This compact water boiler concept features scheduled heating that can be controlled from your smartphone!

Nomad is a battery-operated, compact, and portable water heating concept that includes programmed heating and smartphone controls to make heating water as simple as ever.

Nomad is the lifestyle of 2021. Like a newsletter we actually enjoy receiving, we’re all subscribing to it. With remote work becoming more plausible for everyone, a mobile lifestyle has too. While there are plenty of upsides to the nomad life, there are just as many challenges. Luckily, designers across the globe have come up with their own solutions. Industrial product designer, Hamza Bavčić created a compact water heater, aptly called Nomad, designed for the modern nomad to have access to hot water wherever their travels take them.

Inspired by the natural mobility of migratory birds, Bavčić designed Nomad to be portable, lightweight, and beautifully shaped like a stork. To make Nomad portable, Bavčić designed the water heater to disassemble into separate parts that be stowed away for easy packing and traveling.

Once all of the parts are put back together, Nomad’s heating abilities are activated once the device’s orange tip is submerged in water. Users simply place their desired cup of liquid on Nomad’s electric base underneath the heating nozzle and soon enough, hot water is at their fingertips. When there’s no liquid present, the heating elements are automatically shut off to ensure safe operation during and following use.

When traveling, having access to hot water means there will always be coffee in the morning and tea at night. While the entire product requires AC or batteries, once Nomad is charged, the entire operation can be controlled from your smartphone. Bavčić also equipped Nomad with programmed heating so once your alarm goes off in the morning, Nomad turns on. With Nomad, Bavčić makes sure that we’ll never face a morning without a cup of coffee.

DesigneR: Hamza Bavčić

This folding chair is inspired by origami and can be literally hung like clothes on a hanger!

Chair designs are the first category designers are told to explore because it is simple and yet the smallest of tweaks can make it innovative. Also, let’s accept it – you never get tired of looking at new chair designs! It could be a new material, a bold shape, maybe it has a dual purpose or something like KERF – a space-saving chair that you can literally hang up like clothing!

It can be called a stool or a chair, but KERF gives the otherwise rigid object warmth and flexibility. You can literally put it on a hanger and store it like clothing in a wardrobe which makes it stand out from its counterparts. When needed, simply open the fold and you can get a setup ready for your guests in a few seconds.

The intention was to enrich plywood, make it flexible and fold it like it was paper for origami art. KERF has been designed for small living spaces and for practicality, it is perfect for those living in urban apartments or shared spaces. It reminds me of Japandi style furniture or Scandinavian home decor with its warm and minimal aesthetics.

The unique chair gets its name from the technique of kerfing – it is the method of bending plywood by patterned cutting. It is only good for doing it once to achieve the desired curvature, but not suitable for repetitive, long-term bending because that would cause the veneer layer to crack. The kerfing technique can be optimized for the CNC milling process to save production time and cost.

The mood board for the project shows bending plywood with kerfing, flat-pack laser cut furniture, folding chairs, and interlocking leather belts – all of these come together in the final design as details. The chair us.es kerfing, the hinges are made from leather, it can be compactly packed and it has an origami-like silhoutte.

To make sure it was durable yet flexible, Hamza decided to use thick leather instead of hinges. This detail lets KERF withstand repetitive bending cycles while the alternative hinge (leather) can outlast the traditional hinge making it a piece of furniture that stays with you in the long run (its moving-friendly too!). KERF is definitely a wonderful example of how chairs can be simple while still adding on to the existing form and function!

Designer: Hamza Bavčić