When we're in a rush or distracted, we pile things on | Continue reading
Unveiled at the Auto Shanghai 2021 show was "the most recent example of how some Chinese brands do not feel embarrassed to copy other brand's designs," according to Inside EVs. Behold the Punk Cat, by Chinese manufacturer Ora: The blatant Beetle rip-off is reportedly an | Continue reading
Sneakers having grown into the commodity that they are, Nike now has a Refurbished program, like Apple's, for reselling used product. Sneakers that are in good enough condition to be resold are graded, cleaned up, sanitized, and sold at a discount. Sneakers that have given up the … | Continue reading
The most interesting new design I saw in yesterday's Apple presentation was not their new computing devices (thinner, faster, blah blah blah) but their redesigned Apple TV remote control. As a non-TV-owner, my experience with remote controls has been limited to (pre-pandemic) vis … | Continue reading
Viking Arm is a Norwegian company that has designed an eponymous tool for installers of doors, windows, cabinets, flooring, porches and decks. It features a thin set of jaws that can be used for lifting, pressing and tightening. It's essentially a twist on the trigger-style clamp … | Continue reading
Happy 4/20. Here's a reminder that Houseplant, the marijuana distribution company started by Seth Rogen and creative partner Evan Goldberg, sells product in addition to pot: The Oil Lamp, made "for grown-ass people who like to sit inside and smoke," is a sort of desktop weed smok … | Continue reading
TV of the future, in the front of your car? | Continue reading
A supermax prison, cottagecore, pandemic-inspired food supply, a piece of Apple history | Continue reading
With the pandemic having turned the office furniture market upside down, two industry giants have decided to join forces. This week Herman Miller and Knoll jointly announced that the former will acquire the latter for $1.8 billion, with the deal expected to close in Q3. "This hig … | Continue reading
Japanese manufacturer Hasegawa produces crazy tall ladders (up to 15' in height) with an unusual design: They feature just three points of ground contact, not four, and the base of the step side is splayed like a certain French attraction. "The wide base, deep steps, telescopic b … | Continue reading
Here's an interesting concept for a lamp with an unusual off switch: That was posted to the thinx___ Instagram account, maintained by a Seunghyeon Yoo. I can't find any information about this individual, so I can't tell if he's an ID student or a tinkerer, or if this | Continue reading
The ubiquitous red Solo cup, that staple of backyard barbecues and college keg parties, now has an aluminum challenger. Ball Aluminum is betting that their single-use (or single-event) cup will win customers over because it's sturdier, delivers "superior cold drinks" with a "cold … | Continue reading
It's not that traditional timber-framed structures were designed for disassembly; but because they lack metal fasteners, modern adhesives and cementitious elements, their construction happens to be completely reversible. All of the components are made from wood that slots togethe … | Continue reading
I've been looking at portable work platforms, which would be handy around the farm and a bit safer than ladders. Our friends over at Pro Tool Reviews gave good marks to the ~$100 Werner Adjustable Pro Work Platform… Image: Pro Tool Reviews …but given the lack of flat ground | Continue reading
For his day job, architect and computational designer Greg Blanpied designs bridges for a global engineering firm. But during his off-hours, the digital-fabrication-fluent Blanpied designs these much smaller structures made from laser-cut steel: Their function: "I designed these … | Continue reading
If there's one thing I miss about living in the city, it's getting to make those Urban Design Observations. There isn't much in that arena to see out here. Best I can do is look at certain Instagram accounts, like this one belonging to Dave Britton, who hails from the | Continue reading
As many of us once did, industrial design student Yi-Miao Lai has to haul her markers and colored pencils back and forth from home to school. Thus Lai, who studies at Taiwan's National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, designed a carrying case sized to her studio de … | Continue reading
To a person with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. The exception to the rule is Swiss artist Simon Berger; while trained as a carpenter, he eventually turned his hammer into more of a paintbrush. Berger's technique is to precisely strike panes of glass with a hammer, | Continue reading
Despite not being production-ready and only at the prototype stage, the XION CyberX e-bike is the latest crowdfunding smash. The CyberX is a rectilinear and, to me, underdesigned off-road e-bike with an absurdly long banana seat (well, if bananas were straight) meant to seat two. … | Continue reading
Personal tent company Under the Weather has adapted their products from rain protection in 2017 to COVID protection in 2020. To expand the line, in 2021 they're tackling bugs. UTW's WalkingPod Mesh tents ditch the transparent plastic for fine-gauge mesh, meant to keep | Continue reading
Bang & Olufsen has revealed their new Beosound Emerge, a book-shaped wi-fi speaker designed by Benjamin Hubert and his UK-based design firm, LAYER. In a market where cylinders and spheroids seem like the shape to beat, Hubert's gone with a slim, tower-like form factor just 16.5cm … | Continue reading
Stratasys' VeroUltra 3D printing material is now capable of providing absurdly realistic representations of wood, glass and even LED screens with images on them. Check out some examples below, all of which were created in a single print: Multi-Material Ladle "The VeroUltra materi … | Continue reading
Traditionally, the lowest job on a construction site has been picking up garbage. And in the future, perhaps the new kid will also be tasked with setting up the ramps that allow Baubot, a tracked construction robot, to gain access to the job site. The Baubot | Continue reading
An Austrian company called GentleTent produces inflatable tents specifically for vehicle-based camping. When packed, their GT Pickup tent is a diminutive, 7-inch-tall package that fits neatly in the bed or on your roof bars: Inflated, it expands into a massive dual-chamber tent w … | Continue reading
Here's a clever add-on for bikes that allows you to haul cargo, without much extra legwork. Called the Ein, it's a large polypropylene tub with an aluminum arm that connects to your bike's seat post. The tub sits on a single wheel with a built-in | Continue reading
From the country that brought us the fun-looking off-road SHERP… ...comes another ridiculous-looking all-terrain vehicle that provokes a strong desire to try riding: Inventor Eduard Luzyanin calls it the Homyak (Russian for "hamster"). The vehicle is powered by a 150cc engine yan … | Continue reading
They say the best camera is the one you have with you, and given the ubiquity of smartphones, you'd think the standalone video camera was a dead product category. Surprisingly, however, they still exist--and the form is continuing to evolve. Gudsen Technology, a company that manu … | Continue reading
The Meazor is a digital measuring tool that purports to let you "perform meticulous measuring" with both a roller for tracing, and a laser for scanning. This is how you're meant to use the object, which resembles something Motorola might have designed: The 360-degree laser scanni … | Continue reading
Lightweight, anticorrosive, hypoallergenic, and twice the hardness of pure titanium | Continue reading
A new production method yields fast, detailed parts previously impossible to make from glass | Continue reading
A Montana State Trooper pulled over this Subaru Outback earlier this month: That vehicle, in that condition, had been driving on Interstate 90--on an interstate journey, no less. So how did the driver see? "The driver admitted to traveling across several states in this condition, … | Continue reading
"It is not possible to make detailed judgments by drawing beautiful sketches on paper" | Continue reading
Strangely, this was done for the purpose of exploring other planets | Continue reading
If you've seen a Marvel movie in the past ten years, you've seen the work of NYC-based design firm Perception. They're the ones that designed the crazy holographic UI's used by Tony Stark, Black Panther, the Avengers and others. It looks like an awesome | Continue reading
Despite the "As Seen on TV"-style presentation, this actually seems like a very useful tool for moving heavy pieces of furniture: Less handy is the tool's name: That's the Heavy Furniture Roller Move Tool Pro, sold by Barcelona-based company Sunailoom, which appears to be an impo … | Continue reading
So once again, you caught your little psychopath burning ants in the driveway with a magnifying glass. Why not redirect that toxic toddler energy, and have them magnify the sun's rays to burn sugar instead? It turns out you can actually use this method to make your own candy. And … | Continue reading
Remember that crazy bed made of steel pins that Master Yashida was lying on in The Wolverine? A similar concept could be applied to the bed of an FDM 3D printer, to avoid the need to print support structures. Here's the idea, developed by researchers at the USC | Continue reading
The Shield also features a brake light, theft alarm and find-bike feature | Continue reading
Bernie Bergan's rig doesn't require him to break the wheelchair down | Continue reading
The Scale Collective is a ten-member creative collective based in France. For the Constellations de Metz Festival, a celebration of digital art and music which will hold its fifth edition this summer, Scale created this wonderful kinetic lighting installation called Flux: "Flux i … | Continue reading
I raved about EV startup Alpha's stylishly retro Ace and Jax models when they were unveiled earlier this year. I was also eagerly awaiting the pickup they teased. Well, now they've unveiled the pickup, and it's not what I was hoping for. Called the Wolf, it is | Continue reading
Making the rounds is a Jalopnik entry that ostensibly explains why some truck trailers have quilted doors at the rear: "The quilted steel stops light from reflecting directly backwards. It breaks bright reflections and angles them away from drivers." I understand that quilted sur … | Continue reading
If you told me these were made by Kartell, I'd believe you: These Chroma storage units are actually made by AMAC, a plastics manufacturer that decided to go designey all the way back in the 1960s. (Their M Series of tiny plastic boxes, below) are in the MoMA's | Continue reading
SOAPBOTTLE's new line is entirely recyclable, with the design credentials to back it up. | Continue reading
Over the years we've posted a lot of entries on hooks: A roundup of hooks Another roundup of hooks A roundup of sweet cast-iron hooks Wall hooks by Pedersen + Lennard Wooden hooks by Tirar Natural hooks from trees Brass key hook madness Linde n Sweden's clever hook | Continue reading
I spent much of high school and college working as a waiter, and have rarely seen products designed specifically to make a server's work easier. (One notable exception is this ketchup-marrying gem.) So this ID student project, by Wang Yuwei and Wu Xuanqi from the Department of In … | Continue reading
With the Power Station option, it can even charge other EVs | Continue reading
Dieter Rams might cluck his tongue at the thought, but it would be fun to see a roomful of designers each render what they imagine his personal vehicle ought look like. Upon learning that what he actually drives is a Porsche 993, industrial designer Michael DiTullo rendered up a … | Continue reading