Student Work

They have a warehouse in Denver. Would be a good place to browse for an upcycling project. http://www.repurposedmaterialsinc.com/

Great use of Vantablack, light absorbing paint

Asif Khan reveals super-dark Vantablack pavilion for Winter Olympics 2018

From art project to a new industry: racing mechs

Bad Design is Inspiring Too

133 Epic Design Fails That You Will Find Hard To Believe Actually Happened

Love that whiplash curve

http://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/07/20/just-love-collection-art-nouveau-doors-around-2/

Crappy Robot Queen

This is so inspiring!

Golden ratio sculptures

Spiral sculptures by John Edmark http://www.johnedmark.com/ Trained in computer science and then product design at Stanford.

Artist and Mechanical Engineer: Arthur Ganson

Also see the article in the April 2017 edition of Mechanical Engineering Magazine (for all you ASME members).

The Four-Letter Code to Selling Just About Anything – What makes things cool?

Shohei Hara

Laser cut automaton

I wish I could give better attribution for this! Can anyone read the artist’s name?

Silver Swan Automaton 200 years old!

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/robotic-silver-swan-has-fascinated-fans-nearly-250-years-180962024/ I wish I had any confidence that any of our current technology would still be working in 200 years!

Solidsmack

There are plenty of tech and design blogs out there, but this one seems well-curated, with frequent and interesting posts: Solidsmack

I Love Junk

Ah. I’m not alone in enjoying junky hardware:

Drones play James Bond theme

Product Design: 365 Knitting Clock makes time more tactile by making a scarf

Siren Elise Wilhelmsen is a Norwegian product designer based between Bergen and Berlin. She produces objects that challenge the concept of traditional functionality and transform natural materials into intricate mechanical objects. Through her practice she seeks to find ‘a conceptual way to stimulate ideas and discussions around our everyday objects, rituals and culture.’ Source: Product…

Dynamic Chandeliers

Steampunk vision of New York

“The Old New World” (Photo-based animation project) from seccovan on Vimeo. BY Alexey Zakharov

Bathtub to couch

Диван из старой ванны. Афигительно!! Posted by Видео БУМ on Saturday, April 2, 2016

Today’s Influential Designers

Jason Mcgrath

Unfortunately I cannot make it to class Wednesday to hear about today’s influential designers, but I thought I might share who’s work I find inspiring. I’d be interested to see who’s currently inspiring you too. I don’t find Martha Stewart terribly inspiring, but what other female designers are influencing product design? Marcel Wanders http://www.marcelwanders.com/ known…

Chairs of China

Jason Mcgrath

Since we’re talking about chairs as the classic design case study, I thought you may enjoy my chair book featuring the chairs of China. Some are up-cycled, some are at end of their life, all are rad. Have a seat and enjoy: http://www.blurb.com/b/6437590-have-a-seat

A dress with parking sensors…

Anouk Wipprecht integrates parking sensors and headlights into 3D-printed fashion collection from Dezeen on Vimeo. I wonder how big the battery pack is, how long it lasts and where it is in the dress.

99% Invisible – A Podcast About Design

Joseph Graff

I’ve been listening to this podcast for a while now, and it has quickly become one of my all-time favorites. If you love podcasts, design, history, interesting stories, or just some strange amalgam of them all, then you’ll love 99% Invisible. Recommended Episodes: – Episode 110: Structural Integrity – Episode 114: Ten Thousand Years –…

Marble Music Machine

Laura Bonney

I ran across this video and thought it was worth sharing. I think it is an amazing intersection of engineering and art. Enjoy!

Kinetic Art

Steampunk lamp

A lovely example from artist choe u ram:

Military Surreal

Several students chose military hardware as upcycle source material, and made benign objects from it, like Ethan Gehring’s nutcracker from a grenade casing, Shen Shu’s toy cannon, and Chad Alvarez‘s string of shotgun shell lights. Here is a full scale example from Kris Kuksi, a “post-industrial Rococco master”artist. Many layers of meaning here.

Dynamic tables

Links, Student Work

“Top 10 Intelligent Wooden Tables”. Fun ways to make the static table into something dynamic.

Kinetic sculptures by Anthony Howe

Wonderful examples of dynamics.

Yarn from plastic bags

Upcycling

My sister in law crochets grocery bags out of other plastic bags; very robust creations. This woman takes it further and makes fine thread.

A short film about design

Jason Mcgrath

Links, Student Work

Giant pinecones from shovels

From RecyclArt.org. Looks like a good site for upcycling inspirations.

Beer can costume

Someone in class mentioned that they had a lot of soda cans that they were thinking of using for the Upcycle Assignment. Here is an example of upcycling that I can’t find the origin of, but it looks like a Brazilian Carnival troupe: I found it shared on Facebook.

Rolling through the bay

Source: Rolling through the bay A wonderful example of upcycled outsider art. Scott Weaver created an elaborate sculpture of San Francisco, made entirely of toothpicks, around 100,000 of them. A ping pong ball rides on tracks through the sculpture, visiting sites of importance to the sculptor. I saw this at the American Visionary Museum in…

Enter the annual DWR Champagne Chair Contest