Hasta La Ideas

The birds inside this cuckoo clock by London design studio BERG are programmed to poke their heads out to announce Twitter messages, retweets and new followers (+ movie).

#Flock, which was commissioned from BERG by social networking service Twitter, was built using BERG Cloud, the design studio’s operating system for network-connected products.

Using a wirelessly controlled Arduino microcontroller, the three birds inside the clock are choreographed to respond immediately to activity on Twitter.

Retweets, direct messages and new followers each trigger one of the three birds to pop out of the clock, accompanied by a snippet of birdsong.

Like the studio’s Little Printer, the tiny thermal printer that led to the development of BERG Cloud, #Flock is a web-connected device designed to give digital data a physical expression.

BERG isn’t the only design studio exploring ways of making digital data tangible – we previously featured a project to print muddled news headlines harvested from the internet and a plotter set up to write and re-write text from Wikipedia as it’s updated.

Other machines on Dezeen include a mechanically operated sliding whistle that uses a bellow and levers to mimic birdsong – see all machines.

Photographs are by BERG.

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for Twitter appeared first on Dezeen.

Product news: this wind-up toy by British design brand All Lovely Stuff creates abstract art when let loose on a sheet of paper.

Inspired by the cotton-reel tanks they played with as children, All Lovely Stuff designers Ed Ward and Carl Clerkin adapted the mechanical toy to hold a felt tip pen.

To propel the machine, simply wind the cotton reel while holding the wax cylinder, then place it down and let go. The height and position of the pen can be adjusted to make bigger or smaller circles, or straight lines.

The machine comes in a self-assembly kit containing an oak cotton reel, a clothes peg, a felt tip pen, a rubber band, a dowel and a piece of wax, and is available online from All Lovely Stuff.

Earlier this year Dezeen filmed a movie with designer Carl Clerkin, who told us about his aim to create functional wooden products with “a little bit of charm about them”.

Other machines we’ve featured on Dezeen include a rotational moulding machine that inserts spontaneity into serial production and a contraption that mimics birdsong – see all our stories about machines.

We’ve also featured lots of toys on Dezeen, including wooden toys that incorporate plugs and clothes pegs and a knitted tree filled with knitted creatures.

See all our stories about toys »
See all our stories about products »

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by All Lovely Stuff appeared first on Dezeen.

Istanbul Design Biennial 2012: German designer Annika Frye incorporated a cordless drill in the rotational moulding machine she built for making one-off items using a process that would normally result in an identical series (+ movie).

The Improvisation Machine was designed by Frye as a way to incorporate spontaneity and unpredictability into the process of serial production. “It was difficult to ‘design’ something improvised,” Frye told Dezeen. “Improvisation can’t be repeated or planned – and therefore I can only try to design somehow the framework in which improvisation will eventually happen.”

The spontaneity comes from never using the same mould twice. The resulting objects resemble ceramic, but are actually made from a plastic that hardens in half an hour.

To begin the process, Frye makes a plastic mould from a flat sheet by adapting a net based on tessellated octagons. The pattern can easily be altered and the same one is never used again.

The mould is then suspended in the frame by strips of fabric tape, filled with wet polymer plaster and sealed before the drill is switched on. The screw pressing the switch of the drill enables the user to control the speed of the rotation while the plastic cures.

After hardening, the objects are sanded outside and varnished inside. Some are sawn open to widen the aperture of the container or create a lid.

While each of the vessels is slightly different, all of the objects are related to each other as they are based on the same octagonal grid.

The Improvisation Machine is on show at the Istanbul Design Biennial as part of the Adhocracy exhibition, which investigates the impact of open-source thinking on the design world.

“Adhocism is not only a design activity, but also a political statement,” said Frye. “Since it uses everything that is immediately available, mass production loses influence. Instead of shaping things anew, the improviser uses what is already there and solves his specific problem immediately. He can directly respond to a situation.”

Exhibition curator and Domus editor  Joseph Grima told Dezeen about the concept of “adhocracy” at the opening of the exhibition, arguing that as systems of mass production are increasingly replaced by flexible peer-to-peer networks and new technologies, we can expect a “cultural revolution” – read the full interview with Grima.

Other projects from the biennial we’ve reported on include an open source design for a water purifier and a 3D printing project that explores how objects created from identical digital files can be as unique as hand-made ones – see all our stories from the Istanbul Design Biennial. The biennial continues until 12 December 2012.

We previously featured a similar rotational moulding machine powered by a cordless drill that produced plastic piggy banks, and Phil Cuttance has just contributed a vase using a similar process to the Stepney Green Design Collection curated by Dezeen.

See all our stories about machines »
See all our stories about the Istanbul Design Biennial »

Photographs are by Annika Frye and the movie is by Aiko Telgen.

Here’s some more information from the designer:

A series of rotational moulded pieces was produced in a experimental production setup. By using a self-made rotational moulding machine I can produce variation instead of repetition.

The moulds were made from simple geometric patterns, the material is a special plaster that hardens within short time. I also added wooden parts and other materials. The hollow objects were cut in order to create a vase/dish/container.

The Machine, for me, is more than just a tool: I designed the machine itself by using basic characteristics of a piece of furniture such as brass fittings, multiplex and steel tubes.

The first series of pieces comprises different items such as vases, containers and bowls. Each object is unique. Still, all objects are related to each other as all forms are based on an octagonal grid.

The plaster hardens within 30 minutes. The objects are sanded from the outside, their inside is covered with varnish. Some objects were cut with a saw in order to create a container or a vase. In this way, the top and the bottom of the vase/container/dish can be produced within a single mould. At first glance, the material resembles ceramic, but the plaster is more lightweight. Also, wooden parts and other materials can be added. A screw enables continuously variable speed.

The first model of the machine was improvised with Fischertechnik parts. In the beginning, I wanted to make a machine that can improvise, but I figured out that the improvisation cannot be done by a machine. It actually happens when the machine is being made (in the workshop) or when I produce objects with the machine: I am the one who improvises!

The objects were produced in the gallery Kunstverein am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin in June during the DMY design festival. The exhibition Res publica / Res privata was curated by Susanne Prinz and Oliver Vogt. In October, the machine and the objects created in it will be shown at Adhocracy at Istanbul Design Biennial.

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by Annika Frye appeared first on Dezeen.

London Design Festival: this mechanical contraption by artist Martin Smith and his design company Laikingland will wake you up by chirping like a bird (+ movie).

Bird Song with a Found Feather is a mechanically operated sliding whistle that uses a bellow and levers to mimic birdsong.

“The noise is created by two cams rotating and pushing levers up and down,” explained Smith, who is also the artistic director of Laikingland. “One lever pumps the bellows, forcing air into the whistle, and the second lever adjusts the slide in the whistle in order to change the pitch and length of the chirp.”

The feather itself offers no clue to the bird imitated by the contraption. “The origins of the feather are unknown, as it was found and donated to the piece – although it is very blue,” Smith told Dezeen.

A bespoke analogue timer has been built into the piece so that the chirping sound can be used as an alarm clock.

The piece was displayed at Mint in South Kensington during the London Design Festival – see all our stories from the festival here.

We’ve featured a few other machines by Laikingland previously, including a gong timer that’s inaccurate on purpose and a cacophonous doorbell made in collaboration with Tord Boontje.

See all our stories about machines »
See all our stories about Laikingland »

Here’s some more information from Laikingland:

The concept came from the notion of waking up to the wonderful sound of birdsong. Rather than a caged living bird, an elaborate mechanically operated sliding whistle has been devised that can be set and activated when required.

I wanted a piece that could be set, as with an alarm clock, and would allow you start the day gently. I am interested in producing mechanical bird sounds and seeing the cause and effect through a mechanism. For me the making is very important and I wanted to craft every part of the machine, to understand how the bellows are constructed and operate and to get the bird whistle sounding just right.

Materials: steel, brass, fabric, motor, custom electrics and a feather
Dimensions: H 1500mm (59”) W 300mm (12”) / D 300mm (12”)
Power: 12v motor
Edition: unique
Price: on request

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by Martin Smith/Laikingland appeared first on Dezeen.

New York artist Nova Jiang has created a mechanical maze that rearranges itself as you move through it (+movie).

Called Landscape Abbreviated, it comprises moss-filled planters hooked up to sensors and motors that constantly reconfigure the maze but ensure it’s always possible to solve.

The project was commissioned by the Wave Hill Sunroom Project Space, where it was on show until last week.

See more stories about machines on Dezeen »

Photos are by Raymond Yeung.

Here’s some more information from Nova Jiang:

Landscape Abbreviated is a kinetic maze consisting of modular elements with rotating planters, which form a garden that is simultaneously a machine. I am interested in the way that simple interventions can make the experience of space dynamic and unpredictable.

The planters are controlled by a software program that continuously generates new maze patterns based on mathematical rules; they rotate to form shifting pathways that encourage visitors to change direction and viewpoints as they move through the space.

I envision this sculpture not as a classical labyrinth built to ensnare, but rather as an architectural abbreviation of grand ideas. In this way, the maze relates to literature, mathematical beauty, game play and the rigor of software programming, as much as it does to architecture and landscape.

The planters contain live moss collected from the sides of buildings, cracks in the pavement, subway grates and other urban nooks and crannies in New York City’s landscape. Full of particles of broken glass, plastic and other detritus, they form a patchwork of unintentional archaeology.

Curator: Gabriel de Guzman
Commission: Wave Hill Sunroom Project Space

Special Thanks: Jacob Tonski & Greg Witt
Software: Olov Sundstrom

Camera: Raymond Yeung
Sound: Maria Chavez

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by Nova Jiang appeared first on Dezeen.