Getting Closer to Downloadable Furniture

Design might not get any more practical or accessible than this.  The Swiss-based online furniture initiative known as Foldschool, allows one to download free plans of a foldable stool, chair, or rocker for the small set, and then construct the pieces at home, with self-sourced (i.e., recycled!) cardboard.  Led by architect/designer/bike messenger Nicola Enrico Stäubli, with some support from an IKEA foundation, the group clearly has sustainability as its primary tenet, as they proclaim “Mass culture is run by superficiality and ecological absurdity”,  and “The mindset of foldschool is to restore design to one of its original missions: to provide a product at an affordable price through a smart manufacturing process.” With this strong mission behind them, it’s no surprise that Foldschool has been getting so much attention within the green design and DIY world.

By streamlining their approach to the point that users can download and print design plans, and then construct usable furniture out of everyday cardboard, Stäubli and his team suggest what the future may have in store for contemporary design if viewed through a simpler lens.  To literally have all the tools at ones’ fingertips, means that we may someday have a more democratized manufacturing  process with less dependency on resource-sapping large-scale infrasctructure.  Some note that  widely available and affordable home-based CNC’s run by your PC, are not too far from reality, although if adopted, they too may raise their own set of questions.  Meanwhile, if you think you want to try your hand at one (or all) of their designs, go on over to Foldschool to download your plans today.  It will be interesting to see how this group evolves, and what products they may have in store for us in the future!

Shoe Production, DIY Style

It’s unclear what happened to this product that Patagonia was selling for a while. It’s a DIY (do-it-yourself) Shoe that you make or “produce” yourself when it arrives. Their focus was on sustainable production through the reuse of post-industrial waste. Patagonia’s “DIY Shoe” certainly addresses the desire to customize and the need to leave a minimal footprint on the Earth. The moccasin-type shoe used to sell for $30.00 on patagonia.com. At the time it was on the market some described it as a “distinctive and easy-to-assemble shoe, requiring no glue or tools, DIY shoes provide both maximum comfort and ample opportunity for personal expression.” The design of the shoe itself is not the most amazing we’ve seen but we do have to give them credit because it’s made from leftover factory scraps and all of the parts are easily separable, repairable, and replaceable if needed.

A 1930’s DIY Model-T With The Car Mileage of Today

This incredible story from ecomodder.com tells of a DIY aeromodding project from 1933 where a Ford Model T was redesigned with a custom fabricated teardrop body. The resulting car traveled at 70 miles per hour with its original engine while the original Model T only made it to 45. The streamlined car also got 38 miles per gallon while the original car was in the range of 25-30. Harry Stevinson who created the car, didn’t loose interest in automobile efficiency after the Model T. He was 17 when he created the aerodynamic Ford and in later years, equipped an Oldsmobile with a basic fuel economy meter to monitor gas consumption on the road.

For the full article of this amazing project visit metrompg.com.

Why Aren’t We All Driving Electric?

Imagine if we drove electric cars. Richard from Olympia, Washington did. He converted his 1975 VW Bug to electric. It goes up to 65 miles and hour and gets 40 miles to the charge. A blatant commentary on the pressing need for consumer electric vehicles. To listen to Tom Hanks talking about his electric car click here…