As best as we can make out from the myriad stories doing the rounds, the environmental group Planet Ark were about to announce a new campaign next week, in partnership with Philips. It was to be called Ban the Bulb. But the new federal Environment minister, Malcolm Turnbull, stole their thunder (and, it seems, their idea) by announcing today that incandescent light bulbs were to get the flick (as the newspapers are headlining the move). The government are claiming it as a world first, (for a nation maybe, but as we reported, California recently suggested a similar move for that state — which has almost double the population of Australia, as it happens). The minister reckons it should save 800,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions during the three year phase-out period, with an annual emission reduction of 4 million tonnes by 2015. Incandescents will be banned by legislation in about 2009-10, though some special needs, such as medical use, may receive dispensation. Of course, the replacement lighting offering these savings will be compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). Though we imagine the LED guys will seize the opportunity too. An interesting stat that came out with all this, was that globally lighting is equal in emission contribution to about 70% of the world’s passenger vehicles. Which should remind us that turning off lights when a room is vacant also helps too, even better than using CFLs. ::Department of Environment Press Release (PDF), via ABC, SMH and the Australian.
Kinky Form is a limited edition furniture series where simple furniture icons are adorned with graphic prints. The Kinky Chair, showcased above, is the latest collaboration.
The Thai architect and product designer Singh Intrachooto has created a beautiful series of furniture using scraps of teak wood. The wood is sourced from reclaimed trees uprooted to build roads and from off cuts of wood left over from Intrachooto’s architectural projects. His company Osisu Design launched three collections last year called Lini, Lami and Tilee. The two pieces shown above illustrate how different off cuts are used in different ways to influence the form and pattern of the furniture. The Chairwalker, from the Lini collection, uses off cut strips, while the seat of the TT bench, from the Tilee collection, is made from the smallest off cuts, showing how even the tiniest pieces can be reused. In an interview with Three Layer Cake last year Singh Intrachooto talked about his commitment to environmentally concious design, but also expressed the challenges he faces in his work:
efplighting.com is a very useful and informative resource for learning the craft of lighting. Newly-launched, they are currently featuring tutorials on how to light people, with room and food/product lighting tutorials to follow.
The tutorials are top-notch, with a number of high-quality images that show both the setup/gear and the finished product. Each step is broken [...]
Lethal injection is the most recent attempt to find a way to transport condemned inmates from life to death in a manner that does not offend our civilized sensibilities. Over the past 100 years, states have chosen from, and discarded, as many as five execution techniques. As a dominant method, the noose has been replaced by the electric chair and the electric chair by lethal injection. Some states also cycled through the firing squad and lethal gas (all five methods still remain options in one state or another). Each change in technique was based on the notion that the new method would be better — more dignified, less gruesome — and in some ways each has been. Nooses, if the drop is too short, can leave bodies twitching for up to 45 minutes, and if the drop is too long, as it was for Saddam Hussein’s half brother, the condemned can fall with so much force that his head is ripped off. Firing squads are considered too violent. Lethal gas takes too long; the 1992 lethal-gas execution of Donald Harding in Arizona was so long — 11 minutes — and so grotesque that the attorney general threw up and the warden threatened to quit if he were required to execute someone by gas again. The electric chair often results in horrible odors and burns; in Florida, in the 1990s, at least two inmates heads’ caught fire, and the chair routinely left the condemned’s body so thoroughly cooked that officials had to let the corpse cool before it could be removed.
What a great chair - The ends of this accordion-like chair appear to be made from wood and the middle parts corrugated cardboard or perhaps thinner slices of wood. Might be worth playing around with some materials to see if it can be remade, for small apartments this chair/couch looks perfect.
Graffiti Writing to Guerrilla Lighting, yes it seems everyones a rebel these days, even the director of BDP lighting, Martin Luptn who has assembled a crack team of local lighting designers, architects, interior designers and manufacturers, all of whom are keen to draw attention to the possibilities, and importance of, lighting in the urban environment.
Under the guidance of a team leader, each member will take part in creating transient lighting designs by using high powered torches, battery powered LED projectors, luminous dot lights and an array of gels and filters. Instructed to be in a specific position and at a given distance from their target, the teams will simultaneously light up various aspects of the Pool of London’s architecture on cue at the sound of an air horn, creating a dramatic spectacle. The installation will photographed, the lighting turned off and then the team move on to the next site. It has been organised as part of Switched ON London which is a seven night celebration of the relationship between light, architecture and the city consisting of temporary lighting installations and a series of light related events with an overall concept theme of ‘theatre’. London’s first festival of light is currently running from the 8th to the 16th February. More details on the other installations to come…
Since this is blinky ALERT LEVEL RED week, we’re giving everyone a special treat from the pages of CRAFT - Here’s how to make an LED shirt, you could make just about design and pattern, you know like an Aqua Teen Hunger Force LED Ignignokt Mooninite. In fact, if you make one and you’re the first, we’ll give something awesome from the Maker store!
We know that by adding just a ‘lil bit of simple technology to your sewing skills, it will be worth in the end when your lighting up the streets with your cool wares. Featured in CRAFT: 01 was the “The Electric Tank Top” where you can make a fashionable tank with any pattern you wish.
Fashion designer Diana Eng has a tutorial up on Gizmodo with a close up view of how to sew LEDs into your clothing. Link.
Designer Syuzi Pakhchyan of Sparklab taught one of the top workshops at our Maker Faire last year on how to make her Wearable Light Bracelet. Here’s the PDF of her project so you can make one for yourself. Link.
This beautiful and functional chair is made by a Cornwall-based group of design school graduates who were determined to keep on working together. They transform wood into sculptural objects by using a unique steam technique that bends it into 3D shapes. Steam bending has been around for a long time, however the designers have adapted the machines and the process so that they could twist the wood into more complex and creative shapes using their own ideas. They use locally sourced, unseasoned (green) timber. Because they want to be ethically and environmentally responsible, the wood is from renewable sources and there are no resins or sealants used. All of the work is done in their studio so that they have complete quality control over the furniture and other products. They also make curly lampshades and chandeliers which look luminous when the light comes through the natural grain. A tree seat was made by bending the wood around the limbs of the tree. Watch out for them, they have already won the Laurent-Perrier Design Award and are showing in The London Design Festival. :: Sixixis via :: Vogue Magazine
Have a Seat is a very simple and generous gesture towards reclaiming public space in Williamsburg (Brooklyn). During the night the artist affixed a dozen “seats” to the “no parking” and “stop” sign posts implanted in the sidewalk (map of the seats).
In the city, the street should be a destination in itself. Many people use the street to get from one place to another, but it is an invaluable arena for immediate interaction. Instead of walking to a park or other zone calculated for relaxation, Have a Seat serves those people who want to pause amidst action for a direct perspective on the momentum of the city. The seat is a signal at the scale of the human body in a city of buildings that consume space and light at the expense of pedestrians who are swept forward by wind tunnels in the shadow of skyscrapers. Unlike monuments that overpower people in scale and pretension, these wooden chairs wait to be used by a single body on the street.
Caroline explained me the other night that she had installed such seats in other neighbourhood over the past few years. They are not “legal”, yet it takes usually 6 months before the authorities decide that the seats have to be removed. In a past experiment, she had installed seat at high levels, you had to climb steps to reach the seat and get an overview of the street, these seats were rather quickly damaged but low seats, like the one she installed in Brooklyn for Conflux, seem to be appreciated and respected by passersby.
The guys at MIO have done it again. We’ve mentioned their lighting and seating before, and covered an earlier version of their 3-D wallpaper way back in 2004; the latest version builds on their previous designs. The Acoustic Weave is designed to diffuse sound, reduce acoustic glare and eliminate standing waves; add to that it’s green credentials (100% recycled and recyclable paper made in closed-loop manufacturing from locally sourced materials) and you’ve got a great way to spruce up any room, TreeHugger style. The tiles can be installed temporarily with double stick tape or permanently with wallpaper paste, and can be painted or colored. $30 gets you a dozen tiles. ::MIOculture via ::Core77
Notwithstanding the Compact Flourescent Love-in going on, we have always considered them an interim technology, soon to be replaced by even more efficient, completely mercury free and longer lasting LED’s. the Mule LEDison bulbs screw into a standard (Edison) base, but replace a 60 watt bulb with a 100,000 hour life bulb that consumes, get this, one watt. We suspect they are really expensive but that will change and when it does, CFL’s are toast. ::Mule via ::ecogeek
attractive décor and utilitarian products . Uniquely among decor suppliers to the green building trade, Tropical Salvage provides up front narrative details and photos of their materials sourcing practices. “Tropical Salvage applies three principal wood salvage strategies. We reclaim wood from DEMOLITION SITES where old buildings, houses or bridges have been razed. We salvage still standing but dead trees from areas where FOREST FIRES have destroyed forests, burning everything to ash except the biggest, densest trees. And, unique to Tropical Salvage alone, we MINE TREES from beneath the ground, where for centuries entire forests have laid buried by the consequences of volcanic eruptions”. This communication openness leaves TreeHuggers an opportunity to think about meaning instead of just ask probing, loaded technical questions. Good job TS. And please take our ruminations as a compliment.
Seed’s ‘Plug’ uses paper tubes and plywood frames to create a chair / couch system that is easy to assemble since it does not require any tools to build.
The paper tubes are recycled, fireproof and easily replaceable if damaged. The chairs can also be linked to create really long couches.
This is smart: recycle a bathtub into an outdoor armchair by slicing it in half and bolting the halves together, or do the same thing but lengthwise to make a weatherproof sofa.
The guys at PS Lab guys sent me a note about their newest creation, the Chairbag (or ch-AIRBAG). It’s something of a cross between a beanbag and a regular chair, but “inspired by the roughness of a good-looking buoy.” It’s waterproof and thus suitable for indoor or outdoor use. And since it’s filled with air, it’s also portable.
La Evolución provides an exceptional lighting experience to enhance the ambience of a living or work space. These wall-mounted light panels measuring 50×50 cms can be used as single units or can be clustered together to create a striking strip of light. The panels are available in primary basic colours or bearing works of contemporary artists, designers and photographer to create distinctive panels. The light panels are hand-moulded and the surface is polished crystal-clear composite resin.
The green fingered designer Julian Lwin is back with another fertile creation. Those of you who are familiar with his Galapagos Table and Urban Oasis will know that Lwin’s designs grow on you quite literally! This time he has created a bench from recycled cardboard cylinders which are embedded with seeds using a cellulose liquid. This seems a lovely idea, reminiscent of the cardboard grass chair which can be assembled and then planted with grass seeds so you can watch it grow. However, the grass chair appears rather more durable than the Biotube bench. Inhabitat tells us that this bench is designed specifically to biodegrade into ‘a rich mulch layer’ and turn into an ‘instant garden.’ As writer Sarah Rich says, ‘What is this thing going to look like in 6 months, while it is in the process of bio-degrading?’
this week has been a blur of fabulous (and some not-so-fabulous) design. with icff, sideshows and the stationery show, we’ve all been inundated with some really fantastic new furniture, lighting, stationery and accessories. today will be my final icff highlights, but if you’re looking for some more icff coverage, be sure to check out apartment therapy and mocoloco. they’ve already got some galleries and interviews going, so you’re sure to get your icff fix between the three of us. so, the last throws of icff! [the lamp above is by designer jed crystal]
[d*s tour member katrika designed the pda/scanner device all the booths used to scan industry creds. go, katrika!]
[designer piet houtenbos at modernlink was on FIRE with crazy cool furniture designs. his pieces were all about public versus private storage. everything had a beautiful hidden storage departments or shelves that slid out of nowhere to reveal even more hidden storage. very handy and beautifully crafted. video from this booth to come]
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