Product Design
Mine Kafon By Massoud Hassani
October 23rd, 2012 – Massoud Hassani grew up in Afghanistan. As a child him and his brother used to build small toys that rolled. The two boys would take the small toys out in the hills to play with them, but as the wind would pick up the toys would roll faster than their little legs could carry. Eventually the boys would have to let the wind take their toys, because the land was covered in millions of land mines. Hassani explained that some kids, would attempt to get their toys, but the consequences to that choice was fatal.
Hassani has been riddled with concept after concept of how to detonate the mines to allow the local people to use the land safely for the past twenty years. during his graduate studies at Design Academy Eindhoven, the 25 year old was able to experiment with his theories on a grander scale. He took the same idea that he had as a boy, a device that could roll over the land, but he needed to make it strong enough to withstand the power of the explosion.
Early prototypes of the Mine Kafon would explode to pieces along with the detonation of the bomb. Now, Hassani has designed a GPS integrated Mine Kafon Ball that will not explode when the mine goes off – the ball will continue to roll to the next mine to release the detonation. The ball is constructed of three parts, the spherical core, 70 bamboo legs that stick out from it, and black round surfaces for the feet. Check out the landmine seeking device in action in the video below.
(Video By Callum Cooper )
iPad and iPhone Gramophone
October 12, 2012 – In the late 1800s, Thomas Edison introduced the phonograph, and just like that, life had a soundtrack. The Gramophone, designed by the team at Restoration Hardware, borrowed the iconic speaker horn from those early machines to amplify sound with the power of pure physics, creating the perfect contraption for your modern day devices to fit in with your retro styled space. The Base is handcrafted from solid walnut and the horn is made from iron and brass with the ability to boost its volume by three to four times, with no need for electricity. (Buy Here)
Leather Bicycle Seat Bag, Oregon
October 4th, 2012 – It is easy for Geoffrey Franklin, designer and owner of Walnut Studio, to create authentic and carefully crafted leather bicycle accessories. It has to be! Because every few months he whips out a completely new product that looks and functions at high quality levels. Most recently, a stylish hand-tooled leather box-shaped saddle bag. The bag is hand-finished, hand-stitched thick, and is constructed from stiff leather which attaches to your bike with a buckle closure and an additional leather twine to tie around the seat post. Franklin explained that the bag “Stays shut with a ‘common sense’ hardware closure, and contents are held secure with envelope flaps that fold into the bag.” The leather in the bag is made with USA-made unfinished tanned leather from a local company that I finished with a combination process including weatherproofing and dye. Available in “honey”/cognac, brown, black, or unfinished natural. ($72)
(Photography Courtesy of Walnut Studio)
The Dome Oven
Industrial Designer Xavier Lopez says that “we are experts in precooked meals made in 5-15 minutes.” It seems, at times, we can be so caught up with our faced paced lives that we forget to stop and smell the roses. Lopez’s DOME Oven might just be the trick to slowing us all down!?! “The idea is to recover the idea of DOME cooking fire and slowly, as our ancestors did, generating a meeting around food because you have to wait to be done,” the designer explained. The DOME is relatively light weight and can be used in the kitchen, or you can take it on a picnic to the beach. The oven is constructed of all handmade pieces with a refractory ceramic and a little shallot. Lopez chose a dark black glaze to line the inside so the food becomes more attractive and the small structure is sculpted to give the food perfectly distributed heat!
(Photography: Xavier Lopez)
Hedon Motorcycle Helmets
August 6th, 2012 – The Barcelona based motorcycle helmet company Hedon, started when three friends from three different design backgrounds came together to rethink the helmet. The trio joined forces, with their respective expertise in graphic design, helmet crafting, and fashion design, to create a stylish and colorful collection of helmets. The crew took a graphical approach to designing the series of helmets using the color spectrum, a space invader like octopus, and peacock feathers. Beyond being super stylish, the shell of each helmet is injected with thermoplastic and comes with an anti-scratch visor, ”Hed-armor” lining, and removable cheek pads, for the riders protection.
(Photography: Hedon)
ReBoot Record Player
August 2nd, 2012 – Straight out of Los Angeles comes the Reboot Record Player by industrial designer Siddharth Vanchinathan. The Reboot is a new-age version to the old school device that brought music into the homes of millions. The new record player still plays all your favorite vinyls, but the design process requires 50% less footprint than the original. Inside the Reboot is a pre amp, which is included so that the audio output can be directly plugged into a speaker. Vanchinathan Studied the large boxy frame of the original record player, then streamlined it into a smaller, minimalistic version to fit perfectly next to your modern day gadgets!
(Photography: Siddharth Vanchinathan)
A D A Bike Lock & Key Pendant
DEUTSCHE & JAPANER, a Germany based creative firm, doesn’t like to limit their capabilities when it comes to creating. The firm has already won an impressive amount of international awards for their graphic design, product design, interior design, illustration, and scenography. Their most recent creation is titled A D A (A Darling Accessory); a part of D & J’s initiative to develop a series of genuine handcrafted items. The A D A collection, which includes a belt, bike lock, and key pendant, is a perfect fit for the recreational city bike rider. The products are constructed of fine Italian calf leather, sewn with strong red threads and finished with golden hot foil – for a little urban cowboy flare!
(Photography: DEUTSCHE & JAPANER)
Enjoi Skatboard Decks by Craig & Karl
This content series is in partnership with smartwater. smartwater, good taste travels well. Click here to learn more.
“Ghetto Bird,” “Stale Fish,” “Roast Beef,” “Saran Wrap”… We know what you’re thinking. But alas, the aforementioned aren’t buffet items. They’re skateboarding tricks. And evidently enough, it doesn’t matter how many sweet tricks you have up your sleeve, or tucked into your shredded skateboarding kicks rather, unless you have a custom deck designed exclusively for you. Big talk? Perhaps. But wait till you see the boards that Craig & Karl are churning out.
No one is more stoked than the pro team at Enjoi – a SoCal based skateboard apparel and accessory company. Why you ask? We’ll tell you. The team got hooked up with their very own decks designed exclusively by Craig & Karl. Co-founder Karl Maier explained that they created “custom artwork for each of Enjoi’s riders that celebrated their individual loves, loathings, artifacts and most importantly, bad habits – from lube to guns to chicken wings.” (We’re crossing our fingers the three are not used in tandem).
In a nutshell, Maier and his agency partner, Craig Redman, initially worked with the riders to glean info on their personal obsessions, objects they felt connected to, or just stuff that best summed up everyday life. Then they graphically translated the good, the bad, and the ugly, into separate boards for team riders Jose Rojo, Jerry Hsu, Louie Barletta, Nestor Judkins, Wieger Van Wageningen, Cairo Foster, and Caswell Berry, and illustrating it all onto epoxy resin constructed decks.
Enjoi chose a resin construction over the standard 7-ply because resin is proven to be significantly stronger and consistent in weight. Along with the boost in strength, the epoxy finish is more aggressive than the “industry standard” water-base glue, and as a bonus, since epoxy is so strong, less of it is used yielding a lighter, stiffer deck that keeps its pop longer.
We caught up with professional skateboarder Jerry Hsu, (who just so happens to be our all-time favorite character to play in the skateboarding video game EA Skate) who explained the objects that composed his likes, dislikes, and bad habits. Hsu divulged that his list to Craig & Karl looked a little something like this: “kitty litter with poop, pile of unopened bills, dirty laundry, lotion and tissues, Ray Ban’s (half frame), film cameras, naked Greek statues, animal skulls, steamed dumplings, soy sauce, broken Blackberry phone.” So basically it was a matter of sifting through all their obscure objects and translating the hot mess into an interesting composition, while still keeping the riders personality present.” Karl added, “the filthier and more chaotic the lists the more fun they were to do!” Nothing like having a side of steamed dumplings with your “Stale Fish”, and “Roast Beef.” Don’t mind if I do!
Interview With Mujjo’s Remy Nagelmaeker Plus A Sweet Giveaway!
Admittedly, we are all obsessed with our new age touch-screen devices! But taking your warm gloves off in the middle of a January freeze to check a text message can be enough to filter the coldest chill through your body. Impressively enough, the designers at Mujjo quickly created a solution for this modern day problem when they unveiled their Touch Screen Gloves to the world last winter. Fast forward to mid-summer and we sat down to have a chat with Remy Nagelmaeker, Mujjo’s co-founder and design director, about their latest hand-crafted series of iProduct accessories called The Originals Collection. Nagelmaeker gave us some interesting insight into the Mujjo world, their design process, and how the team used a unique combination of wool felt and high quality leather to create some super stylish case goods!
Oh, and on an even cooler note – Mujjo wants to giveaway a pair of Touch Screen Gloves and an iPad sleeve from The Originals Collection to KNSTRCT’s Facebook friends. (Join us on Facebook to be eligible for the giveaway! The winners will be announced on Friday July 20th, 2012)
Jaime Hayon’s Orolog Watch
Tech boom? What tech boom? No matter how for advanced in technology we think we are, it is clearly apparent that we are still in infant stages compared to the possibilities of the future. Even though gadgets are popping up left and right, attempting to give people efficiency and convenience, there is one, old gadget, that won’t die – the wrist watch! One of our favorite designers Jaime Hayon has teamed up with Ian Lowe to start a new company called Orolog, to design and manufacture innovative Swiss Made time pieces.
Here is a glimpse at their first collection which is comprised of 3 simple function and 3 chronographs using multiple materials within a clean and simple design. Hayon wanted to create the series by “exploring the combination of classical elements and modern details to create a contemporary classic [watch].”
The talented designer created an organically shaped case, ‘Capitone’ quilted texture dial face, a clever use of typographic details for numerals, complemented by exquisite colored leather straps (made from Hermes leather).
The water resistant watches are manufactured in Switzerland, they feature Ronda quartz movements, with matte stainless steel and pvd case finishes, matching or contrasting matte black pvd buckles, crowns & pushers.
(Photography: Jaime Hayon)
The Immature Headphones By Matthew Choto
Matthew Choto is a San Fransisco based industrial designer who specializes in creating toys, sneakers, furniture, and now headphones. The recent Reebok Design Competition winner has upped his game with his new IMMATURE collection. The series features a luxurious pair of black and gold studio headphones, along with a matching wristwatch. Choto says that the headphones and watch were “designed for a theoretical high end brand, inspired by Hip-Hop culture.” The sleek headphones are predominantly matte black with a raised gold plaque at the ears, they take on a soft angular form with rigid geometric contours as accent marks. The headphones are a mere concept now, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see people rocking them in the near future.
(Photography Courtesy of: Matthew Choto)
Jormungand Watch
There is a magical philosophy behind the Jormungand Watch. The design of this truly intriguing watch is the representation of time, flowing back into itself. “Jormungand is a serpent that is large enough to encircle the earth and hold onto his own tail. As the story goes, when Jormungand lets go of his own tail the earth will end,” Wisconsin based Industrial Designer David Prince explains. Prince goes on to note that the “forms of Jormungand are about eternity and time flowing back into itself, hence the helical disc shapes that make up the hour and minute “hands.” The “hands”, are not actual watch hands – instead of watch hands, part of the face is raised up to create a space for tiny sliver of an LED light which peeks through to provide a glow which acts as the hour hand. Beyond the fascinating mythical inspiration – this is watch is brilliant.
(Renderings: David Prince)
The Good Boy Lamp
Most of us look away when we stumble upon a dog going #2, but an English artist, who goes by “Whatshisname,” wants you to stare straight at it! He does, it takes him a month to construct each one of his Good Boy Lamps, less than 100 of them now exist worldwide. The designer says that the “Good Boy lamp was designed as an item of everyday use that makes user uncomfortable with every use.” Mission accomplished – the artist was originally commissioned to build the lamp to be featured in London’s the Art Below exhibition on London Underground Stations, but was actually banned by London Underground from appearing on the Bond Street station for being to offensive!
Leather Guitar Pick Wallet
December 4th, 2012 – Robyn Proteen, Founder of Proteen Gear, is a traveling photographer who has taken his experience and created a series of clever accessories that might come in handy to music lovers, travelers, and photographers. Proteen’s latest creation is the Leather Guitar Pick Wallet, a 100% handmade leather wallet with six guitar pick sleeves that face inward when the wallet is folded. No more searching for your guitar picks when you’re sitting down for an impromptu recording session! ($35)
(Photography: Proteen Gear)A Carefully Considered Redesign of The Fender Telecaster
We’ve been keeping a close eye on Mathew Schneider, founder and creative director of Tribeca based design studio Carefully Considered, (we previously reported on his design of Husaberg’s FE 390 Enduro bikes). Now, the clever designer has proposed a series of innovative and stylized guitars for the Fender Telecaster. The Telecaster, informally known as The Tele, is typically a dual-pickup, solid-body electric guitar. Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and pop music in the 50′s – but, it may be the right time to give the legendary instrument a slight makeover.
Schneider’s proposed redesign not only includes custom body wrap in various materials, but also a redesign of the pickups. “The central pickup was designed to be reminiscent of an acoustic guitar. I repositioned the volume, power and treble to the underside as “push – in” buttons,” noted Schneider. “I also redesigned the inlays on the neck, as well as changed the tuner knobs to those used on traditional stringed instruments in order to make them look chunkier and bolder.” Bolder, being the key word here!
(Photographs: Carefully Considered)
Tread Carpet By Martín Azúa
Esparto grass is a traditional material which is manufactured into soles of sandals – a perfect choice in material for a carpet full of connecting footprints. The Tread Carpet is the design of Barcelona based design firm Martín Azúa, but is hand crafted by artisan woman from the region of Murcia, in South East Spain. The Tread Carpet is not a plush rug you sink your feet into after a hard days work, actually, its quite the contrary feeling. The Esparto grass is strong and tough, originally created to outfit a commercial Camper shoe store. This is a subtle, yet impressively clever piece, that is sure to add flare to your living room.
(Photography: Copyright Martin Azua)
Electro-Phosphorescent Goodies
La Sardina Camera & Flash
Today, the photography gurus at Lomography have released their latest camera, La Sardinia Splendour. The cool piece is a throw back to cameras that date back to the early 19th century. La Sardinia Splendour has a hammered metal finish with a matching retro-style Fritz the Blitz Flash, and the compact camera allows you to shoot wide-angle images without disrupting the harmony of your surroundings!
(Photography: Lomography)
Attrap’Rêves Bubble Hotel, France
Maybe you have, or maybe you haven’t seen this little family of bubble rooms – but now, after the recent opening of two hotels in France, you can make one of these translucent huts yours for the night! Attrap’Rêves in Bouches-du-Rhone (near Marseille) and Sky River outside of Loir-et-Cher are the two hotels that let you sleep under the stars. The concept came from French designer Pierre Stéphane, who wanted to create a Eco-friendly space, in that once the bubble is folded up, nature remains the intact.
The bubbles are small and cozy, about 13 feet in diameter. Some are fully transparent, while others allow a little more privacy and are half opaque. Now, let’s be straight with one another, if you are looking to be pampered at the Ritz, these bubbles might not be for you. But if you want to live an unforgettable adventurous experience, immersed in nature, get to France! Who knows, you might wake up from that alarming dream with a bear staring you straight in the face….lets just all cross our fingers that this plastic bubble withstands bear claws.
Old Skateboards, Germany
With phrases like, “My future lies in your hands, and under your toes. Together we roll” how can you not love Old Skateboards? The stylish boards are made in southern Germany and fabricated from Canadian Maple decks. Established in 2012 the new brand features old looking boards. Decks are named such monikers as “Homage to a Handrail” and sport etched graphics of crossed antique pipes and vintage looking typography. As one deck boasts they’re “Built to make history.” We can get onboard with that.
(Photography: Old Skateboards)
The Landscape Dinner Set
Have you been trying to find a colorful and fun way for your children to learn table manners? The Landscape Dinner Set is just the answer! The design of the set is based on typical children’s drawings – a house for a plate, trees for cutlery, a cloud for a side dish, and the sun is the cup! The goal of the melamine safe dish set is to help teach your kid how to eat properly using cutlery, while playing. Moreover it helps you give them a healthy dinner, separating all the food they need in a tidy and cheerful way! ($30.00)
Modular Floating Docks
You may have seen floating docks gracing marinas and lakes for quite some time now, but Candock, a cool company based in Québec, Canada has a whole new take on these docks. The Modular Floating Dock System is a truly innovative product. The high quality plastic system is easily connected with little to no maintenance, can be configured in numerous ways, and has a life time guarantee. Most recently, Candock put together a long rectangular dock, made four units wide and 85 units long, then connected it to the shore of a beach and let it float over the breaking waves. This made for a pretty kick-ass time for Candock’s clients who spent the whole day wave jumping and soaking up the sun as they moved on top of the water.
Candock noted that their “modular floating system has become a must for residential, commercial, marina and recreational facility docks or any other application. When compared to wooden, metal or cement docks, its advantages are crystal clear: just consider its exceptional lifespan and its high resistance to the most severe weather conditions.”
(Photographs: Candock)
Monster Skin Rug
These day’s, skinning a bear just gives you no street cred! Over at Longoland, they’re upping the ante by skinning monsters! White monsters or grey monsters with big sharp teeth can now grace your hardwood floor. The Monster Skin Rugs are hand made with wool felt by artist Joshua Ben Longo who says that because he creates the rugs by hand, each piece is a little bit different, which in our opinion, increases the richness of its character.
Mother’s Ruin Gin
It’s not often you don’t see gin packaged in a horribly tacky bottle with garish colors and a dated, turn-of-the-century looking script font (Enter the train wreck that is Seagram’s). Well, look no further. Mother’s Ruin Gin gives the traditional trashy gin packaging a much-needed facelift. Gone is the gold foil and Old English. (Phew!) Daniel Brokstad stripped the branding down to its barest essentials. A clean, modern sans serif typeface, geometric lockup and minimalistic color scheme grace the sleek, black bottle. As the bottle boast it’s, “bound to please.” If the gin is as smooth as the branding, we have no doubt it will.
