Jan 22
Created as a performance piece for the 2013 Interior Design Week in Cologne, Tom Pawlofsky and Tibor Weissmahr figured it was a great idea to equip an industrial robot arm with a chainsaw to carve stools out of a tree trunk. More »
Jan 22
Are you sitting down? Good. Because this interlocking Space Invaders chair will floor you. The pieces all interlock to create an oversize Space Invader that you can park your butt on.
It is called “Game Over” and comes from Italian design firm DOKC LAB. These chairs are put together from five separate interlocking pieces and it is all held together without any screws, glue or nails. Pure geek joy holds everything together.
I just hope that this awesome design becomes a reality, because I can’t get enough Invaders. I’m betting the chair would cost you more than a working Space Invaders arcade cabinet, but I think it would be worth it.
[via Gamefreaks via It8bit via Obvious Winner]
Jan 22
Terrible aesthetics and children’s toys go hand in hand. Barbie’s “Dreamhouse” is an uninspired architectural disaster, and the font used on most alphabet blocks leaves design-minded parents actually missing Comic Sans. But what’s the alternative? How about a set of alphabet blocks with beautiful typography and iconography that also happen to assemble into a miniature model of the iconic Eames House. More »
Jan 22
There have been plenty of different passive amplifiers for smartphones, but I have to say that this one definitely stands out from the crowd. The Bomie’s Boom System is quite large, and could be something interesting to have in your living room if you don’t believe in powered speakers.
The Bomie’s Boom System is a passive acoustic amplifier for smartphones that was handmade by Malawian woodcarvers and wood-turning specialists. It amplifies the sound of the paltry integrated smartphone speaker thanks to the large, parabolic horn shape. The carved tube is made out of solid wood, and the slot at the base allows users to easily slide their phones in and out.
It was developed by the Dutch designer Jeroen Bomers and hopefully, you’ll be able to pick one up sometime soon.
[via designboom]
Jan 22
Even though Instagram reportedly lost a significant number of users due to their TOS fiasco late last year, millions of people are still happily snapping away at their stylized Insta-pics. If you’re an avid Instagrammer, you’ll be happy to know you can now make your own custom watch using one of your Instagram pics.
The InstaWATCH was designed by the team at May 28th. To create your own, simply upload a photo of your choice, and they’ll print it in full color onto the face of your custom watch. Actually, it doesn’t even have to be one from Instagram: you can upload any image you want. You can also choose from a wide variety of pre-existing designs too.
You can choose from 14 different band colors, and the watches are water-resistant but not waterproof. Your own custom InstaWATCH will cost you $44 (USD).
[via HiConsumption]
Jan 21
When Twitter rebranded its old fat whale of a bird logo into the svelte upward jumping bird logo it is now, it went through a lot of early concepts to get the angle of the bird jusssst right. One of my favorite concepting sketches? The middle finger. Twitter should have totally used that bird as its real logo! More »
Jan 21
Are you the kind of person that’s worried about Big Brother and those CCTV cameras all over the place? So you don’t want your face on camera feeds? Then these specs might be for you.
These glasses fitted with LEDs were created by Isao Echizen and Seiichi Goshi at the National Institute of Informatics and Kogakuin University in Tokyo, Japan. The glasses emit near IR light, which prevents current facial recognition cameras and software from figuring out who you are. The lights are powered by a small battery pack that needs to be transported in your pocket.
Granted, unless you’re going for some sort of Blade Runner look, they’re not particularly chic, but they get the job done. They’re also not exactly what you’d call inconspicuous, so security might still hunt you down, even though they don’t know who you are.
The researchers are working on making these specs a bit more fashionable. They predict that the final model will cost around $1(USD) to manufacture.
Jan 21
Tetris Sculptures: Get Stacking!
Posted in: Today's ChiliTetris is an amazing game. I have played that game for hours upon hours on the funky green screen of my old Game Boy. There have been many different versions of the game that have released over the years, but there’s something just so right about the original. The artist behind these sculptures must have felt the same way, with these clearly Tetris-inspired sculptures.
Swedish artist Michael Johansson has created a series of sculptures, which were assembled using a variety of different household items, stacked perfectly in a Tetris-like fashion. He considered form and function while putting these together. They each ended up as nearly perfect cubes, with different textures and materials.
The only thing that makes these un-Tetrislike is that in the game they would have all disappeared by now thanks to the perfectly stacked lines of stuff.
The sculptures are being shown at the Flat Gallery in Milan, Italy through February 24, 2013. So if you happen to be traveling through the area, you should go check these out.
[via designboom]
Jan 21
3D printing has come a long way, and the devices have become affordable enough for people to have them in their homes. Now, a Dutch architecture studio is planning on construction a complete house using a 3D printer.
The Dutch studio Universe Architecture will use a giant D-Shape printer to output their Landscape House. The printer can print sections of 20 feet by 30 feet in a single go. It uses a mixture of sand and a binding agent to print the parts of the Möbius strip-inspired house.
The printer will create hollow sections, which will be filled with fiber-reinforced concrete for strength. While other smaller projects have been attempted, this will be the first 3D-printed full-scale residence in the world. Based on current estimates, it will take around 18 months to create.
As the technology becomes faster and more commonplace, it could allow for the production of houses at a much lower cost – and in forms not typically achievable using conventional building techniques.
[via dezeen]
Jan 21
Dining Alone on Ramen Is a Little Less Depressing With a Smartphone Dock Bowl
Posted in: Today's Chili
Embraced by cash-strapped college students and young professionals struggling to scratch a living out of this cruel world, Ramen noodles have gotten a bad rap as being a depressing last resort option for a cheap and lonely meal. But that reputation could easily be undone with this brilliant Anti-loneliness bowl that makes it easy to surf or have a FaceTime conversation while you enjoy your noodles. More »
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