Tag Archives: home appliance

With moving magnetic beads, this interactive office organizer is a cool replacement of your to-do list!

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Rowrow is an interactive organizing system built as a desk appliance with magnetic beads that indicate how far you’ve come on any given task.

Keeping track of daily tasks can sometimes feel like a second job. Organizing multiple schedules at once and keeping tabs on each task’s progress isn’t always as easy as it seems. Still, we have our own ways of making sure we’re on top of it.

Some use smartphone reminders, while some prefer physical calendars to jot down each day’s schedule. Industrial designer, Jiwon Song created their own organization device called Rowrow, an interactive office appliance that keeps tabs on every one of your tasks with tiny magnetic beads.

Rowrow is a decently sized organizing system that employs magnetic beads to slide along long progress rows that are punctuated by percent markers to indicate how far you’ve come from the start of any given task. When users first embark on a task, they can write the task’s name on a slip of paper that adheres to the starting point of one of five progress rows.

From there, as users move through their days and get their tasks taken care of, magnetic beads move from one percentage marker to the next to visually track each task’s progress as it comes. Once a task has been completed, the magnetic beads drop into the hourglass on the opposite end of Rowrow–a satisfying way to wrap up the day.

Constructed from acrylic and magnets, Rowrow measures 260x60x120mm and won’t take up more space on your desk than a few notebooks might. With more work taking place at home, keeping track of work responsibilities gets even trickier. With Rowrow, staying on top of our schedules will feel more doable than ever, and watching the magnetic beads sink into the hourglass will feel just as good as crossing out the task on your To-Do list.

Designer: Jiwon Song

Once the given task has been completed, the user sinks the corresponding magnetic bead into the hole and down the hourglass.

With a minimalist look made up of mostly black and white colors, Rowrow fits onto any home or office desk.

Rowrow’s foggy coating gives the appliance a discreet look. 

Storing all of the magnetic beads on a glass plate outside of the hourglass gives the desk a classic touch.

The post With moving magnetic beads, this interactive office organizer is a cool replacement of your to-do list! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This miniature portable washing machine designed for delicate loads means you have fresh laundry anywhere!

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This mini washing machine is a portable travel companion ideal for lighter, more delicate loads of laundry that requires only one-third the amount of water that traditional washing machines use.

Getting around to laundry can sometimes feel like a headache. Sorting through our laundry to pick out delicates and white clothing items and ensure we don’t end up with a pink closet can feel more taxing than the actual chore. Besides, once all of our clothing items are sorted, sometimes our pile of white laundry isn’t big enough for its own load in the wash. Streamlining the entire process, a mini portable washing machine designed by Kai Xia hopes to be the small solution for lighter loads.

The mini washing machine as designed by Xia features ultrasonic high-frequency vibrations for increased sterilization rates that ensure a gentle, yet thorough cleaning for each load. The portable washing machine can be plugged into any power outlet prior to use and activated with the touch of a button. Once users have thrown in their clothing items into the machine’s drum, holding the power button down for two seconds will wake up the machine, and pressing it once more will start the wash.

From there, washing is completed in about 15 minutes following a cycle that moves through a forward rotation, reverse rotation, ozone sterilization, forward rotation, reverse rotation, ultrasonic, so forth. By the time each cycle ends, the mini washing machine shuts down on its own.

Constructed from eco-friendly ABS plastic, the mini washing machine is lightweight for easy carrying and impact-resistant, making it ideal for traveling. Xia downsized their washing machine to be more energy-efficient, requiring only one-third the amount of water that traditional washing machines use.

Designer: Kai Xia

Envisioned in mint green, Kai Xia’s washing machines are conceptualized to suit each user’s taste.

Blush beige accents tug on an all-white polished exterior. 

This multifunctional sewing machine uses color detection sensors to print new thread on-demand in any color!

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The Sewing Chameleon is a multi-functional sewing machine that prints out thread on-demand in whatever color the user prefers, relying on color detection sensors and built-in ink cartridges.

These days, innovative design for home appliances boils down to convenience. Design that’s multifunctional or customizable has come through across all industries, providing everything from home furniture to stationery with a double function. Realizing the opportunity to turn the sewing machine into a multifunctional product, Minsong Cho designed the Sewing Chameleon, a sewing machine that prints out thread on-demand using built-in ink cartridges and color detection sensors.

The modern home is not about clutter. Everyday products are getting redesigned to fit in better with their environment, making their operation more user-friendly and keeping our living rooms organized. Cho’s Sewing Chameleon was conceived to cut out the hassle that comes with changing the thread in sewing machines when a different color is needed.

With traditional sewing machines, the process of swapping out the old thread for a new thread comes with its own heap of challenges–it takes a while to swap out the threads and even when you do, the new thread often gets stuck inside the machine and frays.

Solving this, Cho’s Sewing Chameleon comes with its own color detection sensors that allow users to create any color thread they’d like. All a user will need is a physical depiction of the color they’d like their thread to be and by placing that near the color detection sensors, the Sewing Chameleon will use its built-in ink cartridges to dye the new thread that color.

In addition to this multifunctional design, Sewing Chameleon comes in a neat, matte black with achromatic accents, giving it an overall look that pairs nicely with most color schemes. Users will also be able to control the Sewing Chameleon’s thread flow, needle speed, pattern, and lighting.

Designer: Minsong Cho

By turning the dial on the Sewing Chameleon, users can adjust the speed of the thread output. 

In addition to its dual function s a printer, the Sewing Chameleon comes with a control panel that allows users to control everything from thread flow to lighting. 

Coated in matte black, the Sewing Chameleon fits in nicely with any home color scheme. 

Minsong Cho spotted the trouble spots of conventional sewing machines and looked to other home appliances like coffee makers and chargers to solve them through design. 

A modular light fixture inspired by the abacus lets you add, subtract and have fun with your light setup!

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Abaculux is a modular light fixture inspired by the abacus, an ancient counting tool used for centuries, allowing users to add and subtract as many light bulbs necessary to achieve that prime lighting.

The abacus is an ancient counting frame tool that can aid in addition, multiplication, subtraction, and division. While they have been used for centuries, abacuses are still made today, often with a bamboo frame and sliding wires stocked with counting beads. Taking inspiration from the ancient mathematical tool, designer Pranjal Uday developed Abaculux, a modular light fixture that takes the same shape as an abacus, allowing users to add and subtract light bulbs however they choose.

The Abaculux is a minimalist light fixture, rising as a single standing rod with a collection of golden light bulbs lining it up and down. Outfitted with a flared trumpet base, Abaculux is bottom-heavy with a steady build that manages to carry multiple light bulbs at once. Uday created Abaculux in part to make the energy consumption of light more apparent by revealing to users how much light they use in a visual presentation they can actually count.

When users want to add a bulb to the electrical rod, they can be slid down and onto the dock where they light up once connected to the pole’s conduction terminals. Following the same method, users can add or subtract however many light bulbs necessary for their preferred lighting. The lightbulbs can also be configured in varying layouts, allowing users to bunch the bulbs at the bottom or appear more spread out over the pole.

Designed for users to witness how much energy they consume when using light fixtures like lamps and LEDs, Pranjal Uday’s Abaculux is a clever reinterpretation of the ancient counting tool we’ve relied on for accurate measurement for centuries. Inspired by the abacus’s shape and design, Abaculux is familiar in appearance but unconventional in design, enhancing its ergonomic build and savvy look.

Designer: Pranjal Uday

Users can either let the light bulbs bunch up at the pole’s bottom or leave them to spread out. 

The conduction terminal gives light to each bulb when connected.

The post A modular light fixture inspired by the abacus lets you add, subtract and have fun with your light setup! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This ergonomic washing machine design helps save our oceans by filtering out microplastics!

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Martina Mancini’s Ocean washing system is as sustainable as it is ergonomic, with special filters that recycle out microplastics and hidden adaptive features for intuitive and accessible operation.

Each time we wash a load of laundry, microfibers detach from our favorite polyester and acrylic clothes and end up in wastewater. Contributing close to 35% of the microplastics found in our oceans, washing machines are due for a sustainability cleanup. Designer Martina Mancini was recently recognized by The James Dyson Award for her work in developing an ergonomic washing machine called Ocean that filters out microplastics and recirculates the water used between cycles.

With Ocean, Mancini set out to develop a washing machine that’s friendly to the environment and ergonomic for most users. The Ocean is designed like preexisting washing machines, equipped with a basket, drum, and display control panel, to ensure familiarity during use. Once the clothes are placed inside Ocean’s drum and basket, users can start their wash cycle by selecting one on the machine’s front display panel. From there, water flows into the drum from a centrifugal pump that’s connected to a purification filter to prepare the water for recirculation once the cycle is complete.

The post-cycle water purification process first passes through a stainless steel sieve grid and then a polyester filter sponge to remove larger microplastics. Following that, the water surges into a pipe that’s connected to the machine’s centrifugal pump, which propels the water against a hollow fiber membrane through a tangential filtration process. Once the filtration process makes its rounds, the water is purified by an Ozonator before recirculating for future use. Ensuring that Ocean is as ergonomic as it is sustainable, Mancini designed the washing machine so that users can remove the machine’s filters on their own before obtaining a new one from an offsite factory. There, company workers will remove and recycle the microplastics to give them a new life.

Given that the hardware required to construct Ocean would be bulky, Mancini knew the washing machine would reach a higher height than those already on the market. Working with a bigger machine allowed Mancini to incorporate more ergonomic features, including an adjustable table located beneath the drum, where users can prepare their laundry before and following washing cycles.

Designer: Martina Mancini

IKEA furniture gets smarter with this air purifier disguised as a side table!

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IKEA’s STARKVIND smart air purifier brings the promise of affordability and minimalism to the most important home appliance pandemic hit times can do with.

Breathing clean indoor air is crucial more than anything else with the COVID-19 menace lurking around. Air purifiers are the best bet to keep safe from harm’s way, and more so for people allergic to air pollutants. Reason enough for the Swedish furniture giant to try its luck with air purifiers. The brand is expanding its mushrooming smart home appliance lineup with an air purifier which is a sublime combination of design and technology. Dyson and Mila better watch out!

The IKEA STARKVIND air purifier comes in two variants, a floor-standing model (in black and white) or a side table version (in dark or light finish) – costing $129 and $189 respectively. Mind you, to have access to all the smart functions via the compatible app, the $35 smart home hub needs to be purchased as well. The air purifier will hit the IKEA stores from October 2021 in the U.S., so keep an eye on this one.

While their form factor is a bit different depending on the intended use-case scenario, on the inside they contain the same three-filter system. This layered filtering system captures bigger particles like hair or dust, 99.5 percent of small airborne particles measuring 2.5 micrometers, pollutants, dust, pollen and even bad odors are not spared.

This IKEA air purifier can operate at five different fan speeds which can be either automated (with the in-built sensors) or controlled via the IKEA Home app. It can even be scheduled using the app or work in tandem with the TRÅDFRI smart home hub. Plus you have the convenience of keeping a close eye on the indoor air quality with the app.

STARKVIND is sufficient for any room measuring 215 square feet or thereabout. Definitely not a competition-beating figure by any stretch of the imagination, but for small apartments and city dwellers a very good option nonetheless. Plus we have to keep in mind, the side table version is bringing dual utility to the fore, something I absolutely love.

According to Henrik Telander, Product Owner at IKEA of Sweden, the brand’s idea of a smart home is not about gadgets, “It’s about making life and home better through combining our solid home furnishing knowledge with digital solutions and technology.”

Designer: IKEA

This electric coffee pot comes with a removable inside to resolve your kettle deep-cleaning struggles

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Unfortunately, bacteria love coffee too. The high temperatures that fill up coffee pots and the acidity of caffeine are grounds for bacteria to thrive. These invisible microorganisms are already swimming in the remnants of yesterday’s pot before we have our first cup in the morning. While we can’t see them, the thought of them is enough for our acid reflux to start up again. Developed by Juyeon Kim for Designer dot, Florecer is a coffee pot created for a line of hotel appliances that were designed to stay clean and bacteria-free.

Cleaning out the hard-to-reach chambers of traditional coffee pots is a losing game. Translated from Spanish, Florecer means ‘to bloom,’ which underlines the coffee pot’s two-part and easy-to-clean build. Striking a balance between a minimal and modular design, Florecer is a coffee pot separated into two parts, resembling the bloom of a flower at its lid. The larger canister contains Florecer’s interior water chamber, which can be extracted and washed out before and after coffee brews. Dividing the canisters into removable parts gives each of them a fuller body, streamlining the cleaning process and avoiding the prospect of bacterial accumulation. Similar to electric tea kettles, Florecer features an embedded heating coil beneath its outermost canister that heats the interior water chamber. Equipped with a stable grip and LED power status button, Florecer is easy to hold and intuitive by design. Topping the appliance off, a rubber lid keeps the heat transfer contained inside the coffee pot.

With more and more research coming out to prove the likelihood of bacterial growth inside coffee pots, coffee and cleanliness go hand in hand. While we’re on vacation, the thought of bacteria growing in coffee couldn’t feel further from our days spent sunbathing and swimming in the ocean. Juyeon Kim, in collaboration with the design studio Designer dot, created Florecer to maintain the hygienic standards we’ve come to expect from hotels and to keep our eyes on the beach.

Designer: Juyeon Kim x Designer dot

With an extractable interior chamber, Florecer can be cleaned from the inside out.

Possibly part of a larger collection of home products, Florecer takes on a modular and minimal design that could be applied to future hotel appliances.

Meaning ‘to bloom,’ in Spanish, Florecer’s two canisters appear as a single flower blooming from its top.

The rubber lid and interior chamber can both be removed for deep cleaning.

Inspired by the build of water filters and electric tea kettles, Florecer has familiar shape and clean design.

An LED power button indicates when a brew is complete.

An embedded heating coil is stationed beneath Florecer’s outermost chamber to transfer heat to the coffee canister.

When plugged in and turned on, heat fills Florecer up to finish the brew.

A rubber lid tops it all off to keep the heat contained inside the chambers.

Florecer breaks down into three parts: the coffee chamber, exterior canister, and a rubber lid.

This washing machine tilts open so no need to bend and makes doing laundry super easy!

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Did you know that automatic washing machines can’t be placed vertically like dryers even though that setup is trending in new apartment layouts? Placing them vertically makes it difficult to use in areas with limited floor space. So to solve this functional interior design problem, Hyun Yeol Shin designed Tilt, a washing machine that can be installed freely (horizontally and vertically) and the best part is how the laundry tank tilts towards you so no more crazy bending or squatting!

Tilt’s innovative design makes it easier to put in and remove laundry out, especially for those who may already suffer from aches, pains, or minor mobility issues that make laundry more difficult than it should be. Drum washing machines are inconvenient and with Tilt, you can have washing performance of automatic washing machines, shorter washing time than drums, cleaner washing machines due to contamination, and it can be arranged vertically! Tilt can be set up in the same environment as the dryer due to narrow laundry rooms are no more a problem and neither is moving around to do laundry.

It definitely makes it easier for pregnant women and for younger kids to get involved in helping out without having to use tongs to take the laundry out. The tilting mechanism of the door makes it easy for anyone to do laundry. It maximizes space utilization and the replaceable panel design allows you to choose based on your space. I am a personal fan because there have been multiple incidents where I have squatted down to take the laundry out to put it in the dryer above and hit my head on the dryer’s door in the process – thanks to design’s like Tilt, I’ll save space, won’t have to bend and my head will remain bump-free!

Designer: Hyun Yeol Shin

This refrigerator gives us a glimpse of futuristic integrated kitchens

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The good old refrigerator is one appliance that any household cannot do without – be it an expansive mansion or a small student apartment. The home appliance keeps all the eatables fresher for longer – and it deserves all the attention in the world for once. Yes, we need to have the next refrigerator evolution in the form of Venine – a design conceptualized by industrial designer You-jin Syn. The idea is simple – preserve the core function of the refrigerator – but with the infusion of a design overhaul and added features.

The motive is to make it convenient for a single-person household in the smallest footprint possible without compromising on the inherent function of the appliance. Syn’s concept germinates from the need for young apartment dwellers to have a smart and convenient way to gulp down quick meals without much fuzz. Rather than taking all the eatables out of the refrigerator and onto the dining table, Venine brings the possibility of dining on the refrigerator counter. Yes, this home appliance has a slide-out counter to keep the meals. This eliminates the chances of spillage too while carrying them elsewhere on a busy Monday morning.

The top half of the Venine refrigerator is where the action happens as the user knocks on the segregated container compartments to reveal the amount of food left in each container. If there is enough, simply opening the door by pressing with a hand is all you need to do. The section of the eatable containers opens at a convenient 45 degrees angle to take out the eatables easily and munch down the meal there and then. When everything is done, simply close the container section and slide the tray back into the refrigerator. Surely, a modern refrigerator my mom would love to see in my apartment!

Designer: Youjin Syn

A Front load washing machine with a sliding drum is the ergonomic home appliance we need!

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I hate doing laundry and I am literally waiting for a day they invent the washing machine that can spit out my clothes washed, dried, ironed, and folded. If I can continue dreaming, it would be amazing if the clothes are also stored in my closet without me interacting with them at all. Leaving my Jetson’s inspired dream aside, Kyeongsu Kim has designed VISDUM to take one step in the direction of making this home appliance more ergonomic.

Front-load washing machines are often touted as the better/more expensive version of the washing machine family. The reason for that is the part gravity plays in washing the clothes when they rotate vertically. Ergonomically speaking, the front load washing machines focus on saving the user’s waist and knees. But what about the constant bending for more than 30 degrees to deal with our clothes every time? Not talking to you bachelors who do laundry once a week, but look at the normal family or older people who use the machine at least once a day. Kyeongsu’s design merges the best of both worlds – it allows the effectiveness of a front load washing machine work with a top opening to access your laundry. VISDUM uses a sliding drum that comes forward or is exposed and can be accessed by a handle. To sal the machine, a cap can be installed inside the drum. Kyeongsu has also worked on creating an improved interface – using minimal icons to provide improved controls for the user.

VISDUM is one of those designs that are so simple yet effective in their problem solving, we wonder, why did no one think of that earlier? In an era where we have designed every aspect of these appliances we are using since decades, VISDUM takes product deign to the core of what it is – problem solving. Making an appliance SMART is not the upgrade everyone needs, but making it more ergonomic? We are all on board with that!

Designer: Kyeongsu Kim and Designer Dot

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