Small and independent producers can benefit from the Internet’s Long Tail and on-demand manufacturing to find supply and demand for their products. Now, they can also count on radical traceability in the form of Myfab.com, a website that combines user-contributed design with the ability to follow each step in the manufacturing process once a product […]
Category Archives: fabrication
Radical Traceability
Also posted in customization, furniture, futurecraft, open objects, product design, retail, traceability
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Fashion without Trash
The fashion industry is the poster child for un-sustainable practices, as we’ve already seen from the myriad of social and environmental problems plaguing the cotton trade. Fashion designers share the responsibility, because they are so remote from the means of production – usually outsourced to Southeast Asia, Africa or South America – that their designs […]
Also posted in 2d, 3d, fashion, supply chain
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Lego Papercraft
Goro Motai pointed me to this collaboration between Muji and Lego to augment plastic building blocks with papercraft figures. Using a custom paper puncher, sheets of construction paper can be made to clip onto the plastic nubs on regular lego blocks. Although the construction paper is treated as a flat medium, this merging of 2D […]
Also posted in 2d, 3d, children, customization, open objects
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3D-Printed Clock
At the Ars Electronica / MIT Media Lab exhibit in Linz, Peter Schmitt presented his work on mechanical systems made by rapid prototyping machines – so-called 3-D printers. He makes the interesting argument that by producing these intricate mechanical devices using a single process, manufacturers could forgo the need for low-cost assembly and instead manufacture […]
Also posted in 3d, environment, materials, product design, supply chain
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Electronic Pop-up Book
One of my favorite pieces at this year’s Ars Electronica / MIT Media Lab exhibit is an electronic pop-up book made by Leah Buechley’s student Jie Qi of the High-Low Tech research group. She has layered the traditional materials with copper films, conductive ink and lights and speakers to add a digital dimension to the […]
Also posted in 2d, 3d, interaction, materials, open objects, soft/glowing, tangible
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Corrugated Cardboard Cubby
I saw this beautifully crafted electronic parts drawer cubby at Distance Lab the other day – a great example of upcycling old cardboard packaging into a very useful piece of furniture that feels and works much better than the cheap plastic alternative.
techniques for soft electronics
How to get what you want is a rich resource for anyone working in wearable technology – whether you’re looking to to knit your own stretch sensor,
Also posted in fashion, free & open, futurecraft, materials, open objects, soft/glowing
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automatic garden
There are a number of plant–growing appliances out there meant to sit on your countertop and look nice next to your iPod – but not the Omega Garden Carousel. This industrial hydroponic behemoth packs 1,500 sf of farming into 150sf of floor space with cylindrical stainless steel cages that take turns soaking in a nutrient […]
Also posted in food, lighting, livingbreathing
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