Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

As most watches strive to innovate and position themselves as new and unique, they all usually follow the same template. Stainless Steel body, curved Sapphire glass, and a few rare elements/jewels. Aggregate Watches stepped in to break the mold by creating a watch that looks like no other. With a bezel and dial made from actual concrete, the Masonic watch is probably the most beautiful and unforgettable watch I’ve seen in a while, as it pays tribute to the Freemasons, one of early society’s first architects.

Concrete is extremely challenging to work with. It isn’t recommended in cases where you would require intricate detailing and low tolerances, making it extremely challenging to incorporate into watches, given how everything is based on machined components and intricate assemblies. Concrete has a tendency to chip, form bubbles, and have an inconsistent surface finish. However Aggregate used these very properties to their advantage, developing new technologies to make precise concrete components, and showcase their imperfections as design details. In fact, their proprietary blend of concrete is said to be more durable than most.

Featuring a concrete dial and bezel (a first of its kind), the Masonic watches come in four styles with two concrete finishes. The Gravel, Navy, and Oat Brown feature a classic concrete finish, with air bubbles and an inconsistent greying that give the watches a certain maturity, while also ensuring no two watches are identical. A Charcoal variant features a blackened concrete dial and bezel, blending in beautifully with the black casing and strap, creating something seamless yet unique.

All watches come with a machined stainless steel casing on which rests a ring-shaped concrete bezel. Inside this ring lies the protective Sapphire crystal glass, which gives a grand display of the concrete dial underneath. The watches pair themselves with straps made from top grain leather, with gray, brown, navy blue, and black tans that complement the concrete wonderfully. The stainless steel is given a brushed finish too, so that more emphasis falls on the concrete rather than on a polished steel surface. All watches come with a Japanese Miyota 203A Quartz movement, and even with their concrete construction, weigh just 0.2 pounds (90.72 grams).

A beautiful marriage between rough and elegant, state-of-the-art and unconventional, and being both resilient and gorgeous, the Masonic watches will easily be one of the most alluring and unique timepieces you’ll ever wear!

Designers: Jonathan Thai & Mike Yim of Aggregate Watches

BUY NOW: $99.00 $249.00

BUY NOW: $99.00 $249.00

The land line phone might be outmode, but the phone booth isn’t! Loop is a modern interpretation of one, but it’s not made for sidewalks. Its designed for those who work in open plan office spaces and makes for a cozy, private place to make phone calls, video chat, or simply take some “me time”. With 3 different wood types, multiple color choices for the interior, and even the option to have glass sides, each can be customized for the client!

Designer: Nick Kazakoff and Brendan Gallagher

You wouldn’t dare to put a fridge smack dab in the middle of your living room, right?! Wrong! You just might if you had the OOINO Mini Refrigerator. The first of its kind, this micro fridge doubles as a tasteful furniture piece with its modern shape and material combination featuring natural wood. Disguised as a coffee or side table, the compact design provides quick access to cold beverages and snacks without having to run to the kitchen. Better yet, you can actually take it to-go just about anywhere! It sits on a simple cradle charging station and can be lifted up in a cinch with its integrated handle. Take it to the beach, on a picnic, or other place for fresh food you want to keep crisp and cold!

Designer: Jaeyoung Kim

Binding together the two most important things you place in your pockets, the Mujjo Wallet Sleeve holds your phone as well as your cards/cash in a svelte, luxurious little leather case. Entirely hand-made from a single piece of leather, stitched together and stamped with the Mujjo insignia, these full-grain leather sleeves come made to your phone’s size specifications.

The leather wallet sleeves are available in vegetable-tan and black variants and feature a durable and beautiful outside while boasting of an inside so velvety soft, your phone stays scratch-free (it also occasionally cleans your screen too!). There’s enough space in the sleeve’s front pocket for three cards or 1-2 cards and some bank-notes. Plus, its slim form factor allows it to fit easily into any of your pockets. We’ll also let you in on a little secret… put your iPhone into the wallet-sleeve upside down, so you can easily charge your battery or listen to music while storing your phone in its beautifully crafted case!

Designer: Mujjo

BUY NOW

BUY NOW

May the heavens bless all car concept designers. When we crave new cars the most, they immediately jump in to tickle our fancy with some drop-dead gorgeous designs, no matter how conceptual they may be. Believe it or not, it’s been 5 years since Tesla discontinued production of their first ever model (and the first ever highway-legal electric car), the Roadster, designed by Lotus Elise. Now while we wait patiently for the next automobile in the Roadster series (Elon hopes for a 2019 launch), let’s look at, or rather drool over this Roadster Y concept by Vinícius Buch, a student at UDESC, Brazil.

The car features an incredibly slick aesthetic that takes a lot of design cues from BMW’s ConnectedDrive concept, in the sense that it too is open-top, features clever use of planar surfaces, a silver and black paint job, and most importantly, featuring asymmetry into its design.

The car doesn’t shy away from being frivolously futuristic, as would be expected from a brand like Tesla (remember the Biohazard mode?). It features a Tesla logo on the front of the car that on pressing gets the car started. Doors don’t open the conventional way with handles, but come with a touchscreen panel that when you slide your finger across, cause the door to automatically open. The car also cleverly presents the visual illusion of having a grill on the front, by an interplay between metallic and black surfaces/paint-jobs. Move to the back, and you have yourself a power outlet for charging the car’s lithium ion battery. Hey Elon… Impressed?

Designer: Vinícius Buch