This Roulette Cart, by a Belgian company of the same name, is designed to make grocery shopping easier in urban environments. It was designed by Belgian industrial design firm Futurewave (though at press time it wasn't yet on their website).

It's sized for the city, at 64.5 cm H × 34 cm W × 24.5 cm D (25.4" x 13.4" x 9.6"). The frame is powder-coated aluminum, and the bag is waterproof nylon. The skateboard-like wheels are made out of TPU.

The bag has a 40L (10.6 gallon) capacity and features several interior pockets. It can also be disconnected from the frame and slung over one's shoulder.

The cart runs €160 (USD $187).

The beauty of sailboats is that they don't require power in order to move. However, modern-day sailboats have a host of onboard electronics that do require power: Navigation lights, radar, a VHF radio, a GPS unit, the navigation console, interior lighting. These are typically powered by batteries, which are charged by an auxiliary motor if the boat has one, or the boat can be plugged in at the dock.

However, a Belgian startup called Phileole has invented an alternative: This Grain Blanc wind turbine.

This can be bolted to the mast. Because of its vertical orientation, it can capture wind from any direction. And unlike having to fire up the motor, it operates silently.

It's a lot bigger than it looks in the photos, by the way. It's just over 42" tall and just under 18" in diameter.

One unit can generate about 2.4 kWh per day, which is enough to power lighting, navigation equipment, the radio and the autopilot, with juice left over to charge laptops or phones. And of course, yu can add multiple units if you need more juice.

Though the device was designed specifically for sailboats, the company also sells bundles of them for buildings and homes in Europe.

The company notes that the units are made primarily from recycled polypropylene, and are 95% recyclable themselves.

In design, the transitions between surfaces are everything. And in a perfect world, those surfaces are designed at the same time, giving the designer the luxury of thinking things through.

Sometimes, however, things need to be retrofit. And then it's up to someone who may not have any design training at all to come up with a coping solution. What do you think of these four executions:

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My opinions:

1. Way too busy, and distracts from the original molding, which is meant to be a design feature; downspouts are not. I think they'd have been better off letting a downspout be a downspout,

2. Ditto. A decision should have been made here—you can't have it both ways. One of the materials has to be prioritized over the other, and I think the stone should've been the winner, given its material properties.

3. Admittedly this person was given an impossible task, as the wiring cannot protrude from the surfaces for code compliance. I can forgive this one because at least they didn't try to get cute with it; ugly as it is, this is actually form follows function.

4. I think this is the worst of the lot. The switchplate and stile aren't communicating with one another, and the width of the mitered molding draws way too much attention, treating the switch as if it's something to be celebrated. It would've been worth the extra foot of wiring to move the switch above the molding.

Your thoughts/solutions?

This unusual object is the Aluminum Stool, by Rimowa and Vitra.

The German luggage manufacturer and the Swiss design furniture company collaborated to create just 1,000 of these; and while the overall look is pure Rimowa, the piece is meant to be storage furniture, not luggage. "It is almost a typology of its own," says Christian Grosen, Vitra's Chief Design Officer. "While the cube format might not be so practical for a suitcase, it's ideal for sitting and storage."

"During the design process, we decided to leave out the handles so that the stool wouldn't closely resemble a trolley or a transport container. There is a seat cushion and the inside is also padded; we deliberately left the wheels, as they are emblematic of both furniture and suitcases. The Multiwheel system is a RIMOWA trademark, as are the grooves in the aluminium. The castors also emphasise the idea of mobility, of being on the move."

"For us, it is before everything a product for the home – even if it obviously contains inspiration from offices and workplaces. Our first idea was a small container for the home office that could store a laptop, papers and pens. But the Aluminium Stool is adaptable, you can also use it to store records, magazines and electronics. And it's a handy tool for the living room, bedroom or even the bathroom."

"I like the fact that it seems a bit mysterious. You can see that it can be opened, but you don't know what's inside."

The VARMBLIXT, Ikea's donut-shaped lamp, was designed three years ago by Rotterdam-based industrial designer Sabine Marcelis. Since then, it's been selling like hotcakes; the company says they sell one every five minutes.

Now the design's getting an upgrade, courtesy of Marcelis. The finish has been switched from glossy to matte, and instead of only coming in orange, she's added color variability:

The lamp switches between twelve preset colours carefully curated by Sabine Marcelis. The sequence moves through different temperatures of white light, into glowing amber and warm red, through soft pink, cool lavender and turquoise, and on to gentle yellow tones, before circling back to white light. Each colour is chosen to transition smoothly into the next, allowing the atmosphere to shift gradually to another, without disrupting the feeling of a room.

"We spent a lot of time fine tuning the transitions between the curated colours," says Marcelis. "What makes this lamp unique is that switching between colours is not a sudden change, but a very smooth journey through all the hues to get to the next colour. The light slowly moves through colour to in turn transform the colour of a space."

Additionally, connecting the lamp to Ikea's Home Smart app provides access to additional hues, "across the full colour spectrum."

The lamp is expected to debut this April. The new price hasn't been announced, but the incumbent design goes for $100.