A New York Times article titled, “Is Sitting A Lethal Activity?” came out several weeks ago that sparked a lot of conversation around our workplaces. Could it be true that all this sitting is slowly driving our bodies to an early grave? That familiar stiff feeling after a few hours of work seemed to validate the argument. We started thinking about the way we work and designed a custom standing desk to help solve the problem.

…on average, people who sit too much shave a few years off of their lives. (From Is Sitting A Lethal Activity? by the New York Times)

Update 7/11/2011: We just finished building our first table! Here’s how it looks.

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Mule design is filled with cool things. Sometimes things break in a series of unfortunate but hilarious events during a party, such as this Eero Aarnio Ball Chair.

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Everyone liked our Monkey See, Monkey Doodle notebooks so much that we started getting requests for custom branded notebooks. So of course, we had to add them to our store! We made our first book orders for Mule Design and Atelier this weekend, and they turned out great.

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I wanted to create an interesting product for the kitchen, something that was both simple and functional. While doing research, I came across a few expanding trivets, but all of them looked strange either in small or expanded mode. After some brainstorming, I came up with the Double Exposure Trivet, which is all about a very subtle, quiet form that automagically transforms to be nearly twice the original size.

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When I decided to make a necklace for Paula from a piece of cocobolo wood that I had found in the scrap bin at the local lumber yard, I had no idea how it would turn out. All I knew was that I had a unique piece of wood and a workshop full of tools.

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At work, we usually exchange gifts around this time of year in a Secret Santa program. This year, I drew the name of our VP of Interaction Design, Matt. I didn’t think much of it, but two days before we were meant to exchange our gifts, I had a great idea. Matt is the VP of Interaction Design…punching people in the face is a form of interaction…I obviously need to make him some sweet brass knuckles!

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My friend Gerard sent me a video of something I had never seen before. It looked like a tripod, but the camera head was able to slide along a rail system for smooth gliding shots.
“Can you make one for me?”
“You betcha!”

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A while ago a friend of mine asked if I was able to make a hand-held steady cam rig for his DSLR camera. He was in love with the Zacuto Tactical Shooter, but not the ~$1000 price tag. I told him if he was willing to compromise on material, a little bit of adjustability, and a little less CNC eye candy, I would be able to build one for him. Here’s a bit of cad I did to illustrate the simpler design I had in mind. Little did I know how difficult it would be to find fluted red anodized aluminum knobs.

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I was asked to figure out a nice way to display six to ten 1/4″ full size foamcore boards on the wall. The employees of Mule Design had been using the dry erase board marker rails to hold up their display boards, rendering the dry erase board useless. There was a nice, open space of wall just calling out to be used as display space. I answered that call.
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I’ve had my 1971 VW bus for a few years now, and it’s been a pain in the backside. An actual pain–the busted and broken seats that came with the bus are really uncomfortable. Exposed springs, bent wires and disintegrated coconut fibers made for a pretty harsh journey. I had two options: spend major bucks on authentic replacement seats, or spend the bucks I actually have on some Craigslist pick-n-pull seats.

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