Blue Spark Table by Skrewgun
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 06. 4.07
Inspired by wanting to reduce the visual clutter of all the electronic devices we charge every day, designer Sean Barrow's Blue Spark table uses a smart combination of organic materials, metal and technology to create a beautiful, functional piece of furniture. Made from pin oak sourced from an urban forestry program in Olympia, Washington, the table hides six outlets -- for charging your cellphone, iPod and whatever else needs to be sporadically plugged in -- behind the serene glow of a blue LED light; flip the switch in the back, and the whole table "turns off", cutting the power and cutting back on phantom loads while providing a functional side table. Says designer Barrow, "I feel that some morning I am going to wake up and this thing is going to be in my kitchen, making some coffee and frying up some eggs." Check out more of the recent design graduates' work, including a feature in MAKE: magazine, at his website. ::Skrewgun
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Building a nice box and turning off the power strip is nice and all but why not charge from something besides a wal wart? I've started requiring that anything I buy have a vehicle charger and charge everything from those running off a 12v battery with a single power supply to keep it topped off. Next step is just replacing that power supply with a solar panel. This way I eliminate all the waste of converting from 120v down to 12v or 5v or whatever which charging.