"Specifically designed to conquer uneven and rough surfaces while carrying a heavy load," the Rhino Cart has something the average moving dolly doesn't: Eight urethane wheels, four to a side. The arrangement makes it easier to get heavy stuff over "cracks, thresholds, ramps, tran … | Continue reading
Toyota is the world's leading automaker by sales, and last year they even outsold General Motors in America (breaking GM's incredible streak, which dates back to 1931). In terms of global sales, last year Toyota beat their nearest competitor, the equally massive Volkswagen, by 1. … | Continue reading
More outside-of-the-box furniture design: The Tarkett, by Paris-based design collective 5-5. At first glance it looks like a sofa made using a roll of carpet:But yes, it actually unfurls."It was because we practice many activities directly on the floor that we felt the need to cr … | Continue reading
Dyson has a problem: They're looking to add 700 robotics engineers to their staff, but engineers are attracted by what they'll be working on, and a number of Dyson's projects are top-secret. Would you take a job if you didn't even know what the project was?Jake Dyson at the compa … | Continue reading
Although it is a box, here's an outside-of-the-box alternative to a roof rack, for certain objects: The Chuck Bucket. It's just a box and upper frame that attaches to your trailer hitch, and is designed to carry eight pairs of skis or four snowboards. A strap (or locking cable) s … | Continue reading
The largest blow molded object I've ever worked on was a 128-ounce bottle. But when I was at ID school, a professor mentioned that when blow molding became viable, he and his colleagues were blow molding objects as large as garbage cans, just to see if it could be done. (It can, … | Continue reading
A Utah-based company called Dash Modern has formalized the French cleat system into a series of modular furniture items.The idea is that you purchase their Dash Panels in a size of your choosing, and add their accessories. A question for you readers: Do any of you actually use a … | Continue reading
Swiss design firm Tät-Tat has an unusual manufacturing model: "The husband and wife design team, Benedikt and Brigitta Martig-Imhof, are former teachers who work hand in hand with social work programs and institutions throughout Switzerland and Germany, employing up to 300 specia … | Continue reading
Sometimes a 3-point turn is the only way to get your car turned around. In spaces where that's not possible, there are alternative solutions:For vehicles making repeated passes within a fixed area, like a dump truck on a jobsite, 3-point turns are a massive time sink. And time be … | Continue reading
Here's a seemingly good design decision that turned out to be a bad one. (And how two companies are trying to fix it.)Imagine you're a purveyor of milk, and to meet market needs you sell four different varieties: Whole, 2%, 1% and skim. You tell your package designers to make it … | Continue reading
The Disco Compacto Chair emerged from a desire to create something beautiful, unique, and sustainable that would challenge our relationship with furniture. Dicco Compacto Chairangleassemblyback structureView the full project here | Continue reading
We always aim for "seemingly natural unnatural beauty." Although several products use magnets, their surfaces need to be flat for adsorption. However, what is innovative about Newtons is that the adsorption surface of the objects has been transformed into a perfect curve. Therefo … | Continue reading
Have you ever caught yourself looking at the wall or a fly when you were supposed to focus on a lecture or work? I bet you have. Many people with ADHD experience this on daily basis with most of the activities. Japanese product designer and design researcher, Shion Ito jumped int … | Continue reading
When I was living in Japan in the '90s, I saw a group of kindergarten-age kids all walking to school with the exact same comically-large leather backpack. A local explained to me that they were called randoseru, that they were based on a Dutch design, and that it was tradition in … | Continue reading
Land Rover's new Defender, which was discontinued in 2016 and redesigned for its 2020 rollout, is an unusual proposition: A truly off-road-capable luxury vehicle with starkly modernist design principles. While the original Defender's design seemed dictated by the limitations of 1 … | Continue reading
"Attractive" might be the wrong word, but I do find beauty in a highly complicated form-follows-function object like this. This is the D-One Commercial Diving Helmet produced by Italian manufacturer Drass Galeazzi:The design features a 30-degree angle in the back of the helmet, p … | Continue reading
Bike nerds, I need to hear from you: Are the welds on bike frames typically a problem? An upstart manufacturer called Vanpowers Bike thinks so, and designed the frame of their City Vanture e-bike to be weld-free. "Many one piece frames are heated at high temperatures after weldin … | Continue reading
My wife and I recently drove past the house of a neighbor who had solar panels installed during the pandemic. Because the house is in a shaded location, the panels were installed in a low-to-the-ground array in the yard. It's really unattractive. I didn't want to ask them for per … | Continue reading
Over the course of his career, industrial designer Michael DiTullo has designed everything from consumer electronics to soft goods, from toys to automotive work and, in his time at Nike and with the Jordan Brand, plenty of footwear for famous basketball players. But a year or two … | Continue reading
UK-based Metron Additive Engineering uses innovative design and digital fabrication to create high-end medical, aerospace, automotive and bicycle components. The company was founded by Dimitris Katsanis, a cycling enthusiast and engineer, whose bio states that Metron has created … | Continue reading
Long-distance ocean travel began with watercraft using zero-emission propulsion systems. Gigantic sails harnessed the power of the wind. As technology developed, oceangoing craft switched to fossil-fuel-based propulsion. Fascinatingly, spacecraft may be taking the opposite trajec … | Continue reading
The SOMI-1 is a fascinating object created by Instruments of Things, a Germany-based music technology company. It's a wearable sensor that turns movement into sound, which essentially enables you to use your body as a musical instrument. I know that sounds weird, but watch the de … | Continue reading
Rolls-Royce has unveiled another bespoke Boat Tail, a hand-built car built for a specific client that apparently enjoys having car-based picnics. While the car itself is beautiful, cost $30 million to make, blah blah blah… …what I found interesting is that they also released des … | Continue reading
In Mie Prefecture, Japan, is the Iga-Ryu Ninja Museum. My scout learned of this on the Instagram of Hiroshi Seki (Muji's former Director of Industrial Design and founder of Seki Design Lab). Seki posted this shot from the museum's exhibition of ninja tools: I was eager to see mor … | Continue reading
Rolls-Royce has unveiled another bespoke Boat Tail, a hand-built car built for a specific client that apparently enjoys having car-based picnics. While the car itself is beautiful, cost $30 million to make, blah blah blah… …what I found interesting is that they also released des … | Continue reading
In Star Wars, the Skywalker family are introduced as "moisture farmers." On their desert planet, they somehow pull water out of the sky using towering metal structures, which sounds more sci-fi than placing buckets under in-window air conditioners.Researchers at UT Austin have de … | Continue reading
We looked at a wide variety of applications for omnidirectional wheels, or Mecanum wheels, here. And we saw at least one guy claim to have installed them on his Toyota. But one applications we'd never thought of was to put one on a bicycle.After all, what would the point of that … | Continue reading
Joey Roth is now selling the original files for his letterpress posters, which perfectly express certain situations, feelings and personality types we've all encountered as designers.For $8.95 a pop, you can "Print them at any size. Use them digitally. Build tool paths for engrav … | Continue reading
German industrial designer Ludwig Kaimer designed this handsome Trestle Hito, composed of five oak dowels and two cast-iron connectors: The connector is designed to be cast in a two-part mold. "The layout of the excavations follows the angles of the legs," writes Kaimer, "yet cre … | Continue reading
Laufer & Keichel, an industrial design firm based in Berlin, designed this Trailo desk for office furniture manufacturer Reiss.The largely unseen core of the desk is a sheet metal schiene (rail) system, which provides a lot of flexibility for customers:"TRAILO is an office table … | Continue reading
Remember those full-face sunglasses? During the height of the pandemic, Joe Doucet designed this full-face Vue Shield:I don't know that they offer any protection against COVID, but I'm wondering about their efficacy as a more comprehensive version of safety glasses. I'm thinking … | Continue reading
Is there anything worse than trying to clip the nails of a pet that hates the procedure? I've not found a good solution for my dogs, but feline product company Cross Clover reckons they've cracked it for cats. Their Mofumofu Mask, when placed on a cat, causes that cat to "suppres … | Continue reading
You may never have heard of it, but German manufacturer Noonee claims that "nearly all major car manufacturers" use the company's Chairless Chair.Targeted at factory workers (and, oddly, farriers) of up to 265 pounds, the exoskeleton allows the wearer to quickly transition from s … | Continue reading
In 1994, mechanical engineer Tom Clawges drove a BMW 5-series, and found that "the stock cup holders in that particular model were absolutely worthless." Clawges designed his own, and used his knowledge to have it manufactured, figuring other dissatisfied BMW owners might want th … | Continue reading
This is Bulgari's incredible Octo Finissimo Ultra Watch, which is so thin it looks like reality's warping:The sandblasted titanium watch is just 1.8mm thick, and the band is even thinner at 1.5mm."Octo Finissimo Ultra watch with mechanical manufacture ultra-thin movement, manual … | Continue reading
Imagine releasing a product today with the name "Baby Gays." 100 years ago, that's what the world's first mass-produced cotton swabs were called. (The name was later changed to "Q-Tips.")How to Make Baby GaysCotton swabs consist of two parts: The spindle and the absorbent stuff a … | Continue reading
The trend right now is for sleek, minimal desks with no drawers. But people still need storage, which has led to aftermarket add-on designs like Zenlet's Rack Series and Otis Racks"Zenlet's Rack Series Otis Racks The latest we've seen is this Extended Drawer, by industrial design … | Continue reading
Designers at Hyundai and its luxury spin-off, Genesis, have been doing some interesting things lately, but I'm iffy on this one. This week Genesis began U.S. sales of their fully-electric GV60......which has a new design for the shifter that they're calling Crystal Sphere. Down i … | Continue reading
Thanks to everyone who tuned in to yesterday's Core77 Crash Course, where McKay Nilson of Smart Design shared his hard-won tips on how to nail Keyshot lighting. Now that he's demystified Keyshot's HDRI editor, showed you how he tweaks 3-point lighting and revealed the post-proces … | Continue reading
Fancy a bike computer, but don't want the bulk? The CoreCap is a minimal alternative that slides right into your mountain bike's steerer tube and looks like it was meant to be there. "Easy installation with no tools or modifications to your bike," writes Core Bike Components, the … | Continue reading
This is incredibly smart design. The Schnozzel Pumpbag, by camping gear manufacturer Exped, is about as simple, low-tech and lightweight as you can get. For campers with inflatable sleeping pads, you can either add weight to your kit by carrying an air pump, or you can inflate th … | Continue reading
CP Football Boots are a concept by industrial designer Yoosung Kim, who's currently pursuing his Masters of Product Design at Switzerland's ECAL. Kim learned that players in South Korea's CP (Cerebral Palsy) football league often struggle with their footwear. When shoelaces come … | Continue reading
My wife and I recycle religiously, even though it doesn't work. I'm not sure why we bother. In any case, our local situation requires dropping various items off at three separate facilities, with the recyclables separated into seven categories: Glass, hard plastic, plastic films, … | Continue reading
This is a brilliant idea from design consultancy Amron Experimental. Called "Amazon After," the concept is based on the real fact that Amazon has a record of everything you've ever bought from them. They know how much everything cost, and they can figure out how much everything's … | Continue reading
This amazing, rideable work of art was created by Wayne Buys, a South-Africa-based custom motorcycle fabricator.Buys' shop is called FabMan Creations, and though it's based out of his home's garage, as you can see he's got world-class skills. The bike is a BMW R nineT, but nearly … | Continue reading
Earlier we looked at a human-powered laundry object, the Breathing Mobile Washer. Here we see how the Shakers tackled this, with this object in the collection of the Shaker Museum:"Simple but sophisticated mechanism for a washing machine operated by hand. Mechanism constructed of … | Continue reading
Here are three different design approaches towards the same goal: Returning a basketball to someone taking practice shots, so they don't have to chase the ball each time.The oldest of the three designs (judging by the video quality) is this simple, plastic Ballback Pro:This SKLZ … | Continue reading
You know the cliché about people who have near-death experiences, but survive and start living wild, to make the most out of life? Maybe the same thing applies to rental car companies. During the pandemic they were so desperate for cash that they started selling off their fleets. … | Continue reading