- Electrolux has announced they've created a vacuum cleaner made from "used products such as hair dryers, vacuum cleaners and computers [originating] from Nordic households." As you can see, there's no sexy hero shot of the finished...
- In seeking to create a lighter and more puncture-resistant inner tube, bicycle tire company Schwalbe ditched butyl rubber, the go-to material. The company's material scientists discovered that TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) was not...
- Here's the Quickdraw Pro, a tape measure with a built-in mark-maker: As my eyes age, the main thing I prize in a tape measure is legibility of the tick marks. Beyond that I've begrudgingly accepted that modern tape measures are...
- In 1973, Dutch filmmaker Samuel Meijering was reportedly "distracted while working on a film script by the clutter on his desk" and started sketching an object to hold errant items. We assume he was inspired by canvas tool rolls. He...
- At design school we used a hot wire to cut blue foam. Since then I've seen a lot of different ways to cut foam , but I'd never seen this one before. It appears to be a dual-wire CNC rig: If any of you can read the characters and/or know...
- If GMC's newly unveiled 2022 Hummer EV Edition 1 is any indication, the future of American car design looks very interesting indeed. While the company has returned to the design well of earlier successes, as many companies have--see the...
- A Halloween-time "candy chute" has existed in New York City for years. Generous second-story resident Chris Baier, who presumably didn't want to prop the front door of the building open for safety reasons, nor have to buzz each kid in,...
- The world waits with bated breath for November. I mean yeah, there's like some kind of political thing that month, but that's also when Sony's vaunted PlayStation 5 will be released. If you're lucky enough to get your hands on one,...
- For DIY'ers, threaded rod can be cut to length with a cheap hacksaw. A jigsaw, bandsaw or reciprocating saw will work too, if you don't mind the sparks. But the problem with all of these approaches is that you must thread the nut on...
- I was searching for images of seating bucks--the prototyping rigs that furniture designers use to work out chair ergonomics--when Google led me astray. Instead I stumbled across a special seat design for the Milwaukee Bucks. Though the...
- The National Archive of Holland has a Flickr account , and one of the albums documents dozens of antique inventions from around the world. These run the gamut from ingenious to pretty nutty. Using bicycle tubes as swimming aids, Germany,...
- This is a "holographic" display made of fan blades: Each blade contains hundreds of LEDs: Here's an explanation of how it works: And here's a demonstration model from HyperVSN , one of the larger players in the space, with each...
- I feel for the product designers here. Imagine busting your ass on a project for months or years, and then it finally gets to market amidst a pandemic that obliterates the need for said object. I'm talking about Samsung's AirDresser , a...
- During my ambulance days, I had to pass a special driver's test before I could take on the driving duties. The hardest part was not what you'd expect--braking, obstacle avoidance, backwards figure-8's around cones--but parking the damn...
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer , by production company Rankin/Bass, is a stop-motion animation classic and the world's longest continuously running Christmas TV special; since its debut in 1964, it's been on the airwaves every year....
- Yesterday we covered a footwear designer showing a Nike cut in half for analysis . Today we've discovered a YouTube channel that does nothing but cut footwear in half, to analyze the quality and design. Here Weston Kay, a man who knows...
- When I lived in NYC, it was common to see (typically older) people doing their grocery shopping with one of these: Granny cart by Reflex Blue used under CC BY-NC 2.0 Colloquially called "granny carts," they make good sense in urban...
- Integralis , developed by Artemide, is a disinfecting UV light combined with sensors that detect if humans are nearby or not. Incorporated into a variety of Artemide fixtures, the UV apparently kicks on when humans are absent (i.e....
- Image: Symbiotic Futures exhibition The upshot to the pandemic: You get to check out this year's Dutch Design Week without having to buy the plane ticket. Opening tomorrow (Saturday, Oct. 17th), this year's festival may be virtual, but...
- "The principle of waste architecture is designing and sketching with the materials and objects that are available," writes designer Boris Duijneveld, the founder of Netherlands-based MUD (Mobile Urban Design) Projects. "Playing with...
- Why is this shaped like this? Let's talk about two things that used to not go together: Japan and butter. Like other East Asian cultures, butter was never a part of the traditional Japanese diet, and was actually treated with disgust...
- If we weren't in the middle of a pandemic, I'd decry this product; but now it's easy to see why the Infinity Game Table is the latest Kickstarter smash. The Infinity is essentially table with an HD touchscreen for the tabletop....
- As amusement parks go, Japan's Yomiuriland was already concerned with the economy, even before the pandemic; the park features four "Good Job Attractions" that celebrate prominent Japanese industries (Car Factory, Food Factory, Fashion...
- Maine-based Howe and Howe Technologies is a self-described fabricator of extreme vehicles; they're the folks behind that Ripsaw Super Tank thing you've seen in Mad Max: Fury Road or one of the Fast & Furious flicks. As it turns out,...
- Netherlands-based Jennifer Townley is one of those both-sides-of-the-brain artists who is fascinated by science, specifically physics, engineering and math. Coupled with an interest in mechanical workings, this has spurred her to create...
- Here's an unusual assignment for a product designer: Create an inexpensive handheld object that can detect human trafficking at borders. A devious trick used by human traffickers is to cram dozens of people inside a refrigeration truck....
- Here's a bit of subversive marketing: The forthcoming " John Bronco ," a mockumentary covering the all-American (and completely fictitious) cowboy and race driver after whom Ford's iconic SUV was supposedly named. Some have said that if...
- What's in the back of your average graphic design studio? Books of those Pantone swatches-- bor-ring . But go into the back room of any ID consultancy and you'll see one of these: For you ID students that haven't seen one yet, those...
- I'm currently building a Murphy Bed from a DIY hardware kit. This is the third I've built but the first in an enclosed cabinet, and all of the plywood pieces you need to product mean there's a lot of finishing required. I absolutely hate...
- Running sneakers wear out way too quickly--in the city I was going through a pair a year, and I'm not even a runner--and there's been no easy way for a manufacturer to pull them apart and recycle the individual materials. Adidas has...
- OEO Studio and GUBI have unveiled the new 'Coco Stackable Chair' - the latest addition to the Coco Collection that includes a dining chair, a dining armchair, a lounge chair, a bar chair and a counter chair that were originally presented...
- Kalon Studios has unveiled the 10th-anniversary editions of their iconic Caravan Crib. Introduced in 2010, the Caravan Collection was originally made from solid American Maple, and has become the go-to nursery product for design-minded...
- Globe has today unveiled its upcoming limited edition box sets; the Pantone Color of the Year series.
- The 2021 Red Dot Award: Product Design will open for submissions on October 12. Designers and companies from all over the world are invited to enter their best products in 50 categories as diverse as medical technology, watches, or...
- Teknion has launched Essa, a light task chair designed by PearsonLloyd. Perfect for relaxed and comfortable professional settings or home office set-ups, Essa captures a pure, sculptural shape within a pared-down scale.
- The Biomimicry Institute has now opened registrations for the 2021 Biomimicry Global Design Challenge.
- Pedrali has debuted its first collection made entirely from recycled plastic material: 50% from plastic post-consumer waste and 50% from plastic industrial waste.
- For its 65th anniversary this year, Andreu World has released Chairpedia, a special project to showcase the brand's heritage in seating and passion for design.
- IDC has developed a new percussive massage gun for Chinese medical company XFT. The XFT-2020A was designed to take on market leaders with an improved design and attractive price point.
- OnMateria has unveiled 'The Green Box,' an amenity kit to help hotels transition to a circular economy. Green Box is made of bio-sourced, bio-based and compostable materials, fully integrable in a circular business model.
- Loading crane manufacturer Haulerman has launched a design competition asking participants to imagine one or more accessories for its line of products. The deadline is July 30, 2017.
- Lexus has announced the Grand Prix winner of the Lexus Design Award 2017 – PIXEL by Hiroto Yoshizoe - and the finalists are on display at the Lexus Yet pavilion at the Milan Design Week.
- Tractors manufacturer Valtra has launched a design competition tasking designers to envision a tractor for the year 2040. The submission deadline is April 26, 2017.
- A very interesting 1-hour lecture on design principles and the role of industrial designers in the entertainment industry. Held by concept designer Mike Hill at Industry Workshop 2015.
- BMW Designworks and Puma have created the X-CAT DISC, a shoe with a stretchable and super-light material inspired by the 2008 Gina Concept.
- Nissan has created a seven-seater bobsleigh with a design inspired by the X-Trail model. We report the official details and a behind the scenes video.
- Peugeot Design Lab has styled the lines of the H160 helicopter, a new civil aircraft presented by Airbus Helicopters at the Dubai Airshow (8-12 November).
- BMW of North America has announced the development of a new racing wheelchair for use by athletes of the U.S. Paralympics Track and Field Team in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
- Presented at this year's Milan Design Week, the Spheres project by Swiss-Argentinian designer Alfredo Häberli uses abstract artworks and a hybrid vessel concept to explore BMW's design philosophy.
- Toyota Material Handling Europe has launched the second edition of the Logistic Design Competition, asking European design students and recent graduates to envision the future look of their forklift models.