Having left a degree in Aerospace Engineering in 2007, Alex Bishop put complex manufacturing and engineering principles behind him in favor of something a little more meditative that “connected him with nature”: working with wood and making acoustic guitars by hand. A life-long ‘Maker’ who has always had an obsession for making things and manipulating objects and materials in order to create something different, Bishop honed his woodworking skills at London Metropolitan University before working for three years under the expert guidance of master guitar makers Nicholas Blishen, Norman Myall, Martin Bowers and Godefroy Maruejouls. “I find that working with wood is a way for me to connect with nature,”…

With so many cool things coming out each week, it can be hard to wade through all the rock-awesomeness. With ‘Cool Tools’, we’ve done the hard work for you. This week we saw everything from earphones machined out of solid brass, a new way to charge your Apple devices, a clever DIY project for creating your own 3D printed headphones and more… Ready? Let’s go! This week we look at: DESIGN Pod Pro “Pod Pro is the most important and complete accessory you could have as an Apple product owner. We’ve upped the portable battery game by creating an accessory that seamlessly houses your Apple Watch charging cable and includes…

Since the desktop 3D printer revolution took off a few years ago, many have been left wondering when we would start to see usable 3D printed product designs that are considerably more polished than your typical DIY 3D printing project. Particularly, how do you make something 3D printed and functional while also making it look ‘cool enough’ that most people would actually want to use it in public? How do we move beyond 3D printed junk? If the first product launch from print+ is any indication, the future of 3D printing as a method of manufacturing in the realm of consumer product design is looking a lot more appealing -…

With today’s modern book manufacturing capabilities, it’s become too easy to overlook the process behind printing words on pages and binding those pages to last the test of time. Ultimately, before large publishing houses were able to invest in mass manufacturing capabilities for stocking the shelves of book stores around the world, book publishing was an entirely different ballgame. Perhaps few appreciate the craft of making books by hand as much as Andrew Hoyem, master typographer and printer of Arion Press. One of the last printing shops of its kind, Arion Press is one of the last surviving institutions that came out of San Francisco’s long tradition of fine printing…

Time for another round of apps that cover the spectrum of your beloved mobile device, be it iPhone, Android or Windows! The Weekly App Smack is the best of design and productivity apps (and maybe a couple of fun ones, too) for the busy design or engineering professional and this week we have a list sure to make you more efficient. This week we have a welcome update to the popular Paper by 53 app that adds some additional functionalities, a Yelp alternative for exploring new cities, a useful tool for optimizing your Android device’s performance and more. Do you have an app suggestion that has made your life easier…

Although the buzz surrounding aluminum in the past week has been more or less dedicated to Apple’s decision to use their heavier (and more dense) 7000-series grade versus their previous (and lighter) 6000-series grade in their new iPhone 6S models to prevent another Bendgate, one curious craftsman had an aluminum experiment of his own brewing in his own backyard. YouTuber TheBackyardScientist – whose videos consist of everything from casting weapons to “creating burning things” – is known for scratching curiosities that most people didn’t even know they had. “Most everything I do would be considered dangerous in some some way, but I have been doing this stuff my whole life,”…