Student designs that cost a dollar

Last spring, students from the NYC Pratt Institute of Design created an exhibit of designs for the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in which the materials cost for each piece was one dollar or less. Some of the results are less successful than others, but the best are very good.

Pratt Students Design For One Dollar

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Takuan

some lovely, original designs.
Gloria

@1: True, but I think there’s a valuable lesson in realizing that a product’s appeal/value can often lie in its ingenuity, rather than its materials.

I agree overall, it’s a bit superficial, but it seems like it’s even a lesson a lot of BoingBoingers need to keep in mind. I often read comments in posts for some product and some are snarking: “Oh, I could have done that for a $1 of crayon wax/old book/glue/glitter! It’s so overpriced!”

Doesn’t mean said product *isn’t* still overpriced, but in saying that, it’s often forgotten that the product price often takes into account the intangible value of a product idea — the ingenuity — and the manufacturer’s time and labour.

*You* don’t want to pay $450 for someone else’s handmade chair, but you sure as hell wouldn’t sell yours for less. What’s up with that?

Anyway, I think this is off-topic. Cool post, is all! I also enjoyed looking at the designs.
TGOR

I saw this same Pratt design project on p34 of the Oct 09 issue of Dwell and I thought to myself that it would be nice to know the actual design requirements that were given to the students. Yes, several of the designs are interesting protoypes, yet many of the designs have been done before, for example the magazine stool and all of the designs would be difficult to actually make for $1. Maybe the materials were purchased for less than $1, but the labor time, the laser cutting of scissors, the thermal energy used to melt bottle caps and the cost of the light bulbs, sockets and wiring all add up very quickly to a net cost higher than a dollar for each product, especially if manufactured in the US. I understand the concept, but wonder if the students are feeling a false sense of accomplishment? This might have happened, but what if the students also presented an analysis of the true cost associated with each product, not just the pocket change spent at the thrift store, the exercise may be a more valuable learning experience for the next crop of future designers.
MFA ID
flatfive

Is it me, or is one of the lampshades pretty obviously a Gatorade bottle with a sock around it?
CANTFIGHTTHEDITE

@ TGOR

Completely agree. It’s shortsighted and narrow-minded to only focus on cost, or any single way of quantifying an object, and I should hope that the goal of a student would be to experience as many different perspectives as possible.
pjcamp

What piece of furniture is that? The spinal column of a 5 dimensional lamp?
mdh

I’d buy that for a dollar!
Anonymous

It appears to be egg cartons made into a lamp.

That being said, I like it!