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August 24, 2004
"Grassroots industrial design": My latest Slate column









By now, you've no doubt heard of casemodding -- the geek craze for stuffing the guts of a computer into an interesting, weird, or useful case. My latest column for Slate uses casemodding as a jumping-off point to argue that what's happening is the rise of "grassroots industrial design": Cheap electronics components making it possible for people to design their own digital-age tools. As I argue:

When was the last time you trimmed goose quills to make a pen? The genius idea of industrialism was the concept of the Model T: In exchange for something cheap and well-made, we'd forgo unique, lovely design.

But the Model T is old news. Nowadays, people want consumer goods to have serious aesthetic appeal. If they can't find what they want in stores, they'll build it themselves. You could call it "grass-roots industrial design."

You can read the rest of it for free -- and if you have any thoughts, post 'em in Slate's discussion area The Fray! That casemod above, by the way, is the lead example in my piece: The gorgeous "Osh-Kosh", a computer stuffed into an old-school vanity case for use as a portable DJing device, created by Dustin Smith.

Posted by Clive Thompson at August 24, 2004 11:07 AM

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I saw that - made me wonder if you had read my piece on Core77/FreshMeat back in May - http://www.core77.com/reactor/05.04_more_merrier.asp (also at http://www.portigal.com/FM/fm21.htm)

Posted by: Steve Portigal at August 26, 2004 8:44 PM

Yes, I love this idea of "people who can't resist the fun of tinkering." I hope to include myself in that tribe!! I've never liked the cliche "Why re-invent the wheel?" In my (hopefully somewhat humble) opinion, there are two main, important reasons to reinvent the wheel:

1. As you said, because I can design it better, or at least, to my own liking.
2. But also --and just important-- because a person who built their own wheel understands the wheel and respects the wheel so much more than someone who just goes out and buys Goodwrench.

By the way, now that I've been reading your blog for a while, I see a common thread from your conversations here to your articles there-- noticed you threw the iPod in there! ;)

Posted by: Pork Chop at August 27, 2004 10:03 AM

Steve, that's an amazing column! Thanks for pointing it out ... really well done.

PC, heh, yes, I have several obsessions that are well-tread here and elsewhere.

Posted by: Clive at August 27, 2004 11:23 AM

Your latest column on "Grassroots industrial design" was right on target. As a wannabe inventor (lots of cool ideas, but no way to make them come alive), I too have always wanted to design and manufacture the gadgets I occasionally thought of.


You made mention of rapid-prototyping technology as being "available only to elite design firms." Uh uh...no more. Recently I discovered another wonder of the net.

Goto emachineshop.com and check out their service. I downloaded their free and easy-to-use CAD software and with in a few minutes had designed a complex flywheel to exacting specifications by following their simple audio tutorial. It was actually fun.

Now here's the great part: after you use their software to design your part, you simply click a button in it to get a quote from the company for actually making the part! if it is acceptable to you, you can then click "order" and the part will be made using the design you created. They then ship the part directly to you.

They will make anywhere from one to one million of your widgets with price breaks for quantity. They make the parts from a number of different media ranging from metals to plastics. Rapid-prototyping is now available to all of us from the comfort of our homes!

A sister site provides the same capabilities for constructing IC boards from your own design for use in electronic applications.


Disclaimer: I am not in anyway affiliated with emachineshop or their sister site. I am simply an end user.

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