Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

A Marvelous Marble-ous Lamp!

Posted: 08 Aug 2017 12:40 PM PDT

Marble is luxurious, elegant, and expensive. However, it also leaves a massive amount of waste when operated upon that is cheap, and can be used rather cleverly. Marble dust. Marble dust is rich in calcium, and is usually disposed of by most, with a few exceptions.

The Marble Lamp by Selce Studio uses marble dust’s semi-opaque quality to serve as a pretty innovative light diffuser. A transparent box with a bulb placed strategically on one surface is filled with marble dust. Depending on how you position the box, and how the marble dust lies within it, the dust blocks or lets through light. You can play with the degree of coverage to make the light dimmer or brighter. You can even use the dust to position the light and have it facing any which way you want it.

Playful, check. Aesthetic, check. Inventive, check!

Designers: Riccardo Centazzo & Jaxon Pope (Selce Studio)

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From Surf to Turf!

Posted: 08 Aug 2017 11:00 AM PDT

The latest from F1 enthusiast Olcay Tuncay Karabulut, the Maserati 2020 Bionic Concept takes aquatic inspiration from marine life and applies it to the design language of this far-out Formula 1 car. Designed with biomimicry from animals like fish and dolphins, the vehicle takes cues from their natural hydrodynamics and uses them to enhance aerodynamics. Thoughtfully placed fins, a porpoise-like nose and a fusiform body make it well-adapted for the road.

Designer: Olcay Tuncay Karabulut

This Fan Makes Cooling Down a Breeze

Posted: 08 Aug 2017 09:00 AM PDT

It might look like your average floor fan, but the 3D Circulating Fan is anything but. A thoughtful relocation of its motor makes all the difference! Inclined at a 135° vertical angle, the motor is affixed in such a way that it makes it possible for the fan to sway with a much larger range of motion. In fact, it can be positioned in almost any direction but straight down. More importantly, it can swivel back and forth to direct air across a much larger area, putting its circulation capability beyond that of other fans. Better yet, it can be controlled with an app on your smart device. Adjust the angle or fan speed from just about anywhere in the home!

Designer: Tong Ying, Lei Hanqiang, Chen Wei, He Huiyi, Wang Shaozhang, Xin Baopeng

Design in Disguise

Posted: 08 Aug 2017 12:00 AM PDT

If you close your eyes and picture a humidifier, there’s a 99% chance you’re envisioning something totally cringeworthy! It’s also why this cleverly designed collection of humidifiers won a Red Dot Design Concept Award… because they look NOTHING like a humidifier! In fact, they’re designed with a disguise. Each looks like another, less aesthetically invasive product to make things feel more cozy.

The pot, the biggest in the series, is designed for the living room or more spacious areas. Instead of emitting steam directly from a single, small, hole-type outlet, moisture is released along the circular rim of the top disk. This spreads the steam out over a wider area. In addition, the user interface is subtly micro-perforated on the top disk. — The kettle, a medium-sized option, has a capacity that makes it highly portable. With its convenient handle and purposefully placed spout, it’s ideal for bedrooms and other mid-size rooms. — The cup, the smallest of the series, looks like an average mug on your desk and is perfectly sized to humidify your workspace and other micro areas. Its dock station, the smallest of the 3, is compact enough to leave on your desk top or keep by your bedside.

Designer: Choi Jueun, Kim Bitnuri, Lee Soojin, Hong Hyekyung

One key you won’t leave home without!

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 03:56 PM PDT

Disguised as a key (and cleverly so), the Utili-Key by Swiss+Tech is a 6-in-1 utility tool that slips right into your keychain, getting you out of all sorts of fixes.

Weighing at just 0.03 pounds (14 grams), the Utili-Key is the lightest and most compact multi-tool ever made, and comes from Swiss+Tech, a company known for their mastery in the micro-tool making department. With its patented quick-release mechanism that allows it to snap onto your key-ring and open out into a multi-tool when needed, the Utili-Key squeezes in three types of screwdrivers (flat-head, Phillips, and micro-sized), along with a straight blade knife, a serrated edge knife and lastly a bottle opener.

Tiny to the extent of being unnoticeable, but functional to the degree of being an absolute essential, the Utili-Key slips right into your keychain, just looking like another extra key. Except this one unlocks your inner tinkerer/mechanic’s true potential!

Designer: Swiss+Tech

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Teaching kids to care about mother nature

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 02:06 PM PDT

Seldom do you see a toy that is a golden example of great interaction design, innovation, and education, all in one seamless package. Based loosely on tamagotchis, the Urban Canary is a toy doll that stays healthy in a non-polluted environment, and ‘falls sick’ when exposed to polluted air. Designed as a toy that aims to not just teach children about air pollution but immediately condition them to empathize with the toy when it falls sick in a polluted environment (therefore wanting what’s best for the toy and the environment), the Urban Canary comes with a sensor for a face, and a color-changing LED that goes from green to red, depending on how clean or polluted the air is. This links with an app that tells you how much polluted air you (and the canary) have experienced today. The only way to cure the canary is to let it breathe fresh air, so that its ‘lungs’ may purify and it may feel better.

The Urban Canary was a finalist at the Fast Company Exist ‘World Changing Ideas’ Award 2017, and rightfully so, with the way it helps teach a child to be caring and compassionate towards the environment, and to others… through a toy!

Designers: Daniel Goddemeyer, David Schellnegger & Brynn Shepherd.