Tag Archives: Japanese Designs

Kokuyo Made a Paperweight for People Who’ve Run Out of Hands

Posted on by

A book rarely stays open when you’re trying to copy a passage or check a diagram. One hand holds the paper down while the other writes, and the page starts curling the moment you let go. Kokuyo’s Book-Hugging Paperweight answers that familiar annoyance with a curved metal bar that rests across both pages, keeping your reference in place without clipping anything.

That sounds like something any paperweight could do, until you try balancing a straight one over the raised center of an open book. A flat bar might touch the pages in only a couple of spots, leaving them free to curl elsewhere. Clips can grip more firmly, but moving them every time you turn a page becomes its own interruption.

Designer: Kokuyo

Kokuyo bends the bar to follow the shallow valley between the pages and the gentle rise on either side. The shape spreads its weight along the open spread instead of concentrating pressure near the edges, while the notch in the middle settles above the binding. It’s subtle shaping, but it allows a simple object to fit something as irregular as a book.

When you’re studying, that means you can leave a textbook open beside your notebook and use both hands to take notes. You can stop pinning a thumb to the margin as you work through a paragraph. Once it’s time to move on, lift the weight, turn the page, and set it down again, without wrestling a clamp off the paper.

It also helps when a book shares your desk with a laptop. You can glance at a reference, type some lines, then look back without finding that the pages have closed on you. Since the bar sits on top, it doesn’t pinch the paper or attach to the cover, which makes it a gentler companion for books you don’t want to mark.

The brass version weighs about 7.4 ounces, enough heft to do its job without a spring or moving parts. Its warm finish also gives a familiar desk object a little character. Kokuyo offers iron versions in black and gray that weigh about 6.9 ounces, so you can opt for a quieter look while keeping the same curved approach to holding pages open.

Not every book asks the same thing of a paperweight. An art book spreads wider than a slim workbook, and its pages can be stubborn near the spine. Kokuyo has a larger iron version weighing about 11.1 ounces for those bigger volumes. The extra weight won’t magically make every binding lie flat, but it gives larger pages a better chance of staying where you left them.

It’s easy to overlook the effort involved in keeping a book open until you have a pen in one hand and the other pinned to the page. This little bar takes over that job without asking you to fold a spine backward or fasten anything to a page. When the reading stops, it can stay on the desk, ready for the next chapter, diagram, or stubborn textbook.

The post Kokuyo Made a Paperweight for People Who’ve Run Out of Hands first appeared on Yanko Design.

These $30 Chopsticks Were Refined 40 Times to Fix Your Tired Hand

Posted on by

I didn’t grow up in a chopsticks household. Spoons and forks were de rigueur at our table, but once I learned how to use chopsticks, I picked up a pair whenever I could. The only problem? Using chopsticks can get surprisingly stressful. You don’t notice it at first, but the constant rotation against your fingers wears you out as the meal goes on, especially during a long dinner packed with side dishes and food that needs careful handling.

The design team behind the FineLine Aluminum Chopsticks and their matching Chopstick Rest thought long and hard about that exact problem. They put the pair through more than 40 rounds of refinement and trial and error, adjusting tip diameter, taper angle, grip texture, and balance to land on what might be the most comfortable pair of chopsticks you’ve ever held. And if you’re the kind of person who likes things to match, you can pick up a companion chopstick rest finished in the exact same colorway.

Click Here to Buy Now: $30.00 (FineLine Aluminum Chopsticks), $20 (FineLine Choptstick Rest)

Both the chopsticks and the rest are manufactured in Tsubame-Sanjo, Japan, a region historically known for its precision metalworking, the same craft tradition responsible for some of Japan’s finest cutlery and hardware. The resulting chopsticks are thinner than what most people are used to, but the 1.5mm tip, roughly half the width of a standard chopstick, is engineered to be more stable and precise enough to pick up a single grain of rice cleanly. They’re made from anodized aluminum and are impressively light at just 14.5 grams per stick. You get 10 anodized color options, each with a soft, satin sheen, so whichever shade you pick, you end up with a pair that genuinely stands out on the table.

The separately sold Chopstick Rest is also machined from anodized aluminum and goes through the same production process as the chopsticks. It’s shaped specifically to cradle your chopsticks and keep the tips off the table, which is a small but meaningful upgrade if you care about a clean table setting or just like the reassurance of good hygiene. It’s designed to genuinely match your chopsticks rather than function as an afterthought accessory. The colorways line up exactly, so the two pieces read as one system instead of two separate purchases.

So how does this stack up against what’s already out there? Most of us are used to one of two extremes: free bamboo or plastic chopsticks from a takeout order, or a mass-produced set from a big household name like Muji, which sells reliable but fairly generic stainless steel or wood chopsticks in the $5 to $15 range. Those options get the job done, but they’re built for volume, not for the feel in your hand.

The FineLine set, at $30 for the chopsticks and $20 for the rest, sits in a different category entirely. You’re not just paying for aluminum instead of bamboo. You’re paying for 40-plus rounds of engineering aimed at solving a problem most brands never even identified: the constant, tiring rotation that round chopsticks force your fingers to correct for. Even other premium Japanese chopstick makers rarely address grip geometry this directly, which is what makes the FineLine’s faceted, anti-rotation design feel like a genuine innovation rather than a repackaged classic.

At the end of the day, good design isn’t always about reinventing something. Sometimes it’s about noticing the tiny frustration everyone else learned to ignore, and quietly making it disappear. That’s exactly what the FineLine Aluminum Chopsticks and their matching FineLine Chopstick Rest manage to do. They won’t change how you eat, but they might change how you feel by the end of the meal: less fatigue, more focus on the food and the company across the table. For $30 (plus $20 if you want the full matching set), that’s a small price for a tool that finally gets out of its own way. If you’ve ever finished a long dinner and realized your hand was more tired than your stomach was full, this might be the upgrade you didn’t know you needed.

The post These $30 Chopsticks Were Refined 40 Times to Fix Your Tired Hand first appeared on Yanko Design.

These $30 Chopsticks Were Refined 40 Times to Fix Your Tired Hand

Posted on by

I didn’t grow up in a chopsticks household. Spoons and forks were de rigueur at our table, but once I learned how to use chopsticks, I picked up a pair whenever I could. The only problem? Using chopsticks can get surprisingly stressful. You don’t notice it at first, but the constant rotation against your fingers wears you out as the meal goes on, especially during a long dinner packed with side dishes and food that needs careful handling.

The design team behind the FineLine Aluminum Chopsticks and their matching Chopstick Rest thought long and hard about that exact problem. They put the pair through more than 40 rounds of refinement and trial and error, adjusting tip diameter, taper angle, grip texture, and balance to land on what might be the most comfortable pair of chopsticks you’ve ever held. And if you’re the kind of person who likes things to match, you can pick up a companion chopstick rest finished in the exact same colorway.

Click Here to Buy Now: $30.00 (FineLine Aluminum Chopsticks), $20 (FineLine Choptstick Rest)

Both the chopsticks and the rest are manufactured in Tsubame-Sanjo, Japan, a region historically known for its precision metalworking, the same craft tradition responsible for some of Japan’s finest cutlery and hardware. The resulting chopsticks are thinner than what most people are used to, but the 1.5mm tip, roughly half the width of a standard chopstick, is engineered to be more stable and precise enough to pick up a single grain of rice cleanly. They’re made from anodized aluminum and are impressively light at just 14.5 grams per stick. You get 10 anodized color options, each with a soft, satin sheen, so whichever shade you pick, you end up with a pair that genuinely stands out on the table.

The separately sold Chopstick Rest is also machined from anodized aluminum and goes through the same production process as the chopsticks. It’s shaped specifically to cradle your chopsticks and keep the tips off the table, which is a small but meaningful upgrade if you care about a clean table setting or just like the reassurance of good hygiene. It’s designed to genuinely match your chopsticks rather than function as an afterthought accessory. The colorways line up exactly, so the two pieces read as one system instead of two separate purchases.

So how does this stack up against what’s already out there? Most of us are used to one of two extremes: free bamboo or plastic chopsticks from a takeout order, or a mass-produced set from a big household name like Muji, which sells reliable but fairly generic stainless steel or wood chopsticks in the $5 to $15 range. Those options get the job done, but they’re built for volume, not for the feel in your hand.

The FineLine set, at $30 for the chopsticks and $20 for the rest, sits in a different category entirely. You’re not just paying for aluminum instead of bamboo. You’re paying for 40-plus rounds of engineering aimed at solving a problem most brands never even identified: the constant, tiring rotation that round chopsticks force your fingers to correct for. Even other premium Japanese chopstick makers rarely address grip geometry this directly, which is what makes the FineLine’s faceted, anti-rotation design feel like a genuine innovation rather than a repackaged classic.

At the end of the day, good design isn’t always about reinventing something. Sometimes it’s about noticing the tiny frustration everyone else learned to ignore, and quietly making it disappear. That’s exactly what the FineLine Aluminum Chopsticks and their matching FineLine Chopstick Rest manage to do. They won’t change how you eat, but they might change how you feel by the end of the meal: less fatigue, more focus on the food and the company across the table. For $30 (plus $20 if you want the full matching set), that’s a small price for a tool that finally gets out of its own way. If you’ve ever finished a long dinner and realized your hand was more tired than your stomach was full, this might be the upgrade you didn’t know you needed.

The post These $30 Chopsticks Were Refined 40 Times to Fix Your Tired Hand first appeared on Yanko Design.

This $21 Magnetic Clipboard Fixes 3 Things Every Clipboard Gets Wrong

Posted on by

The clipboard hasn’t changed much since it arrived on desks and workbenches over a century ago. It’s still a flat backing board with a spring clip at the top, reliable enough for what it does, but never quite solving the small annoyances that anyone who uses one regularly has quietly accepted. Papers flap in the wind, finished pages dangle awkwardly, and there’s never a convenient surface to mount them on.

Japanese stationery brand King Jim took those frustrations seriously with the MagFlap, a clipboard that rethinks the form through a series of small magnetic additions that end up changing how the whole thing works. It doesn’t look dramatically different from the outside, but the moment you start using it for anything beyond signing a single sheet, the thoughtfulness behind each feature becomes clear pretty quickly.

Designer: King Jim

The most visible improvement is at the bottom, where a magnetic flap closes over the lower edges of the papers. On a regular clipboard, any wind or movement is enough to send pages flapping and bending corners. The front flap locks everything flat against the board and protects the surface from the kind of gradual damage that most clipboard users have simply accepted as unavoidable.

The second magnetic flap is on the back and solves a different but equally familiar problem. Reviewing multiple pages usually means dealing with finished sheets flopping back over the clip or dangling in the way. With the MagFlap, completed pages curl over the top and get held securely against the back of the board by a magnetic flap, keeping the working surface clear at all times.

The full-width metal clip at the top is another departure from the norm. Most clipboards grip only the center of a page’s edge, leaving corners free to curl and crumple. The MagFlap’s clip spans the entire width, keeping everything flat. And since the body itself is magnetic, it attaches directly to steel surfaces, turning a filing cabinet, a locker, or a refrigerator into an instant mounting point.

Put those three features together, and the MagFlap starts to make a lot more sense for anyone who regularly deals with paperwork away from a desk. Nurses moving between wards, field inspectors filling out reports outdoors, or students working through multi-page readings all get a clipboard that doesn’t just grip paper from the top, but actually manages the reality of it moving around.

The clipboard comes in three sizes: A4 vertical, A4 horizontal, and A3 horizontal. All are covered in a PP film-applied polypropylene shell and hold up to 30 sheets of standard copy paper. The profile stays slim at 0.7 inches thick, and the board is rigid enough to grip at a single corner without flexing, which makes one-handed use genuinely practical rather than just technically possible.

A position guideline printed on the board helps with paper alignment, a small but useful detail when you’re handling a high volume of pages. Available in blue, red, green, and black, the MagFlap retails for $20.99. It’s not the cheapest option on a stationery shelf, but what it fixes is real, and the three solutions it offers are hard to find anywhere else in a single product.

The post This $21 Magnetic Clipboard Fixes 3 Things Every Clipboard Gets Wrong first appeared on Yanko Design.

Nobody Expected a $28 Folding Clipboard to Be This Well Thought Out

Posted on by

The clipboard is one of those objects that hasn’t changed much because the problem it solves seems too simple to revisit. It holds paper flat while you write, and that’s essentially the brief it’s been fulfilling for decades. The rigidity that makes it useful is also what makes it awkward to carry. Most are sized for A4, and that footprint doesn’t get smaller just because you’re done with it.

Lihit Lab’s A-2068 Foldable Clipboard addresses that directly. It’s an A4-sized clipboard that folds in half at the midpoint, reducing its footprint to A5 for transport, then locks back open flat and rigid when you’re ready to write again. A slider on the side controls the fold, and the result is something that behaves like a proper clipboard when you need it and a compact document folder when you don’t.

Designer: Lihit Lab.

The slider is the mechanical decision that makes the whole thing work. Once the board is open, it locks both halves flush and stiff, so there’s no flex in the writing surface while you’re standing or moving around. That matters on a jobsite, at a site survey, or anywhere you’re filling out forms away from a desk. Clipboards flex when they shouldn’t, and this one addresses that specifically.

The clip is a lock-function type that can be loaded while the board is open, so clipping down a stack of pages doesn’t require holding the board shut with one hand while fumbling with the other. A paper stopper at the bottom keeps document edges flush when the board is folded closed, and a rubber band wraps around the outside during transit so nothing comes loose inside a bag.

The body is polypropylene, with the binder and slider made from ABS resin, and the elastic band from polyester and polyurethane. Open, it measures 234mm x 339mm and is just 14mm thick. Folded, the height drops to 165mm. The clip holds up to 15 sheets of copy paper, which covers most field documentation. It comes in three colorways: Terracotta Orange, Slate Blue, and Ivory.

Most people who regularly carry clipboards to fieldwork have had to choose between the convenience of a flat writing surface and the awkwardness of a full-sized board in a bag. Storage clipboards try to solve this by adding internal compartments, but they tend to get thicker rather than smaller. The A-2068 takes a different route by reducing the form factor through folding rather than adding more material around the sides.

The A-2068 retails for ¥1,300 in Japan and is available internationally through specialty stationery shops at around $28. It’s the kind of update to a familiar object that’s easy to overlook until you’ve actually had to carry a full-sized clipboard across a job site and back again. The writing surface, the clip, and the capacity are all exactly what you’d expect. It just happens to fold in half.

The post Nobody Expected a $28 Folding Clipboard to Be This Well Thought Out first appeared on Yanko Design.

Best Scented Candle Cards to Leave a Lasting Impression

Posted on by

Candles are one of the oldest ways man has brought light and warmth into the world, and while electricity and bulbs now fulfill that function, candles still have meaning beyond providing illumination.

They have become almost symbolic, representing ideas, hopes, and emotions, or they come with scents and designs that tickle the senses or soothe the soul.

Candles have become the perfect medium to convey feelings and create memories, and this simple yet innovative design combines an extra-thin aromatic candle with an equally thin multi-purpose packaging that lets you send a more personal and more memorable message that delights the senses and warms the heart as the candle flame dances and spreads a soothing fragrance throughout your room.

Designer: LURA Design Studio

Click Here to Buy Now: $17 $19 (10% off at checkout). Hurry! Black Friday deals end in 48 hours.

The Problem: Forgettable, Distant Messages

E-mail and instant messaging have made the world a smaller place, allowing us to immediately reach people half a world away in the blink of an eye. While that does open up new channels of communication, it has also made messaging feel less personal and, ironically, more distant.

It’s almost too easy to just pick an emoji, sticker, or animated GIF to convey a message, almost like simply cutting out a random picture from a magazine and sending it to your friend as a birthday card. It technically works, but not in a way that you’d remember for years to come.

There will always be a need to have more meaningful and memorable connections, and sometimes doing it the old-school physical way has more impact. You could always write a personal message on a card by hand, by why not go the extra mile and send something that really conveys your intentions not just through words but also through the sights and smells of a fragrant candle?

That’s the complete package that this unique candle and card combination offers to make sending personalized messages not only more effective but also faster and more affordable as well.

Why this is the Best Scented Candle for Cards

Scented candles aren’t new, but few of them could be easily mailed using standard postage stamps. This aromatic candle and its packaging, however, are so thin that it be easily sent with a 94 Japanese Yen standard stamp, removing the hassles of sending packages and whatnot.

Using the message card is simple as well. The sender writes their heart-warming message on the card and mails it, while the receiver takes out the thin candle, stands it on the indicated slot on the packaging, lights up the candle, and enjoys its fragrance as they read the message and watch the little flame dance.

You might have reservations about lighting a candle that’s standing on paper packaging, but this aromatic candle card is specially designed to protect you while you bask in the emotive experience. The packaging is made from fire-retardant paper, so it will only turn black without flaming up when burned.

The candle itself also has a natural extinguishing design where it only burns halfway through, around 30 minutes, before it dies out. All you have to do is light up the candle and sit back as you enjoy the sensations that it brings.

Who This Scented Candle Card is For

Candles have a naturally enchanting aura about them, with the flickering flame causing you to sometimes zone out in deep thought. Candles have also traditionally been used to honor loved ones, whether on birthday cakes or on memorial sites. The emotions that the sight of a lighted candle can be as varied as the messages sent with it. Pair that with soothing aromas, and you’ve got the perfect blend for a memorable sensory experience.

Sakura (Pink): The delicate and elegant scent of cherry blossoms, capturing the essence of springtime in Japan, adds warmth and beauty to any space.

Green Tea (Green): A soothing blend of sweetness and bitterness, evoking calm and relaxation, making your “Thank You” even more meaningful.

Yuzu (Yellow): A refreshing and slightly bitter citrus aroma that invigorates the senses, perfect for brightening someone’s day.

With such a visual and olfactory treat, this aromatic candle message card makes for the perfect gift if you want to quickly send a heartfelt message that no app or email can adequately convey. Its compact packaging and safety features make it convenient to simply mail a package to your loved one without worrying too much about costs and logistics.

Step away from the chaotic and impersonal world of instant messaging once in a while and create a deeper and longer-lasting connection with this beautiful Scented Candle Card.

Click Here to Buy Now: $17 $19 (10% off at checkout). Hurry! Black Friday deals end in 48 hours.

The post Best Scented Candle Cards to Leave a Lasting Impression first appeared on Yanko Design.

Gorgeous titanium-coated drinking glass makes every drink a visual and gustatory treat

Posted on by

It’s almost too easy to take for granted the vessel we’re drinking from. After all, we’re definitely more interested in the taste of our drink, unaware that the material our glass or cup is made of can actually have an adverse effect on the very taste we’re so fixated on.

And that glass you’re drinking from? It might not even be pure glass but mixed with some metals to reinforce the material, metals that also affect the taste or, worse, affect our bodies.

If you’re searching for the perfect glassware, you don’t have to look far because we have just the perfect design for this very purpose. Stunningly beautiful and faithful to your flavors, this small piece of glassware is able to recreate the magnificent Aurora lights right in your hand, turning every sip into a memorable experience.

Designer: Progress Design

Click Here to Buy Now: $58.50 $65 (10% off at checkout). Hurry! Black Friday deals end in 48 hours.

Drinking glasses are a common sight in many households, whether they’re for “regular” beverages or alcoholic drinks. Clear as they might appear, some of these are mixed with some metals to produce certain colors or effects.

And while these metals aren’t so dangerous to our health, they do have negative effects on the taste of the drink.

It is almost as if you can’t combine beauty and taste in a glass, but that theory has been proven false with PROGRESS’ Rex Rock glassware.

Skilled craftsmen from Shizuoka, Japan harness the same technologies and processes used in making space-grade equipment like satellites to process titanium of the highest purity to reinforce the glass and coat its inner surface.

This rare form of pure titanium doesn’t release metal ions that mess with the flavor of the drink inside. In fact, it actually works to enhance the taste by breaking down unpleasant flavors.

Pure titanium is also regarded to be the most human-friendly and safest kind of metal because it rarely changes over time. That means no staining, no odors, and completely hygienic.

Pure titanium alone, as impressive as it already might be, isn’t enough to create an unforgettable drinking experience. This drinking glass takes the design even further by reproducing the mesmerizing colors of the rainbow and of the majestic Aurora lights.

This feat is made possible by making extremely precise cuts and changes to the glass’ thickness down to nano levels. Pouring drink into the glass results in a shimmering effect that’s comparable to the soothing glow of the aurora, a bonfire, or a murmuring stream, imagery that calms the heart and soothes the soul.

Stop worrying about the safety and taste of your drink and start enjoying the flavors and the dazzling visuals offered by this pure titanium-reinforced glassware. Whether it’s liquor, soda, or even just ice-cold water, this stunning drinking glass will turn the activity into a joyful and reinvigorating experience, rich in flavor and color.

Click Here to Buy Now: $58.50 $65 (10% off at checkout). Hurry! Black Friday deals end in 48 hours.

The post Gorgeous titanium-coated drinking glass makes every drink a visual and gustatory treat first appeared on Yanko Design.

Transform Business Cards into Cherished Memories with This Minimalist Log Book

Posted on by

Business cards and shop cards are often regarded as boring, impersonal representations of people and places, but that’s partly because we often forget to associate the person with the name on the card. It’s easy enough to forget the first encounter with a stranger who hands you their business card, not unless you actually turn that card into an unforgettable memory. Rather than keep those cards in some container that you forget inside a drawer, why not slip them into this minimalist and profound log book that lets you write down your own thoughts and memories about people, encounters, and events, turning them into small stories that let you cherish these memories and remember them better for days to come.

Designer: Replug

Click Here to Buy Now: $19

Some people and events definitely leave a lasting impression, but our frail human minds can easily forget them as well. Photos and even business cards offer tangible triggers to jog our memories, but they can still end up feeling distant and impersonal, more like watching a film from the eyes of an outsider rather than from your own perspective. What better way to ensure you’ll remember the poignant details of that memory than by writing it down? And that’s exactly the kind of space that this Memories Log Book provides, allowing you to make every business card, shop card, or photo a truly personal and memorable encounter.

Using the log book is genius in its simplicity. You simply insert the two corners of a card into the slits and it will stay in place without the need for messy adhesives or cumbersome pockets. It can fit business cards, shop cards, and even small Instax photos, anything you might collect from brief but memorable encounters. Beside each card is an empty space, a blank canvas where you can write your own reflections on the person or event, helping your future self remember what made the card worth keeping. You can even draw on it, if you’re so inclined, creating a stronger association with those people you’ve only just met.

This A5-sized business card file log book can hold up to 120 cards, but you can add, remove, and rearrange pages just as easily as you add cards. An elastic band serves as the binding, running across the height of the book and through cutouts on the top and bottom edges. This innovative system makes it trivial to organize those cards the way you like that you might actually find yourself losing time just personalizing the pages.

The Log Book’s minimalist design extends to its choice of material. High-quality paper is simple yet holds deep meaning, both for our minds and especially our hands. The tactile warmth of each page creates a bond between the person and the cards on that page, and its elegant yet unassuming appearance is a perfect fit for any setting, whether it’s at home, in the office, or even in a meeting. It’s definitely a great gift idea not just for workers but for anyone who loves collecting memories in a more meaningful and personal way.

Click Here to Buy Now: $19

The post Transform Business Cards into Cherished Memories with This Minimalist Log Book first appeared on Yanko Design.

Best pencil sharpener for those who don’t want to waste their pencils or time

Posted on by

While many wars have been fought over different kinds of pens and their designs, some people still prefer the simplicity and unique texture of a good, old-fashioned, wooden pencil. Unfortunately, even die-hard pencil fans will admit that their favorite writing tool can sometimes be a pain to maintain. Not only do they tend to go missing exactly when you need them, they might also be too dull by the time you do find them among the pile of other writing instruments. You waste a lot of time fumbling with tools while your muse slips away before you have a chance to write the idea down on paper. Having your tools always within reach helps cut down on time and friction, and this striking minimalist design solves that by combining two of the most essential pencil accessories in one.

Click Here to Buy Now: $55

The Problem: Sharpeners are Unattractive, Inefficient, Out of Reach

A pencil is one of the most basic and most timeless writing instruments known to man. It has its own distinct charm that’s exhibited both by its graphite marks as well as the design of its barrel. That said, the pencil has also inherited the one flaw of its ancestors: the need for regular sharpening. Mechanical pencils try to offer an alternative design but also sacrifice the unique personality of the wooden pencil in favor of precision and convenience.

Sharpening a pencil isn’t exactly too much work, but scrambling to find the sharpener costs too much time and tension when you need to jot something down quickly. And that’s not even considering the time you spend actually looking for your pencil in the first place, especially if your favorite is lost among half a dozen barrels. A pencil and a pencil sharpener sound like two things that should go together, but there has never been a design that puts two and two together, at least until now.

Why is this the Best Pencil Sharpener?

This Upright Pencil Sharpener solves that by putting the sharpener where the pencil is or vice versa. Shaped like a disc or puck, the singular hole in the middle serves as a stand for your beloved writing tool, ready for you to pull it out when you need it. And should the pencil’s tip finally become too dull, you know exactly where to find the sharpener. No more searching inside drawers for a small metal or plastic box, or standing up to walk toward a mounted electric sharpener.

Despite its rather simple appearance, this pencil sharpener and stand in one is a prime example of great design. The base that holds the shavings is made from anodized aluminum with a matte black finish, while the cover that keeps the shavings from flying around is made from warm-toned walnut wood. A strong magnet keeps these two pieces together, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally knocking off the cover and spilling its contents. And when you are ready to empty the container, the 6cm diameter of the base makes it easy to throw everything out.

Who is this Pencil Sharpener for?

Pencil sharpeners are technically very utilitarian products, but this one easily sets itself apart with its elegance and appeal to the discerning, design-conscious pencil lover. The striking brass mechanism inside provides additional visual contrast to the darkness of the aluminum base. The angle of the blade inside is designed for optimal sharpening to reduce waste and prolong the pencil’s life. Simple, beautiful, and multi-functional, this pencil sharpener stand helps save you time and effort while allowing you to put your favorite pencil on display for everyone to see and appreciate.

Click Here to Buy Now: $55

The post Best pencil sharpener for those who don’t want to waste their pencils or time first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Japanese Kintsugi Art Notebook Is Your Journaling Partner to Help You Realize Ikigai

Posted on by

Paper notebooks are in again, though some would argue they never really went out of fashion. Even with the inherent limitations of the medium, there is just an unbridled joy in putting pen or pencil to paper that has not yet been sufficiently replicated by the most advanced technologies and designs. In a way, notebooks have also become a reflection of the owner’s own self, while also acting as a gateway to their own inner world, their thoughts, their dreams, and maybe even their own self-image. Some people like their notebooks and their covers plain, while others opt for designs that display their interests and loyalties. Still, others treat their notebook covers like a blank canvas ready to tell their life story through stickers and art. This rather distinctive Japanese-inspired notebook tries to tell a different story, one that aims to inspire the owner to not only rise from the ashes but also embrace their own imperfections.

Designer: Sutta Design

Click Here to Buy Now: $29

Ceramic pots have great value not just because of their intricate, often hand-made designs but also because of their fragility. A single drop or hard bump is enough to break a beautiful vase, and most people simply throw these away, even if there’s just a crack. The Japanese, however, aren’t ones to dispose of what can still be repaired, and so the famed kintsugi, the traditional art of repairing pottery, was born. In a nutshell, this art uses golden lacquer to patch up and cover cracks, resulting in a piece of pottery that is even more beautiful because of its obvious flaws.

Over time, kintsugi became a symbol of embracing imperfections and self-healing, and those are the sentiments that this golden healing notebook attempts to convey. Using an equally traditional screen-printing method, wriggling lines of gold are painted on the notebook’s plain black cover, mimicking the cracks covered up by lacquer in a kintsugi masterpiece. And as with cracks, there is no uniformity or pattern to the branching lines, giving it a sense of randomness that you would find in nature itself. It’s a striking visual, with the gold contrasting with the black, that evokes both awe and wonder, subtly leading the mind to deeper thoughts.

The notebook’s theme of recovery and revival goes deeper than the cover. The paper used inside is bagasse which is made from the residue produced during sugarcane extraction. Instead of creating new paper from virgin pulp, it reuses what has been discarded, trying to make whole what was broken. In its own small way, it helps heal the planet’s cracking health, patching it up in small beautiful pieces rather than in one grandiose but ineffective sweep.

The kintsugi notebook embodies not only a traditional Japanese practice but the very highlights of Japanese culture itself. It is the perfect example of Japanese minimalist design, the frugality and efficiency of its people, as well as the profound thinking they can evoke from just a few simple symbols and materials. Whether you’re writing down your most secret thoughts, planning out your day ahead, or simply scribbling ideas and dreams, the notebook’s beautiful recycled paper invites you to let your pen roam free on the page, while the seemingly cracked cover exhorts you to embrace even the flaws that could, someday, lead to a beautiful design.

Click Here to Buy Now: $29

The post This Japanese Kintsugi Art Notebook Is Your Journaling Partner to Help You Realize Ikigai first appeared on Yanko Design.