Despoke

The E-Cube : conceived and developed at Ghent University, Belgium ,has the principal aim of creating “an affordable zero energy house” bringing a DIY aspect to home-building whilst being simultaneously energy neutral.

In their own words, the “E-cube” is a “do-it- yourself building kit for a solar-powered house that is pre-engineered, factory-built, and easily assembled without special skills.”
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In September TEN PLAN was Highly Commended by the Judging panel for the Blueprint / 100% design Awards. This year the TEN designers produced downloadable plans enabling the public to make designs by the collective. We constructed a Flowerpot Furnace, smelted scrap aluminium that we had collected and cast components for an adjustable task lamp called C-Lamp.

VENTILITE
Ventilite received an Honourable Mention at the Surplus & Creativity Exhibition in Wellington, NZ. Ventilite coupled water jet cut aluminium legs with re-appropriated housing vents to produce a small industrial table lamp. The judges included Professor Jim Kaufman, Treasurer of the Industrial Designers Association of America.

www.northwards-design.co.uk/

MMXI UTILITA MANIFESTA – FIGHT POVERTY DESIGN COMPETITION

Announced as one of Ten Finalists in the Utilita Manifesta Fight Poverty Competition. The competition, supported by Iconograda and the AIAP, called for Industrial & Graphic Design entries that attempted to deal with the issues of sustainability and social change.

Fat Lip is a collaboration with ethical manufacturer Bodj who work with local people in Cambodia to enhance their quality of life through empowerment. Utilising traditional Khmer craft techniques we designed as a log basket that uses the rim of the basket as the handle, constructed from woven rattan on a light gauge coloured steel frame.

northwardsdesignstudio.posterous.com/

FAT LIP FOR BODJ
As stated above, FAT LIP is the first collaboration with ethical manufacturer Bodj. Fat Lip will be officially launched later this year, with the Design Royalties from the project being directed back to the villages to help support child education and assist the makers who produce the product.

This is the first in a series of exciting collaborations with Bodj. Look out for more news on the project in the future and images in the Northwards Design Studio website soon

www.bodj.co.uk/.

YIELD
Earlier this year TEN were asked to design the exhibition for a new show by sustainable fashion designers Holly McQuillan and Timo Rissanen.

YIELD will show the best of Zero Waste and maximum Yield fashion design. The show will be at The Dowse in Wellington in March and Parsons New School in New York in September. Exhibitors include Zandra Rhodes, Julian Roberts and Yeohlee Teng.

Collaborating with Graphic Designer, Gerbrand Van Melle, we have designed an exhibition experience that uses QR codes to give a mixture of static and dynamic information. The exhibition attempts to convey the transition from two to three dimensions in the zero waste design process by exhibiting the finished garments over the full size flat pattern. Furniture for the exhibition will be made from test prints of the pattern on the recycled cardboard honeycomb substrate that will display them.

The project aims to deliver an exciting contemporary exhibition in the most sustainable way possible.

We are giving an insight into the design process in a completely transparent manner, which you can view on the YIELD blog.

yield.posterous.com/

northwardsdesignstudio.posterous.com/

Nike has released an open source application to help apparel manufacturers design their clothes in a more sustainable manner. The Environmental Apparel Design Tool encourages collaboration and sustainability among various manufacturers by evaluating the waste, energy and toxics found in their manufacturing process. This helps designers make real-time decisions right at the start of the product creation cycle to minimize their environmental impact.
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Nokia has unveiled its plans to produce a phone charger that will charge your mobile phone as you cycle around. Weirdly, it’s cheap to boot. The cheap part of it could be because Nokia is aiming at developing countries with its bike-powered phone charger, which would be a boon to areas where electricity is sparse. Besides saving you some change on wattage, its $18 price tag makes up for the fact that you might not be using it as much as you like.If successful, Nokia may bring it to European markets later this year.
More Info:news.bbc.co.uk

“Bobble” is a new creation from designer Karim Rashid, aimed at reducing the huge number of plastic water bottles, consumed and disposed of every day. This reusable water bottle design integrates a filter into the spout which lasts for about two months and uses a carbon filter to reduce chlorine, taste, and odor.  The bottle retails at $10 and is available to buy from www.waterbobble.com

What do you get if you cross a Christmas tree with a bicycle? A “Tree-Cycle” – A sustainable Christmas tree made out of recycled bicycle parts.

Leading sustainable architectural practice Sarah Wigglesworth Architects has been commissioned by developer’s igloo to create a bespoke Christmas tree for Bermondsey Square, London, SE1. The Bermondsey Square Christmas tree is composed of 35 recycled bike wheels, set on a simple structure, in the recogniZable shape of a Christmas Tree.
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