Thursday, January 08, 2009
Bent Bamboo Cabinet
This is a cabinet I originally planned to put shelves and clothes in. Once we moved into our new apartment it found a perfect fit as a place to hide our TV and other entertainment pieces.
It is all bamboo plywood, and the legs are one inch square steel tubing. The doors are three layers of 1/4 inch bamboo plywood glued together and formed on a mold in a vacuum bag under 25 atmospheres of pressure for four hours. They came out awesome, and the arch is so strong I can put it on the floor and stand on it and it doesn't flex at all. I put the doors on drawer sliders and hinges so they both slide open or can swing all the way open and slide to the sides.
The body is made from 3/4 inch 3 ply bamboo plywood. The edge grain looks really cool so I made it an exposed part of the box. The side half circle is just the middle layer of bamboo exposed by routing off the top layer. One of the cool things you can do with bamboo sheet stock over conventional plywood.
I finished it with my favorite Osmo oil wax that deepens the color and gives it a great luster.


Here is a new lamp I just finished. Japanese design is such a big influence to me I decided to update the traditional box lamp with green ethos and materials.
I used steel for the framing and bamboo veneer for the covering. Inside is two four foot fluorescent tubes that stretch from top to bottom, giving a 360 degree even glow from every side. The veneer is a light blond color during the day, but at night when it is turned on it glows with this amazingly hypnotic warmly inviting golden glow. Some say it looks so different in it's two phases that it is like having two separate pieces of furniture. It stands four feet six inches tall and is ten inches wide per side.
The Green Points: the steel is recycled and very recyclable, bamboo is rapidly renewable, fluorescent lighting is very energy efficient and long lasting.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
ICFF Trip
Here I am in lovely, slightly poopy smelling, NYC. I am loving walking everywhere. The food rocks. Coffee sucks. Zac and I have walked an easy 2000 miles in the last two days. The ICFF is freaking amazing. So many great companies and designs. Nice people too. I am dazed and confused, tired and amused. That is why I ramble. More later... Must now get ready for the big MOMA party!
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
MAKE Make Me Happy
I just got a great write up in MAKE Magazine for the Electron Monument! Whoo! If you are coming here from there, welcome Dear MAKE Fan. I am a prolific builder and designer so if you see something you like here, or even something close to what is here, or just have an idea of something you would like made, please do not hesitate to drop me a note and I'll be happy to work with you to make something awesome.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
The Electron Monument




That gorgeous spalted Pin Oak again, which we got from the city; it was a dying oak from some street in Olympia that had to be cut down. The top is Zebrawood and Rosewood and all finished in that great Osmo non-toxic oil. Steel legs with inlaid steel in the front glowing outlet icon. Inside the box are six outlets for all the corded mess of our rechargable toys. The glowing light is a LED that uses almost no electricity. Switch on the back shuts the power down to the whole thing when not in use.
I feel that some morning I am going to wake up and this thing is going to be in my kitchen, making some coffee and frying up some eggs.














