'bamboo bench' by gal ben-arav

bamboo is a plant that is quickly replenished, making it a sustainable choice for construction.

it also has a high mechanical strength and durability to weather conditions.

choosing to use the material in its natural and raw form, israeli designer gal ben-arav has developed

the 'bamboo bench'. he has done so in wanting to maintain the materialism, simplicity

and natural morphology of the quickly growing species, while on the other hand,

creating a conflict and tension between it and industry - aluminium casting.

the seating unit can be formed using two different bench typologies: with or without a back.

two cast aluminum frames, reflecting the silhouette of a chair or stool form the structural support of the bench.

raw pieces of bamboo fill the frames, acting as both the seat and back of the furniture object.

the frames can be adjusted along the length of the bamboo used according to structural needs

and weight limits.

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/12929/gal-ben-arav-bamboo-bench.html

Rising Chair

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ2UbLuOogg&feature=player_embedded

Rising chair van Robert van Embricqs is een unieke stoel dat gevormd word uit een plaat met scharnier verbindingen.

meer info op http://www.robertarchitecture.blogspot.com/

Compostable Netting Bags Crying Out for Supermarket Uptake

Dsolve: Compostable Netting Bags Made from Bioresin are Crying Out for Supermarket Uptake

I don't have this problem in the city, but apparently in suburban America, dead leaves are a big deal. Suburbanites have to rake them up off their lawns and put them in large paper bags out by the curb, and a composting company comes by to pick them up. It's difficult to get the leaves in the bags and if it rains, forget about it—the bag disintegrates.

Paul Kolada was the principal of an Ohio-based ID firm, one of those workaday companies that does design for companies like Lowes and 3M but whom you've never heard of due to the relative anonymity of our field. Around Christmastime one year, Paul observed Christmas trees being sold out of lots and wrapped in plastic netting for transport, a familiar suburban sight.

This sparked an idea, and after 18 months of development he came up with the Dsolv, a bag that looks like plastic netting but is made out of a plant-based resin. As you'll see in thevideo (of Paul's wife and partner, Lois), it's easy to get leaves into by using the spring-loaded sleeve, and the bag is not just biogradable, it's compostable. It eliminates the need for paper bags, is easier to carry, does not dissolve in the rain, and best of all it can be thrown right in with the other compost.

It's not unreasonable to think this could be shrunk and adapted for grocery bags. Most people use plastic grocery bags once, and then the plastic stays around forever. I'd much rather buy two of Dsolv's handles, shop at a store that stocks the bags, and compost them with a clean conscience.

Original article:

Self-healing elastic polymers developed

Self-healing elastic polymers developed inspired by caoutchouc tree.

When the caoutchouc tree is damaged, liquid latex containing capsules of the protein hevein escapes from inside of it. Those capsules rupture, releasing the hevein, which links the latex particles together and ultimately closes up the wound. The whole bursting/sealing-microcapsules thing is obviously a pretty good idea, as it has been put to use in human technology such as self-healing concrete, electronics, paint and aircraft epoxy resin. Now, German researchers have copied the caoutchouc tree's modus operandi to create a self-sealing elastic polymer.
Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology loaded microcapsules with the adhesive polyisobutylene, then put those capsules into synthetic caoutchouc sap elastomers. The idea was that when pressure was put on the elastomers to the point of cracking, the capsules would rupture and mix with the elastomers' polymer chains, thus sealing the cracks.

As it turned out, the capsules didn't cooperate. When the polyisobutylene was added in an uncapsulized form, however, a self-healing effect did occur – the elastomers' tension expansion was restored by 40 percent after a 24-hour healing period.

The scientists further copied the caoutchouc tree, by charging the elastomer with ions. In the case of the tree, the hevein proteins link up with one another (and in the process, with the latex) via ionic bonding. By charging the synthetic elastomer, a similar effect could be achieved with the polyisobutylene.

Fraunhofer will have a self-healing muffler made from the experimental material on display at the Hannover Fair from April 4th to 8th. A self-healing biorenewable polymer is also being developed at Iowa State University.

Photo: Fraunhofer
Original article: Gizmag

http://www.materia.nl/583.0.html?&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=347&tx_ttnews[backPid]=566&cHash=9d8722b285

Biologisch afbreekbaar servies voor eenmalig gebruik, gemaakt van gevallen bladeren en water.

VerTerra Dinnerware site

Organic Cube

The structure is physically static, yet changeable through the viewer and the sun's position that through the day opens and closes for the light to pass. Depending on the light and angle (time and place) the lines from the two modes interfere and one of the two forms dominate.

project details:

materials: 1000m laths, dimension 45x45mm.

leftovers: the excess material from the cuts were used to make smaller
furniture cubes to sit or play with, leaving less than 0.5% waste material.

Het volledige artikel

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“Autarky” is an installation a collection of functional and durable vessels and lamps, naturally desiccated or low temperature baked, are produced with a bio-material composed of 70% flour ( bloem ), 20% agricultural waste ( agrarisch afval ), and 10% natural limestone. ( natuurlijke kalksteen ) The differences in the colour palette are obtained by the selection of distinct vegetables (groenten), spices (kruiden) and roots(wortels) that are dried, boiled or filtered for their natural dyes.

Anne Kyyro Quinn's bespoke 3D textiles make decorative yet practical wall coverings suitable for commercial and residential projects. The felt is cut, manipulated & sewn to create rich textures and patterns that play with light & shade, creating optical illusions.

The main material, felt, absorbs sound and reduces noise levels significantly. The intricately structured surface design creates tiny cavities that absorb sound waves into the layer of fabric underneath. Kyyrö Quinn’s acoustic textile panels have been certified by sound testing laboratories, achieving an international performance standard confirming an effective reduction in reflective sound levels.

Textile designer Anne Kyyrö Quinn (born in Finland in1965) has been based in London since 1986. For her final project at the London Metropolitan University, she studied the interplay of light and shadow on the surface of felt, which sparked her ongoing interest in felt as a material. Kyyrö Quinn was one of the first designers to rediscover felt and update it for the twenty-first century. Kyyrö Quinn broke fresh ground when she used the material to pioneer a striking range of three-dimensional textiles. She established her own design studio in London in 1999.

Bendywood

Buigzaam, buigzamer, buigzaamst!
http://www.bendywood.nl/
http://www.bendywood.com/

Zwaluwstaarten en andere verbindingen

BOIS ET HABITAT - Namur Expo - 27 maart '11

Op de beurs heb ik contact gelegd met Kris Rabaut van http://www.fragment.be/
In zijn zelf ontworpen houtatelier maakt hij meubels op maat. Let vooral op de interessante verbindingen. Met een beperkt aantal mogelijkheden (geen gigantische schrijnwerkerij/zonder CNC) weet hij bijzondere meubels te vervaardigen.