Friday, April 11, 2008

Great Design

I love it when I come across something that is not only great to look at but ingeniously engineered. At first there was nothing too exciting about my most recent studio addition from IKEA other than it's color. Oh, and the fact that if a sneaky little four year old managed to get into my paints and spill them inside the drawer I could wash it out. Can't do that with wooden drawers full of thread. Ask me how I know.
 
As I assembled the cabinet I fell in love with its' elegant design. I love putting things together! A very creative soul figured out a way to put a full sized Taboret....

.... into this skinny little 3" box. Anyone else out there concerned about the way we ship most everything we buy back and forth around the world? Fossil fuels, pollution, human rights, all that. Think of how many skinny little boxes will fit into the same space as one fully assembled cabinet. Maybe sometime I'll riff on my hopes for the future of clean energy sources. Another day.

Back to the cabinet. This clever designer made it simple enough for any novice to assemble with nothing more than a screwdriver. This is a drawer. Really. Fold on the dotted line, slide this piece in here,  fold the little hook there, and viola! You have a drawer! Elegant design in a simple object.

The gorgeous vase by the way, was a gift from my mom. Every time my parents come to visit they take a little trip to Seagrove, NC - home of too many talented potters to count. 

5 comments:

LoieJ said...

We got the wooden part of a futon bed in a relatively flat box. Only bad part is that it was from China. I would have "bought local" if that had been available.

I guess this whole concept is why the US post office, as well as the other shipping companies, now charge by size (volume) as well as weight.

I just hope that high oil prices will result in more stuff being made in the US again.

Anonymous said...

AND! Ikea stuff will fit in a car, so it doesn't have to be delivered. Now I'm trying to come up with a good reason why I need one of those beautiful red thangs.

Evenspor said...

You gotta love IKEA. We just outfitted our whole library from there, and those little well-engineered details are easy to fall in love with.

Amberlynn said...

Along the same lines: this "apartment in a box" is amazing!

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/casulo_an_entir.php

Amberlynn said...

Hmmm... it cuts off the end of the link.

The rest of that link is:
ntir.php

Add the two together and it should get you to the page. Or maybe clicking here will work.