You surely recognize Bialetti's Moka Express, and have hopefully read about its design history.The form is iconic, and difficult for other manufacturers to compete with. But in 1989 and throughout the '90s Bialetti competitor Irmel tried, not by matching the form, but by going de … | Continue reading
Tradespeople who work with large, mobile machines know: When you're giving an estimate on-site, one of the first things you do is examine the access points. If there's a fence with a gate, the width of that gate limits the size of machine you can bring in to do the work.Addressin … | Continue reading
Here's a wild-looking wearable. This Recon Jet concept, by U.S./Canada-based industrial design consultancy Card79, was intentionally designed with "aggressive styling:""The main audience of this product was both athletic as well as curious and open to how new technology could imp … | Continue reading
Happy Hanukah! In 1985, Achille Castiglioni participated in a design competition held by the Israel Museum of Jerusalem, which invited both local design students and non-Israeli designers to create a menorah for mass production. Here's Castiglioni's submission:"Castiglioni design … | Continue reading
One of the most comfortable and durable workwear shirts I own comes from Patagonia's hemp workwear line: The Men's Farrier's Shirt. Comfortable, hard-wearing, breathable…and it's actually nearly half plastic. It's made of 55% hemp, 45% polyester (albeit recycled).The writing staf … | Continue reading
What Charles and Ray Eames were to American mid-century furniture, Bernd and Hilla Becher were to German mid-century art photography. The duo, who met as art students in the 1950s, became fascinated with industrial architecture and documented these structures for decades."Since 1 … | Continue reading
Design Innocence is the name of an Instagram account that gathers images of improvised design solutions from around the world. Some examples: See more (or send your own in) here. | Continue reading
The Petersen Automotive Museum has partnered with online education company Yellowbrick to release "Auto Design & Sketching," a free online course. Auto design history, principles, case studies, theory and of course sketching are all covered. Instructors include Franz von Holzhaus … | Continue reading
London-based artist Helga Stentzel created these wonderful Clothesline Animals, which she sells prints of.Smoothie Hang On!Pegasus"To me, household surrealism is about finding magic in the mundane, seeing beauty in imperfections, and connecting to our reality in a new way. I love … | Continue reading
For moving gigantic objects like pipeline sections, concrete K-rails or massive steel sheets, an excavator is often used. Workers must rig slings or chains around the object to be lifted and connect them to the bucket, then stand clear as the object is lifted. When objects are be … | Continue reading
This Geta smartphone case, inspired by geta (traditional Japanese sandals) is eye-catching to say the least:In addition to providing an absurdly secure grip, the fins are angled so that you can stand your phone up (in landscape mode) at two different angles. The two fins nearest … | Continue reading
Industrial designer Antonio de Marco, who's also a professor at Milan's Polytechnic School of Design, designed these beautiful carbon fiber cases for musical instruments. These are apparently in production by Spanish brand Luma Suite—but sadly, I'm not able to learn of any detail … | Continue reading
This simple, handsome Fondina chair features a trick that many chairs with upholstered seats do not: It's easy to pop the seat off, so that you can remove the upholstery cover and wash it."Solid ash chair, painted in wood colors or in ash gray, lichen green and rust open-pore lac … | Continue reading
Nihon Sweden is a company that makes leather cutting dies. Recently they embarked on a six-year manufacturing experiment, working with industrial design consultancy Drill Design to see if they could figure out how to deep-draw leather. And not just any leather: Nihon Sweden wante … | Continue reading
Sydney-based industrial designer Tom Fereday designed this eye-catching speaker for a design competition."SUONO is a unique sculptural speaker designed to work as table top, wall mounted or free standing speaker centred around a unique removeable magnetic wireless charging hub. U … | Continue reading
Italian industrial design consultancy Whynot Design was commissioned by mattress startup Sonno to design their Signature Bed Frame. Targeted at first-time buyers in their home country of Malaysia, the brief was to create an affordable, 100% solid wood bed that would be easy to sh … | Continue reading
Mark your calendars—the Core77 Design Awards are back Monday, January 9.The beginning of a new year also marks the start of Core77's annual design awards competition open for entry period. Now in its 12th year, the Core77 Design Awards are a historied competition sure to gain you … | Continue reading
We know that microplastics are in the ground (and wind up in fruits and vegetables), in the water, and in our bodies. We've also learned microplastics actually fall from the sky.In 2019 a scientific paper in Nature Geoscience reported that microplastics were falling from the sky … | Continue reading
After gaining her Bachelors in Industrial Design at Sweden's Umeå Institute of Design, Fanny Jonsson stuck around to earn a Masters in Transportation Design. In what is the dream situation, her Masters thesis—an electric ATV aimed at farming, done for her internship at electric m … | Continue reading
San Francisco-based design firm Whipsaw recently collaborated with Pacific BioSciences (PacBio) on the launch of Revio, a HiFi genomic sequencing system. In addition to a redesigned user interface and workflow improvements, the team at Whipsaw took inspiration from the precision … | Continue reading
This strange-looking cooking utensil hails from Sweden:The Omega Vispen (vispen is Swedish for "whisk") "stirs most things," kitchenware manufacturer Unplugged says, and sometimes that's desirable. Because the omega-shaped head is slightly sprung and can conform to the surface, i … | Continue reading
Huawei is doing some wild stuff with watches. These all seem like ID student concepts, but apparently all are real, and either on the market or going on the market in China.First up: Watch Buds, a smartwatch that stores the earbuds beneath the watch face itself. Call me cynical, … | Continue reading
We've covered Amsterdam-based designer Robert van Embricqs's fantastic Rising Furniture before, here and here. Now he's back with a new piece, and unlike his previous floor-standing objects, his Flow Wall Desk is wall-mounted:"Looks great in stills and animation," you think. "Wou … | Continue reading
Employers now have electronic ways to detect if you're really at your desk and working. Webcam access, keystroke detection and even sensors in the chair or desk have all been rolled out.Why not just solve the problem with physical design? Computer hardware manufacturer Cooler Mas … | Continue reading
Our 2022 Ultimate Gift Guide competition has officially wrapped, and we want to thank all of you who contributed your gift ideas! There in fact would be no Ultimate Gift Guide if it weren't for your amazing gift suggestions.This year, we revisited our OG "make-your-own-guide" for … | Continue reading
Below, you can see where the oil drain plug is located on my wood chipper. If I unscrewed it, it would send a cascade of oil down into the chipping drum, coating the blades.Obviously that's no good. I solved the problem using the lid of a plastic spinach container from the superm … | Continue reading
Caroline Cockerham and Laura Tripp are familiar with the intricacies of working toward sustainability in a large company—and all of the hairiness that comes with implementing dynamic change within them. Tripp and Cockerham, who first met as textile designers at Patagonia, formed … | Continue reading
As an industrial design student at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Tamás Máté Nagy designed this Heir chair for his senior thesis. It transforms from adult-sized to highchair-height:"My thesis project was a chair with variable seat height, which can be modifi … | Continue reading
This video of a McDonald's bathroom sink with an integrated smartphone cleaner went viral:That UV-light-containing slot is just part of the story. The system was devised by a Japanese company called WOTA, which is dedicated to solving the world's water crisis by devising structur … | Continue reading
Now that Elon Musk has fired over half of Twitter's staff, Twitter HQ has a lot of seats with no asses to fill them. Thus the company has decided to sell, via online auction, their "surplus corporate office assets," which as it turns out, contains a lot of Eames chairs and other … | Continue reading
In the days of hand drafting, architectural lettering was taught to all Architecture and Industrial Design majors. (My graduating class was one of the last ID classes to draft by hand, and they were already phasing it out.) This type of lettering evolved from the days of drafting … | Continue reading
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Slip casting is a production method used to make ceramic vessels from a plaster mold. The "slip" refers to a slurry of clay and water that is mixed to a precise viscosity. This is poured into the plaster mold for, say, a vase. Although a vase is hollow, there is no need for a mol … | Continue reading
Industrial designer and sketching pro Spencer Nugent has released "The Perspective Drawing Guide: Simple Techniques for Mastering Every Angle," a 168-page illustrated tome that should find its place on every ID student's desk."Perspective drawing is the foundation for creating ar … | Continue reading
Brazil may be out of the World Cup, but this fan should have won a trophy for best costume. Prior to the team's elimination, an unknown Brazil fan showed up for a game as a low-poly version of Neymar:The costume is so good, I bet he weighs less than before he put it on.Please let … | Continue reading
With the goal of designing comfortable seating that they could easily carry anywhere, a quartet of Industrial Design students at South Korea's Kookmin University prototyped this Bag Chair. Kim Seungwoo, Kim Siwon, Kim Chanwoo, Yoon Jonghoon used air for the structure:They've also … | Continue reading
For people who take their writing/sketching instruments very seriously, Texas-based Tactile Turn is a manufacturer as obsessed with UX as they are with high manufacturing quality. Their Gist Rollerball Pen, simple though it may look, has been carefully considered and slaved over. … | Continue reading
This tape dispenser sold by Japanese retailer Keito Co. seems ordinary enough:However, it's actually designed for those who label their preserved food containers in the 'fridge and freezer, which is a simple way to prevent accidental food waste. Thus the base of the dispenser is … | Continue reading
The Tara lamp is "an intricate balancing act with an exciting trick up its sleeve," writes Hamburg-based furniture designer Matteo Bauer-Bornemann, who collaborated on the lamp with lighting designer Simon Schmitz. "We designed a telescopic mechanism that keeps its balance at any … | Continue reading
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It doesn't collapse down quite as small as that DiFOLD Origami Bottle, but this 20-ounce silicone water bottle by Stojo "collapses into a polite sphere when empty," the brand writes. The brand, started by a trio of NYC-based dads, got their start around a decade ago. Growing alar … | Continue reading
This Vespertine Lamp is by Max Hausmann and Tim Schuetze, who are Industrial Design classmates at Berlin's University of the Arts. "From sunset to dawn, artificial light sources illuminate our lives. As soon as the daylight fades, we look for places that are illuminated. And even … | Continue reading
From Slovenia comes this Mars Garden Sink, which is designed with built-in hose management:Manufacturer Roto says the polyethylene sink is UV-stable, meaning the color won't fade over time. The sink contains a not-shown plug in the bottom, allowing you to hold water for soaking o … | Continue reading
Cling film, a/k/a plastic wrap, is essentially non-recyclable.* But it's super-useful stuff, and I've been seeking an alternative.These odd-looking platinum-cured silicone** Reusable Flexible Lids, by Spanish kitchenware manufacturer Lékué, may fit the bill. The odd-looking objec … | Continue reading
Editor's Note: It has come to our attention that this Tumbler product is a knock-off, not a licensed copy, of the Horl sharpener. We're in touch with Horl now and awaiting more information.This is a copy of the Horl sharpener.This is a copy of the Horl sharpener. This is a copy o … | Continue reading
This handsome Hub furniture/object is by Switzerland-based industrial designer and professor Tomas Kral:"A standing solid wood coat hanger with a central plate to put keys or gloves."His similar Twig design does away with the plate:Of the two, I'd prefer the Hub—I'd use the plate … | Continue reading
"We were tired of coming home to find out that our dog knocked over the trash and had a feast!" writes Colorado-based programmer Greg Brault. This is a common gripe among pet owners, and Brault aimed to solve it once and for all.Brault's specialty is electronics—you can see some … | Continue reading
Since we live in a rural area, our garbage can has never been near our house. It lives a quarter-mile away, at the end of the driveway. We drive the trash up to it piecemeal, as do many of our neighbors.For some, this is inconvenient; they'd rather load the can at their house and … | Continue reading