dimondites

Last week, a friend of mine turned me on to what’s now my favorite discovery this year, a design-build studio in West Oakland called Because We Can. They are one of the most creative and forward thinking design organizations I know of. Unlike the uber polished design firms I’m used to seeing, BWC is scrappy, raw and real. From their site:

We specialize in creating a space, piece, or environment that is unique to you yet affordable, productive and environmentally friendly.

Our goal is to create truly inspiring, and creative spaces, furniture and buildings.

And the best thing: our rates are reasonable because of our small size and big technology.

So what’s Design Build?  It’s a great concept that uses a collaborative team of designers, artists, creatives, fabricators, and builders to help design, manage, fabricate, produce, execute, and hire other professionals as required to accomplish a goal.

The following are three of my favorite BWC projects…

Reclaimed Lumber Benches

I’ve been wanting a bench like this for as long as I can remember. I’ve always loved this style, but I’ve never had a place big enough. Funny how it turns out they’re the perfect design style for creating sustainable furniture.

In order to achieve the best sustainable outcome for these gorgeous benches, BWC created each bench 20ft in length, keeping the material mostly in its found state (long huge planks of reclaimed wood).

I always feel inspired when I witness the natural cycle of ‘need’ becoming ‘desire.’

Interactive LED Coffee Table

This interactive table has LED twinkling stars that are constant, but it can sensor motion that is above it and responds by changing to constant ambient light. Movement will cause a rippling light effect from the 480 super-bright white LEDs below the surface.

Really cool idea I’ve seen only in concept prior to this. 

More good stuff. The fabrication of this design uses 100% sustainable material, water-based finish and LED bulbs, which uses only 30 watts of power in full active mode.

Victorian Steam Punk Interior Design 
 

Not many people know what steam punk is all about, and most likely, they’ll reference this trend to fashion. Of course, BWC has managed to evolve the concept into a space design, up the cool factor with the Victorian twist, and execute the idea into a very fun and unique office environment.

I read on their blog they’re looking to hire someone interested in internship or part-time work.  Qualifications include ability to use tools, desire to build big things and beer drinking skills. I’m almost tempted to apply.

Vdumpsters.com offers free product exchange service, where you can locally post or shop for free used goods. Their purpose is to promote re-use, which extends the life of a product, and therefore, delays its inevitable journey to a landfill somewhere.  They recently launched in January, 2008, and has accumulated 2,000 registered users to date.

If this sounds familiar, you are probably thinking of FreeCycle.org, the originator of free give-n-get service.  They’re grassroots and completely nonprofit. They have a very impressive user base at around 4.5 million users globally. Click here to go to Oakland’s FreeCycle group page.

 

My friend Aaron was over the other night and kept bugging me about “Hey, you have to look at my friend Stephanie’s site. She makes great sustainable dog houses.” Being a product person, I get this a lot. So, naturally, I was invisibly rolling my eyes as I walked to the computer to check out her site, SustainablePet.com.

Awesome stuff. I love the hard architectural elements of the structures integrated with the soft beauty of the plants. Not just a pretty doggie diggs, Oakland designer Stephanie Rubin thought this out quite well. She designed the units to smell good, grow plants, attract butterflies, filter water, insulate, and repel fleas. All naturally.

However, at $6,000 (that’s for the extra large, and I have two so make that $12,000), I’m not sure I would let my dogs near one.


This one would be superb as a Valentines Day gift, if you have tons of money, of course. How great is the heart opening placed on a corner?

 

 

 

 

This yellow house is a fun architectural structure combined with soft, organic shapes of plants. It is more like a sculpture than a dog house. Simply great.

 

Have you heard of this? I recently found out about this service, and I was a bit blown away by what was offered. Someone gave away an air filtering system in perfect condition. My friends use this service, and they’ve managed to retrieve table saws and other construction equipment. I didn’t pick up the air filter, but I’m sure some lucky person was very happy they didn’t have to buy one.

What a great sustainable practice. What you don’t want, somebody else will. Here’s the info from there site…

Welcome! The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,204 groups with 4,208,000 members across the globe. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them’s good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box above or by clicking on “Browse Groups” above the search box. Have fun!