The Technological Disobedience of Ernesto Oroza

July 21, 2017

Design

...the “Special Period” of the early 1990s people had to improvise their own technology with cast-off parts. Oroza and a fellow artist Diango Hernandez collected these improvised objects: things like TV antennas made from aluminum food trays, motorized bicycles and washing machine motors turned into incredibly dangerous fans (and even more dangerous table saws!). Oroza termed the extreme DIY ethos of the Cuban people, “technological disobedience.” V...

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Saturday Linkages:

Mr. Homegrown

April 5, 2014

Saturday Linkages

2 Comments

The Japanese art of Furoshiki–a way of making packages with a reusable cloth. Via No Tech Magazine. Zero waste shopping in Japan with Furoshiki: http://www.notechmagazine.com/2014/04/furoshiki-zero-waste-shopping-in-japan.html … A solar powered grain grinder: http://www.notechmagazine.com/2014/04/solar-powered-grain-mill.html … Bee Friendly Gardening In The Pacific Northwest http://www.nwedible.com/2014/04/bee-friendly-gardening.html … Nesting fo...

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Kintsugi: Creating Art out of Loss

Mrs. Homegrown

May 15, 2014

Age of Limits, Design, Domesticus

9 Comments

...od as new, as if it had never broken, but acknowledging that breakage, and making something new and beautiful out of disaster, via the practice of mindfulness. Perhaps we can learn something from this. Please do check out the video–it’s short and beautiful. In it, a young craftsman explains the rising popularity of this 400 year-old art form in Japan, says, ” …people are realizing that chasing after money and new stuff and new technology will not...

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Unflipping the Gentrifence

Mr. Homegrown

January 24, 2020

Design

8 Comments

...he home grounds.” This pamphlet is part of the Internet Archive’s Building Technology Heritage Library, an essential resource for anyone interested in historical preservation. I recycled all of the old gentrifence, but had to buy some more lumber to complete the project. To make the oddly shaped pickets, I used a combo of table saw cuts along with a jig for my jigsaw. Making jigs increases speed and safety. I’m not entirely happy with the metal ha...

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Shoemaking workshop in Los Angeles, Oct. 16-19

Mrs. Homegrown

August 12, 2014

Domesticus, Events, How-to

5 Comments

...this kind of class in the greater LA area. This is deep North Coast hippie technology, imported guerrilla style to the land of tottering platform heels. The shoes are made from custom patterns modeled on your own feet, so the shoe will fit you like no other. It’s a pricey class-but keep in mind how many hours of instruction you’re getting–and you’ll walk away with a pair of custom shoes and the know-how to make more. In the end, it’s actually a gr...

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