3D Signage ala Ponoko
I always love to see the diversity of designs that are realized via Ponoko’s services, especially when the designers/users share their experiences on site such as Make, Instructables or on their own blogs.
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Congratulations Daniel Reetz
Epilog Laser, Instructables and Ponoko are pleased to announce Daniel Reetz, Fargo, N.D., is the grand-prize winner in the Epilog Challenge. Reetz will receive a new Zing 16 Laser engraving/cutting system for his innovative and eco-friendly DIY High-Speed Book Scanner from Trash and Cheap Cameras. Reetz’s winning instructable was one of 478 entries in the Epilog Challenge.
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Detail of an ‘Oasis in a Corn Desert’ by Min|Day
The Lake Cabinet by Min|Day is the primary built feature in the master bedroom of a vacation house on a lake in rural Iowa. The Lake Cabinet challenges the modernist notion of the detail as the expression of a joint {between two or more elements}. The piece is essentially a storage cabinet lifted 12″ above the floor. The architect studied the form of water ripples from several photographs of the lake. From these they developed a range of parameters for a computer animation of the behavior and interference of rippling water. The result is a massive cabinet with a surprisingly supple surface quality.
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And what you can give is … a higher level of service.
Recently we did a bit more thinking about how we should use Twitter. And we decided to use it for providing a higher level of service.
At the start it was tough to know whether were on the right track – until a customer sent us this email …
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On 22/04/2009, at 7:14 AM, Tom McNamee wrote:
Gentlemen:
I’m writing to inform you of a rather extraordinary customer service case handled by Ponoko’s Josh Judkins. Late at night, I wanted to check on my first order to Ponoko, worth about US$ 80. All I had was my iPhone, and I quickly found that I could not log in using it. Nor could I use your ‘contact us’ form. So, being more than a bit petty about it, I bitched via Twitter to my friends, in general about the usability problem, but I did mention @Ponoko. Mr. Judkins got involved a few hours later.
I had heard that some US ISP’s and cable companies monitored Twitter, but I had no direct evidence that it was part of anybody’s CS program. So imagine my surprise when Mr. Judkins got involved:
1. He apologized for the lack of iPhone support, and indicated it was being considered for the future.
2. He did some research and found my name, then found my Ponoko order (#12377). Keep in mind I had not said anything about even having an order.
3. He checked my order status and found I had made mistakes on my CAD input.
4. He corrected the mistakes and resubmitted the job.
5. His corrections simplified the design, so he indicated that I was due a refund and said he had started that process.
He did not, however, fly to the US, knock on my door, and personally apologize. As you might expect, I find this inexcusable.
I hope you will take the appropriate action with Mr. Judkins, who, if allowed to continue unchecked, just might earn Ponoko the reputation of having the finest customer service on the planet. I have wasted no time in contacting my Twitter following (all eleven of them), and told everybody else I could find about this experience. Quite simply, it is wonderful to do business with a company such as yours.
Tom McNamee
Tucson, AZ
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Of course, we reprimanded Josh appropriately.
You can follow him and us on the Ponoko Twitter stream.
The Smart Materials Kit is a sample collection of various powders, wires, and plastics with “smart” qualities. The kit comes with the book Fashioning Technology: A DIY Intro to Smart Crafting by Syuzi Pakhchyan and published by CRAFT.
Material samples include:
• ¼ oz phosphorescent powder (make glow-in-the-dark ink for printing!)
• 10g of blue photochromatic powder (color-changing in different light)
• 10g of yellow photochromatic powder (color-changing in different light)
• 10g of thermochromatic powder (color-changing with temperature)
• 2 feet of shape memory wire; 5 crimp beads to control the wire
• 2 ounces of polymorph plastic (heat and mold as many times as you want)
We’ve mentioned a few designers on the blog that are using these kinds of materials.
• Josien Pieters uses thermochromatic inks in his dynamic wallpapers.
• Marie Ilse Bourlanges visually captures the movement of the body in her experimental fashion.
• Kathy Schicker uses photochromatic and phosphorescent techniques in transformative textiles.
• Nendo designed a “blooming” lamp with a shape-memory alloy.
The Smart Materials Kit is available with Fashioning Technology for $65 at the Maker Shed.
via Fashioning Tech
Under the tuition of Arthur Hash, State University of New York at New Paltz uses Ponoko to teach students digital manufacturing.
The Master of Fine Arts Program in Metal/Jewelry at the State University of New York at New Paltz has been ranked #1 in the nation in the recent 2009 U.S. News & World Report list of America’s best graduate schools.
The Metal/Jewelry graduate program ranked first in the nation in the Fine Arts category. In addition, New Paltz’s Master of Fine Arts Program overall was named among the 100 best in America, according to U.S. News.
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There is a certain quality to the artists and designers I absolutely love. There isn’t exactly a word for it, but it is some combination of ornate luxury, cold sophistication, and sprezzatura in which simplicity and complexity are just two sides of the same coin. I love work that evokes the quintessence of Italian Mannerism, a rather esoteric period of art between the Renaissance and Baroque. That said, I have a new favorite company. (I mean second favorite. You can guess who takes the top spot.)
Interior firm and furniture company Egg Designs is doing laser-cut like no one else. They have some of the most refreshingly creative, inspirational, and impressive design I have seen. Egg is based in Botha’s Hill, South Africa and run by Greg and Roche-Dry. Aside from beautiful design, they seem like pros when it comes to enterprise; offering services in nearly every field of business logistics and execution.
Or How To Steampunk
Those of you who read the previous post on the Ponoko Blog that showcased Cerrious Design’s rusty Steampunk USB drive may be curious as to how he achieved the effect. Dylan of Cerrious Design has been generous enough to share his technique.
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Evlove’s about page opens with the above quote and establishes the company’s belief in individual style. Launched in 2006 by corporate manager and lingerie lover Jenny Dombroski, Evlove Intimates lets women customize the cut, fabric, color, and trim of their intimate apparel.
For the full range of underwear options from the comfort of my home alone, I am checking out Evlove’s Online Design Studio. As a textile major, fashion minor, and mass-customization writer, Evlove and I could be made for each other.
3D printing/manufacturing company Materialise has a new 2009 series of products for .MGX : the E-volution Collection. Twelve new designs in accessories, furniture, and lighting were commissioned to seven different designers: Arik Levy, Bathsheba Grossman, Gernot Oberfell and Jan Wertel, Hani Rashid, Jiri Evenhuis, and Luc Merx.
NW: The Shaman pendant designed by Arik Levy was constructed of epoxy with stereolithography (SL) and coated in nickel. A version in black epoxy is available at Unica.
N: Mathematician and sculptor Bathsheba Grossman modeled her Gyroid lamp on a ‘minimal surface‘ structure that is infinitely connected and found in certain copolymers such as ABS plastic, a material often used in 3D printing. You can purchase one of these complex cubes at Generate.
NE & E: Stereolithography and selective laser sintering were used to make the Ubu and Roi vases, designed by Hani Rashid to evoke the motion of whirlpools. The Ubu is on sale at Moss.
SE: Peter Jansen is the mind behind the Tulip lamp. He also designed the floral inspired Julia lamp shown below, also available at Moss.
S: Luc Merx’s Stucco is a multifunctional modular, wall mounted system printed with epoxy. The structure intends to “transform the white emptiness of surrounding walls into a maximised density of form, colour, and material.”
SW: Another design by Bathsheba Grossman, the base form of the Wye table replicates the negative space of the gyroid.
W: A detail of Gernot Oberfell and Jan Wertel’s Fractal table. See the design in all of its arborescent glory in this post by Duann and this one from Roy.
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