PicoCool

EL&ABE is a sustainable design collaboration between Eleanor Stephens and Anna Garforth. They seek to “work with natural, living materials on a 3D scale, hoping to encourage people to listen to nature’s voice and find inspiration in it.” Their first project is Mossenger, beautiful living “graffiti” words on walls.

Network: blogs

Les Ateliers Ruby makes beautiful motorcycle helmets that ooze graphical design. Now, they’ve launched the Costume line, a personalization service that lets you put together your own original Ruby helmet. Choose from thousands of combinations: decorations, colors, paint finish, size, and more.

Network: blogs

Hulger’s first new phone design in three years is ”the PAPPA phone, the world’s first wooden VoIP phone. Made from sustainable American walnut and brass.”

Network: blogs

stair porn is “a weblog featuring cool stairs from around the world created by Justin Anthony, a New Yorker who is currently residing in Phoenix, AZ., and was a residential restoration specialist for 25 years.”

Network: blogs

The Rubitone is a concept by Ignacio Pilotto, combining the Rubix cube with Pantone colors.

Network: blogs

Dutch illustrator, Jan Willem Wennekes, runs his own studio called Zeptonn Lab, where he produces a variety of projects such as illustration, character design, toy design, identity design and editorial design. Popcling has a wall adhesive version of his playful illustrations. Perfect for decorating a bland wall!

Network: blogs

"When Charlie Kratzer started on the basement art project in his south Lexington home, he was surrounded by walls painted a classic cream. Ten dollars of Magic Marker and Sharpie later, the place was black and cream and drawn all over...How did this Sharpie world start? With a single swipe of the marker. Kratzer started mid-wall, with the Salon by Picasso. Then he thought, well, taking a design out to the edge of the wall wouldn’t be overwhelming. Then the rest of the basement flared off that first wall.

Kratzer’s basement suggests that the great cultural influences wandered out of college humanities class—here a Churchill for eloquence during harsh times, a Joan Crawford for cinematic vampiness, Holmes and Poirot for great literary characterization—and set up shop together in the carefully hand-drawn markings of an educated imagination come to life.”

Kratzer might be a lawyer by day, but in his off hours he is a man who has taken the artistic influences and heroes of his life and imagined them onto his walls, that he might keep company with them while he uses the pool table.” Read the full story and see a 360 view of his basement…

[via marshallk on Twitter]

Network: twitter

”Dosh Wallets are designed and manufactured in Sydney Australia. Their unique blend of flexible and semi-flexible polymers create a wallet that is durable, stylish, and packed with clever features for modern lifestyles. The patented design consists of special storage areas for credit cards, notes, coins, as well as a unique integrated compartment for items including sim cards, keys, condoms and security cards.” Costs $55.

Network: blogs

There are lots of designer wallpapers to choose from these days, and I love the romantic elegance of these wall coverings by Trove, “a New York-based design duo comprised of Jee Levin and Randall Buck. Two accomplished artists, they set out to merge art, design, and craft in the wall coverings business. Founded in 2006, the earliest Trove collection was inspired by New York’s century-old flower market, a now diminutive block in Midtown Manhattan.” The products are created using non-toxic wax-based coatings. [via Cool Hunting]

Network: blogs

This flexible Space Invaders keyboard is retro goodness. It comes in two color schemes - white with red graphics or black with white graphics. ”Bendiboards are practically indestructible waterproof keyboards, which can be washed… Lightweight, ultra-slim, and compact, you can roll it up and take it anywhere with you making it ideal for use with laptops. The soft material allows a quick, reflexive typing action that is silent and more comfortable than traditional hard, plastic keyboards. The flexible flat design also offers ease in typing which eliminates negative-angle stress to your wrists.” I just bought two! [Image via BoingBoing]

Network: blogs

"Equally suited to land and sea. Chrome roll-top waterproof backpacks challenge the assumptions of how waterproof bags should be built. Our ground breaking design brings together two separate, and typically opposed, ideologies of backpack construction. First we start with a superior all-weather backpack with large easy access external cargo pockets, urethane coated YKK zippers, large external wet-dry pocket, comfortable shoulder straps, daisy chain lash points, haul loop handle, waist strap, adjustable sternum strap, and unbreakable stainless steel hardware. Next, we add to the main compartment, a fully waterproof liner with high frequency RF welded seams, and finish the whole thing off with a watertight roll-top closure. This dual bag ideology creates a bag that is completely waterproof when it needs to be, but exceptionally functional for the other 99% of the time that it is above water.” I’ll take one in fluorescent pink, thank you. [via xenijardin on twitter]

Network: twitter

"Five years ago, Aptera‘s founder Steve Fambro endeavored to design and build a passenger vehicle that was safe, comfortable, and more fuel-efficient than anything ever produced. This aspiration, combined with his background in engineering, led him to an intensive study of aerodynamics, and composite aircraft construction. He hypothesized that a low-drag, aerodynamic body shape could be achieved without sacrificing comfort, drivability or safety. What emerged, after much designing, conceptualizing, and constructing, was a prototype two-seat, three-wheeled vehicle. This first operating prototype achieved a stunning 230 miles per gallon. Building on this success, Steve expanded his Aptera team and created the Aptera Typ-1, which has been re-designed, re-engineered, and refined into a production ready vehicle.” The Aptera is available with a pre-order reservation for $500 if you live in California. The vehicle costs $26,900. [via missrogue on Twitter]

Network: twitter

"Four 5 inch square tiles featuring noni, lichen peach and durian...made of unglazed porcelain and have an angled hole in th back fit for a finishing nail.”

Network: supermarket

Designed by nineteen-year-old, Ben Gulak, ”the Uno accelerates with a simple lean and turns like a street bike on side-by-side wheels.” [via briancaldwell on twitter]

Network: twitter

Help Remedies creates soothing package designs for medication. From Creative Review: “Their packets of pills and plasters not only look great but are also made of 100% recycled paper pulp. And at $6 for 12 headache pills (or 8 plasters), that’s not much more than most of the more well-known brands, so these are no vanity purchase. Plus you’ll get to look just that little bit cooler when you’re ill.” Also be sure to check out the ”help, I’m bored” page.

Network: ffffound

These cool tyvek wallets are made by dynomighty design inc. and available at designboom. “Stitching is always the first thing that rips in a wallet...well, not any more. This wallet is made from one single sheet of tyvek paper. There’s a tri-fold wallet in the style of an international mail envelope as well as a blue and white bi-fold wallet with text printed in a classic dot matrix font.” Only $19. (via emilychang at Stylehive)

Network: stylehive

"The Minipod loudspeaker follows an organic design, where form follows function. Each characteristic of the design has a precise acoustical justification. The Minipod is essentially an amalgamation of three spheres to form one pressure-vessel, minimizing cabinet vibration, sound radiation and distortion, allowing sound waves to move more freely.” [via honeybee at Stylehive]

Network: stylehive

"Oved Valadez introduces the Arc cuff that reveals the time when touched. The cuff is of bent ash wood with a leather lining and a coin cell component with LED.” The piece was created for the Greener Gadgets Design Competition. (via Mocoloco)

Network: blogs

The Turkish design collective, MayBeDesign, has come up with a good use for old suitcases with these clever chairs and ottomans. (via Treehugger)

Network: blogs

The Factory / Rectangle is a “planter for your pleasure.” Designed by Chiaki Murata and produced by Metaphys. (via Stylehive)

Network: stylehive