Inhabitat write-up on Lego Table

MDC Interiors Creates Awesome LEGO Table With the Help of 3rd Grade Students

 

MDC Interiors was invited to work with The Museum School of Avondale Estates for an art auction to raise money for the school – and they teamed up with a group of talented third graders to assemble this awesome LEGO table! The project is based on an old 80’s thrift store furniture piece that the team dismantled and spray painted orange. All of the wood is reclaimed, and the LEGO bricks are pieced together without glue. The kids initialed their “lego block” so they could leave an imprint of their contribution.

Read more: MDC Interiors Creates Awesome LEGO Table With the Help of 3rd Grade Students | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

Lego Table

MDC Interiors was invited to work with The Museum School of Avondale Estates for an art auction to raise money for the school.  We were one of 6 artists chosen to participate.  The goal was to work with 3^rd graders (about 40 kids) to create a piece of art to be later auctioned off at a finale event at Little Tree Studios in Avondale Estates.

We put on our thinking caps trying to find an intersection between our passion (building) and something that a group of 40 kids would be able to have a hand in (literally).  The result—provide kids with Lego pieces to fit together to create a table top.  We were inspired by a larger piece that was made by ABGC Architecture and Design in Dublin.  We couldn’t match the scale (Legos are more expensive than we remember) but decided to create homage to the piece and put a sustainable spin on it.  We used an old base of an 80’s thrift store furniture piece found at Last Chance Thrift Store; we disassembled it and spray painted it orange.  All of the wood is reclaimed and the Lego pieces are pieced together with no glue.  We also had the kids initial their "lego block" so they could leave an imprint of their contribution.  The photos below and the video capture our process and end result.

While we couldn’t make the final auction due to other obligations, we heard our Lego table created quite a ruckus and bidding war leading to one lucky owner taking it home for $1400.  We couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome.  The overall event raised more than $110K—woot!  All for the kids.

Video (we appear at the 3:00 mark): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVFfQuBau_c

Out There Atlanta

I had a chance to sit down with Lilly Lampe from Out There Atlanta--a weekly podcast covering food, culture, events, and people about town.  See write-up below and/or listen to the podcast to hear about MDC Interiors' beginnings, sustainable design, and more.

Episode 53: The Carpenter (by Lilly Lampe)

Despite his name, Mike Carpenter didn’t always embrace his design leanings. After forays into computer work, Carpenter realized his calling had been there all along. Mike founded MDC Interiors, a sustainable design company that uses unexpected elements like concrete, LED lights, and built-in spaces for succulents(!). He’s also done some sweet Art on the Beltline pieces (including one for this year) and has had smaller pieces in Scoutmob’s Shoppe.
Listen here or download on Itunes (it’s free!)
Topics include:
His first impression of Atlanta, Atlanta as a creative place, working with pallet wood versus concrete, and making the decision to get a graduate degree in design.

Biologically-Inspired Light

I got sidetracked with summer festivals and took a mini-break from posting projects from the Industrial Design (ID) program.  Not that I'm complaining.  Summer festivals are a great way to interact with local artists and to meet new people.  I digress.  I'll probably be sprinkling ID projects here and there from now til indefinitely in between other festivals, furniture launches, and hopefully more features *fingers crossed.  You'll be able to get your ID fix today. 

Design Challenge 3: Design a light that aids in providing natural light for those with seasonal affective disorder (SAD).  The light will be organic in form and be made using sustainable materials. 

My light was inspired by a human eye and eyelid.  I used remnant strips of thin wood soaked in water to create a curved form to represent the eyelid.  The bolt on the side allows the "eyelid" to move over the "eye" to change the amount of light emitted.  The lamp neck fell right into place by supporting the eye and controlling the direction of the light.  I used a flexible metal tube with metal rods and pins to create a resemblance of a spinal cord.  The base of the lamp and the outer eye are made from handpoured concrete, the cornea is made from a plastic ball, and the retina is made from a bolt.  Not only will the lighting provide light therapy for SAD but maybe the bio-inspired quality may provide you some company as well?  Hm.
See images below.

MDC Interiors Featured In Treehugger

     MDC Interiors was recently featured on Treehugger!  Exciting news as we love Treehugger for its inspiration and great and innovative ways to incorporate sustainability into our lives.  As Treehugger puts it, they are "partial to a modern aesthetic, [we] strive to be a one-stop shop for green news, solutions, and product information."  The write-up is posted below or go directly to the article via this link.

Via Treehugger: Handmade Coffee Tables from Reclaimed Wood Come with Built-In Gardens
(by Alex Davies)

I'm a big fan of using design to work greenery into home furnishings, and these two coffee tables are great examples. Designed by Mike Carpenter's MDC Interiors, the Balance and Maka models each have a center section that's filled with green moss and river rocks. Best of all, both tables are handmade, mostly from reclaimed materials.

Carpenter uses discarded wool pallets (which are showing up just about everywhere) and split rail wood that he purchases from a company that collects it from condemned buildings and construction sites. Carpenter keeps things local, too. The pallets come from nearby his Atlanta home; the split rail company is located 45 minutes away.

MDC Interiors lists sustainability as a key tenet of its philosophy, writing:

In an attempt to reduce the impact production and consumption have on our life, MDC Interiors strives to create positive change through eco-friendly design solutions.

The company offers murals, seed bombs, jewelry and art in addition to furniture.
I'm impressed by the look and feel of both designs, and only have one real concern: How do you water the plants, considering the layer of glass that covers them?

Updated:
I spoke to Mike Carpenter regarding my last concern, and it turns out he's on top of it. He wrote in an e-mail:

The green moss in the Balance Table is dried out so no need to water, and for the Maka Table, simply lift up the glass and mist the succulents. There is space between the glass and table so air can circulate

"Raised" Beds Made from Parts of Office Chair + Recycled Wood

A friend of ours  unloaded a bunch of chairs for super cheap. I really like the chairs because they have a great retro vibe and figured my rickety generic chair from Office Max could use a style update. However, when 6 chairs arrived at our shop, I began to wonder how I was going to find space. I’d already decided to create a bench using the chair seats and create a nook a la Six Feet Under(the nook in Keith’s house). More to come on this project on a future blog. So I unscrewed the roller base of the chair since I won’t need it for the kitchen bench and began to brainstorm on how I could utilize the whole chair. I remembered seeing a blog post back in the day where another designer had used the roller base to make a planter mobile, and had loved the idea. With my tomato plants and bell peppers quickly sprouting up from wee seeds a few weeks back, I needed to find a larger space and replant them. Using reclaimed wood from other furniture projects, I created 2 mobile planters. I decided to create a cutout in one box, and lined it with wire to allow the soil to penetrate and warm up the soil from the sides, as well as the top. The second box is a bit smaller and sans cut out. Once I started planting, I really embraced the idea! I was able to avoid back pain by eliminating the crouching and bending that comes with planting in the ground, and love that I can move my plants to spots with more sunlight based on daily cloud activity and push my plants to the hose for rehydration. I’d like to create more, so if you have ideas send them my way. I’ll keep you posted on the progress of my plants in my “raised” (truly raised) beds.