I have to admit that I took a bit of a hiatus from lurking through Kickstarter campaigns (read: HAD to take a hiatus due to serious drops in productivity) but I recently checked in to see what was new and I was not disappointed! Here are three ideas that I can really get behind:
First up; Konbit Shelter. This is a project helping communities in Haiti build safe and sustainable buildings in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake and Hurricane Sandy. This group of artists, architects and engineers is bringing Earth Bag building technology to rural areas and not only building homes and community centres but teaching local people how to do it too! I think a lot of their philosophy can be summed up by the definition of the project’s name:
Konbit is a wonderful Haitian word for when people come together to help each other out. Like a barn-raising, or a cooperative effort to collect the harvest of one farmer when it’s too much for his family to do alone.
Their most recent project (a single family home) has just been funded but watch for more projects from this group as they continue to transform the village of Bigones with these bright dome-shaped structures. Learn more about their efforts at the Konbit Shelter website.
The next campaign was funded quite a while back but I just loved the product and had to share. MOS (Magnetic Organizing System) is exactly the thing that you’ve always needed for your work space but didn’t know it. All of you have likely experienced this scenario; you unplug the power cord from your laptop and some invisible being below the desk slurps it down like a crazed Lady & the Tramp. In an effort to spend less time crawling under your desk to retrieve said cord (among a nest of others), you may have even started weighing it down with objects like your stapler or cat. No more! Just watch …
You need one, right? Yes.
Lastly we have the RE-PLY Chair by Dan Goldstein. This guy is a genius. He is basically making a chair that IS the box it comes in. By applying classic plywood molding techniques to cardboard he’s created a chair that embodies everything that I love about design; it’s creative, affordable, attractive, sustainable, functional, and best of all it’s simple. Lightbulb!
I once read that good design is when other designer’s wish they’d though of it first … well played Mr. Goldstein. Well played.
As always, support creative ideas by pledging to the Kickstarter campaigns that mean something to you and make then happen!