Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

It may take some patience and skill to change a lightbulb, but it takes just one brainwave to change the way we perceive lightbulbs. The LightCube redefines the lightbulb in a way that makes it easier to use, easier to switch, and energy efficient enough to be the future of lighting.

Rather than maintaining that lightbulbs should be designed to fit into fixtures, the LightCube actually comes with a plug at its end. This effectively makes every plug-point in your home a potential fixture for your light, allowing you to customize where you place lights along your house, rather than relying on the house’s inbuilt wiring plan. The LightCube can be said to be different from the traditional bulb in almost every way. Aside from the plug fixture, variants of the LightCube even come with batteries allowing you to unplug the light and carry it around with you while it’s switched on, and cables, giving you the freedom to extend the reach of your LightCube, rather than being limited to plug-points. The LightCube also has a visually disruptive yet iconic switch detail right on the front that doubles down as a gesture control sensor. You can manually operate the Light via the switch, or wave your hands across the sensor, having it switch on and off. Hand-gestures even allow you to activate the dimmer on the light, giving you more control over your light than you can dream of with your current light setup! On the inside, the LightCube is completely LED based, providing energy-efficient light in both warm and cool colors.

Instead of being just a standalone bulb, the designers behind the LightCube also envisioned an ecosystem of products to kickstart the LightCube Revolution. The first in the series is the adaptive lamp design, titled the LightShade, that not only serves as a table-lamp, but even extends to become a floor lamp, providing jot just diffused, but even focused lighting that can be adjusted without the need of hinges or moving parts, but just by the virtue of clever design. A look at the video above even shows how efficient the LightShade and the LightCube are in adapting to all situations, even becoming an emergency light that can be popped from its holder and used to scrummage for something important that may have fallen behind your table, or under the bed. The Gesture control system also proves to be greatly useful, allowing to double up as a motion detection light, so you don’t have to worry about finding the switch in the dark!

Miles ahead of the incandescent bulb, the fluorescent bulb, and some may even say the LED Smartbulbs in the market today, the LightCube is what you get when good problem-solving meets crowdfunding to challenge age-old norms. To be precise, a light that is flexible, functional, efficient, reliable, and reasonable!

Designer: allocacoc

BUY IT HERE: $16.00 $19.00

Comes in Cold White or Warm White.

Cupcake is a simplistic and convenient twist on the nanny cam that helps parents stay up-close-and-personal with baby even when they’re not in the room.

While it can be used just about anywhere, it’s also able to attach directly on the crib with a specialized mount. Simply attach the gripping mount and pop on the camera! Its round magnet ensures the cam stays put and allows it to swivel in any direction or at any angle. Compact and discrete, it can also be use on bookshelves or changing tables to keep an eye kids ranging from infants to toddlers.

Designer: AJ Chan & Solo Chan

Breakfast comes in all shapes and sizes no matter where you live! Designed with this in mind, the Breakfast Machine is your one-stop-shop for cooking cross-cultural breakfast cuisine.

This hybrid appliance features a steamer, oven, griddle and, of course, a toaster packed all into one unit. This way, you can cook Eastern items like stuffed buns and porridge AND Western items like steak, eggs and toast all at the same time! Only slightly larger than a toaster oven or microwave, it’s perfectly sized to be your countertop breakfast companion!

Designer: Ellie Zeng

Ever seen a firehose on the loose?! It’s downright dangerous! That extreme pressure takes 2 to 3 strong firemen to handle… until now. The Fireman’s Prayer nozzle is ergonomically adapted so that one person can easily keep it under control.

It’s designed with not only a sturdy circular grip but a crutch-style support that rests firmly under the arm. This makes it possible for a single firefighter to maintain grip with one hand while opening the nozzle with the other. The added stability and ergonomic design make it safer to use and easier to aim.

Designer: Taekwon Yeon

If Form only followed Function, imagine how boring life would be. The Exploded Chair ushers in a new age for Design, an age of Form following Expression! Functionally still a chair, the Exploded Chair is a visual break-down of the very idea of the chair. Taking a wooden chair and splitting it into its various parts, and then putting those parts into separate acrylic boxes (paying homage to products and their exploded views), the Exploded Chair is hilariously creative and does what good art or design aims to do best… Just make the world a slightly happier place to be in!

Side Note: If the designer’s reading this, a sticker on the chair that reads “In case of seating emergency, break glass and assemble chair” would make this piece worthy of inclusion in the MoMA Gallery!

Designer: Joyce Lin

What started as a conceptual design project to monitor water wastage in a household, turned slowly into a real-world project with one rather interesting product emerging as a result. The ‘Well’ by Matter and Mindtribe aimed to set up a system monitoring water-usage in one’s home and have stats sent to the homeowner’s phone. However, what we are captivated by is the resultant shower-head design that contained a smart-fixture, helping curb water usage through clever use of color-changing LEDs on its handle.

The showerhead actually combines itself with the hand-shower, becoming a hybrid in itself. The detail we can’t stop loving is the magnetic ball-socket joint that is less of a joinery and more of a piece of art. The hand-shower has a domed head that sits in a concave enclosure, held by a magnet. It can be adjusted and angled in any way necessary, just by maneuvering it via the handle. Gently pull it outwards and the showerhead releases from its magnetic enclosure, becoming a fully operational hand-held shower! To think that this small yet amazing design detail was the byproduct of a much larger systems design project!

Designers: Matter & Mindtribe.

If plants can refuel themselves via photosynthesis, why can’t our gadgets? The Solar Suntree is a rather neat alternative to yet another power-bank. It ditches the dull and boring Lithium ion battery for 9 solar panels, arranged beautifully like leaves on the branches of its bamboo wood tree-trunk.

The metaphor of life through sunlight fits in wonderfully with the Suntree. Leave it out in the sun and watch it turn those beams of sunlight into food for your gadgets!

Designer: Ryan McSorley (Xindao)

BUY IT HERE: $106