Monday, 3 March 2014

Clean up Australia Day 2014 - Clean Future - Burwood






From Left - MP Graham Watt, Erica, Myself, Lech, Brian, Chris & Emma (holding camera)

Cans, cars bumpers, glasses, tail lights, bulbs. Everything!


When we arrived at the Burwood Cemetery. We had some unexpected volunteers that had come from up the road as the site organizer changed the start time.

So in total there was around 10 of us. This meant we cleaned up the fence line and surrounding areas of the cemetery quite quickly. We then moved on to the park at the end of Roslyn street and Burwood highway. We also did some of the Burwood industrial area. 

The day went well we cleaned up a lot of rubbish and recyclables. Very happy with the results.

Friday, 28 February 2014

Clean Up Australia Day - Clean Future - 2014










So this year again I have set up a cleaning site in my home suburb Burwood, Melbourne. I actually hadn't checked out the site we cleaned to see how it has gone over the year. So I jumped on my bike and had a look around the area. And well it has as much rubbish if not more that has accumulated over the past year. That's quite sad, in fact, disgusting. 


Last year we filled 3 rubbish bags and 3 recycling bags. 

I have got my hands on a sharps disposal container for syringes just in case we encounter any. That was kindly given to me by Whitehorse Community Health Services. Its always good to have one, you never know what you may find!

I know that waste to landfill needs to be cut drastically. Our council bins have been changed from from 120L to 80L. Whitehorse Council obviously knows that alot of the materials that do go in rubbish bins need to go elsewhere. Food waste + recyclables can be found in most rubbish bins.

Interesting information for Whitehorse Council Households :  

The disposal of almost 31,000 tonnes of rubbish that currently comes from household bins cost the Whitehorse community $3.8M in 2012/13 for landfill disposal. $2.2 million of the total landfill disposal costs is attributable to the state government landfill levy and the carbon tax. 

http://www.whitehorse.vic.gov.au/New-Waste-Services.html




Below is the Clean Up Australia site link. You don't have to sign up to the site. You can contact me directly if its easier. Happy cleaning everyone!


http://www.cleanupaustraliaday.org.au/Clean+Future 




Tuesday, 25 February 2014

Free Is Better








The Idea

This idea will blow your mind. In Australia and around the world water (essentially a free commodity/resource) is bottled up in a plastic bottle.  And is sent to shops to be sold for an obscene profit. A 600ml bottle of Mount Franklin water is being sold at the moment for $4 or more. The reason these companies do so well is because humans love convenience. I will admit I love it too in certain situations. I carry a stainless steel bottle with me everywhere and fill up at any tap for free. Thus reducing plastic waste and saving money!




This is the next best option. 'Free Is Better' is a company that wants to create a movement and a statement by giving free water to you. 


The water comes from the McPherson ranges in Southern Queensland. It is filtered after collection just to make sure that it is pure H20.






The Science


The plastic bottle packaging that is used is Oxo-Bio-degradable Plastic, developed by EPI. This material comes in conventional thermoplastics such as PP (Polypropylene), PS (Polystyrene), PE (Polyethylene), PET (Polyethyleneterephtalate) or PVC (Polyvinyl-chloride). These plastics are said to break down into fragments as a result of chemical oxidation caused by UV light and heat exposure.  These plastics are compatible with conventional recycling streams. And where possible should be put back into the recycling loop to help produce another product and to avoid the use of virgin plastic. 



The Conclusion

Get your hands on this water! Word on the street is that this product will be shown to Australia on 'The Project' on channel 10 tomorrow night. So check it out. This initiative is a great step towards providing everyone with water which doesn't cost more than petrol. So I wonder whats next? Free food?  









Sunday, 2 February 2014

Lumen Pendant Light 2 - Decoration + Design Sydney 2014

The Sydney Decoration + Design event at Royal Hall of Industries is fast approaching and should be a great event to come check out. The Edge exhibit should be a showcase to be seen. Matt and myself will be there each day with our new and redesigned Lumen Pendant Light 2!

Location : Royal Hall of Industries, Lang road, Moore Park, Sydney.

Dates : 5th - 7th of February 2014


Below are the flyers and information sheet that are available at the exhibition. 
















Great Barrier Reef - World Heritage site - Dredging





Image Courtesy of Yahoo News

Image Courtesy of Greenpeace Australia

Image Courtesy of National Geographic -
Photograph by Anthony Johnson



So the Abbott government is really getting on my nerves now. So they want to create one of the worlds biggest coal ports. Which is such a dirty fuel and there are so many other sources of energy that the world can use. 3 million cubic metre's of dredge spoil to be dumped inside the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park! And guess who's negotiating leases for the area not only Gina Rhinehart and Clive Palmer. And the biggest company that is pushing this project is Adani - a Indian corporation! 

The Great Barrier Reef will become a highway for huge coal ships to dock and then take the coal to countries like India and China so they can burn it for fuel. Humanities greed astonishes me.



THIS IS A DISGRACE!




As an Australian I feel absolutely disgusted at some of the decisions that are being made. We have some time to stop this. Dredging according to Greenpeace won't start until 2015. 

Its time to protest, get off our bums and do something!








Friday, 24 January 2014

Laundry Renovation

So after the workshop was completed. It was time to move onto the next thing to be done which is the laundry. The laundry was so impractical, not much room with little storage from some cheap cupboards. The plaster board had all cracked and the floor tiles were a mess cracked and broken. Alot of issues with the laundry so I'm glad we stripped it down and started from scratch.

Below are some progress shots from the strip out to plumbing being done to the new Mahogany Gum bench top I made and installed just like everything else in this laundry. I'm very proud of this bench top. I decided to use Mahogany Gum as it is a very dense and heavy timber and looks great with that light brown colour and figure. 

Some other features of this laundry are the new LED downlights, they consume so little energy compared to Halogens. We also used Earthwool insulation instead of the typical and no recyclable polyester insulation.

To seal the timber bench tops I used a clear coat (satin) Polyurethane which is water based, helps when cleaning up! 3 coats does the job.














Monday, 20 January 2014

The Edge 2014 - Decoration + Design Sydney






'The Edge' exhibit now apart of Decoration + Design which each year in Sydney displays the works of designers, makers and students in three different categories student, commercial and concept has selected the short list finalists to exhibit at the new location in the Royal Hall of Industries, Moore Park, from Wednesday 5 February 2014 until Friday 5 February 2014. The previous location of the Sydney Exhibition centre was good, but this new location looks the part! 


The short-listed products and their designers are listed below.


// Asher Abergel | Dezion Studio | NSW
KAV pendant lights - Commercial
 
// Gabriella Audrey Aliwarga | RMIT | VIC
Flip Lamp - Student

// Hugh Altschwager | Inkster Maken  | VIC
Flashlight Pendant - Commercial

// Zev Bianchi | Bcompact Design | NSW
Tables de Profile - Commercial

// Lisa Bruce | Lidcombe Design | NSW
Eden Light - Student

// Sheree Bucton | Shereeb B Product Design | NSW
Tables Four Two - Commercial

// Jeewon Choi | Lidcombe Design | NSW
Selt-M1 - Student

// Ben Cooper | Lidcombe Design | NSW
Glow Bright - Student

// Ben Cooper | Lidcombe Design | NSW
Otto-box - Student

// Rebecca Crooke | RMIT | NSW
Paperclip - Student

// Damian Cuffe | Staten | NSW
Trestle Table - Student

// Sandra Elliott | Lidcombe Design | NSW
U1 - Student

// Oscar Fehlberg | RMIT | VIC
Pivot45 - Student

// Hope Giacoppo | RMIT | VIC
Attached - Student

// Matthew Harding and Rowan Turnham | Monash University | VIC
Lumen Pendant Lamp - Commercial

// Sholto Hayes | Lidcombe Design | NSW
Tabouret - Student

// Andrew Holloway | Lidcombe Design | NSW
Bat Table - Student

// Tobias Horrocks | Freefold Furniture | VIC
Freefold Stool - Commercial

// Linda Huynh | Lidcombe Design | NSW
Tranquility - Student

// Eugenie Kawabata | RMIT | VIC
The Satelite Stool - Student

// Dennis LAM Ling Kiu | RMIT | VIC
COMB - Student

// Nicola Liston | RMIT | VIC
Foul Play - Student

// Duncan Meerding | Duncan Meerding Design | TAS
Stump - Commercial

// Kristina Melnikova | Central Inst of Technology | WA
Squiggle Pendant Lamp - Student

// Stephanie Ng | VIC
Scoop Pendant - Commercial

// Toby Nowland | VIC
Wrapper Lamp - Concept/Prototype

// Alex O'Connell | AO Innovations/RMIT | VIC
Hekta Pendant Light - Student

// Shannon Riddle | Central Inst of Tech | WA
Point-45 - Student

// Shannon Riddle | Central Inst of Tech | WA
One Eight One - Student

// Shannon Riddle | Central Inst of Tech | WA
The Great Collapse (T.G.C.) - Student

// Vivien Rink | Toys of Wood | NSW
6eck - Student

// Amiee Ryan | Coffs Harbour TAFE | NSW
The Boxes - Student

// Amiee Ryan | Coffs Harbour TAFE | NSW
Lightbox - Student

// Nick Sadowsky | UTS | NSW
Spindent - Commercial

// Ellen Sandiford Keillar | RMIT | VIC
IN DUSTRY - Student

// Roger Sjodin | RMIT | VIC
DRON - Student

// Monique Svenson | RMIT | VIC
Sit & Stack - Student

// Monique Svenson | RMIT | VIC
the 'Softer Concrete' stool - Student

// Paul Townsin | SA
Me & Me Too Lamps & Pendants - Commercial

// Ed Turner | RMIT | VIC
Pebble - Student

// Lewis Yee | RMIT | VIC
Crescent Table Lamp - Student


If you are around Sydney during this exhibit, come in and have a look! Each year has some really unique pieces of furniture and design. See you there!

Fracture Dynamo Radio

So with initially designing fracture speaker it was time to take it to another level. By taking some of the design inspirations from the previous brief and continuing them on in this design. This brief was to design and make a speaker that could be used off grid. No use of electricity from the house or from a battery that has been produced from a power-plant whether that be coal, nuclear or hydro-electrically run.

Below I have put the presentation images which accompanied the real 1:1 scale model. I did have quite a lot of trouble getting this to work. I retro-fitted a dynamo gear set and circuit from a radio bought from Anaconda adventure store. If I get around to doing version two I would be making a lot of changes to make this design streamlined and reliable. But overall, very enjoyable project!

















Monday, 23 December 2013

Shelving by John Gatip & Rowan Turnham

With John being a Architecture student at Melbourne University and myself a Industrial Design Student at Monash University. We both thought it would be a really good opportunity to collaborate and design and make a shelving unit.

The main points for the brief were :    Portability - Open space - High load bearing joinery

Many different joinery options were initially put on the drawing board. But the final joinery that you see in the pictures is a two way connector bolt - cap nut set up. One set faces inwards to the shelf and the other faces towards the end of the shelf.

Proper Studio photos will be put up in the New Year.















Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!





Tuesday, 10 December 2013

Safety Glasses Design - Upcycling

This project has been coined ‘Redesign’ – designing products from reused materials in ways that they can also be later reused – which is basically a strategy for incorporating upcycling into industrial design processes. The project explores a world of modular, reusable, adaptable and long-life products to replace or extend the functions of today’s discrete terminal products.

The safety glasses were made from parts and materials from printers that were destined for the recycling plant. By up-cycling the parts, the use of virgin materials is avoided and a closed loop circulation is continued.

Aim: To do away with having separate safety glasses and ear muffs. As having to juggle both in the workplace is a awkward and uncomfortable.

Expected outcomes: To create a protective product that can be easily used by the user and protects both eyes and ears.




Safety-glasses - Made from Up-cycled Printer parts




They fit onto the ear muff head band via the loop hooks




Hook the first loop onto one side




And hook the final loop to the other side, time to work!






This was designed and made by myself Rowan Turnham


2013




 

Thursday, 5 December 2013

Fringe Furniture of 2013

So this is becoming a annual occurrence in that I try my best to get good pictures of all the pieces that are on show at the exhibition.  

I am Still in the process of putting the Artist + Designers names to the products. So if you notice that your piece isn't up or I have made a spelling mistake please let me know.

I just want to state that these pictures I took are to promote Australian Design. I believe that design and manufacturing have a lot to offer. With the amount of creativity being released into the public scene its overwhelming to try and capture each piece!

This years Fringe Furniture featured nearly 100 pieces of furniture, lighting and objects!






FINN - Christopher Herman

Resonance - Ky Snyder

Play Cube - Greg Lawson


Cast Metropolis - Sam Johnston

Ooti Shelving Unit - Malcom Thomas

The Cork Connection Stool -  Asher Abergel

Crated - Tim Knott

PH-05 - Dimitrios Tsiokaras

Toku Bed - Sean Kellet

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Limbo Table - Guy Turnbull

Escalating - Anthony Trott

Spindet - Nick Sadowsky

Pallet to Pallet - Marcus O'Reilly

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Leaf Skeleton - Chris Vassallo

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Out of the Boxy - Ka Ho (Joe) Li

Vault Coffee - Sam Johnston

Curly Wurly - Emma Mitchell

Forest -  Emma Mitchell

Bucket - Emma Mitchell

James Hargraves

Tri-ble - Dusko Lapcevic

Rock-a-saurus - Adam Giannikos

The Festering - Amanda Gibson

Jack Light - Donna Kirkwood

Eggos - Gavin Bufton

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Collate - James Claridge

Collate - James Claridge

Stretch Desk - Ashley Allen

Hyperbolic Chair - Adam Markowitz

Temari - Jess Lenton

Threaded Out Chair - Rowan Turnham

Side Table - Adam Markowitz

Equivocal Equilateral - Toby Horrocks

 This is not a Jimmy Possum chair - Michael Epworth

Funnel Draw - Anna Miller-Yeaman

Flashlight Pendant - Hugh Altschwager

Drape OC - Sam Johnston

ShimB & ShimA framed - Karl Baxter

Fledgling - Alex Sanson

Möbius Chair - Adam Markowitz

Refractable - Dion Baines

The Teepee Kids - Tom Gaunt

Cube Stool/Table - Patrick McEldowney

The Czech Hedgehog - Nico Evans

Candy Bench - Celine Huggins

Infinity - Hayden Kinghorn

Coat Hanger - Justin Mosedale

Kav pendant light Italic & Bold - Asher Abergel

Pull Legs - Rory Davenport

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Butterfly'd - Anthony Trott

Pulp Floor Lamp - Craig Frankland

Arbol Shelf - Alex Brown

Rock On - Adam Brislin

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Light Sculptures - Claire Tracey

Isosceles - Peter Schembri

T-Stool - Lisa Oten

The Otway Buoy Pendant - Tom Gaunt

TROiKA - Alex O'Connell

"Empire Skin" Platform Table - Michael Brierly

Un-Hinged Stool - Nick Sadowsky

Shadow Chair - Dusko Lapcevic

Dollop Light - Andre Hnatojko

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Charpill Candela - Alexandra Arias

I feel like I'm made of gold and my brain is a pot of honey - Roslyn Campbell

Zen - Sean Tan

The Two Chairs - Suzanne Nguyen

Eagle - Hayden Kinghorn

(S)Poked - Damian Cuffe

Texture II (2013) - Kenton Rogers

Hertzian Chair - Luke Batten

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S-light light - Alex Lesniowski

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Pneumatophore 2 - Guy Drew Parker

A Trio of Poufs - Gaye Naismith

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Cracked Log Lamp - Duncan Meerding

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Cráneo - Kevin Nguyen

Realax Range Bench - Tim Collins

Light Symphony - Eugene Lachowicz

J.A.F.A. - Monique Stevens

J.A.F.A. - Monique Stevens