Tag Archives: Household

This modular appliance converts WFH+ daytime chores into an interactive fun session!

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We all have our midday rituals while working from home. While mine typically consists of going back and forth between my desk and my kitchen to get some snacks, others have formed more productive habits like cleaning and meditating. A team of Seoul-based designers has conceptualized and designed a modular WFH appliance called Fot to help get those chores and rituals done during the workday. They developed Fot so that once that final work project is submitted, the workday is done, including housework.

Fot comes in four parts and leans on a modular design to function as a charging station, vacuum cleaner, air diffuser, timer, and mood operator. Whenever a user chooses to step away from WFH duties to begin some household chores, Fot can turn into a free-roaming vacuum cleaner operated wirelessly with the ring-shaped remote. Similar to walking a dog with a leash, users only have to hold and steer the remote to indicate where they’d like the vacuum module to clean. Alternatively, Fot can be used as a meditative air diffuser simply by placing the ring-shaped remote on top of the diffuser module to activate the module’s mist function.

However, before it can enact any of its housework duties, Fot’s essential component, the ring-shaped remote must be vertically placed in the product’s charging hub. While Fot charges, users can turn the ring 90° clockwise from its neutral position to unlock the appliance’s mood operator, which delineates WFH time from housework time. Or, if users would like to operate their own timer and schedule then Fot can be rotated further than 90° to function as a timer and alarm.

Designers: Yeowon Kim, Jong Seung Kim, Daeun Kim, & TaeJune Youn

Fot comes equipped with a charging station, timer, mood operator, vacuum cleaner, and air diffuser.









Fot’s modular design allows its multiple functions.

Many people experiencing WFH struggle to accommodate household chores throughout the day. Fot changes that.

When used as a timer, Fot accommodates your schedule, indicating moments throughout the day that are devoted to household chores, meditation, or WFH time.

In order to charge Fot, users only have to place the ring-shaped remote into its charging socket.

Fot’s vacuum component is designed to feel just like walking your dog and its dust bin easily dumps anything picked up along the way.

 

Fot’s aroma diffuser functions as its meditation component, allowing for breaks during the workday to devote to relaxation.

This tabletop clothes washing machine was designed to clean your undergarments and save water!

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Underwear and socks take up a lot more space in the washing machine than we might give them credit. Most of the time, I reason with the overflow of socks by removing a bulky pair of jeans or a couple of t-shirts, otherwise, I keep the socks in the laundry basket to await next week’s load. It’s a good thing I own a lot of socks. The creators from EZVALO have created a miniature washing machine to take care of our smaller undergarments called NIX so they don’t take up most of the space or get lost in the cycle of our regular loads of laundry.

NIX is a miniature washing machine specifically built to clean, dry, and sanitize our undergarments, like underwear, undershirts, and socks, using less water in the process. The miniature washing machine features an inclined drum that promises to save water while also making it easier for users to load, unload, and keep an eye on their laundry. Additionally, NIX comes with an integrated water tank, allowing users to place their miniature washing machine anywhere they’d like without the hassle of having to attach hoses or electrical appliances to a wall outlet. Featuring a vertical-lifting door, the designers behind NIX boast its futuristic and clean design scheme. Along the top of NIX’s main door, a digital display screen allows users to denote which cycle they’d like NIX to perform all through the use of haptic sensors.

Shortlisted for 2021’s iF Design Award, NIX is a miniature laundry machine that saves water and space so that users can clean their smaller clothing items like pairs of underwear and socks. Even besides that, NIX seems like an especially convenient household appliance for more urgent washing matters like accidental red wine spills or guacamole mishaps. Yes, I’m speaking from personal experience.

Designer: EZVALO

NIX comes with a vertical, touch-and-lift door that opens to a tilted drum for easy access to load and unload laundry.

The door’s main digital display screen indicates how much time is left in a wash or dry cycle and features the machine’s on/off and pause buttons.

With an integrated water tank, NIX does not require any additional hose attachments.

Users only have to lift the machine’s door for access to its drum.

Available in optic white, NIX’s design is clean and sophisticated.

Get Amazon’s latest Echo and two Hue bulbs for $80

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Amazon is making it a little easier to get started with a smart home. The internet giant is selling a bundle that pairs the latest-generation Echo with two Philips Hue white light bulbs for $80 — a full $50 below the official asking price. And when t...

These tables with built-in gardens is the perfect gardening hack every home needs!

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Living in smaller spaces often requires a lot of rearranging. I probably switch up my studio’s design on a monthly basis all in order to fit the ideal furniture to make the most out of the little space I have. Despite my efforts, I usually end up having to choose one item between three different pieces of furniture simply because my studio won’t fit more than that. This often makes it difficult to merge functionality with style. Of course, I’d much rather go for the loveseat over the desk, but where would I do my work? BloomingTables, dubbed “the world’s first living furniture line,” creates household tables that double as indoor gardens to cater to that exact dilemma.

It seems nowadays that people are trying to get closer and closer to nature, even in their own homes. Biophilic design is on the rise once more, and many of us who live in smaller spaces want to embrace nature indoors too. BloomingTables is a new biophilic desk design that embeds living plantlife into each table, just beneath the transparent, glass surface. BloomingTables comes in four variations: desk, coffee, entryway, and side tables. Each table is equipped with an acrylic tub that keeps the plant life, soil, and water in an airtight, designated space so that we won’t ever have to worry about leakage. The acrylic tubs are filled with layers of gravel and activated charcoal to absorb water and also to avoid the chance of overwatering the plant life. Once the soil layers are filled, we can then create our own arrangement of succulents, ferns, herbs, or even pebble art, ideal for those who like to cook, but don’t have enough room for both a desk and herb garden. The transparent glass surface adheres to suction cups and can be lifted to water the plant life below.

Each pinewood table comes in varying sizes, but come equipped with the same features, including a waterproof tub for soil and a twist-to-open drain valve on the off-chance your plant life is overwatered. BloomingTables, depending on the size ordered, can support up to 400lbs, which means this table design has successfully merged functionality with style. Everything from the painted steel hairpin legs and sheet of 6mm tempered glass, to the endless array of possible biophilic designs, echoes BloomingTables’ commitment to bringing the beauty of nature indoors.

Designer: BloomingTables

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Using silent and fast draining methods, this umbrella dryer saves you space and time!

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I’m an extremely superstitious person. I never walk beneath opened ladders, I avoid cracks in sidewalks, I knock on wood and I toss salt over my shoulder, and I never walk indoors with an opened umbrella. While most of those things feel silly and more like games than genuine superstition, I choose not to open umbrellas indoors for reasons besides that. Brining dripping wet umbrellas indoors is one thing, but not closing them before entering is another. Opened umbrellas easily lose their essential tension, they also take up a lot of room and their sharp noses often poke passersby. Opened umbrellas are made by design to let water slide off and drop onto the ground, so when they’re left open indoors, most of the rainwater collects and seeps into carpets or produces mildew on wooden surfaces. Umbra, an umbrella drying design created by Ildar Garifullin, offers a solution for both the superstitious and annoyed umbrella users alike.

To find Umbra’s shape, Garifullin found its clean and curved inspiration from household designs like metallic kitchenware to more involved products like mid-size external graphics processor units. Finding inspiration for Umbra from household items allowed for Garifullin to subtly, but visually convey Umbra’s design purpose. A digital interface on top of Umbra’s removable lid presents weekly weather forecasts for Umbra’s users and an accompanying control panel positioned just beneath it. On Umbra’s digital interface, in addition to the on/off button, users can choose between a timed dry cycle, a silent fan, or sleep mode. Inside of Umbra, two compartments are made available for users to choose from, a taller space to dry longer umbrellas and a shallow pocket for collapsible umbrellas. When closed, umbrellas don’t seem to take up too much space, so theoretically, multiple umbrellas can be dried at one time with Umbra’s wide drying compartments.

Garifullin designed Umbra to fit into most households and with this in mind, Umbra’s final size is comparable to a family-sized kitchen garbage can. Once umbrellas are placed in Umbra’s drying tanks, the water collected from the umbrellas gathers in the unit’s lowermost, pull-out tray, which can then be discarded following the product’s use. Similar to most drying machines for clothes, Umbra automatically switches off, only further guaranteeing the product’s unintrusive nature. Additionally, Umbra’s silent drying method, along with its discrete shape, and overall clean appearance lets it easily blend into any environment without making too much noise.

Designer: Ildar Garifullin

Lutron’s outdoor smart plug controls your lights in harsh weather

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Outdoor smart plugs are increasingly common, but Lutron thinks it has an easy way to stand out: make a plug that can endure the worst nature has to offer. It’s introducing a Caseta Outdoor Smart Plug that’s IP65-rated, or tough enough to survive heav...