Made In Hollywood Blog

- Posted in Extended Portfolio, Marketing related, Polystyrene Uses, Sport related by Fran

Minister Batt O'Keefe and Team Blink

The flag has dropped and we are into the start of a new school year, when kids across the country are encouraged to reach their potential and beyond, no matter what discipline they choose.
An example of this is F1 in Schools. This is a unique challenge that enables second-level students to get their hands on the latest technology from the worlds of engineering and manufacturing. The competition allows teams to design and manufacture compressed air-powered racing cars, to compete with other schools nationwide.
Minister for Education & Science, Batt O’Keeffe, was at the launch of the New 09-10 season last week. He spoke of stimulating and encouraging an interest in science, technology and engineering with pupils at secondary school level.
We employed quite a bit of technology and engineering ourselves to create the 3D sign used at the photo call. Using specialist software and computer-controlled (CNC) machines, we can produce a wide range of products suited to the engineering sector and other industries.

F1 car created by Michael Salter from styrofoam packaging

If, however, you are intent on building a racing car, it isn’t always necessary to have the latest technology and machinery. Sometimes all you need is a little imagination and a whole lot of  Styrofoam packaging.
Regular readers of this blog might already be familiar with the work of  Michael Salter. In the past he has created giant “Styrobots” from expanded polystyrene (EPS). He has now turned his talent into building this F1 car that is on display at South Waterfront in Portland, Oregon. Again, he uses the packing foam found around our household electrical and furniture items.

Ferrari logo on this F1 foam car

But to prove a point, here is an example of a Ferrari Formula 1 car we produced using the technology described above, and a small amount of foam. The outline of a Ferrari was traced and fed into the computer software which, in turn, controlled the hot-wire machine that cut the shape. The prancing horse and logo were glued onto the painted outline. This formula 1 look-a-like was destined for a bedroom wall and not a race track on the far side of the world.

You need a lot of dough for this F1 car

If you were on the far side of the world, in the Royal Plaza Hotel, you might run into this: Asia’s first life-sized bread race car.
The culinary executive chef from the hotel led a team of 6 chefs, 2 artists, 2 technicians, 2 culinary staff and 5 young volunteers from Metta Welfare Association to create this race car model. The team took 549 hours to assemble the car and used a total of 15 kg of yeast, 14 litres of water, 2 kg of salt and 10800 ml of food varnish! The completed car is made up of 1,000 loaves and 22 varieties of bread, and not a sliced pan loaf to be seen anywhere. (via Klik.TV)

It seems quite obvious that someone must have misunderstood when they said it would take “a tonne of dough to make a racing car”; or should that be “bake a racing car”?

- Posted in Extended Portfolio, Polystyrene Uses by Fran

Giant Cadbury's Dairy Milk chocolate bar

In a blog post, in May, we told you about a incident where a ‘Gorilla’ went into a convenience store and stole a large polystyrene display banana on their second attempt.
We know that you have been waiting on the edge of your seat to hear a conclusion to the story.

Well, all we can tell you is that the ‘Gorilla’ was a 24-year old woman. She was allegedly responsible for stealing the $50 banana Styrofoam banana from a Kwik Trip store.
Capt. Steve Klein, of the Fond du Lac Police Department, said she will not be extradited due to the low cost of the banana and the fact that the woman now lives in Montana.

Is it true that all suit-wearing, banana-stealing gorillas escape to Montana? Could this be where the world famous Cadbury’s gorilla has disappeared to? Is there a shortage of bananas and chocolate bars, whether real or fake, there?
The more answers we get, the more questions we have.

And, before you ask, Fond du Lac isn’t a made-up name. Apparently, it is “a beautiful and thriving community of 43,600 located at the foot of Lake Winnebago” in Wisconsin.

via FDL Reporter

- Posted in Architectural, Competitons, Extended Portfolio by Fran

The Table table

We were bouncing a few ideas around the office and workshop the other day, looking for some inspiration and a new project, when we came across some clear perspex table tops that we had left over from the Irish Blog Awards.
So the discussion then switched to: “We could do this?”, “What if we tried that?” and “Wouldn’t it be cool if we made it like that?” etc. The ideas kept coming like the proverbial snow ball rolling down a hill until we had an avalanche of thoughts and quickly sketched designs.
We decided that we would make two of our earliest ideas, but we would use coloured expanded polystyrene (EPS) rather the standard white colour, to see how they would look without having to paint them.
The reaction to the tables from some of our friends on Twitter was very positive, so that gave us more food for thought. For those of you not familiar with twitter, it is a free micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. The tweets are text-based messages that allow up to 140 characters to be sent using a computer or mobile phone.

This is clearly a Coffee table.

We thought that, if we were having so many ideas, it would be fun to see what you readers could come up with, so with that in mind, we decided that we would run a competition.
We are asking you to create a table design upon which we can place a perspex top. We will make the winning design and send it to you.
The table can be a logo, name or design of your own making. All we ask is that all the elements connect to one another and that it is approximately 800mm (32″) wide x 400mm (16″) high. It can be virtually any shape, eliptical, rectangular or an irregular design.

You can forward your entries to info(at)madeinhollywood.ie.

Designs will not to be used without the owner’s consent or forwarded to any 3rd parties. We can use most vector-based file types or convert an image file. If you any questions please leave a comment or contact us at the email address above.

- Posted in Architectural, Extended Portfolio, Polystyrene Uses by Fran

Seating made from polystyrene covered in mosaic tiles

After speaking with a customer recently, I came to the conclusion that it was time that we featured some of the work that we create for use in the construction sector. The client was under the impression that all we made were signs and point of sale display props; he was quite surprised when I informed him that we also create a wide range of items used in building and engineering industries.
It is easy for us to show signage and giant props, as they are often used for product launches, with press photographers present to record the event. Unfortunately, we don’t get the same opportunities to take pictures of our industrial and construction items.

When I told the client that we created products as diverse as walk in showers, garden planters and concrete moulds, he found it hard to comprehend that expanded polystyrene foam (EPS) could be so versatile. So, in future, I am going to try to show more of the work that we produce in these areas, and the reasons why it is used.

Customised seat profile used in this wet room area

I will start with seating which is used in steam rooms and thermal spas.
Curved shapes can be difficult to build using traditional materials such as wood and blockwork. These are easily created in EPS by cutting solid blocks of foam with our computer-controlled  hot-wire machines. Polystyrene, also known as styrofoam, has the added advantage of being lightweight and the fact that it doesn’t rot or decay when in contact with water.
Glassfibre is also used but often people don’t like its ‘plastic feel’ and the fact that their design has to conform to certain dimensions. Custom sizes are achieved in EPS, without the added cost of fabricating specialist moulds, so that we can design a room to suit the space, rather than having to work with fixed sizes.
The seat profile and curved roof panels are plastered with a render embedded with a strengthening mesh. This durable surface can then be finished in a wide range of stone and mosaic tiles to achieve the look or texture required.
The examples in the photographs are on display at the Tilestyle showroom in Dublin and at Donabate Bathroom & Heating Centre.

If the post above doesn’t qualify for “something completely different”; did you know that Victor Lownes, who was head of Playboy UK, came up with the idea for the Monty Python film: “And Now for Something Completely Different”, which was partially filmed inside an abandoned dairy?
Well, they do say that you learn something new every day.

- Posted in Extended Portfolio, Marketing related, Polystyrene Uses by Fran

Qikroam sim card launch in San Francisco

This article has been gathering dust in my draft folder for a number of months. It was getting to the stage where I was going to delete the story as some missing parts never materialised… Well they did today, only 3 months late and on the wrong side of the world.

Mr Pat Phelan, from Cubic Telecom, asked us to produce some giant sim cards to be used at a high profile launch in San Francisco, with their partner Qik and their new product Qikroam.
Qik, is an application that allows you to share live video from your mobile phone. The partnership with Qik, gives users the opportunity to purchase Qikroam sim cards, to use in mobile phones all over the world, without worrying about expensive roaming charges.
Luckily, we had made a smaller version of the sim card that arrived in time. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the visual impact that we had both hoped for, particularly as the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan and other Enterprise Ireland officials were in attendance at the launch event.
The courier company had “lost” the giant sim cards in transit, somewhere in the USA. We started to think they must have been in the bermuda triangle.

Giant Qik and Maxroam sim cards.

They miraculously re-appeared today in Cork, at Cubic Telecom headquarters. The big polystyrene sims don’t look the worse for wear considering their prolonged journey across the world. (Our packaging technique must be working OK). All they have to do is find a new use for them.

We are glad that Qik and Cubic Telecom continue to make it big with the popularity of their Qikroam sim cards. We hope that the courier company doesn’t continue in making big mistakes with it’s deliveries and that we continue to make it big in polystyrene, whether it’s a sign, a seat or a sim.

If you have any suggestions for Pat, and his team, on how the sims can be used please leave a comment.

- Posted in Extended Portfolio, Polystyrene Uses, Recycling by Fran

Teachers Union of Ireland logo replicated in polystyrene foam

First impressions can be important, as once that moment passes it can never be retrieved. Sometimes you only have seconds or even milli-seconds to catch the attention of your audience, so whatever you do has to be good.

We like to call it a Wow factor and we are lucky that we can create this by “making it big” using polystyrene foam. 3D signs are a particularly good example as they are lightweight and cost effective when you want grab peoples’ attention with a large display.
Simon, from AVC Hire, had seen our work at the Blog Awards, and must have seen this potential and recommended us to Niall, a committee member, who was helping to organise the 2009 TUI Annual Congress. We created two signs for the event held in Cork, each 2.1m (7′) square and they were positioned either side of  a large video screen. They were secured to the backdrop and lit from below.
Niall commented that “the 3D effect with light projected onto it gave a very clean, contemporary and fresh look to what was still a relatively formal event, being a trade union annual congress”

Large signage isn’t restricted to conferences or exhibitions however; it is equally suitable for use in outdoor locations.

Exterior 3D sign made from polystyrene foam

“The Gym” is a fitness and exercise centre located in a new building that has a prominent position in Dundalk. It is only a short distance away from the Dublin Road, a main artery into the centre of the town. We were asked to design a 3D sign to advertise their new facility. Replicating the existing font style we produced a sign that is 7.5m (24′) long with letters nearly 1m (3′) high. Our CNC hotwire machines cut the design out of blocks of high density polystyrene, sometimes known as Styrofoam, the outer parts of the foam acted as packaging until the sign was installed and then they were then recycled.
The sign is clearly visible to the passing traffic so it will hopefully make a lasting impression, when getting into shape comes to mind.

Our 3D polystrene signs are examples of how to create a positive first and last impression, we will finish this post before you are left with their companion “bad impression”.

- Posted in Art & Sculpture, Extended Portfolio, Marketing related, Polystyrene Uses by Fran

Giant sized coffee cup table

This is going to be a caffeine fuelled post and it’s not because I’ve been drinking espresso’s all afternoon. I am going to try and write about three coffee related items and show how they are linked to polystyrene.
That would be enough to drive anyone to coffee, so we might as well make it a large one… and we have.
Well, it’s more of a coffee table, shaped to replicate a disposable cup, I could never drink that much coffee in one go. The table is designed for use in a variety of retail locations including coffee bars and deli outlets. Using printed vinyl, it can be customised or branded to match the coffee supplier or the store decor. It is made from polystyrene foam, but it has a fibre-glass coating to make it durable and easy to clean. We even have a half a cup option, this allows the semi circular table to be fitted against a wall in areas where floorspace is at a premium.
However, we always prefer full cups for our coffee but definitely not cracked or chipped.

Custom mug packaging with a difference. Image via blacknight.com

That’s not a problem with disposable cups but if you have to ship ceramic or china mugs it can be a major issue.
Our friends at Blacknight Solutions asked us to create packaging for some promotional mugs they wanted to distribute. This is usually a simple task of creating a box shape and cutting a circle in the centre.
Having created their horses head logo previously, we thought it would be interesting to incorporate it into the packaging design. The shape was cut from a block of expanded polystyrene foam (EPS) using one of our computer controlled hot-wire cutting machines. We used black  polystyrene foam for most of this project, we had to with a name like Blacknight. The result was a custom packaging solution that protects the mug and promotes their brand in one simple step. It seems that Blacknight also liked our idea too.
It good to be able to offer a creative solution to a problem, but this next item is where a young computer animator had a problem and he solved it creatively.

Styrofoam cups used to create unique art items

Waiting for friends and killing time in a coffee shop, Cheeming Boey started to doodle on the only item close by, a styrofoam coffee cup. “When you’re bored, you tend to experiment.” he said. Using a sharpie, a brand of felt tip marker pen, he produces amazing images using dots and lines. He has develop a growing number of differents styles as his cups have become increasingly popular. His work is displayed in galleries and exhibitions with his creations selling from $120 - $220.
Not a bad price for a unique piece of art but it’s certainly pricey if it’s for a coffee to go!

- Posted in Art & Sculpture, Polystyrene Uses, Recycling by Fran

Styrolight a chandelier created from Mac Book packaging by Eric Lawrence

Many people would agree, I think, that Apple creates products that are both functional and easy on the eye, whether it be the Iphone, Ipod or the latest aluminium chassis Mac Book.
It’s not difficult to see as they pay attention to every detail, this extends as far as the packaging that the products comes in.

However, the product design gurus at Cupertino, Apples home town, could never imagine that the styrofoam protecting their laptops could be re-used in such a way as to produce another striking and practical design.

A rather unusual light shade made from molded polystyrene packaging.

Eric Lawrence, had that vision, he has made this chandelier using dimmable low energy CFL bulbs, aluminium bar and slow-set hot glue. He assembled the molded styrofoam packing pieces and won the Sustainable prize in Design Within Reach Austin’s M+D+F competition. The modular layout allows the design to be modified whilst maintaining a common style in this smaller light shade.

Recycling packaging materials with such purpose and style makes for a bright future, I applaud those people who can see potential in them.

- Posted in Art & Sculpture, Polystyrene Uses, Recycling, Videos by Fran

Transformer logos using black and white polystyrene foam

The launch of the second Transformers film ‘Revenge of the fallen’ is upon us, starring Shia Lebeouf (Sam Witwicky) and Megan Fox (Mikaela Banes) and featuring a cast of computer-generated Autobots and Decepticons, which are giant transforming robots / machines.
The Decepticons did attempt, in the original film, to take control of the earth but the valiant efforts of  Sam and Mikaela, with the help of the Autobots, prevented them from doing so. We presume that the Decepticons have come back for a second try, having seen some of the film trailers.

Well, all I can say is that they are too late.

The Styrobots are HERE !

Giant polystyrene robot sculpture by Michael Salter.

So who are these Styrobots and what are their intentions: World domination, political upheaval or do they seek an artistic haven?

The tyrant artist behind these creations is Michael A. Salter, an associate professor of digital arts at the University of Oregon since 2005, who has been building these fabulous sculptures for over 5 years, each one growing in size to suit the available exhibition space. Using discarded packaging from household electrical items and glue, the Styrobots have certainly grabbed people’s attention from San Francisco to Brussels. Not really world domination, but more like world appreciation for this unusual art form. Sadly though, Salter’s unique creations are usually destroyed because no one has bought one yet or figured out how to get one through a gallery door, even if they wanted to make a purchase. Then again, they could be waiting, waiting for the moment when they attack, housed in galleries around the world waiting for the signal. Transformers beware.

(additional info via komonews)

We have 5 Transformer signs to give away to people who leave a comment giving a reason why a Styrobot might be better than a Transformer.

The signs are the same as the top black on white sign in the top image, they are 1.2m long (4′) x 0.2m (8″). Good luck.

- Posted in Marketing related, Polystyrene Uses, Videos by Fran

The recession must be hitting hard in America as people are turning to desperate measures to make ends meet. But we can’t understand the logic behind this gorilla-suited woman stealing display bananas made from Styrofoam.
No, it’s not an April fool prank but something very weird and unusual. (Via Fox11 online)

So why would you dress in a gorilla suit and steal a foam banana?
The best explanation in a comment wins a banana in foam, or your name in foam.

One tastes nicer than the other.

One option we have considered is that the famous Cadbury’s Gorilla has been made redundant, has scoffed all his allowance of Dairy Milk and has been driven to the desperate measure of having to survive on Styrofoam bananas. And we all thought he had a future playing drums, but not a Phil Collins cover version. The gorilla is supposedly blaming those pesky, eyebrow-wiggling kids.