Housefish Design

Key Walnut Sale- 20% Off

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:10:00 +0000

From now until October 31st, all walnut Key modular storage units are 20% off! Use discount code walnut20 at checkout.

Please note: this offer cannot be combined with any previous offers.

Denver By Design Show at Mod Livin'

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:26:00 +0000

We are honored to be a finalist in the Denver By Design competition being hosted at Mod Livin' this month. This is a competition and show to find and promote great Colorado modern design. After looking at the other entries during setup yesterday, I can confirm there is some stunning work being produced here in Colorado. This competition is unique in that all the pieces entered are also for sale, so there aren't a lot of the usual prototypes.

We entered our new Key AV media console, which will be on display (and on sale) throughout August at Mod Livin'. We're not shipping these yet, but they are available to buy from Mod Livin' at a special price for August only. You can see a photo a couple posts below this one, or in the August issue of Colorado Homes & Lifestyles magazine.

There is also an online voting component to the competition, featuring all the entries rather than just the 25 finalists. Check it out and cast your vote here.

Finally, Mod Livin' is also hosting a series of talks with the finalist designers every Monday in August at 6:00pm. I am on the 31st, so make sure to plan to attend on one of the other days...

Denver Green Festival - May 2nd and 3rd

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:09:00 +0000

If you're in Denver this weekend, come on down to the Convention Center for the Denver Green Festival. We'll have a booth with Key in maple and walnut, all sizes, and all door colors. We'll also be debuting the new Key AV- a larger size console designed to hold flat screen TVs and audio components. And one more special debut: the "Birds in Grass" laser cut doors.

Mod Livin' Puppy Auction

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:23:00 +0000

In Denver tonight? Come on down to Mod Livin' for the Best in Show auction. You can bid on our effort, Hundetabelle, a laser cut plywood end table/lamp. And of course, you can also check out Key in maple and walnut, along with all the other cool stuff Mod Livin' has. This was a fun event last year, big turnout, and all for a good cause.

Cutting

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:34:00 +0000

The wait is almost over- the material is (finally) in, and it's being cut. After cutting, things still have to go through a bit of sanding and finishing, and then packaging. I'm still hoping we can get through enough parts to ship all open orders by Friday (March 20th), but there is some chance stuff won't start to go out until Monday. Anyway, if you're waiting for a piece, we thank you for your patience. It's almost there...

Key In Walnut

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 18:40:00 +0000

You asked, and we listened. Key will be available in walnut veneer with the next batch of production, arriving in about 5-7 weeks. And just like the original maple version, it is FSC certified, uses a formaldehyde-free adhesive system, and zero VOC finishes. And of course, it's still made right here in Denver.

Keep an eye out in the next couple days- once it's added to the online shop, we'll be announcing a special limited time introductory offer.

Key Lead Time 6-8 Weeks

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:38:00 +0000

Thanks to the combination of a rush of orders in January (thanks!) and a problem with our wood supplier, we are out of stock on Key for approximately 6-8 weeks. We hope to reduce that time, and we should have a more firm date next week. We will update this post as we learn more. There will also be a little surprise coming in this next batch of production. Details to follow...

Pecha Kucha Night

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 05:48:00 +0000

In Denver? Not doing anything January 20th around 8pm? Come on down to Pecha Kucha Night and watch 7 artists/designers (and 1 engineer) show 20 slides and speak for 20 seconds about each slide. It's at Buntport Theater. The prize for sitting through six and a half minutes of whatever I manage to come up with is that you also get to hear from real Denver stars like:

Alicia Bailey
Judy Gardner
Marc Hughes
Max Kauffman
Justin Martinez
Myron Seveland
Katie Wells

And in a weird coincidence, the current production at Buntport is Neil Simon's Rumors by Hunger Artists. The last time I was on a stage in front of a significant crowd was 17 years ago at our high school production of Rumors, in which I played co-lead Ken. (The other lead was played by my friend Marcus Folmar, who went on to become a successful actor and screenwriter.) Even stranger, the set for this production is almost exactly the same as the one we had in high school.

This is also my first attempt at public speaking since getting the voice disorder spasmodic dysphonia over 7 years ago (has it been that long already?). And SD is exacerbated by stress (stress like, oh I don't know, speaking in public) so it should be... interesting. Or awful. But like I said, there are seven other people who presumably don't have neurological voice disorders, so it's still 5 bucks well spent.

Jack in the Box

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:27:00 +0000

Key makes great storage for kids. So to speak.

(Video was sent to us by the first people to buy a Key modular storage unit. They have a very cute toddler. Thanks John, Leanne & Jack!)

Goodbye Foam

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:14:00 +0000

We are very pleased to announce we have just completed our switch to 100% paper-based internal packaging materials. Any Key modular storage orders shipped after today will be completely free of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS, e.g. Styrofoam) and Polyethylene (PE, e.g. foam wrap).

They have been replaced by Hexacomb kraft paper honeycomb, and cellulose wadding (which is a bit like extra thick toilet paper). Both products are made from 100% recycled fiber, and are themselves recyclable with your normal household paper or cardboard. Order something so you can see it in person! This change did affect our packaging costs, but it was a modest increase that we are able to absorb.

The only bit of plastic left on our products is the tape used to seal the boxes, and this will be switched over to reinforced paper tape just as soon as we get our dispenser. (Gummed paper tape uses a water-activated adhesive, so it requires a special dispenser that moistens the tape as it dispenses.)

The Perils of Packaging

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:11:00 +0000

By far the biggest hassle involved in getting our products to market has been the packaging. I thought I'd share some of what we did in case anyone else out there in the independent design world is going through some of the same issues. And of course, so our customers can see what is going into their products. We designed Key to be an easily shipped, affordable, environmentally sound product, and getting the packaging right was a critical element. It was also surprisingly difficult. Some of the things we learned:

1. Boxes are expensive, and they don't have your size. Stock carton sizes tend to be more or less cubic, and we are shipping things that are thin, rectangular, and large. That means a custom box. As you might expect, custom boxes are very expensive unless you order a lot. So now we have enough boxes to last a long time. Also, box makers (at least the ones around here), don't offer a product with a guaranteed level of recycled content. Apparently, brown kraft cardboard typically has anywhere from 30% to 75% recycled content, but it varies all the time according to what they happen to be using. There is an opportunity here for a forward-thinking packaging company. We would have been happy to pay even more for a 100% recycled carton, but it's not an option. Somebody really needs to start a "green packaging" company and put all this stuff in one place. We ended up using Tharco in Denver for our cartons. To save a couple bucks we decide to use stick on labels rather than custom print the carton itself.

2. The package has to be bigger than you think. The standard way to package furniture is to wrap the pieces in thin foam sheet, then brace the outside with expanded polystyrene (Styrofoam) blocks or sheets. I initially designed a carton with a half inch of space around the outside for foam sheet, but then I was told that UPS won't accept a damage claim unless the package has 2" of space all around the product. Having experienced my share of damaged furniture, I made the box bigger. That made it more expensive, and gave me a much bigger void area to fill, which posed other problems.

3. Petroleum based foam is extremely hard to avoid. We really didn't want to use any plastics anywhere in this product, but there are very few suitable alternatives to EPS (commonly known as Styrofoam) for heavy objects like furniture. It's important to protect the furniture during shipping: nobody wants to send back damaged goods, and when you break something in shipping, you've just wasted all the energy and resources that went into the product. Cornstarch peanuts are easy to find, but if you need sheets, we found exactly one alternative to petrochemical foam: Green Cell (also sold under some other brand names), which is also made from corn. It's a pretty cool product: it's compostable, water soluble, and doesn't use a lot of energy to make. The downside (apart from the fact that it uses corn, which is too big a discussion to get into here) is that it's extremely expensive. It's also hard to get if you're just a small user.

One of the things we need is a soft foam to go in between the pieces in the carton so they don't slide around and scratch each other. Normally you would use thin polyethylene (PE) foam here; it's soft, non-abrasive, and it doesn't allow things to slide around. We wanted to use the Green Cell foam wrap between individual pieces, but it is 5 times more expensive than conventional PE foam. And we're not talking about 50 cents versus 10 cents, switching just the thin foam wrap to Green Cell would require us to raise the retail price of a Key module by at least $35. That's for something that almost nobody will even notice, and most people will toss in the trash anyway.

We are now looking at something called indented kraft paper as an interleaving (like this). It is 100% recycled, and recyclable, and it's cheap enough (about the same price as PE foam). However, we're not sure if it's going to scratch our finishes, or allow things to move around too much in the carton. Paper can be pretty abrasive. If it passes testing, we'll use it. If it doesn't, we'll keep looking.

For the cushioning around the outside envelope of the package, the thick Green Cell was just too soft to use, and of course, too expensive. They have a higher density version, but it's even more expensive. Instead we are looking to use 2" thick cardboard honeycomb (like this) for our exterior bracing, but so far we can't find any here locally. We will probably just have to go for it and have a year's supply shipped to us. This stuff is of course fully recyclable, although like the cardboard for the box, nobody sells one that's made from fully recycled content.

So, to make a very long story short, for now we are still using EPS foam blocking and PE foam wraps. We hate to do it, but that was the only way we could ship anything. Some places do recycle the stuff (EPS recycling sites & a pathetic list of PE foam recycling sites), and we hope you have somebody near you.

Finally, I never would have guessed this at the start, but our packaging currently makes up over 10% of our total product cost. If we used the expensive "green" alternatives, it would be up over 15%. Nobody ever bought a piece of furniture because it had a cool shipping carton, so any extra money we spend to try to do things a little more sustainably isn't really recoverable. If these other alternatives work out, I think we'll be getting to a good balance of sustainability and price, but it certainly isn't easy. You can see why most people don't even bother to try.

UPDATE (9/26/2008): We've managed to eliminate all plastic from our packaging, at a modest increase in cost. Check it out.

Welcome Design Public!

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:12:00 +0000

We are very excited to announce that Key is now available at Design Public, one of the biggest and best online modern design retailers.

Why We Use FSC Certified Wood

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 22:17:00 +0000

This is a great post, and some stunning photos, showing the difference that Forest Stewardship Council certification makes in the health of a forest.

SFI Certified Forest after logging:

(The technical term for this is "clear cut.")

FSC Certified Forest after logging:

(Still looks like a forest, doesn't it?)

A little background: The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international non-profit, multi-stakeholder organization established in 1993 to promote responsible management of the world's forests. (Wikipedia) (FSC Website)

The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) was started in 1994 (coincidence?) by members of the American Forest and Paper Association, a lumber industry group. (SFI Website)

Housefish uses exclusively FSC certified wood products.

Key Now Available at Invironments

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:58:00 +0000

We are pleased to announce that Key is now available at Invironments in Boulder, Pearl & 17th St. Invironments has a great selection of modern and green furniture and is well worth a visit.

News- 5280 Magazine and Mod Livin

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:20:00 +0000

The latest 5280 magazine has a little profile on Key (and my unusual resume) in the latest (April 2008) issue. The piece was written by Jaime Kopke, who also writes the designklub blog. Also, we are pleased to announce that Key is now available at Mod Livin' in Denver (5327 East Colfax). Mod Livin' has a vast selection of new and vintage modern pieces and is always fun to check out.

Laser Cut Aarnio Puppy for Best in Show Event

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 19:18:00 +0000

I finished assembling this on my kitchen table at about 3:30am today. This is for Mod Livin's second Best In Show event, a charity auction of decorated Eero Aarnio puppies. I couldn't think of any suitably interesting way to decorate mine, so I modeled it in SolidWorks, cut the model into 1/4" slices and sent the resulting profiles to be laser cut from Baltic birch and acrylic.

You can vote for your favorite puppy in the next few days at modlivin.com, and if you're in Denver, the auction event is March 28th. More pics after the jump.

I've always liked burnt ply edges (they smell good too- like a campfire), but I thought the edge finish on the acrylic was kind of interesting. The laser flame polishes the cut edge, but there's also a lot of faceting, probably a result of the CNC control breaking my splines into polylines and not smoothing between them. I wasn't sure what I thought about that, but now I think I like it. All the layers are located to one another with little steel dowels, then glued as well. I had originally planned to add some internal lighting, but the things I tried didn't look as good as just leaving him empty.

He came out a little short because it turns out 1/4" acrylic isn't actually 1/4" (and neither is the birch for that matter). It's actually about .220", which isn't a huge difference... until you stack up 54 layers, then that .030" turns into 1.62".

Happy Valentine's Day- We Love You, Have a Price Cut

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 17:23:00 +0000

The people have spoken. After overwhelming customer feedback, people have said that the basic Key module with doors should be under $500. And because we can't say no to overwhelming customer feedback, you got it. See our new pricing here. Oh, and if you bought any Key modules at the old pricing during 2008, we want to thank you, not make you mad. Please contact us for a refund (not a store credit, an actual refund) of the price difference.

And if you haven't bought one yet, Key is a US-made product that uses FSC certified sustainably harvested wood and zero VOC finishes- at Asian import pricing. And unlike the stuff you'd pick up at the blue and yellow big box store, ours is engineered to last a lifetime. No MDF or particle board, no cheesy cam lock fasteners to fail.

Mann Singh Origami Crane Lamp

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 19:13:00 +0000

I came across this stunner of a lamp from Indian designer Mann Singh after following one of the comments left here. I suppose it qualifies more as a light sculpture than a lamp. Not sure what the material is, but it looks like paper. Would be interesting in metal, but the styrofoam base suggests this is just a prototype anyway. A bit reminiscent of Adam Frank's work, but I like this more.

Aftermath

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 14:09:00 +0000

So you've probably seen the video by now where David and Dexter of Doublebutter drive around town and install their Roadrunner bench directly into the sidewalk in front of the Denver Museum of Contemporary Art and the Denver Art Museum. This happened on Tuesday. So I drove by both spots yesterday, and the benches were gone. Well last night at their show at The 400, we heard where they ended up.

The MCA called up and said essentially: hey, thanks and all, but can you come pick this thing up? The DAM, however, was a bit more prickish. After asking when the bench was installed (guess nobody noticed), they are apparently launching an "investigation." (Psst, detective: I think there might be a clue in the video they posted online that was viewed by thousands of people here, here, and here.) And they are talking about charging to repair the sidewalk. I walked by the sidewalk at the MCA this morning, and I had to search to even find where the bench had been- the only remains are four 1/2" steel pins cutoff flush with the ground.

After blowing all that money on Libeskind's napkin sketch, then spending more money to fix the leaky roof, then finding that they didn't actually have the next Guggenheim Bilbao on their hands, then having Libeskind himself knock their building off in Toronto, and then having to layoff a bunch of employees because of disappointing attendance, you'd think they'd welcome a little gift, especially considering how bleak and cold that whole courtyard area is for all but 2 hours of the day when the sun manages to get in there. But I guess not.

Prague Designblok, Vienna Design Week(s), Budapest Design Hét

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 05:55:00 +0000

They really know how to plan their design events in central Europe. Running almost concurrently are design weeks in Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. Just coincidentally, we happen to be traveling to those three cities at the same time, and we've lucked into some pretty cool exhibitions. I'll be posting more pictures in a few days when I get some time and a more reliable internet connection.

Westwood Design: Pacifc

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 18:34:00 +0000

Pacific is a new nursery collection I did for Westwood Design. The crib has a unique conversion system that lets it convert to a twin or full size platform bed, along with various toddler bed configurations. Most convertible cribs convert to a really tall full size bed, which is hard for small children to climb into- this one is much lower to the ground. The changing dresser also has some nice touches like swingout drawers for changing supplies. This was just shown at the 2007 ABC show in Las Vegas, where it was very well received. The crib will retail for $599, and should be available in stores around January 2008. I'll post more pictures when they become available.

Key: Photos and Pricing

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 04:01:00 +0000

With the preproduction pieces only being finished a couple days before the CO-DESIGN show, I haven't been able to properly photograph them, but I did take a few shots tonight at the show. Shown are all three sizes (short, medium, and tall), and three of the available door colors. Announced retail prices are as follows (without doors):

Short: $499
Medium: $549
Tall: $599
Set of sliding doors: $149

Key uses sustainably harvested Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified maple veneer plywood with low formaldehyde content (exceeds European E1 standard) and a low VOC finish. The doors are powdercoated, which is a VOC-free process. And of course, Key is made right here in Denver, CO.

A full order and configuration page ~~will be coming in the next several days~~ is available here. And if you're in Denver, orders can be taken by P Design Gallery, until at least August 25th.

Changes coming before production: a stabilizer bar at the bottom of the tall version (to better tie the sides together), tighter key fit, some sort of cord passthrough hole in the back, and the ability to stack short modules onto the medium or tall base.

Options coming soon: a padded cushion to convert the low or medium module into a bench (would make great shoe storage), an adjustable internal shelf (for stacking AV components or CDs/DVDs), a door choice that allows IR remote control signals to pass through (probably either ~~polycarbonate,~~ glass, or perforated metal).

Kagen Schaefer Puzzle Box

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 03:49:00 +0000

I just got back from the CO-DESIGN show and I had to post this first. Not really furniture, but unbelievably cool. This little wood box was in a display case for most of the show, and I didn't really notice it. Then I got talking to the guy who made it, Kagen Schaefer, and he's telling us he is a champion puzzle box maker. So what's a puzzle box? Well, this picture doesn't do it justice at all. The top surface is made up of very thin wood pieces that slide back and forth, and by sliding you can make all sorts of different geometric patterns: a herringbone, various angled rectangles, etc. But when you arrange them into the pattern engraved on the side, the drawer opens. Fantastic.

CO-DESIGN Show

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 22:14:00 +0000

If you're in Denver, you better be going to the CO-DESIGN show at P Design Gallery. Opening reception is Saturday, July 14th from 3-7pm, and the show will run until August 25th. Paul and Pifuka have ripped out a wall and expanded into the space next door, giving them a massive 6000ft^2 space. I'll be dropping off the first pre-production Key prototype tomorrow, so that will be there. I got a brief glance at the entry list for the show, among the names I recognized (from a pretty long list) were our friends at Doublebutter, along with E Bella, Tivi, and INV/ALT, and more. Should be cool. Go.

Product Preview: Key

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Bennett) — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 16:33:00 +0000

Key is a new product from Housefish coming this summer, which will be making its debut at the CO-Design show at P Design Gallery on July 14th (the show runs through August 25th). Made from low formaldehyde FSC certified maple plywood with a low-VOC finish, Key is a modular shelving system that assembles without any tools (except for a hammer or large rock). The parts are held together with machined aluminum tenon keys. Sliding powdercoated aluminum doors available in a variety of colors are an optional extra. The modules can be stacked as shown to form shelving, or different sides can be used with a single module to form a low console or sideboard.

We will add pricing and configuration options shortly. We've been very careful to minimize waste and optimize manufacturing, which will make Key very price competitive with other similar sustainably manufactured products.