New Designers 08: graduate designer Laura Cahill presented vases and furniture made from unwanted books at New Designers in London earlier this year.

Cahill cuts profiles from the books using a band saw, then wraps the spines around test tubes to form waterproof vases.

She sources the books from local second hand shops. "I discovered that the glue in old books make them extremely difficult to recycle," she explains.

Cahill has also developed a lamp using the technique and a stool made by bolting books together.

Here's some text from the designer:

--

My idea of using second hand books came around after doing research into common unwanted objects. One of the most common unwanted objects that can be found at either charity shops, car boot sales and sometimes on the streets are books. I discovered that the glue in old books make them extremely difficult to recycle. Aware of this I challenged myself to turn the second hand books that I had been collecting, into desirable objects such as furniture, lighting and ornaments.

I took a hands-on approach and started experimenting with the possibilities in which books can be used in other ways; I developed a number of delicate yet practical designs. Using traditional methods of book binding I transformed them into valued objects. My designs transform local waste, not only adding value but also creating art forms which are aesthetically pleasing.

I first made a stool called ‘Heavy Read’ by fixing a lot of old books together. Continuing with the book theme I developed a way of creating 3D forms by profiling the edge of the whole thickness of a book, so when opened, the shape follows around into a cylinder shape. I designed a range of ‘book vases’, using test tubes as the central water container, and then stretched the concept to form the upright of this floor standing lamp. In the ‘Reading Light’ I have used traditional elegant curvaceous shapes on the base of the light creating a soft and ghostly effect, which is relatively durable.

The post Book Vases by Laura Cahill appeared first on Dezeen.

New Designers 08: Sit, a dog-shaped lamp with a glass shade for a head, is one of a range of designs based on 19th century forms by graduate designer Fiona Thomson.

Thomson, a graduate from the University of Brighton, presented the lamp and the two other products shown below at the New Designers showcase in London last month.

Here's some info from Thomson:

--

My collection re-visits a selection of 19th century iconic forms, which i have adapted and utilized for modern 21st century products. Each piece embodies hidden technology, transforming an ornamental object into a functional and practical object. Or as i like to say intelligence beneath the elegance!

Cordless Candelabra: A superior and celebrated icon of traditional ornate lighting design is transformed into a cordless lamp when lifted from its charging dock.

Ode to Beethoven: These Mp3 speakers provide a mass-produced, popular piece of technology with a decorative alternative accessory. This product raises the visual status of what is normally regarded as a subordinate attachment.

Sit: Inspired by large animal statues found in grand 19th century homes, this light combines the lavishly luxurious with the familiar nodding dog. Through the re-appropriation of the stately dog statue, the user is provided with a loyal obedient companion.

The post Sit lamp by Fiona Thomson appeared first on Dezeen.

New Designers 08: graduate Stuart Bannocks of As Well As Design has created a range of accessories designed to test the UK's stringent anti-gun laws.

Responding to a law that forbids the manufacture of replica guns, and to news stories about people mistaking objects such as bananas as weapons, Bannocks has produced a series of tattoos, stickers and imitation gun sights that turn everyday objects into pretend firearms.

Bannocks, a graduate of Goldsmiths University in London, showed the range at the New Designers exhibition in London last month.

Bannocks also presented books containing drawings of guns completed in a few seconds and instruction sheets for evoking guns with hand gestures alone.

Here 's some text from Bannocks:

--

Under the Violent Crime Reduction Act it has been illegal to manufacture or produce replica firearms in the UK since 2006. The law stipulates its own technicalities regarding imitation referring to direct and accurate replication. But given the current, sensitive climate of gun crime awareness, and past cases in which, everyday objects have been misconstrued as weapons at what point does this manufacture actually take place?

The pieces question at what point this “manufacture” takes place. They take already established concepts such making your hand into a gun shape or a banana as a gun, and add a layer onto that which affirms your or other’s understanding of the form you are creating.

The project started with a very crude look a replication, with direct re-forming of weapons, as the project progressed the pieces became simpler and less tangible until the point it simply becomes hand movements in an instruction format.

The post Ring Sight by Stuart Bannocks appeared first on Dezeen.

New Designers 08: Middlesex University graduate Kelly Marklove presented a range of inkwells and writing tools at New Designers in London last month.

Articles for writing, drawing and marking are arranged around a central block of ash, which becomes stained over time with excess ink.

"This series of mark-making tools is based on the notion that marks and stains give suggestions of what has been and thus give a life and history to an object," explains Marklove.

"As well as supporting the inkwells, the wooden blocks act as a blot for excess ink, preserving the stains rather than disregarding them."

"The porcelain inkwells are stained with ink and in time will change with use."

"The pens have been developed from tools I use myself for mark making and drawing. Because they are hand made each pen differs from the next, making the quality of line it produces unique."

The post Kelly Marklove at New Designers appeared first on Dezeen.

New Designers 08: Packaging Lamp by David Gardener features a paper pulp shade that doubles as the packaging for the lamp's components.

Once purchased, the components are removed and assembled and the packaging becomes the shade and stand.

"The Packaging lamp was first inspired from my observations of how much packaging material is wasted from every new product bought," explains Gardener. "The idea is to eliminate this waste material by including it all in the final product."

The form of the lamp base is decided by the shape of the electrical components it is to contain during transit.

Gardener, a University of Brighton graduate, presented the design at New Designers in London last month.

Here's some text from Gardener:

--

The Packaging Lamp

The pulp structure starts off as the packaging to house the bulb plug wire and socket. When opened, the user removes these electronic parts and repositions them back in the pulp structure in their correct positions where it actually becomes the structure of the lamp, leaving no waste packaging to be thrown away.

The process of molding paper pulp can produce beautifully molded shapes. Due to machinery restrictions the lamps are all hand made, unlike the pulp packaging that is used in the packaging industry. The middle section of the lamp is created to look like a standard turned wood stand, but in fact the shape is entirely determined by the electronic components that are packaged in it during transport.

The post Packaging Lamp by David Gardener appeared first on Dezeen.