Niftymitter

OK, so I thought it was time to kick off a new Zero-waste project:
FM transmission.

I went to a great workshop by Tetsuo Kogawa which brought the idea of building my own FM transmitter back into my head - I tried this one a couple of years ago with very poor results. However Kogawa really got me excited and he had a wonderful way with the 15 or so people who came to his workshop at the CCA. He was demonstrating his Simplest FM Transmitter which is a really simple design and an easy make for the most novice of novices - with his copper-clad board method you don't even have to be any good at soldering to do it!

Right, so we know that everyone likes short range FM radio transmitters for tuning into their iPod in the car. Kogawa uses them for sound art. With a mic, they make good wee walky talkies or perhaps baby monitors. And lastly as my uncle has shown, they're good for replacing a PA in a concert situation as a more gentle, distributed, way of transferring sound.

So I'd like to make a small unit that could serve all these purposes one way or another. And its going to be open, electronics, mechanics and all.

Here's a picture of the first one I soldered up from Kogawa's plans - it works! As you can see the thing is the size of a 9V battery. Nifty.

Dr. Neil Gershenfeld speaks in Manchester on Fablabs

This post is proud to have been syndicated to the Ponoko blog.

Also while in Manchester last week I had the pleasure of attending a forum discussion on Fablabs, the MIT instigated open workshop platform. The morning was hosted by the well kept secret that is the Manufacturing Institute, the UK's national charity for promoting and educating about manufacturing - also a player in bringing about the UK's first fablab, to be sited in East Manchester.

The MI brought together Dr. Neil Gershenfeld of MIT's Centre for Bits and Atoms, representatives of the MI and of industrial sponsors, the regeneration director for New East Manchester, as well as, via video conference, 3 different Fablabs across Europe and Dr. Adrian Bowyer of the Reprap project (and the University of Bath). It was a very interesting morning, mostly to hear Gershenfeld and Bowyer speak, and to see just how many and how varied the existing Fablabs are.

A Visit to Lazerian, Manchester's CNC Wizards - Part 2

This post is proud to have been syndicated to the Ponoko blog.



continued from yesterday..

An atmosphere of relaxed experimentation, and play, is apparent in Lazerian's workshop - although Liam's collaborators Richard and Jason are silently engrossed in their making, the place is festooned with prototypes and work in progress, and there is a sense of productivity not being a chore, more of a happy coincidence.

[caption id="attachment_3880" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The guys at Lazerian: Richard, Jason and Liam"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3881" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Making up some of Lazerian's handmade jewellery range"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3882" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Some Lazerian jewellery in progress"][/caption]

Jason is busy cutting polypropylene rings for bangles by hand. A seemingly laborious process, but apparently yielding much better results than the same process tried with the CNC - down to the rough edges from milling, as compared to the smoothness of a clean scalpel cut.

Lazerian sell a great deal online, through their custom designed website. About 70% of business comes from direct sales online and through selected outlets, and the rest from commissions. The day that I am there the team are busy preparing for 100% Design in London, featuring some of Richard's paper constructions on a grand scale. Curiously enough, I first encountered Richard years ago by happening across his Flickr site, showcasing his quite unbelievable aptitude with paper. Hopkins tells me that there is a good community of artists and designers in Manchester (he used to work in much closer proximity with such others but felt it more productive to be a bit more isolated!). He has no desire for the pull to London, and is very keen to keep production local in Britain, hence the studio's commitment to making as much in house as possible. It is admirable, and not an easy thing to achieve in isolation but something they clearly thrive on.

I was surprised by Lazerian - I think I expected them to be a bunch of tech-headed furniture makers, but what I found was an amicable bunch of makers concerned above all with physical experimentation. For Lazerian, the tools are a means to an end, their creative use of CNC coming out of completely separate, quite traditional design aims. Refreshing.

A Visit to Lazerian, Manchester's CNC Wizards - Part 1

This post is proud to have been syndicated to the Ponoko blog.



Firstly, apologies for my unannounced hiatus from blogging here, it is nice to be back!



On Wednesday I had the pleasure of paying a visit to Lazerian, Liam Hopkin's studio workshop in Manchester specialising in beguiling forms for furniture, mobiles and jewellery. We covered them briefly back in November, and ever since I have been dying to go and take a closer look at their products. I was not disappointed.

[caption id="attachment_3931" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Lazerian logo resplendant on their T Shirts"][/caption]

It seems to me that everyone in Manchester either lives or works in an old mill, and Lazerian are no exception. I was greeted by a very upbeat Hopkins, easily recognisable sporting a two tone T shirt with Lazerian's trademark English Pointer emblazoned across it. He explains that the Pointer replaced their previous, (I would say, slightly less edgy) mascot of a squirrel. The dog is the latest inspiration for the studio's foray into angular ornament, a net being run off the plotter as I enter the office for turning the dog into a planar 3d paper model.

As we sit down for a cup of tea, Hopkins tells me about Lazerian's overarching ethos: experimenting with materials, seeing what they are capable of, making the most of them both in the sense of their properties and in the sense of resourcefulness.

[caption id="attachment_3923" align="aligncenter" width="407" caption="Lazerian's Mensa Coffee Table"][/caption]

My first destination as we enter their spacious workshop is to check out the CNC machine used to create pieces such as their Mensa tables. Why CNC?

"We wanted CNC from the start ... We can get a lot more out of the material that way - the components we cut would be much more wasteful to make by hand." Hopkins shows me a sheet with the negative forms left after CNC cutting, dozens of X shaped apertures crammed together on the ply. It occurs to me that this is not a big machine, and perhaps Lazerian's fascination with repeated forms and pattern are as much a response to what production resources they have on hand as aesthetics. "The smaller forms force you to be more creative," says Hopkins, "The CNC machine also allows us to keep production in house."

continued tomorrow..

Embodied in flash

My cohort just alerted me to Herman Miller's Thoughtpile site, and , indeed, the site for their Embody chair - both charming exercises in interaction. Sadly no longer fully interactive due to 'some users trying to circumvent the rules and regulations' apparently. Still a great wee play, and a really simple and honest (yet slick) linking of product to values, aimed at office buyers. Although I still want a pixelated back.

Mechanisms 101 & Arthur Ganson

A fantastic repository of mechanisms, Mechanisms 101, demonstrated with Flash.

Via Dug North

And, also via the above, an engrossing TED talk from kinetic sculptor, Arther Ganson.

Ecochandelier!

Concept 1
Originally uploaded by Zero-waste Design

I have been working with Florence of we are curious on a project with John Paul II Primary School in Viewpark since January. We are working with the P6s and P7s to design and build an 'Eco-Chandelier' for the school. I have uploaded to Flickr some photos from our recent concept selection and you can follow the course of the build at http://ecochandelier.wordpress.com