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Love Pot is HOT!

A brilliant design with good intentions is always a winner. For the design part, Love Pot is a non-electric humidifier plus aroma dispenser. It has this tissue ball made from laminated wool felt to maximize evaporation in limited volume. Another point in favor of the wool felt is that it absorbs water fast, and launders well. For the intentions part: this $30 pot is for the Nanum project, where 100% of the profits go as charity to provide educational scholarships to impoverished children. That’s what I call Design with a Conscious!

Designers: Sangmin Bae & ID+IM Design Lab. Members

Poop Bucket With A Mission

We are all well aware of the various sanitation issues that developing countries are facing, the biggest one being poop management. It’s easy for the kids (and in some cases adults) to take to the open fields and roadsides, without realizing the implication of health hazards like disease outbreaks and food contamination. One of the solutions addressing this issue is the Poosh. This is a bucket-mounted toilet for the developing world.

Designer: KAIST, Industrial Design Dept

A Pack O’ Heat-Em-Ups

And just when you thought you were going to have to use that pesky park-grill again. Or start up a fire that’d burn down the forest. No way! Here’s what you’re gonna do: whip out one of these! “Stoov!” It’s basically what amounts to a magnet you program, stick to your pot, and let heat up. Sounds reasonable enough?

Designer: Mathieu Baele

Fancy Blinds Are Speakers!

The effort behind the Sound Blind Speakers is pretty sane; the designer wants us to have fancy looking speakers that don’t occupy much space. In fact they resemble the blinds that we have on windows. Only thing Sound Blind also functions that ways. It rolls up and twists just like those sun-blinds! The last time I checked, I didn’t see any technology that supported this theory of folding and twisting speakers! So the moral of the story is that you may have a sane intention, but your iteration may just be insane!

Designer: Wonho Bae

It’s All About The Crisp Toast

A kitchen appliance that has been taken for granted for such a long while is the humble toaster. So ignorant are we of its origins that till now it is unknown who invented the first electric bread toaster! No doubt evolved humans have been toasting a slice of bread for a long time now, but almost two centuries ago the deed was done over an open flame. The failed attempt of Crompton & Company in 1893 to commercialize it as Eclipse, led to General Electric’s D-12 claiming the title as the “first commercially successful electric toaster” in 1909.

Best of November 2008

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 November 2008.

Lights Where I Want ‘Em

The Drop Light is a unique lighting system that provides a new user interface for indoor lighting. Each lighting module can be separated from the main body to use as a free standing lamp. An electric line, located within the main body, charges the ‘drops’ via a network of tracks. The droplights contain new advance LEDs which prevent the lights from excessive heating. Awesome idea for custom lighting concepts or for emergency black situations.

Designer: Doosan Baek

Best of September 2008

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 September 2008.

Headphones Meant Not to Filter out Background Noise

As oil reaches recording break highs, more and more people are turning to bikes to get them around and of course nobody wants to leave behind creature comforts like music while driving. Problem is most of today’s headphones are designed to filter out background noise. That’s not very safe for a bicyclists since hearing what’s coming is important. The Semicircle headphones are designed to fit in your ear without blocking background noise.

Designer: Seohyun Baek

It’s a Bathub. No it’s a Chair. Wait What?

Lounge chairs and bathtubs have one thing in common, people relax in them. Beyond that the similarities end and you wouldn’t think it would be possible to fuse the two but designer Baek-Ki Kim has done just that. Seatub is a concept lounge chair, one that looks like your tub got up, walked thru a “shrink-er-rizer” and relocated in your living room. The inspiration behind it is abstract – the exploration of combining objects with different functions seems as distant as the old adage “apples and oranges”.

Designer: Baek-Ki Kim

Best of January 2008

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 January 2008.

You Want Me To Drink City Water?

Contrary to belief, city water nowadays is quite safe and clean to drink. What you smell and taste are trace minerals in pipes. It won’t kill you but the stigma is damning. The BottomsUp concept is a portable water purifier. You fill any PET type bottle with water, screw on the top and like Brita (or Pur), what comes out is a whole lot better tasting.

Designer: Sangmin Bae

Faucet Buddy Tells You About Water

Faucet Buddy is a cool little chrome gadget you latch onto you existing sink fixtures. It tells you how hot or cold the water is so those morning surprises are no more. Of course, just like any real buddy it’ll tell you if you’re a water rat; wasting our natural precious resources.

Designer: Baek Uyeol