Wrenchmonkees - Custom Motorcycles

I was reading 'Made magazine' in mag nation yesterday. Made is a magazine that documents unique individuals and groups that create amazing design. 

I stumbled across these motorcycles that weren't saturated in top spec performance parts, cutting edge technology and branding. These bikes were some what true, not hidden from body panels, what you see is what you get. They stated on their website that "Our company today is a result of passion, not a business plan." When I read that I knew that what they create wasn't a result of just working a 9-5 job it was for the passion.

So these guys (Per Nelson & Nicholas Bech) take any old bike and then customize and style it to their clients needs. Based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Established in 1998 and Wrenchmonkees has been ever since 2008.

Honda CB 750 Four

Harley Davidson Sportster

Yamaha XJR 1300

Yamaha XJR 1300

http://www.wrenchmonkees.com/

Feit - Hand made shoes

Feit are a Australian based shoe and accessories company. The company was established in 2005 by Tull Price and Josh Price. This venture was started in response to Tull's experience in the highly commercial shoe industry when he started up 'Royal Elastics' in London in 1996. Since then Royal elastics was sold to a large multinational shoe company in 2002.

The upper sole is one part of vegetable tanned leather, hand stitching is followed through with the absence of any machine as aid for the process. Leather is sourced from Italian tanneries. The footbed is made from natural cork.


The shoe shell is then left with the last (wooden shoe form) in a room where moisture is pumped into allowing the leather to fall and take shape. 

Viv Kollevris - Ribbon Chair

Ribbon Chair

Vivianne has created the Ribbon chair a chair that almost seems like it has been captured in a moment of time, a moment of movement ready to unravel into another amalgamation of curls. Countless hours have gone into the design and making of this chair. Testing, trial and error  have filtered this chair into the fine form it is now. 

The materials used for this Ribbon chair are composite concrete mixture which is combined with a catalyst fluid. PVA fiber strands are added to act as a reinforcement just like glass fibers do in fiberglass.  The overall thickness is only 22mm yet its strength is tremendous!

http://vivprojects.com/

2013 Melbourne Hand tool event

This weekend the Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking will be holding a 2 day show of hand tools new and old. A variety of demonstrations will be also done from the likes of
Christopher Schwarz who is a well established teacher and maker of traditional and fine furniture.

Where: 79B Lexton Rd, Box Hill North
When: 23rd and 24th March from 10am to 4pm


The demonstrations will show specific techniques for bending, dove tailing, hand fitting drawers, carving, Windsor Chair and Shaker Oval Box making.

Timbers that will be present at the show for sale are : Curly Maple, Gidgee, Coobar, Elm, Curly Redgum, Californian Redwood, Clear Macrocarper, Honduras Mahogany and Ancient Redgum, English Oak, Blackwood and Elm and many more.

Huge slabs of Elm, Californian redwood!

Some green Blackwood outside the Demo room

All these tool makers will be present over the weekend demonstrating and selling their tools:

Lie Nielson, Chris Vesper, Terry Gordon on HNT Gordon, Colin Clinton, Michael O’Connor, Tetsuro Izumitani of Japanese Hand Tools and The Hand Tool Preservation Society.

http://www.mgfw.com.au/ 

Dale Hardiman - Polly

Dale Hardiman has explored the degradable, non toxic polymer which he used in his first solo exhibition which was held in Bendigo at Dudley house in September 2012. 


Dale uses clear white PCL pellets and coloured pellets and melts them in a bowl of boiling water. The molten plastic is then kneaded into what ever desired form. Each form is unique from the next one. 


For more information on Dales bowls and cups.

http://www.dale-hardiman.com/Polly

Materials - Polycaprolactone

Plastimake sell PCL pellets

So whats this material that is being used by everyday people to mold and prototype parts. From brackets that hold your lights on your bike to bowls and cups.

Plastimake, InstaMorph Shapelock and Friendly plastic are all manufacturers of  Polycaprolactone (PCL). This is a degradable thermoplastic plastic which is derived from the chemical synthesis of crude oil. The glass transition state is low, 60deg will melt the 3mm pellets which means all you have to do is turn on the kettle and boil your water then submerge and wait for the pellets to melt. But there is a catch, this plastic also crystallizes quickly as well. Which means it starts to become rigid and hard. Also Lignin and Starch can be mixed with PCL.




Do not melt PCL to its decomposition temperature (200deg) as it will emit 

• Carbon monoxide ( poisonous to humans)

A lot of the previously mentioned companies that produce and sell PCL state that it is "Biodegradable". Plastimake states that it  "will start to deteriorate after approximately 10 years"
 Yet what does it actually break down into? Does it just break down into smaller and smaller bits, or does it actually biologically break down to be consumed by plant or animal life without hazardous affects. As it is a thermoplastic derived from crude oil I can't quite grasp the buzzword "Biodegradable" that all these companies use.

Birthday Invite

So my grandpa has nearly reached a milestone of 90years of age and my mum and I thought we should design a invite for the get together. 

At first we were looking at doing a basic invite, but after drawing it up we thought a tree of life graphic with leaves sweeping down with the information would do justice. Visually its a lot more dynamic and vibrant!

Once the tree was drawn then the leaves were used for the sweep

The invites printed were colourful and crisp!

Tree of life invite

The work of Jon Bentovim

Jonathan Bentovim is an Industrial designer who has worked for the likes of Goodwin Hartshorn, London and Charlwood, Melbourne.

Jon's designs are uncomplicated on the surface but take a step closer and these designs reveal themselves convoluted and designed to serve their brief whether its furniture or lighting.

Jon Bentovim

The Encoder ring is a unrivaled way to store information in a personal item such as a ring. The binary code represents numbers and letters. The individual can have their information situated into the rings form and then it is Rapid Prototyped.

Encoder ring - Binary code

Binary code represents information

The George Lane Stool is produced from Laminated Bamboo board. The design is rigid yet light. Brass or Stainless steel guards are attached the the high stools to protect the bamboo.

George Lane - Stool

Stackable - Colourful - Useable

The High Side Table was designed to be sit next to couches and chairs. It is higher in respect to normal side tables to allow the user to reach from the couch or chair, instead of awkwardly moving to reach downwards to the table top.

The High Side Table

To the untrained eye the Rough Diamond Pendant looks like a few Copper pipes connected together to produce a transparent geometric form. But if you were to have a closer view each Copper pipe is connected with a 3D printed joint. The beauty of this design is that the structure is so light and non invasive on its interior environment. Some lights these days are so overwhelming, scrambling for every ounce of attention.

Rough Diamond Pendant

Trio Cluster

Check out Jon Bentovim's Website!

http://b-td.com/

Studio Batch - Melbourne creative studio

I stumbled on this group called "Studio Batch". They are situated in Brunswick, Melbourne.
They specialize in product design and 3d printing objects such as rings to light housings. The group is a fusion of 4 chaps, all with Industrial design backgrounds. On their website they say that they are "Inspired by the limitless possibilities presented by 3D printing". The capabilities of 3D printing are becoming more apparent to designers today as 3D printing becomes more viable through the improvement in the technology and cost.

Ok so who are these 4 chaps? 


Rowan Page

Ilya Fridman

Marinos Drakopoulos

Dean Ovens

 

What sort of products have they designed?

3D Printed Light

Raspberry Pi - Credit card sized computer

3D Printed ring

Complex and aesthetically beautiful design using a method that will keep on evolving into the future.




Check out their website, a lot more content on there about them and their works!

http://studiobatch.com/

Clean up Australia Day / CleanFuture

This Sunday the 3rd of March is Clean up Australia day. The aim of this day is to help promote the removal of rubbish from all of our environments. Packaging, bottles and wrapping are constant by product of our societies of today. The waste removal and disposal via individuals or large companies today is still a massive problem. Also we have a huge long term effect that rubbish will play on our natural environment for generations to come. 

Its only one day, of one year, to pick up a bag and volunteer our time to clean up our mess.

Anywhere there is rubbish pick it up and direct it back to a pathway of responsibility. Parks, waterways, ovals, industrial areas, suburbia, cities, lane ways, gutters, roads, highways all have rubbish in them. And the sad fact is that most rubbish will one day find its way into our oceans. 

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