Housefish Design

The Perils of Packaging

2008-07-09T10:11:00.006-06:00

By far the biggest hassle involved in getting our products to market has been the packaging. I thought I'd share some of what we did in case anyone else out there in the independent design world is going through some of the same issues. And of course, so our customers can see what is going into their products. We designed Key to be an easily shipped, affordable, environmentally sound product, and getting the packaging right was a critical element. It was also surprisingly difficult. Some of the things we learned:

1. Boxes are expensive, and they don't have your size. Stock carton sizes tend to be more or less cubic, and we are shipping things that are thin, rectangular, and large. That means a custom box. As you might expect, custom boxes are very expensive unless you order a lot. So now we have enough boxes to last a long time. Also, box makers (at least the ones around here), don't offer a product with a guaranteed level of recycled content. Apparently, brown kraft cardboard typically has anywhere from 30% to 75% recycled content, but it varies all the time according to what they happen to be using. There is an opportunity here for a forward-thinking packaging company. We would have been happy to pay even more for a 100% recycled carton, but it's not an option. Somebody really needs to start a "green packaging" company and put all this stuff in one place. We ended up using Tharco in Denver for our cartons. To save a couple bucks we decide to use stick on labels rather than custom print the carton itself.

2. The package has to be bigger than you think. The standard way to package furniture is to wrap the pieces in thin foam sheet, then brace the outside with expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) blocks or sheets. I initially designed a carton with a half inch of space around the outside for foam sheet, but then I was told that UPS won't accept a damage claim unless the package has 2" of space all around the product. Having experienced my share of damaged furniture, I made the box bigger. That made it more expensive, and gave me a much bigger void area to fill, which posed other problems.

3. Petroleum based foam is extremely hard to avoid. We really didn't want to use any plastics anywhere in this product, but there are very few suitable alternatives to EPS (commonly known as Styrofoam) for heavy objects like furniture. It's important to protect the furniture during shipping: nobody wants to send back damaged goods, and when you break something in shipping, you've just wasted all the energy and resources that went into the product. Cornstarch peanuts are easy to find, but if you need sheets, we found exactly one alternative to petrochemical foam: Green Cell (also sold under some other brand names), which is also made from corn. It's a pretty cool product: it's compostable, water soluble, and doesn't use a lot of energy to make. The downside (apart from the fact that it uses corn, which is too big a discussion to get into here) is that it's extremely expensive. It's also hard to get if you're just a small user.

One of the things we need is a soft foam to go in between the pieces in the carton so they don't slide around and scratch each other. Normally you would use thin polyethylene (PE) foam here; it's soft, non-abrasive, and it doesn't allow things to slide around. We wanted to use the Green Cell foam wrap between individual pieces, but it is 5 times more expensive than conventional PE foam. And we're not talking about 50 cents versus 10 cents, switching just the thin foam wrap to Green Cell would require us to raise the retail price of a Key module by at least $35. That's for something that almost nobody will even notice, and most people will toss in the trash anyway.

We are now looking at something called indented kraft paper as an interleaving (like this). It is 100% recycled, and recyclable, and it's cheap enough (about the same price as PE foam). However, we're not sure if it's going to scratch our finishes, or allow things to move around too much in the carton. Paper can be pretty abrasive. If it passes testing, we'll use it. If it doesn't, we'll keep looking.

For the cushioning around the outside envelope of the package, the thick Green Cell was just too soft to use, and of course, too expensive. They have a higher density version, but it's even more expensive. Instead we are looking to use 2" thick cardboard honeycomb (like this) for our exterior bracing, but so far we can't find any here locally. We will probably just have to go for it and have a year's supply shipped to us. This stuff is of course fully recyclable, although like the cardboard for the box, nobody sells one that's made from fully recycled content.

So, to make a very long story short, for now we are still using EPS foam blocking and PE foam wraps. We hate to do it, but that was the only way we could ship anything. Some places do recycle the stuff (EPS recycling sites & a pathetic list of PE foam recycling sites), and we hope you have somebody near you.

Finally, I never would have guessed this at the start, but our packaging currently makes up over 10% of our total product cost. If we used the expensive "green" alternatives, it would be up over 15%. Nobody ever bought a piece of furniture because it had a cool shipping carton, so any extra money we spend to try to do things a little more sustainably isn't really recoverable. If these other alternatives work out, I think we'll be getting to a good balance of sustainability and price, but it certainly isn't easy. You can see why most people don't even bother to try.

Welcome Design Public!

2008-07-01T09:12:00.003-06:00

We are very excited to announce that Key is now available at Design Public, one of the biggest and best online modern design retailers.

Why We Use FSC Certified Wood

2008-06-12T16:17:00.005-06:00

This is a great post, and some stunning photos, showing the difference that Forest Stewardship Council certification makes in the health of a forest.

SFI Certified Forest after logging:

(The technical term for this is "clear cut.")

FSC Certified Forest after logging:

(Still looks like a forest, doesn't it?)

A little background: The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization established in 1993 to promote responsible management of the world's forests. (Wikipedia) (FSC Website)

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) was started in 1994 (coincidence?) by members of the American Forest and Paper Association, a lumber industry group. (SFI Website)

Housefish uses exclusively FSC certified wood products.

Key Now Available at Invironments

2008-05-23T13:58:00.002-06:00

We are pleased to announce that Key is now available at Invironments in Boulder, Pearl & 17th St. Invironments has a great selection of modern and green furniture and is well worth a visit.

News- 5280 Magazine and Mod Livin

2008-03-27T19:20:00.003-06:00

The latest 5280 magazine has a little profile on Key (and my unusual resume) in the latest (April 2008) issue. The piece was written by Jaime Kopke, who also writes the designklub blog. Also, we are pleased to announce that Key is now available at Mod Livin' in Denver (5327 East Colfax). Mod Livin' has a vast selection of new and vintage modern pieces and is always fun to check out.

Laser Cut Aarnio Puppy for Best in Show Event

2008-03-13T13:18:00.006-06:00

I finished assembling this on my kitchen table at about 3:30am today. This is for Mod Livin's second Best In Show event, a charity auction of decorated Eero Aarnio puppies. I couldn't think of any suitably interesting way to decorate mine, so I modeled it in SolidWorks, cut the model into 1/4" slices and sent the resulting profiles to be laser cut from Baltic birch and acrylic.

You can vote for your favorite puppy in the next few days at modlivin.com, and if you're in Denver, the auction event is March 28th. More pics after the jump.

I've always liked burnt ply edges (they smell good too- like a campfire), but I thought the edge finish on the acrylic was kind of interesting. The laser flame polishes the cut edge, but there's also a lot of faceting, probably a result of the CNC control breaking my splines into polylines and not smoothing between them. I wasn't sure what I thought about that, but now I think I like it. All the layers are located to one another with little steel dowels, then glued as well. I had originally planned to add some internal lighting, but the things I tried didn't look as good as just leaving him empty.

He came out a little short because it turns out 1/4" acrylic isn't actually 1/4" (and neither is the birch for that matter). It's actually about .220", which isn't a huge difference... until you stack up 54 layers, then that .030" turns into 1.62".

Happy Valentine's Day- We Love You, Have a Price Cut

2008-02-13T10:23:00.004-07:00

The people have spoken. After overwhelming customer feedback, people have said that the basic Key module with doors should be under $500. And because we can't say no to overwhelming customer feedback, you got it. See our new pricing here. Oh, and if you bought any Key modules at the old pricing during 2008, we want to thank you, not make you mad. Please contact us for a refund (not a store credit, an actual refund) of the price difference.

And if you haven't bought one yet, Key is a US-made product that uses FSC certified sustainably harvested wood and zero VOC finishes- at Asian import pricing. And unlike the stuff you'd pick up at the blue and yellow big box store, ours is engineered to last a lifetime. No MDF or particle board, no cheesy cam lock fasteners to fail.

Mann Singh Origami Crane Lamp

2007-12-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

I came across this stunner of a lamp from Indian designer Mann Singh after following one of the comments left here. I suppose it qualifies more as a light sculpture than a lamp. Not sure what the material is, but it looks like paper. Would be interesting in metal, but the styrofoam base suggests this is just a prototype anyway. A bit reminiscent of Adam Frank's work, but I like this more.

Aftermath

2007-11-03T08:09:00.000-06:00

So you've probably seen the video by now where David and Dexter of Doublebutter drive around town and install their Roadrunner bench directly into the sidewalk in front of the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art and the Denver Art Museum. This happened on Tuesday. So I drove by both spots yesterday, and the benches were gone. Well last night at their show at The 400, we heard where they ended up.

The MCA called up and said essentially: hey, thanks and all, but can you come pick this thing up? The DAM, however, was a bit more prickish. After asking when the bench was installed (guess nobody noticed), they are apparently launching an "investigation." (Psst, detective: I think there might be a clue in the video they posted online that was viewed by thousands of people here, here, and here.) And they are talking about charging to repair the sidewalk. I walked by the sidewalk at the MCA this morning, and I had to search to even find where the bench had been- the only remains are four 1/2" steel pins cutoff flush with the ground.

After blowing all that money on Libeskind's napkin sketch, then spending more money to fix the leaky roof, then finding that they didn't actually have the next Guggenheim Bilbao on their hands, then having Libeskind himself knock their building off in Toronto, and then having to layoff a bunch of employees because of disappointing attendance, you'd think they'd welcome a little gift, especially considering how bleak and cold that whole courtyard area is for all but 2 hours of the day when the sun manages to get in there. But I guess not.

Prague Designblok, Vienna Design Week(s), Budapest Design Hét

2007-10-14T23:55:00.000-06:00

They really know how to plan their design events in central Europe. Running almost concurrently are design weeks in Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. Just coincidentally, we happen to be traveling to those three cities at the same time, and we've lucked into some pretty cool exhibitions. I'll be posting more pictures in a few days when I get some time and a more reliable internet connection.

Westwood Design: Pacifc

2007-09-13T12:34:00.001-06:00

Pacific is a new nursery collection I did for Westwood Design. The crib has a unique conversion system that lets it convert to a twin or full size platform bed, along with various toddler bed configurations. Most convertible cribs convert to a really tall full size bed, which is hard for small children to climb into- this one is much lower to the ground. The changing dresser also has some nice touches like swingout drawers for changing supplies. This was just shown at the 2007 ABC show in Las Vegas, where it was very well received. The crib will retail for $599, and should be available in stores around January 2008. I'll post more pictures when they become available.

Key: Photos and Pricing

2007-07-14T22:01:00.000-06:00

With the preproduction pieces only being finished a couple days before the CO-DESIGN show, I haven't been able to properly photograph them, but I did take a few shots tonight at the show. Shown are all three sizes (short, medium, and tall), and three of the available door colors. Announced retail prices are as follows (without doors):

Short: $499
Medium: $549
Tall: $599
Set of sliding doors: $149

Key uses sustainably harvested Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified maple veneer plywood with low formaldehyde content (exceeds European E1 standard) and a low VOC finish. The doors are powdercoated, which is a VOC-free process. And of course, Key is made right here in Denver, CO.

A full order and configuration page ~~will be coming in the next several days~~ is available here. And if you're in Denver, orders can be taken by P Design Gallery, until at least August 25th.

Changes coming before production: a stabilizer bar at the bottom of the tall version (to better tie the sides together), tighter key fit, some sort of cord passthrough hole in the back, and the ability to stack short modules onto the medium or tall base.

Options coming soon: a padded cushion to convert the low or medium module into a bench (would make great shoe storage), an adjustable internal shelf (for stacking AV components or CDs/DVDs), a door choice that allows IR remote control signals to pass through (probably either ~~polycarbonate,~~ glass, or perforated metal).

Kagen Schaefer Puzzle Box

2007-07-14T21:49:00.000-06:00

I just got back from the CO-DESIGN show and I had to post this first. Not really furniture, but unbelievably cool. This little wood box was in a display case for most of the show, and I didn't really notice it. Then I got talking to the guy who made it, Kagen Schaefer, and he's telling us he is a champion puzzle box maker. So what's a puzzle box? Well, this picture doesn't do it justice at all. The top surface is made up of very thin wood pieces that slide back and forth, and by sliding you can make all sorts of different geometric patterns: a herringbone, various angled rectangles, etc. But when you arrange them into the pattern engraved on the side, the drawer opens. Fantastic.

CO-DESIGN Show

2007-07-11T16:14:00.000-06:00

If you're in Denver, you better be going to the CO-DESIGN show at P Design Gallery. Opening reception is Saturday, July 14th from 3-7pm, and the show will run until August 25th. Paul and Pifuka have ripped out a wall and expanded into the space next door, giving them a massive 6000ft^2 space. I'll be dropping off the first pre-production Key prototype tomorrow, so that will be there. I got a brief glance at the entry list for the show, among the names I recognized (from a pretty long list) were our friends at Doublebutter, along with E Bella, Tivi, and INV/ALT, and more. Should be cool. Go.

Product Preview: Key

2007-07-04T10:33:00.000-06:00

Key is a new product from Housefish coming this summer, which will be making its debut at the CO-Design show at P Design Gallery on July 14th (the show runs through August 25th). Made from low formaldehyde FSC certified maple plywood with a low-VOC finish, Key is a modular shelving system that assembles without any tools (except for a hammer or large rock). The parts are held together with machined aluminum tenon keys. Sliding powdercoated aluminum doors available in a variety of colors are an optional extra. The modules can be stacked as shown to form shelving, or different sides can be used with a single module to form a low console or sideboard.

We will add pricing and configuration options shortly. We've been very careful to minimize waste and optimize manufacturing, which will make Key very price competitive with other similar sustainably manufactured products.

Haute Green 2007

2007-05-03T10:12:00.000-06:00

At the risk of becoming the marketing arm of DoubleButter, I heard yesterday they were accepted into the Haute Green show this year, which is moving across the river to the DWR showroom downtown. They are bringing the Crow side table, which, while not my favorite piece of theirs, uses some cleverly re-purposed materials that makes it a perfect fit for the show. And they've found a way to pack a couple more into the structure of the shipping crate, which is an idea that has always been kind of intriguing. For example, the Max Longin Float bed also uses some of its parts as elements of its shipping crate.

You wouldn't know any of this from the Haute Green website, which hasn't been updated with this year's participants, despite the show being about two weeks from now. Not that I can complain about infrequently updated websites.

DoubleButter

2006-11-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

If you missed the DoubleButter opening at P Design, you need to step away from the computer, get in the car and drive down there right now. I can't say enough good things about the work these guys showed. Clean, different, well made, well priced. I especially liked this coffee table- just folded powder coated steel and wood, but detailed so well. Pricing is $825 for MDF top and walnut stretcher, up to $1100 for a solid top in walnut, cherry, oak or maple. Not bad at all.

This chair is also great, and it's been a pretty long time since I was impressed with a chair. Only $383 in oiled MDF as shown (which looked cool in person), $484 in bamboo, and $585 in solid hardwood.

I always kick myself a little when I see work that I wish I had done, and I left this show feeling pretty banged up.

DoubleButter / Boontje Opening, P Design Gallery

2006-11-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so I haven't posted in a while, but it's a lot easier when you get something good in your inbox like today. If you're in Denver, there's really no excuse not to head over to P Design Gallery to check out their opening on Friday, Nov. 17th. They're showing off some work from the currently very hot Tord Boontje (who just scored a big Target deal), but more interesting to me is new work from Denver duo David Larabee and Dexter Thornton, teamed up as DoubleButter. Larabee's work we've posted about before, and this new stuff looks pretty hot too.

If you haven't been down to P Design yet, this is the perfect chance. It's a great looking space with some really good pieces. Opening is from 7-10.

Movisi

2006-07-17T09:00:00.000-06:00

A comment on our previous post about Antoine Phelouzat's Play shelving system let us know that it is now available exclusively at movisi.com. I thought that was worth a new post, because this Movisi site has a really cool online configuration tool where you can build your own shelving system. It's also noteworthy because this stuff is surprisingly cheap- a good sized kit which allows either a 2x4, 3x3, or 1x5 cube arrangement is only $225. The material is ARPRO, an expanded polypropylene foam a bit like what they use to make dashboards. An interesting choice for a shelving system.

Movisi's other product is Frederik Van Heereveld's cool "Q-Couch", a similarly modular seating system made from the same stuff.

P Design Gallery Opening

2006-07-14T14:37:00.000-06:00

Looking for something to do in Denver tonight? Come check out the opening of P Design Gallery. Looks like they have some cool stuff. July 14th, 6-9pm.

Loadbearing Shelving, Updated and Available

2006-07-14T10:13:00.000-06:00

Loadbearing, which we featured a few months ago, now has their website up and running. If you don't remember, they have a nicely designed shelving system available in several configurations to which you can add a variety of metal or wood sliding doors. You can customize online and buy units directly from them. Very cool, and the pricing is really good too. Almost everything is under a grand, even when you load it up with doors. Made in Italy and Switzerland (!), which makes the reasonable pricing even more impressive.

ICFF: GAMplusFRATESI, Luisa Stool / Table

2006-05-25T11:38:00.000-06:00

I think I actually saw these a while ago, but didn't pay it much notice at the time. Unfortunate, because in person these are beautiful. They are just laser cut (maybe die cut?) felt sandwiched between two sheets of acrylic. I didn't take any pictures of this, which is just as well, since my pictures aren't very good anyway. The depth of these doesn't photograph well, even in studio shots. Designed by Gam Plus Fratesi, produced by Soft Line.

ICFF: Douglas Homer Hairy Bertoia

2006-05-24T07:52:00.000-06:00

I'm back in Denver now and I'll be posting all my ICFF stuff over the next few days as I can. Here we have Douglas Homer's Hairy Bertoia chair in a mini kids' size. These guys take vintage Bertoia chairs and tie a couple thousand sponge tubes onto them. Our kid loved this- she was bouncing up and down on it for at least 5 minutes, and cried for at least 10 minutes when we took her off. Not cheap, but considering what's involved (taking an out of production design classic and adding massive amounts of labor), not all that bad either.

ICFF (sort of): Haute Green

2006-05-22T13:19:00.000-06:00

Hopped over to Brooklyn today to check out Haute Green and a couple other places. Haute Green had some great work. Highlights after the jump.
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Stew Design Workshop Oenda Chair
(image above)

An FSC-certified lounge chair from Stew Design Workshop. What's notable here is the way they've split each layer (to make each piece shorter and easier to nest, and then incorporated that split as a visible gap in the surface. This has a great bit of lateral curvature as well. Something like this is inherently labor intensive though. You can just imagine piecing all those sections together, then having to sand out all the stairsteps.

Elliot & Morin Swarf Lamp

Swarf is the scrap left over from machining aluminum. Most machine shops save it up and recycle it, but Elliot & Morin (no website) have grabbed a bunch and turned it into a pendant shade. Clever and pretty easy to do yourself if you have the slightest bit of initiative.

Materious Bone Lamp

A couple of nested scrap PVC pipes with a bulb, from Materious. The simple ideas are often the best.

Carpenter & Carpenter Book Bookcase

Keeping your books an a bookcase made of books is pretty meta. Sheet steel for stength bolted to old encyclopedias for stiffness and coolness. (Where do you find the "Everyman's Encyclopedia" anyway?) Something inside me wants those shelves to be straight though. From England's Carpenter & Carpenter.

Bleach Design Cocoon Lamp

Cork is a great material, and this is a great subtle lamp from Portuguese Bleach. And of course, Portugal is a good place to get cork.

Uhuru Design Stoolen

I saw a few other stools at ICFF made from chunks of wood (or logs) stacked together in a bundle. I like this one more though. Scrap wood with an old bicycle rim, from Uhuru.

ICFF: Yasuyuki Senda Utan Doll

2006-05-21T13:44:00.000-06:00

Cute wool orangutan doll from Yasuyuki Senda. We bought this cheeky little monkey at the Designboom mart for our cheeky little monkey, who clearly approves. A bargain at $18 (they had a larger one for $32 also). By the way, the Designboom mart has some quite good work, and the prices are reasonable too. We didn't linger there too long as it was getting late in the day and the kid was melting down (hence the orangutan purchase).