7 de setembre del 2013

OpenDesk: open source furniture, made locally

"OpenDesk is both a free open-source furniture showroom and an experiment in the possibilities of distributed manufacturing.


OpenDesk is about local making. What's available to you — what you can make and what you can have made — depends on where you are and how much you want to get involved in the making process.

All the OpenDesk designs are available as digital downloads. These digital files are fed into a CNC machine, which produces raw sawn pieces of wood. These are finished by hand, a process that can involve oiling, sanding, polishing and small parts. The finished pieces can then be assembled by hand on location.

DOWNLOAD
OpenDesks are freely downloadable as digital designs»
SAWN
the designs are cut out of sheets of wood using a CNC machine »
FLATPACK
the cut wood is finished, with parts, ready to assemble »
ASSEMBLED
and the parts are assembled to build the finished product.



How much of this process you want to do is entirely up to you. If you're a professional maker with, or with access to, materials and a CNC machine, you can download and make the product from scratch yourself. If you're comfortable working with raw wood and have the necessary equipment and small parts (like glue and screws of castors), you can buy OpenDesks in "Sawn" form and finish them yourself.

If you're not a carpenter but you can assemble furniture yourself, you can buy "Flatpack", IKEA style. This means that the wood has been fully finished (oiled, sanded, polished, etc.) and packaged up with any necessary parts and instructions. Alternatively, if you're not comfortable assembling or if it all just sounds like too much work, you can simply buy "Assembled" and sit back and have a professional maker do everything for you."


The more work you do, the lower the cost will be. Plus, in many areas, you may be forced to buy flat-packed or arrange the making yourself if we haven't yet found makers who can deliver or assemble to your location.

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