15 November 2011

Bite, Pook and Match Munchers on Nspired

Nspired has just gone live and three of my designs are currently up for voting. With enough votes they have a chance to make it into production as part of the Nspired range. You can vote for them here and If you do it'll make my day. Thanks!

11 October 2011

Wowzers!

Yesterday I sent a little email to swissmiss (one of my favorite design blogs) about some little buttons I'd made. I thought if I was lucky it would get posted and generate a few sales. Well it did get posted, and it certainly has generated some sales! Lets just say it looks like I've got a long weekend ahead of me packing and posting. It's also been posted on a number of other sites and the orders seem to still be coming. All I can really say is thank you swissmiss and thank you internet :)

10 October 2011

New Work - Little Red Sled, Match Muncher, Mr Button & Handy Ruler

I recently added four new designs to my website, two of which are available to buy in the shop. The 'Handy Ruler' and 'Mr Buttons' are two simple little pieces that I've produced myself. They're fun little items and not to be taken too seriously. The 'Match Muncher' is a product I made last year as Christmas presents for friends and family and I hope to produce some more of these for sale in the future. The 'Little Red Sled' was also developed last year. Fingers crossed for lots of snow soon!

1 October 2011

Josh Vogel


This film about wood turner Josh Vogel is not only interesting but beautifully shot by The Scout.

City Cottage by Verstas Architects


To me this 'City Cottage' located in Helsinki is a beautiful example of micro architecture. I could quite happily live here (with the addition of a workshop). Well done Verstas Architects.

via designboom

How to make a vinyl record

Recently I've been getting into vinyl again. There's something about listening to an LP with a hint of crackle and pop that can't be beaten. I even like having to flip it over half way through. It's like taking a half time break during a football match. After doing a little googling I found this great article and audio slideshow about the vinyl factory in Hayes, Middlesex, the last major plant in the UK that presses about 25,000 records a week. Great stuff.

Interactive Robotic Painting Machine


This Interactive CNC Robotic Painting Machine blew my mind. The thing I find amazing is how the g-code that controls the machine is generated by audio input? Top skills Ben Grosser.

London Design Festival


I Had a great time at the London Design Festival last weekend. Taking a good look around and getting very inspired. Suzie Hogan's film on Vimeo sums up the design festival brilliantly.

12 September 2011

Mixcloud


As well as design, another great passion of mine is music. I recently joined Mixcloud and have been enjoying listening to some amazing mixes as well as adding some of my own. Mixcloud is a great way to discover new music and keep in touch with some of your favorite DJs and labels.

8 September 2011

40 year old CGI


I found this pretty impressive. I can't quite believe it was done in 1972. Imagine what another 40 years will bring!

WikiHouse CNC Home

WikiHouse sounds like a great idea to me. It's idea is open source house construction based on CNC routed 18mm plywood. This is a method of construction that I'm pretty familiar with from my day job. I'd be interested to see how some large structures are built using this method and what the costs are compared to traditional methods. I'll be keeping a close eye on this one.

via Ponoko

Lego Camper Van

Two of my favorite things combined. Available from the Lego shop in October.

5 September 2011

Clients From Hell




If you have a spare few minutes I thoroughly recommend reading some of the posts on Clients From Hell.

The Making of 'Aufschwung'

 
The other day I stumbled across the website of Heavy Industries who specialize in large scale installations. One of their recent projects was Inges Idee's 'Aufschwun', A spiraling extruded cherub sculpture. Having worked on a number of public art pieces it was great to see behind the scenes of just how this thing was made. Link

4 September 2011

See No Evil

 

72 artists, lots of buildings, a bridge, 6 mega cranes, 326 metres of street, 26 scaffold towers, 325 litres of emulsion & 13,400 cans of paint. Good old Bristol!

The Art of Craft: The rise of the Designer-Maker

Yet another great article on the Guardian website. Link

Andrew Ainsworth aka Mr Stormtrooper



Andrew Ainsworth is a Model Maker who recently won a court battle against Lucasfilm to continue to produce Star Wars helmets using the tools he made to produce the originals for the films. His YouTube channel goes into great detail to show you how these are made. Although this is probably quite dull for most people I found it amazing how every piece is a relatively simple vacformed part. Great work.

via core77

Stanislaw Ploski's Bonobo Bike


Something about this bike really made me stop and look. It seems like there are a lot of wooden bikes beeing designed at the moment but this one really does look great. I just hope it would be able to put up with the stresses and strains of everyday use.


Photofly 2.0 3D Scanning

 

A bit of a dodgy video but an amazing tool for reverse engineering and 3D scanning. Link

via ponokoblog

Touch Wood Forest Xylophone

 

One of the best adverts I've seen in a long time. Lovely stuff

Design & Thinking Film

 

It looks like Design & Thinking has reached it's funding goal on Kickstarter. I look forward to watching this in full when it's finished. Great stuff. 

via core77

Jaime Hayón on Dezeen Screen



It's always nice to hear a designer talking about his own work.

via dezeenscreen

D*Face Pool Painting

 

What a great idea.

Via notcot

Claus Mølgaard


It is often the technical aspects of making a design work that are the hardest things to get right. This is where Claus Mølgaard comes in. Take a look at some of the work he has done with top designers to help them make their ideas a reality. Link

3D Printed Chocolate

 

3D printed chocolate anyone?

Nomad by 1/100

I'm loving this disco caravan that was installed into the gardens of the Quai Branly Museum in Paris earlier this year by Swiss architecture firm 1/100.

via dezeen

3 July 2011

RIP Habitat

It was a bit of a shock when I heard this week that British design retailer Habitiat is to close down. More information can be read hear

ShapeOko CNC machine

 
The ShapeOko is a desktop CNC machine that is completely open source and designed to be build for $300. Although it is clearly intended for small parts this would be a great tool for model making with a Dremel attachment or a cutting blade for vinyl work. I'll be keeping a close eye on this!

Melvin the magical mixed media machine


I love this.

Why has everything gone grey?

Another great article on The Guardian design site. Link

Hendzel + Hunt 24hr Design Challenge

 
This is a great little film about 18 Designers and Makers, 5 Teams, 24 Hours and 1 Epic Design Challenge. Great stuff!

The Legotron

The Legotron was built by photographer Cary Norton and produces some stunning shots. It has a focus range of 3' to 18" and looks amazing!

via Make

12 June 2011

Close, but no cigar

I was thrilled when I found out that my 'Knot Handle' had been shortlisted from over 6,000 entrants in Designbooms 'Hands on door handles' competition. My design received some mixed comments but was always intended to be a bit tongue-in-cheek! The winning designs were all very worthy and I particularly liked the cool minimalism of Alexander Hoffart's 'Grow' design.

Sylvester in the wild

These photos were posted up on the Suck UK Facebook page back in April. They absolutely made my day. Fantastic!

Designs for life won't make you a living

  
There are some sad but true facts in Justin McGuirk's recent article on the guardian website. This is really worth a read. Link
    

What is a Designer?


In my mind Michael DiTullo's components of a designer is spot on!


via Core77

In Defense of Delight

    
Three cheers for delight! A great article by Ingrid Fetell over at Core77. Link
  

Jens Risom’s Prefab House

One day I'd like to build a house like this. Link

Etsy on Vimeo



Etsy has a great video channel on Vimeo. Their Handmade Portraits films are beautifully shot and give you a great insight into some of its users. Lovely stuff! Link

Louise Campbell

If you have the time I thoroughly recommend watching this interview with designer Louise Campbell on the dwell website. It's a great insight into here studio in Copenhagen.

via ponoko

From the desk of.....

Having a good nose at where and how people work is great. From the desk of... has a really impressive catalog of images and write ups from some top creative folk.