If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives): designer tools

Showing posts with label designer tools. Show all posts

A Simple Add-On Helps Turn Any Flat Surface Into A Table: The Floyd Leg.

UPDATE: Congratulations to Kyle and Alex, the Floyd Leg has been fully funded via Kickstarter as of about 16 hours ago!

New York graphic design studio Vault 49 added their typography, design and painting skills to some typical old wood handled saws that when mounted on a wall are beautiful and unusual original pieces of art. The results are fabulous, take a look:

Unfortunately, they are not available for purchase.

About Vault 49

Vault49 is an artistic collaboration, a playground, and a creative incubator for innovative design projects. We adapt our approach to each and every brief and bring an open mind to all our projects.

Our broad range of talent attracts clients who want to enjoy the benefits of a highly developed creative relationship but don’t want to be tied down to a particular style or look.

The work we deliver is characterized by a focus on craftsmanship, multi-media and an expressive use of color. In a creative world that is increasingly digital and plagiarized, Vault49’s broad portfolio combines technology with all-important craft and natural ability, giving our work an authenticity that is impossible to replicate.

Underpinning all we do is razor-sharp commercial awareness combined with a healthy commitment to personal creative fulfillment. In short, everyone's happy.

The CardSharp, Cutting Edge Design (literally) and Beautiful Packaging.

The CardSharp 2 from Iain Sinclair is a cool little functional utility knife that is beautifully incorporated into its package design.

Just three ingenious folding operations metamorphosize the card into an elegant pocket utility tool.

Measuring the size of a credit card, the lightweight, ultra thin Card Sharp 2 has stainless steel surgical blade that measures just under 3" long and is both waterproof and rust-proof.

Updated features (from the original Card Sharp) include a stiffer, non-slip armor rubber coated body and unique safety lock (cannot accidentally open when in a pocket or drawer and is child proof).

For only £15 GBP ($25 USD), the Card Sharp2 makes a great and handy gift or stocking stuffer, especially with the option to customize the blade (as shown below):

Only $25 Buy it here.

If Paul Bunyan Were A Design Lover... Best Made Company Axes.

Best Made Co. makes hand painted and polished functional but beautiful 30" hickory helve axes with a 3.5 lb fine grain steel bit. Each tool is lovingly hand crafted and painted with contemporary patterns and colors. Best Made Co. is the only company in the world that offers axes in small, limited edition quantities and they back this up with a certificate of authenticity, an edition number, and a hand-engraved mark on every axe they sell. Prices start at $250.00 and delivery times vary since each is made to order in their New Jersey workshop.

Even if you're no lumberjack and have never wielded an axe or felled a tree, these would be beautiful hanging on the wall. And if you're a hopeless Urbanite, you can prove to your friends, you actually know what one uses to chop wood.

above: The handles in their New Jersey workshop await a coat of varnish

Their 2009 Summer Collection:

Their 2009 Spring Collection:

There are 2 options for packaging, wool felt bag or wooden boxes:

above: Wool felted bag available in navy and orange only.

above: Made from quality ply, balanced, felt lined with brass latch and handle. Come in various sizes, custom built to house your collection.

Shop for the axes here.

About Best Made Co.
Best Made Co. was founded by designer and author Peter Buchanan-Smith, and outdoorsman and environmental entrepreneur Graeme Cameron. The two met at a legendary boys camp in Northern Ontario, Canada where they learned—with love and respect—to wield an axe.

As men they have both gone on to forge their own way in the world: building hand-hewn log cabins on the shores of Stoney Lake, tree planting in Kapuskasing, winning Grammy awards, getting married, having children, brief flirtations with military life, book publishing, Scotland, rugby, whiskey, slingshots and hardwood fires that can melt glass (launched from aforementioned slingshots). In 2009 they teamed up to pursue their life-long dream of a world devoted to axes, and all that axes should represent.

AXE PHOTOGRAPHY
In addition to selling the hardware, Best Made Co. is also selling and showing "Axe Art", limited edition silver gelatin photo prints by photographer Adrian Gaut.

The images were taken at Trask River, Pacific Coast Range, Oregon in July 2009. Each is an edition of 10, measures 11" x 14" and is a gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper. Price is $300.00 per print: