Author Archives: Sarang Sheth

LEGO Just Released a 3-in-1 Space Telescope That Also Turns Into a Microscope and a UFO

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LEGO’s newest Creator release proves that big ideas come in compact packages. The Space Exploration Telescope (set 31378) landed on shelves January 1, 2026, with 278 pieces that transform into three completely different models: a fully adjustable telescope with spinning planets, a working microscope, or a posable UFO. At $34.99, this set sits comfortably in impulse-buy territory while delivering the kind of replay value that keeps kids engaged long after the initial build.

What makes this set particularly clever is how it uses a single light brick across all three models. The telescope projects celestial images onto walls, the microscope illuminates specimens, and the UFO beams light from its underside. Three decorated lenses featuring a planet, star, and Moon add educational depth that goes beyond typical building sets. For parents seeking STEM toys that actually encourage experimentation rather than collecting dust on a shelf, this Creator set deserves serious consideration.

Designer: LEGO

That primary telescope build is surprisingly robust for being one of three options. Standing over 10.5 inches (27 cm) tall, it has a decent presence, and the tripod design is stable enough for actual play. The accompanying solar system, with its seven spinning planets, is a fantastic kinetic detail that adds life to the model. The projection feature is the real engineering win here. It takes what would be a static display piece and gives it an interactive purpose that cleverly mimics what a real telescope does: show you images of space. It’s a smart, elegant solution for a toy.

When you get tired of stargazing, the rebuild into a microscope shows the true genius of the part selection. The core housing for the light brick and lens assembly gets flipped vertically, and what was once a projection system becomes an illumination source. The same decorated lenses that projected planets now serve as makeshift slides, which is a brilliant way to teach kids about functional design and repurposing components. It’s a solid B-model that feels complete and intentional, demonstrating how form follows function with just a few clever reconfigurations of the same 278 bricks.

The final build, a UFO, is the set’s playful wild card. It shifts the entire theme from educational STEM hardware to pure science fiction. The designers did a great job creating a classic saucer shape with posable antennae and legs that flip out for landing. Here, the light brick serves as a simple beam underneath the craft, perfect for imaginative scenarios. This C-model provides an essential creative outlet, proving the set’s versatility extends beyond scientific instruments. It’s the build that lets kids take the parts and just have fun, which is arguably the most important function of any LEGO set.

The set is available now through LEGO’s official website, Target, and authorized LEGO retailers for $34.99. Batteries for the light brick come included, which saves you a trip to the store or the inevitable disappointment of discovering you need them mid-build. The recommended age is 8 and up, though younger kids with building experience could handle it with minimal supervision. Digital instructions are accessible through the free LEGO Builder app, which lets you zoom, rotate, and track build progress on your phone or tablet. LEGO’s website currently shows a 60-day shipping window, so if you’re ordering online, factor that into your timeline.

The post LEGO Just Released a 3-in-1 Space Telescope That Also Turns Into a Microscope and a UFO first appeared on Yanko Design.

LG Collaborated with Museum Curators to Bring the Gallery TV to CES 2026

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Museum curators don’t typically collaborate with television manufacturers, but LG Electronics recruited them specifically to develop the Gallery Mode for its new Gallery TV launching at CES 2026. This specialized display mode optimizes color accuracy, brightness levels, and glare reduction to reproduce the visual texture of original artworks with exhibition-quality fidelity. The screen automatically adjusts to changing ambient light throughout the day, maintaining clarity whether morning sun floods the room or evening darkness sets in.

LG’s approach combines the Alpha 7 AI Processor with MiniLED display technology to deliver 4K resolution suitable for both traditional television content and fine art reproduction. The audio system features AI Sound Pro with Virtual 9.1.2ch capability for immersive surround sound simulation. Customizable magnetic frames attach to the slim, flush-mount design, with one frame type included and additional options sold separately. The Gallery+ service provides access to over 4,500 pieces of content spanning fine art, cinematic scenes, game visuals, and animations, though the full library requires a monthly subscription while a free light version offers limited access.

Designer: LG

Here’s the thing that Samsung probably saw coming from a mile away. LG finally decided the art TV market is worth serious attention, which means the category has officially graduated from novelty to legitimate product segment. The Frame has been sitting pretty much unchallenged for years while TCL and Hisense tossed their hats in the ring, but LG entering changes the competitive dynamics entirely. They’ve got distribution channels, brand recognition, and display technology chops that make this a credible threat rather than an unassuming Frame competitor.

The MiniLED implementation with the Alpha 7 processor tells you LG is positioning this above budget competitors. They’re using actual processing power to handle the museum-curated Gallery Mode instead of just slapping a matte filter on a standard panel and calling it art-ready. The anti-glare treatment combined with automatic ambient light adjustment means the TV actively works to maintain image quality as your living room lighting shifts from breakfast through sunset. That’s the kind of engineering detail that separates premium products from cheap imitations trying to ride a trend.

What I find genuinely interesting is the content library breadth beyond traditional fine art. Including cinematic scenes, game visuals, and animations alongside classical paintings suggests LG understands their actual customer base better than the “sophisticated gallery atmosphere” marketing copy implies. People buying these TVs want options that match their personality, whether that’s Monet or concept art from their favorite video game. The generative AI image creation and personal photo display features push this further into customization territory, which makes sense given how much interior design flexibility drives purchases in this category.

The subscription model will be the real conversation starter though. LG offers a free light version but gates the full 4,500-piece library behind a monthly webOS Pay subscription. No pricing details yet, but this fundamentally changes the value equation. You’re buying the hardware and then paying ongoing fees for content access, which works great for LG’s recurring revenue goals but might frustrate consumers expecting a one-time purchase. Samsung doesn’t charge monthly fees for art content on the Frame, so LG is betting their library quality and refresh rate justify the subscription model. We’ll see if consumers agree when the real pricing drops at CES next week.

The post LG Collaborated with Museum Curators to Bring the Gallery TV to CES 2026 first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Upcoming iPhone Fold feels like a response to Peer Pressure, not Innovation

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Image Credits: Techtics

I could be wrong, and I hope to be… but the iPhone Fold seems to be gathering interest but not for the right reasons. Everyone loves innovation – not everyone adopts it. We saw how the Vision Pro absolutely caused a tsunami online before subsiding into the tiny ripple it now is. For what it’s worth, the iPhone Fold feels like déjà vu. Impressive tech that Apple took years to perfect, launched to much fanfare, but without a true reason or ecosystem to actually boost user adoption. The Vision Pro is cool, but even after 3 years, nobody really NEEDS it.

We all knew the iPhone Air was going to just be a stepping stone towards something greater – but the iPhone Air’s sales prove one thing – nobody needed a slim phone, so nobody ended up buying one. Samsung’s been making foldables for the better part of a decade, and I still don’t see people overwhelmingly choosing them over regular candybar phones, so my question is simple. What exactly can Apple do to make their iPhone Fold measurably better? And more importantly, does “Measurably Better” actually translate to sales? Or is this a response to peer pressure without really innovating in a direction that users want?

Joining a Party After the Music Has Faded

The context for Apple’s entry is a market that has already chosen a winner, and it is the conventional smartphone. For all the engineering hours poured into hinges and flexible glass by Samsung, Google, and others, the foldable category remains a rounding error in the grand scheme of things. Global foldable shipments are expected to hover around 20 million units in 2025, with Samsung commanding nearly two-thirds of that volume. This sounds impressive until you place it next to the more than one billion smartphones shipped annually. Foldables are a niche, a high-priced experiment that has had years to capture the public’s imagination and has largely failed to do so. Apple is not just late to this party; it is showing up after the keg is tapped and most of the guests have gone home.

This sets up a strange dynamic. Apple’s usual playbook involves letting a market mature, identifying its core flaws, and then releasing a product so polished and user-focused that it redefines the category. With the iPhone Fold, the company appears to be entering a segment that is not just mature but also stagnant, with little evidence of pent-up consumer demand. The consensus timeline points to a 2026 launch, positioning the device as a hyper-premium “Ultra” or “Fold” model within the iPhone 18 lineup. This framing alone suggests a halo product, something to be admired from afar, rather than the next revolutionary device for the masses. It feels less like a strategic strike and more like an obligation.

Image Credits: Techtics

An Obsession with Perfecting the Crease

The rumored hardware details paint a picture of a device engineered to within an inch of its life. Reports converge on a book-style foldable with a 7.7 to 7.8-inch inner display and a smaller 5.5-inch screen on the outside. The central obsession seems to be the crease, that subtle valley that plagues every other foldable. Apple is reportedly holding out for a near-invisible fold, leaning on a next-generation ultra-thin glass solution from Samsung Display and a complex internal hinge with metal plates to manage stress. The device is also expected to be incredibly thin, perhaps just 4.5 millimeters when open and around 9.6 millimeters when closed, which would make it one of the most slender mobile devices ever made.

These are impressive technical feats, to be sure. A phone that unfolds into a small tablet without a distracting crease is a laudable goal. But it also speaks to a focus on solving problems that only engineers and tech reviewers seem to lose sleep over. To achieve this thinness, compromises are already surfacing, such as the rumored omission of Face ID in favor of a Touch ID sensor on the power button. This is the kind of trade-off that indicates Apple is prioritizing the physical object itself, its thinness and aesthetic perfection, over the established user experience. It is a device built to win spec-sheet comparisons and design awards, while its practical value for the average user remains an open question.

Image Credits: Techtics

A Playbook Written by a Rival

Perhaps the most telling detail in this whole saga is Apple’s reported reliance on its chief rival. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and others have indicated that Apple will adopt Samsung Display’s “crease-free display solution” instead of a fully homegrown technology stack. This is a significant departure for a company that prides itself on vertical integration and owning the core technologies that define its products. From custom silicon to camera sensors, Apple’s advantage has always been its ability to design the whole widget. By turning to Samsung for the most critical and defining component of its first foldable, Apple is tacitly admitting that it is playing catch-up in a game whose rules were written by someone else.

This move fundamentally supports the “peer pressure” thesis. It suggests that the urgency to have a foldable in the lineup has overridden the traditional, patient Apple R&D cycle. The company is effectively outsourcing the hardest part of the problem to the very competitor that has defined the category for years. While Apple has been filing patents related to flexible displays since 2014, the decision to launch with a rival’s core technology feels reactionary. It is a move made to fill a perceived gap in its portfolio, ensuring that Samsung does not get to claim the “most futuristic” phone on the market without a fight.

Image Credits: Techtics

The Ghost of the Vision Pro

This entire narrative feels eerily familiar. Just a few years ago, Apple launched the Vision Pro, a product of breathtaking technical achievement that answered a question few people were asking. It was, and is, a marvel of engineering that commands a price tag to match, and its sustained adoption has been modest at best. The iPhone Fold appears to be tracking along the same trajectory: years of secretive development, a focus on solving incredibly difficult hardware challenges, and a final product that will likely be priced into the stratosphere. Leaks suggest a starting price between $1,800 and $2,300, placing it well above even the most expensive iPhone Pro Max.

This pricing strategy pre-selects its audience, limiting it to die-hard enthusiasts and those for whom price is no object. Just like the Vision Pro, the iPhone Fold risks becoming a solution in search of a problem. A crease-free display is a better display, but is it $2,000 better? A thinner phone is nice to hold, but does it fundamentally change what you can do with it? The Vision Pro proved that technical excellence alone does not create a market. Without a compelling, everyday use case that justifies its cost and complexity, the iPhone Fold could easily become another beautiful, expensive piece of technology that is more admired than it is used.

Image Credits: Techtics

A New Class of Halo Product

Ultimately, the iPhone Fold is shaping up to be less of a mainstream product and more of a statement piece. It is Apple’s answer to a question posed by its competitors, a way to plant its flag at the absolute peak of the smartphone market. The goal may not be to sell tens of millions of units in the first year, though some bullish forecasts suggest shipments could reach 13-15 million. It is about defending the brand’s reputation for innovation and ensuring that the title of “most advanced smartphone” does not belong exclusively to an Android device. It is a halo product in the truest sense, designed to make the rest of the iPhone lineup look good by comparison.

The real innovation users crave might be more mundane: longer battery life, more durable screens, and more accessible pricing. The iPhone Fold, with its focus on mechanical novelty and aesthetic perfection, does not seem to address these core desires. Instead, it doubles down on the very trends that have made high-end phones feel increasingly out of reach for many. It is a beautiful, exquisitely engineered response to industry pressure, a device that perfects the foldable form factor. Whether it perfects it for a world that actually wants it remains to be seen.

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Cyclone RA1000 vs Ducati Diavel: How Close Does China’s 996cc V‑Twin Really Get

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Access to Aprilia’s engine tech gave Cyclone a shortcut most emerging manufacturers would kill for. The RA1000’s 996 cc V-twin starts from the Aprilia Shiver 900 architecture, then gets a bigger 97 mm bore and a 12:1 compression ratio, landing at 105 hp at 9,000 rpm and 70 lb ft at 6,500 rpm. That is a very solid middleweight performance envelope hiding inside something that looks like a full fat power cruiser. Instead of spending a decade learning how to build a reliable big twin, Zongshen leans on its joint venture with Piaggio and fast forwards straight to a mature engine platform. It is a very modern kind of cheating, and frankly, a very smart one.

The bodywork tells a slightly louder story. The Cyclone RA1000 walks into the room wearing what is essentially a Ducati Diavel cosplay outfit, right down to the stubby tail, 240 section rear tire, and stacked side exhausts that visually anchor the whole rear half of the bike. You get a single sided swingarm, a low, muscular stance, and proportions that scream Italian power cruiser at a glance. There is no subtlety here. If you have ever seen a Diavel, your brain fills in the blanks instantly. The difference is that this silhouette is now being mass produced in China, powered by an Aprilia derived V-twin, and priced to hurt feelings in European boardrooms.

Designer: Cyclone

Look closer and the parts bin tells its own little international story. Brakes are from J.Juan in Spain, a known quantity with decent performance credentials. The engine lineage traces back to Noale via the Shiver, with Cyclone tweaking bore and compression to squeeze out that 105 hp figure. Electronics live on a 6 inch TFT display, backed by full LED lighting and modern switchgear that would not look out of place on a European naked. The frame and swingarm package are clearly engineered to visually showcase that enormous 240 section rear tire, which is the whole point of a bike like this. Subtlety is for commuters. This thing exists to make parking lots feel like a catwalk.

When Cyclone showed the RA9 concept back in 2021, a near 1000 cc Chinese V twin with premium styling felt like a big statement. Fast forward four years and the home market has moved the goalposts into another stadium. QJMotor is selling 900 plus cc fours with MV Agusta roots. CFMoto is prepping a 210 hp V4 superbike. Souo is out there building a 2000 cc flat eight like that is a normal thing to do. In that arms race, the RA1000 looks positively restrained. Which, if you care about actually riding your motorcycle instead of bench racing spec sheets, is not a bad place to land.

On the road, that 105 hp number tells you exactly what to expect. This is not a bike built to chase Panigales up a mountain pass. It is built to hammer out fast, satisfying acceleration from midrange torque, lean over enough to keep you entertained, and look outrageous parked outside a café. The 240 section rear tire is more about theater than lap times. The single sided swingarm is pure poster material. The ergonomics and geometry sit in that sweet spot between power cruiser and naked, closer to Diavel than Shiver in attitude. You buy this because you like the way it looks and you want an engine with proven manners.

The more interesting question is philosophical. At what point does a Chinese brand using licensed European tech and very familiar styling cues stop being an “imitator” and just become part of the same global design conversation. Cyclone is not reverse engineering an engine here, it is building a licensed evolution of one. It is not making a budget commuter with vague Diavel vibes, it is going all in on the silhouette and backing it with credible hardware. You can absolutely argue about originality, but you cannot argue that this is a throwaway product. The RA1000 is a sign that the game has changed. The question now is whether riders are ready to let go of old assumptions and judge it on what it does, not where it comes from.

The post Cyclone RA1000 vs Ducati Diavel: How Close Does China’s 996cc V‑Twin Really Get first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Upside-Down Boat Blocking a Mountain Trail Is Actually An Architecture Award-Winning Chapel

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Picture yourself hiking through the Italian mountains and suddenly there’s a wooden boat blocking the trail. Except it’s upside down. And it’s not actually a boat. This is La Barca, a timber pavilion that just won the 2025 Festival di Microarchitettura, and it’s one of those projects that works because it commits fully to a single odd idea.

Marina Poli, Clément Molinier, and Philippe Paumelle designed it for a trail in Piobbico, and the whole thing sits there like a beached hull that wandered way too far upstream. You can walk around it, sure, but there’s this narrow gap slicing through the middle that basically dares you to squeeze through. Once you’re inside, you get the full boat experience: curved timber ribs overhead, a proper keel running down the center organizing the floor planks, daylight pouring in from the open top. It’s using actual boat construction language, not just boat-ish shapes.

Designers: Marina Poli, Clément Molinier & Philippe Paumelle.

The sandwich-structure ribs are cut from regular boards, which keeps the whole thing light enough to be temporary but sturdy enough to handle weather and people climbing on it. Because let’s be honest, people are absolutely climbing on it. Six porticoes break up the interior corridor, the plank walls curve into proper half-hulls at each end, and they dropped four local stones inside as ballast. Another stone anchors the bow. These aren’t decorative choices, they’re the structural and conceptual glue holding the nautical metaphor together.

What’s interesting is how this thing refuses to be just one thing. Some people see a chapel for quiet contemplation. Others treat it like playground equipment. A few probably Instagram it as abstract sculpture and move on. The architects knew this would happen and designed for it. Instead of forcing a single reading, they built something slippery enough to mean different things depending on who’s looking.

We’ve seen a lot of temporary pavilions lately (especially at the Osaka Expo) that lean hard on parametric design or CNC fabrication to justify their existence. La Barca goes the opposite direction with traditional joinery and basic lumber, but it lands harder because the concept is so committed. An upturned boat. In the mountains. Blocking a hiking path. It’s absurd enough to stop you in your tracks, familiar enough to feel approachable, and strange enough that you’re still thinking about it three switchbacks later.

The real test for these festival installations is whether they earn the disruption they cause to the landscape. Most don’t. They show up, people take photos for a season, then they’re dismantled and forgotten. La Barca might actually stick around in memory because it understood something crucial: sometimes the best move is to drop something obviously wrong in exactly the right spot and let the tension do the work.

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This LEGO Portal 2 Set Lets You Design/Build Your Own Test Chambers With 1,280 Pieces

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The Portal franchise has earned its place in gaming history through ingenious puzzle design, dark humor, and an aesthetic so iconic that a simple orange and blue color scheme instantly evokes the Aperture Science testing facility. Now, LEGO builder KaijuBuilds has translated that sterile-yet-sinister world into brick form with the Portal 2: Test Chamber Creator, a project currently seeking support on LEGO Ideas.

The set features a sophisticated modular tile system with 18 unique configurations across 29 total modules, allowing builders to reconstruct famous test chambers or design entirely new challenges. With around 1,280 pieces, the build includes Chell, Wheatley, Atlas, P-body, turrets, portals, a Companion Cube, and even that infamous cake. The attention to detail extends to overgrown tiles that reference Portal 2’s decayed facility sections, complete with a white rat as a nod to the mysterious Rattman. The modular approach mirrors the in-game test chamber editor, which means you can actually play with spatial configurations rather than building a single frozen scene.

Designer: KaijuBuilds

The Aperture Science facility aesthetic translates surprisingly well to LEGO’s design language because both share a love of modular systems and clean geometric forms. Portal works on minimalist white panels, colored power conduits, and spatial reasoning. This build captures that by making reconfigurability the core feature. Tiles come in different sizes (8×8, 4×4, 4×8) and snap onto an orange base with visible connection points. Some tiles show pristine testing surfaces while others feature vegetation breaking through panels, directly referencing Portal 2’s narrative about a facility decaying over decades. The observation windows sit where GLaDOS would watch test subjects fail, and those structural details do heavy lifting in establishing atmosphere.

The character roster features all the iconic beings and bots and whatnots. Chell appears in her orange jumpsuit with the Aperture Science tank top. Wheatley exists as a buildable personality core with his blue eye. Atlas and P-body (the co-op robots from Portal 2) demonstrate awareness that the franchise extends beyond Chell’s story. The turrets manage to look simultaneously adorable and threatening with their white chassis, red sensors, and antenna stems. Two portal pieces come in translucent orange and blue, likely using curved or printed elements to create those characteristic oval shapes. The portal gun sits in Chell’s hands, completing the loadout any fan would expect.

Those 18 unique tile types across 29 modules provide enough variety to build compact chambers or combine everything into larger, more complex puzzles. Some tiles feature orange and blue power line conduits that connect mechanisms in the actual game. Dark grey tiles break up monotonous white surfaces. Button tiles, overgrown sections, observation windows, and the Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button all serve gameplay purposes Portal fans recognize immediately. The structure uses long and short connectors with technic pins and 2L axles to hold everything together, which should make reconfiguration reasonably straightforward without constant collapse during redesign sessions. The orange base with its studded connection points does the critical work of making the whole modular system functional rather than theoretical.

The functional elements push this past display territory into actual play value. The Companion Cube dropper holds and releases cubes, mimicking those ceiling-mounted dispensers from the game. The aerial faith plate triggers manually to launch minifigures upward. A tilting elevated platform angles in different directions for variable chamber layouts. The door swings open for chamber entrances and exits. These mechanisms aren’t revolutionary in LEGO terms, but they’re deployed strategically to recreate specific Portal gameplay moments. The laser grid uses red transparent pieces across a 3×6 area. It won’t vaporize minifigs, but it provides the visual language of hazards you’d design chambers around. The deadly goo gets two 8×8 tiles in translucent orange, which is the correct color unlike some fan builds that use green acid from generic video game conventions.

There’s even a cake hidden somewhere because at this point it’s mandatory for Portal merchandise. The cultural penetration of “the cake is a lie” has been both blessing and curse for the franchise, but you can’t release Portal LEGO without acknowledging it. The white rat perched on structural pillars references Doug Rattmann, the Aperture scientist who left cryptic murals throughout the facility. That’s a deeper cut than casual fans would catch. The test chamber sign displays “25” along with hazard pictograms, grounding the build in Aperture Science’s obsessive signage culture. The facility loved warning test subjects about dangers they couldn’t avoid. Small crows appear on the pillars too, adding those environmental details that make the difference between a good build and one that captures a world.

Portal maintains relevance fifteen years after its 2007 release through memorable writing, innovative mechanics, and an aesthetic that spawned endless memes. GLaDOS remains one of gaming’s most iconic antagonists. “Still Alive” transcended the game to become a cultural touchstone. The orange and blue portal color scheme is instantly recognizable across demographics. Portal 2 expanded the universe in 2011 with co-op gameplay, more complex puzzles, and deeper lore about Aperture Science’s history. The games influenced puzzle design across the industry and demonstrated that shorter, tightly designed experiences could compete with sprawling open-world titles. That legacy makes Portal a strong candidate for LEGO treatment, especially given LEGO’s existing relationship with video game properties and Valve’s general receptiveness to licensed products.

LEGO Ideas operates as a platform where fans submit designs for potential official sets. Projects reaching 10,000 supporters enter review, where LEGO evaluates production feasibility, licensing complexity, and market viability. The Portal 2: Test Chamber Creator sits at roughly 1,700 supporters with 543 days remaining. Voting requires a free LEGO Ideas account and takes about thirty seconds (you can cast your vote here). Reaching 10,000 votes doesn’t guarantee production since LEGO considers factors beyond popularity (licensing negotiations with Valve, manufacturing costs, retail strategy), but fan support gets projects in front of decision-makers. LEGO has produced gaming sets before, from Minecraft to various Nintendo properties. Portal’s enduring cultural presence and Valve’s track record with merchandise partnerships suggest this build has legitimate production potential if it clears the voting threshold.

The post This LEGO Portal 2 Set Lets You Design/Build Your Own Test Chambers With 1,280 Pieces first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Grand Piano Has a 20″ Touchscreen, and a Design Worthy Of A Supercar Showroom

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The grand piano has remained visually unchanged for generations, its familiar silhouette a fixture in concert halls and living rooms worldwide. Mohammad Limucci saw this consistency differently. Rather than accepting the traditional form as immutable, he recognized an opportunity to evolve the instrument’s aesthetic while preserving its acoustic soul. His creation, the Porochista Piano, applies automotive design principles to classical craftsmanship.

Measuring 8.7 by 6.2 feet, Porochista combines glass, metal, and matte black composites in flowing organic shapes reminiscent of Luigi Colani’s biomorphic philosophy. The rear section appears to float, creating visual tension between sculptural ambition and structural stability. A large integrated touchscreen offers digital functionality without compromising the acoustic purity professional pianists demand. This fusion of old and new earned recognition at the A’ Design Award, where judges appreciated its ability to attract modern design enthusiasts while respecting the instrument’s heritage. Porochista suggests what tradition might become when filtered through contemporary vision.

Designer: Mohammad Limucci

Designers slap touchscreens onto everything from refrigerators to bathroom mirrors these days, usually with results that make you question basic decision-making processes. A grand piano sporting what looks like a 20-inch display sounds like exactly that kind of misguided thinking. But Limucci clearly studied how supercar manufacturers like Pagani and Koenigsegg integrate function into form, where every curve serves both aerodynamic purpose and visual drama. That swept-back lid with its silver trim could’ve been lifted from a hypercar’s active aero system. The base, with its angular cutouts and geometric voids, solves the eternal design problem of making something massive feel light without actually compromising structural integrity. The solution here involves actual engineering rather than visual tricks.

The Colani influence runs deep, and anyone familiar with the German designer’s work will spot it immediately. Those seamless transitions between surfaces, the way hard edges soften into organic curves, the sense that this object could achieve flight velocity if you just gave it a runway. Colani designed everything from trucks to cameras using the same biomorphic language, always asking why objects should have corners when nature abhors them. Limucci applies that thinking to an instrument that’s been geometrically rigid since the 1700s. Production apparently requires CNC machining and molding techniques borrowed from automotive manufacturing, which makes sense given the compound curves involved. You can’t slap veneer on particleboard and achieve forms like these.

The touchscreen integration could’ve gone full sci-fi nightmare, all glowing edges and pulsing LEDs, but instead it sits flush and purposeful. The digital features (recording, playback, animated notation display) address actual pianist needs rather than adding gimmicks for marketing bullet points. There’s even a hidden compartment up top that slides out to hold sheet music, activated by touching a specific spot. That level of detail suggests someone actually thought about how musicians interact with their instruments over hours of practice, not just how the thing photographs for Instagram. The matte black finish with those copper-toned pedal details visible through the base cutouts gives it presence without screaming for attention, which is harder to achieve than it sounds.

Tehran to Zagreb doesn’t seem like an obvious design pipeline, but apparently that’s where this concept gestated. Whether it ever reaches production remains the question nobody’s answering yet, though the A’ Design Award recognition certainly helps with credibility. The manufacturing complexity alone suggests this won’t be competing with Yamahas at your local music store. Still, seeing someone finally treat piano design with the same innovative energy that automotive and consumer electronics enjoy feels overdue. Professional musicians deserve instruments that fit contemporary spaces without looking like props from period dramas.

The post This Grand Piano Has a 20″ Touchscreen, and a Design Worthy Of A Supercar Showroom first appeared on Yanko Design.

This LEGO Campbell’s Soup Can Opens to Reveal Andy Warhol’s Entire Factory Studio

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In 1962, Andy Warhol turned a humble soup can into an art world phenomenon. Now, a LEGO Ideas submission is turning that same can into something equally revolutionary: a buildable gateway to understanding the artist himself. This isn’t just about stacking bricks into a cylindrical shape, though the technical achievement of creating such smooth curves at 24 studs diameter deserves recognition. This project represents months of research into Warhol’s working methods, his relationship with popular culture, and the visual language of The Factory that became synonymous with 1960s avant-garde creativity.

Open the can and the transformation is immediate. The metallic interior contrasts sharply with the familiar red and white exterior, creating an Alice-in-Wonderland moment where everyday packaging becomes an art studio. Printed artworks cover the walls and floor, reflecting Warhol’s habit of painting directly on the ground surrounded by his creations. The Andy Warhol minifigure with signature silver wig presides over a space filled with props from his actual studio: the disco ball, the motorcycle, the couch where celebrities and artists mingled. It’s both a display piece for design enthusiasts and an educational tool that makes pop art accessible, proving LEGO sets can be as culturally significant as they are fun to build.

Designer: HonorableImmenseWorriz

The build sits at 1,117 pieces and stretches to 32.6 centimeters tall, which sounds manageable until you realize the entire cylinder uses curved slope elements to achieve those smooth walls. Most builders avoid large-scale curves because getting a 24-stud diameter to look this polished requires serious geometric planning. The three-section hinge system adds another challenge since you need structural integrity while maintaining mechanical function. What separates this from typical pop culture tributes is the commitment to printed elements over stickers, with Campbell’s branding, artwork tiles, and even the gold medal seal all printed directly onto bricks. The Marilyn Monroe quad portrait, Flowers series, purple Cow prints, they’re all there on the metallic silver walls that reference The Factory’s legendary aluminum foil aesthetic.

HonorableImmenseWorriz , the builder, positions it as “a LEGO set for the kitchen,” which completes the conceptual loop Warhol started by elevating everyday consumer goods to fine art status. You build this, place it near your actual soup cans, and your kitchen becomes gallery space. The 32 stickers showing different Campbell’s soup flavors let you customize and swap variations, mirroring Warhol’s seriality philosophy from his original 1962 series that featured 32 different canvases. The father-son collaboration behind it shows in the prop selection too, each item chosen for historical accuracy rather than visual filler. That red couch, the orange motorcycle, the camera on tripod, they’re narrative anchors to The Factory’s actual chaos, not random accessories.

The project’s currently a fan submission on the LEGO Ideas website – an online forum where enthusiasts share their own creations and vote for favorites. MOCs (My Own Creations) that hit the 10,000 vote mark then get sent to LEGO’s team for approval before being turned into a retail box set that anyone can buy. If you fancy yourself a LEGO ode to Warhol (and Campbell), head down to the LEGO Ideas forum and cast your vote for this build! It’s free!

The post This LEGO Campbell’s Soup Can Opens to Reveal Andy Warhol’s Entire Factory Studio first appeared on Yanko Design.

This $28 Power Bank Accidentally Recreated the iPhone 3G Design

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Cuktech just dropped their 10 Air magnetic power bank in China, and honestly, the most interesting thing about it has nothing to do with the specs. Sure, it’s got a 10,000mAh battery with 55W wired fast charging and 15W wireless, and yeah, the CNY 199 price tag (roughly $28) is aggressively reasonable. But look at the damn thing. That silver body with the black magnetic strip running across the bottom? Slap this on the back of your iPhone and you’ve accidentally recreated the iPhone 3G’s iconic two-tone design.

I can’t tell if this is deliberate nostalgia bait or a happy accident, but either way, it’s working. The iPhone 3G had that silver aluminum back with the black plastic bottom for the antennas, and this power bank’s layout mirrors it almost perfectly. It’s like wearing your phone’s ancestral portrait as a backpack. The magnetic strip sits right where that glossy black section used to be, and suddenly your sleek 2025 smartphone is cosplaying as a 2008 legend.

Designer: Cuktech

Beyond the accidental throwback aesthetic, Cuktech packed in a built-in display that shows actual charging data instead of making you interpret cryptic LED blinks like you’re reading Morse code. The brand claims it can take an iPhone 17 from zero to full about 1.8 times, the Galaxy S25 Ultra gets 1.3 cycles, and the Xiaomi 17 Pro manages 1.1. These numbers track for a 10,000mAh capacity when you account for conversion losses, so at least they’re not inflating claims. Most flagships hit 50 percent in around 30 minutes with this thing, which is solid performance for something this affordable. The 55W wired output does the heavy lifting here since the 15W wireless is more about convenience than speed.

The bundled USB-C cable has a self-storing design, which sounds gimmicky until you’ve untangled your charging cable from your keys for the thousandth time. Cuktech also mentions their “OPC worry-free charging” technology for battery health, though I’m skeptical of proprietary acronyms until I see independent testing. What matters is that the fundamentals are sound: decent capacity, legitimate fast charging, and a price that doesn’t require a mortgage. The fact that it accidentally turns your modern phone into a design artifact from the Steve Jobs era is just a bonus. No word on global availability yet, but Cuktech usually brings their products international eventually, and this one deserves the trip.

The post This $28 Power Bank Accidentally Recreated the iPhone 3G Design first appeared on Yanko Design.

DIY Spotify-to-Cassette Player Adds Analog Warmth to Digital Streaming Audio

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Most audio enthusiasts fall into one of two camps: the ones chasing perfect fidelity with lossless files and the ones who swear their vinyl sounds warmer. Julius decided to build a bridge between these worlds, and it looks like something Q would hand to James Bond if the mission involved a particularly groovy villain.

His cassette streaming device takes Bluetooth audio and runs it through an actual tape loop before playback, physically imprinting that analog character onto digital streams. The engineering journey was brutal. Turns out cassette decks from decades past have some deeply weird ideas about electrical grounding, and getting modern Bluetooth hardware to play nice with positive-rail-referenced vintage electronics required DC isolating voltage regulators and more than a few creative workarounds. The payoff is a device that looks incredible and introduces real tape saturation without any digital fakery.

Designer: Julius Makes

The concept is straightforward. Bluetooth audio arrives digitally, converts to analog, mixes from stereo to mono, records onto cassette tape, travels around the loop, hits a playback head, then reaches the speaker. That physical trip through magnetic tape creates the warmth people obsess over. The compression happens because ferric oxide particles on polyester film genuinely can’t capture digital audio’s full range. These are real physical limitations making the sound different, and somehow our ears prefer it that way. Julius made the tape loop visible on purpose, sitting outside the cassette with orange guide brackets so you watch it move while listening.

Getting everything to work required solving problems that shouldn’t exist anymore. Cassette decks connect their chassis to the positive power rail instead of ground. Julius only learned this after bolting his grounded metal case directly to the deck with screws, nearly shorting everything. The audio input shielding also runs to positive, which makes zero sense if you’re used to modern electronics. His Bluetooth module expected normal ground references, creating a fundamental incompatibility. An isolation transformer from AliExpress failed completely. He tried powering the Bluetooth at 12.5 volts while referencing it to 7.5 volts, but that rail wouldn’t sink current. Three months of debugging until DC isolating voltage regulators finally solved it.

The VU meter uses a fluorescent tube that works backward from what you’d expect. Silence keeps it fully lit, loud beats make it dim. Julius inverts the signal on purpose so the tube glows when the device sits idle, which looks better and extends the tube’s life. The circuit gains the audio signal 500 times, clips it hard to isolate peaks, then runs through a diode detector with a capacitor for smoothing. The power amp inverts everything again and boosts another five times to drive the tube. The lag you see in the meter’s response comes from that smoothing capacitor, which is a feature since nobody wants a seizure-inducing flicker.

He built five separate circuit modules. One auto-starts the Bluetooth by faking a long button press with an RC pulse generator. Another converts stereo to mono for the recorder. The playback preamp amplifies the tape signal and applies EQ compensation, splitting output between the speaker and the meter circuits. Everything lives on custom PCBs he designed in KiCad after a month of learning the software. The stainless steel case handles shielding and heat dissipation from the power amp. A laser-cut acrylic panel makes the front transparent. The big orange knob pushes record volume into distortion territory. The small knob controls speaker output. Input and output jacks mean you can use this as a tape delay or saturation processor for other gear, which honestly might be more useful than Bluetooth streaming through cassette tape. But useful was never really the point.

The post DIY Spotify-to-Cassette Player Adds Analog Warmth to Digital Streaming Audio first appeared on Yanko Design.