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Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0LEDs can go into into just about anything; designer Peteris Zilbers sticks them in broom handles. I have complained in the past about the foolishness of running them on 110 volts AC, since they require transformers and rectifiers to operate, and have suggested that our homes should be wired for low voltage direct current that anyone can just tape onto their baseboards.Now Christopher Mims of MIT Technology Review points out another idiocy: how we try to cram them into the old screw-in Edison base. He calls it ridiculous.In economics and social science, this phenomenon is known as "path dependence." The simplistic definition of path dependence is that "history matters," but there's an even better way to think about it, and that's as ... Continue reading →
Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0I had never seen this bit of transformer furniture before; It appears that I don't hang around on European beaches very much, because they are aqpparently very common there. It is a Strandkorb, or beach basket, invented in 1882 by Wilhelm Bartelmann in Rostock, Germany. Accroding to OASIQ, the manufacturer of this updated version, it was designe dfor a young woman with rheumatism who still loved the beach.The Strandkorb allowed her "to enjoy the benefits of the sea air while protecting her from the elements of sun, sand, wind and rain."Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0It all packs up into a trunk and rolls away.© StrandkorbAs I mentioned, they are popular on European beaches. More on Wikipedia. Continue reading →
ICFF is very much a corporate affair, and is held in the dreary basement of the Javits Center. After spending a couple of days in the Fiero Milano it really felt second rate. Wanted Design is an alternative fair, held in a Landmark building, in a space appropriately named The Tunnel. There really wasn't anything on display here that could not have been shown at ICFF, but it had a different vibe. Continue reading →
Fishtnk/CC BY 2.0One of the reasons that it is so important to have natural light when you work is the colour temperature; our bodies sense the passage of the day through changes in the light, from red in the morning when the sun is lower, to blue when it is high, and red again in the afternoon. Artificial light doesn't do that, which is one of the reasons people get so fatigued late in the day; our body clock is stuck in time.That's why I was so excited to see Fishtnk's Owl, launched at ICFF. It lets you adjust intensity and colour temperature, and you can use your BlackBerry Playbook to program it to match your circadian rhythm (it also works on apple and android). ... Continue reading →
Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0Martin Keen is known for reinventing the shoe with his hybrid footwear; now he is reinventing the workspace with his Focal Standing Desk. TreeHugger has long been a fan of standing desks, and I am writing this post while standing. But not everyone is up for doing it all day. Keen writes:Sitting disease is epidemic. You spend a third of your life at work, behind your desk and on your butt. Studies have proven that many small movements throughout the day lead to better health – upright is better for you. The new Locus workstation from Focal lets you rock the day job in a posture halfway between standing and sitting. Designed to move with you, encourage active engagement, and allow your ... Continue reading →
Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0Every year there is a trend at to be found at ICFF, and usually Jaime and Isaac Salm of MIO are on top of it. This year, these TreeHugger regulars pick up on mass customization, bringing computers and printing technology together to allow customers to personalize furniture with either their own art or photography, or their choice of work by artists and designers.Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0It is simply a matter of choosing your cabinet, your image and off you go, with your own Naked Art from Mio.Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0The Yube Cube is a storage system that we should have covered on TreeHugger before; it is a cube in a box that stacks to make a bookshelf or storage system. The frames ... Continue reading →
Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0In 1863 Édouard Manet and James McNeil Whistler had their work rejected by the Paris Salon, which was the official juried arbiter of French art. So they founded The Salon des Refusés, French for “exhibition of rejects”. In 2012 this past weekend, a couple of designers whose work was rejected by the Wanted Design took to the streets, in the middle of the road opposite the Apple store at 14th Street and 9th Avenue, in the trendy meatpacking and High Line district. Sabine of Mocoloco and I visited on Sunday. From a TreeHugger point of view, it was the greenest show in town.Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0The dominant piece was the Whiskey Neat bar, complete with a delicious bourbon. Designed by John Pellighelli ... Continue reading →
