(via an ambitious project collapsing)

Living in graduate student housing isn’t all that glamorous… the architecture and interior design of my temporary living situation is new and clean, but lacks any semblance of taste, character, or style. The most frustrating thing is knowing that a much better solution could have been realized at the same cost or even cheaper. Also, I know I’ll get fined if I try to change anything… I would stay in school indefinitely if it meant living in a dorm room imagined by Le Corbusier and Perriand!

(via hoping for happy accidents)

Finn Juhl’s furniture designs are simple, yet extraordinary. A clear example of this duality is in this sofa design below (image found at ModCulture). There are a number of great images of other Finn Juhl designs at Architonic and arcspace and images from his house at Materialicious and MidCenturyModernist.com (I really like Juhl’s art collection!)

Finn Juhl (1912–1989) was trained in Architecture at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen (1934) and studied for ten years in the offices of Danish architect Vilhelm Lauritzen. He was, however, a self-taught furniture designer. His designs were primarily for his own use, until his architecture office became known for its unique and sculptural furniture. In 1951, Juhl was given the challenge and honor of design the interior of Trusteeship Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York. The result of this project was heavily praised and generated awareness of a Danish Modern furniture style. (Biographical information from Danish-Furniture.com and r20thcentury.com)

Jean Prouvé has done some fascinating nearly-Bauhaus work, including this c. 1950 armchair. It does have Bauhaus school elements such as the sharp color contrast and choice of colors as well as the textural contrast of metal and Leatherette. I would very much like to admire this piece in person.

The Thomas W. Lawson is the only seven-masted schooner ever built and holds the honor of being the largest schooner even built. Additionally, it is the largest ever pure-sailing ship (a sailing ship without auxiliary engine for propulsion). That said, it failed to carry the amount of cargo that it was designed for, sailors likened the handling to that of a “beached whale,” and the boat was relegated to coastal shipping of coal instead of the mighty transatlantic voyages it was meant for. When it did finally set sail for London, it was torn to bits, killing 17 of the 19 crew members. Some of the bodies were found at sea in pieces.

Having seven masts appeared to be a point of confusion for the crew, and understandably so. Before construction, the masts were named No. 1 to No. 7 from fore to aft. The No. 7 mast became known as the “spanker mast.” At launch, the mast names were all changed to “fore, main, mizzen, spanker, jigger, driver, and pusher.” After launch, the names were “forecastle, fore, main, mizzen, jigger, and spanker.” Later, new naming systems were attempter, such as “fore, main, mizzen, rusher, driver, jigger, and spanker.” The crew preffered “fore, main, mizzen, no. 4, no. 5, no. 6, and no. 7,” which included the likely confusion between the “fore” and “no. 4” masts. At some point, the masts were named by the days of the week with Saturday at the fore and Sunday in the aft.

The remains of this miserable craft can be found 56 feet under water at 49 53’ 38” N (lat.) and 6 22’ 55” W (long.) and can be visited by scuba divers under calm weather conditions. The broken-off stern with the spanker mast lies a few hundred yards southwest.

All in all, a beautiful tale of a ship with hubris.

There was an exhibit in 2006 that offered viewers a look at a relatively large collection of clothes pins. They are very simple objects, but as a product, there are countless offerings. In a product with one simple (intended) use and hardly any parts, it is interesting to think about how much variation is possible. I like the way the exhibitors described this:

a lesson in the evolution of products, a lesson in change as inherent human need, as well as the need to interpret, to innovate, to say the same thing differently.

(via UPPERCASE)

The photos are pretty amazing. Despite the current fixed gear trend, he made things difficult for himself and created an all wood freewheel.

The chain is a real marvel. It appears he used a few different types of wood. Note each pin has its own cotter.

Here’s what the complete machine looks like. Perhaps the Perpenduum crew will run into him at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show in Portland next week.

I wonder how it rides.