My scout came across the Bob Barker Company, which has nothing to do with the famous game show host, but is instead "The nation's largest detention supplier." What that means is, they sell objects that are used in prisons by inmates or staff. Designing objects for prison use mean … | Continue reading
If you live in a hot climate and grew up watching Cleopatra movies, you might wonder what it's like to be fanned by someone holding a bunch of feathers on a stick. In South Asia, a similar fan existed for centuries and was called a punkah. Made from plant | Continue reading
Before building large objects or structures, we typically model them first, using software simulations to calculate how they'll perform in the real world. This is true even for the gigantic old-school church bells that they cast in foundries. But the simulations are only so accur … | Continue reading
How OneClock utilizes a minimalist design approach—and the help of a Grammy Award-winning musician—to make waking up less exhausting. | Continue reading
The Nature MultiPack system is an alternative to the plastic rings | Continue reading
We all know that our oceans are filled with plastic trash. The Vietnam-based Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development is trying to capture floating waste before it gets there, by using some homegrown design and manufacturing skills. | Continue reading
A DIY technique from the UK makes its way to the 'States | Continue reading
Lego White Noise is "designed to help listeners find a moment of Zen in their day" | Continue reading
Over on the endlessly entertaining "What is This Thing" subreddit, user babblbubblr posted this object: "Does anyone know what this might be for? This is mounted on the stairwell side of our basement door frame. The arms can be pushed up to expand the gap at the bottom | Continue reading
Great design creates an experience so frictionless that users barely have to interact with it | Continue reading
Here's an unusual, large-scale architecture project from Iran that seeks social betterment. Presence in Hormuz is a village designed by Iranian architecture firm ZAV Architects with an unorthodox appearance and mission: Presence in Hormuz is a continuous process aiming at buildin … | Continue reading
I was impressed with how toothbrush manufacturers get the bristles into the heads. But I did not realize that those bristles, and the wire that binds them in place, is what leads them to be rejected by recycling centers. With no easy way to separate those components, toothbrushes … | Continue reading
These might simply be rebranded GloGrips, but you can buy them as standalones | Continue reading
Caldwell Visuals produces "wild, engaging and viral mountain bike video content." The bulk of the UK-based production company's work features adults on well-appointed mountain bikes... ...but for one hilarious video, the team tackled a challenging course on stock, tiny children's … | Continue reading
Norway-based industrial designer Alexander Chappel has completed the fantasy many of us dream of: Organizing all of the contents in the drawers of our workspaces. To do it, he designed an insanely comprehensive system of modular bins that can hold just about anything, and lock in … | Continue reading
In the quest to produce more perfect resin castings, industrial designer Eric Strebel observed how folks who work with concrete and plaster get the bubbles out of their mixtures. He then came up with the idea of vibration casting, and spoke with the lead chemist and a manager at … | Continue reading
Plastic bottle boats, bike rim lighting, rice pot bicycle bells and more | Continue reading
It's a great way to spark heated in-flight arguments between passengers | Continue reading
Aktion Plagiarius is a design awards program that no one wants to win. Every year, however, plenty of folks do--and it's been that way for decades. German industrial designer Rido Busse came up with the idea of a negative award at Frankfurt Fair as far back as 1977, when he | Continue reading
Printing overnight? Cut down on the noise with a concrete paver | Continue reading
Following the observation that Jaguar's resuscitated C-type has a tachometer needle that moves counterclockwise… …reader William Barton explained that the practice was standard operating procedure for old Jags: "Jaguars of the period ran the tachometer cable off of the rear of th … | Continue reading
3D prints can take a long time, leading many to print overnight. But if you've got one in your house, the noise may keep you up; if you live in an apartment, even worse, you may keep the neighbors up. Stefan over at CNC Kitchen has a fix, developed after | Continue reading
3D prints can take a long time, leading many to print overnight. But if you've got one in your house, the noise may keep you up; if you live in an apartment, even worse, you may keep the neighbors up. Stefan over at CNC Kitchen has a fix, developed after | Continue reading
Following the observation that Jaguar's resuscitated C-type has a tachometer needle that moves counterclockwise… …reader William Barton explained that the practice was standard operating procedure for old Jags: "Jaguars of the period ran the tachometer cable off of the rear of th … | Continue reading
Members of the C8 Corvette Owners Facebook group are reporting an unfortunate result of the design of the car's fascia. Look at the lower front corners: Apparently, here's what happens when road debris gets kicked up: Image source Image source The group's members are opining that … | Continue reading
Aktion Plagiarius is a design awards program that no one wants to win. Every year, however, plenty of folks do--and it's been that way for decades. German industrial designer Rido Busse came up with the idea of a negative award at Frankfurt Fair as far back as 1977, when he | Continue reading
An Australian company called FastBrick Robotics has invented what may be an architect's wildest fantasy: The ability to go from a CAD file to a standing structure, with no chance for those pesky human workers to muck up their design. The company's FastBrick Wall System uses the H … | Continue reading
A New Zealand company called Structured Build & Lift Systems has invented a faster, cheaper, safer and easier way of building roofs. Using their set-up, there's no need to hump materials up a ladder, or go up and down one yourself, and no need to set up scaffolding: An | Continue reading
This week Virgin unveiled the design of their Hyperloop pods. The pods were designed by Teague, and have a puzzling feature: The aisle is elevated, meaning you must step down to reach the seats, and step up to get out of them. I can't fathom why they'd | Continue reading
Jaguar Classic, the division of Jaguar Land Rover dedicated to restoring classic Jags, is reopening their small-batch production-from-scratch book. As part of their Continuation program, they'll be building a handful of brand-new C-types based on the 1953 model that won the 24 Ho … | Continue reading
Here's an interesting joinery method: Mexican designer Emiliano Godoy's Polhem Table, which ships flatpacked, employs something like external dovetails to stitch the legs together. While it might take some time to fit each key in place, I'd say Godoy has rather brilliantly design … | Continue reading
Adjustable wrenches are well-used here on the farm, we've got several scattered around the property. They're versatile, but all have the same annoying property: In between each turn of the nut or bolt, you must disengage the jaws to pull the wrench free, reposition it, then retig … | Continue reading
Here's an interesting joinery method: Mexican designer Emiliano Godoy's Polhem Table, which ships flatpacked, employs something like external dovetails to stitch the legs together. While it might take some time to fit each key in place, I'd say Godoy has rather brilliantly design … | Continue reading
Any Art-Deco-era designer would've been thrilled to create these, but the form would have been impossible. Now that low-profile LEDs exist, however, Tokyo/New-York-based designer Nao Tamura can and did design these. These Turn lamps, manufactured by Japanese lighting brand Ambien … | Continue reading
Concord Aerospace sells functional replicas of the Apollo switch panels | Continue reading
3D printing concrete is nascent but promising, offering speed and efficiency. Thus far, however, the structures erected with it have been primitive; while cast concrete's structural properties are well understood, putting it down in layers, as with 3D printing, raises a lot of qu … | Continue reading
A spiral fracture is a particularly nasty injury for human bones. For crustaceans exoskeletons, however, spiral fractures are something like a design feature. That is, they actually make their shells tougher. To explain, lobster, crab and shrimp exoskeletons are made up of chitin … | Continue reading
Things you'd never dream of transporting on a non-cargo bike: Dimensional lumber, a sliding miter saw, a surfboard, a whole 'nother bike. But the Ösa, a utility e-bike by Swedish manufacturer Cake, can carry all of that stuff and more. "While designing the Ösa, CAKE found that | Continue reading
Let's have a look at the faux staked leg detail | Continue reading
Here's a rare example of a metal ergonomic chair designed circa 1920, when wooden furniture was common, and concerns for workers' spinal health was not. Called the Do More Chair, it was designed by the now-defunct Tan-Sad Chair Co. in England. The series of holes in the structura … | Continue reading
Here's a rare example of a metal ergonomic chair designed circa 1920, when wooden furniture was common, and concerns for workers' spinal health was not. Called the Do More Chair, it was designed by the now-defunct Tan-Sad Chair Co. in England. The series of holes in the structura … | Continue reading
Eyewear company Vinylize makes their eyeglass frames from vinyl, harvested from an unusual source: LP records. The frames are cut directly out of pressed LPs. Company founder Zachary Tipton developed the technique roughly 20 years ago, and today oversees production at their facto … | Continue reading
Eyewear company Vinylize makes their eyeglass frames from vinyl, harvested from an unusual source: LP records. The frames are cut directly out of pressed LPs. Company founder Zachary Tipton developed the technique roughly 20 years ago, and today oversees production at their facto … | Continue reading
FPV drone pilot Benoit Finck captures a spectacular view of Mont Saint-Michel | Continue reading
As a child who liked puzzles, Savva Osipov was 12 years old when he had a thought: Wouldn't it be cool if each square on a Rubik's Cube was actually a tiny screen? Kids probably have thoughts like that all the time. However, it just so happens that Savva's dad, | Continue reading