Up & Coming Sustainable Designer: Dice Yamaguchi
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 12.18.07
It's amazing what a small bit of materials, intelligently partitioned, can do for you. Check out this project of student designer Dice Yamaguchi, from Pasadena, California's Art Center College of Design, who's made the most of a simple sheet of bamboo plywood. Taking the 10" x 2" sheet and using the precision of laser cutting netted this sleek, smart, minimal-yet-functional laptop stand.
Why does something like this matter? If that big mess with exploding batteries awhile back taught us anything, it's that cool laptops are better for us all than hot ones. While battery chemistry has as much to do with it as anything, proper ventilation will go a long way to keeping your laptop's innards cooler, the CPU fan running less and your energy use down.
This also hits a lot of the high points in TreeHugger's "how to: sustainable design" manual: materials use (bamboo); efficient use of materials (each one takes just 20 square inches of material); efficient manufacturing (laser cutting to minimize waste) and overall smart design (each one folds down to a flat, portable piece). Hit the jump for more pics of the stand. ::Art Center College of Design
very cool idea! ergonomics is important
and it keeps cool your lappy. now if the guys go even greener and release the pdf for us to wood carving our own. So far I have tried making one of old chopsticks and worked like a charm until i left it in a coffee shop. Im sure we can make one of this little gems of paper and glue. very cool idea.
this is a very cool idea - I recently bought my first ever laptop, which happens to also be my first ever brand new, not handed down computer, and I have been wondering about something like this to help elevate the keyboard for more comfortable typing and to keep it from getting hot.
so how do i get one now? or if not, then get the plans to make it, or make something similar -- equally functional and eco-friendly e.g. geogami type construction