Solar Machine Spins Sunlight-Shaped Furniture 71
Mike writes "Austrian designers mischer'traxler have created a solar powered machine that makes an incredible array of furnishings that vary based on how much sunlight it receives over the course of a day. Titled 'The Idea of a Tree,' the machine spins spools of thread into stools, benches, containers, and lamp shades that wax and wane as the available sunlight shifts. Furniture created during cloudy winter days will be wrapped more slowly, causing it to be darker in color, thicker, and smaller than pieces created during the sun-soaked summer months."
Where's the gimmick tag? (Score:2, Insightful)
OR... (Score:2, Insightful)
you could plug it into an outlet and make more consistent furniture and make it all the time.
Re:No money in it. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:No money in it. (Score:5, Insightful)
The machine cranks out 1 piece per day, a maximum of 365 pieces per year. At that rate, how many years does it take to recoup the cost of the machine, with at least $500 worth of solar panels?
And of course anything that doesn't bring a profit isn't worth doing.
This machine doesn't make furniture, it churns out 1 piece of sunlight created functional art a day, which could easily sell for way more than the price of the machine. I'm not saying I would pay for it, but value is in the eye of the beholder.
Re:Very interesting (Score:3, Insightful)
Its machine art. Not practical, but conceptual. Nature's creations are highly dependent on the surrounding climate. Our human creations tend to be the same regardless of the weather ( with a few exceptions we take great care in creating an ideal environment for anything whose quality would depend upon the surrounding climate). So this is a mixture between the two. Something human made that depends upon the environment on purpose.
I'm not buying the furniture, but its interesting. If I were ever to find myself in some alternate reality where we lacked our giant automated factories, but still had small machines. This would be pretty useful. We could adapt it to make clothing that was appropriate for the current weather. Then we could trade the clothing for muskets, whiskey and dvds.
Re:No money in it. (Score:2, Insightful)
"You cannot criticise something, be it a movie, book, song, painting, or a solar powered machine, for failing to do something it does not set out to do."
Sure you can. You can criticise it for trying to do something stupid that should never have been attempted in the first place.
"Your atomic bomb blew up and killed everyone. Er, that's not so great actually"
"Hey! You can't criticise my work of SCIENCE!"
"Your installation artwork is pointless and takes up space."
"Hey! You can't criticise my work of ART!"
Re:No money in it. (Score:4, Insightful)
Can what? Criticise it for failing to do something it does not set out to do? I disagree.
That's a different thing from criticising it for failing to do something it does not set out to do.
"Your atom bomb killed everyone!" Valid criticism.
"Your atom bomb does not take me to work in style while returning 30MPG!" Invalid criticism.