Unlike many folks using recycled materials, WILL Holman of Object Guerrilla has an eye for style, as evidenced by the inspired Zip Tie Lounge Chair, above, a flat-pack armchair made of plywood panels sewn together with zip ties. His new book Guerilla Furniture Design contains chapters on Guerilla History, Sustainability, Philosophy, The Guerilla Workshop and Design Fundamentals,…
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Our friend John Wellington is an artist whose controversial work has been called “classical, claustrophobic, fetishistic, beautiful, vulgar, architectural, humorous, morbid, decorative, and sexual.” He renders deeply personal imagery using Old Master techniques in unique ways and teaches his methods at the New York Academy of Art where he is an Adjunct Professor, and at his…
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In the process of planning our Laboratory’s renovation, we called on a number of friends for advice: designers, artists, and people who just had plain good sense of one kind or another. When I told artist friend Lisa Morphew of the prices some of the contractors we’d spoken to were quoting us she said: “Honey, what…
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As we’ve mentioned, ‘the improvised life’s laboratory is something of an homage to plywood. We’ve used it for many things, from window sills to cabinets to floors. We love the stuff, and are constantly hatching plots in our head for furniture, housewares, endless inventions. So we are smitten with carpenter and author Philip Schmidt new book PlyDesign which…
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[Photo removed by request of Oscar Diaz. You can check photos out on Design Boom and on Diaz’ website.] The very resourceful designer Oscar Diaz, who once made gorgeous utensils out of plastic bottles, devised a huge shopping tote called “Glueline” made out of a web of ordinary strapping material secured with rubber…
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When in a weakened state from anxiety, an impending cold or working too hard, I take solace in butter. I stand at the kitchen counter and eat shavings of cold butter on toast, or even crackers, with a few grains of sea salt. Good butter is like a perfect cheese to me but better at…
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My friend Holton Rower made me a cutting board from a hard wood log called Arbutus that he found on his land in the Pacific NorthWest. He had the board cut by a friend who has a saw mill, then carved “Golly’s Food” into it with a chisel, Golly being my nickname. Holton’s cutting board…
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Pamela Hovland, the extraordinary designer who has been so essential to the design for The Improvised Life, often uses pages from magazines as her envelopes. Periodically, she culls compelling images from magazines, cuts them out with an Exacto knife and straight edge (or just rips them out, leaving a pleasingly rough edge), and folds each…
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I love the idea of this patchwork headboard from Lockwood Design. There are endless possibilities for combining cool fabrics and textures and it’s definitely a do-able project. I can imagine using all sorts of vintage fabrics, which can be found at flea markets and on Ebay. Or buying 1/2 yard of several fabrics from…
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Cut a length from a block of some nice looking hard wood… Bore holes in the end (big enough to hold toothbrushes) with a thick drill bit… Sand if necessary. Or, just buy them in oak at the wonderful Bailey’s Home and Garden.
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