Adam Cornish’s Wood Hammock Wins Herman Miller Design Competition

This award-winning Wooden Hammock by Australian designer Adam Cornish makes us want to grab a good book and find a nice, shady spot in the garden to string it up! Manufactured from a single piece of plantation-grown plywood, this piece has been designed with the unique range of motion of the human spine in mind. A long row of slender, curved timber segments flexes and move to cradle the user’s body, creating a comfortable cocoon-like bed.
The Wooden Hammock won the Workshopped ‘s Peoples Choice Award in Sydney last year, and earlier this month it caught the attention of the Herman Miller Asia Pacific –Yves Behar Design Competition, finishing first to score an incredible one-on-one mentoring session with prominent industrial designer Yves Behar.
Herman Miller spokesperson Samantha Giam says the Wooden Hammock caught their eye, as “Bringing relaxation to life is a thought most of us can resonate with and the notion of maximizing the economy of materials while minimizing the environmental footprint is something close to the ethos of Herman Miller and our latest product SAYL by Yves Behar”. If you are lucky enough to be in Italy this April, you can go see Adam Cornish’s latest design collection at the Milan Salone Satellite Exhibition in collaboration with the Milan International Furniture Fair.

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Roller Coaster Chair Made From Coney Island Boardwalk Planks

Searching for thrills at New York Design Week? Look no further – Inhabitat favorite Uhuru Design has just revealed an undulating roller coaster chair made of wood reclaimed from the demolished Coney Island boardwalk. Set to be unveiled this week at BKLYN Designs 2010, the piece is part of Uhuru’s new Coney Island Line, which reflects on the history of the amusement park while celebrating the weathered nature of the 70 year-old aged wooden planks.

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Vein-Like Piezoelectric Shower Harvests Kinetic Energy to Heat Water

This incredible concept for a self-heating piezoelectric shower combines inspiration from the human body’s circulatory system with technological innovations in piezoelectricity. The fluid web of piping heats water by utilizing energy from friction produced by flowing water — it’s therefore able to function completely off the grid. Conceived by Finnish Sebastian Jansson, Mexican Fernanda Piza, Brazilian Victor Stelmasuk and German Natalie Weinmann, the design not only grabs our attention as an exotic art form but also enlightens us with its energy-efficient design.

The Piezo Shower placed second in the ‘I saloni Premio SaloneSatellite’ competition during Milan Design Week. The design was a project of the Master of European Design Programme that took place at ENSCI Les Ateliers Paris and was supervised by Thomas Lommee and Sebastian Müller.

Focusing on new technology allowed the design team to rethink conventional showering systems and create a design that is full of new defining qualities. The design features a network of fibers within its curving and connecting pipes that harvest kinetic energy from friction and generate electricity to heat the water.

The design team explains that the shower is “futuristic yet feasible.” Inspired by the human body’s circulatory system, the designers expanded the area of the piping and added twisting curves that allow for more movement and time for the water to create friction inside the piping.

The shower is controlled through a digital touchscreen that can be integrated into bathroom tiling. The control system also projects waters temperature, pressure and water consumption over-time, providing the necessary details for consumers to adequately monitor their own water waste and energy consumption.

The ‘I saloni Premio SaloneSatellite’ competition was open to contestants that took part in SaloneSatellite 2010 and was reserved for designs that pertained to bathroom and kitchen ambiences.

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