Author Archives: Sarang Sheth

This Origami Kitchen Tray is the Perfect Example of How Great Design Lies in Simple Details

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Most household items we own today are made one of two or three ways. If they’re made from plastic, chances are they’re injection molded… and if they’re metal, they’re either cast or they’re rolled/stamped into a distinct form. These methods end up defining what a product will look like. An injection-molded plastic part will never look as intricate as a 3D-printed mesh part… and a stamped metal utensil will never have the elegance of something like the Snapsys tray set. Designed using a series of strategic Origami-style bends, the Snapsys set of trays and table platforms are deceptively simple to look at, but are engineered and manufactured to perfection. Each item is made from a single 0.8mm sheet of metal that’s been creased, bent, and then anodized. The result is a set of kitchenware that’s incredibly slim, yet just as strong, thanks to the nature of the folds that help provide rigidity.

Designers: Sang Hyuk Han & Eunju Jang

Click Here to Buy Now: $149 $160 ($11 off). Hurry, offer ends soon!

The Snapsys set of trays and table are ‘Origami-style folding plate’ that have a thickness of 0.8mm (about as much as a credit card).

The Snapsys set comes in three tray styles that double as decorative tabletop platforms for displaying your food. Most trays look terribly run-of-the-mill, but given the Snapsys set’s unique manufacturing technique, this tray collection has no such problem. The trays look defyingly thin, to the point of feeling fragile. They do measure just 0.8mm (about as much as a credit card), but are surprisingly strong thanks to the folding structures that give them the ability to carry well beyond their weight without bending or flexing.

Use as a service tray.

A decorative incense stick tray!

Candle Holder!

The secret lies in the origami-style folds that help strengthen the trays while giving them their rather memorable designs. The fold lines aren’t regular, but instead follow a curve, allowing the metal sheet to bend in a curved way too. This helps strengthen the metal, making it rigid instead of flimsy. You can try the same technique with paper, observing how curved folds help give paper additional stiffness too.

Some trays look conventional, with handles on either side. Others come with legs, elevating your food by an inch or two to help your dishes stand out against a laid-out table. All trays come with anodized color options, allowing you to add a splash of vibrance to your tabletop decor as well as allowing the trays themselves to serve as accent pieces. The anodized finish also makes them durable and corrosion-resistant, increasing their overall lifespan. The tray sets, which come in black, yellow, blue, or a nude silver, start at a discounted $149, which includes three trays – 1 rectangular tray, 1 oval tray, and 1 half-plate tray.

Click Here to Buy Now: $149 $160 ($11 off). Hurry, offer ends soon!

The post This Origami Kitchen Tray is the Perfect Example of How Great Design Lies in Simple Details first appeared on Yanko Design.

These Edible Gummy Dungeons and Dragons Characters raised over $300,000 on Kickstarter

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They say you shouldn’t play with your food… but that’s precisely what the Gummyquest was designed for. These mouthwateringly mythical treats were designed to make your game nights fulfilling as well as filling! Meet Gummyquest, an all-encompassing kit of more than 150 characters straight out of a fantasy roleplaying tabletop game. You’ve got dragons, goblins, heroes, dice, potions, everything needed for a rewarding game… but the best part? All the characters are edible! Made out of a chewy gummy gel (like your gummy bears or worms), every character or element in the Gummyquest is edible, with each individual piece having its own distinct flavor. Play your turn, kill a character, use a potion, and destroy the evidence by eating it. It’s a fun new twist on your favorite game with 25 different flavors to keep every single round uniquely tongue-tinglingly fun!

Designer: Jay

Click Here to Buy Now: $42 $60 (30%) off. Hurry! Limited availability! Raised over $310,000.

Stories make everything fun, especially food. Whether it’s your parents turning a spoon of veggies into a plane that flies into your mouth, or whether it’s a Michelin-star restaurant weaving stories through their intricate dishes, where there’s a story, there’s a memorable experience. That’s sort of what the Gummyquest series builds on, with its set of 151 characters and items (with more being added to the collection every day) that make for a perfect tabletop gaming day with friends, colleagues, or family.

The collection encompasses practically every element of a roleplaying game like DND – you’ve got heroes and villains, orcs, goblins, dragons, knights, wizards, paladins, and even Dune-style sandworms. Along with players are potions and polyhedral dice to make the game even more interesting. All these elements encompass 25 rather mouth-watering flavors, from specific berries and fruits to more vaguely tropical flavor profiles, to even marshmallow-flavored items. “Some of our favorite fantasy flavors include Orcish Creamsicle, Paladin Piña Colada, Owlberry, and Death”, says creator Jay. Each box is packed with 151 gummies including 76 monsters, 15 heroes, 25 potions, and 35 dice.

The edible set is truly a work of art. Each single gummy was designed and sculpted by a meticulous team of people who fill shelves in every game store in America with miniatures from Dungeons & Dragons, Reaper Bones, and Warp Miniatures. The gummies were designed as a part of a broader story and theme, and were crafted to perfection, with details that would make you want to never eat a boring gummy bear or worm ever again.

Tragically, the set only lasts one or two, or maybe three games. Once the gummies run out, you’ll either have to revert back to playing with non-edible characters, or buy another set. Luckily, the Gummyquest box sets are on discount, priced at $42 for a set of 151 pieces. As the crowdfunding campaign gains speed (they’ve raised over $300k), the kit will include even more characters and items like gryphons, slime monsters, warrior princesses, and even a Kraken! Grab your Gummyquest while you can… I’m pretty sure they don’t expire, but don’t quote me.

Click Here to Buy Now: $42 $60 (30%) off. Hurry! Limited availability! Raised over $310,000.

The post These Edible Gummy Dungeons and Dragons Characters raised over $300,000 on Kickstarter first appeared on Yanko Design.

Hear me out – A Coffee Machine shaped like a Coffee Bean is kind of a brilliant idea

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You are what you eat, they say… surely the Bean Coffee Machine eats a whole lot of coffee beans, am I right?! A clever visual redesign of the standard coffee machine, this particular appliance by Juliana Juleva tries to make the ubiquitous coffee-brewer instantly recognizable. The way she does it is by making the machine look like a giant bean from afar. Look at it and even if you’re not a coffee drinker, chances are you’ll recognize exactly what it is and what it’s used for. The intuitive design is further complemented by an intuitive user interface, which employs a simple yet large touchscreen to help you brew the perfect cup of coffee ever. Place your empty mug, tap a button, and wait for the giant bean to give you a cup of pure bliss!

Designer: Juliana Juleva

The Bean Coffee Machine doesn’t try to be too fancy. It doesn’t look overtly industrial, or too high-tech like something Apple would have designed. Instead, it tries to opt for visual familiarity by taking inspiration from the shape of a coffee bean. The machine comes with an oval shape, sporting broad and gentle curves that make it look as smooth as a roasted coffee bean. It’s propped up vertically on four legs, and comes with a relatively simple front surface that has the interface on top, and a dispenser at the bottom.

Using the Bean machine is incredibly intuitive too. A transparent window on top lets you look into the machine’s coffee storage, letting you know if it has enough supply of roasted beans. If not, all you do is load fresh beans in, and you’re ready to brew. Right underneath the window is an interface that has the simplicity of a menu card. Tap the kind of coffee you want Bean to brew and it gets to work. The coffee gets dispensed right into your cup below, letting you choose from multiple options from the classic flat white or americano, to even more eclectic options like a decaf.

The Bean comes in 5 colors – black, white, bronze, silver, and our favorite, metallic brown. Sure, everyone’s entitled to having a coffee machine that complements their tastes and interior decor, but the metallic brown Bean just plays to the visual metaphor perfectly, and it kind of does look like an instant classic too, if you ask me personally. The machine was designed for a Russian coffee brand, although it hasn’t hit the market yet.

The post Hear me out – A Coffee Machine shaped like a Coffee Bean is kind of a brilliant idea first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Natural Air Purifier uses Algae to remove harmful chemicals from the air we breathe

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They say that algae, not trees, help produce a majority of the breathable air around us. Covering large parts of land and sea, this wonder-organism does a remarkable job of purifying the air and enriching it with oxygen… so imagine being able to harness nature’s purifier and have it in your home. Unveiled at Milan Design Week, the AIReactor by EcoLogicStudio is a sleek, three-foot-tall structure with a recycled birch plywood frame. At its heart lies a glass photobioreactor containing a vibrant green liquid teeming with microalgae cultures.

Designer: EcoLogicStudio

Through photosynthesis, algae naturally convert carbon dioxide and pollutants into clean oxygen. The AIReactor continuously pumps air into the bioreactor, mimicking natural water currents for optimal algae growth. As the algae perform their photosynthetic magic, they filter out harmful pollutants, leaving behind cleaner air.

“In addition to capturing pollutants, the microalgae cultivated in AIReactor can be harvested and utilized to produce biopolymers for 3D printing products,” said the studio. “After harvesting, the algae biomass can be dried and then undergo further processing to produce biopolymers, which are natural polymers derived from renewable plant-based sources.”

The biomass generated by the algae after it has filtered the air becomes a valuable resource. EcoLogicStudio harvests this biomass and uses it to create biopolymers, natural polymers derived from renewable sources. The studio recently unveiled the PhotoSynthetica collection, comprising the AIReactor, along with a stool and a ring made from the biopolymers generated during the air filtration process. Building on their 2018 research project, the PhotoSynthetica collection incorporates biomass, a waste material harvested from microalgae, into a series of everyday objects. This innovative approach expands upon the project’s initial exploration, which saw the creation of a large-scale tree sculpture.

The PhotoSynthetica collection is on display from 15 to 21 April as part of Isola Design Festival 2024 during Milan Design Week.

The post This Natural Air Purifier uses Algae to remove harmful chemicals from the air we breathe first appeared on Yanko Design.

CRKT’s sub $50 pocket knife is an incredibly slim and sharp EDC

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With an aesthetic reminiscent of Arya Stark’s sword, the needle, in Game Of Thrones, the CRKT Flat Out is best described as ‘functional art’. It’s small, and deceptively thin, yet packs an absolute punch with how sharp and spry it is. In short, it’s the kind of knife you underestimate the first time, and trust blindly every time after that.

Designer: Matthew Lerch for CRKT

Click Here to Buy Now

Designed by veteran blade artisan Matthew Lerch, the Flat Out has a silhouette that feels instantly iconic. While most knives are made to be fairly broad (because nobody wants a flimsy blade), the Flat Out is exceptionally thin. Sure, vertically, the knife has a 4.42-inch handle with a sizeable 3.57-inch blade… but horizontally, it’s just about as thin as your finger, which makes it feel slim, and weigh less than most, at about 3.6 ounces or 102 grams.

The slimness, however, is just the first thing you notice with the Flat Out. It still sports a wonderfully ergonomic stainless steel handle, letting you firmly and reliably hold the knife during use, and an 8Cr13MoV steel drop-point blade that feels almost like a needle-point with how slim it is. The blade’s 3.57-inch edge  puts it well in the ‘mid-size’ knife category, while still looking and feeling small… and is sharp enough to get any job done, whether it’s cutting, slicing, shearing, or carving. That pointed tip makes it absolutely lethal for piercing too, turning the EDC into a worthy opponent against everything from delivery boxes and envelopes to even wood and leather.

Trained initially as a jewelry designer, Matthew Lerch found himself with a penchant for knife design rather soon in life. Working extensively with CRKT, the Wisconsin-based designer has been honored with some prestigious awards for some of his EDC designs. Slim yet hard-working, understated yet powerful, Lerch’s Flat Out knife for CRKT is a beautifully badass paradox.

The Flat Out is slim yet grippy, giving you a long handle to hold comfortably onto. The assisted flip knife sports a frame lock that holds the blade in place, and some rather beautiful-looking jimping (serrated texture) on top of the blade to comfortably rest your thumb while using the knife for a perfectly dependable grip while cutting and maneuvering. Fold the knife shut and it easily slides into your pocket, with a clip that securely holds the EDC in place for you to easily retrieve whenever you need… whether it’s for cutting open boxes, slicing branches in the outdoors, defending yourself, or just admiring from time to time.

Click Here to Buy Now

Click Here to Buy Now

The post CRKT’s sub $50 pocket knife is an incredibly slim and sharp EDC first appeared on Yanko Design.

Lexus Brings Its Brand Of Luxury To The Seas With The LY 680 Yacht

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Looks like automobiles are yesterday’s news because Lexus is making waves (literally) in the world of luxury yachts with its newly unveiled luxury yacht – the LY 680. This new vessel builds upon the success of its predecessor, the LY 650, offering even more space and innovative features for those seeking the ultimate in on-water relaxation and entertainment.

Designer: Lexus

The LY 680 embodies Lexus’s “Crafted” design philosophy, seamlessly blending exquisite aesthetics with cutting-edge technology. Built by the Horizon Group, a leader in crafting exceptional yachts, the LY 680 promises to be a luxurious sanctuary at sea. Think unparalleled comfort, signature Lexus performance, and a design language that echoes the brand’s renowned attention to detail.

One of the most striking enhancements is the expanded flybridge. Stretching over a meter and a half longer than the previous model, this space now boasts a spacious lounge sofa – perfect for lounging under the sun with a cool drink. But that’s not all. Imagine whipping up delicious meals for your guests on the integrated barbecue grill, all while taking in the breathtaking ocean views. For those who crave adventure on the water, the swimming platform has also been significantly extended by 700 millimeters. This translates to more space for launching water toys like jet skis or paddleboards, or simply relaxing closer to the water’s edge.

Twin Volvo Penta IPS engines, available in two configurations, ensure the yacht handles beautifully. Expect stable maneuvering, a smooth ride, and remarkably quiet operation – all contributing to a truly luxurious experience at sea. No matter the conditions, the LY 680 promises to deliver a comfortable and enjoyable journey.

Clocking in at over 20 meters in length and nearly 6 meters wide, the LY 680 offers ample space for up to 15 passengers. Three luxurious cabins provide comfortable sleeping arrangements for six guests, making this yacht ideal for extended getaways with family and friends, or spontaneous weekend escapes. Imagine waking up to the gentle rocking of the waves and the sound of the ocean breeze – pure bliss.

Lexus has partnered with the Horizon Group, renowned for their advanced yacht-building expertise, to create the LY 680. This luxurious yacht, available for order in Japan through Toyota Marine starting March 21, 2024, promises to be a haven at sea. Deliveries are expected by spring 2026.

The post Lexus Brings Its Brand Of Luxury To The Seas With The LY 680 Yacht first appeared on Yanko Design.

iPhone SE 4 Leaked Images Show a Radical New Design with a Notch Display and a Bigger Main Camera

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Apple’s budget iPhone is due for a refresh and for the first time ever, it’s getting a major design upgrade that does away with the TouchID, finally putting the technology in the rear mirror for the smartphone industry. Leaked images from China (you can see them at the end of this article) show dummy units of an upcoming iPhone SE with a refreshed design that now features the notch and FaceID system, along with a flat body reminiscent of the iPhone 12 and 13. Chances are that Apple’s probably repurposing older iPhone 12 chassis for the new 4th Gen SE that’s rumored to drop along with Apple’s iPad refresh next month.

With four straight years of the iPhone SE having the same design (both Gen 2 and Gen 3 models used the same chassis as the iPhone 8), the iPhone SE 4 finally gets the upgrade we’ve all been waiting for. Now that the notch is pretty much history for the flagship iPhone, which has adopted the dynamic island, it makes sense for the technology to finally arrive to Apple’s budget line. The new SE 4, as indicated by pretty credible leaks at this point, uses the same body as the one used in the iPhone 12 and 13, sporting what leakers indicate is a 6.1-inch display on the front, a single-lens camera on the back, a FaceID system for facial unlocking, and a mute slider as opposed to the Action Button which Apple unveiled with the iPhone 15.

The 4th Gen iPhone SE is rumored to be a pretty big upgrade for budget customers, allowing Android users to make the iPhone shift with zero compromises. The large screen and thin bezels look just as gorgeous as the iPhone 14 from 2022, and the new SE is rumored to have 5G too, along with what I can only hope is USB-C, because of strict EU regulations that kick in at the end of the year. It’s still conceivable that Apple sticks to their guns and keeps the lightning connector on the SE, while just limiting sales within the EU, which isn’t really its budget market anyway.

Notably the new iPhone SE 4 has a pretty large camera, which may make up for past models not having great photography capabilities. While details are scarce on what this new camera will be, the big sensor is probably rumored to be an all-purpose lens WITHOUT ultrawide capabilities to keep costs lower.

The above renders, created by Yanko Design, are based on leaked images from a Weibo user, showing case designs for the upcoming iPhone. The dummy model, which clearly reads iPhone SE 4, comes with a notched display, a single-shooter primary lens along with a flash, a flat aluminum frame, and all indications that the mute slider will still remain as a detail in the SE 4. As far as colors go, there’s really no concrete indication that Apple plans on adding any new colors to the range. The existing SE range has only 3 colors – black, white, and Project RED. For visualization purposes (and also because of an initial render found on the internet), we’ve also added a Forest Green color variant.

The post iPhone SE 4 Leaked Images Show a Radical New Design with a Notch Display and a Bigger Main Camera first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Iconic ‘Girl With A Pear Earring’ Painting gets immortalized with its own LEGO build!

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You may not be familiar with Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer’s entire body of work, but chances are you’ve definitely seen one of his paintings. About as iconic as Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Van Gogh’s Starry Night, or Munch’s The Scream, ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ is just one of those paintings that’s entered the hall of fame for being one of the most memorable paintings ever. The artpiece features a chiaroscuro-style artwork of a girl in a headgear and a pearl earring, with dramatic lighting from one side that creates dramatic contrast and highlights/shadows. It’s a remarkably captivating painting, and an impressive one at that, considering it was painted in 1665. After getting its own Scarlett Johansson movie in 2003, the iconic painting gets its own fan-made LEGO set! Designed by LEGO builder ‘alanboar’, this MOC (My Own Creation) features roughly 1600 bricks, and comes with a Vermeer minifigure to match!

Designer: Alanboar Cheung

Built from precisely 1619 LEGO bricks, the set wonderfully replicates the painting, bringing it to life by giving it actual depth too. Of course, the use of LEGO bricks results in a lack of fine details, but therein lies the charm! The girl in the LEGO set mimics her inspiration beautifully, with the same blue and yellow headscarf, contemplative expression, and that gorgeous pearl earring that is easily a highlight of both the painting as well as this set.

Alanboar’s little brick mosaic utilizes LEGO’s art bricks, which allow making intricate colored artpieces without those studs getting in the way. The final set measures 17.6 inches tall, and 15.1 inches wide, and even features a uniquely baroque frame to go with the painting. I’m not entirely sure whether LEGO manufactures silver hemispherical bricks, but it’s possible that Alanboar took a few liberties with the pearl earring part.

The entire set comes with a plug-to-assemble design, and even features a miniature replica of the painting along with the Vermeer minifigure and a tiny pedestal that aptly labels the mini diorama. The LEGO Girl with a Pearl Earring is currently a fan-made submission to LEGO’s Ideas forum, an online platform for LEGO enthusiasts to build and showcase their own unique creations or MOCs. Users can then vote for their favorite MOCs, which LEGO then reviews and turns into box-sets that anybody can buy. If you want to vote for Alanboar’s entry, visit the LEGO Ideas website here!

The post The Iconic ‘Girl With A Pear Earring’ Painting gets immortalized with its own LEGO build! first appeared on Yanko Design.

Easily Capture the 2024 Solar Eclipse on Your Smartphone with This Affordable Camera Filter

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With less than a week till we experience one of the most prominent total solar eclipses in probably decades, you’ll surely want to make sure you’re well prepared for the moment. That means not just wearing safe glasses that let you observe the eclipse, but also making sure that your expensive smartphone camera doesn’t get damaged by the sun’s rays too. Yes, you heard me, your camera’s sensor, much like your eyes, is vulnerable to the sun… and prolonged exposure can quite literally burn the sensor the same way solar rays could damage your eyes. So if you’re all equipped with eclipse-friendly glasses, why not prepare your smartphone with some appropriate protection too? After all, you’re definitely going to want to take photos of the eclipse, right??

Designer: VisiSolar

Click Here to Buy Now

The VisiSolar Smartphone Photo Filter is a card-shaped filter that’s designed to help you capture the magic of a solar event safely on your smartphone. Whether it’s the partial phases, the breathtaking diamond ring effect, or the ethereal totality, this filter guarantees the best shots of the cosmic phenomenon, without worrying about any damage to your phone. Quite literally the size of perhaps a credit card or a table coaster, the filter sits right in front of your camera lens, blocking out harmful rays from hitting your phone’s sensor. You can still take great photos of the eclipse, just without the potential harm. Think of it as protective glasses for your phone.

Available in a two-pack for just under $13, the VisiSolar filters feature a stiff paper outer border, and a specially coated solar-imaging film in the center. Place the film right in front of your camera lens, fire up the camera app, and zoom in on the sun without worrying about anything. The filter automatically blocks out the intense harmful rays, letting you observe the eclipse in glorious fashion. Just make sure you zoom in as much as possible for the most incredible footage ever! And when the eclipse has passed, you can use the filter to take regular photos of the sun too! If your phone (or DSLR) has a great zoom, you’ll even see a few sunspots on the surface of our nearest star!

Click Here to Buy Now

Click Here to Buy Now

The post Easily Capture the 2024 Solar Eclipse on Your Smartphone with This Affordable Camera Filter first appeared on Yanko Design.

Golf Ball Case with a clever spiral-shaped design lets you TWIST to push new balls out

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I’m not a golfer myself, but I imagine that for people who DO golf, carrying your equipment around can be quite an elaborate affair… given that you’re constantly moving from one spot to another. Golf clubs usually have their large bag that you transport them in, but as far as golf balls go, I’m not entirely sure I’ve seen any well-designed container for them. For designers at superkomma, that sounded like a perfect design opportunity – meet the Attomax Golf Pouch, a spiral hard-case that lets you store as well as deploy golf balls with ease.

Designer: superkomma

The GIF above explains everything you need to understand about the Attomax Golf Pouch. Two spiral-shaped containers thread into one another, allowing you to expand or contract the case simply by twisting and turning the lower element. Use the case to store golf balls, and every time you need a new one, simply twist to make the case shorter, allowing the golf ball at the bottom to rise to the top. It’s a simple, yet delightful user experience that serves its purpose well, is memorable, and will probably have your fellow golfers asking you where you got the pouch from!

Simplicity is the name of the Attomax pouch’s game. Its form is deceptively rudimentary, relying on a basic geometric spiral that catches light beautifully, along with a two-tone container design. The pouch is compact, yet big enough to hold probably 4 golf balls at a time, although you’ll still need to carry your tees separately (those tiny skewers you perch your golf balls on before swinging). The Attomax comes with a lid to hold the balls in place (obviously), but also has a nice leash that your caddy can string around their leash so they always have the next ball ready for when you need to take a shot.

The pouch was designed for Attomax, a reputed golf brand known for making the world’s first high-density golf ball using amorphous metal alloy. superkomma pointed out that the idea of using two different colors for the container’s separate halves wasn’t just an aesthetic choice, it also helped users intuitively determine how many golf balls were inside the case simply by seeing the ‘ratio’ between the two colors based on how expanded or contracted the case was. For example, if the purple half is just as long as the blue half, the case has 4 balls. Any shorter and you’re down to three balls. If the purple half has been turned to its maximum point (where it’s barely visible), the case has anywhere from 1 to 2 golf balls.

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