When the Packaging is Part of the Product

Published on Core77 |

There's an old adage for anyone who has kids (and/or cats). You spend all the money on a new toy or technology, but what does the gift recipient end up playing with most? The box.
But never fear. Tube Toys, designed by London designer Oscar Diaz for NPW, makes the packaging a part of the toy. From a car to a tractor to a fire truck, the toys are simple vehicles with all the parts inside for assembly, including the wheels, axles and stickers for labels. The tube part comes in when you start putting the toy together by using the tube for the vehicle's body.

The only wasted parts? The label wrapping, which doubles as instructions, and the sticker paper, after the stickers are removed. That's part of the value statement of Tube Toys, which emphasizes the green part of its toys, noting that the packages reduces "considerably the amount of material discarded after purchase, and the added cost that traditional packaging involves." What's more, Diaz notes that the materials themselves are made of "recycled and/or recyclable" materials.

As a designed object, Tube Toys represent a creative way to incorporate the packaging. I got a chance to play with the train and it was easy enough to assemble the pieces and then disassemble them at the end of the toys. The tubes could easily be stacked end to end in a special box, making storage at the end of the day a cinch as well. It will be interesting to see if Diaz can expand his concept further, with other toys that incorporate the packaging.(more...)

Sent from my iPhone

Custom Handmade Growlers Wet the Whimper and the Roar in Beer Drinkers

The micro-brew craze is hitting an all time high as companies like Budweiser create new products and develop brand strategies to compete in this growing and popular market. Even more, micro whiskey distilleries are popping up all over the country as well. What better time than now to introduce Custom Handmade Growlers for the craft beer (or whiskey) drinker in your life.

Based out of the great state of Montana, these unique ceramic growlers start at $65. You can choose from the plethora of designs found on their website or design a one-of-a-kind model that suits the wants and needs of the drinker that will be using it the most. I am tinkering with the idea of making a black and yellow crow. And, as you will see on their website, they're handmade so the subtle differences allow each piece to be as unique as the person drinking it.

Although I'm sure the majority of these growlers will be displayed in man caves across the country, I would probably more likely show it off in the main house to be shared and enjoyed by all (not just my drinking buddies).

You can view their photo gallery and more info about this amazing (HANDMADE!) product at their website - www.handmadegrowlers.com

This Paintable Battery Can Be Used Virtually Anywhere [VIDEO]

Ever wanted to get more battery life out of your mobile devices? Modern technology might have the juices to give you the boost you need. I could see it being used not only in mobile, but a great way to feed solar or wind energy directly into a home or office building. It would also be fun to experiment with ways in which to paint creative designs on my ceilings and walls to link from a wall outlet near the floor to my TV, lamps, computer, etc.After you read the below article, feel free to comment on ways in which this type of modern advancements might suit your wants and needs.

Published on Mashable!

Researchers at Rice University in Texas have created a paintable battery that can be used anywhere. Also impressive -- the battery is rechargeable and can hold a 2.4 volt charge for six hours.
To create this sprayable battery, the team disassembled the chemicals of a lithium-ion battery and converted them into five paints. These paints were then sprayed in a particular order, like a conventional battery cell, onto ceramic tiles. Then the nine tiles were lined up parallel and placed with one tile topped with a solar cell that converted power from a white laboratory light. This produced a steady 2.4 volts for six hours.
The battery was sprayed on…
Continue reading...

Sent from my iPhone

Whisk Away the Dark with Findelkind’s Chef de Cuisine Pendant Lamps

For the cook lover in our lives, a whisk inspired pendant lamp would mix well into any kitchen inspired design.

Published on 3rings
We all know that the kitchen is the soul of the house, so why not spread the wealth, as it were, into every space? That's exactly what the Chef de Cuisine Lamps intend. And achieving the transformation couldn't be easier: simply excise the defunct handle from said implement, insert a bulb, wire it up, invert, and voila!

In fact, converting a retired kitchen whisk into an attractive and functional pendant lamp is so simple and intuitive that one wonders why it took the likes of Findelkind to come along and do it. But as with every great idea, hindsight is 50/50, and Findelkind thought of it first.

Besides, the company offers so many incarnations of this basic premise that they've earned a virtual copyright: there are long lamps and short, broad and thin, there's even one with a flared shade suggestive of a classic maritime-style lantern. Best of all, these clever re-purposed lamps don't just give budding chefs a functional boon, they reinforce an affectionate nostalgia: "Now, the everyday work of the chef sheds light from on high—watching over pots, illuminating the dinner table with just the right light, achieving a new and unusual perspective on what's happening down below."
Via Inhabitat.
About the Manufacturer: The studio of manufacturer Findelkind is to be found within a wallpaper factory in Leipzig, which should tell you something about the avant garde artistic inclination and casually experimental attitude of this contemporary atelier. Findelkind is especially interested in the design potential of lost, found, re-purposed, and otherwise re-invented materials: their Chef de Cuisine Pendant Lamps are made of the business ends of re-claimed kitchen whisks.

Sent from my iPhone

The Roots Modular Planter System by Alberto Sanchez for MUT

Having plants inside, especially during the winter, is a great way to increase oxygen, deplete depression, and add living color to any interior space. The below article, found at 3rings, adds modular ways in which to enhance height, width, and depth to any indoor garden system - deep breaths and healthy living never looked so inviting.

Published on 3rings |

Indeed, such is the drought that in our humble burb we are prohibited from watering our lawns, so I've had to content myself with a couple of meager pots of annuals. Perhaps I'll pretend I'm in a skyscraper and take the whole works indoors—with the Roots Modular System, this would only enhance creativity.

Comprised of vertically-oriented beech wood elements, side tables, metal lamps, flowerpots, and assorted connecting hardware, Roots can be assembled in a virtually infinite number of configurations. The wooden elements simply click together, and the accompanying pots fit atop the horizontal members, thus creating perches at varying heights—not only for the pots, but also for the projected light provided by the clip-on lamps.

Sanchez says that the concept is modeled after the notion of a trellis, which typically provides a guided path of growth for vines and other climbing vegetation. But I find that Roots is far more interesting and intuitive than that. Not only does the system's easy modularity allow gardeners to expand (or contract) their wares at a moment's notice, it also lets them experiment with growth on diverging planes, as it were: "these amusing flower pots allow the design of crazy, very personal compositions… ideal for designing a small, cozy kitchen garden at home, a curious vertical garden, or unusual separator between different areas inside, outside, or in public places."
About the Manufacturer: MUT is a multi-disciplinary team of young designers striving daily with every ounce of their being to give new creative forms of expression to everyday elements. Some of their more recent fruits of labor produced as a result of these ongoing efforts to find inspiration in the mundane have received accolades in fairs in Milan, Stockholm, London, and Paris. Among this auspicious output one finds the Roots Indoor Garden System, the Zip series of Modular Rugs, and the Stardust Lamp. 

Sent from my iPhone

Stand Up with the ErgoUp Teacher Workstation by VS America

Sit down, stand up, work, work work! Healthy living shouldn't just live in the home and after work. Desks that you stand at are a healthy alternative to the sad sack sitting that plagues the majority of our professional lives. These minimalist desk designs are simply beautiful and their compact design allows them to be easily added to your existing sit down station.

Stand Up with the ErgoUp Teacher Workstation by VS America

Published on 3rings |
An Ergonomic Stand-Up Teacher Workstation Replaces Typical Desk Designs
For optimal, efficient working along with the healthy side effects of standing and working, the ErgoUp is created out of a strong frame. This includes powder-coated steel tubes with set-back, C-shaped legs and a tabletop of melamine-resin-coated LIGNOpal chipboard. Thanks to its two different frame sizes - along with a continuous height adjustment operated by a winding handle - the minimal desk offers everything one might need to lecture daily and/or work on a computer.

The steel tubes of VS America's seamless desk design also include the smart use of polyurethane in the form of a cast-on safety edge, storage shell, and an integrated stop rail. The desktop itself is inclinable, operating at an 8° angle with a horizontal shelf located just behind the ergonomic slant of the desk.

As a shining example of the possibilities posed to teachers in the classroom, the ErgoUp desk allows us all the opportunity to reconsider the way we stand with our current desk design.
About the Manufacturer: Headquartered in Charlotte, NC, VS America, Inc. produces ergonomic furniture for the education market. The company's German parent company, VS Vereinigte Spezialmoebelfabriken GmbH & Co. KG (VS), has been manufacturing educational furniture for more than 100 years and is the largest supplier of school furniture in Europe.

Sent from my iPhone

The Bosco

 

The Bosco

Published on Cool Hunting | shared via feedly mobile

Brooklyn's new 3D photo booth brings the party to life

Riding the wave of photo booth fun, Brooklyn-based company, The Bosco, takes the frenzy a step further with the first 3-D and automatic GIF picture-takers. The Bosco is the brainchild of co-founders Nick Fehr and Aaron Fisher-Cohen, who met through a mutual friend.
"We want to capture stories and bring self-made art to events and installations," says Fisher-Cohen. The filmmaker and New York native first started developing the idea of a video booth post-college. "I always thought about ways one could capture honesty on film, and I kept going back to eliminating the camera person," he says.
A backend developer hailing from the Bay Area, Fehr became interested in photo booths at UCLA where he and a friend used to run a DIY photo booth company. He joined forces with Fisher-Cohen in the summer of 2011, and in February 2012, they set up shop in their Bushwick, Brooklyn space.
In rethinking the photo booth in the context of the digital age, The Bosco's exclusive line of rentable photo booths and video confessionals embraces the intersection of emerging technology and art. Equipped with an iPad-based interface, the maching allows users to print their photos as they are simultaneously uploaded to the Internet, enabling instant social media sharing. The capabilities of the Bosco's booths include GIFs, 3D and HD images, and videos—all of which can be tailored to the user's specifications. "The idea is to create a self-portrait experience that looks and feels high-end," says Fehr.

To learn more about the social photo booth or to book The Bosco and for pricing, go to their website.

Sent from my iPhone