Design

This Desk Assembles With Nothing But Manual Labor

If you end up doing more harm than good when tools are around, you’ll love Fraaheid’s collection of easy-assembling tables designed by a trio of Amsterdam-based architects. Cut from a single sheet of plywood, the tables use a series of strategic slots and grooves to assemble in less than three minutes without the need for…

You Will Desire This Watering Can Even If You Don’t Own Plants

There aren’t many plants in my small NY apartment, but I would throw down for this beautiful watering can out of pure respect for form. Designed by Paul Loebach, the x3 Watering Can combines modernism with industrial-chic for a perfectly proportioned sculptural whole. The name refers to the continuous shape of the metal tube, bent…

The “10 Hidden Positions” in Basketball, in Beautiful Visualizations

Basketball is a complicated sport. It’s got fewer traditional positions than any other team sport, but no less specialization, and far more fluid movement than many others. Two “point guards” can play drastically differently and still play the same basic position. Muthu Alagappan’s research makes some sense of that. Basically, Alagappan looks at what you’re…

Bowers & Wilkins Z2: A Beautiful AirPlay Speaker with a Cozy Nest for Your iPhone

Speaker docks outfitted with Apple’s Lightning dock connector seem like kind of waste these days. Wireless music is the future, homie! But does this new beauty from Bowers & Wilkins look like a dock? Where’s the port? It’s hidden by clever design. The Bowers & Wilkins Z2 is an evolution of the almost-amazing Zeppelin Mini…

This Building Is Too Insane To Be a Bank

The Nord LB Building is freaking crazy. Located in Hanover, Germany, it’s home to one of the country’s largest banks and is far too absurd to be home to a financial institution. Perhaps that’s exactly the point, because a bank is probably not the most exciting place to go to work every day. Especially considering…

A Multi-Functional Table With the Layers to Match

Unfortunately, space-saving and beauty don’t often go hand-in-hand, so when something like the multilayer Toldo Table comes along, we’re glad to take note. This lovely, handmade piece combines function and form, with each surface providing flexible storage depending on what you want most readily accessible. Mexican designer Christian Vivanco found inspiration in the layered fabric…

This Gorgeous Knife Draws Inspiration From Our Ancestor’s Stone Tools

While crude by today’s standards, the stone tools used by our ancestors were obviously more than adequate for their survival. After all, were they not, Italian designer Michele Daneluzzo wouldn’t be around today to craft this beautiful homage to the flint cutting tools of the Stone Age. The knife, appropriately dubbed the Primitive, actually has…

This Speaker Wasn’t Stolen From the Mad Men Prop Closet

The new Kendall Bluetooth speaker from Furni looks just like a sleek 60s sound system. Isn’t it purty? Honestly, why would you want some garish new plastic thing, when you could buy something understated and beautiful like this? It has a solid walnut case with a laser etched grill that hides 2 x 5 watt…

Just Re-Stack and Twist This Lamp When You Get Bored of Its Design

Simply re-organizing a room is the easiest—and cheapest—way to give it a fresh look. And the same applies to this Babele layered wooden lamp created by a studio calling themselves Manifattura Italiana Design, or MID for short. Like a glowing version of the Tower of Hanoi puzzle, the central support of the Babele lamp lights…

An Amazing 240-Square Foot Apartment Works Like a Magical Jewelry Box

Did you think a 420-square-foot apartment sounded impossible to live in? Try 240-square-feet. Somehow, New York City architect Tim Seggerman renovated an Upper West Side space to make that postage stamp-sized space feel like work like magic. And he even made room for a washing machine! https://gizmodo.com/the-tiny-transforming-apartment-that-packs-eight-rooms-5967622 Seggerman started with a one-room studio that was…

These Beautiful Overflowing Baths Are Soak Sanctuaries

Guaranteed, your tub is nothing compared to the Oveflow Bathtubs. You might not be dirty, but after gazing at these new sunken whirlpools from Käsch, it’s totally natural to want to spend the rest of your day soaking until your toes shrivel. Water drips into the pools in the line from a nice little fountain.…

Marvel At These Mesmerizing Meticulously Manufactured Maple Marble Machines

Believe it or not, artist and wood-savant Paul Grundbacher doesn’t draw up a rough schematic or do any kind of planning before he starts building his amazing marble machines. He just dives right in, crafting the components he needs out of maple, ash, and linden wood. That approach also means he spends a lot of…

The Air Mattress That Turns into a Boat

Ivan Zhang and Jeho Yoon have designed what could be the ultimate relaxation tool: an air mattress that can transform into a boat. Thanks to an internal structure of ropes and carabiners, the Nest is a comfy air mattress perfect for lounging about in a pool. But when you disconnect all of the carabiners inside,…

Transforming Tables and Chairs: More Than Meets the Ass

Extra tables and chairs are great for when you have company over, but what do you do with that stuff during the other 364 days of the year? Not everyone has limitless storage space. The Oneness modular furniture system, designed by Kyuhyung Cho and Hironori Tsukue, tackles this issue with a multitalented furniture set that…

The First Nike FuelBand Prototypes Looked Like Humongous Sweat Bands

You know the Nike FuelBand as a sleek black band that’s a half-step removed from a Livestrong bracelet. That wasn’t always the case, though. Some looked totally different from the finished product, like this early mockup that basically got the FuelBand off the ground. Austin Carr was out at the Nike campus to report for…

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The Tender Loving Care That Goes Into a Single Lamp

The work that goes into creating a well-designed piece of fixture or appliance can be just a nice to look at as the product itself. Take, for example, where Dysons are born. Or Ingo Schuppler’s Schwarzes Gold lamps. https://gizmodo.com/this-is-where-dysons-are-born-5988382 Made from charcoal and copper, each lamp has a unique, black shell to contrast with its…

Wrap Yourself In Awesome Errors With These Glitch Blankets

The problem with graphical glitches is that they generally show up when you’re trying to look at something else. Something not glitched. But if you’re just looking at them on their own, they can be be pretty fascinating, and even beautiful. That seems to be the idea behind Phillip Stearn’s Glitch Textiles, a set of…

Lenovo ThinkPads Are Getting Thinner and Prettier

The ThinkPad T series isn’t traditionally the prettiest out there, and it’s certainly not one you’d usually see highlighted. But Lenovo went and made them pretty. It’s got a new thinner body (20.6mm), a thin bezel, and a carbon fiber top with a magnesium exterior. It doesn’t look quite as great as the X1 Carbon,…

The Image Toaster Brings Google Images to Your Breakfast

We live in the future, so chances are you’ve got all manner of gadgets flashing and beeping at you to remind you what’s happening on any given day. But your toast isn’t in on all that fun. And why shouldn’t it be? If you had something like the Image Toaster, it could be. And maybe…