Tag Archives: clock

The F1 Engineer Who Turned Time Into a Kinetic Sculpture

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Most clocks are honest about what they are. They count. They tick. They remind you, with mild urgency, that you are late or almost late or about to be. Robert Spillner’s Luna is not a clock that measures time. It stages it. That’s a subtle but loaded distinction, and it’s exactly why this object is worth paying attention to.

Luna is a fluid wall object that translates the principle of the single-hand watch into a kinetic sculpture, making the moment between past and future perceptible. Behind the hand, a trace of turbulent patterns marks the touched past. Ahead of it stretches calm liquid: the untouched future. The present is the thin, moving line between them. It sounds poetic because it is, but it’s also technically precise, which is kind of the whole point.

Designer: Robert Spillner

Spillner trained as an engineer and initially developed components for Formula 1 cars, used by numerous teams, in a culture where speed, optimization, and victory are everything. With Luna, that paradigm is reversed. Instead of lap times, the focus is on mindful observation; instead of chasing the fastest, it is about pausing, about stillness. The pivot reads like a philosophical reversal, not just a career change, and that tension is embedded in the object itself.

At the heart of Luna is a specially developed fluid Spillner calls Zero Flow Technology. Its core consists of distilled water, additives, micro-particles, and a minimal quantity of genuine lunar dust. The exact composition remains deliberately undisclosed, part of the mystery that invites the observer to immerse themselves in the visual experience rather than merely explain it technically. I think that’s the right call. Part of what makes Luna compelling is that it resists easy explanation. You’re not supposed to look at it and think “clever fluid dynamics.” You’re supposed to feel like time has texture.

The lunar dust takes the cosmic concept to its logical conclusion. These are particles billions of years old that once fell from space to Earth, and they are now carriers of time. Each piece comes with a certificate of authenticity documenting the origin of this cosmic additive. That detail is not just a marketing flourish. It changes the nature of the object.

Aesthetically, Luna presents itself as a square wall or stand object, approximately 400 by 400 millimeters, with a black front and a cast acrylic glass pane at its centre that becomes the stage for the fluid time, framed by a solid, matte-black wooden frame. A small LCD touchscreen, 35 millimeters in diameter, merges the cosmic and digital realms. Time and display brightness can be adjusted easily. The screen is discreet enough that it doesn’t compete with the fluid for visual dominance. It supports the piece without stealing from it, and that balance isn’t easy to pull off.

Luna is handcrafted in Germany as a limited edition. The fluid mixture, developed over years in collaboration with a laboratory, requires weeks of fine-tuning for each unique piece. Every Luna carries an engraved serial number and year of manufacture, signed by the artist, and comes with a certificate for the meteorite dust. Only 99 pieces per year are planned, all made on demand. Luna defines itself clearly as an art object with a time function, not as an industrial small series. That self-awareness matters.

The question people tend to ask about objects like this is whether they’re worth it. I’d reframe the question. Luna isn’t competing with your iPhone or your smartwatch. It’s not trying to optimize anything in your day. It’s making an argument about how we relate to time, which is a thing most of us don’t think about until we’re running out of it. The fact that it’s beautiful while doing this isn’t a bonus. It’s the method. Design, when it’s working at its best, changes how you see the thing it’s describing. Luna does that with time. And for an object that started life inside Formula 1 engineering labs, that’s a remarkable distance to travel.

The post The F1 Engineer Who Turned Time Into a Kinetic Sculpture first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Minimalist Analog World Clock Is the Upgrade You Didn’t Know Your Desk Needed

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This 12-sided clock turns global timekeeping into a calmer desk ritual

Keeping up with different time zones sounds simple until it becomes part of your everyday routine. You check your phone before a call, open another tab to confirm the hour, do a quick mental calculation, and still second-guess whether it’s too early in Tokyo or too late in New York. Not to forget the perils of push-notifications – a quick check of time leads you down a drain of doom-scrolling that you take an hour to return from! To add a layer of analog convenience in this increasingly digital setup, I present the Rolling World Clock.

Why Traditional World Clocks Never Quite Feel Right

The Rolling World Clock takes a familiar category and gives it a much smarter form. Instead of relying on screens, menus, or a row of tiny city labels, this analog desk object turns world time into a simple physical interaction. Built with 12 sides, each representing a major timezone city, it lets you roll from one location to another and instantly read the local time with a single hand. It’s a cleaner, more tactile answer to a problem that has long been solved in ways that feel unnecessarily digital.

Designer: MASAFUMI ISHIKAWA .Design

Click Here to Buy Now: $49 Hurry, only a few left!

Change time zones with a single roll.

Using The Analog Experience Feels Better

That analog quality is a big part of the appeal. There’s a growing interest in devices that help people step back from constant digital interaction, and this clock fits neatly into that trend without feeling nostalgic for nostalgia’s sake. It still solves a modern problem, especially for people working with global teams or keeping in touch with friends and family abroad, but it does so in a way that feels grounded and human. You’re not swiping, tapping, or toggling between screens. You’re just rolling the object in your hand and reading the time.

Built for modern routines, expressed through simple interactions.

The city lineup also makes it genuinely useful. The 12 sides cover major global time zones, including London, Paris, Cape Town, Moscow, Los Angeles, Karachi, Mexico City, New York, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney, and New Caledonia. That gives it enough range to be practical for a wide variety of work and lifestyle needs, whether you’re coordinating meetings, planning travel, or just trying not to message someone at the wrong hour.

Built for a More Intentional Desk

For the desk setup fanatics, there’s also a strong aesthetic argument here. The Rolling World Clock is available in black and white, two finishes that make it easy to integrate into a modern desk setup without fighting for attention. It has the kind of understated presence that works especially well for young professionals who want their workspace to feel differentiated without becoming visually noisy. It’s functional, yes, but it also reads as a design object, the sort of piece that quietly signals taste.

Clean lines, one hand, no distractions.

That balance of utility and personality is what makes this more than a novelty. If you work across cities, collaborate with clients in different regions, or simply like the idea of keeping global time visible without adding another glowing screen to your day, this clock makes a strong case for itself. It taps into a broader shift toward analog tools that feel slower, more deliberate, and more human, while still solving a very modern problem.

Feels as good in the hand as it looks on the desk.

Why It’s Worth Picking Up Now

At $49, the Rolling World Clock lands in a sweet spot for a desk upgrade that feels distinctive without being overcommitted. It also has the kind of giftable appeal that comes from being both useful and conversation-worthy. And with only a few left, it carries just enough urgency to make hesitation a risky move.

If your desk could use an object that feels smarter, calmer, and more intentional than another digital widget, the Rolling World Clock is worth grabbing now. It’s currently available in the Yanko Design Shop in black and white, and with limited stock remaining, this is one of those rare functional design pieces you probably shouldn’t wait on.

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This $145 Wood and Brass Timer Finally Gets Your Phone Off the Desk

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Productivity apps have become one of the more ironic problems of modern work life. The tools meant to keep us focused are apps that live on the same devices responsible for most of our distractions. Switching to a timer app means unlocking a phone, and unlocking a phone means notifications, messages, and a dozen other things competing for your attention before you’ve even started the clock.

Thomas Curnow of Tomato Clocks had that contradiction in mind when he created the Roma Mk. 1, a purely analog study timer built around the Pomodoro Technique. The method is simple and widely used, working in focused intervals broken up by short rests, but it works best when the timing happens completely off-screen. The Roma Mk. 1 is designed to make that as easy and satisfying as possible.

Designer: Thomas Curnow (Tomato Clocks)

At the center of the design are two analog gauges, one for tracking a work interval and one for the break that follows. There are no menus to navigate and no app to open. You set the dials, get to work, and let the timer do the rest. The whole interaction takes a second, and that simplicity is precisely the point. It keeps the focus on the task at hand rather than the device managing it.

The build quality reinforces that philosophy. Each unit is laser-cut from premium Australian timber and assembled by hand in Melbourne, giving it a warmth and solidity that’s hard to find in mass-produced productivity gadgets. The brass switches used for input have a tactile snap to them, the kind of satisfying physical feedback that makes the act of starting a session feel deliberate rather than incidental.

It’s the sort of object that belongs on a desk permanently, not tucked into a drawer. A wooden timer with analog dials sits comfortably alongside notebooks, pens, and other tools that don’t demand your attention when you’re not using them. That’s a quality digital devices rarely manage, and it matters more than it might seem when you’re trying to build a consistent work habit.

The Pomodoro Technique has been around since the late 1980s, and the basic premise hasn’t changed much since then. What has changed is the environment in which most people try to use it. Screens are everywhere, and the pull of notifications is relentless. A dedicated physical timer doesn’t connect to the internet, doesn’t send alerts, and doesn’t tempt you with anything outside the task you’re working on.

The Roma Mk. 1 is currently available for pre-order at $145, which puts it well above a basic kitchen timer but firmly in the range of a thoughtful, long-term desk tool. It’s handmade, uses real materials, and is designed to last rather than be replaced. For anyone who has tried and failed to stay off their phone during a work session, a well-made analog alternative might be worth far more than what it costs.

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Balmuda and Jony Ive’s Firm Built a $373 Clock With No Hands

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The phone on the nightstand is one of those design failures nobody talks about. It wakes you with a jolt, it glows through the night, and the first thing it offers each morning is not the time but a backlog of notifications demanding your attention before you’ve even sat up. The bedside clock was supposed to be the simple alternative, but most of them traded the problem of distraction for the problem of mediocrity.

Balmuda, the Tokyo-based maker responsible for a limited-edition sailing lantern and an aesthetic humidifier, built The Clock around a specific frustration. Founder Gen Terao had been playing rain sounds on a tablet at night to help him sleep, then tolerating the screen’s glow from the bedside. The Clock is the object-form answer to that exact problem, designed to handle waking, focusing, and resting without once asking you to reach for your phone.

Designer: BALMUDA x Love From, (Jony Ive Design Firm)

The dial has no physical hands. Balmuda’s “Light Hour” system expresses time through illumination alone, with a glow that reads more like something painted than something lit. The second-hand movement is slow and pendulum-like, and that quality was not accidental. The design team visited the Foucault pendulum at the National Museum of Nature and Science to study the movement before settling on the animation. That level of reference work is unusual for a clock.

The aluminum body is machined from a solid block, finished to a polish that achieves both structural weight and surface quality in a 75mm square form. Getting there required resources Balmuda did not have independently. The company’s collaboration with Jony Ive’s design firm, LoveFrom, opened access to aluminum processing vendors with capabilities that, according to Terao himself, would not have been available otherwise. The result is a body with a density and finish that the specs alone do not prepare you for.

Three operational modes govern the day from the same pocket-sized object. Relax Time plays original ambient tracks, including rainfall, crickets, and thunder, all produced by an in-house sound team working with outside musicians. The focus timer layers white noise over a countdown. The alarm begins building volume gradually 3 minutes before it fully sounds, a small but considered alternative to the binary silence-then-noise of a standard alarm. Control over all three modes runs through the BALMUDA Connect app via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0, with options for multiple alarms, dial brightness, and a second time zone for travel.

At approximately 259g with a cloth carrying bag included and USB-C charging that restores a full 24-hour battery in about 2.5 hours, The Clock is portable without making portability the point. It is currently available in Japan at ¥59,400 (approximately $373), with no confirmed release date for other markets. At that price, it is asking to be taken seriously as an object rather than a category product, and the manufacturing pedigree behind it gives that ask some grounding.

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This Does Not Compute Turns Tiny Mac Clock Into Working Raspberry Pi Macintosh

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If you appreciate retro computing and DIY electronics, a new project from This Does Not Compute (YouTube channel) will be the best thing you will see today. The build emulates the 1984 Apple Macintosh, but in a miniaturized version. Not the smallest, but decently small to sit in the corner of your desk and do more than its intended function of a clock.

If that sounds puzzling, here’s a clearer explanation. The modder has actually taken a Maclock, which is a clock that looks identical to the original Mac, but of course considerably smaller, and ripped it open. He replaced the original alarm clock mechanics with a Raspberry Pi, turning it into a homage to the classic Apple computer.

Designer: This Does Not Compute

The project, as the modder himself states, “is just for fun” and doesn’t really reach out to prove anything other than love to toil with anything Mac. With the innards of the clock replaced by Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, the original display of the clock is also swapped with a 640×480 2.8-in color screen from Wave Share, and the project is interestingly called Wondermac. The name is in reference to Wonder Boy, the Chinese company that makes Maclock.

The modder, as you can see in detail in the video above, starts by cracking open the Maclock case, which has screws, but they are only used to mimic the Macintosh and have no significant usage. Opening the case was “probably the hardest part of the whole project,” he says. The case is clipped together pretty tightly, but he was able to separate the front bezel from the back using a wide metal pry tool. Once the front panel was free, he unplugged the wiring harness and pulled out the main circuit board and the screen to clear up the space inside the Maclock body, which will now have new guts and a new purpose.

“Compact, low power, and relatively inexpensive,” Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W was a clear choice for the Mac’s innards, the modder affirms. It comes with a pin header presoldered and includes a heatsink, which would be a nifty addition to keep this tiny computer cool when it does some computing. The Pi is now connected to the externally purchased screen, and the modder gets down to launching the Raspberry Pi imager app and installing Minivvac on an SD card for the software side of the project.

For powering the Wondermac, the modder doesn’t rely on the Maclock’s built-in battery; instead, they take advantage of the USB-C port on the back housing for power. After some tweaking to power output, some wire soldering, and sticking, he was able to get the power going as required to run the screen. Finally, he designed a 3D printed bracket with black filament to fit the screen in place, and then everything was assembled back into shape. Content with the outcome, he leaves the little Mac on the desk with the Afterdark screen saver.

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This House-Sized Clock Glows and Chimes Every 15 Minutes

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There’s something quietly magical about watching a building come alive on schedule. Clock House No. 2, a public art installation by Drawing Architecture Studio, does exactly that. Every fifteen minutes, it chimes and glows, turning timekeeping into something you can walk around, peer into, and experience with your whole body.

The Beijing-based practice created this piece for the 7th Shenzhen Bay Public Art Season in China, where it’s on view until April 19th, 2026. At first glance, it looks like someone took a mantel clock from a fancy living room and scaled it up to the size of a small house. Which is kind of the point. The project collapses the distance between furniture and architecture, asking what happens when an everyday object becomes a building you can step inside.

Designer: Drawing Architecture Studio

Drawing Architecture Studio looked back to a specific historical moment for inspiration. During the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Western missionaries brought automaton clocks to China as diplomatic gifts. These weren’t just timepieces. They were theatrical objects, intricate mechanical wonders that moved and chimed with precision. The Chinese called them Zì Míng Zhōng, which translates to “the clock that rings automatically”. These devices started in the imperial court but eventually found their way into domestic life, becoming both functional tools and symbols of cultural exchange.

Clock House No. 2 revisits that exchange, but through a contemporary lens. Instead of brass gears and delicate springs, the studio used low-cost industrial components. The structure references the layered facades and tiled roofs typical of everyday dwellings in Guangdong Province, blending local vernacular architecture with the ornamental logic of those historical automaton clocks. The result is something that feels familiar and foreign at the same time.

The installation doesn’t contain intricate mechanical movements like its historical predecessors. Instead, it marks time through light and sound. LED strips are embedded within the structure, glowing through openings in the facade. Every quarter hour, an automated musical chime triggers while the lights shift in color, creating a gentle spectacle that feels ceremonial without being overly dramatic.

The project draws on ideas from Italian architect Aldo Rossi, who wrote about the relationship between architecture and ordinary utensils. Rossi believed that everyday objects accumulate what he called “forms of memory” through repeated use and cultural continuity. For him, the line between a domestic object and an architectural artifact wasn’t fixed or absolute. Clock House No. 2 extends this thinking by turning the clock into a building and the building into a clock, playing with scale in a way that makes you reconsider what architecture can be.

What makes this installation compelling is how it situates itself at the intersection of mechanical timekeeping, architecture, and trade. It’s not just about recreating a historical object. It’s about exploring how objects move between cultures, how they change meaning as they cross borders, and how architecture can embody those shifts.

The choice to use industrial components rather than precious materials also says something about accessibility and contemporary making. These aren’t rare or expensive parts. They’re the kind of materials you’d find in construction supply stores, which makes the project feel grounded even as it reaches for something conceptual.

Standing near Clock House No. 2 during one of its fifteen-minute performances must be a peculiar experience. You’re not just observing a sculpture. You’re witnessing a building perform timekeeping as a ritual, something that happens whether anyone is watching or not. It’s architecture that insists on marking the passage of time audibly and visibly, refusing to be background scenery.

The installation also speaks to how we experience time in public space today. We’re used to checking our phones for the hour, but Clock House No. 2 offers something more communal. It announces time to everyone in earshot, creating a shared moment of awareness. That’s rare now.

By April, the installation will come down, but the questions it raises will linger. What happens when we scale up the objects we live with? How does architecture remember cultural encounters? And what does it mean for a building to keep time like a grandfather clock in the corner of a room, ticking and chiming through the hours?

The post This House-Sized Clock Glows and Chimes Every 15 Minutes first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Concrete Desk Clock Looks Like a 1980s CRT TV

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There’s a particular kind of design intelligence that knows when to slow down. The Crydal Phantom Clock, designed by Daniel van der Liet, is one of those rare objects that rejects the frantic pace of modern consumer tech in favor of something more deliberate. It’s a desk clock, yes, but calling it just a clock misses the point entirely.

The Phantom reinterprets the visual language of cathode-ray tube displays from early computing. Not in a nostalgic way, but as a translation exercise. Van der Liet took the geometry, the mass, and the physical presence of those old CRT monitors and rebuilt them using cast concrete and raw steel. The result is something that feels both familiar and completely new, a dense, tactile object that sits on your desk with real weight and intention.

Designer: Daniel van der Liet

The form itself is immediately recognizable if you grew up around boxy computer monitors or chunky television sets. That characteristic curved screen, the cylindrical body, the industrial mounting stand. But instead of plastic housing and glass tubes, you get solid concrete and raw steel. The materials transform the reference from tech artifact into something closer to sculpture. This isn’t a replica or a throwback design. It’s a contemporary object that happens to speak the formal language of vintage electronics.

What makes the Phantom genuinely interesting is how it handles the intersection of analog and digital. The clock displays time through a traditional analog dial, the kind with actual hour and minute hands moving around a circular face. But here’s where it gets clever: that dial appears on a round capacitive display integrated flush with the concrete surface. You can switch between three chromatic modes, green, orange, or red, each one shifting the character of the clock without altering its physical form. It’s like having three different moods available depending on your space or preference.

The interface is handled entirely through that circular touchscreen. You adjust the time, you control the color mode, you modify the brightness. No buttons interrupt the surface, no dials break the material integrity. When you’re not actively using it, the clock just sits there, visually calm and minimal. It doesn’t demand attention or try to become the focal point of your desk. It exists quietly, doing its single job with focus and restraint.

This is explicitly not a smart device. The Phantom won’t sync with your phone, won’t display notifications, won’t connect to your calendar or remind you about meetings. It plugs in via USB-C for power and that’s the extent of its connectivity. In an era when every object wants to be a node in your personal network, this kind of focused simplicity feels almost defiant. The clock tells time. That’s what it does. That’s all it does.

Each Phantom is handcrafted in limited quantities, and the production process ensures that no two are exactly identical. Concrete doesn’t cast uniformly. Steel doesn’t patina predictably. These natural variations aren’t flaws to be corrected but characteristics that make each piece unique. Your clock will have its own texture, its own finish, its own subtle imperfections that come from being made by hand rather than stamped out on an assembly line.

The limited edition nature matters because it positions the Phantom somewhere between functional object and collectible. You could absolutely use this as your primary desk clock. But you could just as easily display it on a shelf in your studio or living space as a sculptural object that happens to tell time. Both approaches are valid. The design supports either use case without compromising. What appeals most about the Phantom is its refusal to be categorized easily. It’s not retro tech, though it references old technology. It’s not pure art, though it has sculptural qualities. It’s not a gadget, though it uses modern display technology. It exists in this productive tension between categories, which is exactly where the most interesting design tends to live.

We live in a market saturated with objects that prioritize convenience and connectivity above all else but the Phantom Clock offers something different. It’s heavy where things are light, analog where things are digital, focused where things are multifunctional. It’s a time instrument designed to exist quietly in your space, asking nothing from you except the occasional glance to check the hour. Sometimes that’s exactly what you need.

The post This Concrete Desk Clock Looks Like a 1980s CRT TV first appeared on Yanko Design.

HOVSTEP Helps ADHD Focus with Helicopter Missions That Actually End

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Modern work and study days are chopped into tiny fragments, with multiple tabs, apps, and timers all competing for attention. Even well-intentioned plans fall apart because time feels abstract and slippery, especially if you lean toward ADHD or time-blindness. Checking the clock becomes another interruption instead of a guide. HOVSTEP is a concept that tries to make time feel like one clear mission instead of a background anxiety.

HOVSTEP treats each block of time like a helicopter mission. It is both a physical clock and an app-linked timer, inspired by how a mission helicopter takes off with one purpose, completes it, and returns. The idea is to help you see a study session, assignment, or break as a single mission you dispatch and then bring home, with a beginning, middle, and end that are all visible at once.

Designer: Ho joong Lee, Ho taek Lee

Opening the app in the morning, you drop studies, tasks, breaks, and games into short mission slots across the day. The app shows your routine by time zone, then switches to an analog view where each mission has a clear start, end, and remaining time. When a mission starts, a little helicopter icon descends, and the activity timer kicks in with an alarm, making the transition feel deliberate.

HOVSTEP shows time passing with a yellow hand that appears on the clock face when a mission begins, rotating once around the dial and showing how much of that block is left. It is framed as the helicopter being dispatched, flying its route, and returning when the hand lands back at 12. You are watching a mission unfold and trying to stay with it until the end.

The object itself is a small helicopter-shaped clock that can sit on a monitor or hang on a wall. A rotor on top acts as the analog hand, a digital display shows timer information, and side buttons let you adjust volume and timer details. A center button on top turns the clock on and starts missions manually, so you can run a quick focus block without opening the app.

The design is grounded in research about how people with ADHD often respond better to movement, change, and short time units than to static digits. By turning each activity into a dispatched mission with a visible arc and clear end, HOVSTEP reduces the need to constantly check the clock. You get a sense of flow, knowing that as long as the yellow hand is moving, you are still inside the mission.

The project’s line, “One mission completed, one step closer to focus,” captures the spirit. Instead of promising to fix attention with another app, HOVSTEP reframes time as a series of small, winnable missions. Sometimes the most helpful tools for focus are the ones that make progress visible and finite, one flight at a time, instead of asking you to manage an infinite stream of minutes.

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Mudita Minimalist Phone and Alarm Clocks Design a Calmer Day at CES 2026

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The day often begins and ends with a smartphone, from checking notifications before getting out of bed to scrolling in the dark when you should be asleep. Even people who care about design and well-being end up with glowing rectangles on every surface, and that constant presence quietly shapes attention, sleep, and mood more than most of us like to admit. The usual fix is another app that promises to help you use your phone less, which is like asking the problem to solve itself.

Mudita has been quietly building devices meant to step in where traditional smartphones can cause the most trouble. At CES 2026, that takes the form of three products: Mudita Kompakt, a minimalist E Ink phone, Mudita Harmony 2, a mindful alarm clock with an E Ink display, and Mudita Bell 2, an analog-style alarm clock with a few carefully chosen digital tricks. Together, they sketch out a different way to move through a day, keeping connections and routines intact while pushing screens out of the moments where you may choose to be “disconnected.”

Designer: Mudita

Mudita Kompakt: A Phone That Does Less on Purpose

Kompakt looks more like a small e-reader than a slab of glass, built around a 4.3-inch E Ink screen that is paper-like, glare-free, and easy on the eyes. It runs MuditaOS K, a de-Googled operating system based on AOSP, with only essential tools on board: calls, SMS, offline maps, calendar, up-to-date weather forecasts, music, notes, a meditation timer, and an e-reader. There is no app store by design, keeping the interface focused on what you planned to do instead of what a feed wants to show you next. But if you do need some very specific functionality, your favorite apps are just a sideload away.

Offline+ Mode physically disconnects the GSM modem and microphones, while also disabling Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and the camera, turning Kompakt into a sealed, offline device when needed. That hardware-level privacy goes beyond airplane mode, which matters when you want verifiable disconnection. Long battery life, up to six days on a charge, and both USB-C and wireless charging mean it can live on a desk or in a bag without constant topping up.

A dedicated Mudita Center desktop app handles contact syncing, music, and file transfers from a laptop, keeping the phone itself simple and uncluttered, its user experience reflecting its mission. As a primary phone for someone stepping away from feeds, it keeps communication and navigation intact while stripping away most reasons to pick it up mindlessly. As a secondary focus phone for anyone who wants to disconnect from the hustle of a smartphone, it can handle calls and texts without the usual app notifications to help nurture balance and peace of mind.

Mudita Harmony 2: A Bedroom Without a Smartphone Glow

Harmony 2 is an E Ink alarm clock with three physical knobs on top for light, volume, and alarm settings, designed to live where a phone usually sits on a nightstand. The E Ink display is easy to read and uses an adjustable warm backlight that minimizes blue light, so you can check the time at night without a blast of white light or the temptation to swipe through notifications that make it harder to fall back asleep.

The wake-up experience is built around a gradual, ascending alarm that starts softly and increases in volume, paired with a pre-wake-up light that mimics a sunrise by slowly brightening five to fifteen minutes before the main alarm. Harmony 2 offers seventeen melodies, including real nature sounds, and lets you enhance alarms with light or upload custom audio via the Mudita Center app. The goal is to make waking feel less like an interruption and more like a natural transition.

Extra features support a phone-free bedtime, Relaxation mode with customizable sounds and white noise, a Bedtime Reminder to nudge you into a consistent routine, a Meditation Timer with gong sounds, and a Power Nap Mode. With over forty days of battery life and USB-C charging, Harmony 2 can stay on a nightstand without becoming another device you plug in every night, reinforcing the idea that the bedroom can be a low-tech space.

Mudita Bell 2: Analog Mornings with a Few Smart Tricks

Bell 2 is the more analog-leaning sibling, an alarm clock with a clear, minimalist dial and an internal quartz mechanism, but also an E Ink display and a light-enhanced gradual alarm. It offers nine gentle melodies and a pure-tone alarm that starts quietly and grows to a set volume, plus a warm wake-up light that can be activated before the alarm to mimic sunrise, easing you out of sleep without a harsh jolt.

A built-in meditation timer starts and ends sessions with a gong, and the deliberate absence of Wi-Fi or Bluetooth means Bell 2 does not compete for attention or add to the ambient connectivity load in the room. It runs on a 2,600 mAh rechargeable battery that can last up to six months on a full charge, with USB-C for the rare times it needs topping up. It is designed to be set and then mostly forgotten.

Bell 2 has been awarded a Platinum Calm Technology Certification, recognizing products that respect attention and promote well-being. Available in charcoal black and pebble gray, it is meant to blend into different interiors while still feeling like a considered object. In a home shaped by Kompakt and Harmony 2, Bell 2 completes the picture: a simple, focused object that reflects Mudita’s belief that technology can be present without being intrusive.

Mudita at CES 2026: Technology for Mindful Living

Together, Kompakt, Harmony 2, and Bell 2 create intentional, screen-free moments throughout the day; focused time on the go with Kompakt, a calmer evening and wake-up routine with Harmony 2, and a simple, analog-leaning start to the morning with Bell 2. None of these is meant to replace a smartphone entirely. Instead, they offer a considered alternative for the moments when a screen adds little value. This is an approach that stands out at CES, where innovation is often defined by more features, rather than more thoughtful use.

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These Perforated Metal Clocks Turn Timekeeping Into Moving Art

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We’ve gotten so used to looking at our phones or even our smartwatches to know what time it is that we forget how beautiful wall clocks can be. In fact, some younger people can’t tell time anymore by looking at analog clocks as they’re so used to digital clocks. So to see clock designs like the MOOV and COO clocks designed by Japanese designer Ryosuke Fukusada brings back those days when we appreciate things like cuckoo clocks and traditional craftsmanship while also bringing something more to the table, or rather, to the wall.

These metal clocks display their moving parts and details through perforated and transparent windows, making these hidden mechanics visible and adding a certain beauty to these timepieces. The bodies of the clocks are made using the traditional metalworking processes in the Niigata region and it involves cutting, bending, welding, and painting. The perforated sheets are produced with punch tools that create clean and consistent holes, ensuring each piece meets exacting standards.

Designer: Ryosuke Fukusada

The MOOV Pendulum Clock uses a perforated design on its metal plate that shows the pendulum swinging through the holes. Just be careful that you don’t get hypnotized as it can have a pretty mesmerizing effect when you stare at the pendulum long enough. There are no numbers but instead the time indicators are colored in places corresponding to their position. This may also be a good tool to teach kids how to actually tell time without the numbers. The genius of this design is how nothing feels placed by chance: the indicators sit exactly where the holes already exist, creating a harmonious visual system.

The COO Cuckoo Clock meanwhile is a metal clock that has a large circular opening where you’ll see the cuckoo appear to indicate what hour it is. This mechanical bird spreads and flaps its wings and sings a melodic version of the classic cuckoo sound. The shape of the clock is actually inspired by the arched windows from ancient times. The front is made of perforated metal and like the MOOV, the indicators are also colored to match the holes. The mixture of industrial materials and antique elements gives it a certain warmth that makes it feel both contemporary and nostalgic at the same time.

Both the MOOV and COO clocks come in four colors: white, off-white, mint blue, and green. These “calm tones” make it easy for the clocks to blend in with any interior. But there’s also a pop of color with the accents on the hands and indicators. The perforated design actually makes them easier to hang since it makes them a bit more lightweight and also different from the usual heavy wooden cases that the usual pendulum and cuckoo clocks use.

What makes these pieces particularly special for collectors is the regional craftsmanship story behind them. Fukusada, who established his studio in Kyoto in 2012 after working with renowned designer Patricia Urquiola in Milan, has a keen eye for bridging Japanese tradition with modern minimalism. His previous work, including the Relief clock, has won prestigious awards like the iF Design Award 2023, making his pieces increasingly sought after in the design world.

These clocks aren’t just functional objects. They’re conversation starters that celebrate the beauty of visible mechanics. In a world where everything is becoming digital and hidden behind sleek screens, there’s something deeply satisfying about watching a pendulum swing or a bird emerge to mark the hour. Whether you’re decorating your first apartment or adding to a curated collection, the MOOV and COO clocks remind us that timekeeping can be an art form worth displaying proudly on our walls.

The post These Perforated Metal Clocks Turn Timekeeping Into Moving Art first appeared on Yanko Design.