Marmalade Cat Furniture

Design Public added the Marmalade brand of pet products to their catalogue, and APNY has posted the details here.

We have a small cardboard scratcher for our two boys. It lasted 2-3 months before the horizontal connections were scratched out and we had to turn it over. A scratcher this big should last much longer.

Buran vs Space Shuttle

While the US Space Shuttle with its boosters and external fuel tank is the launch vehicle, the Soviet Buran is just "payload" aboard the Energia rocket. The Energia was designed to be used with the Buran, or with other payloads inside its nose-cone or attached to its' side: A more versatile design.

Buran is equipped with ejection seats for all occupants. It has two engines, enabling it to fly to a landing spot. And it has a more protective heat shield than the US Space Shuttle...

Buran had automatic landing capability and landed itself in its' only flight in 1988.

The Buran-Energia project was created at the beginning of the seventies and canceled in 1993 for lack of funds.

All things considered, I think Buran was the better idea.

Images from Dark Roasted Blend
Categories:Science

Football So Cool

"To promote the new football game FIFA Street 3, EA Games just released this cool new viral. It shows some high quality extreme football from Mexico. They sure used some 3D add-ons, but that doesn't make it less interesting. Anyhow, it's made by W+K Amsterdam and launched across Europe." -AdverBlog

Thanks NOTCOT
Categories:Movies

Antonov-An225 with Buran

Stunning photos of the worlds' largest aeroplane and the Buran space shuttle together.




More info on the An225 here.

Images from Dark Roasted Blend
Categories:Science

Canadian National Railway Austin Mini

Utility trucks are modified to run on rails for railway maintenance work. The Canadian National Railway modified this (1970?) Austin Mini to transport workers.

Thanks Dark Roasted Blend
Categories:Cars

Railbikes

In some parts of the world, rail freight is losing business to road freight. So here's one good use for the abandoned rail tracks:




Practical cyclists will appreciate the gentle grades and lack of automobile traffic.

Category:Sports

The Bibliochase

I know that the "bookchair" has been around for a while, but this is the first time I've seen so many different images of it.




Thanks NoBodyandCo
Categories:Furniture

People in Order

"Shows us where we came from and where we are all going"
-From the comments on YouTube

Thanks How it Happened
Categories:Movies

Daniel Rohr's Clamp Furniture

"The basic component of the rack, with the integrated screw clamps being the main element, and using old and new shelves, made out of diverse materials and size, form the variable rack unit." -daniel-rohr.de




I've seen clamps attached to lengths of pipe so that carpenters can sandwich large items.


Might it be possible to use the same conduit, with multiple clamps, to make bookshelves? I think it would be possible and simpler than the method employed here by Daniel Rohr.

Thanks 2modern
Categories:Design

DWR Annual

DWR call their Catalogue the "Annual Book". It's a 228 page listing of their entire collection. Free now.


And while you're at their site, follow and vote in the Champagne Chair Contest: miniature chairs made from champagne corks.


Categories:Design Furniture

Our Next Couch?

Today we went to Scandinavian Designs in San Mateo to sit on the couches we'd seen online.

The first one is called the Mesa. We liked it: Firm cushions, thick-ish leather, clean lines, good quality, comfortable. Only $1100.


The other couch is the Mandalay. It looks better in person than it does in this photo. We both liked the walnut finish, but I didn't care for the contrasting cream coloured stitching. The Mandalay has a slightly curved back. $1700.


Categories:Furniture

Din-ink

Design by Andrea Cingoli, Paolo Emilio Bellisario, Cristian Cellini, Francesca Fontana from Italy. Made from biodegradable corn and potato starch.

I assume the caps lock on the hexagonal cross-section of the biro, so that they don't spin around.

Thanks Design Boom
Categories:Design

Naive New Beaters - Live Good

Thanks Epic-Fu
Categories:Movies

AIDS PSA

"Every 10 seconds, someone in the world dies of Aids"

Leo Burnett Advertising Agency

Thanks IBIA
Categories:Movies

MacWorld San Francisco 2008

The consumer electronics industry let out a collective sigh of relief this week as Apple failed to unveil any new segment creating gadgets.

The big news was iTunes movie rentals, new iPhone software, and the MacBook "Air". Nothing for the industry to worry about, unless you're NetFlix or Blockbuster.

The iPhone software update is trivial; iPhone users are still patiently waiting for third party applications (From the Treo to the iphone: one step forward, two steps back).

The MacBook Air is sleek, expensive, and can't be upgraded. The case is sealed shut with the battery inside. It's a good computer for the "Design Within Reach" crowd, who can appreciate its' style and won't be bothered by its' shortcomings.

It wasn't a great MacWorld. It was just a good one. I'll come back next year and make more time to see the exhibits. I still don't know what was happening at the Google booth, and I didn't get a chance to check out the Griffin AutoPilot and Evolve wireless speakers MacBook based tablet from Axiotron. Damn my fear of crowds!

More McAllister Street

Although this house is new, and all the other houses are ~100 years old, it does blend in.

This new house combines elements from each of the neighbouring houses:
The front steps from the house on the right.
The colours of the houses across the street.
The similar sized sash windows on the first floor correspond to the house on the left.
And I think it mimics the building on the left, which has a recent second level addition.







Categories:Architecture San Francisco

McAllister Street

This is one of the cutest streets in SF, and I didn't know about it until yesterday, when I parked near here to go to my doctor at Fulton and Shrader. This is McAllister Street between Stanyan and Parker, in the Inner Richmond district. This block of McAllister is offset from the rest of the street, discouraging through traffic, and creating a haven for those living here.

It's unusual to see a row of single storied houses in San Francisco. Somehow they missed being replaced with multi story, multiple occupancy flats.








Categories:Architecture San Francisco

Design Public Sale at the Sunset House

Sunset Magazine has created their 2007 Idea House in San Francisco, taking the magazine's Idea House Program into a dense urban area for the first time, to demonstrate how to maximize construction on a compact site.

And now Design Public is selling their staged furniture from the Sunset Idea House at 50% off!
Not only do you get a great bargain on furniture, you get a free look inside the Sunset House when you pick up your purchase when the display is closed at the end of the month.

Categories:Furniture

More Concrete Jewellery

Back here I was unsure whether or not I liked the cement jewellery. The artist was using a thin layer of concrete as decoration. The wearer wouldn't be able to easily feel the concrete. It seemed to me that the concrete might crack and break off. The rings looked vulnerable.

But I really like these stainless steel and cement hand made rings! Feel the concrete. Watch it change colour as it absorbs skin oil, or gets scrubbed clean when you wash your hands.

For an architect or engineer who works with cement, wearing one of these rings would provide a constant reminder of the feel and patina of their medium.







Designed by 22designstudio. They chose the name to remind themselves of the ideals they had at age 22 when they graduated from Cheng Kung University in Taiwan.

Thanks DesignBoom
Categories:Design