New concrete coasters at Youngblood Gallery and Boutique

Just created a new batch which will be sold at Youngblood Gallery and Boutique.  Get em' while they're hot!  I've posted some samples below.  They call also be found on Etsy if you're interested in purchasing.  We decided to sell coasters individually so people can mix and match and choose based on personal preference.  Bike + Butterfly + Number Coster hybrid?  Why, yes of course.  You pick.

Below are some sample mix ups.  The possibilities are endless.

Indoor Concrete Planters featured in Inhabitat!

We can't be more excited about the coverage we're receiving from Inhabitat.  They covered our Indoor Concrete Planters which we launched 2 weeks ago at the Artlantis Arts and Music Festival.  Read below to see what Mark Boyer from Inabitat had to say: 

Turn Your Houseplants into a Work of Art with MDC Interiors’ Indoor Concrete Wall Planter by Mark Boyer, 06/13/12

From furniture made using reclaimed wood to a living table that doubles as a bonsai tree planter, Michael Carpenter of MDC Interiors has been developing a wide range of innovative green interior furnishings in recent years. Now, Carpenter has come up with another impressive design. The indoor concrete wall planter presents a neat new way to display houseplants by hanging them on the wall. The planter consists of a reclaimed wooden box and a thin slab of concrete, and there are a couple of holes that can be filled with plants and stones.

Read more: Turn Your Houseplants into a Work of Art with MDC Interiors' Indoor Concrete Wall Planter | Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building

Vote for MDC Interiors!

CHASE and Living Social are partnering up to provide 12 grants (up to $250,000) to small businesses across the US.  I've submitted a proposal for MDC Interiors and with the funding hope to expand the eco-furniture series (the Nature-inspired series, Glow Table series, and Calico series) and focus on some community-specific projects to create a line of products that can improve bike safety.  If I win the grant, I plan to work with the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition to pilot some projects and to establish a team that is forward thinking, progressive, and has strong ethos of supporting local economy, minimizing our impact on the earth, and promoting healthy outdoor activities such as cycling.


 250 votes is daunting but with the support of the community, it is definitely feasible! 


Search for "MDC Interiors" (business is listed under the city of Clarkston) at www.missionsmallbusiness.com/.  Thanks in advance for everyone's suppport!

Concrete Planters are here and we're on Etsy.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Artlantis Arts and Crafts Festival.  We launched the concrete coasters and concrete planters and we are happy to say that we may have generated some buzz.  If you weren't able to make it out and/or are feeling down about not having one of our sweet coasters, have no fear.  We are selling the coasters on Etsy along with the concrete planters. 

A bit about the planters.  The planters are made from reclaimed wood, thin slabs of concrete, succulents, and river rock.  The piece can be hung on your wall, bringing a bit of nature and the outdoors inside. Mist with water to keep hydrated.  I've included some images below.  Take a gander.

Artlantis Arts and Music Festival Prep

The Artlantis Arts and Musical festival is coming up this weekend-June 2nd.  The festival will be at the corner of Ponce and N. Higland at Druid Hills Baptist Church (across from Urban Outfitters).  I decided to create concrete planters and concrete coasters for this event.  I love concrete and as seen in past pieces, such as the Living Table, love integrating plants into the raw, industrial material.  Will post more as the planter process unfolds.  I started on the coasters this past weekend and have uploaded photos below.  Still in the works but gives you a good idea.  Would you set your drink on these?

CYCEL: Making Night Cycling Safer

Onwards to Post 2 of the series- projects from the Georgia Tech ID program continues.  This project was done in conjunction with Tory Harrison. 

Biking has become a newfound interest/“passion” of mine.  I use “passion” loosely since I haven’t had much time to ride this past year but I will say every time I hit the pavement and elude mac trucks and school buses determined to run me off the road, my heart starts racing and adrenaline begins pumping.

Tory and I decided to create a product through my “Wearable Technology” class to help  bikers on the road.  A huge concern among bikers is their visibility on the road, particularly at night.  We decided to create a jersey that is comfortable, functional, and will allow drivers to see you better at night.  Thereafter, it’s up to the driver as to how kindly they want to “share the road.”  I digress.  See below for model pictures of the jersey and design concepts.  Kudos and lots of thanks to Jocelyn Chen for lending me her sewing machine and to both Jocelyn and Starr Banks for providing me a crash course in sewing, guiding, pedaling, and for providing encouraging words as we broke countless needles and zippers.  Although, I did realize at the end of the night that sewing isn’t too far from sawing.  Who knows, maybe we’ll be on the next Project Runway.

Title: CYCEL

Materials: Polyester and EL (electroluminescent) wire

This image presents multiple design concepts and ways to incorporate the EL (electroluminescent) wire.  We ended up incorporating the EL wire as a box piping framing the shoulder after accidentally breaking the curved form by sewing over it (learning curve).  I would like to attempt the curved form sometime in the future.

Final product: Thanks to Mona and Starr for the bicycle modeling.

Cardboard Chair

I started MDC Interiors 8 years ago and have learned so much in the process.  As the business has evolved, I found myself gravitating more towards design and product development. . . .which in turn led to the launch of the reclaimed furniture line in 2011.  I learned quite a bit through the furniture line and decided I wanted to learn more about design, production, and technical processes.  Enter graduate school.

I just finished my first year of the Industrial Design program at Georgia Tech.  It was a challenging year, balancing work with a full time school load, but I made it through.  Perhaps with many sleepless nights and one too many bowls of ramen noodle, but made it through nonetheless. 

I'd like to share some of my projects with you.  The next few posts will highlight some of the projects completed through the Fall semester ID program.
-Mike

Design Challenge 1:  To create a chair composed of cardboard that utilizes the integrity, structure, and function of the material to create an aesthetically pleasing and functional seating unit.

I really enjoyed working with cardboard.  Working with unexpected materials inspires creativity and forces you to think outside the box (literally).  I also appreciate that cardboard is recyclable, greener than many materials, and readily available to most people.  Next time, you're tossing out that cardboard box think twice about its potential.  

I've included the final product and process images below.