NOMADIC FURNITURE-PA

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Completed frame construction. Sand all edges and faces to prep for finish work. I suggest being very methodical about where you sand to avoid repeating sections. Luxury is not anymore a matter of comfort. Nowadays, luxury is to be able to decide where you want to have a moment of peace, a chance to escape from hectic activity of contemporary lifestyles. Here we will be adding the supports for the wings to the main desk. The supports will be lined up with the pieces that were added to the frame.

A stud is a vertical 2x4 (actually 1.5" x 3.5") in your wall to which is mounted either drywall or lath and plaster. Lath and plaster is a pain in the butttt. Drywall is nice. Either way, the studs are placed 16" apart. There are several ways to find a stud: Originally conceived for a refugee aid project the design collective EOOS has a free Social Furniture Open Design Manual featuring some simple and handsome tables, shelves, kitchen cabinets and even a raised garden bed. The designs remind me of Joep van Lieshout’s work.

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Cut one of the sheets of plywood in half. Which one, and in what orientation is up to you. I tried to match the grains up a little. The 1x2s support the wings of the desktop while it is open. I used the "hhcs" for this as well, but would have preferred mitered ends... The desk won't really work unless you have some legs or cables, so let's get to it. I used #4 braided picture wire because it was the strongest they had and is very bendy.

When evaluating contemporary DIY strategies, their historical development can be a particularly helpful context within which to do so. For in today’s era of digital modernity, this design phenomenon continues to encompass a field situated between the two poles of mainstream and alternative culture. Even if the cheaply printed handbooks of yore have been largely replaced by Web 2.0’s forums and blogs as the creative interface, it is virtually impossible to distinguish between self-affirmative fads and subversive criticism of consumption: these are two mutually contingent aspects of design and consumer culture. With its emphasis on the field of furniture design, the exhibition NOMADIC FURNITURE 3.0. New Liberated Living? examines this movement situated on the threshold between the subcultural and the mainstream including a look at its historical context: as early as the first half of the 20th century, home-built furniture came to be regarded as a suitable approach for socially conscious and (since the late 1960s) ecologically sustainable design. Spiros Zakas and his students put out two classic 70s DIY Furniture manuals, Furniture in 24 Hours and More Furniture in 24 Hours. You’ve got 24 hours. Get busy. Elsewhere, the designs ranged from the fancifully impractical (couches built entirely out of cardboard?) to the outright commercial. In the latter case, the book dated itself, as there were many references to current places where you could buy (not build) contemporary Danish and Norwegian furniture pieces. I definitely didn't buy this book as an ersatz IKEA catalog for companies from the 1970s. So those instances were disappointing.

Drill a pilot hole in one of the outter studs. The height of this hole is determined by how high you want the desk. You may want some people to help you hold up the desk temporarily while you find a good height. Mine ended up being 25.5" from the ground, which is iffy given the carpet. The 1970s was a golden era for DIY furniture manuals. One of the best is Nomadic Furniture, a 1973 book by designers Victor Papanek and James Hennessy.

The principle motifs of the current DIY movement are an intense preoccupation with historical models and prototypes as well as the search for furniture that is low-cost and formally pleasing, as numerous international examples in this exhibition serve to document. Berlin-based architect Van Bo Le-Mentzel, for example, orients his Hartz IV Furniture project (the title of which refers to the German government’s current [un]employment policy) on furniture classics, especially those by Gerrit Rietveld. And works like those of the Swiss duo Kueng Caputo or the London-based designer Martino Gamper bear witness to the continued currency of 1970s projects such as Mari’s Autoprogettazione. In today’s world, do-it-yourself culture is practically omnipresent: be it fashion, furniture, cooking or communication—hardly a single area of everyday life and our material culture has not been swept up in the DIY revolution. With its emphasis on the field of furniture design, the exhibition NOMADIC FURNITURE 3.0. New Liberated Living is the first to examine this movement situated on the threshold between the subcultural and the mainstream including a look at its historical context: as early as the first half of the 20th century, home-built furniture came to be regarded as a suitable approach for socially conscious and (since the late 1960s) ecologically sustainable design. For those adventurers out there who spend a lot of time conquering terrains and who want to reward themselves with a seat overlooking some breathtaking scenery, the Nomadic Furniture series from Jorge Penadés will be right up your street and we here at The Coolector are definitely impressed with the innovation on show from the Spanish designer. Over the past decade, the new opportunities of communication and participation represented by the Internet and Web 2.0 have taken DIY-cultural hype to a renewed feverpitch. DIY portals, communities, and blogs are booming, and designers, programmers, constructors of machines, and users are busy developing new Internet-capable modalities of designing and producing furniture and furnishing items. The principle motifs of the current DIY movement are an intense preoccupation with historical models and prototypes as well as the search for furniture that is low-cost and formally pleasing, as numerous international examples in this exhibition serve to document. Alongside numerous designs that can be made from wood using simple tools—such as the MAK-Table by the Italian group Recession Design—a major share of this young and flexible mode of home décor consists of objects fashioned from massproduced, semi-finished wooden elements that can be found in any hardware store. But if you look closely, there is a pretty cool idea in there. The angular cross-members (probably 4x4s or 4x8s) could be placed along the walls in practically any room, without permanently altering the existing structure.

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First, lay the Horizontals down and then place the Verticals on top of them. The frame is "face-down" at this point. Match up all the external corners of the wood, keeping everything square to the plywood edges (eye-balling it works fine for this part). Drill a pilot hole about 1" diagonally in from the corners. Screw in a #8 1-1/4" into each hole so that the frame is all connected, but can still pivot at each corner. News about our Dezeen Awards programme, including entry deadlines and announcements. Plus occasional updates. Dezeen Events Guide