March 10, 2013

Table with rubber legs by Wout Wessemius

Filed under: Design by Branko Collin @ 12:27 pm

Wout Wessemius likes to use rubber in structures. His website showcases tables, chairs, sofas and even a log cabin made of rubber, or least covered with the stuff.

This table, called the Chapli, has two twisted rubber legs with a frame of steel and a wooden top. It is also available as a smaller model with a round top and one leg. Pricing seems to be unavailable, dimensions can be altered on demand.

According to House of Design, Wessemius sources a lot of his materials at the junk yard.

(Link: Trendhunter. Photo: Wout Wessemius)

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March 7, 2013

Trendy Ghanaian bikes, Dutch business savvy

Filed under: Bicycles,Design,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 10:31 am

The BlackStarBike has a unique bamboo frame that is ecologically sound and ‘as solid as steel’. The company has two secret weapons: bamboo from the West of Ghana and cactus fibres from the North, processed in an innovative way, giving the bikes their unique, woodsy look. As well, a large part of the profits from the sales of BlackStarBikes goes to craftspeople in Ghana.

During the years we lived and worked in Africa, one of the issues that kept us thinking is the lack of export of manufactured goods. Africa provides enormous amounts of raw materials, from crude oil to tea, cocoa and coffee, but what does Africa manufacture? Africa’s raw materials are shipped to western countries and to China, to be processed there. In other words, African countries are unable to enjoy the maximum of profits from their natural resources. The profits made by a Ghanaian farmer on a bag of cocoa beans are low, but the profits made by household chocolate brands, which contain those very same beans, are very high.

(Link: blackstarbikes.nl, Photo of BlackStarBike by Zapdelight, some rights reserved)

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February 26, 2013

From stuffy to cosy, a jail turned into a hotel

Filed under: Design by Orangemaster @ 2:59 pm

The Dutch have made hotels out of tree tents, quaint Dutch houses and even key cards. Now it was time to turn being stuck in a room into a real hotel experience.

Het Arresthuis in Roermond, Limgburg is a Dutch luxury hotel in a building that was a jail for more than 150 years. Guests at the hotel can stay in jail cells or, for a more luxurious experience, the warden’s quarters.

Part of the Van der Valk hotel chain, Het Arresthuis had been abandoned for years, but was reopened in 2002 as an emergency facility for ‘body stuffers’, people who smuggle hard drugs into the Netherlands by ingesting them.

(Link: laughingsquid.com, Photo by Ken Mayer, some rights reserved)

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February 21, 2013

Apple Macintosh pen holder as a 3D print

Filed under: Design by Orangemaster @ 5:00 am

Here is an old school Apple Macintosh computer as a 3D pixel art style pen holder for your desk, created by the Sevensheaven design studio. The back of it is the same as the front, with the iconic Mac features.

Some of us remember actually owning one of these computers or using them at school or at work.

(Link: www.shapeways.com, Photo by Sevensheaven)

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February 12, 2013

An original take on duvet covers for adults and children

Filed under: Design by Orangemaster @ 4:33 pm

Designed in Amsterdam and made in Portugal, SNURK (Dutch for ‘snore’) sells playful duvet covers for adults and children. Their first design was called Le Clochard (French for ‘homeless person’), which we wrote about a few years ago and features a print of a cardboard box, with close to 40% of the proceeds going to various European foundations that help homeless youngsters.

Their astronaut duvet cover aimed at boys and princess one aimed at girls are both on pre-order.

If I were still a little girl, I would have gone with the astronaut one, like in the picture. The idea that the company suggests girls should dream of a prince (passive), while boys have space ambitions (active) unfortunately makes me itch.

(Link: www.blessthisstuff.com)

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January 23, 2013

Have a break with chocolate but without WIFI access

Filed under: Design,Technology by Orangemaster @ 12:36 pm

An advertising campaign that builds on Kit Kat’s slogan ‘Have a break, have a Kit Kat’ features a place to sit and have a break that is WIFI free (‘Free no WIFI zone’). That’s right, no WIFI instead of the usual free WIFI, although ‘Free no WIFI zone’ sounds weird, evoking a ‘yes, we have no bananas’ grammar feel to it.

The red bench is right downtown Amsterdam on the Max Euweplein (Max Euwe Square), named after Dutch chess Grandmaster, Max Euwe. It’s also surrounded by a casino, a comedy club and more venues that cater to non-Dutch speaking tourists.

What is cool about this street furniture advertising campaign is that it actually blocks WIFI signals within a 5-metre radius. I will test it next time I am downtown and report back.

UPDATE On Jan 31 I went to see if it was there and it had gone.

(Link: www.amsterdamadblog.com, Photo of Kit kat by Jexweber.fotos, some rights reserved)

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January 22, 2013

Building to be built using a 3D printer

Filed under: Design,Technology by Orangemaster @ 10:36 am

Designed by Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars of Universe Architecture in Amsterdam, this möbius strip of a house, has a ‘coiled, acrobatic form, with double-curved walls and twisting floor plates, which could be impossible to build using conventional concrete construction methods’. However, Ruijssenaars says he could build or in any case theoretically build his home using a 3D printer.

Created for the European design competition, which highlights the work of young designers, the ‘Landscape House’ was designed by Ruijssenaars with the help of artist and mathematician Rinus Roelofs, and could be built as early 2014.

(Links and photo: www.architizer.com, techcrunch.com)

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January 18, 2013

Bird house built into roof tile

Filed under: Animals,Design by Orangemaster @ 9:57 am

In an effort to help solve the shrinking bird population in urban areas, Dutch designer Klaas Kuiken collaborated with the Netherlands Society for Protection of Birds (Vogelbescherming) to create the Birdhouse Roof Tile.

The ‘Birdhouse Roof Tile’ was designed to provide more nesting places for birds in the city. Since birds often look to nest within the roofs of houses, Kuiken attached an archetypal birdhouse onto a standard roof tile.

(Link: enpundit.com, Photo by Klaas Kuiken)

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January 12, 2013

Transparent trash bag for reusable garbage

Filed under: Design by Branko Collin @ 11:35 am

Have you ever hesitated to throw something in the trash because although you personally no longer had any use for it, it was still usable?

The incentive prize of the 2010 Dutch Design Awards was won by Waarmaker’s Simon Akkaya and his Goedzak, a transparent bag that you can use to put usable things out with the rest of the trash. Since it is transparent and has a bright yellow band, it should immediately draw the attention of any passer-by.

Not that lack of attention seems to be that much of a problem. In my experience when I have to throw away something like an old keyboard or tennis racket I just wait for a dry night and then put it out in the street by itself. The good stuff gets picked up in no time.

The name Goedzak, literally ‘good bag’, is a pun because it also means ‘kindly person’.

(Photo: degoedzak.nl. Link: Bright and Pop-Up City)

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December 29, 2012

Rocker switch bench by HIK Ontwerpers

Filed under: Design by Branko Collin @ 10:19 pm

This playful bench was designed and developed by HIK Ontwerpers from Utrecht, the same people that gave you the slide for grown-ups outside the Overvecht railway station.

It is called Zet Die Knop Om, which means Press That Switch, and it actually emits light when you turn it on. Check that website to see the effect.

It was built in 2008, but I have no idea if it is actually in use somewhere.

(Link: Pop-Up City. Photo: HIK Ontwerpers.)

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