Prosthes Coat Rack by Form Us With Love. Use a broom handle, a few sticks, anything a bit pointy to slot into the connecting joint and create your own Coat Rack

http://www.formuswithlove.se/flash.php

Clamped Table by Ryan Sorrell. Exhibited at this years New Designerss 09 the Kingston University graduate has designed a set of table legs that can be clamped to anything flat to form a table. Pictured here with a nice new bit of board you could easily follow the theme of th RCO chair and recycle anything to hand.  The legs can accommodate boards of varying thickness and are designed for creating temporary or seasonal or emergency furniture. They can easily be deconstructed and stacked away when not in use.

RCO Chair (Re-use Component Optimizer Chair) by Niklas Madsen & Per Eriksson.  “We though of creating one component that can be the main structure for putting old chairs or just junk together into a new chair. RCO are made out of steel welded together into a solid structure. The user will find parts that will make-up a new chair (a new product).
The RCO component will help people to think, recycle and to re-invent new products in the same time. So it’s a tool that will help the human race to save the planet in style!”

Pictured here at Milan 09 they’ve used a combination of found chair legs and a bike seat, you could go for a more comfortable option, the bracket allows you to screw a more conventional seat to the base. For more ideas and options to go their website.

http://www.mentaldesign.se/page.php?rt=page/sve/content

Piet has spent his career working with reclaimed materials. A graduate of the Design School in Eindhoven, in 1990 he produced his first work made entirely from recycled wood and has built his career around the concept of reusing, adapting and recycling. Its not just his desire to be ecological its more a thought process beginning with the material around him.

Pictured above is detail from a lamp he produced for Spazio Rossana Orlandi.  Formally a tie factory the store had rolls of unused tie fabric in the loft. Piet has used the fabric to create lampshades over a simple wire frame.  Shown here are the two sizes of lamp base and a large pendant shade.

 Also displayed were the 99% cabinets. Continuing on a philosophy of the most efficient use of material and labour, the production of the cabinets leaves less than 1% wastage from the original sheet of metal. The cabinet is available in white coated aluminium, copper or the brass version pictured below.

The plank chair was a personal favourite of mine. Born out of an irritation at mediocre design sold at a ridiculous price, Piet decided at Salone 2008 to create an inexpensive high quality product. Not only that, you can actually produce this chair yourself, plans and instructions were provided.  I nabbed a copy but my photo of them is a little too small to be of use – the plans will be available from his website in the future.

It does look incredibly simple to do (certainly compared to a dress pattern!) but unfortunately the instructions are in Dutch so I’m getting a friend of mine to translate before I attempt it.

Also shown was a collection based on his work with scrap pieces of wood. The Dark coffee table, bench and chairs were all made using doors and wood panelling found in an old watermill. The pictures here are taken from his website, I’m afraid I got distracted by his book and forgot to take the pics myself!

 Shown here is a close up of how the scrap collection is put together and lacquered. Ten layers of high gloss lacquer are applied to the pieces giving a beautiful water effect, and an amazing silky feel.  

For more information on his work  (and better pictures) here’s the link to his website

 http://www.pietheineek.nl/

Here are couple of interviews Peit did for Dwell and also Design.nl giving a more detailed insight  into the production of this collection.

http://design.nl/item/five_minutes_in_milan___piet_hein_eek

http://www.dwell.com/articles/interview-piet-hein-eek.html

Here’s a link for the book by Max Fraser covering the first 15 years of his work – sorry its amazon- other book stores are available! just use the isbn no.   

http://www.amazon.com/Boek-Piet-Hein-Max-Fraser/dp/9063691483

Or, even better, if you email here  apparently you can get a signed copy Well it says so on his website!

http://www.pietheineek.nl/en/book

New exponents of traditional crafts are bringing a level of artistry that is refreshing in its approach; and the humour and wit that comes across in their work is something that we don’t associate with these traditional methods. I think when you say craft to someone it can conjure up all sorts of truly terrible images of bad taste. I’m not saying all new craft is great  – you only have to peep into Etsy to see the amount of rubbish there still is out there. I  just think that our changes in buying habits have given opportunities to a whole range of talented individuals who have successfully found a way of reviving traditional skills with new technology.

I think this trend works for a number of reasons. The means of production satisfies our desire for good quality handmade products with little or low enviromental  impact. It also fits in with our desire to reuse and recycle materials, many of these new crafters use vintage materials in their work. We feel we are supporting an artist, the little company over the big corp. We also feel we’re getting something unique in a time where every high street looks the same and sells the same. We can also learn something, its in the craft tradition to pass on your skills and many of these crafters have produced kits for you to have a go yourself.

 Whitney Lee’s work mixes latch hooking – a traditional rug technique, with images of pornography to produce some really cool work.  ” I was more interested in placing medium against subject in order to point out the dichotomous relationship between a crafty, “motherly” type woman and a sexually confident “slutty” woman. In  our society it is nearly impossible for a woman to be both types, when really the two should be able to coexist. My work was successful largely because of the giggly irony of seeing a sex-pot image in a medium that you associate with your grandmother” 

Have a look at more of Whitney’s wonderful work at www.madewithsweetlove.com

There’s also a couple of designers playing with cross stitch. Fuldesign in Sweden and Urban Cross Stitch in the UK both offer kits in the way traditional cross stitch companies do its just their contents are a little more subversive.  

Fuldesign produce a range of embroidery wallhang kits that are a cheeky update of the old proverbs and sayings of grandma’s era. Inspired by everything from hangovers to gay porn you can either buy a kit or download a freebie pattern if you’re a little more familiar with embroidery.

Urban Cross Stitch use images of graffiti, naughty little phrases and retro video games in their kits. They also run events where you can swap tips and ideas over cup cakes and cocktails. See, craft ain’t what it used to be…

Have a look at their full ranges   www.fuldesign.se  www.urban-cross-stitch.com

If you’ve ever come across crochet it was probably through some lovely relative who made you a tank top or poncho in some pretty loud colours. Well crochet is not all poncho’s and tank tops anymore. Last year the Hayward Gallery showed the work of The Institute for Figuring. They’d created a whole coral reef from all sorts of materials. Have a look here at their amazing work. http://www.theiff.org/reef/index.html

Another contemporary take on crochet is  Amigurumi the Japanese art of crocheting cute creatures. Narumi Ogawa is the creator of her own little character Mr Funky. Shes written a lovely book showing you how to create a whole range of creatures - although you do need a bit of experience to work out the patterns. Here’s a link to her work and her book

http://www.misterfunky.com/index.html

The great thing about these crafts is that if ever you get stuck you can always go into any yarn shop - yes they do still exsist or failing that John Lewis and you’ll alway find someone who will be willing to help – might raise a few eyebrows if you pop along with one of Whitney Lee’s porn rugs though…..

If you’re in Manchester in the next few weeks check out the UK Craft Mafia at Manchester’s Craft & Design Centre. Heres their link www.ukdiycraft.blogspot.com