Core 77
Max Lamb's Deceiving-Looking 005 Lounge Chair
What a difference an angle makes: From some, this 005 Lounge Chair looks supremely uncomfortable, from others, practically inviting.
Designed by British furniture designer Max Lamb, it's made in Finland, and of Finnish Pine.
"The Lounge Chair by Max Lamb is a tough piece of furniture. Yet a hard-as-nails first impression soon gives way to a visual softness and physical comfort.""Lamb explains that he began by investigating pine; how it is grown, sawn, received, sold. His approach thereafter was logical; choosing off-the-shelf sections of wood and piecing them together to create a large surface area and logical form. Material is scooped out of the building block-like forms to make two ample convex recesses, revealing the characterful grain within."
The 005 Lounge Chair is in production by Finnish brand Vaarnii.
Subversive Footwear Design: MSCHF's Work Boots are All Outsole
Tomorrow creative collective MSCHF releases these unusual work boots, which look like Timberlands hallucinated by an AI.
Called the 2x4s, they're "all sole," the group writes. "The boot tread has been extruded up through the body of the boot, and the upper is made of gum rubber sole material."
This being the age of absurd footwear, the $400 kicks will likely sell out in minutes.
Workshop Jigs with Beautiful Forms
Yasuhiro TV is the YouTube channel of a Japanese craftsman who makes clever shop jigs. By making his own add-ons for common power tools, he's able to wring utility and accuracy out of them, far exceeding their mandate.
He sells the plans for his jigs, which are primarily rectilinear and utilitarian in their construction:
However, seeing these photos of his small workshop, I was struck by how beautiful he's made the jigs and fixtures for his own use. Look at the careful attention and wonderful grasp of form he's put into these handles, hold-downs, guides, and other fixtures:
And the one bit of workshop whimsy he's allowed himself:
Independent of those beautiful fixtures, his videos are filled with so many clever techniques that they're a dangerous time-sink. I'll leave you with two examples for when you've got some down time.
Progress, Subversion, Ingeniousness, Oh My!
The Core77 Design Awards Gaming Accessories category features Consumer hardware or software products designed for the interactive entertainment/video game industry. Examples include: video games, video game accessories (game systems, game controllers), gaming furniture, and gaming-focused consumer technology (computers, TVs, etc.).
Tim Hulford believes that designs worth celebrating are those that mark a moment of progress, subversion, ingeniousness, or compassion.
"If you have a story like that, tell it."
As the Director of Industrial Design for META, Tim works to fulfill the "audacious dreams" of Reality Labs, transforming them into "beautifully integrated, compelling consumer products." He brings deep expertise in technology to his work, producing thoughtful, functional, influential designs across a range of industries and categories.
For Tim, the greatest satisfaction is the joy of making something that's not only "deeply good" but will make others feel good as well. Tim admits to finding that achievement personally rewarding; he also finds it an accurate predictor of professional success. "I believe if you can master this act in a consistent way, you can be a very influential designer," he said.
The opposite of that act is making something that "was never truly intended to be owned and loved. Just used. For a little while." For Tim, that approach is the biggest pitfall for designers to avoid. He encourages designers to understand what makes a product relevant in their industry. As he said, "There are so many options – common solutions to common problems, and all too often, designs strive to meet a bar set by others."
The Meta Quest Pro designed by Meta Reality Labs Design Team.
The 2023 winner of the Core77 Design Awards Gaming Accessories category was Meta Quest Pro, a product that built upon the Quest 2 (released in 2020) by introducing sensors to capture facial, gesture, and external environment and enable new Mixed Reality (MR) applications.
If you've got an uncommon solution to a common problem, our jurors want to hear your story. Submit your entry to the Core77 Design Awards today.
Core77 Weekly Roundup (3-11-24 to 3-15-24)
Here's what we looked at this week:
The forthcoming Rivian R3 channels Giorgetto Giugiaro's classic design for the Volkswagen Rabbit.Design researcher Sasha McKinlay's 4D Knit Dress represents a revolutionary clothes production method.
Experimental design studio Nervous System combines design and computation to make incredible sculptures and fixtures.
Mechanically-minded lighting designer Simon Schmitz devised this interesting adjustment mechanism for his Y3 lamp.
EV manufacturer NIO demonstrates their ET9 shaking snow off of itself. Practical feature, or automotive industry clickbait?
Seeking honest answers: What is the point of the EDETC (Everyday EveryThing Carry) movement?
Beautiful "Metropolis"-inspired resin furniture, by Austrian designer Laurids Gallée.
There's a fair amount of adjustability in this medical examination table from the 1800s. Made of nice, comfy oak.
Why Pelican's rolling carry-on is more expensive than Condition 1's.
Laser weapons, IRL: Less "Star Wars," more like burning ants with a magnifying glass.
Remedial design from Scandinavia: A yogurt container drainer.
Toyo Steel's stacking M-8 metal storage boxes, originally designed for factories, now remarketed for domestic applications.
This Bauhaus-esque single-shot foam dart gun is a designey take on Nerf's discontinued Pocketstrike.
The Mua-Lau Chair demonstrates industrial designer Brian Chang's brilliant use of bamboo in furniture.
Can you guess how this bowl, by Niigata-based woodworker Takurou Seino, was made?
Also by Takurou Seino: This clever jig for producing the Naguri pattern in wood.
This Bispham Wall Clock is by Post General, a Japanese manufacturer of Western-inspired vintage-style products.
The Clipa Purse Hook is an actually useful bit of EDC.
Industrial Design case study: Sprout Studios tackles wireless charging solutions.
Industrial Design Case Study: Sprout Studios Tackles Wireless Charging Solutions
DeepCharge is a startup focused on cutting-edge wireless charging solutions. To turn their technology into market-ready products, they turned to Boston-based ID consultancy Sprout Studios. "Our work gave their Qi-standard charging technology a form language, unifying a family of initial products to support their investment community engagements," says Sprout.
The Outcome: Charging Forward
You can see more of Sprout Studios' work here.
Grab Attention, Shift Perspectives, and Spark Discussion
The Core77 Design Awards Packaging category includes all graphic design, branding and structural designs related to the packaging of products. Examples include: primary or secondary packaging for Fast Moving Consumer Goods or premium brands, promotional packaging and gifting programs, limited editions, etc.
"A cute but harmless design is an invisible design, and it's pointless."
That provocative take sums up Davide Mosconi's approach to design.
Davide Mosconi, Creative Partner at Auge Design
A designer and art director with more than two decades of experience in communication and design, Davide is a co-founder and Creative Partner at Auge Design. The acclaimed Italian agency specializes in packaging and branding, with offices in Milan and Florence. Since its founding in 2016, the firm has become the most globally recognized Italian packaging design agency, garnering honors including Cannes Lions, Clio Awards, D&AD, Pentawards, and more. Earlier in his career, Davide spent 7 years as working with international brands as an art director at McCann-Erickson, then in 2011 became a co-founder and Creative Director of Apart Collective, serving international museum institutions and fashion brands.
Identity and Packaging for The Perfect Pop gourmet popcorn company. Design by Auge Design.
Davide enjoys seeing people interact with the packaging he has helped create, whether "an older lady at the store or a curious child at a café… In a world where social media images come and go in a flash, I'm genuinely fascinated by how people engage with design in the real world," he said.
That "flash" is something he finds troubling, lamenting "how quickly images… become old news. There's just so much [stuff] bombarding us every day, and trends come and go like lightning. It feels like there's no time anymore for a design to become truly iconic." A major challenge for designers is creating something that lasts, compounded by the interference of AI. As Davide said of this growing phenomenon, "It's like everything can be created without really creating it."
To make a mark in this design landscape, Davide's prescription for designers is to be bold. "To me it's better to have an idea that might seem wrong, with a bold and maybe even annoying look, than to have a correct idea that's too correct and ends up being boring. Courage is the key to breaking conventions, and a designer should always try to grab attention, shift perspectives, and spark discussion. It's essential to put that touch of magic, that insane air, into your designs."
The 2023 winner of the Core77 Design Awards in the Packaging category was LAYER for its Earth Rated rebrand, with a focus on sustainable packaging and products for dog owners.
If you've got a bold design project, summon your courage and enter it in the Core77 Design Awards today!
An Actually Useful Bit of EDC: The Clipa Purse Hook
The Clipa Purse Hook is a simple, hinged metal ring with non-slip pads on the pincer-like tips.
It provides a convenient way to hang bags from flat surfaces, chairs, railings, crevices, etc.
While it can live inside a purse, it's designed to be visually unobtrusive so that it can be hung from a purse's O- or D-rings; it comes in multiple finishes, so as to match your purse's fixtures. It can even be worn as a bracelet.
It will hold up to 33 lbs.
These run $18 a pop, regardless of finish.
Post General's Retro Bispham Wall Clock
This handsome Bispham Wall Clock is by Post General, a Japanese manufacturer of Western-inspired vintage-style products.
The secondhand sweeps, so there is no ticking noise. The selected font is pleasingly retro, if culturally peculiar; it's not American, nor German, nor Swiss in appearance. Visually it reminds me of Japan's postwar manufacturing renaissance, when they began producing their take on Western-inspired goods.
My only criticism: The housing is steel, but you can tell by the stamping at the perimeter--which to my eye has a few returns too many--just how thin the steel must be, to require that number of structural reinforcements. From some angles the clock looks great, from others, it recalls a plastic storage bin lid.
The clock comes in three colors and retails for ¥5,940 (USD $40).
A Clever Jig for Producing the Naguri Pattern in Wood
Typically, to achieve this Japanese naguri (literally "beaten") pattern in wood…
…you'd need a sharp hand tool, patience and skill. It was traditionally done with a carving gouge or an adze, as seen in this photo:
Image: Wrath of Gnon
However, woodworker Takurou Seino (whose clever bowl we looked at here) has created a jig that allows you to do it with a trim router and a bowl bit.
By attaching an optional parallel guide, you can introduce a regularity to the pattern that would be impossible to achieve with hand tools:
Here you can see how Seino made the jig, or you can skip to the last quarter of the video to see how he uses it:
Seino has patented the design, and sells the jig for ¥6,000 (USD $41). Adding the parallel guide boosts the price to ¥9,600 (USD $65).
Can You Guess How This Bowl was Made?
Can you guess how this bowl, by Niigata-based woodworker Takurou Seino, was made?
Same way this one was.
The technique seems obvious in hindsight, but Seino used a miter saw and patience:
Here he shows you his set-up:
Surely a safety troll will chime in, but I should point out: This isn't dangerous--as long as you don't rotate the workpiece while the blade is in the cut. And at the end, when he freely spins the workpiece, there's too little material for the blade to bite into and throw the workpiece, and there's also too little material to put any meaningful amount of stress on the bearings.
Back story: Seino had been a hobbyist woodworker for 16 years, when he was laid off from his job during the pandemic. That year, 2020, he figured he'd launch an Instagram and YouTube channel dedicated to his hobby.
Two years later, Seino had racked up 70,000 followers, enough to create a sustainable business. Today, in addition to producing content for the channels, Seino sells his handmade furniture, tabletop items and shop jigs here.
Getting laid off sucks, but wound up being a great opportunity for Seino to make a living out of his hobby!
Industrial Designer Brian Chang's Brilliant Use of Bamboo in Furniture
Here's a great example of adapting furniture design to local manufacturing techniques. Let's say you've got no access to foam and upholstery materials, but live in a bamboo-rich region populated by artisans who know how to work with it. Taiwan-based industrial designer Brian Chang designed this Mua-Lau Chair to suit:
Chang figured out how to beef up the capabilities of the light, springy material:
"The traditional bamboo weaving technique used in MUA-LAU CHAIR provides new possibilities for traditional craftsmanship to be applied in modern furniture design. However, the traditional technique alone is not strong enough to support the weight of a human body, so we had to make various material design adjustments such as thickness, length, and diameter to ensure sufficient strength."
A Bauhaus-esque Single-Shot Foam Dart Gun
This Bauhaus-esque object…
…is actually a single-shot foam dart gun:
Retailer Out of Darts says it "Fires short darts and full-length darts up to 120 FPS!"
Created by toy designer Shanye, it is a redesign (apparently unsanctioned) of Nerf's Pocketstrike, a coveted, discontinued model from 2016. Below is a shot of Shanye's first 3D-printed effort next to Nerf's original product.
Produced by Chinese manufacturer Phantom Tech, the finished product is injection-molded in ABS. The see-through version swaps out ABS for a polycarbonate body.
There is some confusion between manufacturer and the retailers linked below as to what the object's name is: It's alternately referred to as the Leaf, the Hamster and the Little Hamster.
Prices, too, are all over the map: Out of Darts sells it for $20, Monkee Mods is asking for $10 and Silver Fox Industries has it listed for $35.
Toyo Steel's Stacking M-8 Metal Storage Boxes
Japanese manufacturer Toyo Steel originally designed this M-8 for factory use. The steel box is for storing screws and other small parts.
It's manufactured by drawing, with a purposeful draft angle on the sidewalls: "The M-8 has its tapered shape in order to make it easier to scoop small parts by hand." That also makes the boxes easier to nest.
The innovation here is that they have small flip-over wings on the short ends, allowing you to stack them:
The company reckons even non-factory-workers will find these handy, and has re-marketed these for domestic use.
It comes in its natural steel color and black, as well as the moss green shown above.
They're a damn sight better looking than plastic containers, and will surely last longer, but the price is dear: These run $84 a pop.
Remedial Design: A Yogurt Container Drainer
The cartons used to package yogurt in Scandinavia are convenient for manufacturers and retailers, but not so much for the end user. Swedish inventor Jan Åkerlind reckons 5-10% of the contents are thrown away with the packaging, as gravity keeps them in the bottom of the carton. Thus he designed this Yogurt Holder:
It has nearly the same footprint as the carton, so fits neatly in a refrigerator door. And the inverted arrangement means even those last dregs of yogurt "quickly flows into the breakfast bowl." (Note: Scandinavian-market yogurt has a more liquid-like viscosity than the American stuff you're thinking of.)
These run 39 Swedish Kronor (USD $3.81).
Laser Weapons, IRL: Less "Star Wars," More Like Burning Ants with a Magnifying Glass
The future isn't always as exciting as you'd think it'd be. Laser cannons, as depicted in the Star Wars universe, look like this:
This week the UK's Ministry of Defence declassified this video of their previously under-wraps DragonFire laser, which looks like this:
It looks a little cooler with colored lenses…
…but overall, I think Johnny 5 looked more intimidating.
In any case, here's what the DragonFire actually does:
As the animations show, present-day weaponized laser technology is less about blasting something out of the sky with a single shot, and more like burning ants with a magnifying glass. Underwhelming video aside, it is still a mighty technological feat. As the MoD explains:
"DragonFire exploits UK technology to be able to deliver a high power laser over long ranges. The precision required is equivalent to hitting a £1 coin from a kilometre away. Laser-directed energy weapons can engage targets at the speed of light, and use an intense beam of light to cut through the target, leading to structural failure or more impactful results if the warhead is targeted."And though it reportedly cost around £100 million (USD $128 million) to develop, the real aim, no pun intended, is to produce an overall ammo cost savings:
"Firing it for 10 seconds is the cost equivalent of using a regular heater for just an hour. Therefore, it has the potential to be a long-term low-cost alternative to certain tasks missiles currently carry out. The cost of operating the laser is typically less than £10 per shot."Which reminds me of this hilarious Family Guy scene:
One Reason Why Pelican's Rolling Carry-On is More Expensive than Condition 1's
For those in the market for a tough-as-nails rolling carry-on, Pelican is the market leader, in terms of both reputation and brand awareness. If I needed one and had the money, I'd pony up for their 1535 Air Carry-on Case without thinking twice.
There are, however, alternatives. Texas-based Condition 1, who like Pelican manufactures in the U.S., offers this competing Large Case #300. Both the #300 and the 1535 have nearly identical dimensions, which is the maximum carry-on size, 22" x 14" x 9", minus a couple hundredths of an inch. Both are waterproof, dustproof and feature air pressure release valves.
So what's the difference between the two? Price is the first thing to jump out. Here's how they stack up:
Pelican - $255
Condition 1 – $150
With foam:
Pelican - $300
Condition 1 - $190
With padded dividers:
Pelican - $390 to $423
Condition 1 - $220
The level of protection each offers is difficult to quantify—but one sharp difference, and what you're really paying for with the Pelican, is a weight savings:
Empty / With Foam:
Pelican – 8.69 lbs (3.9kg) / 9.98 lbs (4.5kg)
Condition 1 - 12.4 lbs (5.6kg) / 14.5 lbs (6.6kg)
Both offerings come in multiple colors; for ease of distinction, I selected images with the Pelican case in black and the Condition 1 case in orange.
Lastly I'll say, Pelican can perhaps rest on their laurels a bit, in the Marketing department; their website features not a single photo of the 1535 in the rolling position. While this should hardly be the metric by which you decide to purchase something, Condition 1 has put more money into the "lifestyle" photos.
An Adjustable Medical Examination Table from the 1800s
If you think the state of American healthcare is bad now, well, you're right. But things could be worse. Back in the 1800s, doctors were smoking in your face, recommending heroin, putting leeches on you, and upholstery was something rich people sat on at home. So in the doctor's examination room, you'd be sitting on this comfortable thing:
That is a remarkably well-preserved antique medical examination table, circa late 1800s, recently sold by antiques dealer Mazzocca Bros. As the description reads:
"Quartersawn oak, fully functioning antique medical examination table, including adjustable back rest, leg rests, four pull through drawers, one cabinet, and one swivel cabinet with glass shelves, and including original hardware and castors. Two foot rest brackets replaced (not visible), top likely refinished at some point in its long past, and foot stirrups have been lost to time, although pull out clamps remain intact and functional. Table tilts up and down and side to side using foot pedals."
It is possible, of course, that the chair/table came with pillows on it. (It's also possible that they had no idea how germs were transmitted and never washed those pillows.)
Beautiful "Metropolis"-Inspired Resin Furniture by Laurids Gallée
Last week we looked at some stunning lighting designs by Laurids Gallée, an Austrian designer based in the Netherlands. This week we're looking at his Metropolis-inspired polymer resin furniture pieces (which I'm guessing are made of frosted acrylic; the showroom listing his pieces, Objects with Narratives, doesn't mention the specific material).
Metropolis Stool & Desk "The name derives from Fritz Lang's 1920's masterpiece and the repetitive structures that draw the movies' cityscape were a big inspiration for the design. The aim was to create a material that reflects the rythm of modern architectural construction, something created out of many individual building blocks, like bricks or tiles. Adding transparency highlights all the hidden anatomy, and therefor create a different pattern from any angle. This results in a kind of prismatic effect, gathering and reflecting light within and out of the object. This material is the base of the project, the range of possible applications is wide. For now the focus is on building simple pieces of furniture."
Metropolis Coffee Table Round
Metropolis Side Table Square
What is the Point of the EDETC (Everyday EveryThing Carry) Movement?
When can we say that a product category has lost the plot, versus "evolving?"
The EDC movement has long fascinated me. Not because I'm a proponent—I only carry a single thing that could be called a multitool, and I rarely use it outside of my house—but because of the sheer size of the market, the resources poured into it, and the fanatic level of both design attention and consumer attention poured into their products.
But I do think, as a category, they've lost the plot. Initially, the entire point of EDC was that there were one or two things you carried every day that might come in handy in a jam. These things fit in a pocket. Now, however, the amount of objects to be carried so far exceeds normal pocket count, that supporting industries have popped up to provide vessels for it all. Thus we have objects like this Vault 2.0 carrying case, for when you want to tote 120-plus objects:
This Storm Jacket, with 18 pockets:
A company called Viperade, who self-describes as "pioneers in redefining EDC storage platforms," offers a dizzying array of pouches, slings, sheathes, holsters, organizers, fanny packs, zipper cases etc., "to serve different environments:"
To be clear, I don't hate on any of these companies; they're selling pickaxes to the miners. My question is: What is the gold that EDC fanatics are seeking to mine? Is it just about collecting, like with Star Wars figures? Is it about peace-of-mind for a hypothetical apocalypse? Or is the goal to actually get into all of the jams that would necessitate using these tools?