Here’s what we looked at this week:
If you don’t have the $58.4 million that Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog (Orange) went for, you can buy tiny unauthorized knockoffs for $29.
Real deal
What you can actually afford
From Japan, these are elastomer page-turning aids for people that deal with a lot of paper. One of the styles allows you to still type.
The hi-tech Shanghai Smart Booth, designed by 100architects, aims to inject convenience and relevance into the previously outdated urban artifact.
Barcelona-based industrial designer Francesc Vilaró designed these folding ham stands for easy storage.
These small, minimalist dual-configuration U2 tables, by product/furniture designer Peter van der Water, can be used horizontally or vertically. They’re made from powder-coated steel, with a matte finish on the outside surfaces and a glossy finish on the insides.
This thin, minimalist Mira table, by furniture designer Mark Gabbertas, uses an aluminum sheet-layering process for structure.
Circuform’s KWART chair, by industrial designer Ton Haas, has “the lowest eco-footprint on the market.”
With German Bionics’ Apogee, designed by Studio Kurbos, exoskeleton design is getting sexier.
The Stilt, by Danish furniture designer Jonas Herman Pedersen, is a simple design for a height-adjustable side table.
With his Washer 001 project, industrial designer Bongkyu Song sought applications that celebrate the humble screw.
The Kaj chair, designed by Vidar Malmsten in 1959, has an appropriately 1959 way of tensioning the leather seat once it starts to stretch.
A startup called Eeva is crowdfunding this no-plumbing-required combination washer/dryer. I’m super skeptical, but the thing is close to $1 million in pledges.
This Nuwa pen uses regular ink on regular paper, but can digitize your handwriting and sketches. (Converting handwriting to text, though, requires a $2.99/month subscription.)
The TerpLoc Glassless Jar, by Grove Bags, is designed for perfect cannabis preservation.
