Author Archives: Ansley Berrones

Positive And Negative Can Play Well Together

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When you think of positive and negative, you think of things counteracting each other. Not the case with the Positive Negative Bar Counter designed by Xiaofei Cui and Yafei Ma.

When looking at designs, sometimes it is difficult to see where the relationship between form and function come together. With the Positive Negative Bar Counter, you can quickly see how these two things mesh together obviously well. With the top, or counter portion of the bar, made from cork easily allows for space to hold your wine glass, wine rack, or anything else you would like to display on top. The base, is made from durable iron formed into a crystal like shape that allows for containers to store wine and ice – very multifunctional for a space saving bar. Positive Negative Bar Counter is a 2016 A’Design Award Winner.

Designers: Xiaofei Cui & Yafei Ma

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Huxley’s Ladder – Fully Functioning Furniture

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Having recently moved into a new home with very high ceilings and not a lot of storage space, I know how important it is to have furniture that has more than one function. My book collection is pretty massive and finding something to display my books that works with the environment has been a big challenge.

Designer, Marc Scimé, had the same thoughts when coming up with the idea of the Huxley’s Ladder Bookshelves. With the dimensions of Width 1830 mm x Depth 560 mm x Height 2340 mm, the Huxley’s Ladder incorporates beautiful, modern, and full functionality into your bookshelves. 6 shelves to store your books, collectibles or whatever you choose, while also including wooden ladders built into the structure for the ability to climb and reach items on the higher shelves.

These bookshelves can be used as a single unit or combined together in any home or office environment. Made of quarter-sawn white oak and satin white lacquer finished high-grade MDF, no wonder this design piece won the 2015/2016 A’Design Award in Furniture Category. Such a fresh concept that I would love to incorporate into my home.

Designer: Marc Scimé

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Convertible Celerina Table

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With as many opportunities to work from home now a days, there are so many pros, and very few cons that come along with that. However, the biggest con is space. It’s hard to find a home or apartment that offers enough room to live and work.

The Celerina Table, designed by Damien Regamey for Reinhard AG Sachseln, was designed just for that. At first glance, you see a beautifully designed, solid oak dining table with beautiful details that is mounted on either still or wood tilted legs – perfect for entertaining or a nice meal at home. What’s hidden underneath is the gem of the table.

Once you release the leather security strap, the hydraulic system opens the top of the table, transforming it into a beautiful, modern office desk with storage, optional magnetic boards and a cable management system. A perfect solution to keep your workspace hidden and out of the way, once you finish work for the day.

Celerina Table also won an A’Design Award for 2016. What a perfect addition to any modern home.

Designer: Damien Regamey

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Twitter Mirror Selfie Booth

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Fan’s love getting updates from their favorite celebrities via social media – especially how active most celebrities are on Twitter. The short messages are a fantastic way to keep fans feeling close to all that is happening with a celebrity they may follow on Twitter and also helps to make the celebrity feel more human.

Pip Tompkin Studio and Twitter won the A’Design Award in the Idea Design Category 2015-2016 for the Twitter Mirror Social Networking Selfie Booth – Twitter’s first ever physical product. The Twitter Mirror is a 2D birdhouse frame that was inspired by the Twitter Bird logo. The birdhouse holds a tablet which works along with the Twitter Mirror App to take an instant photo that is immediately uploaded online.

The first Twitter Mirror was produced in February 2015 and has been used in places like The Oscars, Grammy’s, and other global events. It is made up as easily transportable and easily assembled. The materials used to create the Twitter Mirror are painted wood, chrome polished metal and LED light panels, all of which are made to last a long time.

The Twitter Mirror Selfie Booth has a simple user interface which allows the celebrity to use a stylus which acts as a perch on the birdhouse. The birdhouse has integrated LED lightning to create a beautiful image quality no matter what the setting.

Designers: Pip Tompkin Studio & Twitter

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Circle of Life Buoy

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Being stranded in the open sea is a big fear of mine. I’ve been on cruise ships and have been surrounded only by water with no land in sight. The thought of the ship sinking definitely goes through my mind. Queue the Titanic soundtrack.

However, thanks to a group of designers from the Laboratory of Industrial Design, LuXun Academy of Fine Arts in China, they have come up with the design called A-Circle Life Buoy.

A-Circle Life Buoy, made from injection molding technology with an inflatable and wearable hot melt rubber, is the answer to all of our “stranded at sea” fears. The wearable buoy is designed to isolate the water, maintain body temperature and keep the user a float. Each Buoy is also equipped with GPS as well as emitting light which helps rescuers locate the user quickly and safely.

Next time I find myself on a cruise ship, I hope I have A-Circle Life Buoy close at hand!

Designers: Xue Wenkai, Sun Jian, Qi Hongrui, Wang Hongchen, Li Tingyu & Zhang Yahan

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Tinker Toys For Adults?

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Creating and making our own workspace takes some imagination and a lot of hours searching for just the right product that can fit in the perfect space. Many times, we might find just the right thing, but when it arrives, it takes so many hours to locate all the pieces and try and understand the directions on how to piece it together.

Well, things just got a lot simpler. Playwood, an A’Design Award Winner, is more than just furniture, it allows you, the user to create to play around, and come up with different designs, such as desks, shelves, tables and more. You simply piece the boards together with special connectors – all of which are sold by the piece and super affordable. Tired of that table? No worries, with some simple reconfiguration, you can make it into some shelves.

The Playwood boards come in a variety of recyclable materials with a variety of thickness ranging from 1,5 cm to 2,0 cm. and the connectors are also available in 3 different angles – 90 degree square, 105 or 150 degree hexagonal as well as 3 different color choices – blue, red and green.

Playwood 3-D printed products, designed by Stefano Guerrieri, are innovative, definitely inspire creativity, super eco-friendly and affordable as well. Time to get those creative caps on and design your very own Playwood furniture.

Designer: Stefano Guerrieri

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Poetic Lighting

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I have a weakness for really cool lighting that brings a certain magical ambiance to my surroundings. The right lightning, sets the right mood for relaxing me time. But I also love the fact when lighting has many functions in one and can light up my living space, but also change to calm my surroundings.

Well Light does just that. Designed by Stefan Nosko of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, created this design from the inspiration of a water well. Just like with the water well, the Well Light takes a simple oiled Maple wood with brass elements as the handle and attaches to that a woven textile cable. Attached to the cable is a bulb socket which is made from brass allowing the light to be easily lowered and lifted into the blown class container.

When the rope is lowered into the glass, the light radiates a soothing darker glow due to the coloring of the glass container at the bottom – either matted or blue. When the bulb is raised, it radiates light more clearly, brightening the surroundings. The entire process of controlling the lightning, just like lowering and raising the water bucket into the well, is soothing in and of itself.

Designer: Stefan Nosko

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Grating Just Got Easier

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My kitchen, like many of yours is filled with gadgets and gizmos to prepare food. My utensils drawer has many graters and slicers that I thought were cool looking, but nearly take the skin off my fingers when I try and use them – they also take a long time to get the job done. Who has time anymore?

Designer Umit Can Koralay, has created the Gravel food grater / slicer. This device is the perfect answer for me and well, all of us. Built bottom heavy, it allows for easier balancing while being used on the cutting board or even over bowls, pots or pans. The tube to insert the food makes clean up super easy, and with the push of a button, you can eject the blades and replace them for the different grating needs.

This awesome little wireless device makes using it easy, without having to worry about lugging around big pieces of equipment that you have to plug into the wall. Because it is wireless, cleanup is super easy. Once the Gravel needs a recharge, simply place it on the induction plate for next usage. Next time I’m grating my veggies, I will surely wish Gravel was in my hand.

Designer: Umit Can Koralay

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Keep Your Hands Dry At Any Size

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For most people, using a public bathroom is a no-brainer. You go in, do your business and then wash and dry your hands and leave. We don’t think of it being a difficult task for the most part. However, not everyone has the ability to just walk in and walk out easily. Some folks have to think about accessibility features of the bathroom, or height limitations which can make the task a bit more difficult.

One designer has thought about the difficulties that some people do have when faced with washing then needing to dry their hands. Hyunsu Park, an Industrial Designer from Korea has come up with an idea that can make the task of drying hands universally easy. The Universal Hand Dryer is the answer.

The way the dryer works, is that it has both the Up mode and the Down mode. Smaller people, children and those in wheelchairs can use the Down mode, while others can use the Up mode. The Dryer detects where the persons hand is positioned and releases the air to dry them. What a brilliant idea that fits everyones needs – stylish too!

Designer: Hyunsu Park

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Yo! Cool Camera

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Capturing special moments is important to us all. But there are times you have to lug around a lot of different equipment for different situations – wide angled lens, video cameras, waterproof camera etc. All of those things can take up so much space and are burdensome to carry around.

Well Mofily has created the camera that can do it all and it can fit right into your pocket. The YoCam is the worlds smallest, lightest, and waterproof camera that will fit all of your needs. At only 2 oz, the YoCam max resolution is amazing at 2.7K 30 fps, waterproof up to 20 feet and Wifi and Bluetooth 4.0 enabled, it packs a lot of punch into such a small little camera.

With just a click of a button, you can start enjoying all that the YoCam has to offer – even small children can easily work the YoCam. Can’t fit everyone into the picture? With the 140 degree super wide angle fixed focus lens – no one will be cut from your photos.

YoCam has its own app which allows you to connect and easily share your memories across the miles, or even use the app to monitor your home while you are away. The App allows you to edit photos and videos where you can immediately share across multiple social medial platforms. You can even create and order a photo book that holds all of the special memories delivered right to your door.

Mofily even has created multiple accessories especially for the YoCam for any and all situations you may need. What an amazing design for a tiny little camera that packs a lot of punch. I’m definitely sold!

Designer: Mofily Design

Buy It Here: $179 $215

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