Much of Tamara Rushlow’s work is in commercial and residential interior design as well as buildings sets for various t.v. commercials and music videos. But the Canadian based designer has also created a series of objects with a certain flair likely influenced from her time at Scuola Politecica di Design pursuing her Masters of Industrial Design. From an inflatable laptop bag to a flexible wall light, her designs take contemporary construction means to glamourous ends.

The pendants on the left were made from laser-cut powder coated metal. Her table lamps are plywood with gloss veneers, and the wall lamp is made from Japanese paper and styrene. For more style from Tamara Rushlow, visit the website.

Eco-friendly rectangles of resin, strands of squares made from shell, and bands of bamboo and walnut are used to create the distinctive, custom lighting fixtures by Vancouver studio Propellor Design. The three members of Propellor state that they are a multidisciplinary group “open to almost any project that challenges us to create objects and experiences that are useful, beautiful and sustainable.”

Ponoko users can take inspiration from how these designs use multiple planer elements to fill or enclose a space which, as a whole, creates the 3D objects. Propellor Design also has several table designs on view at their site.

Shadows of intricate geometric patterns are cast across the room by the lighting designs of German designer Peter Buning. These lamp screens create ceiling medallions of light. Sha-Do has patterns that range from delicate, lace doilies and traditional quatrefoils to tribal starbursts and concentric mazes.

There is also a series of illuminated canvases that feature both geometric and organic motifs.

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Made almost entirely of cardboard and paper by local artists, the sprawling and lively Exquisite City presents a fantasy metropolis from impressions, interpretations, and imaginings inspired by the city of Chicago. After a stint at the Viaduct Theater, the exhibit is now on display at the Chicago Tourism Center until 15 March.

In an interview with Chicago Decider, curator Kathleen Judge explains how the idea came about six years ago between herself and musician friend Neko Case. Kathleen says “I keep coming back to Chicago. I keep leaving, but coming back. Chicago has so much local history that has stayed here. There’s an element of textures—the rust, the brick, the space. There’s a certain space to the Midwest.”

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More butterflies here at Ponoko. Love Eco has a great little series of handcut felt lampshades available in a range of colors and prices. (Speaking of, don’t forget that Ponoko is now offering more colors in felt for your own designs!)

Love Eco is a Britain based online store that sells eco-friendly, minimally packaged clothing, beauty, jewelry and housewares. You can search products based on those categories or by ranges: fairtrade, organic, and recycled.

To order and browse more lovely eco-friendly items, visit Love Eco. (international orders okay)

Vanilla Design, AKA Brent Wilson, previously mentioned on the Ponoko blog for his sweet little flat pack juicer has come up with another elegant fruit based design with his Objectify Bowl.

Or if you are looking for something a little more ornate, check out his Butterfly Bowl which takes the original design in another direction. This is a great example how reworking a concept slightly can give it a whole new flavor.

Nice work.

For those of you who are now selling your designs in your very own Ponoko store, or if you are a potential Ponoko ID designer, there is a great article on the Wired website where they gave Ponoko ID a test run.

What They Wanted
A table with a gutter to catch raining Jenga blocks. We said we’d pay up to $300.

What They Got
A table with a nifty magnetic handle to pop open compartment lids. “You can also use the space to store cards and other games,” designer Simon Beard says. Cost $210 (bargain)

The article had a second component where the interns who were charged with assembling the product gave a quick Q&A session on their experience, from the customers angle. This is especially revealing as it gives us some free user testing of the assembly process for potential customers. It is always easy to assume that the end user will know how to assemble, and even use our designs as we often invest so much time and attention into the design process we know the product backwards and think it is obvious.

So next time you design a product, put yourself in the end users shoes, or better yet, give it to a friend, parent or grand parent to assemble and watch them try and put it together without any verbal instructions or guidance. Once you see what they struggle with you can draw up simple step by step instructions just like Ikea do, with part numbers, fasteners needed and an image of the end product.

This can be done with a series of drawings, or a step by step series of photographs of your grand mother putting it all together.

Also congrats to Flight of Ideas for winning the gig

French design firm ATYPYK have been developing a massive range of quirky objects over the past 9 years.
A simple design which could have easily been produced using Ponoko is the Gangster Ruler.

Check out their site with their bewildering array of designs. IVAN DUVAL & JEAN SEBASTIEN IDES are prolific to say the least.

oh yeah. according to their site.

IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT ATYPYK :

ATYPYK IS NOT THE BEST TO EXPLAIN ATYPYK
ATYPYK IS NOT A BOYS BAND
ATYPYK SOUNDS GREEK, BUT IS ACTUALLY FRENCH
ATYPYK IS FULL OF SPELLING MISTAKES
ATYPYK IS NOT A FAMILY BUSINESS
ATYPYK IS A FRIENDLY BUSINESS
ATYPYK HAS NO MARKETING DEPARTMENT
ATYPYK HAS NO SALES DEPARTMENT
NO BIG SURPRISE THAT YOU NEVER HEARD ABOUT US THEN
ATYPYK ENJOYS MAKING COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY THINGS
ATYPYK IS MUCH YOUNGER THAN YOU ARE
ATYPYK PRODUCTS ARE NOT FREE
ATYPYK CAN’T QUIT SMOKING
ATYPYK DOES NOT COMPETE WITH IKEA
ATYPYK THINKS THAT HUMANS ARE WONDERFUL (SOMETIMES)
ATYPYK WILL ALWAYS TELL NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH
ATYPYK PRODUCTS CONTAINS SMALL PARTS DANGEROUS FOR CHILDREN
ATYPYK PROMISE A LOT, BUT CAN’T GUARANTY ANYTHING
ATYPYK PRODUCTS ARE NOT MADE IN CHINA
ATYPYK IS NOT SPYCHIC
ATYPYK IS NOT TYPICAL
EVRYBODY DOES EVERYTHING AT ATYPYK
ATYPYK DOES NOT USE DRUGS TO COME UP WITH IDEAS
ATYPYK DRINK TOO LITTLE WATER DURING THE DAY
ATYPYK MAY CONSIDER ACCEPT MONEY FROM STANGERS
ATYPYK IS GOOD FOR YOUR MENTAL HEALTH
YOU’RE GOOD FOR ATYPYK’S HEALTH
ATYPYK PRODUCTS MAY BE ADDICTIVE
ATYPYK MAKES SMALL AND BIG MISTAKES
ATYPYK LEARNS SLOWLY BUT SURELY
ATYPYK WON’T SOLVE ANY WORLD PROBLEMS
ATYPYK LOVES TO WORK
ATYPYK KILLS FLIES (SORRY)
ATYPYK NEVER SAYS NEVER
ATYPYK NEVER EATS CAT FOOD
ATYPYK NEVER SKIPS HOLLYDAYS
ATYPYK DOES THINGS WITH PLEASURE
ATYPYK DOES NOT HAVE THE KEY TO SUCCESS
ATYPYK IS NOT SMART ENOUGH TO STEAL IDEAS
ATYPYK GETS DISTURB BY TOO MUCH COMPLIMENTS BUT LIKES IT ANYWAY
BELIEVE IT OR NOT ATYPYK LOVES HAPPY ENDS

Fair enough.

Via Trendhunter

{ What had started as a small-scale craft-oriented production of experimental projects traced by his pencil very soon proved to be an opportunity to make objects using technologies on the margins of industrial production, but treated within the logic of series. }

Talking about Produzione Privata, the network of design and craft workshops founded by worldly architect Michele De Lucchi. Traditional crafts are practiced by local artisans at the various facilities for producing works in ceramic, glass, metal, marble, wood, and most recently fabric. These skills are paired with contemporary manufacturing techniques to realize the design visions of De Lucchi. Many of the projects in the Produzione Privata catalog are lighting designs.

I think his designs are beautiful, but what I like even more are his wonderful sketches. I wrote before of my Industrial Design sketch-envy, so it’s nice to see product designs rendered loosely in watercolors, colored pencils and paint. Even the navigation at the site is made of little pen sketches.

Using thermochromatic ink, which changes color when the temperature exceeds a specific degree, designer Josien Pieters created a prototype of a dynamic wallpaper that unobtrusively conveys the agenda of its user on the wall.

The idea is not to explicitly visualize your agenda for the week, but rather to provide you with an impression of your upcoming plans. Each yellow element represents an hour of the upcoming week. Dependent on the events you have scheduled in your agenda, the purple elements will lit up.

When looking at this wallpaper you will get an overview of how busy you are during the week. This way the wall decoration gives you the opportunity to create anticipatory pleasure, in addition it can be a great mnemonic device to help you remember important events. Since the data is being presented in an abstract way, other people will only perceive it as decoration.

Via Next Nature