Royal College of Art graduate David Steiner has turned his house into a factory by adapting household appliances to create a range of tableware and lighting (+ slideshow).
“The project began as an experiment in self-sufficiency, to some extent a reaction against the growing prevalence of desktop digital manufacture,” said David Steiner, adding that he wanted to show what can be achieved using his existing possessions.
Simple interventions transformed everyday objects that can be found in most homes into tools that replicate industrial manufacturing processes, such as rotational moulding and steam bending.
A lampshade made from a baking tray was cut with scissors before being pressed into shape in the edge of a door frame.
An embroidery hoop and sections of a notice board frame were used to make a framework for a polypropylene mould that was put in a washing machine to create a device for rotation casting tableware.
Cutlery was cast from pewter in a mould made from a cereal box cut into shape and fixed to a chopping board.
Cork from notice boards was layered and turned on a lathe surface attached to the top of a blender.
A mixer was transformed into a pottery wheel used to throw a cup made from sugar paste.
Wooden rulers dunked in water were heated in a microwave and bent to form a tray in a process replicating steam bending.
Royal College of Art graduate Lauren Davies has designed a range of copper, maple and glass tools to make scented oils, creams and cosmetics at home (+ slideshow).
The Alchemist’s Dressing Table project by Lauren Davies features a three-tier distiller for making scented oils, a scent infuser for creating creams and balms, and a double-sided copper bat for mixing eyeliner.
“The tools I’ve designed will enable women to forge a stronger connection to their personal beauty rituals and a more magical relationship with nature’s intricate mysteries,” said Davies.
Distiller
The three-tier distiller features a glass globe and a stainless steel stand with a cork rim. Water can be boiled in the spun-copper bowl on the base, which is heated by an oil burner positioned underneath.
Steam passes up through scented plants that are placed on the first copper sieve and again through a second sieve. The top compartment is filled with ice and the spun copper funnel acts as a condenser, turning the rising steam underneath into a scented liquid that trickles into a glass, positioned in the centre.
Glass pan and copper hot plate, scent infuser and copper kohl plate
Davies has also created a pan for melting oils and waxes, and for mixing scents and pigments. The pan is made from borosilicate glass and has a maple wood handle. It sits on copper hot plate that is positioned on a stainless steel stand.
Glass pan with maple wood handle
For creating creams and balms from scented plants, Davies has designed a scent infuser. “The scent is built up over time as unscented fat traps the airborne scent molecules from the plant material above,” she explained.
Scent infuser
The final tool is a copper plate with a wooden handle for making kohl eyeliner. A single disc of copper is place over an oil burner. Carbon collects on the underside and then the disk is flipped over for making the eye makeup.
Copper plate with maple wood handle
“The black carbon deposit can then be mixed with almond oil for a smudged finish or aloe vera and witch hazel to allow a brush drawn line and used as eyeliner,” Davies explained.
Davies’ collection also includes a pair of copper tongs for picking up plant material, a maple wood stirrer, a mixing tool and four copper measuring spoons.
Hand tools include copper tongs, four measuring spoons and a mirror
All the products are made from five materials. “The palette of copper and maple wood are chosen for their traditional and folkloric symbolism respectively,” said Davies. “Cork is used for its insulating properties, borosilicate glass for its heat resistance and stainless steel for strength,” she added.
Here’s a short movie featuring the alchemist’s table:
The Alchemist’s Dressing Table is a collection of analog tools for the production of natural cosmetics at home, inspired by beautiful ancient rituals and the transformative powers of alchemy.
The palette of copper and maple wood are chosen for their traditional and folkloric symbolism respectively. Cork is used for its insulating properties, borosilicate glass for its heat resistance and stainless steel for strength. All components are fabricated in collaboration with London-based craftsmen.
Together, the tools form a statement piece; reigniting a dialogue about our relationship with nature and the materials we use. I believe this could be the future of cosmetics for the modern woman who has a desire to be more in control of what she uses on her skin and the impact they have on the environment.
The tools I’ve designed will enable women to forge a stronger connection to their personal beauty rituals and a more magical relationship with nature’s intricate mysteries.
The distiller can be used to make hydrosols and essential oils. Water is boiled in the spun copper bowl using an oil burner. Steam then passes up through the scented plant material sitting on the handcrafted sieve above. The top compartment is filled with ice allowing its spun copper base to act as a condenser. The steam carries the scent particles up through the second sieve and hits the condenser where it cools, turns into liquid and drips down into the collection glass below.
Oils and waxes can be melted in the pan over the hot plate and mixed with scents and pigments. The scent infuser is for the cold maceration of volatile scented plants to make creams and balms. The scent is built us over time as unscented fat traps the airborne scent molecules from the plant material above.
The kohl plate is for the preparation of black kohl eyeliner. Carbon collects on the underside of the copper plate from the almond oil burning in the oil burner below for a period of time. This black carbon deposit can then be mixed with almond oil for a smudged finish or aloe vera and witch hazel to allow a brush drawn line and used as eyeliner.
The hand held tools comprise of a pair of copper tongs to be used with plant material in the distiller or scent infuser, a stirrer for the pan, a mixing tool for use with the kohl plate and a set of measuring spoons (TBSP, TSP, 1⁄2 TSP, 1⁄4 TSP) to be used where accuracy is needed.
Royal College of Art graduate Benedikt Groß has digitally “printed” a field with a pattern of oats and wild flowers (+ movie).
He began by investigating how digital technology is transforming farming. “You could say in the last 50 years everything was about mechanisation to increase scale and efficiency, but the next thing in farming is digitalisation and precision farming, where everything is going to be mapped right down to the single plant,” Benedikt Groß told Dezeen.
He explained that precision farming is already being used to apply exactly the right amounts of fertiliser or pesticides to specific parts of a field rather than simply coating large areas.
“Farming becomes more like a digital process or a printing process with these kinds of technologies on board,” he added. “Maybe a farmer in a few years is a person in front of a dashboard and is literally programming the landscape.”
To investigate how precision farming technologies might affect the look of that landscape, the designer decided to tackle problems associated with modern monoculture farming by controlling the mix of plants in a field and sowing them in the most efficient pattern. “If you have more diversity then you have to use less pesticides and have less problems with vermin,” he explained.
To test the process on a field in Germany, the outline of the area was first mapped using a tractor and GPS tracking. Groß then used custom software to determine the most effective layout, dividing the field into patches so 85% of the area would be covered by crops for biomass and 15% of the field would be reserved for a mix of five different flowers.
“The algorithm divides the field into the right ratio of plants and then tries to create small partitions,” he said. “The size and shape of that smaller partition tries to mimic traditional fields, when you had less of the problems associated with monoculture.”
The seeds were then sown according to this pattern using specially-adapted farming equipment, mounted to a tractor and pulled back and forth across the field like the head of a printer. Groß assembled the machinery by repurposing equipment from farming research and development companies, adding his own software to control where the seed was dropped.
“About 95 per cent of the equipment is R&D or right from the shelf of two agricultural companies, so the equipment is not that far in the future,” the designer said. “More or less everything was there and I just had to experiment in terms of joining the technologies together by writing some software.”
For the test run shown in the movie, the tractor had to pass over the field twice – once for the oats and once for the flowers – but Groß says the process could easily be completed with one pass if a hopper were mounted at either end of the tractor.
“It’s definitely possible [to do it in one pass] because with modern tractors, normally you have one machine in front and one at the rear so you are able to do two things in one step,” he said. “But the machine was 50,000 euros so it was not too easy to persuade them to get a second one for the trial.”
Although the technology is expensive at present – meaning only farmers with a lot of land can implement it – Groß is confident that the cost of equipment will come down as precision farming become more widespread. “In five or ten years the equipment I was adapting will be used every day.”
His system also ties into a shift in arable farming from food production to energy production. “With plants grown for biomass you can have more diversity more easily,” he said. “If you have a field for wheat it’s really important that the wheat is really pure because in the end it’s going to be bread, but with energy production it doesn’t matter because everything goes in the same bin in a biomass factory.”
In addition, European Union subsidies promoting diversity in planting to combat monoculture issues could enable farmers to earn extra money by implementing his design. “With the flower mix I’m using, you can get subsidies – a few hundred euros per hectare I think,” he said. “It’s really plausible that a farmer could get subsidies on top of an energy production deal.”
The first crop was made into biomass last month, and he’s now looking to work with scientists to quantify the impact that his planting system has on the environment and farming practice.
Graduate designer Paula O’Connor surrounded this table with net curtains to create a more intimate dining experience.
Paula O’Connor designed the Banquet table to encourage people to eat together, a notion she feels has been lost in contemporary society. “This concept is focused on creating an experience and encouraging an event around a table,” she said.
A chunky chipboard surface sits on four angled white metal legs, which bend around to form posts that support the curtain rails. “Banquet is a statement piece which celebrates dining and symbolises a special ritual,” said O’Connor. “It aims to evoke feelings of grandeur, intimacy and seclusion through a simple, pared-down aesthetic.”
The removable sheer curtains let in light and allow diners to see out, while creating a cosier atmosphere inside. “The element of a detachable curtain offers a playful atmosphere, reminding the user of childhood experiences in tent and fort like structures,” she added.
O’Connor graduated from the Furniture Design course at the Dublin Institute of Technology this year. The dining table forms part of her thesis project titled Dining Together Matters.
Dining is an important ritual. For many, the act of dining and eating together has been lost. For several individuals, dining has been reduced to a rushed affair. We “eat” but do not engage in a dining experience.
In contemporary society, there are numerous factors to blame for this outcome. Increasingly, we see a large proportion of people eating on “the move”.
“Dining Together Matters” cannot eliminate some of the factors which have caused the change, but it encourage s a different way. It celebrate s the joy of eating and dining. Establishing the importance of eating with others is core message this project.
German design graduate Tobias Nitsche has developed a chair with a seat and back moulded from lightweight 3D plywood.
The moulded parts are made from thin plywood veneer that can be shaped when heated into tight curves to stiffen the material so additional bracing is not required.
“More deformation means more stability in a chair with less material,” explains Tobias Nitsche, who designed the chair during his studies at ECAL in Lausanne.
Working with veneer specialists at German company, Danzer, he was able to explore forms that achieve the necessary rigidity without cracking the wood.
Four CNC-milled wooden blocks join the legs to the seat and the back is attached using wooden dowels so only one material is required to produce the chair.
“For me the challange was to find a language that translates the characteristics of the material into an object that is light, stable and visualises comfort,” says Nietsche.
The result is a chair suited to use in bars, restaurants or other venues where furniture is frequently moved around and stacked.
Boss is a plywood chair that combines traditional woodworking techniques with the use of 3d plywood.
I worked in cooperation with the German company Danzer who is producing the material. Using their technology gives the chance to construct a plywood chair with a more radical curvature.
The thin plywood parts are stiffened by their three dimensional moulding. Four rods complete the construction.
Like that I designed a chair that is made only from wood and is at the same time light and stable. It’s visual language has never been seen in wood before.
An angular flat-pack whisk, a tilting mixing bowl and a pastry binding ring make up this range of baking tools by graduate designer Prianka Sisodiya.
The Elbow Grease products by Kingston University graduate Prianka Sisodiya subtly adapt archetypal kitchen utensils. “The objects appear to look normal yet surprise people when they use them” said Sisodiya.
All three items in Sisodiya’s range are designed to make it easier to mix batter for pastry or cakes. “Subtle details differentiate them from ordinary baking tools,” said Sisodiya.
The angular metal whisk can be flattened by pressing the wires together on one half. It is pointed and angular rather than curved to allow users to scrape a bowl when using it while flat.
Sisodiya has also created a bowl that has flat corners around the base, to allow it to rest at an angle when the bowl is tilted during mixing.
The third item in the range is a pastry binder – an angled wire ring that slips onto the finger to help the user to stir butter and flour.
Graduate designer Katharina Unger has designed a table-top insect breeding farm that allows people to produce edible fly larvae in their homes (+ slideshow).
“Farm 432 enables people to turn against the dysfunctional system of current meat production by growing their own protein source,” said Unger.
As part of the project, she bred and ate black soldier fly larvae in a prototype system, then designed a machine to replicate the process on a domestic scale. “I ordered larvae and built up my own fly colony to see if the process works,” she told Dezeen. It was very exciting to watch the larvae migrating up the ramp, new flies emerging, mating and laying eggs.”
In her design for the farm, soldier fly larvae are dropped into a chamber at the top of the appliance, where they develop into adult flies and move to a larger chamber. Here they mate and produce larvae, which fall down into a “kindergarten” area, mature and become trapped in a harvesting pot, ready for consumption. A few of the harvested larvae are selected to be dropped back into the top of the machine and start the cycle again.
“Black soldier fly larvae are one of the most efficient protein converters in insects, containing up to 42% of protein, a lot of calcium and amino acids,” the designer adds. After 432 hours, 1 gram of black soldier fly eggs turns into 2.4 kilograms of larvae protein, so Unger predicts that people could harvest approximately 500 grams of larvae a week, producing two meals.
“The larvae I bred have a very distinctive taste,” she told us. When you cook them, they smell a bit like cooked potatoes. The consistency is a bit harder on the outside and like soft meat on the inside. The taste is nutty and a bit meaty.”
Her favourite recipe with the insects so far is larvae and tomato risotto: “I like to mix parboiled rice with wild rice together with the larvae, put a lot of tomato sauce in it and a bit of parmesan cheese. A bit of parsley or basil on top and you have a perfect meal.”
Above movie shows breeding of fly larvae in the prototype system
“With my design I am proposing a new lifestyle,” the designer told Dezeen. “It’s about a potential new western culture of insect eating and breeding… It is really about making people see that there is a great variety of food on our planet that we rarely consider.”
Unger explained that by 2050 meat production will need to increase by 50 percent to meet population increase, predicting that because we already use one third of croplands for the production of animal feed, it will be necessary to develop alternative food sources and production methods.
Above movie shows cooking and eating insects
She added that her system so far uses just one out of 1000 edible insects in the world and she wants to develop the idea further in collaborations with manufacturers and researchers.
Above movie shows how the proposed appliance would work
An integrated pulley system allows items to be hoisted up and down around this workstation by Italian design graduate Micaela Nardella (+ slideshow).
Micaela Nardella was influenced by the movement of industrial cranes and lifts when designing the wooden structure, which is intended to be wheeled over an existing desk.
CRANE-IT features a series of hanging platforms with perforations and nets that can hold books, pens, coffee cups or plants.
The platforms can be lifted up and down using the spinning wheels on the side of the structure, creating a dynamic workspace that can be adapted to suit different activities.
“The project creates an innovative overhead experience by featuring different textures, densities and by expanding or shrinking the space underneath the structure,” explains Nardella.
All the pulleys, ropes and handles are deliberately over-scaled so that the working mechanisms of the structure become the main feature.
The apparatus can be used as a single module or combined with additional units to form a larger arrangement for several people.
CRANE-IT is a vertical moving machine on wheels to be located over an existing workstation. The wooden structure and its pulley systems add functional quality and new levels of spatial use to an ordinary desk.
Inspired by the mechanisms of harbour cranes and warehouse industrial lifts, the project translates their moving technique into the design of a new spatial organization. Different functional elements are suspended above head level and each set of systems controls the relocation of one component; objects would move up and down by spinning the wheels placed on the structure.
Every component of the vertical motion is exposed and over-scaled so that pulleys, ropes and handles become the main feature of the project.
This apparatus features a group of hanged surfaces: from extra space for pens or coffee cups to a small comfortable cushion for a short break. Net hangers, book holder and temporary partitions are added on a conventional work place. CRANE-IT stands as a singular active module that adapts to the necessities of one person. It can also be positioned in a multiplied spatial arrangement for a larger and lively working area, suitable for more users.
The project creates an innovative overhead experience by featuring different textures, densities and by expanding or shrinking the space underneath the structure. This new machine proposes a dynamic approach to work areas, where the continuous movement opens up for adaptability.
Kingston University graduate Aaron Dunkerton has designed an enclosed cavity brick fitting that allows endangered birds to nest in new buildings and garden walls.
Aaron Dunkerton’s Bird Brick cavity is made of five handmade, clamp-fired bricks which can be built into new buildings or garden walls to encourage birds to nest in urban areas. Birds can access the sealed cavity through a small clay entrance hole.
“Over the last 50 years the UK has lost over 44 million birds,” Dunkerton told Dezeen. “The house sparrow population has decreased by almost 70% and I decided to do something to help with their conservation.”
“House sparrows are sociable birds. They like to nest in small colonies of three to four breeding pairs in and around homes. However, as these holes and gaps are being filled up for better insulation, these birds are running out of places to nest,” said Dunkerton.
Each cavity must be cleared out once every 2-5 years, between September and November. The circular brick stopper twists out to allow the enclosed cavity to be cleaned out and must then be re-pointed in place.
The bricks were cast with the help of UK-based brick company, MBH Freshfield Lane in West Sussex.
This chair is innovative and redefines the appearance of regular tubular steel chair forms. Designed through the play and manipulation of the material, while considering proportions, dimensions and ergonomics. This design fits into a box and stacks; these aspects appeal to manufacturers. A light chair that can be easily lifted off the floor onto a table appeals to buyers and shop owners. This chair is something new to the competitive contract market.
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