New Hive

Designed by Craig Varterian for Boom, Hive is a modular shelving/display system sold in two finishes, solid wood in walnut veneer or white lacquer. A set of three runs for $125 on their website. I snapped a photo of these more slender units at Dwell on Design though I couldn't find them on the website.

Fabric Clouds

I attended the Dwell on Design conference, billed as the West Coast's Largest Modern Deisgn event, in LA yesterday. One of the most impressive displays was a suspended composition of Kvadrat Clouds near the exhibition entrance. Designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Kvadrat (a supplier of European textiles founded in the 1960s), clouds are a unique 3 dimensional tile concept. They come in boxes of 8 or 24 and are attached by rubberbands. Available in 2 fabrics and 7 color combinations, they can be assembled in custom configurations in "a fluid and choatic way."

Overlapping Webs

I've been working on studies of a rectified web wall. Stacking the physical models led to interesting effects. Shifting and rotating the grids affects the ratio of open to solid and corresponding transparency and translucency. The direction of light and color create dramatically different results.

Laser Finish

Laser cutting is a relatively young technology. One of the appeals of laser cutting is that compared to traditional methods of cutting, there is little contamination, warpage, or distressing of the material due to lack of physical contact (electromagnetic radiation in the form of an emitted laser beam is used to cut the material.) Additionally there is no wear on the cutting element as there is with a physical place. The strength of the laser itself, however, does vary depending on the material being cut. I sent a job to the laser cutter this afternoon and was really interested in the laser burn left on the protective coating of the acrylic board. A physical record of the process and unexpected forms found in the process of making.

Soy Systems

I toured the Greneker Solutions factory in south Los Angeles yesterday. Greneker is doing amazing things with their fiberglass free "soy-systems" plastics. Originally entering the visual merchandising industry as a mannequin fabricator in the 1930s, the company now generates a wide range of forms and interior displays though their staple still seems to be mannequins. I snapped a photo of a scale model of the Sci Fi exhibition space design by LA-based Graft Architecture. Also in production at the time of my visit were several display panels for a DC shoes store in SOHO. Soy Systems so not use petroleum derivatives or fiberglass and can be rotation molded (rotation in three dimensions evenly distributes the plastic along walls of a mold) to create large hollow forms.