Shipping Container Pipe Dream

Raw and gravity-defying

I've really been digging shipping container construction lately. I like the aesthetic, industrial and sort of a la Brooklyn / Williamsburg artist warehouse lofts when it was still all rough, before the developers got ahold of it.

Actually made of shipping pallets and trailer homes, respectively.

I really like the aesthetic of the buildings by Infiniski, a company operating out of Spain and Chile. Their whole focus is on the re-use of materials... containers, pallets, etc. I love the way they maintain the aesthetic influence of the original material. Probably my favorite is their "Forest House" on their site (which is all flash, so I can't pull the image). Go look at it!

I also like Lot-Ek's CHK (Container Home Kit). Scalable and flexible, with lofts and catwalks to boot.

Lot-Ek's Puma Building. The front is very similar to their CHK design.

And I really love what Canadian Designer Kieth Dewey has done with his Zigloo home. He really maintained the industrial elements, even using chain link in the interior and salvaging stairs from another industrial building. Plus, he has an extensive photo gallery of various phases of building.

The Zigloo's front steps

Despite the quantity of imagery available, there seems to be very little in the way of how-to information. Shed and Shelter has a pretty good list of companies who actually do things related to shipping container (or ISBU: Intermodal Steel Building Units) construction, rather than individuals or small groups who have done one-time projects or experiments. I just found out Google Sketchup has a whole section on container housing. I'll probably be browsing that a lot...

But of course, lack of information hasn't kept me from designing my own dream studio made out of containers. Nowhere to put it yet, but hush, reality. Dream a little dream with me...

Size does matter.

Sometimes I get annoyed at things labeled 'handmade' that really aren't. Computer printed cards and "limited edition prints" are my personal pet peaves. But it seems that for many mediums, there's simply a lack of understanding. How can you really grasp difference between a screenprinted card, a letterpressed card, and a digitally printed card, or a handbound book versus a commercially bound one, if you don't even have a vague understanding of the mechanical processes involved?

So it was really refreshing to see some shots from the Ink & Spindle studio showing their printing process. (Their site has a few images; their flickr has many more)
Fantastic work, a studio to die for, and ethical working methods. I think I'm in love.

Summer colors just in time for winter.

I've fallen into the trap this evening of ogling fabric online. Links to links to links have resulted in a million tabs open on my browser, each a gateway to fabric wonderfulness.

I want to stencil our bedroom wall -- originally I was looking at doing it with fabric, but fabric that I like tends to be expensive ($15 per yard, times 8 feet high, times... oh dear) and wallpaper paste is a pain. We just got done undoing the horrible wallpaper border in our tiny bathroom, and that was enough to convince us that wallpaper just isn't an option. So now I'm just ogling fabric in order to steal inspiration. Today it seems I'm having an orange day:

I am, however, seriously considering purchasing one of the following (leaning toward the woodgrain) to re-cover my computer/office chair and maybe make a matching tack/magnet board. My 'theme' color for the office/non-painting areas of the studio is yellow, but paint only goes so far. The office needs some lovin'.. Plus, the fabric is on blow-out and super affordable ($4 a yard!) . How can I not get some.

Mmm. Fabric.