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Itay Laniado's Farm Tools for your Garden

By Sara Jacobson - August 27, 2010

in Object Culture

Back in March, we wrote about Israeli designer Itay Laniado's wooden ladder, walking stick and wallet. Expanding on his explorations in wood and simple mechanisms, he recently completed an investigative study on the material, aesthetic and functional properties of what he calls garden tools (but which seem to us to be more historically-minded farm tools). The result is a group of six oak and stainless steel tools, all with the pop of red twine-wrapped handles.

For the six tools (machete, sickle, spade, shovel, scythe and bow saw), Laniado developed a technique of bending and stretching the oak into what he found to be the most appropriate functional and simple form for each object. He also experimented with methods for bending and shaping the steel blades, along with their forms. His aesthetic is serious but subtle, with a nice contrast between the get-down-to-business blades and the approachability of the wood handles and red twine. You've gotta have quite the garden (and maybe some pent-up aggression...or just a farm and some Amish pep) to warrant some of these.

The machete is a hybrid axe, machete, and billhook, and can be used as a multi-cutting tool.

The sickle uses a simple locking spring mechanism for its folding blade, meant to be used for harvesting grain or cutting grass.

Laniado's spade and shovel have folded metal blades, and the spade has an additional folded step to assist in digging.

For mowing grass or reaping crops, the scythe has two holding points for ease of use, with a sharpening stone conveniently wedged in the handle.

Finally, Laniado's bow saw boasts the most dramatic result of his wood bending, with the blade "stringing" across the bowed wood from a top locking mechanism to a bottom lock leaver.

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Bob BUrgess

14 years ago

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Very pretty, but ash and hickory have been used for over 2000 years as handles for a reason - they are shock resistant. Oak is strong, but is generally too hard for handles, and thus not the best wood... The scythe is great if you are left-handed, but not adjustable for different styles of use or height of person using it. Machete is probaly OK for soft materials, but the handle would give way if used on anything that a billhook is usually used for. As a design exercise they look great, but design is also about function and egonomics, not just form....
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Chris byron

14 years ago

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I've always said that with hand tools, design evolves like a living organism. Bikes, canoes anything that's human powered quickly becomes highly efficient in a few generations. Cars on the other hand, just get bigger.
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Berkana

14 years ago

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I love how the handles have the samurai sword style wrapping.
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dave

14 years ago

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they are drop-dead gorgeous. want.
The riven-wood techniques are traditional, he has mainly used a different detail for tying-in to prevent splitting, very similar to old english farm implements, which are also quite beautiful.
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