Do you need a distraction from the fact that a freak storm might kill you by the end of the weekend? Here we are to your mental rescue with light up roads, a giant sewing box that’s actually a cabinet, and much more in this round of the most beautiful items of the week.
How Technology and Fashion Made These Dresses Light Up Like a Starry Night
https://gizmodo.com/how-technology-and-fashion-made-these-dresses-light-up-5955251
Chinese designer Vega Wang combined space-age styles with electroluminescent material to make Alpha Lyrae, an amazing line of gorgeous, glowing dresses. You can see them glow like nebula in the sky at a star-speckled site the Creators Project, Vice, and Intel just launched. More
This All-Wood Clock Could Hang Anywhere
https://gizmodo.com/this-all-wood-clock-could-hang-anywhere-5954666
This wooden clock is great. It’s in the style of the ones you remember hanging over the chalkboard in your middle school classrooms, but the two-toned wooden design makes it fresh and modern. More
Sewing Boxes Aren’t Boring When They’re Giant Cabinets
https://gizmodo.com/sewing-boxes-arent-boring-when-theyre-giant-cabinets-5954505
Dutch designer Kiki van Eijk created this cabinet to look like an antique sewing box. She really hit the nail on the head here, because it immediately reminded me of the rickety old piece my grandmother had. More
Who’d Have Thought You’d Ever Lust After a Tape Dispenser?
https://gizmodo.com/whod-have-thought-youd-ever-lust-after-a-tape-dispenser-5955295
It’s not often something as mundane as a tape dispenser is worth a second glance. But then again, most of the office supplies on your desk weren’t created by one of Alessi’s talented designers. The Filo is as minimal as tape dispensers can get, and that’s what makes it beautiful. More
This Brilliant Umbrella Redesign Keeps More Than Just Your Head Dry
https://gizmodo.com/this-brilliant-umbrella-redesign-keeps-more-than-just-y-5955011
The slightest gust on a rainy day can make the umbrella you’re carrying completely useless. Besides flipping inside out, it doesn’t protect you from rain being blown in from the side. So Lin Min-Wei and Liu Li-Hsiang came up with the Rain Shield, a radical re-thinking of the umbrella that seemingly solves those problems. More
This Chair Can Shrink Down to the Size of a Pizza Box-And Back
https://gizmodo.com/this-chair-can-shrink-down-to-the-size-of-a-pizza-box-a-5954954
The downside to compact, energy efficient vehicles is their lack of cargo space. But designers around the world are hard at work ensuring that doesn’t inhibit your ability to properly furnish your home. Like Carl de Smet who created this comfy foam lounger that smooshes down to a flat block that’s five percent of its original size. More
All Roads Should Glow in the Dark (Obviously)
https://gizmodo.com/all-roads-should-glow-in-the-dark-obviously-5954932
The Dutch design firms Studio Roosegaarde and Hejmans Infrastructure just came up with a brilliant prototype for a “Smart Highway” that uses interactive lighting that adapts to driving conditions to make the roads safer. Enough with crap infotainment systems inside cars that distract us from driving with Twitter and dinner reservations-let’s light up the roads like a night club until no one crashes again. More
This Bookend Is So Minimalist You Can’t Even See It
https://gizmodo.com/this-bookend-is-so-minimalist-you-cant-even-see-it-5954775
If you hate extraneous clutter but need to organize your books, here’s just the thing: Paul Cocksedge’s Invisible Bookend is an exercise in function over form. Largely because you can’t see the damn thing. More
