tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51636616642328155642024-02-20T14:00:46.432-08:00HumblefactureDominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-4780537368458641432022-01-27T06:45:00.538-08:002022-02-11T10:22:28.848-08:00Every Product is a ConsequenceDesigners have a clear task to do. Like other workers, we {verb} to create {noun} which we then sell. Simple. The {verb}, in our case, is "To Design". The {noun} could be a variety of things, but let's assume that it's either a product itself or a specification — like a set of drawings or CAD models for tooling — describing how to produce an object or objects. This arrangement of of linguistic Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-85274378577670179292011-08-08T21:22:00.000-07:002011-08-08T21:22:08.315-07:00Open Hardware: Show Me the Money
Seems like you can't go anywhere these days without hearing about open source something. In particular, hardware is breaking out on the open source scene -- the second Open Hardware Summit is happening next month in New York, and though I can't make it this year, it promises to be a huge happening. But along with the increased visibility has come an increased urgency for the open hardware Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-19023877570642615112011-03-07T00:33:00.000-08:002011-03-07T00:34:44.023-08:00Humblefacture at MICA
A few weeks back, I was invited by my friend, and fellow product designer, Inna Alesina to give a talk about Humblefacture to the design community at MICA in Baltimore. It was nice to have an opportunity to thoroughly explain the principles of Humblefacture -- this was the most in-depth talk I've had the opportunity to give. More importantly, some of the questions that came up were very Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-86188273079817476362011-01-20T11:24:00.000-08:002011-01-20T11:24:08.642-08:00Dumb Governments and Smart Mobs
Last week, in a surprisingly quick, decisive coup, the authoritarian government of Tunisia was driven out of power. This in itself was surprising, but the other day, the Alexis Madrigal blogged about a group of protesters with an unusual banner. That's right -- Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook is a hero of the jasmine revolution. Alexis reads this as a nod to the role that social networks Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-68498753670461261762010-11-26T20:00:00.000-08:002011-03-07T00:37:52.683-08:00Matter Hacking Origamists
An early post on the blog put forward the idea that information, more than matter and energy, was responsible for the utility of objects. Recognizing the separation of information from these more traditional "stuff" delineators makes for new, and exciting opportunities for manufacturers. One of the fundamental tenets of Humblefacture is that complex order -- valuable information -- can be Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-56802743414800101252010-10-09T16:03:00.000-07:002010-10-09T16:03:06.376-07:00The Importance of {Human} Scale
A fundamental tenet of Humblefacture is the importance of scale. Yes, material composition of products is important. And certainly the location of production realative to use is also key. But the concept of scale implies that there are some intensities, or sizes, or durations which are simply too large to fit within the Humblefacture framework. The reason for this, it turns out, is that there isDominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-89936851171143714972010-09-23T22:45:00.000-07:002010-09-23T22:50:15.764-07:00DJs, Cloud Manufacturing, and the Need for Modular Open Hardware
Recently, Humblefacture (and our lab The Humblefactory) have been exploring the potential of open source product design as a part of a more equitable, appropriate manufacturing. Chris Anderson at Wired Magazine has also been interested in this sort of thing for a little while; A recent article of his profiled a number of small-scale producers using open design and flexible manufacturing to make Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-82267946080750920672010-08-18T01:47:00.000-07:002010-08-18T02:11:56.303-07:00SSG: A Framework For More Sustainable Electronics
Humblefacture might sound like a great idea, with two conditions. First, it will be possible in the future, but not now. And second, it only works for things like furniture, and maybe bikes, but nothing complex. In fact, the principles of Humblefacture can be applied to even the most complicated types of products, and using existing fabrication technologies. A perfect example of this is how theDominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-30777547545320906132010-06-16T18:15:00.000-07:002010-08-18T02:12:46.452-07:00Humblefacture is going to TED!
Humblefactory founder Dominic Muren has been named a 2010 TED Global fellow for his work on open manufacturing!
I can't wait to get this group of fellows and TEDsters from around the world thinking about the possibilities of a truly open, shareable, flexible manufacturing infrastructure! Even cooler, Neil Gershenfeld, author of FAB and head honcho of Digital Fabrication at MIT's Center for BitsDominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-87674996502172159042010-02-15T17:29:00.000-08:002010-02-17T08:52:34.826-08:00Digifab Ecosystem: The Video
A couple weeks back, I gave a talk at the Dorkbot Seattle chapter meeting about the ecosystem of digital manufacturing. You can check out the video of the event below. You can also check out the slides, and links for the presentation in this previous post. Click through for part two after the break.
Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-9077225055114213762010-02-13T12:24:00.000-08:002010-02-13T12:34:13.586-08:00Dorkbot Talk: The Digifab Ecosystem
Last week, I gave a talk to Seattle's local Dorkbot contingent. The meeting was awesome: around 90 dorks, all ages and backgrounds, all talking fab. What more could you want? The talk was about the state of the Digital Fabrication Ecosystem today, and I think that this topic is hugely important to the development of Humblefactories in the future, particularly because digital Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-23344175495980357762010-01-12T20:11:00.000-08:002010-01-13T00:06:37.245-08:00Humblefacture = Bushpunk Minus the Bush
Seems like every week there is some new type of punk steering aesthetics or technology. From punk rock, to post-punk, Cyberpunk, Steampunk, even Biopunk, these gritty ways of life have tried to gain your interest and allegiance. Humblefacture, thought also an ethos which could result in a distinctive styling of product, will hopefully escape the fadish fadings of these movements. But in order toDominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-18232091045140807232009-12-17T23:08:00.000-08:002009-12-17T23:09:29.554-08:00Amazing Open Hardware Project Roundup
Make magazine is the Jefferson or Lenin of the open hardware movement, and this week, they didn't disappoint with an end-of-year roundup of open source hardware projects. Make has always emphasized the fun side of making, so as you can imagine, the list is more about blinkeys and videogames than real marketplace game-changers, but there are some gems in the mix. Perhaps the most exciting of the Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-92156654547656372462009-11-28T01:58:00.000-08:002009-11-28T01:58:39.299-08:00Structure vs. Substance
What can a puzzle that is not really a puzzle teach us about the future of product design? Actually, maybe a lot. The above image shows a Jigazo puzzle -- like so many things, only available in Japan -- which has been assembled to display the face of a child. This isn't anything special, since puzzles already are able to faithfully depict any face, or any other image, for that matter. What makesDominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-62168340450451561972009-09-24T15:51:00.000-07:002009-11-22T22:02:31.888-08:00Humblefactory, School, WhateverMaybe it's the smell of pencils and college-ruled paper in the air, but politicians in the U.S. are going positively education-crazy. Arne Duncan, education secretary, gave an interview and speech disclosing radical overhauls of our current "No Child Left Behind" policy. President Obama urged students to stay in school, and work hard to learn the skills that would help them compete in a global Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-6273546233998199552009-09-15T17:26:00.000-07:002012-09-25T18:42:09.123-07:00Response to Michael and Ted at Breakthrough InstituteYou may have read that Dr. Norman Borlaug passed away over the weekend. He was an incredible scientist, and gave modern agriculture (and society) the core of technologies that allowed it to grow into what it is today. This afternoon, I was emailed this message from the Breakthrough Institute, to who's newsletter I subscribe. I thought that this email demonstrated a number of key errors and Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-83506809562467589992009-08-24T12:25:00.000-07:002009-08-24T13:33:21.335-07:00Filling up 100,000 GaragesIn the lead-up to the last presidential election in the United States, Tom Brokaw asked Thomas Friedman about what it would take to make real green energy a reality in the united states. Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the EconomySpecifically, Brokaw asked whether we need a "manhattan project, or 100,000 garages", referring to the way the problem might be approached.Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-26375486100477795652009-08-17T18:51:00.000-07:002009-08-17T19:22:57.457-07:00Tool Tip: Importing Sketchup Files Straight to BlenderAll this talk about fabricator tools has got me fired up about exploring some fabrication of my own, potentially using a Makerbot, or a send-away service like Shapeways. Though these aren't close to fully humble methods of making, they are useful steps to master on the path to a true humblefactory. As free cad packages go, Google's Sketchup is pretty great. You have decent control over meshes, Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-58674517239019786332009-08-15T10:59:00.000-07:002009-11-22T22:00:01.787-08:00The Human Line Between Machines and ToolsThere is a persistent dream (or self delusion) among eco-minded product designers that somehow, manufacturing before the industrial revolution was "better"; Cottage industry was safer, or cleaner, or fairer, or used fewer resources -- or all of the above. Often, this ideal is backed up with anecdotes of textile mills replacing home-spinners, or IKEA replacing cabinet makers. Certainly, these Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-1757641850312000582009-08-12T22:52:00.000-07:002009-11-22T21:59:25.505-08:00The Three Pillars of HumblefactureIt's all well and good to say that making is speech. It is something else entirely to work toward truly "free" making -- a goal made more difficult by the fact that the primary "oppressors" of freedom of making are systemic and economic, rather than individual or governmental. Simply making a law, like we did for speech, won't work. Instead, we need to identify new methods and research directionsDominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-38957889329916868012009-07-31T18:01:00.000-07:002009-07-31T19:40:45.910-07:00Making for the Soul (and Brain)Humblefacturing the future has positive implications for all kinds of things, from improving economic stability, to greater personal freedom. But one more crucial added bonus of working toward a more humble, visible, local way of making will be the effect on the people involved in that making. In the recent bestselling book "Shop Class as Soulcraft", author Matthew Crawford explores the real Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-50877762529928944932009-07-21T16:25:00.000-07:002009-07-31T19:42:51.538-07:00The Colony: The Crash Without HumblefactureThe Colony, the newest project from Original Productions (creators of Deadliest Catch, among others) presents a group of "survivors" with the task of rebuilding civilization in the face of a viral plague and massive infrastructure breakdown. Realistically, it seems like junkyard wars with a slightly campy storyline (there are gangs of motorcycle thugs who periodically harass the group, among Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-17182355447215833782009-07-14T23:35:00.000-07:002009-07-31T19:45:12.097-07:00New Cheap Book Looks at High Cost of Mass ProductionSalon has a great review of Ellen Ruppel Shell's new book Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture. The Salon piece, by Stephanie Zacharek, looks particularly at design giant IKEA, and the real costs of using low cost as the metric by which we judge all value in products. IKEA is a good case for exploration, because on the one hand it is so well loved (compared, say, to Walmart), while on the Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-44425202044020369032009-07-13T17:42:00.000-07:002009-11-22T21:58:35.653-08:00Toward A Maker's Bill Of Rights: Amendment 1Our readers in the United States will have recently spent a weekend evening grilling, relaxing, and lighting off fireworks in celebration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, one of the founding documents if the United States. Along with The Constitution, and its amendments, collectively the Bill of Rights, this document served to align and direct the efforts of the newly born Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-37104513447007664992009-05-15T22:35:00.000-07:002009-11-22T21:53:57.662-08:00Wired Gets Blame Right, Humility Wrong Wired Magazine had a recent Op-Ed from excellent Human Landscapes blogger and scientist Erle Ellis (he also directs the Laboratory for Anthropogenic Landscape Ecology at the University of Maryland. The article -- "Stop Trying to Save the Planet" -- seems great from the outset, right in line with Humblefacture's ideals, particularly in passages like this one: And it’s time for a “postnatural” Dominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.com0