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Full Sense Entertainment in Surround Smell

You have the surround sound, the widescreen, the high definition. Your choice of lights, screen, sound. The next step is, and has been for a long time, quite obvious. Smells! As virtual reality continues to become a more and more realistic situation, designer David Sweeney allows our nose to enter another false reality: the smell jungle.

Here’s surround smell; here’s the “Olfactory Display.”

Designer: David Sweeney

Breathing Plants Demand Attention

It’s easy to forget plants are complex living organisms because their movements are so sedentary. It’s only when things start wilting do we suddenly realize “damn this plant needs help!” The breathing pot helps us find an analogous emotive connection with our plants. The pot expands and contracts simulating breathing. If the breathing stops, you better give that plant some water and place it in sunlight.

Designer: Jae-Han Song

Clean Air in a Windowed World

‘Window’ is an air purifier that looks like an actual window. We’re used to looking out a window to gauge our environment but this purifier does the opposite. A transparent LCD becomes dark if it senses the air quality in your home falling dramatically. To turn on the purifier, “slide open” the window to begin the cleaning process. As for the flying paper fish, I have no idea what that is but it seems to show up in a lot of Asian concepts.

Designer: Jae-Han Song

Always Thirsty in the Ocean?

So you’re lost in the ocean, right? You need a boat probably. You also need to get saved. But most importantly, you need water. What!? Yes. Do not drink that salty water. You will go insane. Instead, heed the Ocean Rescue -it’s bright orange and has the drinks you just gotta have.

Designers: Seol-Hee Sohn, Seung-Hyun Yoon

Calendar Tells Me EVERYTHING

The Living Concept 2009 was created specially for project newave.com.ua. What separates this calendar from your traditional fair is the ability to show weeks, months, holidays, and time all at a glance. A large hand shows a current day (and month too), thus doing a complete turn during 365 days. A little hand shows the current day of week (and current hour) and accordingly does a complete turn for 7 days.

Designer: Maksim Biriukov

Slimdesk Hides All Your Office Supply Unmentionables

Another practical furniture design from Manuelsaez, the Slimdesk reconfigures a desk’s drawers top open on the top of the desk, rather than the sides. Also hiding a power strip and USB ports beneath its cherry veneer, the desk takes everything in to account, even using one of its hollow legs for cable management. Now if it only came with a IV caffeine drip and a bed pan, I would never have to leave my desk.

Designer: Manuelsaez

Skinny Phone Fits Skinny Jeans

I know this phone doesn’t have a lot going for it, being concepted before the current spate of touchscreen wonder gadgets, but I’ve always had a hankering for longer, skinnier phones that won’t make pockets bulge. The designer, David Turpin, is based out of France, which might explain his preference for more elegant form factors.

Designer: David Turpin

The Intensity of Small-Scale Weight

The simplest of devices need love, too. Here Emir Rifat Isik’s done some nice love for the kitchen scale. Three buttons, a flashy orange ring, and light, bright display screen. With so few features, each bit must be perfect and precise. Does this make the cut?

Designer: Emir Rifat Isik

Skate Shortens Your Commute, Possibly Life Span

There are certain gadgets that are simply too cool not to do something dangerous with. Case in point, “Skate” from Matteo Gentile adds an electric motor to a stripped down hybrid of a skateboard and snowboard bindings, creating something altogether different, dangerous and cool. Ostensibly created for regular transport and short commutes, I think we all know what was going through Matteo’s mind when he sketched this bad boy out.

Designer: Matteo Gentile

A Lounge Fit for Captain Kirk

I know I’m not the only one salivating over the forthcoming Star Trek movie, so to appease our mutual appetites for the franchise reset I present the Daybed from Manuelsaez. Designed for its client Humanscale, Manuelsaez attempted to prevent unhealthy postures born of coffee table and couch computing. Although Intended for light home office use, anyone with one of these in their den is definitely putting in extra hours on the ol’ intertubes.

Designer: Manuelsaez

A Sneasonal Flower Pot for Dry Times

When a fellow such as me lives in my environmental zone of the world, there are seasons for all things, including gadgets and appliances. One of these seasonal objects is the head-clearer, the life-saver, the wet-maker -yes- the humidifier.

Generally reserved for Fall and Wintertime blues, Jin-Yi Park has integrated the bringer of aquatic air with a regular old flower pot!

Designer: Jin-Yi Park

Stacking Awesomeness

Miso Soup Design are designers of some sort. There is a lot of architectural speculation on their site which we chose to skip over. However of interest is their Za Stool, found in their furniture department. We’re not ones for furniture speculation, but this one looks simple and interesting. It’s a bent plywood stool, visually reminiscent of Sori Yanagi’s famous 1956 Butterfly Stool, with the exception that this one is stackable. Take the two halves apart, and voila! Stackable stool. Simple and brilliant.

Designer: Miso Soup Design