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Play with your food.
This is such a gorgeous idea. The Puzzle Cookie Mould comes to us from the quirky mind of designer Nami Mizuguchi.
We may have taken interlocking structures quite seriously in the past, but this set of five cookie cutters makes simple work of those very same principles.
Even better still, you can nibble on these once you’ve reached the end of your constructive playtime. Yum.
Mizuguchi is developing a reputation for adding a special spark to everyday items. You can see more of her work here.
I’m off to do some baking…
Via NotCot
Warm fuzzy glow brought to you by laser cutting… and some electrical bit of course.
Portland resident Derek Taylor is the designer of Lamplabs – lighting that uses laser cut lampshades and other components. He joined Ponoko earlier this year after references from some online creatives who recommended it as a means to fabricate some offbeat ideas.
For Derek, the digital fabrication enables him to create components for his products that capture the essence of his early prototypes while minimizing their labor-intensive nature. In short, prior to Ponoko, his ideas couldn’t be made in a reasonable timeframe.
1.To install the lamp, you remove the faceplate from your outlet and screw this in. You then attach it at the top using a 3M command strip that will prevent damage to your paint if you remove the lamp.
2.It’s geared toward people that don’t want to hire an electrician or punch holes in their plaster walls, or for people that rent. It’s a quick method to add light to a hallway in an enjoyable way. I could also see a restaurant installing a half dozen of them along a wall for ambience.
What’s happening and where are we going with printing in the third dimension?
As a Fellow at Loughborough University in the UK, Neil Hopkinson is the man to see when you need to get your head around additive manufacturing technologies.
With credentials including having pioneered high speed sintering processes, Neil is a veteran of this field and has recently condensed his knowledge into a particularly digestible paper on additive manufacturing.
Easing into the text, you are presented with a neat and tidy description of just what all the different technologies are, as well as the terminology that is needed to navigate an industry where the very versatility of the processes enable them to expand into a myriad of different applications.
From the first commercial machines that emerged in the late 1980’s to the latest DIY desktop models, additive manufacturing continues to have an increasingly profound effect on how objects are made.
An interesting link is made to the early days of inkjet technology, and the way it was helped along by providing a solution to printing use-by dates on food packaging; thus forever changing that particular industry.
Additive manufacturing (as we well know) has its proponents in the world of DIY, and at the other extreme a significant role is played by the education sector, as well as the medical and entertainment industries to name a few.
So what is the future of this technology? Predictably, the answer to this question remains… hard to predict. One thing is for sure – the doors that additive manufacturing have opened provide for ever increasing rates of change.
An interesting outcome, when you consider that the very concept behind AM also describes how Egyptians were building those spectacular pyramids over 4,500 years ago.
Neil Hopkinson’s essay is published on Becta (PDF link). Dive in to find out more.
The above image is Mermaid’s Delight thanks to George W. Hart.
DemocraThings interviews Ponoko CEO David ten Have
If you’ve ever wanted to meet Ponoko co-founder David ten Have, this podcast interview is the next best thing to chatting about the maker movement with Dave yourself.
Juan Chaparro of DemocraThings asks ten Have about his background (He’s not an industrial designer.), how he came up with the idea to start Ponoko, and how Ponoko helps designers make “relevant” products.
DemocraThings is a new venture setting out to support the democratization of innovation by “allowing you to showcase your design prototypes and access user feedback in real-time” without the hefty expense. End users are paid to offer insights and critique so that designers can tweak and perfect their products.
Check out the DemocraThings blog for more on product design, development, and business.
We love hearing from you
Here at Ponoko we love to help interesting people make extraordinary things. We’re extremely passionate about our community and, as Kristen noted a few weeks back, we strive to achieve individual attention in terms of our dedicated customer service.
When we receive positive feedback, it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy, but also drives us to keep lifting the bar for high-level customer service. We know we’re on the right track when our community members turn their ideas into amazing creations they can hold in their hands – and then turn around and share photos of them with us.
We aim to respond to emails within 24 hours, because we like to help people out as quickly as possible. We use Facebook, Twitter and Skype to address issues that might be popping up, and also to share the amazing photos and stories from our creative community. We also love meeting our customers – our meetups not only provide an opportunity for questions to be answered in person, but they help us engage with our community face-to-face.
So don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We enjoy meeting with, talking to, tweeting, emailing, skyping, and being inspired by our customers. Your photos of your finished creations make us smile, while your questions and comments help us to become better at what we do. Please keep them coming!
lasercut cases & enclosures from Ponoko customers
Digital fabrication and DIY electronics are a match made in hardware heaven. We are seeing more and more people use Ponoko to make custom, lasercut cases for their electronics.
One of our recent maker stories featured the SammichSID Synthesizer kit and another covered the Austere Hexahedron custom computer system. There was also the bamboo and acrylic Arduino case (plus tips for inking in laser-etchings).
Some of the latest electronics cases are being made for the Shruthi-1 (or Shruti. It seems to be called both for some reason). The Shrut(h)i is the first product offering from Mutable Instruments, creators of “the simplest synths that could possibly rock”.
There’s an entire forum category on the MI website dedicated to discussing enclosures and casings for the Shruthi/Shruti. Lots of great photos of these and more electro-cases, plus where to download the plans, and a great video from Make: showing you how to design your own enclosure, all after the jump!
Over the past three weeks, a number of scary fellows were spotted lurking in the basement of the MyGalaxi Gallery on Dixon Street in Wellington, New Zealand.
Curated by the Run Amuck Collective, the ‘Monsters’ exhibition comprised a fantastic mix of sculpted, painted, printed, installed and electrified monsters.
I was delighted to discover some Ponoko-cut monsters amongst the assorted beasties, created by the very talented Ruth Korver. Ruth’s artworks included some beautifully hand-painted monsters made on 3mm Bamboo and assembled as little dioramas.
Material Monday: Smile Plastics
Smile Plastics creates composite sheet materials from recycled plastics — from crushed CDs to water bottles to old mobile phones. These aren’t your typical, boring homogenized composites. The recycled components used in these materials make for some really outstanding and visually stunning results.
Above is an image of their sheet material made from kids’ wellington boots, and below is an image of their mobile phone material.
The Smile Plastics site also has some cool photos of their factory machinery and a little bit about the process of making these materials.
Thicknesses range from 3—25mm, and sheet sizes are available in 1200 x 800mm / 2000 x 1000mm / 3000 x 1500mm. You can find contact and ordering info HERE.
Chances are slim that these materials could be used with Ponoko; they probably give off some serious fumes under the laser. But they are so gorgeous, I had to share them. Lots more photos after the jump!
via Studio Rob
Ponoko Product of the Week
I love this simple but perfect “Foldable Dollhouse” from Make Anything aka Katherine Belsey. The house structure is lasercut from 3mm hardboard and provides a blank canvas for 8 doll rooms.
But if you would rather have a fully-furnished, turnkey dollhouse, you can order the pop-up paper interior at MakePopUpCards.com
The lasercut house is available for $55 in MakeAnything’s Ponoko Showroom or download the structure plans for free.
The paper interior comes in the form of a book and is available HERE for $21.95. (10% off until Halloween! use coupon code HARVEST at checkout.)
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