Harriet and Tim Bullard together with Georgina Freedman form Dick and Dora, a design team from Tasmania, Australia who specialise in laser cut jewellery and ornaments. We pulled Harriet aside for a little chat at this year’s State of Design festival in Melbourne.
She told us about how they produce a new series of Christmas decorations every year – the multilayered holiday diorama (pictured above) carries through a charming 1950’s aesthetic from the much loved Dick and Dora books that the company takes their name from.
There is a touch of baby boomer nostalgia about these pieces, ranging from laser cut acrylic to hand stitched felt and imported ribbons. A recent exploration has seen enamelling return as a differentiation from “the laser cutting that everyone is doing”
This Christmas card turns into a doll-sized chair when assembled.
Flickr user seier+seier laser cut this out of 1mm birch plywood for a Christmas card. It was an experiment to learn how to use a laser cutter where he works as an architect. I’d say he’s off to a good start. It certainly beats any Christmas card I have received.
Cards, especially business cards, are getting more and more creative as laser cutting becomes widely available. We have covered several examples including business cards that can be customized, can be made into a motor, and one made from an actual leaf.
Klimt02 is *the* site for contemporary jewelry artists. There’s an extensive list of exhibitions, showcases, fairs, and calls for entry going on around the world, a directory of jewellers and galleries, and an online store.
Klimt02 recently announced their 2010 collection, “a selection of essential and benchmark jewels in contemporary jewellery.” 140 pieces from 26 international artists were included this year, and each piece is for sale through Klimt02. Ten of my favorites, after the jump.
London-based Oscar Diaz is one of nine celebrated designers who were asked to present products for New Simplicity, an exhibition of classic, simple design that exploits the latest in Rapid Manufacturing technologies.
Oscar set his mind to considering the role that 3d printing can play in a product that is well and truly a part of our everyday lives – the humble house key.
We decided to question the traditional key cutting service, and propose a product/service scenario where the use of the 3D printing technology will facilitate the copy and storage of keys as data.
Post Office branches could provide the scanning service, and from the data your key would be made easily. You can then send it by e-mail to the key-printing machine, or store it online on a virtual safety box. If you ever lose your key, it will be ready for you to download and print. Making a key could be as easy as using a photo booth or a cash point.
The usage scenario that has been proposed makes a whole lot of sense. Prototypes shown here are made from electroplated resin, and in a clever twist the key head shape is designed to enable a set of keys to clip together; eliminating the need for a key ring altogether.
Dörte Bundt and Ke Wu from Antlitz showed off the latest in their jewellery range at Design:Made:Trade, a part of Melbourne’s State of Design festival.
Some cute little laser cut acrylic figures held up matching sets of earrings and pendants. Also on display were two laser cut jewellery stands, both festooned with colourful Antlitz designs. Ke explained how the range of dichroic acrylic jewellery continues to grow, with people responding to different pieces according to where they live. These ones are considered to be “very Melbourne”.
Difficult to photograph, the colours in the acrylic shimmer and change as you shift your viewpoint.
The exact process behind these shiny wonders remains a tight-lipped secret, but this did not slow the steady stream of admirers keeping Ke busy on the stand. It is great to see that Antlitz have been busy since our last encounter here at Ponoko.
Make LEGO-compatible blocks and parts with laser cutting from Ponoko and 3D printing from Shapeways.
Andrew Plumb (aka aplumb and clothbot) has been experimenting with making LEGO-compatible blocks for awhile. We talked about his work on here back in December, and he has done some more great work since then. Our last post mentioned the laser cutting files he uploaded to Thingiverse, and above you can see some of those digital files made real with our own beloved laser cutting service, Ponoko Designmake.
He has also had some parts 3D printed through Shapeways, and they are even available for sale through his Shapeways Shop. Below is a test run with a real LEGO on the far left followed by black detail, transparent detail, and stainless steel.
This application generates laser cutting templates for a chair from a sketch.
A collaboration between Greg Saul and the JST ERATOR Design UI Project in Tokyo has resulted in Sketch Chair.
“Sketch Chair” is a exploration in using computation and rapid manufacturing techniques to allow users to design and build their own products or in this case their own chairs.
This Processing-based program allows anyone, no matter how unskilled, to design their own chair with an incredibly simple interface. The program then generates files suitable for laser cutting or CNC milling so that the chair can be manufactured. There are even design aids built into the program. A physics engine allows the chair designs to be tested for stability, and reference objects, such as a piano, helps the user design furniture suitable for use in specific environments.
Melbourne’s State of Design festival is more than just a place to observe creative output. As we found out at the Makedo Making Party, it is also a place where creativity is very much a hands-on experience.
Stretching out across the Long Table at Design:Made:Trade, this two hour workshop saw robots, vehicles, jewellery and more being constructed (and then deconstructed and rebuilt all over again) using reclaimed materials and those incredibly ingenious little blue connectors. The energy was infectious as parents jostled with their kids for choice cardboard boxes; while right beside them suave designers threw caution to the wind to embrace playful creativity amidst smiles and laughter.
Read on to see a few of the outcomes from the Makedo Making Party.
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