Cork Seems to be Popping up Everywhere

I have been noticing that cork has been appearing as a design element again. This is a good thing as cork is a sustainable product and has many desirable properties in that it is light, reasonably durable, waterproof and to a degree fire resistant. 

On Cool Hunting there was an article about some (very) desirable hand bound notebooks created by a company called Michael Roger Press that uses cork for the covers. The paper inside is acid free and has been sewn bound allowing you to open the book flat.

More over on Cool Hunting

Meanwhile over on Designboom I saw this cork stool "Senta" that looked interesting. 

Created by Fernando Brizio for a cork manufacturing company it is designed as a carry stool; you can pack the whole thing up and re-assemble it wherever you need to sit down.  Fantastic for picnics, or, combined with the above article, for use sitting whilst sketching in your cork covered sketchbook. 

Johanna's Family Lives Here

Via Little Fine Day

This magic little cottage is a summer house/allotment for a family of four – Johanna‘s family. Just outside the city of Gothenburg, this tiny place is the summer house for a family of four. 

Bicycle Wine Rack

via etsy.com

Via swiss-miss.com
This bicycle wine rack will allow you to go on the road with your wine (or I suppose nip to the shop to pick up a bottle). Mind the bumps now!

Pokitt

Pokitt is a flexible card carrier for smartcards and credit cards. Moulded from a soft flexible polymer material, it is designed to be unobtrusive in a pocket. It can only carry two cards at once, but you wont need to take your card Oyster card out to scan it as it works through the case. 

I kind of like it. 

Got WUD?

via inhabitat.com

Inhabitat.com has an article on these speakers made from wood "harvested sustainably for the southern region of Patagonia". Created by Santiago based Grupo Vibra (http://www.grupovibra.cl/).>

Pocket Film Festival

Call for Films!
As part of the Southbank Bristol Arts Trail 2011, which will be held in May, we are calling for people to unleash the hidden director inside of them. Dig into your pocket, pull out your digital camera or smartphone and make us a small film. Films must be a maximum of two minutes long, and can be on any subject and fall into any category - experimental, comedy, drama, animation, documentary - its up to you! Set the world to rights with a documentary, make that funny short film, or create a mysterious experimental piece. Anything goes.

Films may be edited prior to submission, which allows you to add necessary credits etc and add music if you have permission to use it. You can submit up to three films to the festival in a single submission. Group submissions are welcome. There is a one of fee of £5 to cover costs, cheques to be made payable to SBA.

We will aim to show all films throughout the Arts Trail weekend at a specially created cinema in the Southville Centre, Beauley Road, Bristol. Selected films may be shown on the SBA website (http://sbaweb.co.uk/). There will be a prize for the overall selected winner of £100, with a second prize of £50. Other prizes to be announced soon!

The closing date for submissions is the 10th May 2011. (Deadline extended)

Please go to https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wayy547Awkz2j1IbU24keMjJyFe7o5FjJwdnZOkdhXY/edit?hl=en_GB&authkey=CMekh5kB for an entry form and more details

Rubik

The rubik series, composed of a sideboard and a cabinet, for ONOMO

[

www.onomo.mx] 

comes from the idea to salvage wood leftovers while creating an interesting surface. The availability of wood leftovers varies making each piece unique.