One hundred triangles stool
Riccardo Bovo designed this stool comprised of an algorithmically generated series of triangles, laser-cut and zip tied together. [via Pratt on Tumblr]
Furniture & Lighting
The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for making furniture and home decor for every room in the house, including the garage.
Inside the San Francisco Fire Department’s wooden ladder shop
San Francisco, as many of our regular readers will know from experience, is hilly, and can be windy. It has many narrow, winding roads and lots of low-hanging power lines. Which is why the SFFD is the only major US fire department still using wooden ladders–they don’t conduct electricity, and won’t fault a power line to ground in the event of an accident. The SFFD ladder shop made its first wooden ladder in 1917, and they’re still crankin’ em out today, using Douglas Fir timbers that are first aged 15 years in the shop itself. Very cool maker story and an excellently produced video from Adam Kaplan of ASK Media Productions. [via Gizmodo]
Office chair from junked leather car seat
I like this idea from Ottawan Craig Reyenga, who bolted a nice leather car seat from a junkyard Volvo that he picked up for $15 into a rolling base to make his own computer chair.
Coin floor inflation
A Seattle family exposed to the virulent penny floor meme has contracted a more expensive (and therefore probably less contagious) mutant strain that metabolizes nickels instead of pennies. I do like the different color effect this achieves, but by my math (and depending on how much space you leave between the coins) penny flooring costs between $2.50 and $3.00 per square foot, whereas nickel flooring costs four times as much ($10-$12). I did not bother to compute costs for quarter-, dime- (ouch), or Sacagawea dollar-flooring, on the assumption that no one would ever go there. But if they do, please, nobody tell me about it.
Color-layered table decorated by sanding
By product designer Ed Swan, the Mark Makers table is currently on display at an ongoing London design show, where visitors are invited to participate in decorating it by abrading the layered paint with sandpaper. Cool idea. I just hope there’s a big stack of free dust masks next to it.
DIY spirograph machine
It must be fun to have Stephen Hobley as a parent, because he is always coming up with cool things for his kids to play with.
Plywood chair bonanza
I love no-frills plywood furniture. Admittedly, some of these look about as comfortable as a burlap sack full of rocks, but still, big points for minimalism and DIY aesthetics. They’re for sale, by designers ROLU, but geez, if you’re gonna own something that looks like you made it yourself you might as well have the pleasure, and the pride, of actually having made it yourself. Good for inspiration, though. [via Core77]
