Car bed

This relates to design because it's about the importance of DOING as much as planning, thinking, drawing.

I've had on my mind for a while to buy a Berlingo van (or similar)

And to drive from Ireland to Wales and have a wonderful Amdro Jumpkit installed so the wee van could be a camper van. Somewhere to sleep in but small enough to be (almost) mistaken for a car.

The Amdro is designed, invented, manufacted by Iwan Lloyd Roberts by the company he has built up in Wales. It's great to support designers like this. There are copies of the Amdro jump kit doing the rounds too - the idea has taken off. 

But a conversation with a flatmate who works as a panel beater and is around cars and vans put me off a bit... because he talked about VAT on vans and DoE tests and all manner of complications.

I don't know how right he is but it got me thinking.... I should work with what I've got. Which is a 2001 Toyota Corolla.

That pic is not my car... but my car is a three-door! So it's tricky to maneuver in and out!

I found some videos. Some about people permanently living in their cars :(

So I took some measurements of my car with the passenger seat down.

 And then worked on a design

I needed:

18mm plywood (in two sections so I could fold it into the boot)

Hinges

For a mattress, I have a Thai Kapok mattress

For support under my head (between the passenger seat and the back seat), I used Ikea Adils table legs - the holder is peranently screwed to the plywood and the legs can be twisted on when needed.

And at my feet, I rested the plywood on a box, Ikea again: Samla (Width: 56 cm; Depth: 39 cm

Height: 28 cm; Volume: 45 l)

There is a lack of support, however, in the middle of the bed. I had to use pillows here (4 of them!) under the plywood. This still needs to be resolved. It probably is the biggest issue in designing a car bed - the distance that must be spanned.

So I've slept in it and it works! Comfy enough. With duvet and pillow proper bed-like. It offers great freedom to just head off and not be worried about having nowhere to stay! I can visit friends who live on smallholdings and farms with nowhere to put me up.

The condensation issue is a bit crazy, loads of moisture generated overnight even with the window a bit open.

So the message from this post is... Go ahead and do it!

Travel emotions

As a designer, I find it really inspiring to travel. To see places. How people live and "do things". Objects, routines, etc which we take for granted at home can be presented differently abroad.
I'm in France - this is my second trip this year. In January I was in the village of Availles-Limousin, an hour from Poitiers. And now I'm in Sospel, about an hour from Nice. I'm really digging these rural French towns - with one or two bakeries, a butcher, a weekly market!
On both these recent travel occasions, I noticed the same emotions cropping up. And I tried to document them:
In days leading up to today - a little restless perhaps but busy and glad to have a definite deadline to work towards and around. Wondering if it was necessary to go, what the point was, why.
At home, on the day of flying to Sospel, I'm excited and rearing to go. Tidying, cleaning, prepping, packing. Proud to be independent and able to go at a whim but also a little lonesome to have to undertake yet another journey-and change of environment-on my own. Last time I was really scared about going, was it the change of scene? I conquered that this time by arranging a lift to the airport.

At the airport, same ol' same ol' - frustrations with baggage scanning routine, long walks to boarding gate, heavy hand luggage, noise noisy noise of announcements and bright pushy commercialism of shops.
Delighted at the restriction that travelling to somewhere requires - limitations of what to bring, activities that can be done - liking that!
And in the airport upon arrival, trepidation at what lies on the other side of the automatic doorway past the "Anything to Declare" area. And relief that this is a civilized European country and bombardment by hawkers and eager taxi men is not de rigeur - recollections of India and even New York.
On the train to Sospel, it's all to easy. Train announcements are so standard and predictable, no matter what language. There's a familiar routine to follow, common everywhere. Travel isn't challenging in modern societies. I could be anywhere! Wondering why I am - why amn't I just at home if it's all so samey. And disappointed that I don't have a satisfactory answer to that question. Keep moving. The train takes off - change. There's a sameness but it's different.