M.C. Escher inspired tattoo

triangles vs. I's

I was thinking about corrugation and kind of realizing that it is just like a set of triangles put next to each other and also lie on top of each other. the distribution of weight for a triangle is what makes it so efficient and so if you put a bunch of triangles together they would be even more strong since you are setting up three points in which weight can be distributed. cardboard is strong because of corrugation which is strong because of the triangular form it has inside and triangles are strong because they have three solid walls that place weight on two opposite ends of the bottom wall. however i was wondering why most construction companies use the I form beams to build building since they seem to be the least efficient beams, and i realized space plays a part in buildings. I beams you don't need many to sustain a lot of weight since we realized they hold the most weight. you just need a few distributed correctly and the space saved and the weight managed makes it somewhat more efficient to the building itself.

tesselating leaves

every time i walk down a street with an oak tree i think about tessellations. I keep feeling like these leaves could tessellate, or maybe a few different types of leaves could fit together and continue endlessly... there's just all this really great positive and negative space in these leaves...

Check out these crazy cardboard pieces of furniture. Can you believe people pay this much for them?

CURVY CORREGATED CARDBOARD CHAIR

by Jill Fehrenbacher

Frank Gehry made design history in 1972 when he designed a whole set of curvy modern furniture out of cardboard. You’ve more than likely seen Gehry’s classic Wiggle Chair hanging out around stylish offices and design spaces - showing off the strength, durability, and organic comfort that is possible with layered corrugated cardboard…

You can buy the classic Gehry wiggle chair from many mid-century modern design shops (like Moss) for 850 bucks, which isn’t too bad for a classic design icon. However, we’ve just discovered that there is now a cheaper and more eco-friendly knock-off of the same thing at cardboardchair.com.

We are not exactly sure what is going on with the intellectual property here, but we do know that the business looks perfectly legit and Cardboardchair’s version of the Wiggle chair is about half the price of the original ($430) - AND is made with 30% recycled cardboard:

$850 - Gehry Wiggle Chair at Moss

$430 - Curvy Side chair at Cardboardchair.com

In addition, the Cardboard chair company seems to have surpassed their original point of inspiration, because they’ve come up with a whole new set of designs for tables, stools and even shelves that are really clever and beautiful - designs that would probably make papa Gehry proud (if he isn’t mad about his classic chair getting ripped off…)

4-Petal Table - $430

Cadence Shelves - $490

Uderwater exploration.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/graham_hawkes_flies_through_the_ocean.html

Flying underwater machine

Amazing cardboard work!!!........check it out

Columns and Beams

my house on cape cod was an old barn but was restored by my father, but as you can see it still has the old barn style beams and columns, they haven't buckled on us or collapsed in any way so from my experience the octagon shaped column and the square shaped beams work great...