Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

With road-side objects literally melting in Arizona and people cooking eggs on the sidewalks, it makes you wonder… how do we effectively battle this global warming crisis? And more personally, how do we stay cool without burning more electricity?

The answer is… Evaporative Coolers! These upright coolers can work as makeshift ACs while consuming roughly 10% of the electricity. How do they work? The cooler relies on a water tank to cool surrounding air down. The water evaporates and helps drop the temperature of the warm air. Quilo, like most evaporative coolers, uses a minimal amount of electricity to cool ambient air. Top off the Quilo with ice cubes and you can cool your air down further by up to 10°F. A dedicated ice-cube box helps the Quilo cool your air down further without wasting excess electricity like an air conditioner would.

Quilo cools in the summer, but its evaporative air technology works great in the winters too when you need a humidifier. In its humidifier mode, the Quilo uses water from its lower reservoir (which you need to top off every now and then) and makes the air humid during the dry season. It comes with a remote that allows you to work it with relative ease, and works silently, making no noise whatsoever. The fact that the Quilo, unlike air conditioners, is wheel-mounted means you can wheel it wherever you go, using it in every room of your house.

In temperate countries, especially like where I’m from, Evaporative Coolers are a heaven-sent. They operate in an area between fans and ACs, providing cool air and bringing down room temperatures, while not burning a hole through your pocket with high electricity usage. Plus the very fact that they’re portable and can be wheeled/carried from room to room makes them such a winner!

Designer: Quilo Design

BUY NOW: $129.00 $149.00

BUY NOW: $129.00 $149.00

Is it a bike? Is it a skateboard? Is it a scooter? What is it?! The Gauswheel is nothing like anything we’ve seen before. It borrows bits from most personal mobility vehicles. You stand on it as you would on a skateboard, propelling it with a foot. However, it has only two wheels like a scooter, and has a singular handlebar with a brake, like a bicycle.

Made for cruising around the city, the Gauswheel features a reverse penny-farthing style wheel layout with a large 20inch wheel on the back (where you stand) and a smaller wheel towards the front. The body is entirely made out of transparent Polycarbonate, while there’s also an ABS version available that’s not transparent, doesn’t light up, and is also a tad bit cheaper.

The Gauswheel comes with a slightly steep learning curve, but it remains one of those vehicles that most bikers, rollerbladers, and skateboarders should conquer. The Gauswheel’s front wheel has a pivot that allows you to steer as well as slalom. Ride it like a skateboard, while also having the ability to use the handlebar on the front (that detaches from the base, making it handheld) to brake or even drift, if you dare!

Designer: Gauswheel

BUY NOW

BUY NOW

Not the most ergonomic power-bank/external-charger we’ve seen but definitely one of the innovative, ambitious sorts. The Double E power bank turns motion into energy with its internal dynamo. Give it a few good shakes and you’ve got juice for your phone or tablet!

Of course you can charge it the traditional way too (via MicroUSB), but that’s too boring. The form-factor features a cylinder with an intersecting cuboid. On the front of the cuboids are two outputs and one input. It also has an LED matrix that displays the power bank’s battery in a percentage format so you can see the power build up when you shake the gadget around, and watch the power drain when you’ve got a phone plugged into it.

Not the smallest power bank we’ve seen, the Double E’s size comes from the fact that it has a moving magnet and a copper coil on the inside to generate electrical energy. I wonder how much power it could generate though. Any thoughts?

Designer: Zheming Zhou