Grid Beam Building System

The Grid Beam Users Group came to Maker Faire in San Mateo.

From the gridbeamers.com website:

Grid Beam is a reusable structural system that allows you to dream-up and build complex projects faster than any other construction technology that you or I have ever seen!





As designers, we all strive to build products that will be relevant 50 years from now. But, since none of us knows what that future will really look like, design flexibility and reusability is essential. You might think of Grid beam as a structural glue that allows us to mix, match and mate different technologies together in new ways. This means that all of the components and custom parts that we make, or purchase and use together, share the same hole spacing as the Grid beam. This creates maximum parts interchangeability and design flexibility.





Since our design group of Gridbeamers began adopting gridbeam building techniques in 1976 from Ken Isaacs book, How to build your own living Structures, we have found that it has dramatically improved our prototyping capabilities. Gridbeamers can take on more challenging ideas with less hesitation. Because now, goofy ideas and "mis-builds" can now be completely disassembled and reused on your newest brainstorm!





We all know that talk is cheap and that ideas are a dime a dozen. How do you separate good from bad ideas? How do you test your idea? How do you actualize your dream?

Only by building it!

A working prototype is proof of clear thinking, or not. After all, nothing beats a real working prototype that you can actually test.

Squirrel Assembles a Chair

Here's a video of a man in a squirrel suit assembling a nice-looking $99 Real Good chair from Blu Dot. You are asked to ignore the burn mark on his hand.

Powder-coated steel ships flat and folds along laser-cut lines to create a dynamic and comfortable chair. As skinny as a supermodel, yet far more sturdy. Available in two glossy tone-on-tone colors, and satin black and glossy red.

If you have $849, you can buy Blu Dot's Buttercup Rocker.

Bruno Mathsson Reading Chair

I would fall asleep in about five minutes after settling, book in hand, into this Bruno Mathsson reading chair. Which means as a reading chair, it's a complete success. Link

Photo Tour of Todd Lappin's House

Todd Lappin of Telstar Logisitics has spent years customizing and decorating his San Francisco home. He's dubbed the undertaking "Project Precita."
Link to photo tour of Project Precita

Then and Now #4: Coffee Table Makeover

I was determined to find something that's better now than it was then. I finally did, but I kind of cheated, because it was improved by an individual, not a brand manager. This coffee table was ugly as soon as it left the factory floor, and it didn't age well. But Zee of Homebug turned it into a thing of beauty.

The coffee table itself is a wreck I got free on Jumbletown, but it was perfect for what I had in mind. I took my inspiration from the €1,600 Gio Ponti-designed "Paolo" console table and Marimekko's Vapaa Pudotus fabric. For the most part I was able to use paints and supplies I already had, so the total cost for this project was a scandalously cheap €13. Check back tomorrow for the full "How to" instructions!

SCORE Then: 3 Now: 9.5

Modern coffee table makeover (via CRAFT)
See other Then and Now posts.

Piston Lamp

Lamp made by my grandfather from a piston connecting rod (hope I have that right). The lampshade is hand-painted silk botanicals, something I found. I love the two together. I have a lamp addiction. It's kind of a problem.

Maruni Davenport

The early 1960's were a high point (and under appreciated) era for modern design. 40 years before the term "mash up" entered the lexicon, the world opened up via overseas jet travel and designers were blending modern Scandinavian with traditional Asian influences. Born was the modern pagoda. Sounds awful, and by the time the look was appropriated by the Sears catalog it was, but when it worked, the effect was sinister erotic insanity. Pure James Bond villain.

From the normally dowdy Fukasawa furniture, the introduction of the Maruni line confirms that the time is right to open that sleek 60's strip club, Beehive.

Link (via Wallpaper)

Ingenuous Loft Bed for Kids

Furniture for Children "Rappelkiste" - Luigi Colani, 1975

With only a cursory look, this could be contemporary Ikea/flatpack style furniture except that it is a smidgen too understated and refined. Look again and you realize it is made of hardwood and the joints are held with wooden pegs.

This is begging to be ripped off at all levels. A high end version cut from CNC multicolor polycarbonate with LCD panels and hidden speakers. A low rent sustainable model that has been scaled up, sized for adults and assembled from fruit crates and shipping pallets. Or what about a slice of a shipping container with a birch plywood interior?

If only there were more hours, it would be a fun project to be "inspired" by - part Andrea Zittel, part Luigi Colani, part Because We Can.

Link

60s Danish Sleeper Sofa

Some lucky bidder got this 1968 Danish sleeper on eBay for $2,125.01.

Link (Via NotCot)

Prankster Ikea Ad?

Source: Ikea News, October 2007

One must assume that the above spread from the Ikea October mailer is prankster commentary that we are living through the end days of civilization. Children will be sealed in video game headphones while parents watch cozy fires on TV and our giant couches will assure physical distance to match the emotional distance required to accept our inevitable fall.

Is it a clever inside joke or did the marketing company really think this was a good idea?

Outrageous Roche-Bobois Playpen Sofa

Yeah, yeah, I know. Not exactly my style either, but you have to appreciate the brash outrageousness of this playpen sofa. Not known for understated elegance, Roche-Bobois has nailed the San Fernando Valley sunken living room aesthetic that the 1970's never quite reached. Holy fondue pot!

Link