Underground bike storage systems, like those seen in Japan, are amazing. But they obviously require a massive amount of excavation and construction.A Swiss company called V-Locker has designed an easier-to-implement solution. The company has developed tower modules containing bik … | Continue reading
Russian artist Canyaon skewers both sneaker culture and the aesthetics of various subcultures with his absurdist footwear concepts: Nike Grapes Adidas Neighborhood Watchers ESports Custom Mercedes-Benz Sneakers There's a ton more on his Instagram. | Continue reading
An old-school construction trick used in Japan, the Swiss Alps, and probably other places, is to hold roofing down using heavy rocks.UK-based design/research/building firm Material Cultures used this technique, as well as timber framing, in building this Rock Hut for client Grize … | Continue reading
Jørn Utzon is the Danish architect best known for designing the Sydney Opera House. That was a 16-year ordeal, beginning with winning a design competition in 1957, then being unpleasantly confronted with engineering challenges, ballooning costs and politically-motivated personal … | Continue reading
In order to manufacture the clothes we wear, things have to be pulled out of the ground. Plants for fibers, petroleum for technical fabrics. But a startup called Human Material Loop has a more sustainable idea: To create textiles out of human hair."Every day, hundreds of tonnes o … | Continue reading
In mid-20th-century Europe, Margerete Jahny belonged to a rare demographic of industrial designer: She was an East German female. And according to design historian Günter Höhne, she was the first East German industrial designer, of any gender, with a university education.The Germ … | Continue reading
These curious looking vintage "road glasses" were made by Kasper & Richter, a German manufacturer of precision instruments. They were designed for driving in bad weather, in the days when enclosed cars were a novelty. I am so curious to try a pair on to see what can actually be s … | Continue reading
Swiss toymaker Naef has been manufacturing this Cella toy since 1967.It was designed by German polymath Peer Klahsen, whose career has included stints in carpentry, furniture design, fine art, architecture and writing. "He has a brilliant mind with an excellent mathematical-geome … | Continue reading
Previously we looked at Astrolab's FLEX, a vehicle with no design predecessor. Intended for lunar exploration, the utilitarian two-person vehicle was designed for NASA.Now NASA's announced they've selected an additional two companies to develop additional Lunar Terrain Vehicles f … | Continue reading
Asahikawa, Hokkaido has been a furniture-producing center for Japan for decades. The furniture industry produces a lot of wooden offcuts. How can you turn those offcuts into more revenue?Since 1955, the Tomiya company has been producing these Kuma Bokko*, tiny carved bears made f … | Continue reading
This bathroom cabinetry is by Thomas Longuefosse, an ébéniste (cabinetmaker) based in the Basque Country.Longuefosse has been taken by the art of kumiko, and practices it in his spare time. "The Japanese have a very particular way of working," he writes, "and very different from … | Continue reading
This stunning Cocoda Chair, Special Edition was designed by master furniture craftsman Shigeki Matsuoka. It is produced by Matsuoka's company, Studio Toda (and is an alternate take on their "standard," symmetrical Cocoda Chair). Aesthetically it takes a lot of risks, from the asy … | Continue reading
Meyer-Hayoz is an industrial design and engineering firm based in Winterthur, Switzerland. They've created this designey Tomorrow laundry drying rack for Stewi, a Swiss manufacturer of laundry drying products:"Our cooperation with Stewi is characterised by the guiding idea of imp … | Continue reading
If you're not in the path of today's total solar eclipse, you can still watch it live, thanks to NASA. They're broadcasting live views of the eclipse from multiple locations across its path. The broadcast, embedded below, will go live at 1pm EDT:If for some reason the embed's not … | Continue reading
North Carolina has a lot of clay, and it's where Japanese ceramic artists Hitomi and Takuro Shibata are based. Together they run Studio Touya, producing pieces using wild clays and wood firing techniques.They've built several kilns for their work, but the most impressive is their … | Continue reading
In the hilly terrain of southern China, ancient ceramicists designed a special type of kiln that worked with the terrain. These Dragon Kilns, which date back 2,000 to 3,000 years, ran up a hill in a long, snakelike form. Image: Shanghai Museum Image: Wuxi Daily Not only have some … | Continue reading
Here's what we looked at this week:Ringbot is a robot with a bizarre form factor: One hubless wheel and two "legs. Logitech's well-designed, easy-to-open clamshell packaging is a revelation.BYD's Yangwang U8: A $155,000 electric luxury SUV with an emergency flotation feature. … | Continue reading
The Palm Plug is a virtual reality hand tracker and guider dreamt up by entrepreneur Ola Adesan. Adesan turned to industrial design and engineering firm Hatch Duo to realize the product, which is geared towards learning to play a musical instrument. As the firm explains:The Palm … | Continue reading
Adrien Rovero, a Swiss industrial designer who runs his own firm in Renens, designed this cheeky VD003 bike rack:"VD003 is a car-shaped bicycle rack which holds six bikes in the space that one car would take up. It was designed to sensibilize car users to the space a car occupies … | Continue reading
Designing gas station bathrooms might seem beneath the average Swiss architect. But "We want to be free to build what people really need," Jeanne Wéry told HochParterre, "and not sink under the pressure of architecture as a financial business. We want to flirt with the boundaries … | Continue reading
With his Dedicate Lamp, industrial designer Thomas Bentzen sought to update the archetypal architect's lamp with some UX improvements. "It's all about achieving a truly smooth movement," he says. "When you grab it and pull it towards you, it shouldn't tilt; it should feel sturdy … | Continue reading
The last time we looked in on jet suit company Gravity Industries, the UK's Royal Marines were using their jet suits to board a ship. More recently the company made the news for a non-military happening: They've held their inaugural Jet Suit Race in Dubai, hoping to generate some … | Continue reading
I live in a rural American county where police are few, but the speed limit is enforced by deer. The sheer amount of dead roadside deer keeps body shops in business and the local vulture population fed, but it's still sad to see. In Australia, it's kangaroos that are getting hit … | Continue reading
Something civilians might not grasp is how radically cheap drones are changing the face of warfare. Years ago the U.S. dominated this space with $40 million Predator drones. Now underfunded combatants—ISIS, Hamas, the Ukraine—can pick up a DJI drone for a couple hundred bucks and … | Continue reading
Danish designer Poul Henningson's PH 5 pendant lamp is so iconic… …it's easy to forget that it wasn't a standalone object; it was part of a series incorporating Henningson's very specific arrangement of shades.Image: Nasjonalmuseet/Bjørgli, Annar - CC BY 4.0 "PH did not just desi … | Continue reading
This Instahanger is a hanging rod that folds against the wall. It can hold up to 60 lbs.They also make a door-hanging version, which makes sense for a closet door… …but mounting one in a high-traffic area seems like a mistake. Overall the idea is neat, though I think the executio … | Continue reading
This male urinal bottle has had some design thought put into it.The lid is glow-in-the-dark. The shape and handle placement make it both easy to fill and empty, the latter of which you can see in the demo video below. What I think is the best feature, is that it has been designed … | Continue reading
As with the EDC market, the fitness market is awash in gizmos with curious forms. Like these things:Those are called Swissies, and if they were to survive for centuries, future archaeologists would have fun trying to figure out what they were used for.Perhaps they could guess by … | Continue reading
The hi-tech counterpart to the Victorian-era creel is this automated laundry rack. Manufactured by Singapore-based Good Living, it's meant to appeal to that city's denizens, who live in space-tight conditions. This rack has no footprint at all, as it retracts into the ceiling; wh … | Continue reading
To the Victorians, the widespread availability of metal casting must've seemed like 3D printing today; now alluva sudden manufacturers could create new, fanciful, elaborate forms that would be difficult to make using previous means. In 1800s England this cast iron thing, known as … | Continue reading
This unusual-looking piece of cabinetry…Image: Dr. Galen R. Frysinger …is a retractable drying rack, used by the Shakers in their laundry facilities. The one above is located at the Shaker Village in Canterbury, New Hampshire.Here's a shot of the drying racks at the Wash House of … | Continue reading
You could be forgiven for thinking these cast aluminum pieces are trivets… …but in fact they're rope connectors. The friction of the ropes hold them in place. These doodads are a knot-free way to make a climbing net, like you'd see at a playground (or perhaps at the American Ninj … | Continue reading
No fooling, there are some great Industrial Design Jobs out there right now and many of the finest popped-up on Coroflot over the past week or so. Here is a collection of roles that you may be interested in:Junior Product Designer at Infantino"We are looking for a Junior Product … | Continue reading
The first piece of wooden "furniture" was undoubtedly a fallen tree trunk, with some Homo Erectus using it to take a load off. Ergonomically speaking, it wouldn't have been a bad choice, as Dutch industrial designer Ruud-Jan Kokke learned. While speaking with orthopedic surgeon P … | Continue reading
Chinese EV automaker BYD has an upscale brand called Yangwang ("looking up"). They've unveiled this Yangwang U8, a luxury SUV available as a plug-in hybrid or pure electric:I'm surprised by how rational, ordered, and clean the design is. While the company doesn't have the track r … | Continue reading
My PC's mouse quit on me in the middle of a project, and I had to run out for a replacement. The only mouse available at my local Walmart (made by a company I've heard of, anyway) was this guy:I hate clamshell packaging, and was about to grab tinsnips when I spotted these arrows … | Continue reading
"Wheels and legs each have their advantages, so why not combine both?" writes the Electrical & Computer Engineering department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. That's where associate professor Joohyung Kim developed this Ringbot, a robot with a bizarre form factor: … | Continue reading
Here's what we looked at this week:Alternative form factors: Non-wrist-based watches by the Dakota Watch Company. Zippsafe: A Swiss design for a space-saving locker room, using textile "lockers" rather than metal.The Hydra, by industrial design firm Diwiz, is a modern, three- … | Continue reading
Here's the craziest industrial designer bio I've ever come across.At age 16, Josef Hurka was forced to work in a Nazi coal mine. It's 1941, and Germany has invaded Hurka's native Czechoslovakia. Hurka smuggles dynamite out of the mine for the Czech resistance.After the war ends, … | Continue reading
Yo-Kai Express is a "food tech" startup that develops meal vending machines. "This innovative platform dishes out fresh, gourmet food with over 30 options, 24 hours a day, and all without human contact," writes industrial design consultancy Spanner, who was hired to revamp YKE's … | Continue reading
Here's an interesting alternative to an established manufacturing solution.CNC mills use spinning bits to remove material. This material comes off in the form of tiny chips. These chips must be evacuated, to avoid clogging the worksurface and potentially jamming or overheating th … | Continue reading
Shop owner Aaron Cohen runs Gracie's Ice Cream, located in Somerville, Massachusetts. Cohen recently posted this photo to the shop's Instagram with the following query:"Imagine you own an ice cream shop and the thermostat on your dipping cabinet, which is the freezer ice cream is … | Continue reading
This simple pine wall rack was used to hang coats in a French ski resort in the 1960s. Not just any ski resort: The Les Arcs resort in Savoie, famously designed by Charlotte Perriand leading a team of fellow architects.Perriand was known for her minimalist style, and I'm smitten … | Continue reading
With degrees in both business administration and software engineering, Julian Secomb is an unlikely cabinetmaker. Yet he's spent over a decade earning his living by building furniture.One of Secomb's gigs was building cabinetry into private jets for Bombardier. That acquainted hi … | Continue reading
Two years ago, British inventor Tristan Thompson (not the Cleveland Cavaliers player) created an Invisibility Shield, Kickstarting it with £446,676 in pledges. (That's about USD $565,000.) Now Thompson says he's improved the design, making it larger and more comfortable to carry, … | Continue reading
After a long pause during the pandemic, SVA Made in Yame returns with its unique opportunity to study traditional craft in Japan and present product ideas to the MoMA Design Store for production. Open to students and design professionals, the program covers a dozen crafts and imm … | Continue reading
An industrial designer can't be expected to imagine every offline consideration of what they design, right?Think of those ultra-thin, presumably titanium eyeglasses that you picture Swiss architects wearing. Now imagine one of them puts it down on a patterned tablecloth or bedspr … | Continue reading
I think this project illustrates the difficulties of trying to reconcile industrial design with social issues. Called Urin*alle, it was done by Leonie Roth and Luisa Tschumi while studying Industrial Design at Switzerland's Basel Academy of Art and Design."Urin*alle is a waterles … | Continue reading