The IOWEYOU project. You can't go to a shop and buy these clothes. Because each textile is unique they have an
app that allows you to trace your garment right back through the production process to the actual weaver that hand-wove the fabric. You can see some of the
delightful people involved in the project at their
YouTube channel.
posted by unliteral
on Apr 12, 2011 -
18 comments
Electric Junkyard Gamelan is the brainchild of bandleader and composer
Terry Dame, and fuses Dame's passions of composing, inventing and building. Originally inspired by traditional
Gamelan music from Bali, the group recycles and repurposes
everyday objects into musical instruments. While some of their songs do indeed resemble the hypnotic percussive melodies of a Balinese/Javanese gamelan orchestra (
The Nutbutter Challenge), other tunes strike out into new, distinctly urban American directions (
Ode to Fred Beans). Following the band's motto, "
Reuse, Recycle and ROCK," instruments are fashioned from coat hangers and rubber bands, bed frames, old farm equipment, turntable platters, clay pots, saw blades and truck springs. The "
Big Barp" rubber-band harp makes a particularly unusual sound.
[more inside]
posted by ocherdraco
on Oct 12, 2009 -
5 comments
Pencil Rebel is a little bitty point-n-click interactive adventure hand-wired with LEDs and simple circuit boards, and made with hand-cut and decorated cardboard, plasticine, string, and other household odd and ends. The artist, Grzegorz Kozakiewicz, has also made a (with spoilers!)
video showing his process.
posted by tula
on Jun 9, 2009 -
12 comments
I pledge to buy handmade this holiday season, and request that others do the same for me. Why? Better gifting experience, better ethics, better for the environment.
posted by divabat
on Nov 23, 2007 -
95 comments
What the world creates by hand. The
sons of a Peace Corps member, Roberto and Andy Milk had a lifelong
interest in artisans in developing countries. They teamed up with Armenia
Nercessian, a UN human-rights officer, to create Novica.com, an online
marketplace that sells the work of more than 10,000 craftspeople. While
Novica operates chiefly in association with National Geographic,
NPR also
helps to promote them.
posted by owhydididoit
on Aug 25, 2006 -
14 comments
A Fresh, Clean Sheet Of Paper: Is anything you can't make love to, eat or sip, more
sensual and inviting? In the
age of the Internet, fine paper - specially if it's handmade - seems to become ever more precious. Writing or sketching on its slighly grainy texture, sliding ink along its invisible grooves (almost independently of the result...) is an extravagant indulgence; a
romantic gesture; an
almost guiltless pleasure. And something
you can do yourself, satisfying that deep recycling urge, perhaps. A quick tour around some of the
outstanding manufacturers and dealers -
Fabriano;
Canson;
Pineider and
Twinrocker, for example - will silkily reassure those of us whose pens trembled and blotted with the first mentions of a paperless future. Will it ever come? Unlike so many things in life, the rarer it gets, the better and, paradoxically, the more
individual (
nice set of paper links here) it becomes.
(
*imagines a complete multi-handwritten version of MetaFilter on good paper of all sizes and types and instantly snaps out of the daydream, as it reminds him too damn much of his attic*)
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Oct 24, 2003 -
28 comments
It's brilliant, or at least reflective and translucent. Fetosoap.com has started selling body products containing little fetuses. But don't worry; no children were harmed in the making of
this soap, or
this bar with conjoined twins. The creator doesn't claim any political motivation, but that's easy to superimpose. Good idea? Poor taste? Both?
posted by spaceboy86
on Aug 28, 2003 -
14 comments
