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.

Karim Rashid's Trash Can out of Corn Plastic

The Garbini/Garbo trash can is designed by Karim Rashid for Umbra. It is part of the permanent collections at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Chicago Athenaeum Museum, Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, Toronto Design Exchange and San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts. This particular photo was taken by JSDesign@Flickr at Tenleytown in Washington DC.

It is also available in steel mesh.

Other trash cans from Karim Rashid include the Umbra Skinny Can, Afterglo Can, Sway Can, Pop Can. Most, if not all of these trash cans are out of plastic.

Eames trash can?

Following up on last week's discussion on trash cans, I wondered if the Eames had designed one for their collection. The closest artifact I could find was this:

The Flickr user had attributed it to George Nelson, but the trash can looks very much like it was made from EDU components.

On a side note… I found this:

"This model of Eames arm shell was made by John Wills for Charles and Ray Eames. Charles Eames had brought Wills a craft paper mockup of the chair he wanted to model. Wills told him that the cost of the experimental finished shell would be $25 and that it would be ready in a week or so. Charles Eames returned to the workshop to find that Wills had in fact made two shells. Eames could only afford to pay for one of the shells, leaving this example behind in Wills’ workshop where Wills used it—with a trash can for a base—as his welding perch for fifty years." Marc Greuther, Curator, The Henry Ford

Fiberglass 32 x 23 x 14 in.; diameter: 28 in From the collections of The Henry Ford © Eames Office, LLC

Headboards

I have been looking for headboards recently and had not realized until now that there are a myriad of headboard designs that uses a wide variety of materials. First up, Apartment Therapy posted in January 10 Headboards one can make for under $50. Cost is definitely the constraint here so these are some very cheap or easy to obtain materials.

Burlap

Pallets

Hankies

Books

Paint

Painted Screen

Cardboard

Salvaged Wood

Ribbons

Framed Photos

And then there are some more in Apartment Therapy archives…

Corrugated Sheet Metal

Natural Wood Headboard

Vinyl Decal

Why do we need headboards? Traditionally, headboards literally hold up one end of the bed off the ground while the foot board holds up the other. As you can see above, there is a shift away from this mere function. Now not only is it decorative, some are also functional in the way that it holds decorations, or books, or general storage for duvets, blankets, sheets etc.

One thought that might be worth mentioning is that I, myself, consider a lack of bed frame somewhat strange and a quick poll with my wife and our family also reached similar results.