Installing Felt between the Legs and the Body
What in the world is Liquid Wood?
The Milan Design Week has started and among the many pieces of furniture that has already caught my attention, the material used by Calligaris caught my attention: Liquid Wood.
It's really a material and process combination: an air-molding technique that involves Polypropylene and glass fiber being injected at the same time. Calligaris describes it as a composite biomaterial of polymer and wood, recyclable and produced with raw materials that are easily available and renewable. The liquid wood is molded like a normal thermoplastic polymer allowing for great versatility and high performance in terms of durability, resistance and flexibility. It is mainly composed of lignin and cellulose, which together with hemicellulose make up the stem cells of plants.
Found via [Gizmag]
An upcoming focus group
About a month or so back, I had lunch with some classmates. At the end of which, we habitually reached for our phones to check if we missed any calls or messages. Most of us had iPhones so naturally we check out each others cases. One had an perforated case from InCase. Another had a cute case with bunny ears, which I cannot find again. And I had a stainless steel acid etched decal from Luxe Plates. We came to an interesting observation. The iPhone with the Perforated Snap Case was lighter than mine with the Luxe Plate. While, yes, stainless steel is by nature heavy we did not believe it is relevant in this situation as Luxe uses a very thin sheets. What exactly are we feeling, does the perceived weight correspond with actual weight? Is it the shape? Is it the texture? And thus the need for a focus group was decided.
After contacting all the companies I could find in one evening, asked as politely as I could for samples, I gradually received some cases from the wonderful people at Elago, Agent 18, and InCase. Most of these were polymer-based so I needed to look for more samples from other materials. Unfortunately as much as I hoped Element Case would respond to my plea for help, I eventually had to acquire one second hand from eBay. I found a wooden decal much similar to Luxe Plates offered by Lazerwood through Fab.com, and finally a full wooden iPhone case from Etsy as wooden cases from companies were very expensive. Alas, the wooden case I ordered from Etsy is apparently coming from China; like it's plastic counter parts, so it was too late for this photo shoot.
Without further a due, here they are:
I am waiting for some dummy iPhones to arrive but hopefully soon the focus groups will start and results will follow.
Manolo Blahnik & Materials
According to some websites around the internet, there are "signature" trade marks to ensure authenticity of Manolo Blahnik's shoes, high-end luxury shoes popularized by "Sex and the City".
- No embossed serial numbers.
- Authentic white dust bags with black lettering. The box is also white and black.
- Leather sole.
Manolo Blahnik & Marcia Patmos' 2011/12 Spring Sandles made from waste Tilapia Skins and other natural materials.
… more to come but here is an interesting case for the perception of materials verses the cost of these shoes.
Bent Plywood Pavilion
On my search for plywood and composite innovations, Archdaily released an article regarding a pavilion of curved plywood designed by students at the architecture department of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.
The pavilion functions as a sun shading for parts of the stairs in front of the department. Based on bending behavior under the self-weight of over-sized sheets of plywood of up to 11 x 2.5 meters, the design activates the material properties as the defining element in the transfer of force.
The cuts within the sheet influences the bending resistance of the sheets, an idea much like the work of Alvar Aalto and the Eames, scoring, cutting and bending plywood to achieve curvature. Other similar works include: Skylar Tidbbits' Surface Ornamentation, and the Probotics of the AA DRL.
Skylar Tidbbit's Surface Ornamentation
Probotics
e2e Materials' Miraculous Wood Substitute
Found via Core77, e2e Materials is a Cornell University research spin off company that developed bio-composite materials that not only offers a stronger, more human-friendly alternative to OSB/plywood/particle boards, but also a scalable manufacturing plan that could replace the old system.
3D Veneer
Following up on the exploration three dimensional weaving with wood, the more conventional method of creating three dimensional wooden objects using plywood pioneered by the Eames and Saarinen was further improved on with 3D Veneer. One company that manufactures this material is Reholz.
The image on the left is what happens when the shape is molded with conventional plywood. The image on the right is the same shape with 3D Veneer.
Referenced on Reholz's website is Ron Arad's Three Skin Chair, which is an excellent example of the application of 3D Veneer.
