Man Made DIY

Shwood, makers of handcrafted wooden sunglasses, teamed up with San Francisco clothing company Huf to spend a day skateboarding through downtown Los Angeles. When one rider broke his deck, the Shwood craftsmen took the trashed plywood, laminated up, and created these amazing recycled skateboard-version of their awesome sunglasses design.

They film the whole process, showing how these beautiful pieces are glued up and made by hand. Accompanied by T. Rex's "Mambo Sun," this video's a must watch.   … read more

Hop on the internet, do a quick search or visit any sort of design or art online shop, and you'll most certainly find all sorts of "skins" - that is, safe ways to make clean and sleek gadgets like the iAnything or laptop a bit more personal. What you'll also realize is that a "skin" is just a big vinyl sticker, which means it's completely possible, easy, and not expensive to just make your own.   

Duramen is a series of hand-carved wooden sculptures made by Bonsoir Paris that looks like something out of Salvidor Dali painting or possibly a prop from the movie Aliens. 

… read more

When my neighbor, Gina, moved in next door, a standalone porch swing appeared on our shared patio. The thing was at least thirty years old, and had been outside for just as long, and showed the wear of snowy winters, blazing hot summers, and all the rainy days in between. Not that it was likely much to look at when it was new.

It was, in every way, an eyesore. 

But, my goodness, if that thing wasn't useful. I'm sure I sat on it a good fifty times more often than she did. I took to enjoying my breakfast on it, and built a little morning routine around sitting outside, reading the week's New Yorker before I started my day. I used it to prepare for my bike rides: changing shoes, making adjustments, etc. And my friends and I would eat dinner out there, and watch thunderstorms. Boy, it was ugly, but it made me appreciate my patio, and got me out there frequently.

Then, Gina did the unthinkable: she got married, had a baby, and moved away. And, with her, away went the porch swing. And though I love my current neighbor (Hi Jillian!), she brought no shared furniture to the arrangement.

So, I figured it was time to make some outdoor seating of my own. For inspiration, I turned to the most iconic of mid-century bench designs, the Platform Bench by George Nelson (1946). It was created from easy-to-find 1x6" cedar decking, making it quite inexpensive to build, and safe for outdoor use. 

Wanna make one, too? Okay, here we go.… read more

"The Carpenter," is a beautiful two-minute short by Greek design and art studio Deep Green Sea. This entry is "the first of a series of short films regarding the art & science of professionals working with their hands."

It's really lovely stuff, and has got me feeling super motivated to clean up my workshop (still devastated from a recent major build, which'll be posted next week), and make something amazing.

Click play to watch the video:    … read more