Niigata, Japan gets a lot of snow. Way back in the 1960s, they figured out a way to keep the roads clear of snow without requiring plows. Groundwater warmed by geothermal heat is pumped through a network of pipes below the road surface, and sprayed onto the asphalt using sprinklers:The system is called shosetsu. Because the warmed water flows along the grade of the roads, it doesn't freeze and turn into iceat least in Niigata, where the temperatures don't often dip below the freezing point. (Icy Hokkaido, where the system is not in use, would be a different story.)Niigata reportedly has some 571 kilometers (355 miles) of roadways equipped with shosetsu.It's better on cars than salt.

While there's nothing funny about car accidents or the message behind Gaetano Pesce's UP 5 chair, designed in 1969, this anecdote is worth telling. First off, the UP 5 chair. The curvaceous form is meant to represent the popular idealization of women's bodiesand it's attached to an Ottoman by an umbilical cord. "This object is a commentary on women's condition in our historical moment," Pesce said in an interview with Italian Journal. "Until today women are prisoners of prejudices including in the most evolved countries without mentioning the less evolved ones. It was the first time that a chair was able to express a political content."In addition to the message, what was radical about the chair in 1969 is that it shipped compressed. Which leads us to the aforementioned anecdote from Pesce:"The chair was then sold wrapped and vacuum-packed, reducing its original volume by 8. A truck full of these packaged chairs was traveling from Milan to Rome and got into an accident when another truck hit it in the back."In the accident one of the packages broke open, and the chair inside of it immediately expanded, leading it to break the other packaging and the other chairs to expand."In the end, all these chairs protected the back of the truck from being totally destroyed. Also the chairs ended up falling on the highway, and by doing so transformed it into a domestic landscape." The anecdote aside, Pesce has called the UP 5 chair "One of the most important objects I designed."

As we saw with his Smoke Glass, Italian industrial designer Joe Colombo loved smoking and drinking. And, apparently, poker; he designed this Poker Table in 1968. A precursor to the gaming tables of today, the table featured four flip-out wings that allowed players to stack an additional vice on top of gambling. The legs are stainless steel, and the table surfaces are laminated plastic. The ashtrays simply sit in an open hole. Here you can see that you remove them for cleaning by pushing up on the bottom. The wings were reportedly designed to hold both ashtrays and tumblers (Colombo being fond of booze), but in every photo I can find, it's always staged with only the ashtrays.The table originally came with a removable playing surface made of baize, a felt-like fabric, trimmed in leather. With many of the tables you'll see for sale secondhand, the playing surface did not survive. The Poker Table went into production by Italian furniture company Zanotta in 1968. They still feature the table on their website and have it in CAD, so apparently you can still order it.

As the 1950s became the '60s, a new automotive phenomenon was emerging: The sports car. In 1960 Chevrolet broke the 10,000-unit production milestone for their Corvette, the first time that automotive niche had reached five figures. Up until that point, automobiles in America were predominantly objects used to move families around. Now there was a mass-market alternative in a fun, powerful two-seater with no backseat for pesky kids. The Corvette later went on to be associated with astronauts, further cementing its "cool" status. Around the same time, Ferrari began dominating the international racing scene with their 250 GTO. In 1962 the 250 took first, second and third place at the grueling 24-hour LeMans race. Carroll Shelby, an American race car driver turned car designer and entrepreneur, wanted to knock both cars off of their pedestals. He envisioned a powerful, lightweight car that would smoke the Corvette at stoplights and best the Ferrari at Le Mans.Shelby talked to Ford, who was eager to compete with the Corvette. Ford made powerful engines, but had no Corvette-like chassis. Then Shelby talked to AC Cars, a British company that made the AC Ace, a lightweight, early English sports car. The AC Ace had the suitably lightweight chassis, but no engine; their supplier, Bristol, had discontinued them.Shelby talked AC into shipping their chassis to California, where he could retrofit them with powerful V8 motors that Ford was happy to supply. Shelby strengthened the chassis, steering, suspension and differential to handle the extra power, and the AC Cobra was born.Image: Jaydec, CC BY-SA 3.0 The Cobra started racking up race wins, and by 1965, it beat the Ferrari at the World Sportscar Championship.Image: JacoTen, CC BY-SA 2.0 However, production realities prevented the AC Cobra from becoming a mass-market Corvette killer. Shipping car bodies from a small manufacturer in England to California, where a team hand-modified each to accommodate Ford engines, was not a scalable business model. Shelby shifted his attention to helping Ford with the Mustang, and together they produced the Shelby Mustang GT350 and later the GT500. As both began racking up race wins (see the movie Ford v. Ferrari), the AC Cobra project fell by the wayside.The AC Cobra was discontinued in 1968. Only about 1,000 were ever produced, and as you'd expect from their target market, a lot of them wound up being wrapped around trees. The few AC Cobras that have survived to present day are extremely valuable. Meanwhile, the Mustang became Ford's legitimate Corvette challenger, and the model exists to this day.A bit of surprising news: Here in the 2020s, the AC Cobra is making a comebackby way of Sweden and China. AC Cars has somehow survived to this day and company CEO David Conza, a Swede, is bringing back the Cobra in both Coupe and Roadster forms. The cars will be built in both England and Sweden, the latter country being home to T-Engineering, an outfit of ex-Saab engineers backed by Chinese carmaker Dongfeng. And the engines are still by Ford. How's that for globalization. The resurrected Cobras will be the domain of the rich. The Roadster and Coupe will run around $245,000 and $280,000, respectively.

In just a matter of years, quadrotor drones have gone from consumer playthings to CIA-level technology. Drone manufacturer DJI's Dock 3 moves well beyond the consumer sector, targeting emergency responders and infrastructure inspectors. The "drone-in-a-box" system allows the company's autonomous Matrice 4D and Matrice 4TD drones to be deployed from a moving vehicle, and can operate in extreme temperatures, from -22F to 122F (-30C to 50C). The drones feature multiple cameras: Wide-angle, medium telephoto, proper telephoto, and infrared thermal for night vision. They're also equipped with a laser range finder, and can do fancy tricks like follow moving vehicles and map the surrounding terrain.The drones have a forward-flight time of 54 minutes, or can hover for 47 minutes. Their communication range is an insane 10km, and you can use more than one drone to extend the range, relay-style; you can also have two drones share just one of the dock units, in a hot-racking set-up. The demonstration is pretty nuts:These are expected to retail in the low-$20,000 range.

If there's a category of furniture I never think about, it's cloakroom furniture. But these pieces caught my eye. They're the stock-in-trade of Dalform, a Swedish company that sells to schools, hospitals, gyms, sporting venues, businesses and institutions. The powder-coated finishes come in a variety of colors. The pieces are designed for institutional timelines, meaning they should last forever. "We offer products with very low life cycle costs through high quality," the firm writes. "All our storage cabinets have long warranties and are manufactured in Dalarna from Swedish quality steel from SSAB, with doors in extra-strong steel plate or compact laminate fitted with piano hinges." Absurdly, I kind of want one of these units in my entryway.

Curious about design awards but have not yet made a decision to enter? Here is the guidance you may be looking for to present your team's work to a jury. If you are reading this unconvinced of the merit of entering a design awards program, please let us to take a moment to remind you of the incredible promotional benefit to your team and client if you win, the community connection built by putting your work in front of a jury of your peers, and how the very act of documenting your process and achievements engenders a sense of accomplishment and pride throughout your organization. Powerful imagery prefaced with a brief explanation of why the project is significant is a winning combination. 2024 C77DA Consumer Technology Cricut Venture. Your Mission: Hone Your Story, Connect with Your JuryWe've run the Core77 Design Awards for over a decade and have found that the most important part of our job is assembling the best design juries possible. We recruit leading creative professionals across a broad range of expertise, experience and backgrounds. They review entries online and meet virtually to debate. We ensure that every qualified entry gets in front of them. Your job is to seize that opportunity and engage them in your project's story. STEP ONE Carefully consider the Category or Categories for your entry a well-chosen category significantly enhances the relevance and appeal of your submission. Review the category definitions thoroughly to ensure your project is positioned to capture the jury's interest in the most fitting context. Enter your project into as many categories as are relevant - good projects and presentations often bring home multiple accolades. The Core77 Design Awards honors both professional and student work in all its categories. If you created your project at school be certain to make a student entry. On the professional side we honor only work that has been released, published or otherwise realized. Except for concept work whose purpose is "cultural commentary, intervention, or exploration" which has a home in our Speculative Design category.STEP TWO While jurors may not review entries in an elevator, it is important to approach your presentation as if they areyou have a brief window to capture their attention. Begin filling out the Solution/Project Description, where you have 1500 words to introduce the jury to your concept, its design features and how it fits both the market and end-user. Do that and you'll have framed the context for what follows. If you believe your entry would benefit from further explanation delve deeper, describing your process, perspective, and the project's comprehensive journey. This entire narrative should not exceed 1500 words and should focus on the innovative and impactful aspects of your work. Should you need more words than 1500 there is an additional option to add 100 more words.The end results of a design project might be too complex for images and words alone to communicate. If your entry's story would benefit from it, use supplemental materials like project PDFs and videos to present a fuller picture of your project, creating a more dynamic presentation of your achievement. In considering how much and what to share with the jury you should seek to balance depth and brevity. Consider how each piece illuminates your key points. Keep PDFs under 15MB and videos short, under 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Video attachments must be hosted on video sites such as YouTube or Vimeo so be prepared to provide a URL for the video. STEP THREE Seeing is Believing - We cannot overstate the importance of imagery in an entry. It is vital for conveying your project's aesthetic and functional qualities. Show details of the realized project. Show it in context. If a user interacts with it, show the chief modes of operation. Give a complete sense of the work but edit your final collection of images with an eye toward removing repetitive, or potentially confusing, imagery. At their best, images go beyond documentation and express the spirit of the project. Submit project images in JPEG or PDF files formats, bigger is better, but for ease of uploading, limit your images to 15MB per file. A maximum of 11 pieces can be uploaded with your entry and can include exploded views and charts in PDF form.Renderings can nail vibe and offer insight, here to an outdoor experience that had yet to be built. 2024 C77DA Built Environment winner TMC Helix Park For Branding, Identity and Visual Design entries it is important to show their application in context to one another. 2024 C77DA Branding & Identity Award Honoree, Halsa. The rare and elusive money shot: a single image that conveys the unique proposition of the entry. 2024 C77DA Robotics winner, Da Vinci 5 Surgical Systems.Projects benefit from imagery depicting the experience of using them. 2023 C77DA Transportation Utility Scooter. STEP FOURProjects that overlap categories should enter all that are pertinent. "Charlie by Channing St. Copper Co" was recognized in three professional categories: Sustainability, Home & Living, and Consumer Technology. Stakeholders in a project can share ownership and recognition. 2024 C77DA Design for Social Impact winner, Indigenizing Design STEP FIVE Entering an awards program is an expression of pride in work, both the work put in and the work that came out. So, it is important, and beneficial, to acknowledge the collaborative effort behind your project. Include the project team, as well as the client or surrounding portions of your operation in gathering materials and names for credit. This is entered on the Entry Information page where you can add the whole team in the Additional Design Credits section. This not only highlights the collective talent behind the project but also enriches the submission's narrative by showcasing the depth of collaboration and expertise involved.Don't be intimidated, the work is done and the story has written itself, just collect your assets and contributors then get it in front of the jury. That's enough to get you in the running. Take our advice and work your story into a tight, compelling narrative you'll honor your team and make a case for the jury to as well.Core77 Design Awards final deadline is March 25, 2025.

These bFRIENDS Power Modules, by British industrial design firm Pearson Lloyd, challenge your idea of what a power strip is supposed to look likeand how they're made. As the firm explains:"Traditionally produced using highly tooled, multi-material assemblies, the bFRIENDS power modules disrupt the market with an innovative combination of additive manufacturing, elegant functionality, and cost-effectiveness. Complex installations are simplified by a straightforward threaded sub-assembly, while a range of beautiful color combinations provide a refreshing alternative to the traditionally dominant black designs." The units are 3D-printed from recycled bioplastic sourced from food packaging waste. While they're in production by Austrian furniture manufacturer Bene, units are printed on-demand, keeping their production lean; there's no tooling to be stored, nor inventory to be carried. They're printed by Batch.Works, a circular manufacturing company based in London.

Peak Design, the B-Corp known for producing well-designed bags, has made their first foray into proper luggage. Their new Roller Pro Carry-On was designed from the ground up, without relying on off-the-shelf hardware. The designers first looked at the telescoping handles common to the category. Peak opted to go with single-piece carbon fiber shafts that are rectangular in cross-section. Because these "SlimDrive" units don't have telescoping joints, they don't wrack and rattle, and their slim cross-section means they eat up less luggage space. With an eye on UX, the designers also considered the loading/unloading process. Your standard rolling carry-on has a lid that flips open 180 degrees, effectively doubling its footprint. But the designers noted that space in a hotel room is often in short supply. Thus they've designed their lid to flip open just 90 degrees, allowing you to access it in a more compact space. The lid is held open with a drawbridge-style arrangement. The Roller Pro is a combination of hard-sided and soft-sided. A polycarbonate shell provides impact protection, while the bag's soft-sided lid can be unzipped and peeled back from the top to allow access to items you want close at hand. The inside of the bag features easy-hooking elastic cables to hold things in place during transit. The Roller Pro is also compatible with the company's line of Camera Cubes, which allow photographers and videographers to safely store their gear. The Roller Pro was just posted to Kickstarter, and at press time had already landed nearly $3 million in pledges, with 43 days left to pledge. Early-birds are going for $425 for August shipping, or $525 if you want it by May.

Thyrm is an American company founded by Andrew Frazier, a former medical device designer. Frazier has shifted course towards designing tactical gear, like this DarkVault 2.0. It's a chest-mounted rig for holding smartphones, designed to be used in "austere" environments encountered by the military or police. The ruggedized case flips open at the bottom, allowing the user to view the screen. Snapped shut, it protects against dust, dirt and water. Users can choose to expose a transparent portion of the case, allowing them to use their smartphone as a bodycam. It can also be used to hold other sensitive equipment. Thyrm sells the case in two different sizes, and in two different flavors: A Comms version that allows the phone to receive a signal, and a Blocking version that isolates the phone from transmitting (presumably to prevent interception). These run $90 for the size Regular, and $95 for the Large.

It's been a few years since we asked "Why are wi-fi routers so darned ugly?" This Vibrant WiFi router, by Seoul-based industrial design firm Intenxiv, aims to change that. "Wireless internet routers have traditionally been hidden away due to their unconventional shapes, limited design options, and complex connections. To overcome this, we have conceptualized, designed, and manufactured a Switchable Skin System that allows users to freely customize the color, material, and finish (CMF) of their router, seamlessly integrating it into their space." "With this system, routers are no longer just functional devicesthey become a harmonious part of interior aesthetics while maintaining optimal performance." "For this project, we took charge of the entire CMF design, visualization (rendering), exhibition planning, booth design, and installation, bringing digital representations to life with hyper-realistic details while ensuring a seamless physical presentation. This approach enables us to propose a new direction where connectivity and aesthetics coexist effortlessly." The Vibrant WiFi router is in production by Korea Telecom.

Although Phillip Potthast has been reading Core77 since his time as an industrial design student, he never anticipated that he might one day appear in its pages talking about bees. "I was more into automotive and car design, actually," he reminisces. "And I've just pivoted, one hundred and eighty degrees, into tree hollows."Phillip Potthast's novel beehive design, HIIVE, evolved out of an industrial design thesis that originally sought to create a more ergonomic hive. After venturing into the field, however, Potthast witnessed first-hand the beekeepers' treatments against Varroa mites - a common honeybee parasite - and the aftereffects that these treatments had on the bees themselves. Ergonomics, he quickly realized, may not be the most pressing challenge that many beekeepers faced.When you're so happy with your molded parts you show them the beach at sunset.Honey bees help to pollinate as much as three-quarters of all flowers, and a third of the world's crops. These crucial critters, however, now find themselves also facing modern stressors like climate change, pesticides, and industrial food systems. In response, Potthast's designs aim to improve a beehive's overall health by harkening back to the era before humans developed the squat, utilitarian, honey-farming bee boxes that now dominate your average apiary. Left to their own devices in nature, honeybees often set up shop in the hollows of centuries-old tree trunks."Bees actually behave a bit like a power plant," Potthast explains. "In summer and winter alike, they manage a relatively complex thermodynamic and hydrodynamic system. They constantly create a microclimate, which we specifically support through our product." Even when the outside temperature drops to freezing, this cluster of bees can maintain a core temperature as high as thirty degrees Celsius while safely nestled in HIIVE's 44-liter cavity. The bees enter through an angled "flight hole" at the bottom, which enables both easy entry and defense against intruders."The first prototypes, actually, had been just for the bees. It was a nightmare to use," Potthast recalls, sitting within arm's reach of a HIIVE in the company's offices, on the outskirts of Berlin. "It only became human-centered and user-friendly in the second phase."Some of HIIVE's current design stems not just from human usage, but human regulation (under German law, for example, beehives must provide access to the breeding room to allow testing for American foulbrood, a spore-forming bacterium that can be fatal to colonies). Compared to classic hives, HIIVE also does not aim to maximize extraction of honey for human consumption. This novel model, however, has occasionally resulted in a significant learning curve for novice beekeepers."We have a really, really low Varroa mite pressure in our beehives," Potthast says, referring to the degree of infestation (for which beekeeping guidelines typically suggest a treatment every few months, to keep the infestation below two mites for every hundred bees). "For some people, it's even hard to believe if they don't try it themselves. We have the customers thinking they don't have Varroa pressure, and therefore some of them think they don't need treatments. But you have to read the bees in a much different way than in a box." Since its launch, HIIVE been working to release a full tutorial for their users: "You can do so much wrong with bees," Potthast cautions.Early on, Phillip Potthast found a willing collaborator in his partner, Fabian Wischmann, whose knowledge of business and startups became a key ingredient of HIIVE's success. Together, Potthast and Wischmann launched a Kickstarter in 2022 that exceeded their goals more than fifteen-fold - raising over 140,000 Euros, from hundreds of backers. Their success, however, did not come about purely organically. "You really have to invest substantial amounts to gain necessary visibility," Potthast notes. "It's a pay-to-win system. You need an advertising agency. Otherwise, you're just going totally under."The HIIVE team did, unfortunately, encounter multiple production delays over the following two years (suppliers that ordered the incorrect steel, for instance). But HIIVE remains quite satisfied with their partners: some of their 2023 updates, for instance, included videos of the injection molding at Irmamolde facilities in Portugal; the HIIVE's fabric cover, meanwhile, comes from a German mountaineering company, VAUDE, that already had experience making waterproof, UV-resistant PFAS-free gear (PFASs, or "per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances," are a group of synthetic chemicals notorious as persistent organic pollutants, also known as "forever chemicals"). Backers' orders began to ship early last year.The vast majority of HIIVE's supporters - ninety-six percent, at HIIVE's count - consider themselves hobbyists. One such backer, Thomas Zimmerling of Frankfurt, has a day job as a managing director of a consulting firm, but happily testified to his experiences with the HIIVE after almost a year of use. "The materials are extremely high quality," Zimmerling reported, in an email to Core77. "HIIVE requires less effort [than traditional hives]: I can check the condition of the bee colony very quickly, don't have to worry about additional insulation in winter, and can treat against the Varroa mite very easily."Another one of HIIVE's most compelling features, however, is still waiting to be released. "This is our sensor," Potthast says, dangling a small collection of circuit boards and wires in his fingers. "It's beautiful," he muses, admiringly. "A masterpiece of electrical engineering. The result of cross-disciplinary collaboration - which is not solely my achievement."Although each HIIVE can function without the sensor and accompanying gateway - a palm-sized device with three finger-sized antennas - the electronics would allow keepers to monitor a swarm's activity, arrival, or even level of vibrations within the hive (as a proxy for the brood's health and mood).These electronic components, however, have taken significant time to perfect. "The sensors have a runtime of one year," Potthast says. "Taking something to such a low power is a lot of work, and also a lot of engineering." HIIVE has also been saddled with having to certify three different radio signals - LoRaWAN, WiFi, and BLE - across multiple countries. This array of signals aims to cover multiple use cases - from HIIVEs kept within wifi range in a back garden, to a keeper who keeps them on a distant property and would utilize a GSM module (as used in cell phones) to monitor them from afar. As a result, HIIVE is currently in the process of launching a second Kickstarter - but this time, purely for the electronics.Going forward, Potthast feels especially excited to have their work officially assessed by animal scientists, whose research he'd heavily incorporated into HIIVE's design. "All the bullet points from the scientists that they'd gathered over the years," Potthast explains, "by observing tree hollows, the most natural home of honeybees: we took these scientific findings, shaped them, and turned this knowledge about bee tree hollows into a product/tool to make it accessible for beekeepers and their animals." Just this year, HIIVE has partnered with a consortium of bee scientists who have undertaken observations on a set of ten hives, which would help grant legitimacy to the company's claims of having such low Varroa mite pressure."Normally, as an industrial designer, you take care of usability: things have to look nice, and shiny, and the most ergonomic," Potthast opines. "But to mimic a 200 to 300-year-old tree hollow? That was quite a task."

The Core77 Design Awards Tools category features consumer products only. It includes products or services designed for individual use with the intention of improving efficiency and productivity, supporting craft, making, and personal building. Examples include: hardware tools, productivity applications, educational tools.The Lifestyle Accessories category includes consumer products intended for use in daily life. Personal or home items that combine functionality and style, designed to complement an individual's daily routine, support wellness, enhance comfort, improve convenience, organization, and aesthetics. Examples include: handheld products, luggage, desktop toys, jewelry, handbags, apparel, water bottles, or wearable devices.Irina Kovlovskaya wants to understand how your product is making the world a better place. She asks, "Does it bring joy to people's lives, reduce waste, promote inclusivity, create more time for what truly matters, or have another positive impact?"As the Global Head of Industrial Design and CMF at ABB E-mobility, the San Francisco-based design leader pursues those goals by driving transport electrification through best-in-class EV charging solutions. Over the course of her career, Irina has fueled design innovation for companies like Google, Fitbit, Nest, and HTC. Her previous experience included working for Martha Stewart and co-founding the consulting firm Vim & Vigor, where her clients included Barnes & Noble Nook, KitchenAid, Fabbian, Wedgwood, and Waterford. The Rhode Island School of Design graduate believes in fostering a culture of inclusivity and a "one-team" mentality with colleagues and partners, working to create sustainable products that connect with users and help businesses grow. Her work has received numerous honors including Red Dot, IF, ICFF Studio, IDEA, and Spark awards.Irina finds the greatest fulfilment when she feels confident that the products she designs are "genuinely impactful." As she explains, "Whether I am creating a wearable device that helps people lead healthier lives or a charger that alleviates range anxiety and promotes EV adoption, the purpose behind these products is what brings me joy." Given her professional focus, sustainability ranks high on the list of Irina's design-related concerns. Her solution: "As an industry, we need to take greater responsibility for the products we put into the world by focusing on longevity and quality, using clean and renewable materials, building in repairability, and designing for circularity."Logitech Design won the Tools Category in 2024 for Zone Learn.The 2024 winner in the Core77 Design Awards Tools category was Logitech Design for Zone Learn, a wired headset for children to use in classrooms that is designed for sustainability and performance.Vert Industrial Design House & Soft Serve Studio won the Lifestyle Accessories category in 2024 with Joyrolla Cart.The 2024 winner in the Lifestyle Accessories category was Vert Industrial Design House & Soft Serve Studio for The Joyrolla Cart, a sleek, sustainably constructed shopping cart designed for a contemporary audience.Share your products that are making the world a better place. Submit your designs to the 2025 Core77 Design Awards and help that positive impact grow. Enter your work today.

This gorgeous piece of industrial design is by Grau, a German lighting company whose motto is "Light should be a poem."The lamp is called Fire Table, and Grau's designers have really sweated the details:The shade is made from mouth-blown glass. The lamp's body is aluminum, in your choice of anodized or polished. The light can be set to "Golden," which emulates the tone of a sunset, or "Fire," meant to evoke the tone within a fireplace.Users can activate the lamp's "sunset sleep timer," which gradually dims the light over the course of 30 minutes before extinguishing completely. Fire Table runs 599 (USD $628).

These images are by L.A.-based artist Joshua Vides.As it turns out, they're more than just images:Vides wraps each car in vinyl, then hand paints them to create the Pop Art / comic book / A-Ha video aesthetic. The cars were featured in Vides' solo show, Check Engine Light, which premiered in Los Angeles last month. Here's Vides at the L.A. show: Vides is currently in New York City, scouting a location that can host the show there.

Enzo Mari introduced his Autoprogettazione movement back in 1974, encouraging DIY furniture making. Today, five decades later, German company 1x1 Systems continues the movement with a digital twist, providing 3D print files for objects you can assemble and complete yourself.This Delta Lamp, by German industrial designer Christoph Hauf, is one of 1x1's offerings. It's a series of customizable connectors and a lampshade. Joined with a standard light bulb socket and a dowel, it becomes a wall lamp. The user-determined length of the dowel determines the standoff distance from the wall. "Delta is a material-efficient wall lamp based around a simple wooden stick that can be easily upcycled from old broomsticks or discarded furniture. The design is highly adjustable both in height and angle while always staying in place thanks to the constant tension of the cable.""The lower wall mount consists of two parts through which the cable runs, allowing the lamp to swing across the room while staying perfectly aligned. The double-walled lampshade is also 3D-printed and includes a thread to fit E14 light sockets.""This is our most complex parametric design to date; both cable guides and lampshade adjust to match any width of the used stick as well as the total dimensions of the lamp.""Delta Lamp costs 30 and includes custom print files based on your configuration, as well as a custom manual. It is available via 1x1.systems and can be previewed in AR via your phone." See Also:1x1 Systems' Axon Connector

Chinese auto manufacturer Chery is teasing this concept vehicle, which is either called the Fulwin Jinyun SMPV or the Journeo; the messaging is unclear, as there's been no official press release from the company. It was reportedly designed at the company's Advanced Design Centre in Raunheim, Germany. From what we can see, it's a four-person vehicle that appears primarily designed for lounging. The front fascia becomes a flip-out loveseat: The dashboard retracts, the front seats swivel, and the center console travels rearwards on a track, rotating 90 degress to become a sort of coffee table:The rear seatbacks also rotate, creating a sort of rear lounge space, while the rear hatch (if it is even a hatch? There are no shots of it open) slides out to create more interior space: Lastly, solar panels flip out from the top.At press time, there was no word on if this would see production, or even what markets it's aimed at.

Industrial designer and innovation leader Kevin Bethune, the founder and Chief Creative Office of design think-tank dreams design + life, has written a new book. His first, "Reimagining Design: Unlocking Strategic Innovation," explored the strategic values of design beyond aesthetics. The follow-up, "Nonlinear: Navigating Design with Curiosity and Conviction," challenges linear approaches to design, arguing that the complexities of today's world demand new levels of openness and adaptability. "In Nonlinear, Kevin Bethune shows us that we can reject trodden paths of digital or physical product creation by taking advantage of a nonlinear approach. To unlock meaningful innovation that breeds new and novel outcomes, he writes, teams need to embark on a journey into the proverbial forest of ambiguity, the result of a rapidly converging, dynamic, and exponentially changing landscape. The journey is less about getting it right or wrong, and more about using the information we have at our disposal to understand our choices and take steps to unlock new learning." "Nonlinear begins by taking the reader through Bethune's professional 'zigs and zags.' The author explains that while his interdisciplinary leaps were rare at the time he took them, these varied experiences unlocked perspectives about design and innovation that uniquely prepared him for our present moment and for the future. He then showcases the role of quantitative information to strategically frame and set boundary conditions for our creative exploration, and the role of qualitative insights to provide the substance necessary to begin crafting solutions that address unmet needs." "The book also identifies accelerants (or flywheels) that will help readers as they reflect on their journey navigating the forest of ambiguity, with a specific emphasis on diversity, a key theme for Bethune, a Black man who has navigated new horizons. Readers will enjoy having the chance to customize the author's perspectives and make them their own at both an individual and team level." The book is available here, and Design Better is hosting an AMA with Bethune on March 11th. You can sign up here.

An avalanche can literally go from 0-60 within seconds. The impact of the onrushing snow is enough to break bones and cause internal injuries. hould you survive those but be buried, you'll run out of air within 15 minutes.This is why avalanche forecasters exist. These men and women, whether employed by local governments, research institutions or private companies, travel to avalanche-prone regions to conduct testing. They dig a pit into a slope, and do what's called an Extended Column Test (ECT), using a saw to expose a tall column or slab of snow. They then tap on the top of the column, using increasing amounts of force. They observe both where the column fractures and how much force was required to create that fracture in order to determine the stability of the snow.Cutting through the snow requires precision and a specially-designed saw. This $65 Beta Snow Science Saw, by outdoor equipment manufacturer Mountain Safety Research, fits the bill. The stainless steel saw is designed to be easy to carry, weighing just 7 oz (178g). The blade is laser-etched with measurement markings, so you can cut the column to the desired dimensions without needing to carry a second measuring tool. The teeth are designed to slice through snow and ice without clogging, and are also tough enough to cut through wood (if, for example, you unexpectedly run into a buried branch in the area you're cutting). This also makes the saw handy for carving a snow shelter in an emergency. The saw was designed by Cascade Designs, the parent company of Mountain Safety Research.

Here's what we looked at this week:Fellow Products channels Dieter Rams' design approach. 1X shows off NEO Gamma, their domestic servant robot. This is surely the beginning of the end. Phaidon's forthcoming "Mid-Century Modern Designers" book covers 300 designers and goes way beyond furniture.The Cuboid: A compact, designey power strip by new Swedish design brand Kord.Helix: One AI brain controlling multiple robots.Believe it or not, with Eskimo Design's Modernist towel heater, form follows function.A brilliant design for a trailer that unloads the material for you.This IQ Vise can hold anything in any position.Sigma's minimalist, ultra lightweight BF camera is unibody, being milled out of a single block of aluminum.Tech furniture: A stool that provides haptic feedback for musicians. Useful, or gimmick?An unusual barbecue object from Japan: This mesh frying pan lets you cook rice and noodles over an open flame.ColorPipes: Lightweight inflatable lighting, now with programmable colors.A brief history of the briefcase, and a comeback version by Toyo Steel.Industrial Design student work: Turning discarded carpet into comfortable furniture.Choppy, by Latvian design brand Stum, is a bent plywood children's bicycle.Why van racking company Sortimo made an automatic door.Studio Ololoo's surprising Bubble Stool.Humanscale's Float Micro is a minimalist, height-adjustable offset-leg cantilevered side table.Industrial design firm Spitfire explains: "How to Develop a Product."

We've seen offset-leg cantilevered side tables before, but Humanscale's Float Micro offers a trick that many don't: Height adjustability. The leg presumably contains a spring or hydraulic piston, as the unit is unpowered. The base is available in a flat Glide version or up on locking casters. The company says the base is powder-coated, but doesn't mention what the underlying metal is. The tabletops are available in three options: "Powder-coated paint," bamboo, and what they're calling "Natural Linoleum: A naturally durable surface made from bio-based materials, offering wear resistance, antistatic properties, and a matte finish that minimizes fingerprints while maintaining a refined aesthetic." The Float Micro starts at $794 for the painted version, with the linoleum options creeping up to $1,032 apiece. Prices for the bamboo option were not listed at press time.

Brooklyn-based Spitfire Industry is a consultancy founded by industrial designer Isis Shiffer. The firm has worked across every category an ID firm might be called on for: Product, lighting, medical, wellness, toys, packaging, luggage, vehicle interiors, you name it. With plenty of experience across the board, the company has written the following helpful guide for would-be product entrepreneurs.How to Develop a ProductA lot has to happen between conception and production, as no product springs into existence fully formed (and we would be out of a job if they did). While some designs are complex and tech-heavy and others exist only to be beautiful, the design process is essentially the same: building the visual language, ideation, refinement, CAD, prototyping, and factory prep. We use a step-by-step process with clear objectives and deliverables, which allows our clients to follow along and keeps everyone on track.The following case study uses our Bask Lamp, which is both a technical lighting device and a dcor piece. The client had already completed their market research, so we were able to jump right into the design. WHAT'S THE BRIEF?All projects start with a brief, or a document that outlines the core requirements for the product. These can be long and technical or short and pithy, but they need to be clear. Sometimes clients come with a brief fully prepared, sometimes we study the market and create one ourselves. This project only needed a short one:Create eycatching sunlamps that function as statement dcor and are unlike anything else on the market. They must produce 10,000 lumens (standard for therapy lamps), not overheat, throw light at a 45 degree angle, and be manufacturable for ~$10. They should be easily injection molded and compatible with OEM components. The plastic body must be fully recyclable. CREATING A BRAND OUTLINEWhen we create the first product for a new brand, we need to build from the ground up. Establishing a visual language of shapes, colors, lifestyle and overall 'feel' at the very beginning is key. We'll refer back to this throughout the project and it will inform the product, packaging, and graphic design and keep everything consistent.Bask had no prior brand assets in place, so we started by defining an overall mood. Using four cities as aesthetic shorthand, we created four very different visual directions that would all be consistent with the brief. The clients decided to go with MIAMI- a more colorful look than we generally select, and a fun challenge. PRODUCT DETAILSOnce the general aesthetic is locked in, we pull out some key design language elements that will inform the new product. In this case, it was hot colors, clean lines, and illusionistic colorblock visuals. We created some more specific inspiration boards showing these elements in contexts that struck an appropriate tone of sophisticated fun and avoided looking too childish or simple. ROUGH SKETCHESFinally, we can begin to design! Quick ideation sketches help us picture how the product could look and behave, identify strong directions and discard weak ones. We rarely share these rough-and-ready drawings outside the team. The ones below are heavily tidied up. DETAILED SKETCHESOnce we've selected some strong concepts we flesh them out with color and detail. At this stage we also start thinking about how each concept would be manufactured there's no point in designing something that cannot work in the physical world. It can be helpful to divide concepts into a few basic directions to aid selection. We talk these over with the clients and conduct user surveys to identify the most viable direction(s). This is a stage where brutal editing is necessary- if we kept every feature we thought was nifty we'd never complete any projects. Good ideas that aren't used immediately are filed away for future inspiration. 3D SKETCHESAs the project progresses, we move into the 3D realm. The most viable concepts are mocked up in CAD so we can review them from multiple angles. Visuals are refined, space made for electronic components, and OEM parts selected. We begin building out any user experience details and selecting colors and patterns. DESIGN FINALIZATIONWhen we and the clients agree that the design is visually finished, we create fully detailed CAD models. These can be rendered in 2D for review and promotional purposes, as well as 3D printed for a final design check. In this case, the client had an established supply chain and their production partner took care of prototypes. Sometimes we do them in house or work with a local prototyper. Design for productionWhen the design is complete and approved by both us and the client it's time for production. We create a spec pack that includes: an overview 'cheat sheet', a detailed CAD model, a bill of materials, color codes, and anything else necessary to communicate the design to the manufacturing partner. For this lamp, most of the electronic components were available as OEM -original equipment manufacturer- and did not need to be made custom. This is a great option for many products and saves a lot of production cost, but some more cutting-edge items need custom componentry. Production models and testingAfter sending the detailed specifications to a factory, we coordinate with them to sort out any issues. Often some elements can be modified to streamline the production process or lower the per unit cost, and we work with the factory engineers to make sure the product is being made as efficiently as possible. The factory then sends us a production model - a prototype that looks and works exactly like the final product. We review the production model for any discrepancies and send along feedback. It's rare we need more than two rounds to hit approval, but complex products occasionally take more. Final productOnce the production model is approved, a tool is cut and production begins! We make sure the client has all the resources they need to work with the supplier and then our work is done. Of course, we are always available for support. We love watching our client's products enter the market and try to keep track of all of them. You can see Spitfire Industry's work here.

This surprising Bubble Stool is by Studio Ololoo, a Ningbo, China-based design firm. At first glance it appears to be aluminum, and it might take you a second to spot the unusual seat: The stool is in fact made of painted wood. The captured, inflated seat is made from thermoplastic polyurethane, a material that splits the difference between rubber and plastic. "This stool is inspired by children game of blowing bubbles. The inflated TPU air bag is fixed in the seat, and is squeezed by the irregular wooden ring to form an organic bubble-shaped seat cushion. All the screws of the stool are cleverly hidden in the internal structure, and users can't help but wonder how the airbag is installed." "It is comfortable and supportive, reminding users of the feeling of sitting on their parents' laps in childhood." At press time the Bubble Stool had been prototyped, but no production plans had been announced.

The Autodesk Fusion team is excited to announce the second annual Autodesk Fusion Prize as part of the 2025 Core77 Design Awards. This award recognizes the most outstanding project that utilized Autodesk Fusion product development software from all entries in this year's awards program student and professional, across all 20 categories. This recognition not only highlights the winner's exceptional work but also underscores their ability to leverage advanced, modern design tools to create impactful solutions.What is Autodesk Fusion? If you're not familiar with Autodesk Fusion, let's start there. Autodesk Fusion is a cloud-based 3D CAD, CAM, CAE and PCB design tool for product design and manufacturing. It combines industrial and mechanical design, simulation, collaboration/data management, and machining in a single product. Fusion is widely used by designers, engineers, and manufacturers to streamline their product development process from concept to production. The Vivid Nine lighting collection for R&S Robertson.Industrial design firm Vivid Nine, for example, used Autodesk Fusion when designing a lighting collection for their client R&S Robertson. Thanks to Fusion being a cloud-based tool, the Vivid Nine team could design from anywhere and easily collaborate with teammates. To support its strong commitment to sustainability, the Vivid Nine team also leveraged Fusion's Manufacturing Sustainability Insights (MSI) Add-on to calculate the carbon footprint of their designs, optimize products for reduced carbon emissions, and enhance sustainability reports that they generate for their clients.Leveraging the Fusion MSI Vivivd Nine calculated the carbon footprint of their design.What's in it for me?Alright, back to the prize. The winner of the Autodesk Fusion Prize will receive a special prize from Autodesk (including a feature on the Fusion Blog) and a coveted Core77 Design Award trophy (seriously, if you haven't seen how cool the infamous trophies are yet, go take a look then circle back).Zexi Ye won the Core77 Design Awards 2024 Fusion prize.Read all about Adpt by Zexi Ye, the Core77 Design Awards 2024 Fusion winner here.Adpt, designed by Zexi Ye, took home last year's Autodesk Fusion prize for its exceptional concept. The product is a computer-accessible tool that enables people with cerebral palsy to freely and independently access the digital world thanks to its easy-to-use touchpad, tactile navigation, remote assistance and more. We also enjoyed hearing how Fusion enabled Zexi to transition seamlessly from physical to digital prototyping and vice versa. This helped ensure that the final design met the ergonomic needs of users with cerebral palsy and could accommodate various hand postures and motor skill abilities.The Mesh environment in Fusion was particularly helpful for Zexi during the 3D modeling stage. "The 'do not capture design history' and 'file history' features allow me to create without fear," he explains. "When it's time for a quick visualization, I switch to the rendering panel to see what the product looks like with real materials." Learn more about Adpt here.How to enter the Core77 Design Awards 2025The first step on the path to winning the Autodesk Fusion Prize is to enter the Core77 Design Awards. We encourage all designers and engineers who have utilized Fusion software in their submissions both student and professional - to enter this year's awards. Towards the end of your application, you'll have the option to simply check a box for whether or not you used Fusion. If you did use Fusion for your project go ahead and check that box, baby!This is an incredible opportunity to gain recognition for your work and to be celebrated by Core77, Autodesk, and the wider design community. Don't miss your chance to vie for the Autodesk Fusion Prize and showcase your innovative projects to the world. We look forward to seeing the amazing projects that you have created with Fusion software. Submit your entries to the Core77 Design Awards 2025 today! Good luck to all the participants! Learn more about the Autodesk Fusion prize here and submit your work to the Core77 Design Awards for consideration here.

This Stool Story project is by Weil, an Industrial Design student at ECAL. Weil sought to repurpose cast-off material as functional furniture.The material used in this project is discarded carpet from the school's workshoppreviously utilized in furniture exhibitions. This led Weil to ask: could we transform exhibition carpets into furniture after the event? While searching for an answer, Weil drew inspiration from his everyday interactions with materials. He noticed that the motion of rolling and unrolling fabric caused its edges to naturally create a transformation between sectional surfaces and curves. A 3D surface could be interpreted as a path, and he applied this insight to the rolled carpet. In 3D software, he tested an optimized surface that closely conformed to the shape of the human buttocks. He then mapped this surface onto a simulated cylindrical roll of fabric and used the Unroll command to generate a 20-meter-long path.Next, he used a large-scale cutting machine to precisely cut the collected discarded carpet along this patha process that took about 20 minutes. This uniquely cut carpet, once rolled up and secured with two metal knobs, became a soft yet structurally supportive stool. By repurposing discarded materials, this project not only reintegrates waste into daily life but also uncovers a unique method for constructing complex 3D surfaces.

Here's an example of a company going above and beyond to solve their clients' problems. Sortimo is a German manufacturer of mobile tool storage solutions; van racks and corresponding carry cases are their stock-in-trade. Tradespeople in Europe fit their vans out with Sortimo kit for greater efficiency.So you might wonder why Sortimo's new product isa door. Well, it isn't just any door; their ProPartition Automatic, which is designed to separate the van's cab and storage areas, automatically opens once the driver leaves their seat. It closes again when the driver sits.It might seem silly or frivolous, but the company points out a potentially massive time-savings. "One thing is particularly important in the courier and parcel service industry: Saving time. Time is money and therefors a major competitive advantage."This automation will save around 10 seconds at each delivery stop, which will result in a daily volume of 200 stops. Gain 30 minutes of time."

The Core77 Design Awards Commercial & Industrial category features equipment, machinery, and systems used in business operations across various industries. Operational equipment and systems designed for commercial use such as retail, restaurants, and offices. Industrial equipment for large-scale manufacturing, heavy production, or infrastructure-related operation. What's the key to a strong Core77 Design Awards entry? The answer, according to Keqing Song, is: "Always be testing. It's clear when someone puts a lot of time and effort into the prototyping stage. Getting feedback and iterating on your idea to make it the best it can be is one of the most important steps of the design process." Keqing practices this dedication to continuous prototyping in his role as an Autodesk Fusion Community Manager, where he enjoys figuring out how the company's tools can help their community of designers, engineers, and makers create better products. He works directly with Fusion users to help them leverage the technology to its fullest extent across all industries, from consumer products to transportation. The self-described "design geek and analog tech nerd" also believes in approaching design with integrity. Keqing's biggest concern in today's design industry is the tendency to prioritize profits over solving real problems and driving innovation. "It's important to evaluate if you're just riding the hype of a design aesthetic or product category. Never lose sight of what matters most: your products having a positive impact on your end user." Aurora by Loft Design won the Commercial Equipment category.The 2024 winner in the Core77 Design Awards Commercial Equipment category (now the Commercial & Industrial Category) was Loft Design for Aurora, a compact benchtop instrument that optimizes Microfluidic Modulation Spectography (MMS) in industry and academic laboratories. If you have a design you've been testing (and testing), our jurors would love to check your work. Submit an entry to the 2025 Core77 Design Awards. And don't forget to check the box and enter your work for an additional Autodesk Fusion Prize.

While living in Japan, I witnessed an interesting trick for teaching children to ride a bicycle: Remove the pedals. As the child Fred-Flintstones his way around the street on the bike, their body naturally picks up on how to balance a two-wheeler. They can literally pick it up in an afternoon, and be riding with the pedals back on later that day.Latvian design brand Stum has created this Choppy Bicycle specifically for that purpose. I don't think this is a particularly sustainable solution for a family; why buy a bicycle that will only be used for several hours, and never again? It makes more sense to buy a standard bicycle and temporarily remove the pedals for training.That said, I'm writing this up because it might make good sense for a school or daycare center to purchase these. And also because this form is something that would've made the Eameses giddy to see. Note that the seat, which has some natural spring to it, can be placed at one of three heights. The handlebars can be placed in one of two positions, and the bike can be assembled without tools. These run 200 (USD $210).

Briefcases are form follows function.The briefcase came into existence in the 19th century, following the explosion of the mass production of paper in standard sizes. As commerce and legal affairs began to dominate the economy, businesspeople had a need to transport documents around. Soft-sided bags, which we humans have been fashioning since caveman times, don't do a good job of protecting rectangular sheets of paper. Thus the hard-sided rectilinear briefcase was born, sometime in the 1850s (original inventor unknown/disputed). Briefcases remained a robust product category for the next 130 years or so. But as laptops went mass-market in the 1990s, they became the most important thing to carry. You'd think briefcases would have simply slipped into this new role, as briefcases and laptops are both the same shape. But laptops were heavy, and an awareness of ergonomics was growing. People found it more convenient to carry laptops in bags. The briefcase went into decline, and never really bounced back.Ignoring that trend Toyo Steel, a Japanese manufacturer of steel toolboxes used by industry and the trades, is gambling that they can transition to the office market. They've released this Konstella Briefcase, designed to carry documents, a laptop and odds and ends. Rather than going with their signature material, the company has opted for aluminum alloy, presumably because no office worker wants to lug a steel box around. The Konstella weighs in at 1,430g (3.2 lbs), which is within the range of a standard laptop backpack.Toyo's designers have zhuzhed it up with a leather handle and accents. Aside from the Karim-Rashid-like symbol stamped into the lid for structure, there are no other adornments. The minimalist Konstella sits in the premium market, ringing in at about USD $550 a pop. It's a strange foray for Toyo Steel to take, but a reminder that as traditional industries struggle, they'll seek out new markets in an effort to apply their manufacturing expertise for new customers.

Pipe Lighting is the German manufacturer that revolutionized set lighting with their lightweight inflatable solutions. Now they've come up with another neat trick: Filling out their kit with RGBWW, which are LED units that can incorporate Red, Green, Blue, Warm White, and White, combining to create whatever color the user desires. They're calling their new feature ColorPipes, and it will soon be added to all of their products, with an output of up to 50W per pixel. Users will be able to regulate the intensity of the pixels themselves. At press time there was no word on pricing.