Makers

Chair suggests recycling without actually doing so

Chair suggests recycling without actually doing so

That’s perhaps a bit unfair, as the PET from which designocrat Marcel Wanders’ prototype “Sparkle” chair is made may well come at least partly from recycled sources, for all I know. What I should say, really, is that the chair suggests direct recycling without actually doing so. It looks like it’s made from actual bottle parts, even though it isn’t. Which is a rather strange kind of eco-marketing, IMHO. Still, I like it as a purely aesthetic object. Is it because I’ve been programmed to desire bottled water, and thus respond favorably to an object that mimics its form even in a totally irrational way?

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan6
Radically folding deployable table design

Radically folding deployable table design

The obvious caveat, here, is that these are CG renderings of a concept design. Even relatively simple devices and mechanisms tend to breed unexpected problems in the transition from virtual to actual, and, IMNSHO, the cat’s not really in the bag until you’ve made a real one in the real world. Still, pretty delightful mechanical design here. It’s called “Grand Central,” from Swedish freelance designers Sanna Lindström and Sigrid Strömgren. [Thanks, Billy Baque!]

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan2
Maker Birthdays: Guglielmo Marconi

Maker Birthdays: Guglielmo Marconi

Born on this date in 1874, Guglielmo Marconi (Wikipedia) was a prominent early inventor in the development of the technology, then called “wireless telegraphy,” that today we know as radio. Even today, Marconi is commonly remembered as “the inventor of radio,” although the priority of other inventors–notably Nikola Tesla–is fairly well established. The debate over who is rightfully credited for the invention of radio has become known as “The Great Radio Controversy” (Wikipedia). Even so, there is no debate that Marconi’s achievements as an engineer, inventor, and businessman are of historic significance. He shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand Braun, “in recognition of their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy.” Marconi died in 1937, aged 63.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan
Maker Birthdays: Max Planck

Maker Birthdays: Max Planck

Karl Ernst Ludwig Marx Planck, theoretical physicist, was born on this day in 1858. He had a distinguished career as an intellectual, founding the field of quantum theory, supporting Albert Einstein’s work on Theory of Relativity, and winning the Nobel Prize in 1918. He was first recipient of the newly organized Max Planck Medal which […]

Continue Reading John Baichtal

Junkbots par excellence

I seem to find myself saying something like this a lot these days: “We’ve seen this idea before, but, dang, this person is good at it.” Well, here goes again: We’ve seen this idea before, but dang, Andrea Petrachi (aka Himatic) is good at it. Andrea’s junkbot figurines are made from, well, junk, but he seems to have a particular flair for the use of old camera parts.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan2
The passing of a Lego legend

The passing of a Lego legend

My favorite Lego blog, The Brothers Brick, is running an extended series of posts eulogizing nnenn, and this line jumped out at me: “You know a builder is big-time when he not only gets an entire scale named after him, but an element as well.” Nnenn also pioneered the iconic Vic Viper design (based on the video game Gradius), a classic example of which is shown above. Entire contests have been dedicated to Vic Vipers, and hundreds, probably thousands, of variants on the theme exist. Plans are in place for a “missing man formation” of Vic Vipers to be arranged in memory of nnenn at the Brickworld 2010 fan convention in Chicago. I’ve included just a couple more of my favorite nnenn creations below.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan