Tag: Inspiration

Remember that elaborate Ixi Ruixin Pro knife-sharpening rig?In contrast, look at how simple and elegant the design of this Tumbler Diamond Rolling Knife Sharpener is:

When I left NYC several years ago, scaffolding looked like this:Now it's been upgraded, at least in places. A company called Urban Umbrella has wisely designed a more attractive scaffolding system, and even convinced the city to allow them to use the color white (standard regulation is Hunter Green).Typical scaffolding requires ugly X-bracing...

In looking up Orthex, which we called "the Muji of Finland," I came across this interesting tidbit in Finnish newspaper Ilta-Santomat.The company's most successful product, released in 1995, is called Jäänalle, and it's still sold today. It's what the Finns call a "freezer box," or what we'd call a food storage container meant to withstand the rigors of freezing. Some 70 million of them have been sold to date; Jäänalle "can be found in more Finnish homes than any other object," the paper writes.

Muji, Rubbermaid, Umbra, the Container Store: These are the companies I might start with if doing research prior to designing common household goods. But another company you should check out, and which you've probably never heard of if you're not Nordic, is Orthex.It's perhaps not fair to call Orthex the Muji of Finland; Muji was only founded in 1980, whereas Orthex has been cranking out household basics since 1956. But an article in Finland's Ilta-Sanomat newspaper acknowledges that the company is "almost unknown in the rest of the world," while in Finland, 9 out of 10 househol

This attractive, functional Griff rotating nail clipper was designed by Yoshita Handi-Design Studio, a firm founded by Japanese industrial designer Yoshita Moritaka.I figured it was commissioned by a manicure/pedicure supply company, but

Here's a strange product that might make sense for a minority of users. LG's 27" Libero display has a built-in base that also serves as a handle and hanging bar.One long edge of the monitor is lined with a soundbar, and the monitor can be used with the handle at the bottom, serving as the base, or inverted, with the handle hanging from the included hooks (as from a cubicle wall).

This absurd $75 three-piece tchotchke is not attributed to any designer, but is sold by Tesla as their branded "Sipping Glasses."It consists of two 1.5-ounce, 3.5" tall glasses that cannot stand on their own, and are seemingly designed to be impossible to wash by hand. A highly polished extrusion of an unspecified metal serves as the base.

I would've guessed this was an ID student concept. A kitchenware company with the unlikely name of Ninja Foodi makes this bizarre countertop contraption: The Flip Toaster is essentially a stand-up toaster, but one that can be rotated onto its side if you need to toast something horizontally (i.e. a mini pizza).

Look at this bonkers modernist coffee grinder, by Chinese brand Timemore:That's the Sculptor 078 electric coffee grinder, designed in-house (of Timemore's three co-founders, one is an industrial designer and another is a mechanical designer).

No, these won't charge your smartwatch. These non-wired Leaf wooden watch stands, created by Japanese carving company Mimatsu Craft, have the shape of a leaf presented in the negative space of the removed material.