the best company at NeoCon 2009

(above: portrait from MetropolisMag.com)

Stephanie Forsythe, along with Todd MacAllen and Robert Pasut, make up molo—a collaborative studio that approaches product design from an architect’s perspective. The outcomes are wonderful, multi-functional structures that can be interpretted for use as furniture, lighting, space dilineation, or custom installations. The molo aesthetic is strikingly unique yet versatile enough for a range of interior styles: residential, educational, corporate, or commercial.

(above: the very popular molo booth at NeoCon 2009)

Most people favor the deluxe permanent showrooms of to-the-trade-only manufacturers and their champaign and hors d’œuvre afternoon hours, but I have to say that the molo booth was my absolute favorite at NeoCon. They were really the freshest company at the event, and their products spoke most to what I think is the artistic vision, environmental outlook, and indie philosophy of today’s young designers.

Keep reading for the story on how molo came about, circumventing the traditional A+D route, and how their amazing designs were inspired by dollar store trinkets.

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Rethinking furniture joinery with exposed mechanical fasteners.

German designer Philippe Krzyzek has just released some of his interesting furniture at the 2009 DMY Design Festival in Berlin. What instantly sprang to my attention was his exposed use of metal fasteners to hold what looks like CNC timber panels together. So often with flat pack furniture designs we see the peices slot together (which makes sense) but is becoming a little predictable, even when using digital joints (previously featured).
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Discovering sustainable materials.

The Ecolect mission is to create an online resource for sustainable materials available to anyone for free. While checking out the Materials PettingZoo, I spoke with co-founder Joe Gebbia about the various ways Ecolect can assist designers in discovering, selecting, and ordering sustainable materials.

Anyone can browse the curated materials library. Each material has its own entry including information on the manufacturer, possible applications, how and from what the materials is made, and also user submitted reviews. Eventually, each material will be rated on a sustainability scale considering various factors such as recycled and renewable content, toxicity, energy costs, and carbon footprint.

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Three-dimensional surfaces

3form is a design and manufacturing company that fabricates cutting-edge materials in the greenest way possible. The company formed in 1991 with a commitment to the environment, and their Path to Zero strategy will lead 3form to carbon neutrality by 2017. Their extensive collection of customizable materials contain a growing percentage of post consumer reycled content, and their reclaim program ensures that no 3form products will ever see a landfill.

Parametre is 3form’s range of 3D textiles. These flexible expanses of non-woven polyester come in three different cuts to add graphic dimension.

Read about 3form’s most extensive line of materials and take a look at their stunning surfaces after the jump.

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Sitting in the new ergonomic chairs from IOS is like floating on air.

Korean based company ios produces a range of techy, ergonomic seating for the workspace. At this year’s NeoCon, ios introduced four new chairs: Airin, Renee, Modys, and Winde.

With its pockets of patented heat-formed foam supporting me, I felt practically weightless in the airin chair. Now, while those who know me might argue that weighing 95lbs is, in fact, like being weightless, I would like to point out that weighing such means very little natural cushion—which means frequently sitting uncomfortabley. So whether you need extra support for your muscles during work or you just have a bony ass, I would recommend the chairs from ios. Plus, cushion configuration and design can be customized per order.

And if you can make it to the last day of NeoCon, be sure to check out the IOS booth. They have the most sought-after freebie on the 7th floor: a portfolio/laptop case made from their exclusive foam.

Read more for photos of the other newest chairs that aren’t even on the IOS website yet.

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Evonik industries is calling this material magic. And guess what—it’s acrylic.

Acrylic is to Ponoko what Helvetica is to graphic designers. It’s used a lot because it always looks so good. And acrylic was looking very good at the Evonik booth at NeoCon. Acrylite® is available in a variety of colors and textures. Above is a photo of their Multicolor, Fluorescent, and Satin Ice acrylic blocks. They also have corrugated acrylics, iridescent “Radiant” acrylics, patterned acrylics, and a Sterling collection of acrylic that looks like reflective textured metal.

Evonik can also create custom materials, any thickness, any color, any texture.

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step by step with Aodh O Donnell

Philadelphia University industrial design student Aodh O Donnellwas the winner of the of the 2009 Wilsonart prize with his Armadillo Chair.
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We’ve done all of the hard work for you …

With our Designmake Prime service you can request any material you want! And if we can source and make it, it’s yours!

This is a great way to do something different and stand out from the crowd.

Importantly … if you only need a small P1 size, you only pay for that small bit. You DO NOT need to buy a huge sheet from the supplier - we’ll do that for you. As always, there’s no minimum orders with us.

Anyhow, as you probably know it can be a real pain finding the materials you want.

So we’ve saved you the agony and compiled a materials guide for you to choose from.

And when you’ve found the one you love, just follow the materials request process outlined in your Prime account.

SEARCH THIS HANDY LIST TO MAKE YOUR MATERIALS REQUEST:

FABRICS

Cotton (and other fabrics) - see Fabric.

Felt - for more colors than we currently supply go choose from Aetna Felt.

Polyester Felt - see McMaster Carr.

Polypropylene Felt - see McMaster Carr.

Leather - check out Prime Tanning and Buckskin Leather.

TIMBERS

Balsa, Basswood, Cherry, Mahogany, Walnut - see Midwest.

Cork- see Jelinek.

Melamine MDF - see PrimePanels.

Veneers - see 18 finishes from American Cherry to Swiss Pear at HTS.

Bamboo veneer - see Plyboo.

Bamboo plywood - see Plyboo.

PLASTICS

Acrylics - see Rowmark.

Metallic plastic - see Rowmark.

Delrin acetal - see Amazon and Professional Plastics.

Designer plastics - see Archplastics, Lumicor and check out the laminates section at Kova.

Polyshrink plastic - see Lucky Squirrel.

Synthetic leather - see Longding.

ABS - see Professional Plastics.

Teflon - see Professional Plastics.

Mylar polyester - see Professional Plastics.

HDPE - see Professional Plastics.

RUBBER

Rubber - see Rubber & Foam.

Rubber magnets - see eMagnets.

Silicone rubber - check out MTI, RubberSheetRoll, Stockwell and McMaster Carr.

Neoprene - see RubberSheetRoll and Professional Plastics.

Gum Rubber - see RubberSheetRoll.

Latex - see Professional Plastics.

PAPER

Paper Stock - see Mr French.

Synthetic Paper - see  Polyart and YUPO USA.

Card Stock - see The Paper Mill Store.

METALS

Request the thickness you’d like from the selection here.

So now you can go crazy!

And after you’ve requested a material and made something from it, we’ll then add it to the public catalog so you can order it online with no worries into the future.

And btw, just let us know about other materials by leaving the specific website URL below…

Nigel Coates, famed designer and director of Architecture at the Royal College of Art, is behind many of the amazing designs at Slamp. Slamp is an Italian designer lighting company started in 1996. The collaboration with Coates began ten years later; and today, forty-four talented individuals contribute to Slamp’s transformation of interior lighting.

Many of the Slamp lamps are made with exclusive materials including Opalflex®, Cristalflex®, and Steelflex®. These patented plastics offer superior strength, enhanced light diffusion, and flexibility. Take a look at these incredible fixtures by Nigel Coates, and be sure to check out the entire oeuvre by all the designers at Slamp.com.

via Dezeen

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Just came across this upcoming exhibition on a couple of lists:

Open Source Embroidery is a project initiated by curator and researcher, Ele Carpenter of the University of Umea, Sweden. The project explores the links between open source software coding and the creative processes and social interactions involved in embroidery However, the project has grown to support and facilitate a range of artists practice investigating the relationship between programming for embroidery and computing.

From Ele’s project website:

Embroidery is constructed (mostly by women) in hundreds of tiny stitches which are visible on the front of the fabric. The system of the stitches is revealed on the back of the material. Some embrioderers seal the back of the fabric, preventing others from seeing the underlying structure of the pattern. Others leave the back open for those who want to take a peek. A few integrate the backend process into the front of the fabric. The patterns are shared amongst friends in knitting and embroidery ‘circles’.

Software is constructed (mostly by men) in hundreds of tiny pieces of code, which form the hidden structure of the programme or interface. Open Source software allows you to look at the back of the fabric, and understand the structure of your software, modify it and distribute it. The code is shared amongst friends through online networks. However the stitches or code only make sense to those who are familiar with the language or patterns.

One  interesting piece involves contributions from 216 embroiderers, each creating one patch of a giant hexadecimal patchwork colour chart, entitled HTML patchwork:

HTML Patchwork from the Open Source Embroidery Project

The Open Source Embroidery exhibition will be at BildMuseet, Umeå from 6 June - 6 September 2009 and at the Museum of Craft & Folk Art, San Francisco: 1 October 2009 - 24 January 2010.

Its interesting to see how open source thinking and the idea of coding applies so easily to various craft forms - as Ele says, it really comes down to knowledge of different languages, or requiring machine languages, the use of which forms a standard vocabularly for sharing designs within.

I shall leave you with another intriguing  insight from Ele:

Open Source Embroidery pays homage to Ada Lovelace (1816-52) who helped to develop the Analytical Engine, the first idea for a universal computer, with Charles Babbage. Lovelace wrote “we may say most aptly that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jaquard Loom weaves flowers and leaves.” (Gere, 2002, p24). The Jaquard Loom (1810) was the first machine to use punched-card programming.

via OpenMaterials blog and the Electron Club list

And while we’re on the subject, embroidered MRI scan slices anyone? via ladyada