Departing from the idea of how materials are influenced by gravity, Dutch Designer Jólan van der Wiel set out to explore how he could explore this universal force by exploiting its own power: magnetism. He’s created a process (and a machine) to pull and manipulate a resin (I’m assuming it’s a thermoset material like urethane or polyester) heavily loaded with metallic powder and colorant while still in its a liquid state. At the end of this dance with magnetic fields and material, the forms cure within a half hour. You’ll have to see the process to truly appreciate it.

Jólan’s Gravity stool was a Graduate project that has gone on to win first place for the Interior Innovation Award for the D3 Contest at imm cologne 2012. These strikingly beautiful and expressive forms are so intimately connected to nature, they could have been unearthed from a newly discovered cave.

[via SolidSmack]

A Renmatix employee pours sugar liquor produced from woody biomass with the company's water-based Plantrose process. (Source: Renmatix)

Plastics and chemical giant BASF is betting on a process that converts plant waste materials to sugars that form a major ingredient of biofuels and bioplastics.

The German company has invested $30 million in US-based Renmatix, whose Plantrose process can turn lignocellulosic biomass — such as wood, straw, or cane trash — into large volumes of cost-competitive industrial sugars. Since the process does not use edible plant biomass as a feedstock, such as corn for ethanol, it does not compete with the production of food for people or feed for animals.

Industrial sugars are a key element of bio-based chemicals and fuels, including polypropylene and polyethylene, and can produce these substances via fermentative processes. However, celluose sugars are extremely tough to break down.

Check out this flash animation describing the process (mouse over the individual stages):

[Read the full article at Design News]

The University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (UC-DAAP) is holding a very special event at the end of the month entitled MTRL2020: Envisioning Innovative Materials Application. The program has been built for students and educators, but will be a fantastic learning opportunity for practicing professionals as well:

For creative people in the 21st century, understanding emerging and innovative new materials is a core necessity. MTRL 2020 is an event centered in providing the students and faculty of the University of Cincinnati as well as others in the community a common forum within which to achieve that understanding. With expert speakers in various fields of materials research, workshops, and a roundtable discussion, the three-day event seeks to heighten the level of awareness to the importance of materials knowledge across the design disciplines and the inter-relation of these materials with outside disciplines.

The event will take place from 1/25-1/27, and is comprised of guest lectures, breakout sessions, a roundtable discussion, and a gallery show of innovative materials samples on campus which runs from January 16 to the end of the month. And what an impressive collection of speakers:

• Michelle Addington, Hines Professor of Sustainable Architectural Design at the Yale School of Architecture
• Inna Alesina, Faculty member of Towson University’s ID department
• Emiliano Godoy, of design firm Godoylab, and design director of the furniture manufacturer Pirwi
• Chris Lefteri, long-time IDSAMP blog friend and materials evangelist

Here’s the best part: Registration is 100% free of charge and anyone is welcome to attend. Definitley worth checking out.

[MTRL2020 Info]

I know, you’re asking “What the heck is a shipping reel?”. I was asking the same thing. Turns out that wooden reels have been used for decades as the preferred solution for wire shipping, but its inefficient design makes them very difficult and cost prohibitive to ship back because they take up so much space. KALAS Wire, a wire and cable assembly manufacturer was facing increased pressure to reduce some of their operating costs. They hired Bresslergroup to focus on one of their biggest operating costs –the cost of wooden shipping reels used to ship millions of tons of wire and cables across the continental US.

Our assumption that a single plastic reel would be better than a single wooden reel, was also challenged by the life span we planned for this product and the series of Sustainable Minds LCAs we conducted. Our final solution ended up being different than we had imagined, a system of multiple wooden flanges and a single plastic core, with a lifespan that exceeded original expectations.

Here’s what they ended up with:

Their engineering analysis led Bresslergroup to realize that the ultimate reel should not be made only from plastic, but a combination of wood and plastic.  It was counter-intuitive, but made sense from a structural standpoint, and added up from an environmental impact stand point. Sustainable Minds has posted a webinar case study featuring Mathieu Terpault from Bresslergroup:

The benefits go beyond this reel in that the firm has awoken KALAS’ environmental conciseness and inspired the company to look at other ways to improve their “environmental performance.” Now there’s an example of a design firm completely changing they their client thinks and behaves.

So what do you think? Have you been considering a tool like Sustainable Minds to add to your tool belt? What’s been you experience? What were the deciding factors behind that decision?

Also see my article about SM’s other case study on fredsparks’ new eyeware line, info on IDSA’s OKALA Guide and a discount on an SM subscription for IDSA members.

[Full text of Sustainable Minds' case study]

The team at ID firm fredsparks in St. Louis used green product design software Sustainable Minds to develop the new Misura Eyewear. They used the SM tool to evaluate concept decisions early in the process, allowing them to capture an equity stake in a start up business developing sustainable reading eyewear. The product line is due out this month. So what was their experience using Sustainable Minds?

The business driver for using Sustainable Minds, however, goes beyond ‘the right thing to do.’ As consumer desire to make more socially and environmentally-conscious purchasing decisions continues to grow, we see a future for design that requires knowledge of lifecycle design, and of sustainable design strategies.

Sustainable Minds has published their case study as a webinar featuring Ken Harris from fredsparks:

So one question I have been asking is: does using this tool really make a difference and are clients willing to pay for this kind of in-depth research and integration of sustainability into the design process?

Being an early adopter of Sustainable Minds in the ID consulting arena – we have an opportunity to lead. Often, we find that our ability to offer our clients sustainable design solutions opens doors with them, even if the first project is not expressly a sustainable design initiative.

A couple of interesting notes about Sustainable Minds: First, Sustainable Minds’ life cycle impact assessment (LCA) methodology contains a next generation dataset based originally on the Okala 2007 impact factors, a module in the Okala curriculum guide. The guide was developed under the auspices of IDSA, through financial support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Design for the Environment Program, Eastman Chemical Company and the Whirlpool Corporation. If you’d like to get more information and download the 2010 edition, you can find it here.

Second, for those of you who are IDSA members (including educators and students), you can get a discount on a SM subscription. More information, with the discount codes, can be found here.

So what do you think? Does it seem viable and valuable to you as a designer? I’m watching how this and other tool like it are being adopted by the design community.

[Sustainable Minds case study (full text)]

Must a bottle be made of plastic? This fall, Seventh Generation began a new path: Its Natural 4X Laundry Detergent is shipping in recycled (and recyclable) bottles made of cardboard lined with a thin recyclable plastic pouch, manufactured by Ecologic Brands. From Ecologic’s FaceBook page:

Our new bottle features a rugged, fully-recyclable and even compostable outer shell made from 70 percent recycled cardboard fibers and 30 percent old newspaper fibers that supports a recyclable lightweight plastic pouch inside. By using 66 percent less plastic than typical 100 ounce 2X detergent bottles, the new container allows consumers to conserve effortlessly.

To see what’s saved, follow the life cycles of both plastic and the new paper pulp containers. This graphic is from Emma Haak’s article in the Dec/Jan issue of Fast Company:

[via Fast Company]

Nike Sportswear has released the Vac Tech Collection constructed using a thermo-molding technique, a kind of “vacuum compression method” that presumably fuses the components together without any noticeable seams or stitching.

I’d love to see how these things are made (yeah, I know, fat chance). Anyone out there got a video of the manufacturing process? Maybe something cool like this?

[via FastCo Design]

I’ve been waiting for this thing since April… Since backing them on Kickstarter to make the Cosmonaut, a wide-grip stylus for touchscreens (like my iPad), Studio Neat has teased its supporters with updates on the product’s progress as it made its way towards production. Like many start-ups, I think the boys were a bit too optimistic on their schedule (these widgets were originally due out in June). But my hat’s off to them for sharing their leaning process and evolution of how the product’s made. Check out their posts on Kickstarter to see the progression. Looks like we’re in the home stretch.

After a good deal of research and trial ‘n error, they ended up building this chunky guy with a machined aluminum core that’s overmolded with a conductive rubber. The tip is a separately-molded cap that is snapped onto the end  (I wonder why it can’t be replaced when worn out or damaged?). The other end gets either an aluminum or wood plug (I guess because they can and because it covers up where the mold held the core during overmolding).

In a video “hosted” by Mr. Rogers entitled “How Crayons Are Made,” the guys share some nice video of the production process. It shows how the aluminum core is machined, then overmolded and assembled. You’ll see them hand die-cutting the cardboard packing and final assembly… Check it out before it gets taken down ’cause I seriously doubt Tom and Dan got permission to use that footage… Then again, having raised over $134K on Kickstarter and the success of the Glif, maybe they were able afford it.

It’s a wonder day in the neighborhood…

I know this isn’t exactly product design, but this is so damn cool… Mixed media kinetic artist U-Ram Choe has a new sculpture showing in New York at the Asia Society Museum until December 31, 2011. It’s not to be missed… Check out this mesmerizing video…

Just amazing… The sculpture appears to breathe…

[via SolidSmack]

Boy, this video would have come in handy a few weeks ago in the materials and processes class I’m helping teach at NC State…

As hand-made gifts for speakers at the 2011 Build Conference in Belfast, London-based designer and artist Thomas Forsyth fabricated ten “bespoke brass nuts” using old-school sand casting techniques. Each unique piece weighed in at just over half a kilo (about 1.1 lbs). Enjoy the video.

[via Core77]