Tag Archives: Concept Designs

Rotating Kitchen Cubes Make Wasting Food Actually Impossible

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We’ve all been there. You buy fresh produce with the best intentions, tuck it away in the fridge or pantry, and then discover a wilted mess two weeks later. It’s frustrating, wasteful, and honestly, it happens way more often than we’d like to admit. But what if your storage system actually worked with you instead of against you?

Enter Saveit, a modular food storage concept by designer Yerin Kim that’s making me rethink everything about how we organize our kitchens. At first glance, it looks like something straight out of a design museum with its sleek metal boxes, perforated panels, and pops of color. But the real magic happens when you actually use it.

Designer: Yerin Kim

The system is built around a brilliantly simple idea: rotating storage that follows the FIFO principle (first in, first out). You know how grocery stores stock their shelves so older items move to the front? That’s exactly what Saveit does for your home. The modules feature these clever two-way rotating structures, so when you add new food from one side, the older items naturally move toward the exit point. No more mystery tomatoes rotting in the back of your produce drawer.

What makes this system feel genuinely different is how modular and adaptable it is. The stackable metal units can be configured in countless ways, kind of like edible Tetris. Need more space for root vegetables this week? Rearrange. Stocking up on citrus? Adjust accordingly. The colored sliding trays and hanging hooks accommodate everything from loose potatoes to bunches of bananas, and each component is designed to maximize airflow through those perforated backs, keeping produce fresher longer.

The aesthetic is industrial meets playful, with that brushed metal finish that feels both serious and approachable. Those bright red, green, blue, and yellow accents aren’t just for looks either. They help you quickly identify different food categories or rotation systems at a glance. It’s functional design that doesn’t sacrifice personality.

But here’s what really sold me on this concept: every single part slides out and pops into the dishwasher. Anyone who’s ever tried to clean a traditional produce basket or drawer knows that trapped dirt and sticky residue situation. Saveit eliminates that headache entirely. The removable design means you can actually keep your storage clean without contortionist-level flexibility or a dedicated scrub brush.

The environmental angle here is significant too. Food waste is a massive problem. We’re talking about roughly a third of all food produced globally ending up in the trash, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and represents billions of dollars thrown away annually. While Saveit won’t solve food waste entirely, it tackles one of the root causes: poor visibility and organization at home. When you can actually see what you have and the system naturally prioritizes older items, you’re far more likely to use everything before it goes bad. There’s something refreshing about design that solves real problems without overcomplicating things. Saveit doesn’t require an app, doesn’t need to be plugged in, and doesn’t come with a subscription service. It’s just smart, thoughtful design applied to an everyday challenge. The kind of thing that makes you wonder why storage hasn’t worked this way all along.

Yerin Kim’s creation sits at this interesting intersection of sustainability, functionality, and visual appeal that feels very now. It’s the type of design that tech enthusiasts appreciate for its systematic approach, that eco-conscious consumers love for its waste-reduction potential, and that design lovers simply want to display on their countertops. It transforms a mundane task (food storage) into something that actually feels considered and intentional. Whether Saveit moves from concept to production remains to be seen, but it represents a shift in how we think about kitchen organization. Storage shouldn’t be something you work around. It should work for you, making sustainable choices easier and more intuitive. And if it looks this good while doing it? Even better.

The post Rotating Kitchen Cubes Make Wasting Food Actually Impossible first appeared on Yanko Design.

Rotating Kitchen Cubes Make Wasting Food Actually Impossible

Posted on by

We’ve all been there. You buy fresh produce with the best intentions, tuck it away in the fridge or pantry, and then discover a wilted mess two weeks later. It’s frustrating, wasteful, and honestly, it happens way more often than we’d like to admit. But what if your storage system actually worked with you instead of against you?

Enter Saveit, a modular food storage concept by designer Yerin Kim that’s making me rethink everything about how we organize our kitchens. At first glance, it looks like something straight out of a design museum with its sleek metal boxes, perforated panels, and pops of color. But the real magic happens when you actually use it.

Designer: Yerin Kim

The system is built around a brilliantly simple idea: rotating storage that follows the FIFO principle (first in, first out). You know how grocery stores stock their shelves so older items move to the front? That’s exactly what Saveit does for your home. The modules feature these clever two-way rotating structures, so when you add new food from one side, the older items naturally move toward the exit point. No more mystery tomatoes rotting in the back of your produce drawer.

What makes this system feel genuinely different is how modular and adaptable it is. The stackable metal units can be configured in countless ways, kind of like edible Tetris. Need more space for root vegetables this week? Rearrange. Stocking up on citrus? Adjust accordingly. The colored sliding trays and hanging hooks accommodate everything from loose potatoes to bunches of bananas, and each component is designed to maximize airflow through those perforated backs, keeping produce fresher longer.

The aesthetic is industrial meets playful, with that brushed metal finish that feels both serious and approachable. Those bright red, green, blue, and yellow accents aren’t just for looks either. They help you quickly identify different food categories or rotation systems at a glance. It’s functional design that doesn’t sacrifice personality.

But here’s what really sold me on this concept: every single part slides out and pops into the dishwasher. Anyone who’s ever tried to clean a traditional produce basket or drawer knows that trapped dirt and sticky residue situation. Saveit eliminates that headache entirely. The removable design means you can actually keep your storage clean without contortionist-level flexibility or a dedicated scrub brush.

The environmental angle here is significant too. Food waste is a massive problem. We’re talking about roughly a third of all food produced globally ending up in the trash, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and represents billions of dollars thrown away annually. While Saveit won’t solve food waste entirely, it tackles one of the root causes: poor visibility and organization at home. When you can actually see what you have and the system naturally prioritizes older items, you’re far more likely to use everything before it goes bad. There’s something refreshing about design that solves real problems without overcomplicating things. Saveit doesn’t require an app, doesn’t need to be plugged in, and doesn’t come with a subscription service. It’s just smart, thoughtful design applied to an everyday challenge. The kind of thing that makes you wonder why storage hasn’t worked this way all along.

Yerin Kim’s creation sits at this interesting intersection of sustainability, functionality, and visual appeal that feels very now. It’s the type of design that tech enthusiasts appreciate for its systematic approach, that eco-conscious consumers love for its waste-reduction potential, and that design lovers simply want to display on their countertops. It transforms a mundane task (food storage) into something that actually feels considered and intentional. Whether Saveit moves from concept to production remains to be seen, but it represents a shift in how we think about kitchen organization. Storage shouldn’t be something you work around. It should work for you, making sustainable choices easier and more intuitive. And if it looks this good while doing it? Even better.

The post Rotating Kitchen Cubes Make Wasting Food Actually Impossible first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Doughnut Chair Has One Bite Missing, and That’s Your Seat

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Most chairs are clearly assembled objects, with legs, a seat, and a backrest, all stacked and joined together. Sculptural lounge pieces sometimes flip that script and feel more like a single volume that has been carved or sliced. Chunk is a concept that leans into that second approach, imagining seating as a doughnut with a bite taken out rather than a frame with cushions bolted on, treating furniture as something you edit rather than assemble.

The designer imagined a chair that looks like a doughnut with a chunk removed. The missing piece becomes the seat and the opening for the backrest, while the rest of the ring wraps around in a continuous loop. The concept is less about novelty and more about seeing how far a single looping form can be pushed into something you can actually sit in, where the absence of material defines the place for the body.

Designer: Liam de la Bedoyere

Both the seat and backrest share the same oval cross-section, but as the base curves up to become the backrest, that oval quietly swaps its length and width. It is wide and low where you sit, then gradually becomes tall and narrow as it rises behind you. The section never breaks; it just morphs along the path, which gives the chair a sense of motion even when it is still and empty.

The “bite” creates a bowl-like seat that cradles the hips and thighs, while the rising loop offers a relaxed backrest rather than a rigid upright. The proportions suggest a low, lounge-style posture, closer to a reading chair or a corner piece in a living room than a dining chair. The continuous curve encourages you to lean back and sink in, not perch on the edge ready to stand again.

A near-cylindrical form can look like it might roll away, but the geometry and internal structure are tuned to keep the center of gravity low and slightly behind the seat. The base is subtly flattened, and a denser core at the bottom would keep it from tipping forward when someone leans back. The result is a chair that looks precarious from some angles but behaves like a grounded lounge piece once you sit.

The monolithic upholstery, a textured fabric that wraps the entire volume without obvious breaks, reinforces the idea of a single chunk of material. The form reads differently as you move around it, sometimes like a shell, sometimes like a curled leaf, sometimes like a coiled creature. It is the kind of chair that anchors a corner or gallery-like space, inviting you to walk around it before you decide to sit down and settle in.

Chunk uses subtraction as its main design move, starting from a complete ring and then removing just enough to create a place for the body. For a category that often defaults to adding parts, there is something satisfying about a chair that feels like it has been edited down to a single, looping gesture, with one decisive bite turning an abstract volume into a place to rest, read, or just sink into for a while.

The post This Doughnut Chair Has One Bite Missing, and That’s Your Seat first appeared on Yanko Design.

When Your Desk Lamp Becomes Your Study Partner: Check Mate

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We’ve all been there. You’re three hours into a study session, hunched over your desk with tabs multiplying like rabbits, your phone buzzing with notifications, and that nagging feeling that you’re not actually retaining anything. Digital learning promised us flexibility and endless resources, but sometimes it feels more like drowning in information while learning nothing at all.

A new concept design called Check Mate is tackling this exact problem, and it’s making waves in the design community for all the right reasons. Created by a team of seven designers (Dongkyun Kim, Jaeryeon Lee, Eojin Jeon, Noey, Jaeyeon Lee, Jagyeong Baek, and Jimin Yeo), this concept reimagines what a study companion could look like if we actually designed for how people learn in the digital age. While you can’t buy it yet, the ideas behind it are definitely worth paying attention to.

Designers: Dongkyun Kim, Jaeryeon Lee, Eojin Jeon, Noey, Jaeyeon Lee, Jagyeong Baek, Jimin Yeo

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The name itself is clever. “Check Mate” borrows from chess, evoking that decisive moment of victory, but it’s also wonderfully literal. This concept envisions a device that genuinely acts as your learning mate, checking in on your progress and helping you actually achieve those goals instead of just feeling busy. The design language speaks to this dual nature with a clean, minimalist aesthetic in soft gray tones, punctuated by shots of energizing yellow that feel like highlighting the important bits in a textbook.

What makes this concept compelling is that the designers didn’t just jump to solutions. They actually did their homework (pun intended) by researching what digital learners need and where current methods fall short. Their field research identified some uncomfortable truths: digital learning can create passive attitudes, make us susceptible to misinformation, and ironically, despite all our access to information, contribute to declining literacy levels. We’re getting really good at searching and depending on AI, but are we actually learning?

The proposed device looks deceptively simple. At first glance, it’s an elegant desk lamp with an adjustable arm and a cylindrical head wrapped in fabric, giving it a softer, more approachable vibe than your typical tech gadget. But the concept goes deeper, packing some serious multitasking capabilities into that minimal form. The lamp head would rotate and adjust, there appears to be a projection or camera system integrated into the design, and the base doubles as a wireless charging pad. Those yellow accents aren’t just for looks either, they’re envisioned as tactile interaction points that make the technology feel more human and less intimidating.

Where Check Mate really shines as a concept is in how it reimagines the learning experience. The visualization shows it functioning as a projection device that could display educational content, video calls with instructors, or interactive annotations directly onto your workspace or wall. Imagine highlighting text on actual paper and having that integrate with your digital notes, or being able to project your screen large enough to actually see what you’re working on without squinting at a laptop.

The concept addresses one of digital learning’s biggest weaknesses: that narrow, passive relationship we have with our screens. By proposing a way to bring information into your physical space and allowing for more natural interaction, it suggests learning could feel less like staring into the void and more like an active, engaging process. You wouldn’t just be consuming content, you’d be working with it in a space that feels comfortable and personal.

The packaging design in the concept presentation deserves a mention too. Everything is shown organized in a beautifully designed kit with that signature yellow and gray color scheme. It’s the kind of unboxing experience that would make you feel like you’re opening something important, not just another gadget. There’s a psychological element to that. When something looks and feels intentional, we treat it more seriously. As a concept, Check Mate represents the kind of forward thinking we need more of in the education technology space. It pushes conversations forward about how we should be designing for learning, how technology could support rather than distract, and what the future of education might actually look like when we stop thinking about it as just “Zoom, but make it fancier.”

The reality is that digital learning isn’t going anywhere. Remote work, online courses, and hybrid education models are here to stay. So maybe concepts like Check Mate can inspire the tools we actually need, devices designed for this reality instead of just adapting what we already have. The best part? It suggests that the answer isn’t more screens or more apps, it’s smarter integration of digital and physical spaces, and technology that adapts to how we naturally learn rather than forcing us to adapt to it.

The post When Your Desk Lamp Becomes Your Study Partner: Check Mate first appeared on Yanko Design.

Clover Emotion Tracker Turns Small Happy Moments into a Daily Desk Ritual

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People are more stressed than ever, yet still find it hard to talk honestly about how they feel, even with therapists or friends. Most mental health tools live inside apps that want you to rate your mood on a slider or fill out forms about your day, which can feel clinical or like homework you forgot to do. Clover is a concept that tries to make emotional check-ins gentler and more tangible, focusing on collecting small moments that went right instead of cataloging everything that went wrong.

Clover is a small ecosystem built around three pieces: a pocketable voice recorder, a desk-calendar device, and a companion app. Instead of logging stress or symptoms, you press a button and record short voice notes whenever something makes you genuinely happy. Those moments are then visualized on the calendar and analyzed in the app, turning your week into a kind of happiness log that quietly reframes how you see your days.

Designers: Seyeon Park, Bhin Son, Yu Jin Song, Jiwon Park, Jinya Kim

The recorder is a small, circular object with a single orange button and a loop strap, designed to be grabbed and pressed quickly. It is meant for capturing tiny, specific moments, sunlight on your desk, a good cup of tea, a joke from a friend, in your own voice. The goal is to lower the friction so much that recording a positive moment feels as easy as taking a photo, no unlocking, no tapping through screens, just press and speak.

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The desk calendar is a tilted white slab with a large circular dial labeled with days of the week and a small screen that displays words like “Sunlight” or “Spring.” It plays back or summarizes your voice recordings by day, and turning the dial lets you move between Day mode, Q&A mode, and long-term overview modes. Checking your emotional log becomes a physical ritual, more like flipping through a calendar than scrolling a feed or staring at another glowing interface.

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The app brings everything together, with daily cards asking “What is your today?”, weekly and monthly views full of dots and bars, and simple text insights that highlight recurring themes. You can tag entries by time, category, or keywords, and later see which people, places, or activities show up most often in your happiest moments. The analysis stays gentle, showing patterns without drowning you in numbers or making you feel like you failed when a week looks sparse.

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Clover’s visual language, white and grey surfaces with orange accents, soft typography, and a clover icon that appears on hardware and UI, keeps the system from feeling like medical equipment. The core values, self-honesty, emotional balance, and everyday positivity, are baked into how it looks and behaves. It frames itself as a friendly desk object and app you would not mind seeing every day, not a reminder that something is broken.

Clover quietly flips the usual tracking script. Instead of asking you to monitor symptoms or productivity, it asks you to notice and collect small good things, then shows you that they happen more often than you think. For people who are tired of mood sliders and habit streaks, the idea of a physical recorder and calendar that simply help you remember what felt right might be the most calming part of the concept.

The post Clover Emotion Tracker Turns Small Happy Moments into a Daily Desk Ritual first appeared on Yanko Design.

This MagSafe Battery Pack Looks Like It Belongs in Your Makeup Bag

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Most power banks and MagSafe battery packs look like small, hard bricks stuck to the back of a carefully chosen phone. There is a gap between the attention people give to phone colors, cases, and desk setups, and the generic plastic blocks they use to charge. Pokoo is a concept that treats a battery pack like a lifestyle object instead of emergency gear, borrowing its design language from instant cameras and cosmetics rather than chargers.

Pokoo is a MagSafe-style battery pack built around a rounded square body with a large circular disc at its center. The disc carries the branding and serves as the visual anchor, while a small indicator light in one corner handles status. The form is deliberately soft, with rounded edges and corners that make it feel more like a compact or a tiny camera than a tech accessory, especially in the warm white and sage-green palette.

Designer: Biu Biu

The battery snaps magnetically to the back of an iPhone, sitting below the camera bump and charging wirelessly. The circular disc and rounded form make the phone and pack feel like they were designed together, visually softening the stack instead of making it look like you strapped a tool to an otherwise clean object. The pastel colors reinforce that impression, turning the combo into something that feels intentional enough to leave on your phone all day.

The circular disc is not just decoration, it flips out to become a kickstand. When you want to watch something, the hinge lets the disc rotate outward, propping the phone in landscape while the battery stays attached and charging continues. That turns Pokoo into a two-in-one object, a power source and a stand, which makes more sense than carrying both separately or balancing your phone against a water bottle.

The top edge includes both USB-C and Lightning ports under a small protective ridge. That dual-port approach acknowledges that most people charge more than one kind of device, and it means Pokoo can handle wired top-ups for accessories or charge itself when wireless is slower. The flexibility makes it more adaptable than single-port packs that force you into one ecosystem or the other.

Pokoo comes in at least three colorways, the original white and green, a soft pink version, and a light blue with pink accents. Those colors push it firmly into lifestyle territory, looking equally at home next to a makeup bag or a laptop. The design language treats the battery as a companion object with personality, not a necessary evil you clip on when your phone is dying.

Pokoo does not reinvent what a battery pack does, it reframes how it looks and how you use it. The flip-out stand, dual ports, and cosmetic-inspired shell turn a mundane accessory into something that feels thoughtful. For people who care about the objects that live on their phones and desks, Pokoo suggests that charging does not require sacrificing aesthetics, and that a power bank can be soft, playful, and multi-functional without losing the utility that actually matters.

The post This MagSafe Battery Pack Looks Like It Belongs in Your Makeup Bag first appeared on Yanko Design.

Enso Tape Measure Makes Pulling Lengths Feel Like a Small Ritual

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Most tape measures are purely functional, bright plastic bricks you toss in a drawer, borrow, and never remember. The act of measuring is usually rushed and slightly annoying, even though it is fundamental to making and building. Enso is a concept that asks what happens if you treat measuring as a small ritual instead of a chore, designing the gesture itself rather than just wrapping the same mechanism in prettier housing.

Enso is a tape measure concept that redefines measurement as a ritual, where precision meets care, and not the kind you hide in the drawer. The goal is not to add a screen or smart features, but to redesign the gesture itself, using overlapping circular forms and carefully tuned mechanics to make pulling a length feel calm and deliberate. The name references the Zen circle, a symbol of simplicity and mindful repetition.

Designer: Sshlok Mishrra

The project starts from interaction, not form, studying familiar motions like clicking a pen, twisting a capsule, and, most importantly, dialing a rotary phone. The idea is that the goal is not to redesign the tape, but to redesign the gesture, thinking about emotion, memory, and muscle habits instead of just housing dimensions. That shift lets the form emerge from how your hand wants to move.

The rotary phone acts as the trigger point, the satisfying resistance and weight of dialing, and the silent intelligence behind each click. That experience translates into Enso’s overlapping circular geometry, inspired by eclipses and the tension between concealment and revelation. The tape becomes something you reveal by rotating and sliding discs, not yanking a metal strip out of a box, which changes the pace and feel of the whole interaction.

Enso’s compact, overlapping-disc body feels more like a small object you would keep on your desk than a tool you would hide. The emphasis on clarity with human touch, a tactile poetry between hands and material, means the circular layout invites your hand to explore edges and seams. Measuring becomes a repeatable, almost meditative motion, where the ritual of pulling tape and finding a length feels as considered as the number you record.

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The concept introduces gradients along the tape, giving measurement a new dimension. The scale is no longer flat, but alive in color and depth. A gradient can make relative length easier to read at a glance, and adding visual depth to the scale reinforces the sense that you are not just reading numbers, you are reading a field of distance that changes as you move along it.

Enso treats a basic tool as an opportunity to design a ritual, not just a product. For designers, makers, and anyone who measures often, a tape that feels good to use and looks good to keep out could quietly change how they approach small tasks. It is a reminder that even the most ordinary tools can carry emotion, memory, and a bit of poetry if someone takes the time to rethink the gesture instead of settling for the same bright plastic box that has lived in drawers for decades.

The post Enso Tape Measure Makes Pulling Lengths Feel Like a Small Ritual first appeared on Yanko Design.

192 Sliding Blocks Let Anyone Sculpt This Pavilion Into New Shapes

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Most architecture, even the wildest parametric forms, is fixed the day it opens and stays that way until it is renovated or demolished. Michael Jantzen points out that exciting spaces are often “fixed in time” while people’s needs and desires keep shifting. The Malleable Space Pavilion is a small, clear argument for buildings that can change as easily as furniture, where space becomes something you can push, pull, and rewrite whenever you want.

The Malleable Space Pavilion is an experimental interactive structure made from a very simple kit of parts. Two tall gray support columns anchor the design, and 192 white horizontal elements, 96 per side, are mounted on tracks between them. In the default state, they form two opposing blocks with a narrow canyon between them, a calm, almost minimalist object sitting in a field that reads more like land art than a building you can enter.

Designer: Michael Jantzen

Every white element can slide in and out independently, letting visitors pull pieces to create steps, ledges, and overhangs. Jantzen describes configurations ranging from symmetrical simplicity to chaotic complexity, and the same hardware can read as a tunnel, a grotto, or a solid bar depending on how far the elements are extended. Space is literally carved out of the blocks in real time, turning a static object into a responsive spatial machine.

One moment, you walk into a symmetrical canyon with terraced walls and a rectangular skylight, the next you find yourself in a jagged, pixelated chamber where light leaks through irregular gaps. The elements double as benches and low roofs, so you can pull out a seat or shade with the same gesture. The pavilion becomes a place to sit, play, and experiment rather than just pass through, with every configuration suggesting new ways to occupy the same footprint.

Pushing and pulling the elements is performative; visitors become visible agents of change. The stepped profiles feel like editing a low-resolution 3D model, but at a human scale and with your hands instead of a mouse. The pavilion records those actions as a temporary composition, so every group leaves behind a different spatial drawing until someone else comes along and rewrites it, turning the structure into a constantly evolving collaboration between architect and occupants.

Jantzen believes that a more advanced architecture is one that can be changed in time, and this pavilion sits within his series of transformable structures. Questions remain about full-scale mechanics, durability, and accessibility, but the value here is conceptual clarity. The project makes adaptability tangible and playful, turning a big conversation about flexible buildings into something you can push, pull, and sit on, rather than leaving it abstract and theoretical.

The Malleable Space Pavilion treats architecture less like a finished sculpture and more like an instrument waiting to be played. Instead of a single author deciding what the space should be, every visitor gets to compose their own version for a while. For a design culture used to talking about responsive environments in abstract terms, there is something refreshing about a pavilion that simply hands you the handles and lets you reshape it yourself, making change the default rather than the exception.

The post 192 Sliding Blocks Let Anyone Sculpt This Pavilion Into New Shapes first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Tiny Water Purifier Rethinks Design for Small Spaces

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There’s something refreshing about design concepts that actually understand how we live. The SAI Lite water purifier from Superset Design is one of those rare concepts that doesn’t just look good in renderings but actually makes sense for real kitchens. Especially if that kitchen happens to be, like mine, not exactly spacious and can be cluttered at times.

The name SAI comes from the Korean word for “narrow space,” which tells you everything you need to know about the design philosophy here. This concept is the successor to the original SAI Pro, and the team took an already compact design and stripped it down even further to its absolute essentials.

Designer: Superset Design

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What caught my eye first is that distinctive rounded triangular shape. It’s not just designers being quirky for the sake of it. That form comes directly from the internal layout of two filters and a control module arranged in the most spatially efficient way possible. The footprint literally doesn’t get any bigger than the diameter of those two filters, which means you’re not sacrificing counter space for empty air.

Here’s where the thinking gets really smart. Instead of designing a water purifier that can accommodate every possible container you might own, the team at Superset Design asked a better question: what do people actually use in small apartments and single-person households? Spoiler alert, it’s not giant stockpots and mixing bowls. It’s cups, tumblers, small pots, and maybe a water bottle. So that’s exactly what this concept was designed around.

This is the kind of practical thinking we need more of in product design. Too often, appliances are built for some idealized version of how we’re supposed to live rather than how we actually do. SAI Lite flips that script. The height is calibrated for the vessels you’ll realistically fill every day, creating proportions that feel balanced and purposeful rather than arbitrarily compact.

The interface concept deserves attention too. On the top surface, you’ll find three main controls: a filter replacement reset button, a water capacity control, and the dispensing button. But instead of cluttering the surface with every possible setting, the designers proposed something called Progressive Disclosure. Functions you only need during initial setup or rarely touch are tucked away behind a long press or an extra interaction layer. The result is a control surface that looks clean and feels immediately intuitive when you’re just trying to fill your morning coffee cup.

This approach to interface design is something we see in good software all the time but rarely in physical products. It respects the fact that most of the time, you want to do one simple thing: get water. Everything else can wait in the background until you actually need it. The aesthetic is minimalist without being cold. That terracotta orange finish gives it personality and warmth, and the smooth, rounded edges make it feel approachable rather than intimidating. It’s the kind of object that could sit comfortably next to your other kitchen essentials without screaming for attention, yet it’s distinctive enough that you’d probably want to keep it visible rather than hidden away.

Looking at the concept renderings, you can see how efficiently everything is packed. The two cylindrical filters sit side by side with the control module, all contained within that triangular envelope. There’s no wasted space, but it also doesn’t feel cramped or difficult to access when you need to change filters. What makes SAI Lite compelling as a design concept isn’t just that it’s small. Plenty of products are small. What makes it work is that every decision, from the shape to the height to the button layout, stems from a clear understanding of the actual problem it’s solving. This is design that respects your space, your daily habits, and your time.

There’s something genuinely appealing about seeing designers propose objects that know exactly what they are and do that one thing exceptionally well. SAI Lite isn’t trying to be everything to everyone. It’s conceived for modern living spaces where every inch counts and simplicity isn’t just aesthetic, it’s essential. Whether this concept makes it to production or not, it’s the kind of thoughtful design thinking that pushes the industry forward. It challenges manufacturers to reconsider who they’re actually designing for and what those people truly need in their daily lives.

The post This Tiny Water Purifier Rethinks Design for Small Spaces first appeared on Yanko Design.

MITO Just Built an Air Purifier That Drives Itself to Dirty Air

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If you’ve ever felt frustrated by your air purifier sitting uselessly in the corner while your bedroom air gets stale, you’re not alone. Traditional air purifiers have a fundamental flaw: they camp out in one spot and hope for the best. But what if your air purifier could actually move to where the problem is? That’s exactly what MITO does, and it’s kind of brilliant.

Created by designers Yukang Seo, Kyuil Baek, Hakyoun Kim, and Semi Oh, MITO reimagines air purification as a living ecosystem rather than a static appliance. The name itself comes from mitochondria, those tiny powerhouses inside our cells that keep everything running. Just like its biological namesake, MITO acts as the energetic core of your home’s air quality, sensing changes and responding in real time.

Designers: Yukang Seo, Kyuil Baek, Hakyoun Kim, Semi Oh

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Here’s how it works: MITO consists of two components that communicate with each other. The Sensor Cells are compact air quality monitors you place in different rooms throughout your home. They’re constantly measuring CO₂, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds. When the air quality drops below your set threshold, these little devices light up with red LEDs and display clear graphics telling you exactly what needs to happen. High CO₂? Time to open a window. Too much dust or VOCs? The purifier is on its way.

That purifier is the Core Cell, an AI-powered autonomous unit that literally drives itself around your home. Using LiDAR mapping, cliff sensors, and object recognition cameras, it navigates between rooms like a very sophisticated Roomba, except instead of cleaning your floors, it’s cleaning your air. When a Sensor Cell detects pollution in the bedroom, the Core Cell charts a course and heads there to handle intensive purification.

What makes MITO genuinely innovative is that it doesn’t pretend full automation is the answer. The designers recognized something most smart home products ignore: sometimes you actually need to open a window. No amount of fancy filtration can replace fresh air when CO₂ levels climb too high. So instead of promising to do everything for you, MITO creates what the designers call a “hybrid air ecosystem.” It tells you when manual ventilation is necessary, then steps in to purify once you’ve done your part.

The design philosophy draws inspiration from 1960s Japanese Metabolist architecture, which viewed cities as living organisms that grow and transform with their environment. It’s a fitting reference for a product that literally adapts to your living space. The Core Cell even has magnetically attached housing panels you can swap out, letting it visually adapt to different rooms like an organism changing its outer layer.

Aesthetically, MITO looks nothing like the clunky white boxes or fake wood grain towers cluttering most homes. The Core Cell has a sleek, organic form with ribbed side panels where air flows in and a circular top vent where purified air flows out. The Sensor Cells are compact, rounded rectangles with LED-lit displays that show everything from the time to cute house icons when ventilation is needed. When air quality is good, they quietly display a clock face and blend into your space like minimalist decor.

The system learns as it operates, building an understanding of your home’s airflow patterns and pollution habits. Maybe your kitchen always needs attention after dinner, or perhaps your home office gets stuffy by mid-afternoon. MITO picks up on these patterns and optimizes its route accordingly. It’s this combination of learning, reacting, and growing together with your habits that the designers built into the brand’s core values.

In multi-room scenarios, MITO really shows its intelligence. With three rooms on one floor, it uses data from multiple Sensor Cells to prioritize which space needs attention most urgently. While one room ventilates naturally through an open window, MITO might be intensively purifying another room’s air, all while the third Sensor Cell continues monitoring and waiting its turn.

It’s refreshing to see a product that doesn’t oversell the magic of automation. MITO acknowledges that smart homes still need smart humans. By clearly communicating what it can and can’t do, and by working in partnership with simple human actions like opening windows, MITO offers something that feels more realistic and ultimately more useful than products promising to handle everything invisibly. Sometimes the best technology isn’t the kind that does everything for you, but the kind that works with you, breathing and adapting like a living thing in your home.

The post MITO Just Built an Air Purifier That Drives Itself to Dirty Air first appeared on Yanko Design.