Koziol is a famous German company which specializes in designer plastic products for the household.  I recently visited their  headquarters in Odenwald, Germany, and am doing a series of posts about what I saw.  This is the second… if you missed the first one, click here.

Every Koziol product is first produced in small scale on a 3D printer before it goes into production.

What I like about Koziol besides their products is their company philosophy. They could easily move production to China to increase profits, but they’ve stayed true to Odenwald, Germany, and have given a lot back to the region which helped them become a successful company.

Most everything is designed and produced in Erbach. Some designers are hired out of house, and they also have given design students a chance to have their work produced.

Here are some images of Koziol’s molding forms:

Koziol stores all their molding forms right next to the production hall. So in the case of a big order, they can run & grab the necessary form without delay.

The forms have recently been cataloged to make finding them faster.

The molding forms which Koziol users are very complex, since they have to produce sometimes very delicate pieces.

The machines which produce these kind of forms:

Once a form has been built it needs to be maintained well, because forms will malfunction after they’ve been in use for a while.

As an example of a malfunction, this little bunny has nasty lines on his sides:

The bunny was created by this molding form:

When something like this happens, the workers have to resolve the issue by hand:

Next, the Koziol production hall — where the magic happens. Don’t miss it! Please subscribe to my RSS Feed.

- Shop for Koziol products here

Most of you probably know that I’m a photographer. But these days I do more blogging than actually taking pictures, so I decided to assign myself a photo documentary about Koziol.

Koziol? Even if you’ve never heard of this company, based in Germany’s lovely Odenwald, you’ve definitely seen their products. For example, the vegetable cleaning brush is a design hit across the globe:

Cute, functional designs of everyday products is what Koziol’s known for. But that’s not the full story… Koziol started out by designing and creating elephant tusk pieces, as you’ll see in some of the images below.

I grew up close to their manufacturing grounds.  As a child, I would fantasize about what the inside of the factory might look like, every time we drove by.

So a couple of months ago I decided to ask Koziol if they would allow me inside their headquarters, for a photo shoot. To my surprise, they agreed!  And the invitation email came directly from their president, Stephan Koziol.

Over the next couple days, I’ll be blogging about my time there. Subscribe to the RSS Feed if you want to make sure that you won’t miss a post.

Here are some of those early Koziol tusk designs:

`

Continue Reading: Koziol – Design and Molding Forms

- Shop for Koziol products here

I would love to have a pen like this which helps me with my photography. Select color and tell your computer later how that color looked like exactly.

Color Picker is an innovative design of a concept pen that can scan colors from anything around and instantly use the color for drawing. After placing the pen against an object, the user just presses the scan button. The color is being detected by the color sensor and the RGB cartridge of the pen mixes the required inks to create the target color. This superb device will help people to observe the changing colors of nature. With color picker, all range of artists will be able to create a more sensorial and visual insight of their surrounding nature’s colors.

More info: Color Picker

- Congress Photographer

For the juice sucking paparazzi in you.

It’s a juice box, with a lens. All new from FUUVI, Juice Camera is covered with a juice box outfit. The straw is actually the camera button. It uses the original 35mm film allowing the user to develop it at any camera shop. This simple box shape camera captures images with a unique effect. Designed for outdoor purpose, or maybe for a paparazzi.

More info: Juice Box Camera

- Fotograf in Spanien / Photographer in Spain

I’m a bad bad blogger .. feel guilty that I haven’t updated in such a long time. I did do some tweeting. So next time it is pretty calm on RGS you will probably find out on twitter why. So do please follow me.

Where was I? Well, just got back from a photo job in Helsinki. It’s a fun city but just way too cold. It was as cold there than it was in December in Valencia. I just can guess how cold it can get during the winter months.

It was very odd too that it stays so long bright out and in June it will almost stay light all night. But then again in winter it will stay dark almost all the time. Very depressing.

Food wise it was pretty interesting. Tons of interesting breads and I went to a Lapland restaurant and had Moos and Reindeer .. (sorry Rudolph). They also have tons of different berries.

There is tons to do and to see in Helsinki. We just had time to walk around a little and took a boat ride out to the world biggest fortress island.

Helsinki is cool I might visit again. I might even dare coming back in winter. Brrrrr!

On an other note. Please keep me in mind if you need a congress photographer. Worldwide

- Hotels and Youth Hostels in Helsinki (Won’t find it cheaper)

Before it’s too late. Yet an other crazy event in Valencia.

On Sunday morning at 10:30, the Virgin is brought out of her basilica, paraded around the Plaza de la Virgen, and then brought into the cathedral — a tiny procession lasting just 30 minutes. “How pleasant and non-threatening”, you think. HA! YOU ARE A FOOL.

Link: El Traslado del Virgin del los Desemperados (tons of pictures and videos … fun but scary)

Book here: Youth Hostels in Valencia – Hotels in Valencia – B&B Valencia – Care Hire in Valencia

Taking a pictures with a Holga turns almost every subject into an art piece – now you can get the same effect with this digital camera.

VistaQuest from Superheadz is a toy camera that captures digital images with holga effects. Equipped with a 1.3 megapixel lens and a 4MB built-in memory. Along the side is a SD memory card slot for extra recording space. This compact camera is a great portable tool to capture any memory in the moment. Designed with a stable structure with easy controls.

More info: Holga like Digital Camera

- Photographer in Valencia, Spain