In November 2012, Core77 made an article on their blog about one of Samuel N. Bernier’s project, a collection of 3D printed lampshades made to repair IKEA lamps. At the end of the page, the writer (Ray) made a suggestion : 

"Where Andreas Bhend's recently-seen IKEA hacks included instructions à la the Swedish furniture giant's pictographic booklets, Bernier has seen fit to customize a part of the whole. But if they're disparate yet equally creative approaches to DIY making, perhaps the next step is for the two to join forces: Andreas, if you're reading this, we'd love to see you guys collaborate on a series of IKEA hacks with bespoke 3D printed parts and instructions..."

That's exactly what they did. 

Andreas is a student in the east of Switzerland while Samuel N. Bernier work full time for le FabShop, a 3D printing start-up in Paris (France). They didn't know each other, but were motivated by the project. Andreas took the train to Paris where they spent two days and a half doing this wooden bicycle.

Raw material is getting more expensive while commercial products are getting cheaper. People used to make their own clothes and furniture to make money. Now they just buy. Hackers and makers found many tricks to solve the problem of expensive material. One of them is called IKEA hacking. IKEA’s products are simple, affordable and, most of all, they comes already disassembled! They also pushed forward the environmental aspect of their production, with a good help from the WWF. One of the problems with IKEA hacking is that you often end up with extra parts that are then useless. Our team made sure that nothing would go to waste in this project. 

 

This project has a lot of improvisation into it. When they decided to work together, Samuel and Andreas still didn’t know what they would do. Andreas had made his marks with the IKEA’s Frosta.  A 10€ stool that was inspired by Alvar Aalto’s classic. Samuel, on his side, was famous for his use of affordable 3D printing. The idea for a Draisienne came from thin air. Or maybe the wheelless bicycles young children ride on Paris’s sidewalks, inspired Samuel.  Few details were decided when Bhend brought the stools to Paris. The assembly, the wheels axis and the final proportions were all left for the imagination.

All these choices were made while manipulating the industrialised parts. They only tools they had were a drill, pliers, a metal saw (not appropriate) and … a Makerbot Replicator 2 (from le FabShop).  There was a debate about what colour to choose for the printed parts. Since yellow didn’t have enough contrast and blue was a little bit boring, they chose orange, a reference to Bernier’s Project RE_. 

While making the Draisienne, the duo realised how a great “father and son” project they had just create. Almost better than the tree house or the soap box. Building something as a team is one of the greatest feeling you’ll ever experience. It is even more important when done with a parent. Bernier still own a wooden plane he built with his grand father when he was only four. To make the wheels, the old man reused an old Tonka truck found behind the barn. This probably was the kid’s first experiment with upcycling. Objects that were hand made always carry a story. They are kept longer and often stay in the family. The act of making revives your self-esteems and gives you something to be proud of.  To make is a therapy for the soul. 

This project is shared on free platforms such as Instructables and Thingiverse.

People can download the 3D files and the construction manuals on these sites and get what they need at the closest store. If they do not own a 3D printer, they can always ask a friend who does, send the parts to the closest 3D printing service or order them as a pack directly from le FabShop. Also, if they don’t like the original parts, or if they just don’t want to use 3D printing, the makers can always design their own!