This minimal chime creates an inviting ambience every time you open your home door

Most chimes, at least the non-electronic ones, are designed to hang down in order to be swept even by the gentlest breeze. That is true even for door chimes, which sometimes result in less-than-pleasing appearances and sounds. The dangling parts sometimes look awkward or get in the way of the door frame, while the parts that make it sound often hit the door and produce a different acoustic quality from the chimes themselves. On their own, they seem like small nitpicks, but they quickly become death by a thousand paper cuts in our minds after seeing and hearing this day after day. This Japanese-inspired door chime, in contrast, takes a different approach to both its style and its sound in order to create a subtle yet memorable experience that is pleasing not just to the senses but also to the mind.

Designer: Mikiya Kobayashi for Timbre

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Our minds can be complex and mysterious, paying attention to things in the background that we don’t consciously mind. It’s a necessary capability for survival, but it can also have some unfortunate and unforeseen consequences. We can become numb to the clutter on our desks, for example, making us forget about the important sticky notes we have left lying around. It can also make us associate negative emotions with door chimes that don’t look or sound right, making us unconsciously irritated whenever someone opens the door.

Bo, a word that means “live” or “reside” in Danish, is a door chime that delivers a completely different experience from that, not just by the way it sounds but also by the way it looks. At first glance, the small metal bars seem to float in front of your door rather than hang from it, thanks to the small minimalist base that gets out of the way, visually and practically. There are no strings that get tangled up and no chime that looks out of place. The strong neodymium magnet in the base also makes it easy to mount the chime on any ferrous metal surface, whether it’s the door itself or some plate on the door.

Despite that solid-looking arrangement, the chime’s bars swing easily and freely when the door moves or with a breeze. The bars hit themselves and only themselves, creating a crystalline sound that is pure, clear, and unadulterated by the door’s material. Since these four rods are equally tuned, there is no note that will sound out of place. The result is a pleasant auditory experience that is peaceful and almost mesmerizing. It’s almost reminiscent of those tiny bells that mark the start of a period of meditation and reflection, making you stop and pause to breathe and live in the present.

Door chimes are designed to inform you whenever the door opens, but they don’t have to be a jarring or even uncomfortable experience to be effective. This gentle chime creates a more pleasant experience not only with the way it sounds but also with the way it looks. It might even make you look forward to family and friends coming over just to hear that sound, and it’s definitely a sound you’ll want to hear as you step out into the world to start your work day.

Click Here to Buy Now: $39 $49 ($10 off at checkout). Hurry, deal ends Nov 12th.

The post This minimal chime creates an inviting ambience every time you open your home door first appeared on Yanko Design.

This cute door chime welcomes guests with tranquil notes like a chirpy bird

People use door chimes for different reasons, but it’s all for the sake of announcing someone’s arrival or departure. Traditional chimes are made from pieces of metal that hit each other when they move, but there are also newer chimes that use electronics to produce a wider variety of sounds. Depending on how often that happens, the sounds that these chimes can begin to be irritating or tiresome, especially if the kind or quality of the sound isn’t at all pleasant. At the same time, however, a door chime can’t be too soft or forgettable because it would eventually lose its purpose. This door chime is, fortunately, not your typical door accessory, and the tunes it makes might make you even look forward to coming home after a long day at work or, better yet, to family and friends coming over to visit.

Designer: Mikiya Kobayashi for Timbre

Click Here to Buy Now: $49 $59 ($10 off at checkout). Hurry, deal ends Nov 9th.

The mechanics of typical non-electronic door chimes are pretty much the same, no matter the design. There are parts that move when the door swings open or closes, and these parts hit each other to produce sound the same way percussion instruments work. There are some chimes that are made of wood, which produces deeper and more muted sounds with a narrower range of tones. Common door chimes, however, use metal, and the sounds they make can vary wildly depending on the shape and size of those chimes. Over time, the sounds can start to become either too annoying or too boring, causing a bit of mental stress you might not even be aware of.

The Tori chimes, named after the Japanese word for “bird,” uses the same mechanics but achieve a very different outcome thanks to meticulous attention to detail. Shaped like a bird with metallic tail feathers, the chime’s movement causes the tail to sway and produce sound. The sound, however, is more like the tranquil and calming chirps of birds in their natural habitat. It’s a sound that coaxes our minds to wander off to more peaceful images rather than associating the sound with an unwelcome disruption.

This chirpy greeter, however, isn’t just about the sounds it makes, though that definitely takes center stage. The chime’s minimalist yet colorful design makes it an ideal accent for any door. While most door chimes are located near the top and out of sight, this avian simulacrum is something you’ll want every to see, perhaps to evoke a bit of envy at your charming decor. The die-cast zinc body gives it a sturdy and distinctive form that you can attach to any ferrous metal surface with ease.

Whether you’re stepping out to start your day, coming back home after hours of traffic, or simply opening your doors to welcomed guests, this attractive door chime’s glittering sounds are sure to set the right, positive mood. Simple, cute, and calming, this twittering bird will ease its way not just into your home but into your heart as well, providing a brief period of peace at every chime.

Click Here to Buy Now: $49 $59 ($10 off at checkout). Hurry, deal ends Nov 9th.

The post This cute door chime welcomes guests with tranquil notes like a chirpy bird first appeared on Yanko Design.

Meet Chime, the ‘Nespresso-for-Chai’ that lets you instantly brew tea with the milk of your choice

Even for the fact that it’s literally the second-most popular beverage in the world after water, tea (or Chai as hipsters and Indians call it) is quite a hassle to make. It requires boiling, steeping, straining, and even one of those steps going slightly wrong can result in a cup that just doesn’t taste the same. It’s sort of a testament to how amazing tea is that people still go through these lengths to have their cup full of its goodness.

For people who don’t really go through the ritual of making their own tea, chai-lattes are often easily found at most baristas, but anyone will attest that a quick-grab version of the beverage is average at best… and relatively expensive. This provided Gaurav Chawla with the perfect opportunity to develop a machine that performed the tea-brewing ritual on behalf of its user, and was as simple to operate as a Nespresso… but for chai.

Meet Chime. Tea-drinking is a slow, elaborate, thoroughly enjoyed process, but tea-brewing often isn’t. Chime simplifies how you brew your tea by allowing you to simply load a tea-pod (or cap, as Chime likes to call it) into the machine, selecting your size, strength and milk ratio and letting the machine do the rest of the work. The brewer extracts the unique blend of tea-leaves and fresh spices from within the cap, steeps it in water for the right time at the right temperature, and then pours it into a carafe below, filled with the boiling milk of your choice. Once done, all you do is clean the strainer by throwing the leaf-residue into compost, and taking the pod/cap out of the Chime’s inlet and recycling it.

Chime’s design ‘boils down’ to its single-button interface that makes it incredibly easy to brew tea without worrying about over-boiling, under-boiling, over-steeping or under-steeping. The machine cleanly ejects the contents of the pods out into its top boiler, where the tea brews in hot water for 3 to 5 minutes based on the setting. At the bottom is Chime’s induction heater and frother that prepares your milk as your tea boils.

You can use any milk you choose, opting for anything from full-fat milk to plant-based alternatives. The milk gets automatically heated to the right temperature and creamy consistency, and when your chai is ready, all you need to do is pour the tea-brew into your milk and savor your perfectly brewed cup!

Chime’s tea-pod system utilizes the highest quality tea-leaves from plantations in Darjeeling and Assam in north-east India, and spices from Kerala, India’s southern spice hub. Each chai-pod is nitrogen-flushed to ensure the tea-leaves and spices remain fresh for long periods of time while inside the pod because there’s really no room for compromise when it comes to your daily dose of chai!

My only personal pain-point would be the use of plastic pods, something that’s proven to be a problem for the environment in the past. Chime says they use single-layer PET plastic in their pods that are known for being both food-grade and easy-to-recycle, but replacing the pod system for something akin to a tea-bag would be pretty easy for the company to do in the long-run. Here’s to a future where enjoying your daily cup of tea is fast, sustainable, incredibly tasty, and rewarding!

Designers: Gaurav Chawla & Samip Bhavsar

Click Here to Buy Now: $199 $399 (50% off). Hurry, only 12 left!

Chime: Fresh, Authentic Chai in 3 Minutes

The only device in the world designed to brew authentic chai from real tea leaves at the push of a button without compromising ingredients or taste.

Chime combines the traditional, hand-crafted process of making chai with their passion for product design and technology. They made chai preparation made easy and quick and with the Chime smart app, you can customize, store and share your very own chai recipes.

Just 3 Minutes to Brew and 20 Seconds to Clean

Chime’s unique brewing chamber carefully extracts tea and spices and simmers them in milk to create the harmony of aromas only found in authentic, homemade chai.

How It Works

Step 1: Add Chai Cap and Choice of Milk
Step 2: Choose Size, Strength, Milk Ratio and Frothiness
Step 3: Press Go

Pour and Enjoy

Count on Chime for a fully customizable cup of chai, tailored to your liking in the comfort of your home or office.

Details

Origins are everything, which is why the team has selectively sourced the tea from the best tea gardens of upper Assam and Darjeeling. 10 Chime Caps come in each box, with two caps each of Assam, Cardamom, Ginger, Masala and Cardamom-Ginger. The team has used single layer food-grade PET in our Chime Caps for recyclability and to ensure freshness. The Chime process extracts ingredients, leaving no waste or residue in the container. No added steps need to be taken to recycle the cap.

Use the app to brew your perfect cup of tea.

Click Here to Buy Now: $199 $399 (50% off). Hurry, only 12 left!