We've been harboring a long, slow-burning crush on this sideboard from U.K.-based workshop Unto This Last. First spotted in the November 2006 edition on Livingetc, the on-demand manufacturing process, while keeping warehouse, transportation and packaging costs down, has resulted in an exaggerated flatness and simplicity, like the Platonic ideal of a retro sideboard. Most items are made to order and delivered flat-pack for assembly using a locking system, i.e. no nails.
The name of the company comes from an 1860 book by John Ruskin advocating a return to the local craftsman's workshop, written during the Industrial Revolution. At £460 (about $935), Unto This Last's angle is craftsman industrial structure (local, made to order) at mass-production prices (well, closer to). By definition they do not deliver outside of the U.K., but do have plans to expand by duplicating their workshop in other locations. We hope one of those locations ends up at least a cheaper plane ticket away.
-danielle
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Ohh man, that is sa-weet.
view Aaron Binns's profile
It is, it is!
And then with http://www.ponoko.com we will all be able to upload designs (or simply select from the existing product range) and have them made on demand at a local workshop - or from home if using something like http://www.desktopfactory.com
Derek Elley
Ponoko
view Dogic's profile