storage
Pascal Anson
Here’s another Pascal Anson innovation: disparate forks, knives and spoons, all painted the same way, are transformed into new collections of “silverware”. Such a simple design principle makes a cool unified set.
Here’s what Design Museum had to say about Pascal’s “Reunification Project”:
“One of the new generation of British product designers for whom narrative is an increasingly important element in their work, PASCAL ANSON (1973-) combines industrial production and improvisation to create products and furniture that tell a story while fulfilling their function.
Each object in Pascal Anson’s Reunification Project not only has a story to tell from its old life, but is starting to tell a new one. By unearthing orphaned objects – such as cutlery, tea cups and saucers, tables, chairs and tailored suits – that once belonged to a set but have since become separated from it, and by changing their appearance, Anson unifies them into new sets and imbues them with new purpose and meaning.”
Anson’s “silverware” got me trying to figure out ways to coat/paint metal – stainless steel, silver plate – so that the new surface will hold up to really being used… read more…
02.10.10 |
comments (2) |
in copy this!, housewares, people, reimagine, storage |
Sally Schneider
When my trusty lemon squeezer broke, I toyed with the idea of buying a new one
, but found that design collaborative Platform 21′s Repair Manifesto (blogged last summer) had lodged itself in my consciousness. “REPAIRING IS A CREATIVE CHALLENGE“…and “TO REPAIR IS TO DISCOVER” subtly resonated. There’s a way to fix this, I thought, as I wandered around my apartment looking for a sturdy piece of metal to hinge the two enameled sides together; it would have to withstand the pressure of squeezing a lemon, and not react to acidic lemon juice.
The process was a simple one, really, once I finally focused on it (the broken squeezer sat on the counter for a couple of weeks while I mulled): I’d ask myself “What if I tried THIS? and then I tried the idea out, fiddled, failed a few times: a heavy-duty paper clip couldn’t take the pressure…I had no nut to secure a screw, which I suspected would rust anyway…Wire was reactive and would keep the hinge from moving properly. I found the solution in my office. read more…
02.02.10 |
comments (3) |
in housewares, inspiration blogs + sites, storage, tools, why not? |
Sally Schneider
Years ago, New York photographer Maria Robledo designed this simple, functional and really cool-looking storage for her studio. A few hours before she moved to a new space, I ran over to photograph them for ‘the improvised life’ because they are so smart and great, even though she’d emptied them out. They once held an impressive amount of office and photographic supplies, and linens and props for shoots.
Maria’s wall of cabinets is an unfussy, easy-to-duplicate approach that would translate well to all sorts of spaces. read more…
01.04.10 |
comments (3) |
in elements, how-to, materials, solutions, storage |
Sally Schneider
If you pile a bunch of washed and stemmed greens like chard or spinach or kale in a shallow skillet with a few tablespoons of water, cover them and set over high heat, they’ll steam just fine without a proper steamer; most of the water evaporates by the time they’ve become tender, so they’ll be no loss in vitamins. Then, you can add some olive oil or butter to the bottom of the pan to saute the greens.
The problem is that the bulky greens defy the lid, lifting it up, making it impossible to have the seal necessary for steaming. I recommend keeping a rock handy for weighting down the lid. read more…
11.12.09 |
comments (5) |
in food, storage, strategies, tools |
Ellen Silverman
Years ago, when I was putting together my very make-shift kitchen, I searched and searched for a pot rack that was the opposite of the ones that seemed to be everywhere – clunky or “country”-ish, overly ornate or verging on Medieval. Nothing I found accommodated my personal pot rack idiosyncrasies that includes not liking pots hanging over head, or making my small space looking cluttered.
So I turned to towel bars. It was a small shift in thinking to envision these sleek steel bars hung with hooks and copper, rather than terry cloth. Why not use a towel bar as a pot rack? (Or simply change its name?) read more…
08.05.09 |
comments (1) |
in bathing, elements, hard, repurpose, solutions, storage |
Over the course of thirty years, Andy Warhol filled over 600 cardboard boxes with objects from his daily life, from photographs and newspaper clippings to artworks and telephone messages. He used a marker to write the date or contents on the outside, then sent the boxes to storage rooms.
The array of boxes, which are all the same size, are themselves quite beautiful. Actually, it is because they are all the same size that they are beautiful and not as daunting as different size boxes, which look messy and haphazard. Warhol figured out the perfect simple, cheap, unfussy, visually-pleasing method for collecting just about anything: uniform containers in multiples. read more…
07.14.09 |
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in cheap + great, copy this!, materials, paths + processes, people, storage |
Ellen Silverman
Although I have a big built-in bookcase, there always seems to be books floating around my apartment; either there’s no room (because books – like food -are the purchases I make weekly), or they are books I am currently using. They need a place and a way to be that isn’t a mess, but is accessible and nice looking. My solution is to stack them on “stands” that I’ve found on the street, and that are to me, pleasingly elemental, like the three above. read more…
05.23.09 |
comments (3) |
in floors, reclaim, repurpose, solutions, storage, why not? |
A picture of some gorgeous ceramic paper plates by designer Virginia Sim sent me to her website, an odd mix of her advertising and art works, and practical inventions. My favorite, filed under “Passionately Curious” is her system for catalogueing her shoes by pasting a polaroid image of the shoe right on the box. You don’t need a polaroid camera to do this; take pictures with a digital camera or your cellphone, email it to yourself, print the email out and cut out the image. Then paste it on your shoe box. Or any box where you can’t see in: Fill the box with stuff and snap a photo of what’s inside, to paste on the outside. An image is worth a thousand words.
04.22.09 |
comments |
in elements, solutions, storage |
(follow the directions and caveats 
(fine for jars with a flat surface).
