When I spotted these T_Lex objects on Japanese industrial designer Takeshi Nishio's website……I figured Ah, he's come up with sawhorses you can make when you have plywood, but don't have dimensional lumber. And they're flatpack to boot, probably convenient in a small workshop.Howe … | Continue reading
Many folks dreamt of becoming entrepreneurs during the pandemic. Industrial designer Kristen Smith actually did it, ditching her gig with a consumer products company to start her own business with her husband."Tapping" into a bit of poetry, Smith designed a series of two-piece ri … | Continue reading
The Butterfly Cup is a food-grade paper beverage cup with an integrated lid. The French-fry-container-like shape allows the top flaps to be folded in, forming a seal, and at the corner leaves a little spout you can sip from, eliminating the need for a straw:It can be used for bot … | Continue reading
Design entrepreneurs: I know it's a terrible time to scale up production, but this week Walmart announced they're holding an Open Call, seeking "Small business owners and entrepreneurs with a dream of selling their U.S. made, grown or assembled products to millions of customers." … | Continue reading
This iPad stand isn't new, but it's certainly the most unique I've ever seen:Unsurprisingly it was designed in Switzerland, and is manufactured in Germany and Italy. I can't take my eyes off of the thing, even as logic tells me there's no way it would retain its positions with th … | Continue reading
"We are breaking with the norm and rethinking the concept of living spaces," writes Berlin-based homeware company Atoll. "How do we want to live, work and eat in the future?"Atoll is betting that in the future we'll want to cook on the same surface we eat off of. To that end they … | Continue reading
The last time we saw inflatable furniture, it was by French manufacturer Mojow:The inflatable parts of Mojow's pieces are made of TPU with a UV-resistant coating. But Eindhoven-based designer Satomi Minoshima has an alternate idea for a more durable material for inflatable furnit … | Continue reading
As we all know, Plexiglas a/k/a acrylic sheets are expensive. Well, if you can live with some scuffs and scrapes, the market (or possibly landfill) is about to be awash in them. This week grocery chain Publix announced they're taking down their COVID cashier and pharmacy shields … | Continue reading
I want to say that this does not apply to designers, but let me know what you think:On a recent episode of the Wood Talk podcast, hosts Mark Spagnuolo and Shannon Rogers confessed that once they draw up a design in CAD, and see their object on the screen, it actually saps their d … | Continue reading
This morning I set out to find how mattresses were recycled, and here's what I learned.Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill are medium-sized Massachusetts cities with three things in common: "High poverty rates, low educational attainment levels, and a strong manufacturing heritage." … | Continue reading
Nichole Rouillac is a diehard believer in the power of design as an agent for change, and yet, she still sees much work to be done to improve the design industry's output and impact as a whole. As founder of her own San Francisco-based studio level, she strives to run a design st … | Continue reading
I thought this was a toy, but I was wrong. The Pocket Shot is an inventive reimagining of the slingshot, replacing the Y-shaped handle with a ring, and replacing the sling with a sort of latex sock. And good golly this thing looks dangerous, particularly with the steel shot they … | Continue reading
You've probably seen one of these cheapie $40-$50 drill guides before, that promise to let you drill perfectly plumb into workpieces when you don't have a drill press:I could use that in my shop, but they tend to not get great reviews, and I'm skeptical that they work well.Woodpe … | Continue reading
The design/build firm I'm working for doesn't have a drone, so we rely heavily on Google satellite images of the houses we're working on. But sometimes the level of detail leaves something to be desired, and/or we only have access to old imagery that doesn't account for recent up … | Continue reading
When's the last time you saw a new wheeled vehicle, designed from the ground-up, with no predecessor to reference and inspire the form? Astrolab, a startup founded by spaceflight robotics engineer Jaret Matthews, shows us one with their FLEX prototype, an optionally-autonomous ut … | Continue reading
Japanese chair researcher Takaaki Nishikawa and woodworker/designer Shigeru Sakamoto co-authored a photo-heavy $38 book called "Anatomical Views of Masterpiece Chairs." Designed for those seeking to restore or repair midcentury modern classics, the book is filled with detailed ph … | Continue reading
Thanks to the 20-year trend cycle, the 2000s are cool again. While Uggs, Crocs, and obsessive branding have been popular for a few years, the quiet of the pandemic pushed them fully back into the mainstream. After a decade of minimal aesthetics, trend hunters are longing for bold … | Continue reading
Exhibit Design is a course taught within many Industrial Design programs, including the one I went through at Pratt. (In fact the ED course directly led to my first job offer, giving me a soft spot for the sub-field.) So I was interested to learn that there's one design school in … | Continue reading
In the realm of active seating, Italian industrial designer Giorgio Gurioli designed this experimental Bikechair:3D printed in ABS, the chair provides one leg while yours are meant to take up the slack.This begs the question: How does the chair stay standing when unused? The answ … | Continue reading
As designers working for Dyson, UK-based Kate and Gavin Christman worked for a company dedicated to keeping indoor spaces clean. But now the Christmans have started their own company, Green&Blue, and it's dedicated to attracting bugs to our homes.To explain, the Christmans observ … | Continue reading
Good news, folks. Glad Products has figured out a way to combine our society's most favorite things: Generating garbage, and fashion.Glad's ForceFlexPlus Cherry Blossom Bag—"the most extra trash bag ever"--uses pink plastic for style, and adds chemicals that smell like cherry blo … | Continue reading
Sweden-based Daniel Rybakken designed this unlikely-looking Counterbalance wall-mounted lamp for Luceplan: "Positioned as desired in space, the essential Counterbalance LED lamp, with its position variation, suggests the dynamic equilibrium of a sculptural mobile. Equipped with a … | Continue reading
When I think of underwater exploration vehicles, I picture the insect-like Deep Rover that James Cameron was cruising around in, looking at the wreckage of the Titanic.But now that underwater vehicles don't have to (and perhaps shouldn't) carry humans anymore, the form factors ca … | Continue reading
Thanks to the 20-year trend cycle, the 2000s are cool again. While Uggs, Crocs, and obsessive branding have been popular for a few years, the quiet of the pandemic pushed them fully back into the mainstream. After a decade of minimal aesthetics, trend hunters are longing for bold … | Continue reading
This month the Endurance22 Expedition discovered the Endurance, Sir Ernest Shackleton's lost expedition ship, which sank in the Antarctic 107 years ago. Lying nearly 10,000 feet beneath the surface, it is shockingly well-preserved:I was even more surprised to find that there's fi … | Continue reading
Now that they've joined the WIPO's Hague System, China should begin cracking down on design pirates within their borders. They should also do more to promote homegrown talents like Cui Zhihua, an industrial designer who runs a design research studio in Jingdezhen, a porcelain-pro … | Continue reading
If you've ever taught someone to drive a car, you know that feeling of an unpleasantly abrupt stop; to a novice, the brake pedal is basically an on/off switch. When my dad taught me to drive back in the '80s, he stressed: As you press the brake and the car | Continue reading
Copenhagen-based Jonas Lind-Bendixen is the guy that invented the Sitpack portable seating device. Back in 2014 it was a Kickstarter smash, landing about $150k. His follow-up Sitpack Zen did even better on the platform, netting nearly $520k. Now JLB's back with another follow-up, … | Continue reading
To raise funds for Ukrainian support, Polish illustrator Pawel Jonca created this image of Russia as a red bear, about to step on a certain sharp brick toy we all know, with the Ukrainian flag's colors: "You can get the poster here, by paying ANY a mount to | Continue reading
This handsome piece of furniture makes me wish I played the guitar. Solo, by Yamaha Design Lab, is a stool that doubles as a guitar stand. "Each of the three legs has its own branch. Two branches work as a guitar support and the remaining one is a footrest | Continue reading
Architect and design researcher Dr. Ahmed Kamal Ali is the founder/director of the Resource-Based Design Research Lab at Texas A&M University. And he struggles with something involving his work: ""I love waste because I make use of it," he told Texas A&M Today, "but I also hate i … | Continue reading
Here's an interesting concept for a modular structure, though I'm not sure where it fits within the marketplace of easy-to-assemble buildings: Camping? Disaster relief? Temporary housing? Living quarters for remote workers? In any case, the $7,500 Quick Cabin is a 10x10 structure … | Continue reading
Honda and Sony have both released statements confirming they're in the process of forming a joint venture, to be solidified by this year, to produce electric cars together. They plan to roll out their first models in 2025. "This alliance aims to bring together Honda's mobility de … | Continue reading
Debbie Millman's new anthology, "Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People" is out right now. And wow, was it ever worth the wait. | Continue reading
Here's an interesting furniture/materials experiment, done by four students (Chen-Yu Shih, Shin-Chi Yang, Bo-Cheng Guo and Jie-Yi Chen) from the Product Design Department at the Tainan University of Technology in Taiwan. The idea behind this GanDan Bench was to design a piece of … | Continue reading
Image: Gerald Schömbs on Unsplash Sharkskin is crazy stuff, covered in what's called dermal denticles. Seen through a scanning electron microscope, those denticles look like this: Image: Pascal Deynat/Odontobase, CC BY-SA 3.0 As if their teeth weren't bad enough, even their skin … | Continue reading
Wavecel Technologies shows the importance of protecting against rotational forces | Continue reading
Clever college students reportedly figured out how to beat it | Continue reading
Prowl Studio will teach you how to get buy-in from clients and co-workers | Continue reading
Industrial designer Alberto Ghirardelli, who runs an eponymous design studio in Milan, has an undeniably quirky style. His Jetlag wall clock (designed after his girlfriend temporarily moved to Japan) covers two time zones, and can be hung in either portrait or landscape positions … | Continue reading
Years ago at a party someone asked me what I did for work, and I said structural package design. They said "huh?" and I explained that I designed bottles. The person pointed to the bottom of the booze bottle they were holding and drinking straight from (it was that kind | Continue reading
They couldn't stand upright, and this was a design decision | Continue reading
The founder of Gantri and 2022 Core77 Design Awards Furniture & Lighting Jury Captain talks sustainable manufacturing and the future of production with us i | Continue reading
Here's a great example of a designer wielding minimal materials in such a way as to wring structure out of them. "The Bevel series is entirely made out of thin plywood," writes Berlin-based product designer Martha Schwindling. "Its stability comes from the sophisticated cutting a … | Continue reading
There's a great little detail on this DTN table, designed by Hajime Kumazawa: Simple, thoughtful and useful. Additionally, two of the legs are up on casters, as the table was designed for use in flexible spaces like meeting rooms and cafeterias. | Continue reading
Automotive blogs are currently hullabalooing about the design of Polestar's new O2 concept, and rightfully so; it's a sexy-looking vehicle. (And it's got that onboard drone.) However, what was of far greater interest to me was the screentime Polestar gave in the release | Continue reading
Their proposed use case for it is silly. Here are some better ideas | Continue reading