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The Design blog

The Design blog


Modern Nature Bathroom offers an inviting and naturally beautiful environment

Posted: 26 Dec 2011 05:39 AM PST

Jaspreet Kaur Walia:

Designer Marc Arcoe seeks to bring the elements of nature into your bathrooms with the Modern Nature Bathroom concept. The design comprises a modern shower and sink that has been beautifully amalgamated with elements of nature. This gives birth to an awesome environment that’s natural and unfolds tranquility.

Modern Nature Bathroom
Modern Nature Bathroom

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Modern Nature Bathroom
Modern sink and shower integrated with nature into a bathroom

Modern Nature Bathroom has an inviting and spa-like feel that is further accentuated with the presence of plant life around. Plants tend to have a calming effect, which has been skillfully integrated in a modern design. Modern-day bathrooms are very beautiful, but are very uninviting, cold and have a museum-like feel. Adding living plants will give the same design pleasing and soothing touch. Modern Nature Bathroom consists of a Sprouting Sink, Rainfall Shower and Grass Wall.

The Sprouting Sink has a two drawer storage that will help you keep everything in a neat and clean manner. But what will grab unending attention is the living moss growing from the sink. The sink comprises of a glass plate that will let you see plant-life every time you use it. The sink will come with a moss mix that a user will spread on the green area present in the design. The spreadable substance contains buttermilk, sugar and parts of existing moss, all blended together. One needs to keep the moss moist to make sure it grows properly.

The Rainfall Shower comprises of a shower head that gives birth to a beam of water, which feels like rain. There are two sliders present on the shower handle, one on the left and the other on the right. The left side handle is used to turn the water pressure, while the right side handle will help maintaining the temperature of your choice. The floor has been fixed with a unique drain, which has been well concealed and will control overflow of water. Further, a sense of openness and flow is achieved by the presence of a single glass panel present in the design.

The Grass Wall Panel System features a Hydroponic natural grass lawn that is modular in nature. It comprises of square shaped tiles of various sizes that will protect your walls from moisture. Just feed them with a special nutritive solution every week and see them grow inside your bathroom space. Modern Nature Bathroom is a great way to bring nature inside your homes and make it look all the more awesome.


Handy USB shaver for the corporate man

Posted: 26 Dec 2011 04:16 AM PST

Balasubramanya Subbarao:

The corporate environment calls for quick decision making ability and last minute meetings. And in today’s world there are hardly any pre-planned meetings. In fact, the correct time for a meeting or a conference is when the boss feels it is so! It is here that quick-time devices that help one get ready for such situations, come in handy . The USB micro-shaver is one such gadget that you can count on to help you cope with the ‘close shaves’!

USB Micro Shaver
USB Micro Shaver

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USB Micro Shaver
USB Micro Shaver by Lee Grieve

The shaver looks very neat and elegant. It has been engineered with high precision and a host of accurately designed parts constitute its robust construction. Nobody will be able to recognize it as a shaver unless told so and it will easily pass for a USB drive. The leather strap provided to connect it to the port ,gives it a subtle and refined look.

Looks matter a lot in today’s world where competition to climb the corporate ladder is at an all time high. So, having a way to get rid of that stubble and look presentable within a matter of minutes becomes a boon. The shaver’s performance is commendable, considering its size. The leather strap is also functional in nature and it ensures that the shaver does not block the other USB ports in the system.

With a good side grip and its neat looks, the shaver scores high on both - aesthetics and functionality. It needs no water or cream and thus, is not messy . In fact, all you need to do is open up the collar-button to use it. The USB micro shaver is, certainly, a must-have for any man living in the fast paced corporate world!

Via: Wix


Zugo electric city car is a car for future

Posted: 26 Dec 2011 02:15 AM PST

Shahnawaz Naaz:

Electric cars are a thing for the future and it would not be wrong to say that the electric cars will one day replace the gasoline and diesel powered vehicles as our most preferred vehicles. The use of electric cars will be good for us because it will help protect the environment and also help in the conservation of fossil fuels. Many companies and innovative automotive designers are busy developing electric car models these days and one such gifted designer is Milos Paripovic. This Croatian designer developed an electric car named Zugo and this car was Milos' official entry to the automotive design conference in Europe. This conference was held in 2011 in Zagreb, Croatia's capital. Milos' design was lauded by many and it bagged the fifth place at the prestigious conference.

ZUGO electric city car
ZUGO electric city car

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ZUGO electric city car
ZUGO electric city car, a low cost car

Milos' electric car is low-cost machine and he has got the inspiration to design this open-source electric city from original Zugo 45, which was launched in 1978 by Zastava Corporation. Milos is hopeful that his car would attract the attention of those who used to ride around in old Zastava models. He is confident that the car will also find many takers among ecoenthusiasts. This car is very easy to maintain and users can do the modifications and repairs by themselves.

This car has got a similar look to the old car as Milos has kept the dimensions and some lines shape. The edges are also similar to old car. This car has got a retro-modern look but it looks highly attractive. The success of Zugo will inspire other designers to develop for electric cars in future. It is expected that Zugo would do good business in Croatia and neighboring countries.

Via: Milos Paripovic


Peanut shaped seating is literally a musical chair

Posted: 26 Dec 2011 01:26 AM PST

Asmita Prasad:

Are you bored sitting on your regular La-Z-Boy couch? Does your vibrating massage chair just not offer you the kind of relaxation its hypnotic infomercial promised? Then you've got to bring home this awesome Peanut Musical Chair. The set of furniture has no relation to the age old party game though it does offer its user hours and hours of entertainment on end.

PEANUT musical furniture
PEANUT musical furniture

The flexible furnishing hardware is created for the more avid music lover and comes with a subwoofer sound system connected to a center pod that has a 2.1CH, built-in amplifier. The furniture is specifically designed for your iPad, iPhone or iPod and comes with a special Apple dock to make the regular sitting around seem more productive and fruitful. And each piece in the set is shaped like a peanut as well.

PEANUT musical furniture
PEANUT musical furniture

The minimalistic set offers the joy of music and entertainment and provides a relaxed atmosphere for social gatherings. The outer layers of the six peanut-shaped pieces can be utilized as either chair or shelves and can be disassembled to provide more versatility. To make the set more party ready, the top surface of each piece comes infused with LED lights that change colors depending on the type of music played and radiate through to create ambient lighting. The furniture is made of thermally compressed sustainable wood veneer that makes it super green as well as super fun.

Source: Miniwiz


Smart boombox by Matt Keeter

Posted: 26 Dec 2011 01:15 AM PST

Lata Dar:

Boombox is a rare word in the present phase. But there is one person who has actually reinvented the entire idea of boomboxes along with the best of inclusions and cool ideas. Matt Keeter wanted to carry his music and so he came up with the idea of boombox under $100.

Boombox
Boombox

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Boombox
Boombox by Matt Keeter

He used simple materials but an innovative technique for designing this compact thing which is making waves all across. The concept behind Matt Keeter’s boombox revolves around tools and methods of a usual fab lab playing out music via a SD card supported by a 9 V single battery.

Matt began modeling the boombox with the help of cardboard; later, it was covered with wood by using a laser cutter. This design lets the stereo to be stuck together like the joints getting glued. But all of this is done with extra precaution. Talking about the internal components, the boombox has a custom PCB, which works on ATmega328, and a SD card. The ATmega328 is a decoder for MP3. Also there is a D/A chip with a shifter that converts 5 V to 3.3 V as required by SD card and the decoder.

The control board is a two-sided PCB manufactured as per Modela. The symmetry of the board marks easy flipping and fit. The control scheme is a great feature in the boombox. The capacitive touch input buttons are present on the top while being wired to the control board. There are five capacitive buttons fitted on the front panel. Below the panel is a copper pad. This copper pad is fixed to the input segment.

Taking a note of the audio amplification there isn't much work associated with that. The circuitry of the amplifier is taken from David Mellis’s fab speakers with a bit of shrinking by relaying out the board.

The retroinspired case is one of a kind. Nested in an octahedral prism like structure, this fab module is parametric. Prototyping of this cardboard is hence easy particularly because of the variable material thickness that lets one rebuild the parts. The case is finally designed with the help of a laser cutter. This involves wood fabrication. The fitting of boombox is awesome and sturdy so the thing stays right in place even without the use of any glue. Just a few pieces of the boombox are glued for the sake of security otherwise everything else is right in place.

The final case was fabricated on a laser cutter from 0.208″ wood. The snap fits were all just fine, and the whole thing mostly stays together without glue. A few of the diagonal pieces are glued in place for security. Otherwise the system is absolutely portable.

Via: fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/MAS.863/people/matthew.keeter/fab_boombox/…


Link modular carrying system boosts cargo carrying capacities of bicycles

Posted: 25 Dec 2011 11:42 PM PST

Asmita Prasad:

With concerns for global warming and reducing carbon footprints making it into people's New Year's resolutions, bicycles and electric scooters are increasingly becoming the most popular modes of transportation for the plant conscious folks. However, one of the major deterrents that prevent people from switching over from their gas guzzling two wheelers is the fact that electric scooters and bicycles still don't allow people to carry a lot of cargo. The Link modular carrying system by industrial designer Jona Rammler addresses this problem and makes it possible for people to carry increasing loads without giving up their bicycles.

Link modular carrying system
Link modular carrying system

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Link modular carrying system
Link’s interface is designed for flexbibilty and you can connect every part to the others

The Link modular carrying system is composed of a frame for the bicycle, a trolley and an extractable case that allows people to easily carry and pull a lot of cargo with minimal effort. The flexible system easily links to the bicycle and connects people’s way sections into one continuous flow. To attach the Link modular carrying system to the bicycle, users simply have to install the frame to the bike and then attach the trolley to the frame with a single click.

To separate the trolley from the bike, a simple hand gear can be pressed. In case the user needs to use the Link modular carrying system to carry increased loads, they can simply unfold a textile cover between the hardcovers and increase the available volume on the cargo carrier.

Source: Jona Rammler


Pop up handsfree lets people know you’re on the phone

Posted: 25 Dec 2011 11:34 PM PST

Asmita Prasad:

When cellphones first arrived, most advertisements emphasized the advantage of their small size and one of the most important aspects of the pint-sized mobile phone that was highlighted in these campaigns was the fact that it would allow people to talk on the phone more discreetly than they could with landline phones. It's been a decade and a half since and people have moved on from super tiny cellphones to phones that come with even tinier handsfree devices and bluetooth headsets that allow them to keep the fact that they are on the phone as discreet as they want. However, for a few people, this aspect of cellphone usage is a little annoying especially in public spaces when someone using a bluetooth headset appears to be talking to themselves. More often than not, it also leads people to believe that a person is addressing them when in fact they are on the phone via a bluetooth device. To avoid this confusion, designer Sebastian Popa has created the pop up handsfree.

Pop-up handsfree by Sebastian Popa
Pop-up handsfree by Sebastian Popa

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Pop-up handsfree by Sebastian Popa
Pop-up handsfree by Sebastian Popa

The device basically comes in the form of a wearable brooch-like apparatus that can be stuck to the user's collar or neckline of their clothes or even the straps of their bags. When the user receives a call from someone and they are attending the call via the headset, the pop up handsfree will display a picture of the person they are talking to and other people around the user would know that the user is in fact talking on the phone. The device allows users to import pictures of their contacts from the computer or use smileys as their display pictures.

When a person receives a call, the caller's picture and name appear on the display. When the phone is not in use, the display remains blank. If the user chooses to keep the identity of certain contacts private, they can also choose to use a ‘private’ setting for the device and display and then it will only show a ‘no access’ message. The device also allows users to store their wireless earpieces in it, so they don't have to fuss with storing them separately.

As antithetical as the device is to the privacy provided by the cellphone and the handsfree paraphernalia that they come with these days, the pop up handsfree can be of great use in workplaces and help supervisors detect when workers are using the phone for work-related conversations and when they are busy having private conversations.

Source: Sebastian Popa


Flex mini cruiser makes skateboarding much more effortless

Posted: 25 Dec 2011 11:08 PM PST

Asmita Prasad:

The Flex mini cruiser is a brand new skateboard that is crafted out of sustainable materials and offers users great comfort both on the street as well as dedicated parks and circuits. The board is created to offer users a more direct steering experience, while its slightly concave surface ensures rider safety without negatively affecting the flex.

Mini Cruiser
Mini Cruiser

The composite construction of the Flex skateboard ensures that it has a long life even with the most hardcore usage. Two layers of epoxy-impregnated bamboo veneer and fiberglass encase four layers of composite Canadian maple, which allows the surface of the board to remain sturdy enough for optimum usage as well as soft enough to optimize its ergonomics for the boarder.

Mini Cruiser
Mini Cruiser

To ensure that the board has no asymmetric side loads on the bearings when cornering, the wheels come with closely fitted bearings. The medium soft high rebound bushings on the board allow easy turning and quick recovery, and they also support and complement the steering geometry of the board as well.

Using precise manufacturing methods, 4″ (102 mm) STER RADIO trucks were developed specifically for this mini cruiser and the board also comes with 8 mm axle pins that provide a much freer level of rotation for the ball bearing seat. The Flex mini cruiser skateboard retails for €169.90.

Via: Wefunk


10 Best recycled Christmas trees

Posted: 25 Dec 2011 10:45 PM PST

Nisha Changrani:

Done with the finishing touches that would render your Christmas tree an unspeakable glamour? Well, I have! But then, a wish struck my mind. I wished I could have some of those recycled pieces earlier for my home. Below given are some of these marvelous Christmas trees that are made from recycled materials like plastic, boxes, barrel and whatever you can think of. Hats off to the designers who have brought us some of the best Christmas trees this year! Anyways, the traditional Christmas trees that we bring to our homes, takes quite a toll on the environment. Why not bring a difference this season by going for something that is unique, divine and environment friendly? Here, come let us take a look at them together.


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