USM-inspired kettle is designed to be a sleek addition to your kitchen

One thing that a lot of product designers like doing is to imagine and re-imagine what other products famous brands can come up with. They bring the original aesthetic of these design-focused brands and then think of what other furniture, appliances, or basically related (sometimes even unrelated) products they can come up with. We’ve seen some pretty interesting concepts out there. If you’re a fan of the Swiss modular furniture brand USM, this is something you’d like to take a look at.

Designer: PDF HAUS / Seung Jae Lee

USM, particularly its signature product line USM Haller, is known for its classic modern modular design for homes and offices, including credenzas, shelves, storage, etc. They follow the philosophy that form should follow function. While they produce furniture, it’s also nice to imagine if this design philosophy can also be applied to kitchen appliances. Think of an appliance line that can match your USM furniture line as well.

These designers from South Korea started with something simple: a kettle. While most of us would likely choose a kettle for its function rather than its design, we can also think about something that goes for the form follows function idea. Their design uses basic shapes and the replaceable (and colorful) panels that the USM Haller line uses. The 2D renders showed shapes like triangles, circles, and rectangles coming together to form a sleekly designed kettle.

The base and the body of the kettle itself are the circles while the handle is rectangular. The spout where the water pours out is where the triangle comes in. The 3D renders also shows the various colors that the kettle can have, which are the basic colors that the USM Haller line has: blue, orange, red, yellow, and white. The end product concept seems to be something I would like to have in my kitchen. It’s minimalist but sleek and really embodies the idea of form following function.

It would also be interesting to see the other USM-inspired kitchen appliance product concept that they will come up with. I wouldn’t mind having USM-themed stuff in my kitchen although I’m still dreaming of actually having their actual furniture in my dream house.

The post USM-inspired kettle is designed to be a sleek addition to your kitchen first appeared on Yanko Design.

This minimal electric kettle’s design has been inspired from iconic Roman architecture!

People travel across the world to see Roman architecture, especially the linear columns that are so iconic! Drawing inspiration from the popular historic style, SeungHyun Lee designed HYGGE – a modern, minimal, and sleek hybrid kitchen appliance.  HYGGE is an electric kettle but also functions as a jar to store your drink. Although it is inspired by Roman architecture, its name comes from the Danish word ‘hygge’ which is a cultural attitude that implies well-being, coziness, and contentment.

HYGGE’s design embodies all the emotions behind the Danish lifestyle practice which is all about making choices that lead to satisfaction and happiness by finding the magic in small, everyday things. Pronounced “hoo-gah”, the defining cultural practice celebrates mindfulness and joy in tiny things like drinking a cup of hot chocolate in winter.

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“The curve comes from nature, and the straight line comes from humans. The man-made Roman column, while blending with the natural sunlight, is balanced between man-made and natural, and finally becomes a work of art between sky and ground. I hope that users who use the health kettle can find their own balance in work and life, and become themselves,” explains Lee.

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The kettle’s top is designed to create an interactive experience with the product, a kind of communication between designers and users across time and space. The best part is that this method avoids the situation where your hands are scalded by steam! The sleek aesthetics help it perfectly stay on your counter or table, unlike the outdated plastic ones that we all hide too often in your cabinets. HYGGE lets you enjoy the simple practice of boiling water in an electric kettle and adds elegance to the otherwise mundane task – it elevates the experience of brewing and drinking tea into a cozier, beautiful moment!

Designer: SeungHyun Lee

This smart kettle is an upgrade your kitchen REALLY needs!

That plastic kettle sitting on our kitchen counter probably looks like something from a time capsule compared to all the other appliances that have gotten design makeovers. Finally, it is the kettle’s turn and the B POINT shows it all off. It features a touch interface that instantly gets the appliance up to speed with others and lets the user form a more organic connection with it. The circular display has two rings – the outer ring shows the temperature and the inner ring shows the water level inside. Countdown starts after setting the water temperature and will beep once its ready!

The choice of CMF really elevates the simple appliance into an aesthetic product that you can display proudly on your kitchen counter. The minimal form has metal and wooden details that are evergreen as well as work with all interior settings. The body has a linear shape that is well complemented with the oblong ring that connects the handle which looks like it is almost floating. B POINT is possibly one of the most beautiful kettle designs we’ve seen.

Designer: Andrew Chang

This pastel electric tea kettle features water controls and temperature regulators to reduce energy wastage!

80% of the traditional electric kettle’s environmental impact occurs when in use. In just the EU alone, an estimated 117-200 million kettles are in use. Jacob Alm Andersson and Alexandra Fransson found that the excess energy that comes from the overuse of electric kettles in one day is enough to power all the streetlamps in England for an entire night. That’s a lot of energy. In designing an electric kettle that discourages users from overusing it and in return wasting less energy, Andersson and Fransson created The Blue Project, featuring an electric tea kettle that provides users with feedback to help promote sustainable use.

To keep users from overfilling their kettles, The Blue Project’s electric kettle features a water controller that forces its user to settle on a predetermined measure of water before filling the kettle up with water. In addition to the water controller, Andersson’s and Fransson’s tea kettle comes equipped with a temperature regulator that increases in resistance as the kettle’s user increases its temperature, providing a tangible source of feedback to show the increase in resources needed for higher temperatures.

Reminiscent of the tea kettle’s whistle, The Blue Project’s tea kettle comes attached to a device that physically shakes to signal when the kettle is being overworked, making it difficult for the user to ignore. Finally, along the bottom of the tea kettle’s base structure, a date reveals when resources for the kettle’s manufacturing have been compensated, an indication that marks the sustainability of any given product.

The Blue Project features an electric kettle that addresses three main concerns in regard to the excessive use of electric appliances: how we interact with controllers, the hidden nature of renewable resources, and the short lifespan of most products. Noticing that people could benefit from some constructive feedback and a sense of agency to change their habits that negatively affect the environment, visual regulators and controllers fill out The Blue Project kettle to help users use less energy when handling electric appliances like a tea kettle.

Designers: Jacob Alm Andersson and Alexandra Fransson

Most appliances are overused due to habitual and mindless user-product interaction.

By marking products with lifecycle indicators, brands might feel prompted to make more sustainable products.

The Blue Project’s tea kettle works in a similar fashion to the conventional electric tea kettle, with additional water controllers and regulators.

The more water measured before use requires a taller overall product, which works to discourage users from overfilling it.

The tea kettle’s default measure is one cup.

As the temperature is increased for heating, the temperature regulator nob increases in resistance.

Like the whistle of a stovetop tea kettle, The Blue Project’s tea kettle features an attached device that indicates overuse.

A date marking reveals when the resources used in manufacturing the tea kettle have been replenished.

This Japanese kettle’s detailed design will leave you wondering “real or render?”

Japanese culture has so many little practices that exude a sense of calm. My most favorite thing (besides enjoying a soulful bowl of ramen which I think is a form of meditation) is enjoying a warm cup of tea. There is nothing that can soothe you like a freshly brewed cup of tea and during these complex times I am definitely seeing an increase in the number of cups on my table so I started looking for a kettle and I came across the Seramikku.

When I saw it, I fell in love with the design of the kettle – it was a perfect balance of archetypal Japanese forms and minimalistic modern details. Its shape and texture are inspired by ‘Uwade kyusu’ which is one of the more traditional Japanese teapots known for their distinctive, almost floating, handles that hover on top of the lid. The designer has envisioned the Seramikku to be made from ceramic and iron with an electric heating base. Sadly, it is not for sale because it is concept design which a part of a Render Weekly challenge – yes, I had to look at it thrice because the detailing was so realistic that I wanted to believe I had stumbled upon my future favorite teapot.

I am going to go and brew myself a cup of Jasmine tea to recover from being in love with a design and then heartbroken by the lifelike render.

Designer: Shail Iyer

This kettle-inspired dehumidifier solves the tedious process of emptying water

Our home appliances are getting more efficient by the day. To stand out in the competitive market, any appliance has to be either be a multifunctional product or be a portable version of its predecessors – and if you have them both in one product, you have a winning design. That is exactly what makes the Humi Pot a product design concept set for success because it combines the best parts of a dehumidifier with an electric kettle.

An appliance is universally loved when it is easily usable which means the fewer steps or behavioral changes it takes, the faster it will become essential in our lives. That is the idealogy the Humi Pot functions on as well, it took the simple inherent gesture of tilting the kettle to pour and applied it to how we use a dehumidifier. The action and function of the two appliances were then mechanically merged to give us a dehumidifier that is inspired by the functional form of a kettle. This solves one of the most cumbersome things about using a dehumidifier – the emptying of the water which now becomes a one-step process. So to empty the water in the Humi Pot, you simply pour the collected water out by slightly tilting the appliance. Cleaning is easy too, just detach the top part and rinse the container like you would with a kettle. Unlike the traditional dehumidifiers, this does not require multiple steps to separate the product parts and put them all back. It is also is very convenient for elderly living without assistance.

Since it is portable, you can set it anywhere you like and it doesn’t have to be tied down to a plug point on the wall. The cheery ergonomic build will brighten up your space up instantly unlike the dull, bulky traditional ones. The Humi Pot serves as a modern dehumidifier while saving space and time because of its smaller, more portable form and the elimination of steps that saves time.

Designer: Seongmin Kwon

One kettle’s better than two. Seriously!

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No, I’m not having a stroke. The Multikettle concept by Jang Younghee ensures you won’t need two kettles. Designed to be a bachelor’s paradise, the Multikettle packs two heating compartments into one. To make things even more unbelievable/awesome, the upper compartment can be flipped over to be converted into a blender. That’s bloody right! The ultimate shoestring budget kitchen!

Designer: Jang Younghee

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