design
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This house is so tiny, it’s practically two-dimensional
Here's a house that's like a wall with some empty spaces in which you can eat, cook, and sleep.
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Gecko-inspired adhesive lets your TV cling to the wall like a lizard
With its Tom Cruise-like talent for scattering straight up walls, the gecko has become one of biomimicry’s favored muses. Studying its feet, scientists have come up with a variety of gecko-inspired tapes, but now a team at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst has developed a stronger adhesive patch they’re calling “Geckskin.” A piece of the stuff […]
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Temporary tattoos for bike lovers
Are you a little more badass than your typical bike commuter, but maybe a little less than your typical bike courier? Then temporary tattoos are perfect for you, and conveniently, temp-ink emporium Tattly has just launched three new bike designs.
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Here’s what a crowdsourced bicycle looks like
This combination bike and scooter is nominally the work of fancypants designer Philippe Starck, but that’s partly because “everyone in Bordeaux, France” doesn’t have as much label cachet. (More than “everyone in Normal, Illinois” or something, but still.) Before Starck got his hands on the brief for the bike, which will be part of Bordeaux’s […]
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This house is so tiny it fits in your pocket
Two hundred square feet? SO last year. The newest tiny house folds up to fit in your pocket.
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Sunflowers show how to capture solar energy more efficiently
In design, biomimicry -- the idea that nature does design best -- is all the rage. So it must have been a head-slapping "duh" moment when solar-power designers sought inspiration from sunflowers -- a plant that has "sun" in its name, for goodness' sake! It turns out that sunflowers are really good at using the sun (NO WAY), and mimicking their structure can allow designers to seriously reduce the size of concentrating solar power farms.
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White planes are more fuel-efficient than flashy planes
The vast majority of people flying home this week in a post-holiday haze will ride in a white plane. After a long history of dolling planes up to stand out, airline executives are opting for white designs, both because it's cheaper and because it's more fuel-efficient (read: cheaper). White paint wears more slowly, so fewer […]
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IKEA to design an entire neighborhood
Exciting news for those whose entire house is populated by IKEA furniture (we know you're out there): the Swedish furniture company is going to be building an entire neighborhood in London. We know. It'll be like living in the IKEA store! With a Swedish meatball shop on every corner and 24/7 access to lingonberry jam. […]
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Ingenious origami cup eliminates plastic lids
Yes, yes, we should all bring our own mugs when we go to Starbucks. But failing that, wouldn't it be nice if we could eliminate plastic waste from the equation by leaving off the lid? Designer Peter Herman's Compleat cups have a clever folded design that provides cup and lid in one, giving you one […]