The usual Instructable goes something like this. "I had an awesome idea. I built it. Here are the pix and details so you can build one, too." There are variations on how awesome the ideas are and how the details come together, but that's the basic format, and it works really well.
Every once in a while, there's a real story. Instructable author Corwin writes the tale of love and inspiration behind his creation of a pair of high heels with a hidden bike cleat. Now, this guy didn't just add a cleat to the bottom of a pair of shoes. He hand crafted a pair of high heels, from scratch, machining the base out of a solid chunk of zebra wood and making the straps from sheet leather.
Even though the project outlasted the romance, he still gave her the shoes in the end. The whole thing makes my designer side go "wow" and the girly side go "awwww." (You know the sound, the one we use for puppies.) Although if I turned this into a fairy tale, the next scene would have him looking for a new bike girl with a quirky style and finally falling in love with one who fits the shoes. They would ride off together on a tandem, of course.
Images from Instructables
The always thoughtful and sustainably-minded geniuses who run Patagonia have just put the future ahead of profits in an especially creative and brilliant way. (Did I get enough superlatives in there?) This is something that most green-minded designers wrestle with. My work is designing stuff, and I like things, but the truth is, reducing consumption is probably the biggest change we can make. Patagonia clothing is made to be super durable, and often outlasts any one person's desire to own it.
So they've partnered with eBay's green team:
"Keeping existing, perfectly functioning products in use, rather than in the back of a closet, reduces the demand on our air, water and land to create new ones. Each American throws away about 65 pounds of clothing and textiles per year, according to the EPA. And demand for textiles, like polyester, made from petroleum has almost doubled in the last 15 years. So using clothes that already exist, and selling what you’re no longer using, is a simple yet powerful act...."
The Common Threads Initiative is an eBay storefront where you can buy and sell gently used Patagonia branded gear. This is one more example of the company making it easier to keep their products out of the landfill.
Images from Patagonia and current (as of post time) eBay listings. Via ecouterre.
Tricia has been working on a new jewelry project, and she finally agreed to let me show you. Aren't they great?
So when your earbuds finally bite the dust after one too many iPod drops, you can send them to Tricia, and she'll re-craft them into awesome earrings with wood inserts. Then you can wear a set in your ears and a second set on your ears. Just don't get them mixed up. These look awesome, but they don't sound that great.
In other news, Tricia's M.O.C. brooms were just selected for Apartment Therapy's Design Showcase. If you've got a minute, click on over to AT and drop three stars on our friend. Congrats, Tricia!
Images from Tricia Wright
I just spent a couple of days working on colors for a project, and I had all those little Pantone chips spread across my desk. I wasn't picking yellows, but Dole was. Check this...
"Speaking of fruit, you may think a banana is just a banana, but it's not. Dole and other banana growers have turned the creation of a banana into a science, in part to manipulate perceptions of freshness. In fact, they've issued a banana guide to greengrocers, illustrating the various color stages a banana can attain during its life cycle. Each color represents the sales potential for the banana in question. For example, sales records show that bananas with Pantone color 13-0858 (otherwise known as Vibrant Yellow) are less likely to sell than bananas with Pantone color 12-0752 (also called Buttercup), which is one grade warmer, visually, and seems to imply a riper, fresher fruit. Companies like Dole have analyzed the sales effects of all varieties of color and, as a result, plant their crops under conditions most ideal to creating the right 'color.' And as for apples? Believe it or not, my research found that while it may look fresh, the average apple you see in the supermarket is actually 14 months old."
Read more of Martin Lindstrom's article here: Fast Company
Banana image from Flickr user Design-Dog (aka Ian Ransley). Via Fast Company.
