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despoke.com > ‘Materials’

Recycled Rubber Sink from Minarc

Posted on August 31st, 2010 by Mark

Pic-Recycled-Rubber-Sink
Minarc, a California-based architecture firm, has developed a remarkable sink made out of recycled rubber sourced from used tires. Named “RUBBiSH,” the smoothly molded appliance gives a useful and elegant new life to the waste material. Via:[PSFK]
Website:www.minarc.com/

Organic cotton fabrics from Cloud9

Posted on August 5th, 2010 by Mark

elfetesky_500
Organic cotton fabrics are becoming increasingly common, but most are still used primarily for clothing. Aiming to bring eco-sensible supplies to the quilt and craft market, New Jersey-based Cloud9 Fabrics offers a line of organic cotton fabrics designed to give crafters modern style in a green-minded alternative.
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African bungee jump inspires Nordic glass design

Posted on July 30th, 2010 by Mark

Cathrine-Maske-glide-Intro
‘Glide’, a new glass object from designer Cathrine Maske, came to life after a bungee jump experience in Africa.

“One of my repeating dreams is that I take the leap, open my arms and fly over the scenery,” says Maske. “And four years ago my dream came true and I got to try bungee jumping from Africa’s highest bridge along Garden Route.”

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Arboform Could Be The Plastic Of The Future

Posted on July 27th, 2010 by Mark

Arboform-Could-Be-The-Future-Of-Plastic
Two German scientists, Juergen Pfitzer and Helmut Naegele, have created a new material called Arboform which is a renewable plastic with wood-like qualities, yet can be formed into any shape. Arboform is made from lignin-a byproduct of the paper-making process. When combined with resins and flax, it forms a bio-plastic mass that looks and feels like wood and can be used to make several products such as furniture, toys, loudspeakers and even car interiors. Most significantly, Arboform is totally biodegradable and its raw material lignin is available in abundance, making it an environmentally friendly material that can potentially save significant natural resources. Via:[PSFK]
Website:www.tecnaro.de/

Process from Chris Lefteri

Posted on July 12th, 2010 by Mark

Kaynemaile
Image:Kaynemaile
Processes are an equally inspiring area for designers to explore. Here we list a few examples that have caught our eye lately.

Kaynemaile
The clue is in the name with this process – perhaps best described as an updated version of medieval chainmail body armour, Kaynemaile pulls off an impressive manufacturing ‘trick’ in that it makes it possible to produce a plastic mesh with no visible links or joints in a single step. In comparison to other plastic or metal meshes, it’s impossible to find any joints anywhere in the textile. Made from polycarbonate available in a wide range of colours, from opaque to translucent, Kaynemaile is suitable for all kinds of interior and lighting applications. To find out more, please visit the Kaynemaile website – www.kaynemaile.com
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Composites

Posted on June 21st, 2010 by Mark
Composites
The idea of a composite is simple enough – take two or more materials and combine them in a new, super-material with much better properties than the ingredients on their own. It’s not a new idea – already thousands of years ago, mud and straw was combined to make adobe bricks. Since then, mud has been replaced with high-performance plastic resin and the straw with some super-strong, ultra-lightweight fibre, although natural plant-based fibres and resins are making a big comeback in the emerging field of bio-composites.
We recently visited the JEC Composites Show in Paris (www.jeccomposites.com), Europe’s largest trade show for composite materials and technology, and we thought we’d share some of our highlights from the show.
Seismic wallpaper
A team of engineers from the consultancy D’Appolonia had been working on a ‘seismic’ wallpaper for some time when an earthquake struck the Italian town L’Aquila in 2009. The team promptly redoubled their efforts and managed to produce a working prototype of the textile in time to scoop up first prize in the construction category at the JEC Awards Programme. This remarkable product is made using a special multi-axial weaving technique and very strong textile fibres that has proved ideal for withstanding the large forces and complex material behaviour that are associated with earthquakes.
Used throughout a building, the textile can improve the structural strength and ductility of unreinforced walls by 200% – quite impressive, considering that the material is essentially a wallpaper. The material also contains sensors that give engineers lots of information about how best to manage the building and how it reacts to earthquakes and other events. Read more about the material here –www.dappolonia.it
Auxetic composites
If you didn’t know about auxetic materials before, you’re in for a treat. For an idea of how they work, think of an elastic rubber band – the more you stretch it, the thinner it gets. This is how most elastic materials work, but Auxetic materials behave in the exact opposite way – stretch them and they get fatter! Although this type of materials exist in nature (both cork and human skin are auxetic to a degree), synthetic auxetic materials are only starting to find uses in real life applications outside research labs, so naturally we were thrilled to find a new auxetic material at JEC.
Chismatec, another Italian company in the construction industry, have come up with an auxetic core material for composite sheet materials that can replace conventional honeycomb cores in a variety of lightweight applications such as construction and transport for example. If you were to bend a honeycomb core composite sheet, it tends tend to warp and go concave in one direction and convex in the other, but Chismatec’s new auxetic core material is reportedly much easier to form into complex, three-dimensional shapes. Unfortunately, there isn’t much by way of information on the Chismatec website (www.chismatec.com), but you can read more about the material on the Veneto Nanotech Polymerchallenge competition website, where Chismatec won first prize –www.venetonanotech.it/en/news-events/nanotech-news/the-era-of-nano-writing-and-of-super-polymers-begins,3,8111
Filament winding
This exciting process is perhaps best described as three-dimensional, structural weaving – long strands of fibre are saturated in resin and wound around a form, or mandrel, before being left to cure and taken off the form, producing incredibly strong and lightweight shapes. Originally developed for the aerospace industry, designers have enthusiastically experimented with filament winding and taken it in new directions.
We wrote about Wieki Somers Bellflower light in Ingredients 4 (download it here – www.moreingredients.com) and London-based Danish designer Mathias Bengtsson has done some amazing things with filament winding – check out his extendable Spun Bench for Future City and St James Group featured here for example. We were delighted to find Seifert Skinner & Associates at JEC, the company that produced some of Mathias’ pieces, for a first hand view of these beautiful products. For some inspiration in terms of what’s possible to achieve with the process, have a look at www.wiekisomers.com, www.bengtssondesign.com and www.seifert-skinner.com.
Image captions –
Mathias Bengtson’s Spun Bench, commissioned by Future City and St James Group. Image courtesy of the designer.
Bellflower light, designed by Wieki Somers. Photography by Fabrice Gousset

Spun bench

Image:Mathias Bengtson’s Spun Bench, commissioned by Future City and St James Group. Image courtesy of the designer.

The idea of a composite is simple enough – take two or more materials and combine them in a new, super-material with much better properties than the ingredients on their own. It’s not a new idea – already thousands of years ago, mud and straw was combined to make adobe bricks. Since then, mud has been replaced with high-performance plastic resin and the straw with some super-strong, ultra-lightweight fibre, although natural plant-based fibres and resins are making a big comeback in the emerging field of bio-composites.

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Foamalux

Posted on May 24th, 2010 by Mark

BW_Mints_2b

For the second year Foamalux was chosen as the cutting edge signage material used at the Restaurant and Bar Design Award ceremony to be held at Victoria House in London on the 22nd June. Foamalux, Foam PVC sheet has endless possibilities in the design of interiors, restaurant and bar outfitting, signage, contemporary displays, product design and fabrication, it cuts, bends and shapes successfully. Its versatility meant that all elements at the Awards ceremony could be made of or covered with Foamalux. This includes the networking pods, bar, entrance booth, cloak room, the awards and even the badges and drinks tokens.

www.brettmartin.co.uk/semifinished/foamalux/
www.restaurantandbardesignawards.com

Multi-sensory materials

Posted on May 23rd, 2010 by Mark

color changing tile
Multi-sensory materials

As a designer, the first thing you are likely to notice about a material is its surface. But scratch the surface and you will find all kinds of interesting material properties underneath. Here we take a look at some interesting ‘multi-sensory’ materials that have caught our eye lately.
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