ReFound is a Belfast-based artistic collective who turn found, donated and otherwise unloved furniture into one-off works of art.

And building on this idea of reusing and reimagining things, they’ve also taken a stab at reusing and reimagining urban spaces with a four-day pop-up shop event.

“Using unwanted and past-its-prime furniture as the canvas, the ReFound artists transform reclaimed pieces into unique, functional artworks.”

Site: www.refoundonline.com

iPod headphones that look like a stethoscope. Cool.

Site: www.antrepo4.com Via: YankoDesign.com

Swedish clothing brand Elvine are offering free accommodation for creative types at their ‘Creators Inn’.

In a kind of corporate social responsibility x brand builder x creative people magnet the company started by fitting out a room in Gothenburg and opening it up for visiting creatives to stay for free.

They work primarily with local independent event organisers, providing their guests with a place to stay. That said:

“everyone is welcome to register and motivate why they should be granted a stay. Foreign visitors are prioritized. But you need what we call a “valid reason” to stay at our Inn. A valid reason is some sort of creative activity, preferably together with local creators or something that incorporates the city in some way. For instance, meeting up an old friend to go clubbing is (unfortunately) not a valid reason to be granted a free stay.”

The idea has since grown to include a ‘capsule’ version in partnership with creative collective LAT, and a ‘hotel within a hotel’ in partnership with a Stockholm hotel.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see the idea being exported and/or copied around the globe.

Site: www.creatorsinn.com

[Note: Just in case you were worried they also offer a Best Rate Guarantee. If you find a rate better than zero, they'll honour that.]

The more we depend on portable power – to run everything from our phones to our laptops to our iPods, iPhones and iPads – the more smart designers and entrepreneurs are working on ideas to make recharging on the go a little easier.

Although just a concept at the moment, the idea for the twirling battery (pictured above) is that you can simply spin your phone’s battery around your finger for a few minutes and create enough charge to make a quick call or text.

The designers, Song Teaho and Hyejin Leethe, are guesstimating that around 130 twirls will give you enough juice for about two minutes of talk time. (My highly scientific test with a keyring suggests that this would take about 30 secs, but may confuse fellow passengers on public transport).

How could you make our increasingly mobile lifestyles a bit simpler?

Bartering has become big business with organisations like BarterCard building large communities and generating revenues by facilitating transactions.

On a smaller scale, a New York based project is helping people barter their knowledge and expertise in return for, well, whatever they want. Trade School is a pop-up storefront from OurGoods, an organisation which facilities the bartering of ‘skills, space, labor and art objects’ in artistic communities.

The Trade School project runs from January 25th until the first of March, and provides a venue for bartering, co-working and classes.

The classes are of particular interest; subject matter experts agree to teach a class on their chosen subject in return for bartered items and services. Would-be students can bag a place by providing one of the items or services on the teacher’s wishlist (see image below).

Classes include topics like ‘writing a stage play’, ‘feltmaking for nomads’ and salsa dancing.

For the artistic types amongst you, there clear potential to replicate this kind of model just about anywhere in the world. For the more business minded, there’s always value to be found in bringing communities together.

And if you can get yourself to Manhattan, why not drop in and take a class.

Site: tradeschool.ourgoods.org
Check out images from the first classes on Flickr

Corner stores are often at the centre of their communities, but they’re not often known as sources of healthy eating options.

The problem is simple enough, buying in fresh fruit and vegetables is expensive for shop owners – and if they don’t sell quickly, perishable. There’s also a problem of perception; shoppers keen on fresh produce are more likely to head to the supermarket to fill their baskets, using the corner store for midnight milk runs instead.

As part of a class on Social Practice, a group of students from the University of San Francisco wanted to see if local corner stores could be used more effectively to help encourage healthy eating.

Their idea was to pair the store with nearby organic farmers so it could act as a pick-up point for  community supported agriculture boxes – i.e. pre-ordered boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables that come direct from farms.

Although the store doesn’t earn directly from the sale of the veggies, customers have to call into the store to pick-up their boxes, leading to knock on business.

In short, the farms get a new revenue stream, the shop owners get more traffic and a greener tinge to their image and the customers get fresh fruit and veg without having to travel to bigger, out of town supermarkets.

The trick, of course, was to get enough customers from the local area signed up to the service to make it worthwhile for everyone involved. Which they did. The next step would be for every corner store in the city to be partnered with a farm.

A possible business idea perhaps?

Get Inspired

• Who are the ‘corner stores’ in your marketplace – could you partner with them?
• Who are the ‘farmers’ in your marketplace – could you give them access to your market?
• Could you play facilitator (like the students) in this kind of project and use it as a foundation of a new business?

Check out the article in Good magazine

Read the student’s project blog

Learn more about CSA (community supported agriculture)

Disposable plastic cutlery is an obvious environmental no-no.

Serving up a neat solution, an Indian-based company — B.K. Environmental Innovations Private Limited — manufactures eco-friendly forks, knives, spoons and chopsticks in vanilla, strawberry and pineapple flavours, that can be eaten as part of the meal.

It might be a fun addition in ice cream parlors, kid focused fast food outlets or similar businesses; and the company has already sold the product into hotels, sweet shops and retailers in their hometown of Hyderabad. Samples have also been sent to corporate caterers, schools and mothers of small children.

So, perhaps not to everyone’s taste (sorry) but an interesting idea nonetheless.

Ever since the Sony Walkman hit the streets in the ’80′s people have been making mix tapes to exercise to. Philips have now taken the idea a step further with their Activa MP3 player and TempoMusic technology.

The proprietary tech analyses the pace of the music stored in a user’s MP3 playlist and matches it to the pace of the workout as determined by an internal accelerometer – providing just the right song to help push you through that extra half mile. Or in my case, a bout of speed typing.

Via: Engadget