Best of January 2009

Tonway

Every month we take a look around and select some of the most interesting designs that was showcased here. Below you’ll find the most popular designs we’ve tracked over the last 30 days - an overview of designs you shouldn’t have missed in January 2009. 【翻译】（自己乱翻译的，希望能看得懂） 在每个月，我们都会看看这个月一些东西，并选择一些有趣的设计展示在这里。我们综述这30天的设计，你会在这找到最潮流的设计，精彩不容错过 的09年一月。 15) Bird Cage/Aquarium by Constance Guisset. Permalink Hits: 9974 14) +Shifter Tap by Shen Di. Permalink Hits: 10106 13) Disposable Pre-Paid Phone by IDEA. Permalink Hits: 10479 12) iShelf by Li Jianye. Permalink Hits: 10952 11) SoundBulb by Hoang Nguyen. Permalink Hits: 11289 10) Daywriter by Peter Freund. Permalink Hits: 11871 9) Condom USB by Ko-Yang. Pemalink Hits: 12060 8 ) Transparent B-Iron 725 by Dong-Seok Lee. Permalink Hits: 13255 7) Minutuner by Antrepo Design. Permalink Hits: 13398 6) Moss Carpet by Nguyen La Chanh. Permalink Hits: 20688 5) LightLane by Evan Gant. Permalink Hits: 23796 4) Toilet Seat Scale by Haikun Deng. Permalink Hits: 26059 3) Staples-less Stapler by Sherwood Forlee. Permalink Hits: 36612 2) Fresh Blow by Moonhwan Lee. Permalink Hits: 80702

Sight And Sound SatisfactionA bulb that somehow manages to include a speaker as well, does this sound farfetched to you? Does to me, but considering the possibilities available to us in the future, maybe we will have something like this in our living rooms and pubs. Wireless speakers are there as are light bulbs, so you basically put them together in a rather sophisticated way, citing technological advances as your friend. It will be amusing to see homes screwing on the SoundBulb. Wireless speakers streaming music all over the place with the shimmy of disco lights; sounds eccentric! Apparently the parts of the SoundBulb are replaceable and can be upgraded from time to time. My only concern with this design is the heat factor, after all bulbs do produce a lot of heat and could be damaging to the speakers. Designers: Hoang M Nguyen, Poom Puttorngul & Anh Nguyen

Coverflow goes ManualWithout getting into an audiophiles debate over music formats, it’s fair to say that for many of us, our music collection still exists in a physical form. Most of these collections I would guess do more dust gathering than anything else. Designer Li Jianye is attempting to breathe new life into such collections with his predictably titled “iShelf”. The iShelf brings Apple’s coverflow to your physical collection, displaying your choice albums in the now universally recognized format. Just in case you missed it, yes this is meant for a standard jewel case so no… your Burt Bacharach greatest hits box set wont fit. Even if it is in your top playlist. Designer: Li Jianye

Scratch Notes On A Plank Day And NightWe need to get innovative with the way we display our feelings. Leaving Post-its or texting is getting a bit outdated don’t you think? The classic is of course; leaving a message on the fogged-up bathroom mirror, but that is about to get superceded with the Daywriter, Nightwriter. Both of them are essentially elongated three-dimensional scratchboards that you can use to write messages on. Touting itself as the world’s first interactive furniture, the Daywriter (as the name suggests) is used for displaying messages during the day. But the story gets brighter with the Nightwriter. This one is like a florescent glow-in-the-dark type of board. Scratch on the words and watch them glow! Naturally you can erase all your messages and get creative everyday. Designer: Peter Freund

Stay Outta My LaneA close brush with a distracted driver is enough to intimidate any avid bicycler from riding at night. You’ve probably seen small blinkers and flashers tucked just below the seat but that isn’t enough. As a daily driver in a very bike friendly city, I can attest I usually don’t notice those blinkers until I’m within a few hundred yards of the bicycler. That leaves very little distance and time to react if I were to collide with them. Only a small fraction of streets have dedicated bike lanes, and with an installation cost of $5,000 - $50,000 per mile, we shouldn’t expect to find them everywhere anytime soon. LightLane projects a crisply defined virtual bike lane onto pavement, using a laser, providing the driver with a familiar boundary to avoid. With a wider margin of safety, bikers will regain their confidence to ride at night, making the bike a more viable commuting alternative. I want one now. Evan and Alex, make it and call me! Designers: Evan Gant & Alex Tee

Birds Underwater and Fish That Fly?I love this idea called Duplex. A stylish superstructure holds a fish tank on top of a birdcage. From our POV, it’s just an odd arrangement of two very separate environments but imagine what the birds and fish are thinking. I’m a little bird and every day of my life, I’ve come to accept water is in the sky and fish really do fly. And if I’m a fish, I’d find it confounding why these feathery neighbors seem to swim in an area of the water I just can’t get to. Gives new meaning to “bird’s eye view.” Designer: Constance Guisset

Contact Lens Kinda Makes You CyborgyThis one’s kinda hard to swallow so take a deep breath, open your minds, and pretend it’s 2100. I CONTACT is essentially a mouse fitted to your eyeball. The lens is inserted like any other normal contact lens except it’s laced with sensors to track eye movement, relaying that position to a receiver connected to your computer. Theoretically that should give you full control over a mouse cursor. I’d imagine holding a blink correlates to mouse clicks. The idea was originally created for people with disabilities but anyone could use it. Those of us too lazy to use a mouse now have a free hand to do whatever it is people do when they sit at the computer for endless hours. I love the idea but there is a caveat. How is the lens powered? Perhaps in the future, electrical power can be harnessed from the human body, just not in a Matrix creepy-like way. Designers: Eun-Gyeong Gwon & Eun-Jae Lee

Wrist Phone For Troubled TimesGiven the volatile situation (political and natural) around most countries, I totally buy the idea of having an emergency phone around my space. Recent incidents of carnages and natural disasters imply that even a simple shopping, holiday or business trip can take an ugly turn instantaneously. This doesn’t mean that we stop traveling; it simply means we arm ourselves better. The Disposable Pre-Paid Phone could be that life-saving device, which could get you out of a sticky situation. Simple, non pretentious, the phone is a very basic device that is devoid of the fancy stuff. This makes its cheap to manufacture and market. Another point in its favor is the portability factor; you can simply wrap it around your wrist. Leaving the connectivity issues aside, the phone has the potential to make its mark. But that doesn’t mean you don’t take your regular cellphone along! Designer: IDEA

See Thru IronI’m all over this concept because of my fashion design background. The transparent B-IRON 725 makes getting those pesky wrinkles out and crisp creases in with ease. It takes the guess work out without sacrificing quality… or does it? The soleplate is made of tempered glass. Heat conduction works via a network of electro-thermal wires. Fascinating concept but as far as I know, stainless steel is the best material for pressing clothes. What do you guys think? Is glass feasible? Designer: Dong-Seok Lee & Ji-Hyung Jung

Immaculate Mini Lawn In Your LooThey say walking on fresh grass increases your blood circulation; I can’t vouch for that! Anyways, it is a reason to get going to the nearest park, remove your expensive Jimmy Choo’s and prance around. The Moss Carpet looks at getting the grass to your feet, and that too in your loo! Made from imputrescible foam called plastazote, the mat includes ball moss, island moss and forest moss. The humidity of the bathroom ensures that the mosses thrive. And that’s why you need to place it there and not anywhere else. Little gnomes not included. Designer: Nguyen La Chanh