Pete Gilbert

Great article over on Designboom which looks at adding a mechanical old style telephone mechanism over a modern smartphone electronics. Very steampunk.

It's an odd thing about such things, the designer in me hates it, but the artist in me loves it. But there is something deeper here. steampunk for me is like science fiction, in that it really isn't about the past or the future, but about the present, and our relationship to it being examined in a way that allows us to be creative. The rotary dialler and its mechanism attempts to put more life back into our everyday objects, life that has been smoothed away by a homogenised smartphone screen.

There is an even darker side about steampunk to me, in that we might be looking into our future, our post-apocalyptic future, where we cobble together the remaining bits of technology to make our day-to-day objects.

Anyway, to cheer us up here are some more photos, but for more you will have to go over to Designboom and read the story there.

I seriously want this. I hope they manufacture it!

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Pocket Piano on Vimeo

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:17:00 -0700

via vimeo.com

Behold: The Pocket Piano!

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OK, now what do I do with this?

Tue, 17 May 2011 03:28:36 -0700

designboom has an article on a natural and organic cocoa drink product that is produced by the Bribri women of Talamanca, Costa Rica. The "hockey puck" sized patties, which actually don't look that promising on initial inspection, are actually 100% cocoa with no sugar or anything else added.

You use a little grater, which also acts as a stirrer, to grate up the blocks and add hot water to make the drink.

fuseproject spotted the opportunity and realised that all it need was a design kick to get it going, so designed the little sack that the patties come in, the logo and the little grater. The project is designed to raise awareness of organic cocoa production and hence help save the rainforest.

More details on designboom and fuseproject

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Engrain Keyboard

Sun, 15 May 2011 05:19:31 -0700

Designer Michael A Roopenian has made a wooden tactile keyboard that is designed to "strengthen the relationship between user and interface".

Lovely looking keyboard. I would love one.

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Cork Seems to be Popping up Everywhere

Sat, 14 May 2011 23:52:00 -0700

I have been noticing that cork has been appearing as a design element again. This is a good thing as cork is a sustainable product and has many desirable properties in that it is light, reasonably durable, waterproof and to a degree fire resistant.

On Cool Hunting there was an article about some (very) desirable hand bound notebooks created by a company called Michael Roger Press that uses cork for the covers. The paper inside is acid free and has been sewn bound allowing you to open the book flat.

More over on Cool Hunting

Meanwhile over on Designboom I saw this cork stool "Senta" that looked interesting.

Created by Fernando Brizio for a cork manufacturing company it is designed as a carry stool; you can pack the whole thing up and re-assemble it wherever you need to sit down. Fantastic for picnics, or, combined with the above article, for use sitting whilst sketching in your cork covered sketchbook.

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Johanna's Family Lives Here

Sun, 01 May 2011 02:58:01 -0700

Via Little Fine Day

This magic little cottage is a summer house/allotment for a family of four – Johanna‘s family. Just outside the city of Gothenburg, this tiny place is the summer house for a family of four.

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Bicycle Wine Rack

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 02:47:00 -0700

via etsy.com

Via swiss-miss.com
This bicycle wine rack will allow you to go on the road with your wine (or I suppose nip to the shop to pick up a bottle). Mind the bumps now!

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Pokitt

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 02:35:56 -0700

Pokitt is a flexible card carrier for smartcards and credit cards. Moulded from a soft flexible polymer material, it is designed to be unobtrusive in a pocket. It can only carry two cards at once, but you wont need to take your card Oyster card out to scan it as it works through the case.

I kind of like it.

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Got WUD?

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 02:13:00 -0700

via inhabitat.com

Inhabitat.com has an article on these speakers made from wood "harvested sustainably for the southern region of Patagonia". Created by Santiago based Grupo Vibra http://www.grupovibra.cl

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Pocket Film Festival

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 03:52:13 -0700

Call for Films!
As part of the Southbank Bristol Arts Trail 2011, which will be held in May, we are calling for people to unleash the hidden director inside of them. Dig into your pocket, pull out your digital camera or smartphone and make us a small film. Films must be a maximum of two minutes long, and can be on any subject and fall into any category - experimental, comedy, drama, animation, documentary - its up to you! Set the world to rights with a documentary, make that funny short film, or create a mysterious experimental piece. Anything goes.

Films may be edited prior to submission, which allows you to add necessary credits etc and add music if you have permission to use it. You can submit up to three films to the festival in a single submission. Group submissions are welcome. There is a one of fee of £5 to cover costs, cheques to be made payable to SBA.

We will aim to show all films throughout the Arts Trail weekend at a specially created cinema in the Southville Centre, Beauley Road, Bristol. Selected films may be shown on the SBA website (http://sbaweb.co.uk/). There will be a prize for the overall selected winner of £100, with a second prize of £50. Other prizes to be announced soon!

The closing date for submissions is the 10th May 2011. (Deadline extended)

Please go to https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wayy547Awkz2j1IbU24keMjJyFe7o5FjJwdnZOkdhXY/edit?hl=en_GB&authkey=CMekh5kB for an entry form and more details

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Rubik

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 01:39:00 -0700

The rubik series, composed of a sideboard and a cabinet, for ONOMO comes from the idea to salvage wood leftovers while creating an interesting surface. The availability of wood leftovers varies making each piece unique.

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Chairs made from old jeans

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 01:17:30 -0700

These chairs are made from old clothes, such as T shirts and jeans. I dont know if they are functional and if you can sit on them or not. Created by German designer Tobias Juretzek for Italian furniture brand Casamania they were presented in an installation at Milan Design week 2011.

Detail of the chair:

Imagine some future archeologist unraveling one of these chairs and finding odd things in the pockets like bus tickets and wondering "WHY?" Fun though!

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The Antikythera Mechanism Built in Lego

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 23:55:00 -0700

via vimeo.com

If you dont know what The Antikythera Mechanism is, go look it up on Wikipedia now: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism. Then come back and revel at this replica of the functionality made entirely from Lego.

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Turn Your Mobile Phone Screen into a Solar Panel

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 01:55:00 -0700

Via Inhabitat.com

Hopefully coming soon to certain manufacturers, a film that goes over the screen of your mobile phone that allows you to continuously charge your phone (as long as it is in the light I suppose). Click through for the video.

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thanko: mame-cam dx micro camera

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 05:36:00 -0700

via designboom.com

"Ah, Mr Bond. We'd like you to get some shots of inside the secret base, and Q wants you to use one of these."

That's what I'd be thinking every time I pulled this out of my tiny camera bag.

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