Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

The Ki ecobe is one of those eye-opening products that you experience once in a few years. Designed with an aim to be socially responsible and sustainable in mind, the Ki ecobe footwear becomes one of the most impressively designed products with an even more impressive list of problems solved through great design application.

The footwear design comes as separate modules that can not just be interchanged for style, but even worn separately for functionality. Rugged when you want it, bare-basic when you need it, and comfortable when you demand it, the Ki ecobe manages to pull off something no one in the shoe industry has dreamed of achieving… Complete, well-articulated modularity that has a strong purpose. Born from a need to make a show that challenges the unsafe sweatshop practices of having people and children work with toxic chemicals, the Ki ecobe doesn’t use a single drop of glue. Rather than presenting itself as a challenge, the absence of glue actually makes the Ki ecobe a vastly better shoe than most.

The Ki ecobe comes as three different styles of footwear. The in-boot is like a good-looking and comfortable pair of foam/fabric indoor shoes and is designed so it can stay on your feet at all times (they’re also washable). A rugged outsole, strap, and laces can be added to the in-boots, turning indoor slipper into outdoor sneaker. Your feet remain guarded always, and the outsole protects the in-boots from getting damaged. You can directly wear the outsole and strap without the in-boots too, like a pair of laced sandals. The outsole comes with a rather unique tread that acts as a Lego brick stud as the strap fits comfortably into it, giving you shoe that’s incredible to look at even from the bottom. Each component comes in a wide array of colors and patterns, giving you the ability to make up to 10,000 different styles… or even 14 different styles if you were to buy two separate Ki ecobes and mix and match between In-boots, Outsoles, Straps, and Laces. You can custom select the color/pattern for each and every component of your Ki ecobe shoe on purchase, along with your size, pretty much allowing you to design/build your own shoe to your personal taste.

Each Ki ecobe takes not more than 5 minutes to be built, unlike shoes/sneakers that require manual labor and an average of 30 minutes per piece of footwear. Since parts are made separately, they can be swapped when they begin experiencing wear and tear, meaning you discard modules and not the shoe itself. The shoes come molded and stitched/knitted; and all the assembly is done through the laces and the press-fit between the outsole and the strap. Not a single drop of glue is used anywhere in the manufacturing process, therefore making workspace conditions much safer for the laborers involved, while also resulting in a shoe that won’t fail you because of build-quality issues.

It’s unsurprising that the Ki ecobe has bagged almost all conceivable design awards for being a shoe that impressively tackles three giants of shoe design, i.e., modularity, unsafe working conditions, and the set-in-its-ways footwear industry. Among many, the footwear design is a recipient of the Red Dot Design Award, the iF Design Award, the Green Good Design Award, and was a finalist at the IDEA Awards. Click below to support the Ki ecobe and be a part of history as it changes the footwear industry for the better… and let’s hope the big shoe companies can “follow this one’s footsteps”!

Designer: G.D Kim

BUY NOW: $69 $99

BUY NOW: $69 $99

Extremis Virus from Extremis on Vimeo.

Virus is one sick table! Okay… bad joke. But… good design! The series is a playful modern twist on the picnic table that offers seating for for 2, 3, 4, or 5 people. In a variety of vibrant colors, the design is a fun way to fill outdoor spaces. With small to medium sizes, it’s also an ideal solution to mix and match. However utilitarian, the randomized perforated table surface makes each feel one-of-a-kind!

Designer: Dirk Wynants

10 minutes is all you need transform this origami-inspired design from its folded form to a seaworthy vessel! It’s called MyCanoe and it’s compact enough to fit one or even two in your trunk, making it possible for anyone to enjoy canoeing without the need for car roof racks or a bulky, rigid boat.

Composed of specialized flexible and watertight polypropylene material, it goes from a 37″ x 25″ totable package to a full 14 foot canoe in a cinch. In its expanded form, users will find that it’s as comfortable as it is durable… not to mention, FAST!

Designers: Jay Lee & KS Jin

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BUY NOW

Living independently is fundamental to adulthood yet the older we get, the less independent we become. However, a thoughtful product can go a long way to extend independence – especially when it pertains to intimate situations. Designed for elderly adults, Uppie is a perfect example. This space-efficient, cost-effective, modern bathroom addition was designed for elders with physical limitations. The frame is adjustable, fits onto any toilet bowl and uses state of the art technology to aid in getting on and off the loo.

Designer: Jan S. van Ackeren

None of your furniture is immobile, so why should your ceiling lights be static? That’s the essence of Lili lighting! In the same way you can move your sofa, desk, or TV, you can also move Lili to adapt to your individual needs.

In fact, it’s even easier to move Lili around than any furniture. Unlike other ceiling lights which are often fixed in placed, Lili utilizes a large system of 4 pulleys that allow it to move to any position in a room on a whim. It’s as low tech as flipping a switch! Just pull Lili to the precise point you need it. DO want!

Designer: George Croissant

Whenever someone says “You know what this song needs…”, the answer is almost always “Some more bass” (Or Cowbell, depending on whether you’re an SNL fan). It’s true though, like I said the last time, humans love them some bass. So why would you settle for your laptop’s tinny in-built speakers?

You see, Macbooks are built with rather advanced sound cards. Almost every music producer you find uses a Macbook for production. It’s a great machine. But it’s also a great machine backed by speakers that don’t do it justice. Thin laptops mean thin speaker modules, which usually result in thin-sounding audio. The Bassjump 2, however, is a clever little accessory. Instead of replacing the speakers on your laptop, it empowers them. Designed as a portable subwoofer, the Bassjump 2 adds low-end to your laptop speakers, making them sound fuller.

Now your immediate question is “Why not just use external speakers?” and to that I say, because an external speaker the same size as the Bassjump 2 would have to fit in a subwoofer, as well as tweeters (that generate the mids and the highs of the audio) so as to replace your laptop audio completely. The Bassjump 2 is nothing but pure subwoofer power, designed solely to play alongside your laptop’s inbuilt speakers, to the Macbook’s strengths. Calibrated to perfectly add low-end notes to your Macbook’s audio, the Bassjump does one job and does it well. Combining powers with your laptop speakers to push out great sounding audio, the Bassjump is designed to be portable too(it even comes with a carrying case). It connects via USB and runs without batteries but rather solely via cable (allowing it to work in sync with your Macbook like a dream). The Bassjump even comes with its own custom software calibrated to work with Macbooks, Macbook Pros, Macbook Airs, and the iMac, tweaking its performance based on the device you connect it to (it works with Windows devices too, but lacks that calibrated audio balancing). Oh, and at just $53 it costs literally 1/6th the price of those Apple Homepod speakers everyone seems to be talking about. The only con? No stereo audio… but that stands true for the Homepod too.

Designer: Twelve South

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BUY NOW

No! This isn’t one of those “If VW made a…” concepts! The VW Fridge (an actual fridge!) comes as a collaboration between European appliance giant Gorenje and none other than Volkswagen whom we know too well. The fridge (a part of Gorenje’s Retro Edition) outwardly is a perfect homage to the surfer/hippie era with its front facade instantly reminding us of the VW Bulli or the Microbus that took the world by storm in the 50-60s. Using the delicious color palette that VW relied on, the fridge comes even with the chrome trims, the unmistakable VW logo, and a silhouette that does a brilliant job of juxtaposing a winning aesthetic from automotive history onto a kitchen appliance.

On the inside, retro gets replaced with cutting-edge as Gorenje packs the VW Fridge with cutting edge technology that keeps your food refrigerated and fresh. Yo automotive enthusiasts… You better park this one in your kitchen!

Designer: Gorenje

Think about it. You’re tucked in bed and you just want to get through a couple of chapters of that gripping book you’re reading. You lift it off its stand and it’s already open to the page you wanted. Plus, almost like a stroke of magic, a light goes on, focusing directly on your book with an intensity perfect for reading. You knock out a few pages and put the book back and the light switches off on its own!

There’s something rather sensible about the Lililite. It’s an elegant way to make an experience much better… in short, it’s the kind of product you don’t think you need, but when you have it, you can’t imagine life any other way! Built to act as a reading lamp, bookshelf, and a bookmark, all in one product, the Lililite is just beautiful good design. Made from bent plywood, the Lililite allows you to dock up to 5 books on it. It even allows you to rest your current book, face down on the page you were reading, on its reverse-bookstand surface. Also on this surface are proximity sensors that can tell when your book is on it and when it isn’t, knowing that the minute you lift the book off the shelf to read it, so that it can switch on or off its light accordingly. Truly one of those simple, beautiful ideas each designer wishes they’d had first!

Designer: Lililite

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BUY NOW