decisions we just talked about the further behind we fall. And it does require the courage to make fundamental changes with business and government working together. You look at the future of our country—92% of the jobs created over the next decade will have technology skills involved."

Having a designer on board is an important and relevant addition, which will foster new insights and approaches to tackling some of our most pressing issues. "The lessons learned over the past 40 years in design, all come to bear now as we transform the domestic and global economy through what many predict is the next Industrial Revolution—the one of Technology and Connectivity," as Sawhney says. 


10 Coffee Tables Designed for Storage

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A coffee table with storage is one way to make the most use of limited space, and there are many different ways to design that storage. The rectangular tables from Huppe's MOVE collection—there are two of them in that photo—have inserts that provide storage. These would be good for larger Items like books; smaller items would get lost. 

Other designs provide for hidden rather than open storage, which helps keep the contents dust-free and provides an uncluttered look. Drawers are one obvious approach, as with the Delta coffee table from Tvilum

Team 7's Lux coffee table uses a drawer that's much shallower, which is perfect for end users who want to stash smaller items such as remote controls. There's an open shelf below for larger items such as magazines and books.

But there are numerous other ways of providing storage space in a coffee table. VIG does it nicely with a swivel-top table, with compartments of various sizes to keep things organized.

The Turning Table from Menu, designed by Theresa Arns, uses a bolt and screw system to open and close the lid. With the reasonably shallow drawer, smaller items won't get buried. The lack of internal dividers makes it harder to organize a bunch of smaller items (pens, for example) but also provides space for larger items (such as papers) that might not fit if there were dividers.

The Times 4 table from Polit, designed by Gonçalo Campos, segments the storage space into four sections and always has one one quarter of the storage space exposed. I can see a small child enjoying spinning this table around, so it wouldn't work well for end users where that could cause a problem.

With West Elm's storage coffee table, one side lifts up to provide access to the storage area. It's not clear if there's any mechanism to ensure a child's fingers don't get caught as the table top comes down; if not, this might not be the right table for some parents.

The Rian Gullwing coffee table from Semigood Design has flip up lids, mounted with gas springs. This wouldn't be a good choice for end users who like to have things sitting out on their coffee tables, since the items would have to be removed every time the storage space was accessed.

While hidden storage has its advantages, some end users prefer visible storage. The Newton coffee table from Dovetail Furniture has three wire baskets which are removable—a nice touch.

The Tokyo Tribal collection from Industry+ includes a coffee table with a basket surrounding two of the legs. This seems like an awkward storage solution; the legs would interfere with storing some larger items, and bending down to get things from the basket would be difficult for some people. But it might store selected things just fine: a throw blanket and pet toys were the first two that came to my mind.


Why You Should Use Nails, Not Screws. Also, Why is This Nail Factory Covered in Vegetable Oil?

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When it comes to using metal fasteners in natural wood, you can either use nails or screws. The problem with screws is that they're too strong; as the wood swells or shrinks with changes in humidity, with one piece attempting to move across the surface of another, the wood can crack.

Nails have better flexibility and can bend as the wood moves. Problem solved, right? Not always: Modern-day nails, which are made from cut wire and have chisel points, can split the wood as you drive them in.

One solution is to blunt the tips of your nails. This way the nail is essentially wedging itself between the fibers of the wood, rather than cutting the fibers and introducing a split.

Image via Rich Watts

However, the perfectly cylindrical shape of a wire nail doesn't provide great purchase. But traditional wedge-shaped nails, which are forged or cut, will hold virtually forever.

That's why forged or cut nails have recently become all the rage among woodworkers. They're functional, traditional and have a quaint aesthetic. 

Recently there's been a bit of excitement in the community as Maine-based Lie-Nielsen Toolworks has announced they're going to start carrying forged nails from Rivierre, a French company that has been manufacturing nails since 1888—and still operates out of their original 19th-Century factory!

©-Thierry-Ewangelista

As Lost Art Press reports, company director Luc Kemp "is running the factory as it was in 1888 as much as possible." Check out their antique-but-functional production machinery, some of which have names:

©-Thierry-Ewangelista
©-Clouterie-Rivierre
©-Thierry-Ewangelista
We're guessing this is row "H."  ©-Thierry-Ewangelista

The factory was recently visited by Lie-Nielsen instructor Deneb Puchalski, who reported something I found rather interesting:

"It was incredible to walk through the building. All the machines are where they were in the 1890s and everything is completely covered in (vegetable) oil," Deneb says.

Why vegetable oil? Because Rivierre—which is France's last nail manufacturer, by the way—got their start by making nails for cobblers and upholsterers before expanding into nails for carpentry. Turns out the chosen work habits of their original target market have influenced how the company lubricates their machines:

Deneb says Rivierre uses [vegetable oil] because their upholstery and cobbler customers hold the nails in the mouth while working. So it's for safety.

I get the feeling that vaping American Millennial cobblers would prefer the machines were lubricated with strawberry-, butterscotch- or cotton-candy-flavored oils.

Via Lost Art Press

A Return to Glam and Embracing New Lighting Typologies at ICFF 2016

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At the 28th annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) over 35,000 attendees walked the show over the course of four days. This year the show expanded to a second floor that housed ICFF Schools, the Design Milk Pop-Up stand, Tokyo Design Week, Ho.MI Italian brands and Luxe Interiors to provide an interesting mix of custom and luxury interior objects with the experimental prototypes of students and emerging designers.

Our editors appreciated the return of the gilded age—ornate statement pieces for plush interiors glittered and gleamed on the tradeshow floor including Pelle's flowery sconces, Larose Guyon's chain-link chandeliers and Apparatus Studio's dramatic and masculine pendants. Lighting designers are starting to hit their stride, embracing the technological freedom of LEDs and OLEDs—we loved CoCa's Platypus OLED adjustable lamps, Luke Lamp Co's rope pendants and Jason Krugman Studio's sculptural LED chandeliers. Outdoor furniture finally gets its due attention—we look forward to a summer season on well-designed, functional furniture designed specifically for outdoor use.

This year's student work was outstanding as well—beyond the exploratory works of schools like Parsons and Philadelphia University, the industry collaborations from RISD x Kikkerland x Container Store, RIT x Poppin and SAIC x CB2 all resulted in student-designed products entering into the retail market. 

Anna Karlin
Made locally in New York, these chairs by Anna Karlin are made of an ebony stained hard maple and are completely hand carved.
Photo credit: Core77
Anna Karlin Stools
Karlin got her start a few years ago making these geometric stools, which come in a range of materials from turned wood to cold rolled steel.
Photo credit: Core77
Hollis & Morris
These stools by Hollis & Morris can be stacked in several wacky ways.
Photo credit: Core77
A Chair for the Garden
This chair by Opiary is made of steel coated with layers of recycled, resin fortified concrete.
Photo credit: Core77
Chandelier by Tight Rope
A "bomb" customizable chandelier by Tight Rope, a Brooklyn-based studio specializing in furniture and lighting.
Photo credit: Core77
Plywood Furniture by Kino Guérin
Extravagant explorations in wood lamination by Canadian designer Kino Guérin.
Photo credit: Core77
Plywood Furniture by Kino Guérin
Extravagant explorations in wood lamination by Canadian designer Kino Guérin.
Photo credit: Core77
Wilsonart Chair Competition x College of Creative Studies
This year, plastic laminate company Wilsonart teamed up with the College of Creative Studies in Detroit for their annual chair competition tradition. This chair made of concrete and laminate was inspired by geodes.
Photo credit: Core77
Wilsonart Chair Competition x College of Creative Studies
This piece called the "En Throne" was an expertly made piece laminated in an Yves Klein blue.
Photo credit: Core77
Wilsonart Chair Competition x College of Creative Studies
The winning chair by student Stephen Marchio was a wonderfully perplexing exploration in planes and geometry laminated using bold spring pastels.
Photo credit: Core77
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Contours Creates an Adult-Sized Stroller

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Years ago my neighbors had a baby boy. Shortly after he learned to talk, he repeatedly said something that terrified his parents: "My hands are bothering me." His hands were obviously causing him some distress or physical pain, so his folks took him to doctors for tests but they could find nothing. Because the child was too young to have a proper vocabulary, he could not articulate what type of pain he was feeling and the doctors didn't know what to look for.

Because infants cannot express themselves, parents must make decisions for them based on guesswork. One such decision is which stroller to buy, and whether it's actually comfortable for the baby. To address this, stroller manufacturer Contours created something funny, if a little silly: A scaled-up, adult-sized version of their stroller that allows parents to take it for a "test drive"—as a passenger.

With any luck someone will begin circulating this video, with the audio stripped out and absent any explanation, overseas. Then I can use Google Translate to read acerbic comments about the infantilization of the American adult.


Design Job: Product Design on Spin: Join Peloton Cycle as Their Next Sr. Industrial Designer in New York City

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This role is an opportunity to lead the industrial design language for an industry leading family of fitness products. You will lead cross-functional design of the hardware and user experience aspects of product development. You will work closely with our talented team of designers, product managers, engineers,

View the full design job here

Would Good Design Welcome Worms Into Your Home?

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Kitchen waste adds up fast, both at home and in landfills. But getting rid of food scraps without adding to a big problem requires living in a city with an advanced recycling system, or home composting… which usually requires a home with a yard. Marco Balsinha's Uroboros home vermicomposter might help space-constrained and aesthetics-aware people lessen their impact and make some excellent food for their plants.

The Uroboros design is the outcome of Balsinha's final thesis, finishing his Master in Product Design at the ESAD, Caldas da Rainha. It uses stacking pots which covertly hold a mix of dirt and food waste broken down faster with the help of worms, corked from below and capped on top by a planter that indicates the current level of decomposition. As Balsinha explains,

Uroboro is a modular system with 4 different pieces of red clay that can be extended by adding further pieces up without conditioning the mobility of earthworms throughout the whole system and it uses the properties of clay as a mediator of odour, moisture and temperature.

Indoor composting could be easy, but it's largely done outside the home for obvious reasons: it takes up space and it has the potential to smell. On the other hand, most existing indoor options look like gadgety, bulky, ominous breadmakers. The Uroboros system addresses both of these concerns and adds style with its vertical dual-purpose shape and smell-masking terracotta. 

This ancient material can be both glazed shut or breathable and porous, elements which have been used in innumerable household and production applications where it helps monitor the dampness (and limit the stink) within. 

Mmm, compost tea!

The multi-tier design is a particularly good fit for vermicomposting, where new scraps (a.k.a. fresh tasty worm food) can be added to the top, while an older batch of more finished compost rests below, before being removed and used. When well-filled, the open bottoms of the pots allow worms the freedom to move between the sections. The bottom stopper allows the collection of "compost tea," a composting byproduct that looks and sounds disgusting, but works like a supercharged energy drink for plants. 

The project was helped by mentoring professors José Frade and Luís Pessanha, and prototypes were tested with a variety of households to positive review. 

I can't say whether you'd feel fresh keeping it in your bedroom, but it could make a nice addition to a balcony... and help feed your greenery. 

Would you use a worm garden? 

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