It's a new year and a fresh start for studios and in-house design departments – the Coroflot design job board is brimming with new opportunities – now is the moment to put yourself out there! Here are seven amazing positions for Industrial Designers that were posted just this week...

Photo by Jo Szczepanska

1. Senior Industrial Designer THRIVE Atlanta, GA

"...seeking an experienced Senior Industrial Designer with 8+ years experience. An impressive individual who'll bring creativity, passion, people skills, and the ability to lead creative teams in an inspiring way."

2. Product Designer (Motorcycle Gear) Icon Motosports Portland, OR

"Love motorcycles? Icon Motosports, located in Portland Oregon, is looking for a talented Product Designer to join our industry-leading motorcycle equipment design team."

3. Design Intern for Summer 2021 3M Minnesota

"3M provides eligible interns completing an in-person assignment with temporary housing and round-trip travel reimbursement in accordance with current policy."

4. Industrial Designer (CMF Focus) Tactile Boston, MA

"During the current global COVID-19 pandemic, we're mostly working remotely. So initially, we're looking for a remote Industrial Designer with core strengths in graphics and color, materials, and finish (CMF) development, but as conditions improve the position will eventually work on-site in our Boston studio."

5. Color Designer Black Diamond Equipment Salt Lake City, UT | Onsite or Remote Possible

"The color designer analyzes emerging color trends, stays current with outdoor sports color trends and strategies, and develops a perspective for product color at Black Diamond."

6. Industrial Designer(LSD) Lifestyledesign Santa Barbara, CA | Onsite or Remote Possible

"Exciting projects and great clients await you here at Lifestyledesign in sunny Santa Barbara, CA.We are looking for a designer with a proven track record of success to become a part of our diverse, creative team."

7. Senior Industrial Designer Mertz Design Cincinnati, OH

"The position will require inventive hands-on design and strong communication skills with clients and peers. ... Self-motivation with a passion for all-things design; and an eagerness to grow beyond your current skillset."

Get started at Coroflot today: Employers — Post your design job. Designers — Create your design portfolio.

Buckminster Fuller unveiled his Dymaxion car at the 1933 World's Fair. Just three years later, Oscar Mayer's nephew Carl designed the Wienermobile. Coincidence?

By Starysatyr - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

Okay, maybe I'm stretching. Bottom line, though, is you'll never get to drive a Dymaxion; the only surviving prototype is in a museum in Reno. But there is a chance you can drive the Wienermobile--and get paid for it.

By Jonathunder - Own work, GFDL 1.2

Yes, Oscar Mayer, which currently has six of these vehicles on U.S. roads, is looking for an unspecified amount of drivers--er, navigators:

Have you always dreamed of working with hot dogs? Well, look no further. All of your hot dog dreams just came true. We could say "drivers wanted," but what we really mean is WIENERMOBILE navigators ready to deliver unlimited joy to thousands of people every single day.

It's a one-year, full-time gig that promises you'll be "a mini-celebrity in small towns and big cities through event appearances and media interviews, and being the driver of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile."

All you need to apply is a college degree (it doesn't say it must be in Industrial Design, but it doesn't not say it must be in Industrial Design) and a driver's license.

You can apply here. (And if that doesn't work out, check out the Coroflot Job Boards.)

To maximize space, warehouses need shelves that soar far above human reach. Humans driving forklifts are needed to retrieve high packages. Forklifts require a certain amount of operating room, which limits how narrow you can make the aisles, which in turn limits the amount of shelves you can install.

A robotics company called BionicHive reckons they have the solution. They've designed and built the SqUID, this cute little climbing 'bot that never shows up drunk nor posts problematic social media posts that don't align with your company's values.

Here's how it works:

And here's the value-add:

Added bonus: With those wheels, this thing will never attend any riots in public buildings with staircases in the front.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been working on Neom, a new city he plans to build from scratch in the northwestern corner of the kingdom. While a startup city is already an unusual idea, so too is the shape they're going with: MBS has announced that the city will be a 170km (105 mile) straight line.

Colloquially referred to as "The Line," this vision of Neom will apparently consist of a series of repeating modules. Each module will be a self-contained neighborhood with all necessities reachable in a five-minute walk. Cars and streets will exist only on a sublevel, leaving the surface level walkable and green. Furthermore, MBS says traversing the entire city will take 20 minutes, presumably via the Hyperloop-like craft illustrated in a second sublevel.

Here's the pitch video. It's four minutes long, but if you're short on time, skip ahead to 1:47:

You can see more details here.

No one's yet nailed the design of an anti-package-theft porch locker and dominated that market. While they continue to grow in popularity, the designs are all over the map.

However, it seems we'll soon see a second object on suburban porches, and this one will have a standardized design. Walmart, whose home delivery grocery service has thrived during the pandemic, sees their growth limited by the need for customers to coordinate delivery times for receiving; the deliveryperson can't just leave a package of organic kale on your stoop to wilt in the sun. Thus Walmart has partnered with HomeValet, a delivery logistics firm, to utilize and distribute that company's Smart Box.

The Smart Box is essentially a locking cooler with built-in refrigeration for three interior compartments, which can all be set to different temperatures. Customers order groceries via app; a deliveryperson shows up, unlocks the Box via an app, drops off the goods and locks the Box; customers then unlock it and retrieve the goods at their leisure.

As a supposed bonus, Homevalet claims that a UV-C light inside the box will disinfect the contents, but this is likely more gimmicky than practical; UV disinfection only works via line-of-sight, so goods obscured behind other goods would not be disinfected.

As for what prevents a package thief from simply hauling the whole thing off, HomeValet states that the Box "has an anchor point for securing it to the ground with a stake, chain, or whatever security methods work for you. However, the size and weight of the Smart Box make it difficult to remove." Hmm.

Walmart's thinking is that the Smart Box will enable 24-7 grocery delivery without the need for someone to be home, which they anticipate will be a big draw. And HomeValet adds that the box could be used for package deliveries as well, though it's unclear if these would be Walmart-only, or if other delivery services would be given access to the Box.

Pleasingly for hackers, the Smart Box will be an IoT object.

Walmart will begin trialing the Smart Box this spring, starting with their hometown of Bentonville, Arkansas.

Pre-pandemic I was at an airport in New York, and a 20something sat down next to me with headphones on--but not on. Instead he had them around his neck and with the earcups turned up, blasting his music so that the entire terminal could "enjoy" it.

I found this stunningly rude, but I think it's where we're headed as a society. Case in point are these JBuds Frames by JLab Audio, just unveiled at CES. They're essentially portable Bluetooth speakers that clip to the side of your eyeglasses.

At just $50, they're bound to be attractive to those seeking inexpensive ways to express themselves while disturbing others. For their part, JLab claims that "Their open-ear design features appropriately sized 16mm drivers that produce sound perfect for personal use, without being heard by those close by," and, well, I'll believe it when I see and don't hear it.

To be fair to the company, their rationale for this product is that it "allows the wearer to be acutely aware of their surroundings while listening to audio content in any activity," which I fully support, particularly if you live in a city. I just have a bad feeling that that's not how these are going to be used.

Art handlers exist to safely transport works of fine art, ensuring no damage comes to them in transit. L.A.-based artist Walead Beshty, however, does not need art handlers.

That's because Beshty creates the pieces of his "Transparencies" series by relying on shipping damage. Beshty records the dimensions of FedEx's various shipping boxes, then creates boxes of laminated glass that will fit into the boxes precisely. Dropping them off at the shipping center, they are not art. But once they've made their way through FedEx's system of conveyor belts and moving vehicles, they arrive at the gallery randomly cracked, and Beshty has a finished piece.

Bonus: Shipping them from one gallery to another results in yet more cracks, as if the piece has evolved. "The result is that the object is constantly changing," Beshty told Musee Magazine. "Every time the work is shipped it goes through a material transformation."

via Kottke

Following the news of Mercedes' gigantic Hyperscreen, a dashboard-width touchscreen, Core77 readers sounded off with unanimous disdain:

- "Am I the only one who thinks that replacing tactile controls with touch screens in cars is one of the worst design trends of all time?" --TJ Ward- "We never had a car with a screen until recently, a 2020 Kia Sportage. It's super distracting trying to navigate the screens while driving. most of the time I just shut it off in frustration." --Juan Cano- "You also can't leave your finger on a button and press it several times with a touch-screen like you can a tactile control...even the slightest touch on the screen will "press" the button. I hate the touchscreen controls in many situations." --Zach Wheeler - "Not to mention the greasy finger paintings that will be left all over the dash." --Anthony Locascio- One quoted Autocar's take on touchscreens: "Items such as choosing a music track on Spotify took up to 20 seconds. We just don't have any way of understanding the impact of that on safety in the real world." --Ray Jepson

I'm with you; one reason I chose my current car is that it had an actual volume control knob and minimal touchscreen controls. Plus, who wants an entire dashboard that can disappear due to a technical glitch?

Then I got to thinking: What's the opposite of Mercedes' Hyperscreen? Then I saw this footage of a Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux that's making the rounds:

The footage outside the windshield didn't interest me that much--but the dashboard did. I'll screenshot and lighten it for you, for visibility's sake:

It's pretty bad-ass. Granted there are some screens to display crucial information, but every cabin-operated mechanical function of the car (I'm assuming by the icons, I sure can't read the lettering) has a physical button, and some have attendant red and green lights.

If you look at other rally car interiors, you'll see there's a preference for analog/physical.

Granted you've got a navigator to press some of those buttons, and the layouts could use a little design help (button shapes, sizes, color-coding, etc.), but it's telling that in high-pressure situations where safety and reliability counts, rally drivers aren't going for touchscreens.

The Dakar Rally, currently being hosted in Saudi Arabia, is a grueling off-road race conducted over thousands of kilometers.

The race's Mad Max vibe is conferred by both the punishing, sandy terrain, and the wide variety of vehicle types allowed: Cars, motorcycles, quads (single-rider four-wheelers), UTVs (side-by-side four-wheelers) and trucks all spend nearly two weeks racing for the finish line.

The truck category is perhaps the strangest, particularly to Americans. You won't see any Ford Raptors or Jeep Gladiators here; instead the class is dominated by a Russian company you've never heard of, Kamaz, whose heavy-duty Master truck puts out 1,150 horsepower from a 13-liter six-cylinder turbocharged engine. The Kamaz Master team has won 14 out of the last 18 races.

Kamaz Master - By Petr Magera from Russia - Eduard Nikolaev (KAMAZ-Master) in Moscow, CC BY 2.0

There is, however, a plucky and much smaller competitor in the truck category that's worth watching. Hino, a subsidiary of Toyota known for producing delivery trucks, consistently dominates the Under 10-Liter truck class, winning that category for the last 11 years in a row.

Hino typically fields two trucks in the race, collectively known as "Little Monsters": Car 1 is based on the Hino 500, a/k/a the Hino Ranger, an ultra-reliable delivery truck that quietly executes humble tasks all around the world, most commonly in Asia. The truck has been upgraded for the race with 8.9-liter straight-six turbo diesel putting out 740 horsepower--and carrying a 760-liter (200 gallon) fuel tank.

Hino's Car 2 has the same mechanical specs as Car 1 but is based on the Hino 600 North American body style, with the added difference of an automatic transmission.

Each truck travels with a 3-person crew: A driver, a navigator and a mechanic (puzzlingly referred to as the "company navigator") for in-the-field repairs. While the drivers and navigators typically come from motorsports lineage, the mechanics are recruited from Hino's dealerships in Japan, which provide their best-of-the-best for consideration. Notably and unusually, for both motorsports and patriarchal Japanese society, Car 2's on-board mechanic last year was a female, Mayumi Kezuka.

Additionally, the trucks are serviced and repaired at the bivouac points by support trucks loaded up with over a dozen mechanics and support crew.

Due to COVID, for this year's Dakar Rally--which is currently underway--Hino made the decision to downsize the amount of people they could send, meaning the support staff has been halved and Car 2 will not be racing. So it's just Car 1, crewed by Teruhito Sugawara, Hirokazu Somemiya and Yuji Mochizuki. As of today they're once again in first place in the Under 10-Liter class, leading their nearest competitor--driving a Mercedes-Benz Unimog--by a comfortable 31 hours.

You can keep track of the team's current progress here.

If you want to see some fun action from last year's race, when both cars were competing, check out the videos below. You also get a good look at the behind-the-scenes:

It's time for a bicycle revolution in the United States. The country needs to catch up with most of the world in moving towards pedal-powered mobility for a better climate, more equality and increased public health. Hopefully, new Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg will remember the lessons learned from when he visited Copenhagen and Amsterdam in 2016 - the world's bicycle capitals.

Few Americans feel comfortable cycling around in traffic in general, especially on raggedy streets or in sprawling cities. Generally speaking, American car-centric culture still looks down on bike transportation. Studies have shown that cycling has massive societal benefits. It diminishes health problems linked to pollution and sedentary lifestyles, it reduces air pollution and thereby global warming, and increases productivity by reducing time stuck in traffic. It betters the economy of local, often minority-owned, shops because cycling lanes make it safer and easier to shop in dense neighborhoods. Meanwhile, it promotes an equitable culture because bikes are far less expensive than other means of transportation and cycling infrastructure is by itself cheaper to build.

To better promote the idea of cycling as transportation, there are two avenues to pursue. This first focuses on political policies, such as tax-breaks, bike lanes, road pricing and so forth, and the second is a design approach, focusing on desirability, usage and cultural integration. As a bicycle designer, I believe the latter forms the foundation for the former to succeed. After all, bikes work without bike lanes, not vice-versa. If you want people to choose the bike, then it needs to be the attractive option. The bicycle has to become something that is embraced for its qualities and not something forced upon the commuter. In my work I follow a set of design principles to create bikes with the goal of making them the attractive option over cars in cities. These four principles are simplicity, durability, visibility and integration.

Keep it simple Simplicity brings aesthetic quality. Bikes in the cities need to be at least as simple as cars. Imagine a car that has 16 or more gears that need to be properly combined between two stick shifts for efficient use. You would not put up with it in a car and neither should you for a bike. A city bike essentially needs no combination gears if any at all and little or no suspension. It needs to be simple to use, convenient and pleasing to the eye. Less parts and attachments reduces weight, costs and maintenance.

Example of mudguards integrated in the frame on the Biomega OKO

Make it durable If your bike is to become your primary means of transportation, you don't want to bring it to the bike mechanic very often, if at all. Curbs, potholes and the weather all bring wear and tear to your bike, but proper durable bike design goes a long way to keeping the bike away from the mechanic. Simplifying the bike design with fewer parts is the first step. For a commuting bike, you don't need super advanced nor lightweight gears and materials optimised for racing. High-end parts are light, but also easy to break and quick to wear out. An urban/commuter bike can instead use simple, cheap and sturdy parts to make it strong. Ironically, a better city bike could come across as inferior if only judged on its parts. A simple gear hub with steel parts as well as coaster or hub breaks will seem to be the cheap option. But they might all make it better and more durable.

Mounting of simple internal gear hub on the Biomega AMS. Belt drive transmission systems promote longevity and minimize maintenance.

Build it to be seen If it's beautiful it will be more noticeable. Making it appreciable is important during daylight hours. For night-time, make sure that the bike is made to be seen and for the rider to see in the dark. You actually need to see where you are going and be detectable to make sure nobody drives into you. Ideally lighting and visibility should be an integral part of the bike design itself. There are many great products out there that increase visibility, yet close to none, including my own designs, are an integrated part of the bike. One reason for this is that manufacturers don't mind replacing a bike light, but an entire frame with a light in it is another, expensive story. Another challenge is the bike industry business models. The big bucks in the industry are found in the aftermarket – with after sale products, like bike lights. Bike stores may not be keen to market bikes that come with integrated lighting out of fear of losing a revenue source. For this reason, the question of designing for visibility is something with huge design potential and many untapped opportunities. Why not integrate a laser light signaling on the bike? One that lights up many yards ahead to warn right turning traffic that you are coming. The key thing about visibility is getting noticed and designing something awesome that makes people's heads turn with envy.

Biomega OKO nightglow with integrated mudguards and battery.

Do integrate This might be the most important principle. The bike industry is dominated by parts makers. Customers will compare which Shimano or SRAM group set you have on your bike. They won't analyze or test if these parts work well with the purpose and general function of the bike. Bike parts need to work properly together and for the specific usage of that particular bike. Cables, gears, electric parts, lights, etc. need to be specifically designed or sourced for integration, and that will make them last too. Forming a holistic object makes it more discernible and easier to build a product identity around, with all the market benefits this entails.

Taken together, these four principles guide the design of a bike as a singular object created for a specific purpose, to create something that can measure up and compete with rival modes of transportation such as a car. An off the shelf car is one singular, holistic object. A car looks like its brand. You can tell a BMW, Toyota, Tesla, or whatever car brand apart, but you almost can't tell bike brands apart. For the bike design to become an object of desire and attraction, and a proper lifestyle choice that can compete with cars it needs to be a purposeful, beautiful, and distinguishable product.

Using cars for everyday transportation never made sense in densely populated urban centers. As much as we need bike lanes to win back the city, we need bike makers to design and market their products in ways that resonate with consumers. Tilting the balance of transportation modes toward bikes will help us all breathe some fresh air, see kids playing in the streets and hear the birds chirp again.

Branding themselves as "the world's leading lifestyle brand for gamers," Razer has branched out beyond hardware and is now doing furniture design concepts. Gaming-related, of course. Their Project Brooklyn gaming chair concept, unveiled at (virtual) CES 2021, aims to provide "next generation immersion" by incorporating a 60-inch panoramic screen that folds out of the backrest.

"At the touch of a button, Project Brooklyn deploys an expansive 60" rollout OLED display stowed in its back, plunging you into the action as you savor a truly panoramic experience with stunning visuals and crisp detail."

(Photo lightened for visibility)

The carbon fiber, leather-upholstered chair would also feature haptic feedback.

Assuming flexible screens become a reality, how practical of a design would this actually be? The scene I picture is a gamer hitting pause to go to the bathroom, and retracting the screen so they can get out of the chair. When they return and sit down again, the screen starts to unfurl--and gets stuck halfway. Rage session ensues.

(Photo lightened for visibility)

Anyways, here's how Razer envisions the chair being used:

Swedish ceramic artist Anu Moser designed this beautiful pendant lamp for Danish lighting manufacturer Louis Poulsen in 2002.

"The shape of the glass shade draws inspiration from the drop that hot glass forms when taken from the furnace" during the hand-blowing process, according to LP; unsurprisingly, the matte white opal glass shades are hand-blown. The suspension is polished aluminum.

Originally intended for energy-saving bulbs (probably the popular-in-2002 CFLs), the lamps now ship with A19-mount 15-watt LED bulbs good for 664 lumens.

The pendant is available in three diameters: 185mm, 205mm and 250mm (7.3", 8.1" and 9.8").

From my first shop teacher to my last, all have stressed the importance of wearing eye protection in the shop. Applying tools to materials inevitably creates flying shards with unpredictable trajectories. So how is it that woodpeckers, who have a tool at the end of their face that they slam into trees up to 12,000 times a day, never wear safety goggles, yet never seem to turn up at the ER with a scratched cornea and sheepish excuses?

For that matter, how do camels, polar bears and beavers keep sand, snow and water out of their eyes?

Woodpeckers actually have a leg up on all of them. These wood-processing avians have evolved these:

That protective tuft of feathers, located midway between the business end of their beaks and their eyes, is actually there to deflect chips. I know it sounds like malarkey, but ask an ornithologist.

Woodpeckers also have a feature shared by aforementioned camels and polar bears (and aardvarks and sharks, among others) called a nictitating membrane in their eyes. If you've ever seen the movie "Men in Black," you know what those are:

Here's a better look:

By Toby Hudson - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

That third eyelid comes in awfully handy for keeping out debris--but, sadly, evolution left it off our list of human goodies. Instead we got thumbs that we can use to work tools, and to reach into our pockets to grasp the money needed to buy a pair of safety goggles.

________________________________

The article above was originally printed in 2018. I'm updating it here and adding some information from Science, via BoingBoing, who explains "Why a woodpecker's beak doesn't get stuck in a tree like a nail." After studying slow-motion footage of woodpeckers doing their thing, researchers at the University of Antwerp found that the birds add a little move to the end of each strike:

"Once the tip of the woodpecker's bill hits the wood, the bird's head rotates to the side ever so slightly, lifting the top part of the beak and twisting it a bit in the other direction, the videos reveal. This pull opens the bill a tiny amount and creates free space between the beak tip and the wood at the bottom of the punctured hole, so the bird can then easily retract its beak."

I just read this hilarious anecdote from Rhoda Miel, veteran reporter and editor over at Plastics News. Miel has been covering the plastics sector for two decades, and shared her "favorite story from the Detroit Auto Show" (which has sadly been canceled this year), where she encountered some car designers.

"It was 2001 and Honda had just introduced a concept car that would become its Element small SUV."The designers who worked on the project bragged that it was designed for harsh treatment, saying that a wet dog could shake itself dry inside and not damage anything."Since the show is one of the few times I get a chance to talk to designers, I asked them for details."'The wet dog test makes it sound like you're planning on a lot of plastic for the interior,' I said. 'What kind of material are you planning on?'"'SKP,' one of them answered."SKP? I puzzled. I know PVC and ABS and even PET. Finally I asked."'What's SKP?'"'Some kind of plastic,' the designer replied. 'We'll give it to the engineers and let them decide.'

Miel reports that the engineers went with thermoplastic polyolefin.

It's like a riddle: What kind of bicycle has more than two wheels, and pedals but no chain?

The answer is the forthcoming CityQ e-bike, an electric four-wheeler aimed at those who'd like to avail themselves of the greener lifestyle of a cyclist, but perhaps don't feel comfortable on your standard two-wheeler. (The elderly come to mind.) The pedals aren't connected to a chain, but instead help charge the battery, which can otherwise be charged by plugging into an ordinary socket.

The bike can be configured for one rider and cargo space, one adult and two kids, or two adults sitting fighter-jet-style. The Norway-based developers are betting that staying out of the weather, while still being legally allowed to ride in bike lanes, will draw those who might not otherwise choose to cycle.

The CityQ won't be cheap; it's expected to retail for €7,450, or USD $9,053--and that's before taxes and shipping.

One factor they may not have considered for the American market, is how hostile the occasional cyclist can be here. In NYC, for instance, I can picture riders yelling at one of these to get out of the bike lane.

Rick Treworgy began buying, and flipping, cars at the tender age of 14. That was back in the '60s. By 2006, Treworgy had amassed more cars than he could drive, and he purchased an abandoned Walmart in Florida to house them. He then transformed the space into the Muscle Car City Museum, an impressive collection of over 200 American cars primarily from the '50s thru the '70s.

The pandemic brought museum foot traffic to a standstill, and Treworgy has decided to shut it down. (If you're anywhere near Punta Gorda, Florida, this Sunday, January 17th, is your last chance to visit the museum.)

Dana Mecum, founder and President of Mecum Auctions, talked Treworgy into selling his collection. Car after car will be auctioned off on January 22nd and 23rd.

You can browse Treworgy's incredible collection here, and view a bit about his story below.

Mercedes-Benz has joined the dashboard screen wars. Ram Trucks has their 12-inch display, Tesla has their 17-incher, and now MB has unveiled their Hyperscreen, which essentially takes up the entire dashboard.

Ram Trucks

Tesla

Mercedes-Benz Hyperscreen

The screen is so big, the air vents had to be integrated.

The Hyperscreen is actually three separate displays stitched together behind a single piece of Gorilla Glass. MB's designers reckon the increased real estate will lead to less confusion; their "zero layer" interface concept is intended to do away with scrolling, clicking and sub-menus. "To access the most important applications, the user scrolls through 0 menu levels," the company writes. "This is why Mercedes-Benz calls this the zero-layer."

"The user no longer has to scroll through sub-menus or give voice commands, as the most important applications are always available in a situational and contextual way at the top of the driver's field of vision."

As for how it will work in practice, at press time there were no posted demonstrations. Instead we've got Vera Schmidt, MB's Head of Advanced Digital Design and Sajjad Khan, CTO, describing how the screen works and what they're going for with the UI:

The Hyperscreen will appear as an option in MB's forthcoming EQS, the electric counterpart to the S-class. The car is expected to have a sticker price in the six figures.

The Alcobaça Monastery in Portugal features Gothic arches from its original construction in the 12th century, and Baroque towers added in the 18th century.

Image, left: Waugsberg. Image, right: Tolaakini

Inside, however, you'll find a peculiar doorway with a Romanesque arch.

Image: ViVilma

This "anti-gluttony" doorway, just 32cm (12.6") wide, leads to the kitchen. According to Esquire:

"The monks were required to pass through the door to get their own food from the kitchen and bring it to the refectory to eat. If you couldn't fit, you weren't allowed to eat, which meant you were forced to fast until you lost the weight. Gluttony is a mortal sin, after all."

Image: Inazumaryoku

The epic adventures of Marty McFly. Princess Leia's desperate 3D plea for intergalactic help. The ability to send a more personalized, interactive note to a loved one. These are just a few of the inspirations behind the newly launched Looking Glass Portrait, the world's first personal holographic display from Brooklyn/Hong Kong-based studio Looking Glass Factory. The project, which launched on Kickstarter last December (and ends this week), is powered by innovative light field technology that enables users to turn any 2D image into a 3D hologram within minutes—no experience required. "You don't need to know how to program to use this holographic display," says Looking Glass Factory founder and CEO Shawn Frayne, who explains that while previous holographic displays needed advanced hardware to run 3D media, this new approach is not only designed for smartphones but is also equipped with a standalone mode for "the millions who work and play in 3D—artists, designers, developers, filmmakers, photographers—and those just starting to explore three-dimensional capture and creation."

The team launched its first holographic display in 2018 using "volumetric printing" to enable users to 3D-print customized holograms. Now, by fusing light field and volumetric display technologies, Looking Glass Portrait can both refract light and project it, "tricking" the brain into seeing a 3D image. Using proprietary HoloPlay Studio software, users can upload photos, videos, and even 3D models to the device, creating custom 10-second holographic messages able to be projected both in front of and behind the portrait display. The result is holographic content that can be uploaded and sent by mail, allowing recipients to activate and view preloaded holograms, no expertise or 3D glasses required.

Looking Glass Portrait

So far, Looking Glass Portrait has already acquired an energized following, with users posting their jaw-dropping creations on the Hologram Club on Discord, Looking Glass Club in Japan, and via the brand's Twitter handle @lkgglass.

Michelle Senteio
A game designer with a background in digital language arts, Michelle Senteio works on products that focus on emotion or subverting normalized conventions. "I've been working on narrative holographic experiences and volumetric films that explore how far I can push emotions in 3D," she says, explaining that she started creating as an experiment in how to make herself feel "as real as possible in the display" and in her art. "The Looking Glass Portrait is like a window. The project isn't brought to life. It already feels alive—like a portal by which I can see myself and others in the memory's eye," she says. "I already understood the value of seeing my work in 3D —I've been making art with Looking Glass since the 8.9 came out in 2018—but The Looking Glass Portrait makes me want to capture all of my loved ones in a truer, more spatial memory of them—my niece and nephew's excitement, my great aunt's face and eyes. I think that this space has pushed memory capture forward so much that we will no longer have to reach in our mind's eye to remember certain things about the people we cherish and the spaces we made memories with them."

Dedouze

A self-taught illustrator and web developer based in Paris, the artist Dedouze, who creates digital works often inspired by Japanese animated films of the '80s and Moebius illustrations, was seeded an early version of the display. "The artwork I tested on the Looking Glass device is a scene from my imaginary world, so it's a continuity of the same things I've been creating this past year," they say. Right now, they are excited to view their works in the Looking Glass Portrait. "It's joyful to see an imaginary world in a physical frame that we can hold in our hands—a magic window to another place. Let's hope this technology will evolve in the future to the point where we can display imaginary worlds on a screen as big as a giant poster."

Mar

A game artist for companies like Zynga, Rovio, and Wooga, Mar began working in 2D before dipping their toes into 3D as a side hobby. "My style is about having this toy-like feel to my models," they explain. In "Bunny Terrarium," one of the artist's most popular creations, a magical bunny is kept as a pet enclosed in a little ecosystem, inspired by the blind box Kirby terrariums the artist had on their desk. With Looking Glass Portrait, Mar seeks to bring their furry-friend into the 3D world. "The Looking Glass Portrait supports this idea by bringing an extra dimension that makes the terrarium feel real and alive, almost as if my scene was a diorama. I like the idea of having this tiny creature sitting on my desk."

Looking Glass Portrait

"It's what I've personally been working towards for over 20 years, ever since seeing Marty McFly get gobbled up by the holographic shark in Back to the Future 2," Looking Glass Factory's Frayne explains. "I've always wanted a way for everyone to have a holographic display that they can create for." He feels that the easiest way to make a hologram is to just snap a portrait mode photo with your phone. "Believe it or not, those portrait mode photos you've been taking have depth-information hidden behind them, normally used to generate the Bokeh Effect. Now, software that comes with every Looking Glass Portrait can use that same depth info to generate a three-dimensional hologram with a single click."

"We have been chasing a big dream over the last six years. It's the dream of what comes after 2D computers, flat media, and 2D screens. Now, suddenly millions of folks that have smartphones have a holographic camera in their pocket that can take those memories and turn them into holograms in their own Looking Glass portrait. Imagine sending a holographic birthday message or saying hello as a hologram to your great-great-great-granddaughter. Now you can."

Looking Glass Portrait is live on Kickstarter through January 14, 2020.

In the pilot episode of the cult sci-fi show Firefly, Mal is shown in the bathroom of the titular ship, using a stainless steel toilet and a stainless steel sink--both of which disappear into the wall:

I always thought those were super-cool and wondered if they were in production, but I've never been able to find any info on them, and imagine they were created by the show's prop department. However, my scout came across a company that makes these folding sinks:

Those are by Stampaggio Costruzioni Meccaniche, an Italian manufacturer or marine equipment. On both nautical ships and the spacefaring kind, every square inch counts--as they do in the bathrooms of every NYC apartment I've lived in, where I'd have loved to have fixtures like these. (To give you some idea, the WC's in that Lexus yacht were bigger than any of my Manhattan bathrooms.)