Here's the strangest seating design I've seen in a while: My Deer, by Utrecht-based designer and Eindhoven grad Jeroen Wesselink, appears to be a rotomolded hunter's trophy."My Deer, a stylish and refreshing stool, available in a black and white (other colours by a minimum order … | Continue reading
Kumihimo, or "gathered threads," is a traditional Japanese way to make braids and cords. Two different looms of specialized design are used: A takadai loom with sliding parts and a circular marudai loom. In this fascinating video, an expert Kumihimo craftsperson manually passes b … | Continue reading
Logitech's Brio 300 webcam has a feature all webcams should have:The $70 1080p unit features auto light correction, a noise-reducing mic, USB-C connectivity and, of course, that handy rotating privacy shutter. It's beyond me why not all webcams, even the fancy $300 ones, don't ha … | Continue reading
Here's some great nuts-and-bolts industrial design by veteran Dutch consultancy Flex. The firm was contacted by PostNL, Holland's mail service, and asked to apply their ergonomic expertise to make things easier for employees working the sorting line."Mail consists mainly of paper … | Continue reading
It's hard to believe now, but there was a time when German design was not well-regarded; in the 19th century the Teutonic states just didn't have it together. (The Wiener Werkstatte helped change things.) Similarly, Japanese cars were hardly masterpieces in the '50s, and few desi … | Continue reading
At Tesla's recent Investor Day presentation, Lars Moravy, the company's VP of Vehicle Engineering, revealed a startling new manufacturing technique that up-ends assembly line production. To explain how it works, Moravy first introduced this animation of how cars are currently bui … | Continue reading
This simple-seeming but highly efficient Bowl barbecue grill is German design and engineering at its finest. This alternative, all-in-one portable Edge Desk design attempts to offer improved function, but suffers a bit from resembling gym equipment. Like tire manufacturers, W … | Continue reading
If you are young and able-bodied, you can take the form factor of the frying pan for granted. But if you've ever injured your wrist or simply have hit a certain age, lifting a heavy cast-iron pan loaded with food becomes a wildly unergonomic, even painful, task.For this reason a … | Continue reading
Design inspiration can come from anywhere, and veteran architect Michele De Lucchi found himself smitten by old-school adjustable wooden tripods. Though their design elements are now obsolete, having long since been replaced by more space-efficient telescoping metal legs and cam … | Continue reading
This Lollipop ratcheting screwdriver, patented in the U.S. by Taiwanese bicycle tool company 711L, appears to be a simple shaft with a knurled grip.But if you need some extra leverage, you can pull the red endcap out. It's attached to a shaft that terminates in a knife hinge, so … | Continue reading
Interfaces from the '70s, '80s and '90s: Before touchscreens, LED and LCD displays became common, there were VFDs, or Vacuum Fluorescent Displays.If this video below were just a compilation of them, it would be glorious; instead Netherlands-based artist Posy not only shows you so … | Continue reading
One hanger to rule them all? These magnetic, modular Angie hangers, by Milan-based industrial designer Giulio Iacchetti, use a single form that can handle shirts, pants and skirts. The idea is that you swap in (or remove altogether) one of two crossbar styles, depending on the ne … | Continue reading
Well, this doesn't seem real: A company called Car Capsule's eponymous product is a bubble-like alternative to a car cover, which protects your vehicle from dust and light debris but is transparent, allowing you to still admire your ride. The system consists of a base mat that yo … | Continue reading
Resins for SLA 3D printers can be expensive, and specialist designers tend to buy resins tweaked with properties specific to their needs: Overall strength for engineering applications, high precision for dental or medical applications, excellent finish straight-out-of-the-printer … | Continue reading
I was mightily impressed with the amount of design thought that went into Wyrmwood's Modular Gaming Table. The dining table can be easily transformed into a tabletop gaming center or crafting workstation, with a seemingly endless variety of useful accessories that slide into magn … | Continue reading
"Do you care for industrial design or tech history?" writes Marcin Wichary. "The keyboard is a beautiful object, both designed and not designed at all, that happened to change a lot and also not change in any way. (You could sit down the inventor of QWERTY at your 2023 mechanical … | Continue reading
Sometimes designers undertake unusual experiments to free up their thinking. This here's an example. The team at the London Advanced Design Studio for SAIC Motor (parent company of MG) decided to design an electric mobility concept inspired by a sedentary activity that hardly jiv … | Continue reading
I have no confidence these products are real, but footwear designers may find them interesting. Chinese-owned online retailer and Alibaba competitor Temu claims these unlikely-looking sneakers are available for purchase, for suspiciously low prices ranging from $9 to $36 per pair … | Continue reading
While Westerners prefer bathtubs that allow them to stretch out, in space-tight Asia soaking-style tubs are more common. China-based Hangzhou Yunqiu Industrial Design Co. designed this soaking tub that folds, allowing even small-apartment dwellers to take a relaxing dip."How do y … | Continue reading
Todd Palmer is a designer who seems, above all else, driven by story. For him, buildings are not just reflections of taste and feats of engineering. Instead, they are envelopes that house the stories of humans and our history. He has explored these connections extensively through … | Continue reading
A company you've never heard of called Zellerfeld claims to be "the industry leader in 3D-printing and innovative footwear technology." To back up the claim, this month they announced their open beta, allowing the general public to order any of their 15 footwear designs (though q … | Continue reading
If you went to design school in the '90s, this ought to bring back some memories: Graphic artist Peter Whitley has been using those since then, and still does. The modern-day design student, however, is more likely to be toting one of these: That's ArtBin's current art supply box … | Continue reading
French company CX Air Dynamics created these airbag-equipped pants, which they call the first in the world. They're confident enough in their product that they had a rider slip them on, then drive into a car at 65 km/h (40 mph):The lightweight, rainproof trousers are meant to be … | Continue reading
Dan and Dave Buck are sleight-of-hand magicians and design lovers turned designers themselves. A decade ago the California-based brothers founded Art of Play, a company that produces playing cards, games, puzzles and toys of their own design.In honor of the classical industrial d … | Continue reading
Remember when airless tires starting coming out, around 2013? A decade later, now sporting goods manufacturer Wilson has prototyped a 3D-printed basketball that, like those tires, do not require air.Apparently this 3D-printed ball—specific production method unknown, but my guess … | Continue reading
I admire attempts to improve long-established objects with better design. But the results are often mixed, and in the case of this kooky-looking Edge Desk, I'm having a tough time with how visually unappealing it is; it resembles a piece of gym equipment more than furniture to be … | Continue reading
Hailing from Bavaria, Bowl is a barbecue grill designed by Thomas Kaiser and Christian Wassermann, former schoolmates who met while each pursuing degrees in both Mechanical Engineering and Product Design. Manufactured in Germany by the company they founded, Höfats, Bowl is a stee … | Continue reading
The Foodmap Greens planter is specifically designed to grow lettuces, greens, and microgreens. Leafy greens are so important for peoples diet and they are so easy to grow in the right environment, yet expensive and short-lasting in your refrigerator, not to mention a waste of wat … | Continue reading
Sustainability historically centered on reducing consumption, but the growing recognition that the need for the 'new' is far from satisfied is prompting a shift in the manner that high-value, low-cost things are developed. The re-evaluation of the life-cycle processes for the con … | Continue reading
Wish Fountain is an interactive experience that transforms visitors' wishes into a colorful, water-like light show across a ripple-shaped wooden bench and wall-mounted screens.Inspired by San Diego's natural environment and ocean landscape, Wish Fountain conveys the undulating su … | Continue reading
The LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize is a rare competition in the design industry that revels in the craft of art and design, honoring the beauty and relevance of a handmade object in a world where design is often associated with mass-manufactured products. As described on their comp … | Continue reading
Here's everything we saw this week:With their new flatpack Field Desk, Teenage Engineering is branching out into furniture design.An anonymous designer used AI to spit out designs for gaming chairs based on the aesthetics of the Atari 2600.A retired gym teacher invented this mini … | Continue reading
As we all know, a lazy person named Susan designed a turntable for condiments. But her condition prevented her from evolving the product, and it wasn't until someone made a Pac-Man-shaped Lazy Susan for corner cabinets that we saw any further innovations in the space.However, inv … | Continue reading
Brussels-based design collective Vormen (which means "forms" in Flemish) is made up of designers Edouard Devriendt, Jochen Schamelhout, Leon Duyck, and Emile Duyck. They designed this incredibly minimalist, and simply named, Stool:"A small stool is formed from a pressed metal pla … | Continue reading
Blim Plus, an Italian kitchenware brand formed by industrial designer Raffaello Galiotto, produces this unusual funnel of Galiotto's design:Called Dolina (Italian for "sinkhole"), the polypropylene funnel contains an O-ring-sealed "dosing piston" that can be controlled, via a tri … | Continue reading
Lares Blechwarenfabrikation is a German fabricator that turns metal sheet goods--tin and stainless steel--into premium bakeware. Their stock-in-trade are items like this:However, on their Instagram they posted a photo after a winter snowstorm at the company HQ in Waibstadt, Germa … | Continue reading
The influential Dutch architect Herman Hertzberger, who at age 90 is a professor emeritus of his alma mater, UT Delft, is a designer whose "flaw" I can respect. He was an early proponent of Structuralism, which in a nutshell says "Hey don't forget that actual human beings have to … | Continue reading
Spanish manufacturer Chufamix makes this Vegan Milker, a kitchen countertop contraption that lets you make your own milk from nuts or other vegan staples. One catch is that you do have to provide a 300- to 650-watt hand mixer. With that in hand, the company says the Vegan Milker … | Continue reading
Furniture and accessories manufacturer Wyrmwood Gaming is re-releasing their innovative Modular Gaming Table, a popular design that was waylaid in recent years by supply shortages that have since been resolved. The MGT is essentially a dining table whose surface can be removed in … | Continue reading
So this thing here is called a Super Clamp. It's an indispensable piece of kit for photographers and you'll find them in every professional photography studio.The design of the jaws allows it to securely clamp around cylindrical objects, square tubes, sheet goods and tabletops. T … | Continue reading
I love finding fantastic design details in small, humble objects. This one is cheap, too: My wife picked up these small parts organizers for just $1.75 each at Daiso.Unlike most organizers of this type, which have one lid hinged at the back, this design has two lids—one for each … | Continue reading
With awareness of the importance of indoor air quality growing, many of us have air purifiers in our homes. However, many of us lack a way to measure the results; cleaning the filters lets us know the purifiers are doing something, but without some kind of monitor, we have no ide … | Continue reading
Design Within Reach has announced the winners of their 19th Champagne Chair Contest, held in partnership with high-end vintners Champagne Pommery and climate innovation organization Slow Factory. The annual competition asks entrants "to create miniature models of either a chair i … | Continue reading
Product designer Tog Samphel, who works full-time as the Head of Product Design for wellness company Loop, has a successful side hustle: He invented (and got into production) Anytongs, a clever hinged handle that use existing cutlery to become workable tongs. They use less mater … | Continue reading
In my last article, I shared what makes someone with an Industrial Design background a great UX Designer should they choose to make the career transition. It continues to be a hot topic for Industrial Designers—whether you're an experienced Industrial Designer or just fresh out o … | Continue reading
Industrial designer Lukas Bazle, who works for Ikea in Sweden but still does his own stuff on the side, devised this elegant user-adjustable Méduse lamp.It's capable of a very neat trick:The design came about because Bazle was doing what they taught us all in ID school: Playing a … | Continue reading
Natalie Candrian has had the opportunity to be involved in many of professional athletes' most pivotal career moments. She designed the "little black dress" Maria Sharapova wore in her first match when she became a US Open Champion. She also co-created the spike shoe worn by Ally … | Continue reading
This is experimental art furniture rather than practical concept work, but this Affordance Chair, by Seoul-based design studio niceworkshop, caught my eye. I suppose there's a reason we don't see scissor mechanisms being used as height adjusters in chairs. Namely, that exposed sc … | Continue reading