Because rockets occasionally blow up on the launchpad, It's not a good idea to have buildings nearby. That's why the facilities where astronauts—and recently, space tourists—suit up is down the road a ways from the actual pad.Thus vehicles are needed to get them there. Jeff Bezos … | Continue reading
Another object in the "I'm sad this exists, but I see why it exists" category: This Sanizone tool, designed for arthritic people who cannot easily peel the seals on yogurt packages, sour cream containers and the like.It's also got this lamprey-like feature for aiding in the remov … | Continue reading
It's enough to make me wish I'd hung on to mine. Faced with a mountain of CD jewel cases, industrial designer Josh Owen came up with a way to repurpose them:"With the steady dematerialization of CD based data storage, much of the packaging associated with these items has begun to … | Continue reading
Something we've seen a lot of: New industrial designers desperate to leave their mark, designing yet another soap holder, key ring, titanium pen, fidget spinner, et cetera. In contrast, Paris-based Studio Extrude, started by a quartet of young designers, uses their skills to make … | Continue reading
Industrial designers Gilli Kuchik and Ran Amitai designed Elastic Hinge, a metal-free alternative to eyeglass hinges. "Through the examination of various folding techniques from different fields," the duo writes, "we found ourselves inspired by the structure of tent rods and appl … | Continue reading
Italian industrial designer Viviana Degrandi designed this Drop colander, which is meant as an alternative to a salad spinner (and has less parts).While it won't wash a salad big enough for four, it's designed to be loaded with berries, cherry tomatoes, herbs or greens. Once load … | Continue reading
The layperson may hear "fire engine" and think of a single vehicle type. In actuality the term refers to a variety of truck forms holding different types of equipment, each ordered according to a specific department's needs and customized by the manufacturer. That takes time, and … | Continue reading
The fun of a physical toy is touching and manipulating it. However, robot manufacturer Robosen is betting that there's a market for people who want a Transformer, and want it to transform without having to touch the thing.The company has apparently licensed the Optimus Prime desi … | Continue reading
Furniture and accessories manufacturer Bauhutte understands that their offerings are decadent; translating their product copy from Japanese into English yields the phrases "corrupted life," "forbidden" and "self-degrading." Perhaps that's why they can sell, with a straight face, … | Continue reading
This is one of those objects that makes me despair at the current state of product design and consumerism. On the one hand, I don't doubt that this Bobbin system delivers pleasure to its target market. On the other hand, it's a bunch of plastic stuff. The Bobbin system allows cra … | Continue reading
"Rules and regulations are wasted on Joep van Lieshout," reads the Dutch artist's website. "Ever since becoming a professional artist in the 1980s, he has attacked the art world's conventions."In this instance, van Lieshout's toying with a furniture design convention. Inspiration … | Continue reading
As with Herman Miller and their OE1 Micro Packs, Steelcase also recognizes that offices are changing. Permanent desks and dedicated spaces are disappearing, and the company sees a need to provide momentary perches for perambulating workers, rather than chairs that they plant them … | Continue reading
Following a neck injury that required surgery, Argentina-based Bruno Hernán Gallo began looking for a laptop stand to ergonomically ease his long office hours. "I couldn't find any that I liked," he writes. "I found them boring, plastic, and unoriginal."After spending "Many weeks … | Continue reading
When the Pompidou Center opened in France in 1977, it was called an "inside-out" building as it wears its mechanical systems on its façade:Image: Reinraum, CC BY-SA 3.0 In 1978, Italian writing utensil brand Parafernalia commissioned industrial designer Sergio Carpani to design a … | Continue reading
Michael Hilgers runs an eponymous design studio in Berlin. The architect's specialty is space-saving furniture, which incidentally stands out from the crowd. His Cake Desk features a surprising hidden worksurface:His Corner Collection of furniture embraces their triangular footpr … | Continue reading
Danish designer Christian Juhl's U1 Stool, for furniture brand Ingvard Christensen, has a joinery method borrowed from canning jars and bottles:"I was investigating different types of hinges," writes Juhl, "and considered the latch hinge to be an easily attachable, durable and fa … | Continue reading
Exotic car manufacturers have long tuned their I.C.E. exhaust notes, creating that thrilling intangible that adds to the driving experience. But what do you do when the car is electric? The Pininfarina Battista, which the company bills as "the world's first pure electric hyper GT … | Continue reading
The chatter of a rewinding VCR cassette, an AOL Instant Messenger notification, a skipping CD, Pac-Man, Space Invaders. Some of these are sounds you've not heard in years or decades, and may never again—except that Brendan Chilcutt has preserved them in his online Museum of Endan … | Continue reading
Sign of the times: Tool manufacturers used to make just tools, but now they hawk non-tool items that make construction workers' jobs more pleasant, too. Every manufacturer from DeWalt to Festool has a jobsite radio, and cordless cooling fans have popped up in recent years. The la … | Continue reading
3D printing and department stores don't sound like a natural fit. But Selfridges, a British chain, has launched a pop-up shop in London that features a towering 3D printing robot arm as the main attraction. The pop-up shop is called SUPERMARKET, and the idea is to portray "an ear … | Continue reading
While there's been no official word from Nike, the sneakerhead rumor mill says the Air Force 1 Low will be released this year, with a rather unusual swoosh:Yes, those are carabiners, held onto the shoe with elastic loops. Work the carabiners loose and then you can, I dunno, hang … | Continue reading
Motorcycle jacks come in different varieties……but what they have in common is that they're not easy to transport. Marine Fondin, an Industrial Design student at Switzerland's ECAL, tackled this problem for her recent U-Lift project."The workshop stand is a product that is systema … | Continue reading
"We are now living in a world of a rapidly aging population, one that demands us to rethink existing life patterns," writes Lucerne-based product designer Sarah Hossli. "How must we adapt homes and urban spaces to ensure that all members of society can live in a self-reliant and … | Continue reading
In America we have retirement homes and daycare centers. We take it for granted that these are separate facilities. It takes the Swiss to ask: Why? Generationenhaus Neubad (Generation House Neubad) in Basel is both, to the benefit of both the children and the elderly.Each weekday … | Continue reading
Fun fact: The first product sold by the Heinz company back in the 1800s wasn't ketchup, but horseradish sauce. And it was sold as a dry powder; the user mixed it with water themselves to make the actual sauce.Today Heinz sells hundreds of millions of ketchup bottles a year, all m … | Continue reading
For our upcoming Core77 Crash Course, 3D printing expert Akaki Kuumeri will explore the details of creating flexures in 3D printed parts. Done properly, these can turn hard plastic into compliant mechanisms that act like springs and hinges with a wide range of motion.In his own p … | Continue reading
Even with a dedicated pet bed, cats will of coursea sleep anywhere and everywhere. This prompted a research group at Japan's Hosei University to wonder if we humans would be better or worse off if we followed suit.To conduct the study, student Yuri Nakahashi--who owns five cats—r … | Continue reading
In the mid-1980s, to harvest sustainable energy Tasmania embarked on a massive hydroelectric dam project on the Pieman River. The area targeted to be turned into a lake held valuable timber, and loggers tried to harvest it before the dam's completion; but the inaccessibility of t … | Continue reading
As an example of doing more with less, Vienna-based industrial designer Rainer Mutsch designed these Alva shelves using thin, unlikely-looking strips of wood for the structure. "The design takes the material to its limits by utilising the torsional strength of wood to create a st … | Continue reading
These toys from Germany might not pass American safety rules (I have an ID friend in toy design, and she says the U.S. regulations are considerable), but they do have a tactile appeal."The NINI AMICI are small toy friends made of elm wood. The 10-piece modular toy set uses a magn … | Continue reading
Like The Shadey (above), this "product design" below is probably not going to make it into the MoMA. Yet another symptom of something amiss in our society, it's a $22 "phone umbrella suction cup stand" consisting of a silicone piglet with a suction cup for a head and a size XL co … | Continue reading
The future leaders of design will be multi-disciplinary individuals who carve unique spaces for themselves and support their communities through education and advocacy. Kevin Bethune serves as a great example with his work as Founder and Chief Creative Officer of dreams · design … | Continue reading
In the mid-1980s, to harvest sustainable energy Tasmania embarked on a massive hydroelectric dam project on the Pieman River. The area targeted to be turned into a lake held valuable timber, and loggers tried to harvest it before the dam's completion; but the inaccessibility of t … | Continue reading
You might spot a bizarre tabletop like this on an antiques site, like 1st Dibs:So that's called a "Riddling table," and was reportedly invented by Madame Clicquot (as in Veuve Clicquot) for wine-finishing purposes, some 200 years ago. "Riddling" is the process of allowing the yea … | Continue reading
This is striking. Posted by a parent in Texas, this video shows her daughter, born in 2020, who thinks everything is a hand sanitizing station:I realize she's just aping her parents, but what a crazy thing to see.The video is apparently from earlier this year, and the mother who … | Continue reading
It's no A$AP Rocky whisky bottle, but Italian dairy purveyor Bonta Divina also provides a package design they hope you'll keep. Their flavored dessert creams come, believe it or not, in a glass vessel (according to Open Food Facts) that can then be re-used as a coffee or espresso … | Continue reading
If you weren't there you may not care, but for those of us in our 50s or a bit under, this Instagram account will give you sharp flashbacks. 90s Art School collects and posts snapshots from that time and place. While some of the photos give some indication that these are art scho … | Continue reading
I thought this Cordage Making Card, which allows you to cut plastic bottles into strips of material for repurposing, would be the most unusual thing I saw today:But then I saw the rest of the what the manufacturer, Grim Workshop, makes. "Turn your wallet into an EDC tool kit," th … | Continue reading
The cam lock nuts championed by Ikea constrain the design potential of any given piece; the connectors only work at butt-joining two pieces at 90 degrees.Typical cam lock nuts Scheulenburg, a German manufacturer of innovative furniture connections, has a more versatile offering. … | Continue reading
In the early 20th Century, a German inventor named Conrad Baumann invented a ratcheting screwdriver, branded Baumann-Weltrecord, with a fold-out handle to provide extra torque.Present-day MetMo is a British company founded by a pair of engineers to manufacture "high-quality curio … | Continue reading
EmergeWhat does it mean to feel connected? The creators of Emerge seek to answer the most compelling question of the COVID-19 era with a device that fuses VR with ultrasonic waves to bring the sensation of touch to virtual experiences. Available on Kickstarter until April 9, its … | Continue reading
The Mogabi is a portable, folding electric guitar that's easier to carry around than the traditional alternative. It can also be played without an amp, and can record using just the tech that's onboard (see video below for a demonstration)."Whether you're on a plane, train, taxi, … | Continue reading
Celebrities like George Clooney, Diddy, Jay-Z and Ryan Reynolds have launched booze brands. The latest is A$AP Rocky, who's taken things a step further and designed the packaging itself for Mercer + Prince, his new line of Canadian whisky.The bottle is glass and the cups are plas … | Continue reading
Here's a highly unusual piece of furniture that demonstrates how our notion of offices is changing. Herman Miller's OE1 Micro Packs, designed by Industrial Facility (a/k/a Sam Hecht and Kim Colin), is for workspaces that no longer have dedicated desks and offices. Instead it's de … | Continue reading
It bugs me to see this label on certain packaged foods, like the plastic film pouches for cheese:These pouches are typically polyethylene, which is technically recyclable. So why the non-recyclable sticker?The industry refers to these types of plastic bags and pouches as FPP (fle … | Continue reading
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I'm digging this quasi-flatpack chair design from Sera Yanagisawa, a designer with no info on his site other than that he attended Tokyo's Musashino Art University. While the occasional chair's form owes a little to Sori Yanagi's Butterfly Stool, it's different enough to be its o … | Continue reading
Just announced: The opening of the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity, a combination museum/learning center "that aims to bring the lessons of Ray and Charles Eames to those looking to solve today's most challenging issues," the organization writes.Curated by archivist Llisa D … | Continue reading