Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

It looks like the Swahili Gem apartments in Mombasa have been crochet-bombed! The architects decided to clad the building’s outside with a ‘moucharabiah’ inspired skin (derived from the Arabic term Mashrabiya, a style of carved wooden latticework), paying homage to traditional graphic patterns. The facade forms an ornamental layer on the building, not just giving its residents privacy (you can’t really peer into the windows), while also allowing light to filter through. The architect described the design as ‘showing its attachment to Mombasa’s history by borrowing inspiration from the rich traditions of Swahili design’.

The building’s northern face is left untouched, and opens to a wonderful view of a water-creek. The project is due to be completed this year and will open its doors to people willing to live in its 14 lavish residences.

Designers: Estrella de Andrés, Marcos Velasco & Ahmed Shamuty (Urko Sanchez Architects)

Conventional diffuser knobs are so passé. Just earlier this week we saw an inventive lamp that uses marble dust to make the light dimmer or brighter.The Ra Lamp by Sergey Gotvyansky explores a new way to take the diffuser and change the way one perceives it.

Linking the diffuser knob’s turning action to the path a sun takes in our sky during sunrise or sunset, the Ra Lamp comes with a shaft that rotates on an axis from 0 to 90°. When at 0, the lamp stays off. It reaches peak brightness at 90°, just like the sun is brightest when directly overhead. Pretty clever, don’t you think??

Designer: Sergey Gotvyansky

UPDATE: Less than 48 hours left on their campaign and close to $1,000,000 raised!

You know what, honestly I enjoy sitting back and watching one wallet after another just trounce each other with better designs and abilities. One wallet puts RFID blocking into it, the other immediately puts a tracking feature as well. Then the third goes ahead and includes a power bank. The fourth ups the ante a little bit more with a solar panel… What more could you possibly put inside a wallet, you say? Well, let’s have a look at the Volterman to find out. (P.S. Turns out, you can put a LOT more into a wallet!)

With its mildly superhero-ish name and heavily cheesy tagline, Volterman jumps ahead of all the wallets we’ve shown you before. “I’m not Superman, I have Volterman” says the protagonist as his wallet solves pretty-much every conceivable problem a human being can face. Storing cash and cards is something most wallets do, but it isn’t what they stand for. Wallets are broadly supposed to take care of your needs by safeguarding your important valuables (currency, identity cards, etc.)

Volterman stands for being a problem-solving wallet, doing an incredible job of safeguarding your stuff, but also going the distance and achieving so much more that it’s more than just a wallet. Off the bat, it comes with RFID Protection, safeguarding your cards from data-theft. It even tackles physical theft (or plain absent-mindedness) with a Distance Alarm. Leave your wallet behind somewhere and your phone immediately buzzes to let you know. Interestingly enough, it even works the other way, so if you leave your phone somewhere and it gets a certain distance away from you, your wallet pings to let you know. It even provides you with global GPS tracking to see where your wallet is and be able to follow it around… but innovation doesn’t stop right there. The Volterman is the only wallet that comes with a stealth-camera (undetectable to the layperson) which triggers a photograph and sends it to your phone the minute it’s opened. That’s right. When the wallet is in lost-mode, it secretly documents the faces of people who open it, pretty much giving you all the evidence you need to catch the person who flicked (or reward the person who retrieved) your wallet.

Now, as we approach the 400 word mark of my article, I’m still just getting started. With the ability to send culprit-mugshots to your phone, the Volterman would have to have in-built internet connectivity, right? Well, it does, and you can even connect your phone to it, using it as a global Wi-Fi hotspot. With internet roaming rates that are comparably lower than most, the Volterman provides internet to you across the world, pretty much negating the need to carry a dongle with you, or look for cafes with free Wi-Fi. Alongside that, the Volterman also works as a power-bank (because why not) with the ability to charge two phones at once. One via cable, and the other wirelessly. Built with a 5000mAh power bank and Qi charging, the Volterman can officially be named the superhero of wallets.

Features aside (and there are so many), the Volterman is still a slim and very capable bi-fold wallet. Replace your old wallet with the Volterman, and you could literally go on about your day as usual without the slightest of a hassle. Made from quality Nappa leather (there’s a faux leather variant too), the Volterman fits 10 cards with cash, stands at a dazzling 11mm thin, and is completely waterproof. Designed to be the second most powerful thing in your pocket after your smartphone, the Volterman does a marvelous job of teaming up with your smartphone to provide an experience unmatched by any wallet. In fact, it doesn’t make sense to even compare the Volterman with regular wallets. Yes, so when your current wallet can wirelessly charge your phone, act as a wi-fi hotspot, and take mugshots of thieves, come to me. Then we’ll talk…

Designer: Backbone Branding

BUY NOW: $145.00 $238.00

BUY NOW: $145.00 $238.00

Ever get the giggles from seeing a kid on a leash?! As funny as it might look, that leash protects little ones from getting lost or, even worse, kidnapped. Perhaps this wearable solution is precisely what we need to prevent these worst case scenarios. It’s called Ora and the designers describe it as a “smart urban safety device”.

Unlike other bulky GPS tracking devices, this discrete pendant is comfortably worn around the neck and hardly noticeable to others. It uses state-of-the-art technology that allows it to piggy-back off nearby smartphones, utilising their components and signals to relay information about its location. During an emergency or kidnapping, it can be triggered with an intentional twist to alert authorities. Paired with proper training, it’s a surefire way to keep track of tots and get them the fastest help in unpredictable situations.

Designer: Crux

With more than a decade of usage, our hands have gotten used to maneuvering computer mice with incredible dexterity. They’re easy to grip, and they’re not going anywhere soon. In fact, the HARAC Line Paper Cutter models itself on the computer mouse, with a button that when clicked, lowers a blade that can cut shapes with sheer precision.

Yes, you may argue that we use pens and pencils with much more precision, and a scalpel or a cutter would therefore make much more sense, but it actually doesn’t, because scalpel/cutter blades only work in one direction, and they need constant adjusting to be able to cut in non-linear shapes. The Line Paper Cutter’s blade is such that it works in every direction, and you don’t need to adjust your grip, or the paper’s position to get the precise cut. In fact, its design positions the blade away from your hand, so you have no visual obstruction either while cutting. The introduction of a clickable button almost makes the experience extremely familiar and mouse-like… making you feel like you’re working in Photoshop or Corel, except the slice tool is real! A simple press of the button activates the blade as it descends down on the paper. Release the button and the blade rises up, safely above. Effective, and inventive, the revolutionary redesign of the conventional cutter also takes care of safety, concealing the blade so that it doesn’t cause accidental cuts.

Designer: HARAC

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BUY NOW

Hostile (read: edgy) looking on the outside, but designed to be equally homely on the inside, the Cactus towers currently being planned in Copenhagen will be home to 500 youth rooms and will also be connected to an IKEA and a 1250 room hotel via its sprawling garden.

The undeniably unique looking towers boast of rooms with balconies and terraces on each floor, while also making sure the buildings become landmarks in themselves. The architects are bolstering forward with the construction, with hopes to have it up and running by 2019!

Designer: Bjarke Ingels Group

If your Alexa device looks a little too gadgety for your taste, you might like O-JIA. The Alexa-compatable series features 3 distinct shapes and sizes designed with a softer, more elegant aesthetic. No messy buttons or big logos, they’re clean and smooth with an intuitive touch-pad interface on top. Experience enhanced hifi sound and far-field voice recognition without tech-ing up your aesthetic!

Designer: Min Keun Kwon

For the most natural and earth-friendly barbecuing experience, the team behind the CasusGrill developed a grill in a box that could be easily be disposed of after use. Literally made from cardboard, bamboo, and lined with Lava Stone on the inside, every bit of the Casus Grill is environment-friendly. In fact, rather than fuel or regular charcoal, it even uses bamboo-based charcoal briquettes that are known to produce lesser carbon monoxide than conventional fossil fuels.

The CasusGrill takes all of five minutes to reach its peak temperature and will continue cooking for an hour after lighting. The lava stone lining on the inside (Perlite) contains the heat within, making the barbecue safe to carry around with your bare hands while burning. It even doesn’t pose any threat to the environment and can be easily disposed off. The Casus Grill presents itself as an alternative to disposable, single-use aluminum grill trays that clutter mountainsides by the dozen each month. Designed from the earth and for the earth, the Casus Grill can be used as well as be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.

Designer: CasusGrill ApS