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: futurecraft
Radical Traceability
Also posted in customization, fabrication, furniture, open objects, product design, retail, traceability
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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 fabrication, fashion, free & open, materials, open objects, soft/glowing
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bristle branch
At the London Design Museum a number of ‘sustainable’ projects were shown, seeking to highlight the design opportunities afforded by the use of renewable materials and traditional craft. The CLEAN series by CinqCinq uses bent branches to secure synthetic bristles in a series of cleaning brushes. The use of bright red to indicate the mass-produced […]
Also posted in fabrication, materials, open objects
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map embroidery
The web has transformed maps into a dorm of personal expression: once used exclusively for personalized directions, online maps have become tools for scrapbooking and sharing our experience in social networks. We can see the influence of distributed online cartography in our real-world communications, such as these stitch cards that encourage the tourist to delineate […]
Also posted in maps, visualization
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computer aided re-design
Freitag is well known for their messenger bags up-cycled from the tarps used to cover trucks in Europe. They have a very clever web-based design application that allows you to custom-design a bag from the tarps they have in stock, even accounting for the pieces that have already been claimed by other customers. It’s a […]
Also posted in environment, fabrication, marketing, materials, product design, supply chain, visualization
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improvised devices
While visiting the spectacular Alexander Calder: the Paris Years at the Whitney last weekend I came across a book on his ‘devised objects,’ namely the household devices that he improvised with the same whimsy of his wire-and-found-object sculptures. Just as he was capable of making kinetic toys and figural sculpture from bare wire and trinkets […]
Also posted in art, fabrication, product design, upcycling
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food life
Halfby’s latest animation takes their bird’s eye view to a national level: this public service announcement illustrates the impact of a shifting food culture. Japan’s diet has shifted away from rice, fish and locally farmed vegetables to include more meat, oils and fats largely imported from other countries. As a result, people are becoming unhealthy, […]
Also posted in energy, environment, food, supply chain, visualization
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paper cloth
Mio pointed me to a Japanese site that sells cloth and clothing made from a combination of cloth and rice paper. There is a lot of talk about design for durability, but even better is the conscientious reuse of temporary materials. This solution looks like it might make an adequate vegetarian substitute for leather, it […]
Also posted in fabrication, fashion, materials, soft/glowing
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