The Orilamp

Some time ago my friends in the Origami Group showed me how to make a box model originally designed by Clemente Giusto. I found it interesting, especially since when folding it you have to use a “twisting” technique that afterwards, when the model is finished, allows you to open and close it without needing to make a second matching part.

The fact is that the flaps of paper on top of the box made it look kinda strange, as they were really big in comparison to the rest of the piece. Therefore, I started fiddling with it to see if I could Continue reading The Orilamp

Meet the Pliws!

http://www.pliws.com
Original site, in Korean and English.
http://www.superrollers.com
Very informative Australian-N.Zealand distributor site.

an abreviation for PLay In WheelS(…) two wheeled flashing roller skate that attaches to the heel of your skate or sport type shoe(…) you can fit them to your favourite shoes and as your feet grow or you change shoe preference, you can simply adjust them to suit the new shoe instead of being limited to the pair of the shoes with the wheels in them!

On my way back from Canada (which I like more every time I go, though Ottawa’s streets are really slippery in winter) to Santiago I went through Amsterdam, so I had to stay at the Schiphol airport for a few hours. I decided to spend the time visiting the airport rather than sleeping, mainly because sleeping wouldn’t make me feel any better but also because the three times I have been there this was the first one where I could actually Continue reading Meet the Pliws!

Look up the lights, you know my number

Design is very often, perhaps even mostly, a struggle in between aesthetics and function. The masterpieces of design would then be those which excel in both aspects without compromising any, but usually though, tradeoffs are made in favour of either one or the other; the success of the result depends on there being a good reason for the imbalance, one which makes the bias worthwhile, and the ultimate proof of its success, the ability of the users to feel, even better verbalize, said reason.

I hope that the paragraph above will give a new perspective on the deep meaning of the at times blamed as shallow term “cOol”, as in: why do I like so much a clock so hard to read? because it´s sooo cOol!!! ;P

Ps: Actually, I found a different breed of “visual clock” that is easier to read : the TIX Led Clock.

Switched on Air

http://www.mathmos.com/erol.html

Airswitch can be controlled by simply moving your hand through the air above the product.

I have liked mathmos’ lamps since the first time I saw one of their creations, the aduki, and though lava lamps are not of my preference, I believe that this brand succeeds in offering a consistent line of stylish, well designed, cool products. The Airswitch seems a step forward in their catalog, because it adds a clever and novel approach to the “interface” of a lamp, making it easy and natural. The concept of “gesture control” is nothing new under the sun, from the classic theremin to the air fx (as a music NAN I´m always searching for these kind of gadgets), but I have never seen it applied this way. It could be real fun if my cat learned how to operate it! (no doubt he would) 😛

Related Article: Make your walls glow with sTILE

Make your walls glow with sTILE

http://www.designboom.com/

The tiles are layers of glass and colour fused together, with a specially made LED pcb contained at the back, which illuminates the bubbly texture of the glass.

Great! I’ll never again have trouble finding the bathroom at 4 am! The article doesn’t make any comments on how are the tiles powered and the pictures don’t show any type of plug, so I hope it won’t be necessary to knock down the walls in order to change the batteries 😛
Very nice idea, and practical too. The whole designboom site is just as interesting, whether you’re a contemporary industrial design lover or just want to see some cool, -even useful- stuff.

Related Article: Switched on Air