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It’s Raining Pictures From My Shower

When you see a sleek little projector like this Photo Shower, you expect it to be packed with tech-specs and groundbreaking features; but NO! No, no, no! It DOES NOT boast of any such things, in fact it goes out of the way to ensure that you get the point: It’s a simple uncomplicated projector. It’s USP; it pours images down the screen like the cascade from a shower head; that’s it! Drops of photos trickle down the screen. Functions on the device are pretty basic but it sure scores high on the glam quotient.

Designers: Hyun Jin Yoon & Eun Hak Lee

Summer Time Calls For Picnics And Coolers

Pretty soon we will have summer shining upon us and it will be time to pack up the sandwiches and cakes, get out the wicker hamper and bring down the trusty old ice-cooler from the attic. Gear up for Picnic Time folks! I propose a slight change in this routine however; let’s ditch the old fuddy-duddy cooler for something as chic and classy (and better functional) as the LEVEL cooler.

Designer: Byron Lee

Recycling Typography

It is set upon me to congratulate the simplest and most why-didn’t-I-do-that designs, I think. Here’s one of them. It’s brilliant. These folks decided it was lamp time, and having seen the way of the modern design-driven world, decided that giant characters would be in order. And wow! If their idea of refurbishing isn’t the most pleasant bit of sustainable lampatude I’ve ever set eyes upon.

Designer: Aleksi Hautamäki for Character

Tokyo Fiber 2009 SENSEWARE PART 1

Tokyo Fiber SENSEWARE was started as a project to show the merits of Japan’s fibers. SENSEWARE refers to materials or mediums that arouse a creative desire in people. This is part 1 of our coverage on the ’09 SENSEWARE exhibition in Milano. In 2007 we saw televisions made of fabric small and squishy enough to coddle in your hand. This year the projects continue to amaze.

Exhibition: Tokyo Fiber

Flashback Fridays: Panasonic Toot-a-Loop Radio

Part-radio and part-fashion accessory, the Toot-A-Loop was wearable technology. Worn around the wrist like a bracelet, or carried like a purse, the Toot-A-Loop was shaped like a tapered doughnut, twisting open to reveal the tuning dial on the inside. The AM-only radio also came with fun stickers so users could customise it.

Designer: Panasonic circa 1972

Best of April 2009

Every month we take a look around and select some of the most interesting designs that was showcased here. Below you’ll find the most popular designs we’ve tracked over the last 30 days – an overview of designs you shouldn’t have missed in April 2009.

Interview Me: Nick Trincia

As part of an ongoing series of quickstyle interviews with some of today’s most talented designers, I thought it prudent by kicking things off with the winner of our RELAX contest – Nick Trincia. It was a very VERY close call but in the end – the judges chose his entry (Fluid Rocker) for its design, feasibility, execution and overall presentation.

Designer: Nick Trincia

Imagine an Illuminated Forest

Scared of the dark? You could carry a flashlight but why not something a little cuter? The Light Tree is a small night-light. Sure it takes up one whole plug but look at it! Awww, so CUTE. Truth be told the designer had some “green” intentions. It’s supposed to inform you about the importance of energy conservation by using the international symbol for eco-friendliness; a tree. The logic is a bit convoluted but OMG it’s ADORABLE and look! The 110v adapter is a pot!

Designers: Yoonsang Kim & Junse Kim

Would a Woodchuck Chuck a Bike Made of Wood?

Wood frame bikes have long given way to aluminum and space age materials but designer Arndt Menke thinks we were too hasty in giving up on one of the strongest, resilient, and lightweight natural materials. There are over 60,000 woody plants worldwide but we use less than 300 of them in a terribly unsustainable way. The Holzweg bike’s frame is totally made of wood and weighs a scant 2.3kg. Could wood frame bikes make a comeback?

Designer: Arndt Menke

How to GO GREEN With A Shower, Wand, Shoe, Dish and Bamboo

Recently Sony encouraged some ID students from China to think GREEN and come up with eco-friendly products that can be incorporated into everyday life. The results were amazing concepts like a showerhead kinda music player, a conductor’s baton-styled TV remote, a shoe clasp GPS device, a solar powered speaker dish and a bamboo work frame for a music system. Take a look at them in detail after the jump.

Designers: Various

A Hip Lab Assistant

Like all other centrifuges, laboratory centrifuges work by the sedimentation principle, where the centripetal acceleration is used to separate substances of greater and lesser density. To give you a scenario, for testing your blood, a sample of it is put into centrifuge tips and placed into a lab centrifuge to separate its components, which is then analyzed. Here we have the LABCENT jazzing up a lab’s tabletop coz even though the stream may sound too intense, even scientists can do with some hot looking gadgets in their labs!

Designer: Jan Rytir