aluminum foam

We have a THING for new materials, and have, until today, mostly just imagined what they could do. We couldn’t lay our hands on samples since we’re not a big commercial entity; suppliers didn’t want to bother to sell small quantities or answer our novice’s questions. So we’d read descriptions in Transmaterials, the compendium of new technology for use as walls or floors or textiles, that is our idea of pornography. We’d fantasize, our brains heating up with ideas and possibilities.

Then we discovered Inventables, Zac Kaplan’s brilliant online database of cutting-edge materials where you can actually order samples to fool around with, something that was previously impossible for lay-inventors (no pun intended ) to do.

We are enthralled. Today we checked out Cold Spray Metal, Sound-Dampening Paint, Talking TapePaper Board, and Flexible Metal Brick, culled from searches of “sound”, “wall”, “moldable”, “collapsible”…Dig this Bendable Wood:

Each entry features information from the manufacturer’s about its properties, uses and possibilities.

Our imagination is running wild!

Check out Dwell’s slideshow of Kaplan’s favorite materials, and his descriptions of why they are so swell.

via Dwell

Related post:  transmaterial: books + website for big imaginings

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