Here's what we looked at this week:After 13 years, NYC's in-river swimming pool lands $16 million--as the designers get into a dispute. Libman's Step-On Dustpan: Ergonomic improvement, or pointless?The Kim-e: A standing-height, hands-free powered wheelchair that's essentially … | Continue reading
When Pelican Products decided to get into the backpack game, they turned to Bay-Area-based ID consultancy studioFAR. Founded by industrial designer Fernando A. Robert, the firm specializes in softgoods, and produced Pelican's U160:Brief: Designed for Adventure and Nature photogra … | Continue reading
What did you do during the pandemic? New-Jersey-based artist and freelance writer Lauren Puchowski invented this:That's the boomloom, a portable loom. Puchowski invented it "as a way to make weaving more intuitive and expressive, and to close the gap between the craft and the art … | Continue reading
Package theft, a/k/a porch piracy continues to be a problem in America; some estimates say 26% of Americans have had a package stolen, others say the figure is 44%. Some companies have attempted to counter the problem by designing anti-package-theft porch lockers, and we looked a … | Continue reading
Look at your desk, and the objects on it. Is there anything there that you think will still be in production in 60 years?Legendary Italian industrial designer Enzo Mari first designed the Formosa perpetual calendar in 1963. Produced by Italian design label Danese Milano, it consi … | Continue reading
As we learned here, if you're in the U.S. and need a large amount of tarp material, you can buy ex-highway-billboard vinyls on the cheap. America has plenty of highways, meaning there's a glut of decommissioned vinyl ads.In Europe, Belgian beer brand Duvel transports their beer o … | Continue reading
Here's an invention that I think has some merit, but could use some design refinement, as it was clearly invented by an engineer. French industrial engineer Eliès Hamzaoui is safety-minded and wears a helmet when he bikes, but bulky as it is, got tired of carrying it around. He t … | Continue reading
The simplest of children's toys, the ball, has received a technological upgrade. Everyone from Amazon to Walmart now sells "boomerang balls," spherical plastic cages containing a tiny drone with two counter-rotating propellers. You shake the thing to turn it on, and then you have … | Continue reading
This design makes more sense when you learn the designer, Timothy Hill, has a background in both acoustics and aeronautical engineering. The founder of high-end British speaker manufacturer Ferguson Hill, he designed this Jetstream loudspeaker system, which takes the form of giga … | Continue reading
Joey Zeledón is the Jury Captain for the 2024 Furniture & Lighting Category. This category features furniture and lighting products and systems for private, public, commercial or industrial use. "Your product should embody the story you're telling." That theme has driven designer … | Continue reading
Swarovski Optik manufactures binoculars, rifle scopes and thermal imaging scopes. To produce their first pair of "smart binoculars," the company tapped Marc Newson, who had previously designed their (non-"smart") CL Curio pocket-sized binoculars. The resultant AX Visio smart bino … | Continue reading
In 2015, a company called Cerwin Tools invented the BullseyeBore, a laser-equipped gizmo that attaches to hand drills. By projecting concentric circles around your hole, the device was meant to help the user drill holes perfectly perpendicular to the workpiece.2015 version2015 ve … | Continue reading
Barcelona-based Bel y Bel is a design/build studio that typically repurposes vehicle parts into furniture. However, founders Carles Bel and Jesús Bel (who are actually not brothers, but buddies who met at art school) apparently have mechanical chops as well. For the past year, th … | Continue reading
I have to think design historians with a sense of humor will look back on this time fondly. These days everyone is talking about AI, and corporations are desperately wedging it into silly products they're hoping we'll buy.Case in point: Samsung's Ballie, an utterly pointless yell … | Continue reading
Imagine calling an Uber, and the car shows up, but there's no driver behind the wheel; instead a remote "teledriver" has driven the car over to you. You get in the driver's seat, drive yourself to your destination, and then the teledriver takes the car back.That's exactly the ser … | Continue reading
This Kings Mountain Whiskey Tumbler, by a faceless housewares brand called Ecletticos, is sold with a physically corresponding coaster. I suppose it's meant to appeal to those who enjoy watching GIFs of things fitting together perfectly.It comes in two different heights. The down … | Continue reading
Marking ten years since its founding, CRAVE, the San Francisco-based company known for discreet, high-design luxury sex toys, is dropping its latest innovation in "pleasure jewelry." The Tease Ring drops its first 100-unit release on January 23, with two additional releases to fo … | Continue reading
Inventor Lanny Smoot, a Disney Research Fellow and Imagineer, has invented something incredible: The HoloTile floor, an omnidirectional walking surface that could be one of the breakthroughs for truly immersive VR experiences. It looks like it uses a system of tilting, rotating … | Continue reading
This two-wheeled, self-balancing Kim-e powered wheelchair is by Lithuanian company Chronus Robotics. Aside from the fact that it provides mobility for people without the use of their legs, it has little in common with other powered wheelchairs. At the press of button it extends i … | Continue reading
Cleaning products company Libman makes this ergonomically-alternative Step-On Dustpan:The idea is that you step on the rear part of the dustpan to hold it in place, rather than bending down to secure it with your hand, as you fill it. However, you've still got to bend down to pic … | Continue reading
Here's a reminder of how long radical ideas can take to execute, and what can go wrong along the way when you try to get multiple creatives on the same page.In 2010 designers Archie Lee Coates IV, Jeffrey Franklin, Oana Stanescu and Dong-Ping Wong came up with the idea to build a … | Continue reading
Here's what we looked at this week:Footwear design sketch tutorial: How to draw a shoe from an underside perspective.Mercedes' new electric G-Wagen can turn in place, but the execution is barbaric.The Rabbit R1: Yet another AI-driven device we're supposed to carry around.A diffic … | Continue reading
When bike trailer manufacturer Burley wanted to design a new, user-friendly tow-behind bike trailer, they turned to industrial design consultancy DesignThink. The DesignThink team did their homework before designing the Burley Coho XC:Navigating the design path: It is said "the j … | Continue reading
As my vision deteriorates, when in my workshop I'm forced to cycle between three modes: No eyeglasses, for moving around, cleaning up and gathering tools; reading glasses, for being able to focus on work at arm's length; and flip-down magnifying lenses over the reading glasses, f … | Continue reading
A British company called Expanscape developed this monstrosity, known as the Aurora 7:If you haven't guessed, the "7" in the name refers to the number of screens. You're looking at four 17.3" monitors, the outermost of which each have a 9.7" monitor perched upon them. A 7" touchs … | Continue reading
Infinity mirrors are the tacky domain of party buses and post-college first apartments. In China, however, the infinity mirror has found a more mainstream place in neon or LED signage, where it does yield an eye-catching effect (particularly with Chinese characters):They look a b … | Continue reading
Dr. Stephen Bright is a British bridge engineer with a PhD in Lightweight Bridge Decks. After years of working on road, railway and foot bridges, he designed this ingenious EasiBridge, a portable crossing system. It's essentially a suspension bridge flipped upside down:"EasiBridg … | Continue reading
Chinese startup MakaGic has developed this VS-01, a benchtop electric vise with an aluminum body. It's wireless and rechargeable via USB-C.Roughly the size of a DVD boxed set, it has a 125mm (4.9") capacity and can either be tightened manually, via a knurled knob, or by using the … | Continue reading
Hyundai Mobis, a Hyundai Motor Group supplier subsidiary, has developed a zero-turn system for cars. Like Mercedes, they demonstrated the tech at CES; but unlike Mercedes' brutish "G-Turn" technology, the Mobion concept car equipped with the system actually turns the wheels, all … | Continue reading
Adam Savage, of Tested and Mythbusters fame, is friends with NYC-based artist Tom Sachs. Both are obsessed with optimizing their shop practices. Last year Savage spent a few weeks working in Sachs' shop, revealing:"One of the things I love about Tom, is he works as hard as I do o … | Continue reading
The Swiss Southeast Railway (Südostbahn, or SOB) does not have a problem with punctuality; Swiss trains run like clockwork, as they say. And with reliability solved, the organization can turn their attention towards refining other aspects of the user experience. "SOB wants to mak … | Continue reading
If design is about navigating limitations to deliver good experiences, then tiny houses are fascinating little crucibles of design. The modern house—in America, anyway—often offers seemingly arbitrary design features, or decorative ones that make little functional sense. In contr … | Continue reading
This weekend the Buffalo Bills tweeted out this photo……and appealed to local fans on social media: Please come help shovel out the stadium, in advance of Monday's game vs. the Steelers. Fans could show up at midnight before the game, would be paid $20 per hour and given free hot … | Continue reading
Here's what we looked at this week:A remedial design object: Clicks is an elongated iPhone case featuring a physical keyboard.LG Labs' DukeBox is a vacuum tube amplifier behind a transparent, user-adjustable OLED display.Woodshop Junkies designs and builds clever, transforming sp … | Continue reading
Having a car that could do a zero-turn—that is, turn in place—would come in handy in certain situations, particularly if you have a narrow driveway. Zero-turn lawn mowers can easily accomplish the feat because they only have two drive wheels, so it's a simple matter of having the … | Continue reading
The tech blogosphere is abuzz with news of the Rabbit R1, a new AI-powered gizmo we're all supposed to carry around in our pockets. Tellingly, the articles written gush about numbers—$199 price, 2.3GHz processor, 128GB of storage—but there's a dearth of info on what this thing is … | Continue reading
"Over the years I've gotten repeated requests," writes ex-Nike designer Michael DiTullo, "to create a demo video for this very specific perspective view that I often sketch in footwear.""It is a slightly tipped view that shows the outsole and lateral view at the same time. It is … | Continue reading
This unusual power strip is by Kritzer, an industrial design firm in San Diego."Standard power strips offer good functionality but they have two major issues: they're hard to access and tend to be eyesores, with excess cords and Gordian knots scattered around the hub. ME-1, the m … | Continue reading
A woodworker named Jean—who either hails from Holland or South Africa, I can't nail the accent—has a YouTube channel dedicated to making the most out of a small workshop. Woodshop Junkies documents his innovative DIY designs for shop furniture that transforms in order to maximize … | Continue reading
This unique fixture is a zero-gravity tool arm supporting an angle grinder. Offering 360 degrees of movement on all three axes, it allows a worker to grind tall or overhead surfaces, all day, without actually needing to lift the tool.It was designed and built by Missouri-based Er … | Continue reading
Core77 reader Shion Ito, whose work we've featured before, writes that their latest project is "a new type of crayon that provokes us to rethink our perception of colors.""LEAVES is a crayon set featuring hues like purple, red, orange, yellow, and yellow-green, drawing inspiratio … | Continue reading
This craftsperson reveals a variety of methods for getting trim to line up in tricky corners.Sadly I cannot attribute it—the video has been viral-ized. If anyone knows the source offhand, please drop a line and I'll include the original poster's name or handle.This video has beco … | Continue reading
Following the post about that $99 Stargazer watch... ...readers Abe Froman and S.S. pointed out that the form does have precedent, and is known as a "driver's watch." In 1976, Swiss luxury watchmaker Girard-Perregaux produced this Casquette model:Image: WatchPool24 Image: WatchPo … | Continue reading
This Tranquil concept, for airplane seating with a measure of articulation and inflatable air bladders, would be nice for those who get fidgety on long flights. The concept is by New-Delhi-based industrial designer Subinay Malhotra."The Tranquil is the perfect seating solution fo … | Continue reading
Over the past decade, French transportation designer Alan Derosier has worked for car companies on three continents. And while Derosier's book features plenty of supercar-style concepts, I'm drawn to his quirkier work:Perhaps the most intriguing is this U-shift vehicle, which con … | Continue reading
A Chicago-based company has made a limousine out of a decommissioned Lear jet. Cleverly named Limo-Jet, it is available for daily rental. As the design of the interior reveals, it's more party bus than executive transport. Here's what it looks like on the road, in this case boo … | Continue reading
In houses in Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, you can see a type of window covering uncommon in American domestic situations: Roller shutters. Called rollla¨den in German and tapparelle in Italian, they resemble the rolldown gates used to cover storefronts in American cit … | Continue reading
Fusion is a prize-winning beer from Mongolia.It has a very unique bottle design: Teeth are molded into the underside of the base, so that one bottle can be used to open another.Image: Around the World and Back I searched far and wide, and this animation is the only video I could … | Continue reading