Now that buildings have been wrapped in soft materials for years, BMW is proposing that cars could replace their bulky bodies with stretchy fabric – with a lot of elegant consequences for those pesky door lines, headlights – not to mention the entire vehicle could now act as an airbag.
Category Archives: soft/glowing
open threads 3
Burdastyle is an open-source sewing resource where members upload patterns and visitors can consult instructional references (below) or download pdf patterns (above). By providing instructions for how to sew at the same time as open source ‘code’ for what to sew the site is a real open source free fashion resource. As with free software, […]
Also posted in blogogracy, customization, fabrication, fashion, free & open, futurecraft, materials, open objects, product design, universal design
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open threads 2
The concept of making source code Open Source typically refers to opaque products whose construction cannot be discerned from their appearance – but even seemingly transparent products, such as buildings or clothes, hide a code of their own. The project Hacking Couture seeks out the hidden aesthetic code and its history in order to liberate […]
Also posted in customization, fabrication, fashion, free & open, futurecraft, open objects, product design, upcycling
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open source threads
We’ve seen do-it-yourself kits for wearable technology; now Studio 5050 has released the first open-source modular wearable technology collection, a series of hardware components that can be used to create computational clothes such as the temperature sweater which contains a discrete luminous numerical display in its cuff (pictured below), the masai dress which generates music […]
Also posted in customization, fabrication, fashion, futurecraft, open objects, product design
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mesh and re-mesh
A the Lexus installation at the Salone del Mobile there was an interesting installation about generation of mesh structures which provided hints for their eventual re-generation and re-use. The chair above was manufactured using a 3D printer from 2kg of fused Nylon powder. As part of the exhibition a series of models depicted how the […]
Also posted in customization, energy, environment, fabrication, furniture, futurecraft, materials, product design, upcycling
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media wallet
Another find from Last week’s Designersblock: these wallets made from old cassettes split in half, gutted and joined with a zipper (by Marcella Foschi). She also authored these brilliant chandeliers made from tank tops:
Also posted in environment, fabrication, product design, upcycling
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light blocks
Yesterday at the Salone Satellite in Milano in the taro & sarah booth I was struck by this modular lamp: you can add polyhedral modules in any direction to change the shape and brightness of the chandelier in crystalline fashion. Each module is made of folded translucent plastic with magnetic contacts acting as both structure […]
Also posted in customization, fabrication, product design
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recording elegance
HARUO OBA presented “special moments” today at CHI 2008 – two brilliant tangible recording interfaces mapped to physical phenomena. The BOOK RECORDER consists of two clips – one in the shape of an owl and the other in the shape of the moon – placed on the front and back covers of a child’s book. […]
Also posted in children, product design, tangible
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