The machine is everything you want a coffee maker to be: functional, easy to use, reliable, and attractive. At a glance, it looks like a more colorful version of an average consumer espresso machine with all the parts you’d expect to find, including a hopper, brewer assembly, and water tank. Turn it around and you’ll find that all the typically mysterious interior parts are visible and clearly labeled, including the water pump, flow meter, thermoblock, and power adapter.

Each module has intuitive interaction points so it’s easy to see how to pull it out and reattach it. Aligning magnets ensure that each component fits securely into place, and a repair drawer includes all the tools a user needs to disassemble the machine completely (as well as a few spare parts like extra screws and water pipes).

The Kara uses only one type of screw with two different lengths, both color-coded so it’s easy to tell exactly where they go. The water pipes running from one component to another are visible so you can physically see if there’s a problem. When you do need to self-service, the same touchscreen on the front that lets you choose how the machine brews your beverage also guides you through the repair process.

“Repairing the most common failure points does not require specialized tools and can be done easily and safely by a layman even without much technical knowledge,” says Mair. “The housing is designed so every part can be 3D printed if you don’t have access to original replacement parts, and technical components can be replaced or substituted because they are part of an open system.”

Mair’s vision of more sustainable consumer appliances isn’t just repair-oriented — it also incorporates the ability to substitute parts as needed. He calls for industry-standard parts and components that can be switched out easily by the end user. If mainboards in washing machines, dishwashers, and other appliances were universal, for instance, they could all be easily repurposed.

When possible, components should be made of a single material to make them more recyclable when they do break down. Parts like knobs and buttons should be designed so their replacements can be 3D printed or laser-cut while still offering the same performance. All objects should also be built to last, so we don’t have to replace them constantly.

The Kara is a brilliant proof-of-concept, demonstrating that sustainable consumer appliances aren’t actually that hard to produce. We’ve all just been suckered into a form of consumerism that finds disposability not just acceptable but desirable.

The corporations that manufacture all the things we use every day count on us throwing away the old version in favor of the new on a regular basis. While it’s unlikely that those companies will voluntarily switch to a system like Mair’s, which would probably net them fewer profits in the long run, perhaps future legislation will put consumers and the environment first. One can dream, anyway.

The post Kara: The Sustainable Coffee Machine That Lasts a Lifetime first appeared on Dornob.

What will characterize our own time on Earth? Sadly, it seems like the most enduring thing we’ll leave behind is trillions of plastic particles that will still be present in every corner of the globe 1,000 years from now. London architecture firm Vatraa makes this point in vivid fashion with “The Plastic Monument,” a roughly 21-foot-tall Stonehenge replica standing in a plaza in southern Milan. Winner of National Geographic’s 2019 “Planet or Plastic” design competition, the sculpture is made out of 16,000 recycled plastic bottles.

“Taking the form of a trilithon, one of the oldest forms of structure inherited from our ancestors, the monument draws the attention to the consequences of our actions in the long run, to the fact that what we are doing today might stay on Earth forever,” say the architects. “The installation poses a stark contrast between a single-use, disposable material and the eternity of the trilithon. Made of pressed PET bottle bales — the raw material for the plastic recycling plants – it educates the public into the recycling process by illustrating its first steps, just before the material is shredded, washed, and melted into new bottles.”

Thousands of crushed bottles are held together in three stone slab-like rectangular shapes made of wire mesh, making it clear that the “monument” is made of single-use plastic trash. It sits on two solid steel blocks as a foundation and stands just slightly smaller than the real Stonehenge. That enables it to stand up to strong winds — and be disassembled for display in other cities in the future.

“When we think of what our ancestors left to us, we think of real assets made of brick or stone, like the pyramids, the Colosseum, or Stonehenge,” says Bogdan Rusu, founding partner at Vatraa. “But part of our legacy to the next generation might also be plastic waste…Hundreds of years down the line our great-great-great grandchildren might find disposable plastic items that we just got rid of today because it was so convenient to us.”

If you find that to be a depressing thought, then the monument has done its job. Whether our actual contemporary architectural creations someday become their own “ancient monuments” may not matter. Even if humanity survives the coming climate catastrophe, future generations will likely think of us in terms of the pollution we contributed to the planet rather than our more admirable achievements.

The Plastic Monument will remain on display in Milan until next October, when Vatraa hopes it will embark upon a world tour to spread awareness about the consequences of our collective actions.

The post Plastic Monument: Stonehenge Recreated in Milan Using 16,000 Discarded Bottles first appeared on Dornob.

Nomura’s latest exhibition, “Life Through Holes,” showcases her unusual artistic method at Hibiya OKUROJI for the 2022 edition of DESIGNART Tokyo. Consisting of a refrigerator, a dining table with four chairs, and an assortment of associated objects, the works obscure the seemingly rigid and artificial qualities of plastic, calling to mind sea creatures, spiderwebs, and other creations of nature. We often think of plastic as a manmade material that’s somehow separate from every other material on Earth, as if it crash-landed here from outer space. But Nomura’s works aim to remind us that it has the same origins as any other material we consider more desirable.

“I was fascinated by the way plastic products that seemed to be inorganic were given a new sense of life by harboring cells of light,” says Nomura. “Petroleum, the raw material of plastic, was born from ancient plankton carcasses under the heat and pressure of the Earth over many years. The act of making a hole is to reveal the origin of this material and reproduce it as a mental landscape.”

“Although the material called plastic is considered to be a disgusting material in terms of environmental problems, the brilliance of these cells of light illuminates the value hidden in our modern lives. What is the true value of materials and where is the true richness of the relationship between things and people in the present age where things are overflowing? As if to keep asking myself that question, I can’t help but keep drilling holes today.”

To create these objects, Nomura works with a soldering iron and an air filter mask, transforming ordinary objects like appliances and household furniture. Everything from disposable utensils to yogurt cups seem like entirely new objects once she’s done with them.

“Life Through Holes” doesn’t change the fact that plastic breaks down into tiny particles that end up in the furthest reaches of our planet, from our own digestive systems to those of creatures lurking in the deepest, darkest corners of the oceans. But it does prompt us to ponder whether we could change how we use this material, and thus, its impact. Are there potential reuses we just haven’t thought of yet? Could the new plastic-digesting bacteria currently under development help plastic re-enter a more natural life cycle?

Nina Nomura was born in Tokyo in 1993 and graduated from the Space Design Program at the Kuwasawa Design School in 2021. She received the MIKIKO award at SICF22 Spiral Aoyama that same year. You can follow her work on her website and on Instagram @_ninanomura.

The post Life Through Holes: Nina Nomura Melts Holes in Plastic to Give It New Life first appeared on Dornob.

Responding to the threat of rising sea levels and other hazards of climate change, Land on Water envisions a flexible, sustainable solution that totally eliminates the need for environmentally harmful materials like styrofoam. Floating homes, campsites, community centers, small parks, and structures supporting all kinds of other functions rest on flat-pack mesh cages made of reinforced recycled plastic and filled with upcycled flotation materials.

If the needs of the occupants change and they want to expand or increase the weight of whatever the foundations are supporting, they can simply add more flotation materials to the foundations. MAST imagines that such a system could help avoid the waste that plagued the architecture of the 20th century, which was too rigid to support changing needs and lifestyles.

“The system was inspired by gabion construction, an ancient technology which utilizes mesh cages filled with rubble to create extremely sturdy, low cost foundations,” says MAST. “In this case the concept is inverted; and the modular ‘cages’ are filled with locally sourced, upcycled flotation supporting the weight of any structure built on top. They are also much more adaptable than existing solutions since flotation can be added or adjusted at any time if weight is added or shifted around above.”

“‘Land on Water promises a far better underwater environment than existing solutions. While steel and concrete foundations are commonly treated with toxic anti-fouling paints, Land on Water provides an ideal habitat for fish and crustaceans and an anchor point for mollusks and seaweeds.”

MAST says a floating community could be as small as several homes belonging to members of a single family or as large as an entire city. The architects imagine its use everywhere from houses in Seattle to campsites on an Oslo fjord and saunas on the riverfront of Hobart in Australia.

The modules can be assembled into all kinds of configurations, incorporating areas of open water connected by walkways as sheltered places to fish and swim. Large terraced decks can double as outdoor auditoriums and dance floors. The bases are also strong enough to support the growth of mature trees, potentially allowing for the creation of small floating forests.

If any of that sounds unrealistic to you, here’s a great example where a similar floating neighborhood system worked in the real world. Designed by Dutch firm Rohmer, these 75 mixed-income units on Steigereiland on the Netherlands’ IJ Lake are also designed to grow and change. However, this community is made of more conventional materials like steel and concrete. While both concepts have the potential to help us envision a new way of living, MAST’s design improves upon the idea with its focus on sustainability.

The post Land on Water: A Modular Floating Building System by MAST first appeared on Dornob.

Rose in Good Faith co-founder and CEO David Teitelbaum wanted the brand’s first sneaker to be an attention-grabber, just like the rest of their edgy luxury offerings. Rose in Good Faith built its cult following by celebrating culture through an authentic lens and taking risks. Teitelbaum and co-founder Akiva Alpert knew they wanted the shoe to be sustainable, and that the sex toy angle would ramp up excitement about the design. The brand spent nearly two years working on a process that could turn sex toys that didn’t meet Doc Johnson’s quality standards into a truly wearable shoe.

“When we started the design process, I wanted to create something that was both timeless and exceptionally useful,” Teitelbaum told Paper. “Turns out, we produced a shoe that’s more comfortable than any shoe on the market, and just like our collaborations, the piece tells a story. We hope the shoe will transcend time and inspire a new perspective on upcycling.”

The process grinds the former sex toys into tiny millimeter-sized chunks of thermoplastic elastomer mixed with non-bleach EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate) foam, which is then injection-molded into the shape of the shoe. The Plastic Soul is a single-piece slip-on white shoe that sort of resembles an elevated, more stylish high-fashion version of Crocs.

“We are so proud of this partnership with Rose In Good Faith to promote sex positivity through fashion and innovation,” says Doc Johnson’s COO Chad Braverman. “It was important to us that we create a shoe that was conscious of environmental impact, which is why we are beyond thrilled to make these using our upcycled sex toy materials. We can’t wait to get these out in the world as part of our global movement to de-stigmatize sexual health and wellness.”

Perhaps some consumers will immediately be turned off by the idea of wearing former sex toys on their feet. But Rose in Good Faith is betting that it’ll be a selling point for their youthful clientele, who care about the environment just as much as they care about looking cool. “We are intersected between our community of hyper-progressive individuals and the broader luxury-fashion industry,” Alpert told Forbes. “You’ll see our fits worn in the mosh pit of a trap-metal show and in the streets during Paris Fashion week.“

Rose in Good Faith’s previous collaborations have included a six-piece luxury collection reviving 90s cult classic JNCO jeans as a series of bright baggy unisex garments, an Ed Hardy collection targeting early-aughts nostalgia, and a Greenpeace-themed capsule collection in partnership with the estate of late rapper Lil Peep.

The post Rose in Good Faith Recycles Unused Sex Toys into the Ultimate Slip-On Shoe first appeared on Dornob.

India experienced a record high heat wave this past spring, with temperatures reaching upwards of 120 degrees Fahrenheit. This led to a massive landfill fire outside of Delhi that burned for weeks, and even caused overheated birds to fall from the skies.

While modern air conditioning systems exist in Indian cities, the majority of the population is still without access to such technology. And since the greenhouse gases emitted by AC units contribute to global warming, trying to blanket the country with them may not be the best solution anyways.

That’s where Ant Studio’s eco-friendly idea comes in: using recirculated water to evaporate and cool the air as it continually flows down a beehive-shaped stack of clay tubes.

Evaporative cooling techniques date back to the ancient Egyptians. They would fan porous jars of water in their chambers, enjoying some temperature relief as the evaporating water took some of the oppressive heat with it. The Romans also employed water and clay to cool their houses, allowing the liquid to course through pipes in their walls.

Building a prototype of their brainchild outside the Deki Electronics factory in Uttar Pradesh, India, Ant Studio inserted cylindrical clay tubes into a rounded steel frame positioned on top of brick and tile basin. The Beehive’s water pump continually sends recycled water from the industrial plant up to the top of the structure, where it then flows down the surface of the clay. The multitude of clay pipes provides a larger surface area, increasing the cooling effect. Temperature measurements showed that the Beehive reduced the surrounding air to 97 degrees Fahrenheit from its previous 107 degrees.

After carefully studying various materials, Ant Studio chose clay as a material for the beehive because of its hygroscopic, or water attracting, properties. The designers found that clay carries a negative charge that bonds with the positive pole of a water molecule, allowing it to absorb water in both vapor and liquid states. Additionally, clay is completely recyclable, as it contains no complex chemicals or components.

The entire system is energy efficient and less expensive than traditional air conditioning. The use of recycled water from the factory’s existing supply minimizes waste. The water tank only needs topping off roughly once a month ,and the recirculating pump uses a small amount of electricity, making the Beehive a very economical cooling mechanism.

In areas where electricity is unavailable, the system could also be converted to a “zero-energy” model, with water being manually poured over the pots once or twice a day. While it would not have the same cooling power, it would have some effect and could still be easily built and maintained from local resources.

Ant Studio is also excited about employing pottery as part of the art/cooling device as a way of reviving what it sees as a fading ancient art. If the Beehive were to gain widespread traction, it could generate more work in the pottery market and help train new artisans in the trade.

The post This Terracotta Pipe Art Doubles as a Sustainable Cooling System first appeared on Dornob.

Nicholas and Stanley spent every weekend working on the house over the course of 15 years, making use of found and recycled materials and allowing their plans to grow and change as they went. Today, the home looks nothing like the cottage it once was, or like any other house on the street. It’s entirely unique. And while the jagged black exterior isn’t for everyone, it suits them perfectly, and it’s more welcoming inside than you might imagine.

“We changed so much from when we started at the age of 25 to when we finished at the age of 40,” Stanley told Dwell. “By being hands on and playing around with ideas, we came up with a lot of stuff that we wouldn’t have if we were sitting at the drawing board and pushing to get things done quickly. And, as young architects, getting your hands dirty is the best way to learn.”

Collecting materials from warehouses and country yard sales, the couple began adding vertical exterior cladding made of Oregon timber beams. They staggered the heights of each board to mimic the way a city skyline rises and falls. It also extends higher than the actual roofline, providing enough privacy for a rooftop bath. They kept the gabled form and scale of the original home but opened and expanded it, creating new nooks and crannies both inside and out. The gable shape is echoed with a pergola on the rear facade. Zig-zag shapes along the exterior walls create space for large expanses of windows without sacrificing privacy.

Inside, the jagged black motif is repeated, and black is used to anchor many interior elements within an airy, light-filled space that’s otherwise painted white. This color palette, plus the incorporation of materials like a welded steel framework to which they attach elements like hammocks, gives the former cottage an industrial feel. Over the years, some mezzanine areas that were open have been partially enclosed to create newly private rooms, while low ceilings were eliminated. But the entire home maintains an open traffic pattern, with most rooms, including bathrooms, flowing into each other without doors.

Believe it or not, after all that, the couple decided they were ready for something new altogether. They put their one-of-a-kind home on the market and purchased a new property on the same street in order to start their creative process all over again.

The post Splinter Society Gives a Melbourne Home a Spiky Black Makeover first appeared on Dornob.

A company called Invisibility Shield Co. is currently crowdfunding a real working invisibility shield on Kickstarter, and over 2,000 backers have already secured shields of their own. The company has produced 25 fully functional invisibility shields so far, and the campaign will allow them to scale up their production so the shields can be available to all. Pledge at least $65 and you can receive a small roughly 8-by-12-inch invisibility shield as a reward. The full-size version measures 37.4 inches tall by 25.59 inches wide and is available with pledges of $389 or more.

The shields offer high-resolution invisibility with no power source required, and the full size is large enough to hide multiple people. It’s portable, too, weighing less than nine pounds and packing down to a thickness of 2.3 inches.

Photos and videos of the shields in action are really quite remarkable. The people standing or crouching behind the shields are completely blurred out of the picture while a hazy view of the background remains. Sounds kind of like magic, right? But the shield makes use of a low-tech phenomenon that’s been around for a long time: lenticular lensing.

The shield’s creators explain: “Each shield uses a precision engineered lens array to direct much of the light reflected from the subject away from the observer, sending it sideways across the face of the shield to the left and right. Because the lenses in this array are vertically oriented, the vertically oriented strip of light reflected by the standing/crouching subject quickly becomes very diffuse when spread out horizontally on passing through the back of the shield.”

“In contrast, the light reflected from the background is much brighter and wider, so when it passes through the back of the shield, far more of it is refracted both across the shield and towards the observer. From the observer’s perspective, this background light is effectively smeared horizontally across the front face of the shield, over the area where the subject would ordinarily be seen.”

The shield is made up of lots of these vertical lenses so that light gets reflected internally between them instead of refracted out. That light is then diffused, reflected, and refracted around and out of the lens to interact with the lenses on either side. These long convex lenses running in parallel are made of an extruded and embossed polymer derived from recycled plastics. Achieving the invisibility effect all comes down to a very precise way of shaping and finishing the lenses. The shields work best against uniform backgrounds like foliage, grass, walls, sand, sky, and asphalt. They work even better when they have defined horizontal lines, which really help the invisibility effect pop.

The fact that these actual working invisibility shields are so low-tech is what makes them fun. If you miss out on the Kickstarter campaign, keep an eye on the project’s update page for future retail availability.

The post You Can Actually Order This Real Invisibility Shield Right Now first appeared on Dornob.

Of course, it’s not always easy to find the perfect combo of eco-conscious attire and trendy style. Lucky for us all, there are many in the industry who have made a commitment to a greener, more fashion-forward future. That’s where the Sak comes in.

Brands like The Sak have proven themselves quite willing to implement more eco-friendly methods. A B Corp Certified company that’s high on both style and quality craftsmanship, this super stylish brand has also made a commitment to switch to only 100-percent sustainable materials by 2024, further cementing their aim to create a positive impact on both the global economy and the planet.

It only takes one look at the brand’s spring bag collection to see that there are no unattractive burlap sacks here (though burlap is both biodegradable and a sustainable natural product, it’s also not the most attractive fabric out there). Instead, these super cute spring offerings from The Sak are both stylish and sustainably sourced: a winning combo in the fashion world and a refreshing find to earth-conscious shoppers everywhere.

Below are some of the brand’s sassiest satchels that are sure to make a splash in closets everywhere this spring and summer:

Rylan Satchel ($149.00)

This super trendy bag is both sustainable and easy on the eyes, with plenty of space to store everything you might need on the go.

Sustainability Report Card: PETA approved, vegan certified, and handmade, with a lining and exterior made from recycled plastic bottles spun into yarn.

McClaren Recycled Tote ($169.00)

The perfect bag for those warm spring days. With plenty of room to spare, on-the-go fashionistas will never leave home without those sunny day essentials.

Sustainability Report Card: Hand crocheted exterior, upcycled cotton batik lining, PETA approved, and vegan certified, with a lining and exterior made from recycled plastic bottles spun into yarn.

Anise Hobo ($169.00)

Guaranteed to be a new spring staple, this hobo is anything but drab. And with six color options, there’s a style suited to every kind of warm weather wardrobe.

Sustainability Report Card: Hand crocheted exterior, PETA approved, and vegan certified, with a lining and exterior made from recycled plastic bottles spun into yarn.

Vita Wristlet ($49.00)

Sometimes a little goes a long way, and this is certainly true of this trendy minimalist wristlet. Even better, this mini-cutie is practically customizable, with plenty of available color options. It also comes in both hand crocheted and natural leather styles, too.

Sustainability Report Card: Hand crocheted exterior, long lasting, PETA approved, and vegan certified, with a lining and exterior made from recycled plastic bottles spun into yarn.

Fast fashion is slowly but surely starting to take a back seat to more sustainable finds — and with its hip new spring collection, brands like The Sak are leading the way in both style and sustainability with accessories that would make Mother Earth proud.

The post The Sak’s Spring Collection is Sustainably Stylish first appeared on Dornob.

When a Swedish newspaper publicized a year ago that there were more than 200 electric scooters lying at the bottom of the Malmö canals, four designers banded together to solve the problem, creating a company called Andra Formen, or “Second Form” in Swedish.

“We let others’ bad decisions inspire us and take our starting point in mistakes when we start a new project. How could a material, a place, or a phenomenon be made differently? Could [it] be done better?” the team writes on their website.

They started by enlisting the aid of two brave divers to fish abandoned two-wheelers out of the murky water. “Some of them had barnacles growing on them,” co-founder Christian Svensson notes. The designers estimated that many of electric transporters hadn’t even survived a year of usefulness before being ditched in the seaway.

After giving each scooter a good scrub, the team took them apart and laid out their inventory of components, looking for design revelations. The result is a collection of desk and floor lamps, a chair, a hydroponic planter, and a grill, all under the name “E-metabolism.”

“Our mission is to turn toxic waste in the form of electric scooters from the bottom of the canal into pieces of art,” adds Oskar Olsson, who designed many of the pieces himself. He adds: “We tried to stay true to the shapes of the scooters. Some even have dents and scratches, and they tell a story about the life it had before.”

Olsson and Svesson, along with partners Jingbei Zheng and Peder Nilsson, used the original parts as much as possible: a dead battery for the base of the floor lamp, handlebars and decks for the chair legs and seat, hubcaps as a base for the desk lamp, and handlebars for the lamp neck and head. Connector pieces from the cast-off scooters fashion the furniture together, with a few bits of 3D-printed material here and there tying it all together.

The aesthetic of the pieces has a colorful modern feel with an air of recycled chic, keeping the original hues and branding from the salvaged Voi, Bolt, and Tier scooters. While the playfully quirky furniture would be difficult to scale up based on the limited supply of scooters from waterway graveyards, the intention behind the work is a helpful reminder of our responsibility to preserve natural resources.

“We wanted to show that you can actually do something with waste,” says Svensson. “It doesn’t need to go to the dump.”

The group adds that “With this project we want to challenge our contemporaries to look past environmental degradation and see how today’s materials can be resources tomorrow.”

All the repurposed products in the E-metabolism line are on display on the Andre Formen website, with prices ranging from $200 to $800. Interested parties must fill out an email form for potential purchases.

The post Sunken E-Scooters Get New Life as Recycled Furniture first appeared on Dornob.

“Created from the Maison’s desire to explore innovative materials and techniques for the future, the latest footwear versions of the Open and Rockstud Untitled for the first time partially involve recycled and bio-based materials while continuing to reflect the aesthetic and trademark motifs of the Maison, representing a conscious, firm step on the path to a sustainable ethos,” the company said in a press release.

Instead opting for the original leather, Valentino gave their updated kicks uppers and side bands partially made from renewable materials derived from corn-based polyols. More commonly used as sugar-free sweeteners, polyols are naturally occurring sugar alcohols that can be turned into leather alternatives, making them a more organic and biodegradable option with a smaller carbon footprint.

The white Open sneakers for men come in a choice of side band hues: green, black, and white. They all feature the signature Valentino studs in white at the base of the heel, but the soles boast a distinctive black speckled pattern reminiscent of recycled paper. The women’s Rockstud versions enjoy a burst of color with a line of playful studs (themselves made from recycled nylon) around the side band. Both sets of shoes have laces constructed from recycled polyester and soles made partially from recycled rubber.

Valentino also chose green materials for the shoes’ packaging, with each pair being wrapped in recycled cotton and paper from sustainably managed forests.

These environmentally minded shoes were first introduced at Paris Fashion Week in October 2021. “With Valentino Garavani Open for a Change, our first conscious-driven product, we reinforce our brand commitment toward more sustainable business practices,” CEO Jacopo Venturini told WWD at the time. “I think it’s important that we continue this way and set targets going forward that are more and more ambitious toward conscious-driven creative innovations. At Valentino we are building on our history and legacy with a new attitude and a new culture based on a couture culture which I believe is absolutely vital to our next chapter. A culture of values is what we are injecting in Valentino. I am committed to this mission; I believe this is going to be key for the future.”

Other recent sustainable decisions by the luxury fashion house include the 2020 ban on alpaca fleece and a pledge to go fur-free in 2022. Going forward, the company plans to add more product redesigns to its Open for a Change campaign to further its eco-centric aims.

The company adds that “The path undertaken by Valentino Garavani Open for a Change is marked by the desire to change gears while sticking to the brand’s artisanal tradition. The quest is to immerse in the here and now, answering today’s questions employing timeless artifacts through seasons and trends.”

Those interested in owning the new vegan kicks can buy a pair of the Open for $690 or a pair of the Rockstud Untitled for $850 in Valentino boutiques worldwide or on the company website.

The post Valentino Gives Classic Shoes a Plant-Based Makeover first appeared on Dornob.

It all started when Goodman traveled back to Canada in early April 2020 only to find three feet of snow and a frozen lake waiting for her, watching the earth slowly warm up in early spring. Each morning, she spent hours sitting in the cold listening to the chickadees and other little birds, learning to identify them all by sound. Binoculars and birding books helped her sharpen her perception. By the time she returned to Rhode Island, she had developed a new practice of listening and cultivating knowledge. She began to notice things like plastic bags in ditches, masks discarded on the street, and piles of trash along the train tracks.

“On the first day of classes I walked by the big blue bin outside the sculpture foundry,” Goodman writes in her senior thesis. “I had passed this bin every day the year before and had never given it a second thought. This time, when I approached it, the sun was casting its last rays of the day on the alleyway behind our studios before dipping behind the Metcalf Building. It was as if the container was glowing, light refracting off misshapen and abandoned objects. The bin was signaling to me, drawing me toward the limitless possibilities within it. I put on my welding gloves and began dragging out rusted metal scraps, contorted, some haphazardly fused together. I found a wide piece of steel tubing, some rebar, and some steel rod a student had bent into a squiggly shape. I took these items to the mig welder and made my first piece of the year. It was a chair, it was sittable, and it was like nothing I had ever made before.”

“I was actively unlearning while simultaneously knowing more. The materials were speaking to me, telling me how they should be processed and shaped. It was as if they had always been trying to talk to me but in a frequency I could not hear. Suddenly, I heard everything. I could recognize my lane again and it was going in a completely new direction. I decided that day I wouldn’t go to the store anymore. There was nothing I needed that I couldn’t find in my surroundings. Undervalued items everywhere. Pure potential tossed in the ditch while thinking, this trash is someone else’s problem. Maybe it could be my problem. I could create second chances and see value all around me. All I had to do was listen.”

The resulting objects might not even be recognizable as furniture on first glance. There’s something almost alien about them, sitting on whip-like curving metal supports reminiscent of the antennae of insects or the tentacles of deep sea creatures. All of these pieces of steel, found throughout Providence, were collected and processed with oxy-acetylene before being welded and spray painted. Ultimately, Goodman sees them as a physical representation of the city itself, and of the people who used and discarded those materials.

“This Trash is Someone Else’s Problem” is deeply informed by indigenous stewardship and the history of the surrounding area, advocating for design justice and social equality as well as a sense of responsibility for the objects we create. It’s also an interesting representation of Goodman’s lesson in its own right, as the final products are less important than the actual process of conceptualizing and creating them.

The post Lauren Goodman Turns Your Trash into Functional Furniture first appeared on Dornob.

The physicality of the experience is a big part of what makes arcade games so fun, like the feel of your hands on the controls, the bucking and jerking of the chairs, and all the lights and sounds flashing and reverberating through the arcade. Competing against other players in person can be a lot more satisfying than playing virtually, too. But arcades are getting harder and harder to find, so recapturing that feeling isn’t easy.

Some gaming enthusiasts might go so far as to purchase old arcade games to play at home. If that’s going a touch too far for you, French artist Harow has another idea: replacing your sofa with the “Arcade,” a couch designed with the aesthetics of arcade games in mind. Available in a collection of 21 themes, the Arcade Sofa takes the classic shape of an arcade machine and turns it into an enclosure for a two-person lounger, perfect for bringing a little retro flair to your contemporary gaming experience.

Arcade enthusiasts will recognize some of the characters featured in each design. “Street Fighter” is among the most obvious and iconic, complete with a neon sign across the front and characters’ faces painted on the sides. “The King of Fighters” is another one, similarly enveloping you in the game’s visuals, which are augmented by turquoise upholstery on the cushions. Others make references to Dragon Ball, Jurassic Park, and kids’ games and characters like Pokémon and Hello Kitty.

Some of the Arcade Sofas are a little more loosely themed, like the Supreme, Obey, “Vandal” graffiti, and eco-friendly versions. They’re all made of recycled wood, steel, and velvet, and Harow will create custom sizes and configurations on request. If only this sofa had built-in speakers and lighting, it would be perfect, but that’s not too hard to DIY after the fact. You should also check out some of Harow’s other designs, which are equally noteworthy. A skull-shaped armchair, a Sputnik-inspired chair, and the Apollo 11 moon crater table are particularly cool.

About Harow

The artist’s website explains: “From street art to tattooing, passing through screen printing, sculpture, and graphic design, Harow is a French artist who grew up in the 90s. Belonging to the last generation of 20th Century Fox kids, he is rocked by movements such as Cyberpunk or Pop Culture at its peak. With his mind always in effervescence, his attractions are linked to his childhood, from dystopian anime to space adventures, from Errò’s frescoes to Hirst’s skull, his overall state of mind is enlightened by the indelible images of this century.”

“Spending most of his time exploring all forms of art, Harow is a self-taught artist who stimulates his creativity daily. He approaches his work primarily from a perspective of recontextualization through strong aesthetic symbols. His philosophy is not to follow any trend but rather to consider each project without limit of design, the difficulty of making is an integral part of the creative process. Visually stunning, his works are described as sophisticated and brutal. They are distinguished by a balance between chaos and order, which makes them simply unforgettable.”

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This month, the growing “Right to Repair” movement scored a big victory: Apple has finally agreed to allow users to self-service their products.

Apple’s New Self-Service Repair Program

Set to begin in the U.S. in early 2022, the new Apple Self Service Repair program will provide access to necessary parts and tools to do repairs on Apple devices yourself. The first phase will focus on “the most commonly serviced modules,” including the camera, display, and battery for the iPhone 12 and 13. Additional iPhone parts, as well as those for Mac computers with M1 chips, will come later.

The process requires customers to review the repair manual first, then order the parts and tools they need (the same used by experts at Apple Genius Bars) in a new section of the Apple store. When they return the used parts for recycling, they’ll get a credit toward the purchase. Provided they follow instructions, self-repairers won’t void the product’s warranty.

That doesn’t mean just anyone will be able to perform complex repairs on delicate electronics, of course. Per Apple’s press release, “Self Service Repair is intended for individual technicians with the knowledge and experience to repair electronic devices. For the vast majority of customers, visiting a professional repair provider with certified technicians who use genuine Apple parts is the safest and most reliable way to get a repair.”

Better Access to Service Locations with Genuine Apple Parts

Finding authorized repair shops has been part of the problem all along. Historically, Apple has gone to great lengths to limit repairs to a select few approved (and often overpriced) service providers, claiming they were protecting customers from unscrupulous businesses. But the company also admitted that they were protecting their own “proprietary hardware,” going so far as to create special screws that make it impossible for customers to open their own devices. Plus, authorized repair shops are typically harder to find in low-income communities, putting a greater financial burden on people who really can’t afford to replace their devices.

The problem was significant enough to get President Biden’s attention. He signed an executive order in July encouraging the Federal Trade Commission to require companies to allow DIY repairs, and the FTC ultimately adopted a new policy granting consumers the right to repair their own devices. “These types of restrictions can significantly raise costs for consumers, stifle innovation, close off business opportunity for independent repair shops, create unnecessary electronic waste, delay timely repairs, and undermine resiliency,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan.

Apple points to its Independent Repair Provider program, launched in 2019, as a significant step toward making repairs more accessible to consumers. The company has nearly doubled the number of service providers since then, with about 2,800 providers in 200 countries. While that’s definitely an important achievement, allowing DIY repair is a crucial step toward reducing the whopping 57.4 million metric tons of electronic waste generated each year.

Next, let’s pressure companies to actually take full responsibility for the entire life cycle of their products, including responsible recycling overseen by an independent third party. It’s the only way we’re going to get corporations to quit producing disposable products for good.

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Shengge, also known as “The Tireman” on his YouTube channel, actually modeled this fearsome creature after a fandom addition to the Alien universe, the “Alien King.” In 2016, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the thriller movie franchise, designer toy studio Sideshow Collectibles created an Alien King maquette – an artist’s preliminary rendering – of the rare form of Xenomorph, meant to complement the famous Queen character from the movies.

Even though it has not yet been added to the official Alien history, Shengge used that grizzly maquette as the basis of his savage, rubbery monster. The original figure was just 20 inches tall, but this new iteration towers six feet above the ground.

In a video of the process, Shengge shares how he first started with his own mini polymer clay replica before moving on to the giant, real-life version. Next, the Tireman shaped a Xenomorph skeleton out of wire before wrapping that huge form with bike inner tube pieces for stability and a layer of “muscle.” Then, with 200 used tires, he got to work on the painstaking art of applying the “skin.”

“Unlike ordinary aliens, Alien King has more tentacles. He has a lot of gully and scales on his body. It is necessary to cut the tires into very thin strips to simulate the texture of his skin, which is very difficult to make. But I feel quite satisfied with the presentation of the finished product,” the artist said in a statement on his YouTube channel.

The Xenomorph is one of the most iconic and villainous extraterrestrial species of all time, and Shengge has done an exquisite job in recreating it. The final artistry is stunning in its incredible detail. Thanks to its piercing claws and teeth and a real sense of movement, one could almost believe this Alien King could attack at any moment. And to top it off, Shengge says the sculpture took him only 20 days to complete.

The Tireman states that his goal “is to bring new life to those disused tires.” It is unclear where he gets his supply of discarded tires from, but the fact that all his magnificent creations are made from recyclable materials gives them an extra “wow” factor.

Shengge has produced more than a dozen full-size characters out of tires since 2020 and has gathered a following of 100,000 viewers. His “War Elephant” from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIV video game is spectacular with its red and gold paint, while his Kong versus Godzilla sculptures are nothing short of epic in their texture and kinematics. His model of Eren Yeager from the Attack on Titan manga series is his most popular conception yet, racking up over 12 million views so far. An oversized statue of a Lycanthrope from the Chinese anime Incarnation is also well-liked, with the Youtube video receiving over a million views in six months.

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The fashion designer started with a trip to Munich, where he had asked MINI in advance “to completely strip out a car and collect the materials that are recycled and recyclable.” Smith said that this provided “a big list of various items, from boxes of rope to the seat cover and more. This stripped out car was so gorgeous inside. It just had nothing in it. I thought that it was lovely this way and questioned why don’t we keep the MINI as close to this bare essence as possible.”

MINI’s head of design Oliver Heilmer was happy with Smith’s direction from the outset. He explains that “for me, the MINI STRIP shows in an impressive way that MINI and Paul Smith share the same bold way of thinking about the future in terms of innovation and design – and together we create more. Paul asked essential questions right at the start of the design process with his non-automotive, and therefore fresh, perspective.”

The minimalist MINI STRIP has an unpainted body that boasts only a transparent protective coat, leaving the grinding marks from the manufacturing process visible to highlight the “perfect imperfection.” Smith also left screws exposed on the wheel arches and on the steering wheel for an “essentials only” look. The blue-coated interior covers electrical wires loosely with mesh, allowing access to them as needed.

And anything that he replaced, Smith tried to substitute with recycled or recyclable materials. The front and rear bumpers were constructed from 3D printed reprocessed plastic, while the wheel covers, grill trim, and transparent roof were made from recycled Perspex. Instead of utilizing leather, the seats are covered in a knitted fabric composed of reconditioned fibers, and the floor mats come from reused rubber. The dashboard and doors got a similar treatment in sustainable cork.

“One of the elements that we are really proud of is the use of the cork. Cork, as you know, can be extracted without killing the tree. Then, when you actually mold the material, its natural sap becomes the glue, and so, it realizes in a very organic method,” Smith adds.

The designer kept the aluminum door handles but also added pull handles made from bright orange climbing rope for the “make-do” aesthetic. He also ditched the buttons and switches of the steering wheel, covering the center with mesh to expose the airbag and wrapping the rim in handlebar tape.

The car’s iconic center console was removed and replaced with a space for a smartphone to provide all necessary information. The only electrical controls remaining are the start/stop button and the window switches.

Smith says the MINI STRIP still represents luxury in its own way, noting that “the whole concept of luxury is very different. it has changed drastically in the last 20 years; it is now all about perspective… as a creator it is a matter of being confident to experiment.”

He adds that “it’s a way of valuing things that are not usually valued. It’s the principle of making good and getting by.”

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