Although we've already covered Reclaim x2 fairly extensively at this point, it's easy to overlook details such as, say, the actual texture of the felt chair or the concept behind Emilie Baltz's dyadic infusions. If it wasn't clear from the photos of the Bonus Table 571—which it by no means should have been—it was made with enzymes. Bushwick-based design duo Colleen & Eric (whom we'd previously covered at ICFF in 2011) collaborated with bioengineer Loe Hubbard and sound designer Ben Cameron on the small side table, which features a cryptic Rorschach design on its surface. They explain:Pure tones tuned to the natural resonant frequency of the wood result in vibrations, determined by the tabletop's size shape and density. The vibrations reveal a geometric pattern inherent to the wood.

The resonant pattern is etched away by an enzyme cocktail tailored to the molecular structure of the wood. This process is similar to acid-etching a metal plate, such as in printmaking. The difference is that this is based on a live process; using enzymes derived from forest floor microbes.

Perhaps we should refer to the video:

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Shane Chen is a Washington-based inventor obsessed with moving the human body. His company, Inventist, has been developing strange-looking personal transportation devices for nearly a decade. We took a brief look at his Solowheel a few years ago, and it finally went on sale just last year. Check it out:

For those looking to burn some calories, Inventist's Orbit Wheel is user-powered:

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This week we spotted objects and installations poised for a big reveal. At first look, their structure was familiar, elements not particularly out of place. But with a quick visual adjustment or test of expectations, something altogether different—a trompe l'oeil—appears.

Even though our furniture often serves several functions, the art on our walls typically exists just for our eyes. But during Milan's SaloneSatellite exhibition for emerging designers, Japan's YOY Design Studio packed more features into the frame. YOY's canvases, made of wood, aluminum, and elastic fabric, and then screen-printed with images of couches and chairs, actually support sitting. The secondary use is startling, so it might require a little explanation before asking that guests take a seat.

Images © Yasuko Furukawa; via Designboom

Last month, the Swiss artist Felice Varini adorned the exterior of the Grand Palais in Paris with a work made from a very specific point of view. From the street, the vibrant orange stretched triangles look haphazardly splashed against the building. But observe them from the hall, and the applied scraps of color align, creating something that looks more like a projection than a perfectly planned effect.

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Earlier this week, I was casually minding my own business on a pleasant bike-commute from Core HQ to my humble Brooklyn abode when lo and behold, I spotted what looked like a giant hot pink chair strapped to a flatbed truck. Once I got over my initial astonishment and confirmed that this was not a mirage in my design-week-addled mind, I instinctively did that thing we do nowadays where one whips out his or her smartphone to document anything that seems remotely interesting. Case in point, here's an inane video of the truck eluding me on Flushing Ave:

It turns out that UHURU's #Chairtruck debuted last weekend at BKLYN Designs, where it provided much-needed respite from human-sized chairs and a fair share of sh*ts and giggles, and will be making rounds this weekend as well. (Not to take too much credit, but one inside source hinted that the #ChairTruck came about partly because a certain well-known industrial design magazine and resource declined to host an exhibition this year.) The ~5:1 scale model of their Hulihee chair is "fitted with a hardwood seat and back reclaimed from the Coney Island Boardwalk," and "strapped to a flatbed biodiesel truck."#chairtruck's defiant size and reclaimed wood planks pay tribute to the historic Coney Island Boardwalk and reference Uhuru's signature Coney Island furniture line which debuted at Brooklyn Designs in 2010.

Chairspotting

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Looks cool...

Move over, Rain Tail—there's a new ultraminimal rear fender in town. The Plume is a recoiling mudguard that is deployed by unrolling the coiled strip of stainless steel and 'retracted' with a simple flick. The hardware slides neatly onto a bicycle seatpost and it looks something like a sideways cupholder when not in use, functioning something like a reverse slap-bracelet.

Note: Animated GIF for purposes of illustration only

Founders Dan McMahon and Patrick Laing met three years ago in London and have been developing the Plume for about as long. Now that they've filed a patent on the recoiling design, they're pleased to present their creation to the public via Kickstarter.

It's certainly a clever solution to a common problem, and the Kickstarter page duly features a couple examples of what Sparse deemed to be "bike hacks," i.e. variations on DIY mudguards. The main advantage of these ad hoc fabrications is that they're inherently disposable; the tradeoff is that they're ugly as sin.

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wants a Store Designer
in New York, New York

As the brand that celebrates the essence of Classic American Cool, Tommy Hilfiger provides a refreshing twist to the preppy fashion genre. This iconic brand is looking for the right Store Designer to bring to life brilliant retail and environment concepts that embody everything the Tommy Hilfiger label represents.

To succeed in this role you'll need prior visual, planning/design project management and communication skills, plus 3-5 relevant work experience. That will all come in handy when you're providing fixture layouts and renderings for stores, reviewing all construction documentation and millworker shop drawings, and serving as an authority and adviser on design issues including the development of design, construction and fixture details for prototype and implementation.

Apply Now

$(function() { $("#a20130517").jobWidget({ amount_of_jobs: 5, specialty: "Architecture, interior design" }); }); (more...)    

Colorado State University students have created a gadget that guides a remote control airplane through the sensors in a glove.

A team of Colorado State University students has created a gadget that guides a remote control airplane through the sensors in a glove.

The Tesla Model S' performance in Consumer Reports tests was a major victory for electric cars, but a bigger challenge still lies ahead.

By refining topologies and using new fluid technology, Moog's new peak sine drive controller increases available power without increasing controller volume.

Lantronix Inc. has expanded its line of controllers for sensor networks with the release of a rugged controller that improves management of automation systems used in a number of industries, including manufacturing, oil and gas, and chemicals.

Inspired by the hooks a parasitic worm uses to penetrate its host's intestines, the Karp Lab has invented a flexible adhesive patch covered with microneedles that adheres well to wet, soft tissues, but doesn't cause damage when removed.

Longtime Core77 readers know I've been a fan of Art Lebedev Studio for ages. Recently I got a kick out of their Attraktsionus ferris wheel/ski lift combination, their Stubus tree ring watch where cracks in the heartwood and exterior rings serves as the hands, and their older Skrepkus paper clip.

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Just over a week ago, we had a chance to catch up with Jean Lin and Jen Krichels of Reclaim NYC, who opened the doors to their second exhibition today and will be hosting an opening reception shortly. While the first edition of the group exhibition focused on reclaimed materials in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the show takes the much broader theme of collaboration this time around. (Once again, proceeds will go to the Brooklyn Recovery Fund.)

As Lin told us last week:What started as a hurricane relief effort will hopefully grow into a larger initiative that could benefit a wide range of social and environmental causes, as well as support our independent design community. Our industry is filled with truly good, charitable and socially-aware people who are looking for ways to help. We hope that Reclaim can become an outlet for these talented designers to focus their charitable and creative energies without commercial pressure, and with a higher goal of giving back to a worthy cause.

This is a near-comprehensive survey of the work on view now at the third-floor event space at 446 Broadway. Tonight's opening is all but guaranteed to be a good time, but if you can't make it to Soho this evening, we highly recommend stopping by tomorrow or on Saturday morning before Reclaim x2 closes; hours & full address below. (Worst case, you can browse and buy the work at Lin-Morris.)

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You couldn't make it up: a Portland, Oregon-based design duo just launched a crowdfunding campaign to launch a mason jar-based product, designed expressly to brew one of the two beverages that the City of Roses is famous for.

Besides its rugged good looks, it so happens that the mason jar is more durable than the traditional carafe; bedecked in a wool sleeve for insulation and topped off with a maple lid (with a press), the Portland Press is a crafty take on the iconic coffee brewing apparatus (footnote: the origin of the French press is unclear, but the modern version was patented in Italy in 1929; today, it's typically associated with Bodum of Denmark).

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Here in NYC we've got a billionaire mayor, and you've probably heard of the device that made him rich, the Bloomberg Terminal. For those of you that haven't, it's an integrated computer system and service feed offering real-time financial data and trading.

For finance peeps, Bloomberg Terminals are like potato chips, in that you can't have just one. Your average user rocks a two-, four- or six-monitor set-up....

...though that can get out of control.

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Reporting by Jenny Hsu

In the last few days leading up to the juried review of our collaboration with Poltrona Frau, our studio workspace descended into complete disarray—with tools and materials scattered everywhere. The last bits of scrap leather were hotly contested and, naturally, the industrial sewing machines had failed just days before the presentation was due! As a result, some projects ended up having to be hand-stitched as time was pressing and quality had to be kept to a high standard. Sleep deprivation, minor scrapes and bruises notwithstanding, we managed to pull it together in time for the juried final review.

The jury panel consisted of legendary designer Massimo Vignelli, Paul Makovsky (Editorial Director, Metropolis Magazine), Sara Gobbo and Federico Materazzi (Poltrona Frau), Mark Bechtel (Interim Director of Product Design at Parsons) and our instructor, designer Andrea Ruggiero. We presented 15 projects, ranging from cigar cases and drink coasters to picture frames and candle holders. Per the design brief, we were required to address wastelessness and how we would envision the potential production of our pieces to enable the least amount of material waste. In a few cases, there was some disagreement between the judges as to the complexity and labor involved to produce a few of the objects. Regardless, the critics met privately after the presentations to decide the three winners of the competition, who will get to visit Poltrona Frau's factory in Tolentino, Italy, in the second half of July.

"Doppio" by Hayley Kim

"Spirale" by Noemi Szalavari

"Bottoni" by Aaron Chan

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When it comes to sketching, line quality is everything. To build up the desired thickness using ink, you can either switch between multiple pens or you can hit the same line repeatedly with the same pen, as Spencer Nugent has done above; if using pencil or a pressure-sensitive stylus on a digital device, you can hit the same line and/or press harder, as Michael DiTullo's done below.

So this currently-under-consideration-at-Quirky design proposal has me curious. Designer "HSingh" is pushing for a pen with an adjustable tip, whereby a dial in the barrel somehow alters the nib's width.

There's virtually no explanation for how the thing would work, but the question is: Would you guys use this to change line weights, or do you prefer the old-fashioned way? And does anyone remember having to swtich back and forth from like, five different Koh-i-Noor Rapidographs in design school?

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wants a Designer, Packaging
in San Francisco, California

How good are your packaging designs? Are they good enough to help Ammunition redefine markets for their clients in order to create new business territories? If you are confident that your package design abilities fit this bill, this job is for you.

You'll be tasked with creating packaging solutions that complement and enhance their award-winning product designs, and do so while considering the whole picture and the affect packaging has on the eco-system developed around a product.

Sounds fun, right? Polish up your resume, double check your portfolio and Apply Now

$(function() { $("#a20130516").jobWidget({ amount_of_jobs: 5, specialty: "Packaging, industrial design" }); }); (more...)    

Tesla Motors' Model S sedan "blew away" its $90,000 gasoline-burning competitors in a recent review and may be the best car Consumer Reports has ever seen.