Awesome Stuff: Crafts Of All Kinds

from the three-makers dept

This week, we're taking a look at a trio of interesting crowdfunded offerings that each take a lot of craftsmanship of entirely different sorts.

JS Shoes

This project comes from a designer with a pretty hefty portfolio, and claims to be a world's first: not 3D-printed but rather 3D-knitted shoes, made on demand using the latest automated knitting machines. The result of this process is an extremely lightweight shoe that is manufactured with zero wasted material, and it unlocks some interesting design options: not only can a pair of shoes be customized, each shoe can be designed separately. Will people want to experiment with asymmetrical footwear?

Nixie Tube Clocks

This project comes from another experienced designer with a specific vision, but this time it's one of retro-futurism and handcrafted art. Two Nixie Tube Clocks have already been funded on Kickstarter, and now there's a third design in the works alongside reissues of the others. Though they aren't cheap, they certainly are works of art, and they aren't assembled from cheap parts or even inauthentic ones: the clocks use genuine Soviet-era vacuum tubes sourced from Russia and Ukraine, and are hand-built from a selection of premium hardwoods then finished with custom etch-work in brass and steel.

The Boy And The Computer

Finally, we've got a veteran programmer offering up something a little different: an educational graphic novel based around real-world coding, hacking and hardware. The pages shown so far look great, seamlessly bringing actual information about technology (and refreshingly accurate depictions of it) into the comic book format. Born of the challenges the artist faced trying to teach his own kids about computer science, it looks like a labor of love that should be worth checking out.

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Filed Under: awesome stuff, crowdfunding


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  • icon
    TasMot (profile), 23 Jan 2016 @ 2:33pm

    ...and it unlocks some interesting design options: not only can a pair of shoes be customized, each shoe can be designed separately. Will people want to experiment with asymmetrical footwear?


    There is no experiment here. My feet are only slightly different, however; there is a whole exchange program for amputees with only one real foot! Now they could could order just the shoe they need without trying to find someone else on the exchange program that needs the other foot and likes the same styles.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    bas, 25 Jan 2016 @ 7:23am

    jshoes

    the models and venues in this presentation suggest to me that I will never be able to afford these shoes

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    bas, 25 Jan 2016 @ 7:29am

    It's a clock, really!!11!! don't shoot...

    the tube clocks look like bombs. will there be a problem when they are x-rayed when shipping? LOL

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    TerryYang (profile), 29 Jan 2016 @ 10:15pm

    They are interesting shoes, but it seems quite high cost.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Mar 2016 @ 2:46am

    How do you knit in 2D?

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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