VIDEO: INTRODUCING "THE ROCKING KNIT" by ECAL students Damien Ludi and Colin Peillex

Shown here in the Ruckstuhl building as part of ECAL's 'low-tech factory' exposition during Designers' Saturday in Langenthal, Switzerland is the 'rocking knit' - a design that makes the transition to the winter season a little less onerous. 

Students of University of Art and Design, Lausanne Damien Ludi and Colin Peillex created a chair that will fashion its user a beanie as they leisurely rock back and forth, activating gears that put the machine to work as it's sitter relaxes. 

The project is in response to the exhibition's theme, where students were required to reinterpret the idea of manufacturing - deconstructing the fabrication process of a product to a slower, more considered pace. Designers' Saturday showcased the work in the Ruckstuhl carpet factory, appropriately surrounding the work by spools of thread and feverish machinery, connecting concept and real-world techniques in a meaningful way.

DESIGNERS' SATURDAY 2012 
design is a statement
november 3rd - 4th, 2012

The first Designers’ Saturday took place in Langenthal in 1987. Since then there have been 13 of these events to provide support for the Swiss design scene while giving it a publicity platform to stimulate its further development.

Designers’ Saturday happens at a place where design is actually created. Designers’ Saturday is not just a product show held on characterless trade fair premises. Instead it is a stage where authentic design skills are put on view at the atmospheric production sites of the companies involved.

The event is an international meeting point for the design world. the presentations of numerous internationally known firms will be accompanied by the cartes blanches of both national and international colleges of art and design.

Air Chair in Space Makes out to be World's Highest Commercial (literally)

Different layers of the atmosphere, including the ionosphere – the radio mirror of the sky.

Toshiba and Grey London take a chair into space to film the world's highest commercial.
In its latest outing for Toshiba, Grey London collaborated with The Mill to film "the world's highest commercial," shot 98,000 feet above Nevada's Black Rock desert.

To capture the spot's footage, two Toshiba hi-def IK-HR1S video cameras and a lightweight chair were suspended from a high altitude helium balloon and floated into space until the chair exploded from extreme atmospheric pressure 98,268 feet.

The ad was made by strapping two video cameras and chair to a high altitude helium balloon and allowing them to float into space. The full sized chair was made up of super-light balsawood and was sent in to orbit from the Nevada Black Rock desert to reach 98,000 ft above Earth, capturing the incredibly journey with Toshiba's high-definition IK-HR1S video cameras. To reach the altitude required and to conform to America's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations, the entire rig had to weigh no more than 4lb. The amazing journey concludes with the chair breaking up at the peak height of 98,268 ft due to the extreme atmospheric pressure. Finally, once the rig was destroyed by atmospheric conditions, it took 40 minutes for the remains to crash back to Earth.