Maker Monday: Concrete Storage

Photos from Core77
[Charles] I did a little project with concrete resurfacing material last week and enjoyed it so much I thought I'd look for something even cooler. I was fixing the slope on a sill in our shower so the water runs back into the shower and doesn't puddle - pretty sexy right?! Well anyway it was well overdue, but I just happened to have some left over concrete resurfacer to use. I like this stuff because it is super strong even in thin layers without reinforcement wire. So lo and behold, today I'm looking for something to talk about and here is this cool thing over on Core77. I've seen tons of usb drive ideas, wood, plastic, star wars characters, old teeth whatever, but this is concrete. Concrete is cold and substantial and oh so modsexy. So see what you think of these little drives. I especially like that they carved little semiconductor board looking patterns in them. Now if only I had done that instead of just putting my handprint... Wait though - how cool would it be to put your thumbprint in the concrete as it sets up! Oh yeah, concrete project here we come.

Maker Monday: Finally a bookshelf that works...

Photo from Core77

[Charles] It seems like bookshelves have it pretty easy. They sit there against the wall and just wait for you to pull a book down. They might allow room for other stuff on the shelf but they consist of a lot of space that is sort of off limits to dual purposes. The bookshelf that Raw Edges' designers made for their own uses finally gets those books out and doing something while they lay around waiting for your interest. The simple wooden piece has grooves that the wooden slats drop into with books wrapped around them. The little slats can serve as bookmarks and the spines line up to make for an interesting table surface. Shelf gone - just like that! I like it, and I'd like to start building one of these for all the ridiculous magazines that we seem to amass.

You can see the original photos at Core77 in their post.

Maker Monday: Big Banquette Build from Core77

Photos from hipstomp on Core77

[Charles] Here's a re-post from Core77 on how the process of building a huge built in banquette can go. I especially like that he includes all of the screwups and lessons learned in the process. Hopefully next week I'll have some photos of my platform bed build that I can share.

http://www.core77.com/blog/object_culture/monster_post_crap_ive_built_-_banquettes_poor_mans_couches_17752.asp

Maker Monday - Tiny Details

Photo from Core77
[Charles] Sometimes it's the small details that make all the difference. These light up numbers don't look like much when they are in use, but taken apart they have a really beautiful and timeless look. I love the idea that these were made by engineers years ago and they took the time to not only think of their function but also their form.

Here's a link to the Core77 article...

Mobile Pop Shopping

Photo from Lisa Smith at Core77
[Charles] Rents go up. Sales go down. Next thing you know you are looking for a moving truck. But what if the moving truck was how you showcased your designs so that you could work in super cheap rent space somewhere and bring it to the people when you're ready? I've thought about this before. On slow days at the shop it seems pretty appealing, but I've never seen it in action before like this. Check out these guys in Chicago that display at Neocon to showcase small designers.

The rest of the story is at Core77 after the jump...