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Solar Machine Spins Sunlight-Shaped Furniture
Mike writes "Austrian designers mischer'traxler have created a solar powered machine that makes an incredible array of furnishings that vary based on how much sunlight it receives over the course of a day. Titled 'The Idea of a Tree,' the machine spins spools of thread into stools, benches, containers, and lamp shades that wax and wane as the available sunlight shifts. Furniture created during cloudy winter days will be wrapped more slowly, causing it to be darker in color, thicker, and smaller than pieces created during the sun-soaked summer months."
The machine cranks out 1 piece per day, a maximum of 365 pieces per year. At that rate, how many years does it take to recoup the cost of the machine, with at least $500 worth of solar panels?
And of course anything that doesn't bring a profit isn't worth doing.
This machine doesn't make furniture, it churns out 1 piece of sunlight created functional art a day, which could easily sell for way more than the price of the machine. I'm not saying I would pay for it, but value is in the eye of the beholder.
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
Seriously, this is more a piece of performance art than a manufacturing device.
And...?
Day 1, lesson 1 at critic's school. You cannot criticise something, be it a movie, book, song, painting, or a solar powered machine, for failing to do something it does not set out to do.
Was there anything in TFA that suggested that this thing was setting out to be an automated cash cow for mass producing furniture? I didn't see it.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
the machine spins spools ... into stools
My dog does this... he tears apart yarn, eats it, and eventually it comes out the other end.