Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

It’s no surprise that a staggering majority of the top automotive content from 2017 remains the concept automobile domain. There’s just something about concept cars that tickles our fancy, dilates our pupils, and gets us excited quite unlike anything else! A large body of designers push the boundaries in the visual language domain, trying to design cars that look like they’re part of a brand’s family, while adding a bit of themselves to the mix. There’s something truly unique and lust-worthy about these cars because they come from a place of craving. Designers make concept cars they wish to see and admire, so it’s completely believable that these concept cars (be it for Bugatti, or Ferrari, or even the odd one for Boeing!) look absolutely beautiful… which is the whole point of the exercise!

We’re also seeing a complete shift in the definition of transport, with cars gradually moving towards autonomy, and therefore redefining what a car should look like on the outside and inside, what it should behave like, and most importantly, how it changes car-ownership. While most car concepts try to look flashy and appealing (don’t get me wrong, I love them!), there are some concept cars that focus more on concept and how the future may turn beautiful ideas like autonomy, and multiple-car-ownership into a reality! Here’s a look back at what we all loved about 2017, and what it could possibly hold in store for 2018!

Bizarre and elusive, the late 1930s Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic is largely considered to be one of the most beautiful automotive designs in history… and perhaps even the first supercar ever! Its iconic teardrop shape, dramatic fender flares and unique details like the split fin down the middle inspired this modern take on the Atlantic.

We may be having an open cockpit this year at the F1 races, but from the looks of it the next decade is going to show a transition towards closed cockpits. The designers at Renault definitely seem to be working towards that direction and they made that abundantly clear with the Renault RS 2027 Vision concept.

Designer Ivan Venkov decided to reimagine Ferrari as a completely new company, fully putting Ferrari’s and Pininfarina’s 60 year design language aside to develop something more aggressive and edgy. The result is something that looks like it could make a Lamborghini or a Pagani run for its money!

For all its aggressiveness, the Alfa Romeo Disco Volante concept by Alex Imnadze also has a delicate femininity to it. Makes perfect sense considering its flowing form was inspired by the natural curves of a woman’s body!

The Boeing 777 (don’t be deceived by the name, it’s not a plane) is designed to be an extension of a carrier’s flight service once business class passengers hit the runway… and it’s entirely autonomous!

Matrēshka is a modular autonomous vehicle explicitly designed for commercial use in mind. With a wide range of modifications, the Matrēshka includes 8–12 passenger buses, cargo platforms, specialized utility vehicles and many more.

The SYMBIOZ is like nothing we’ve seen before. The idea of combining transportation and living spaces seems like something absurd to fathom. Toying with this idea, the SYMBIOZ is an extension of the future – connected – home.

The urban Honda EV concept evoked an emotional connection unlike any other car showcased this year. The urban EV concept looks like something conceived in the 80s, with its off-white curvy exterior shape, similar to Honda’s earliest models.

Taking inspiration from grill designs and marrying it with illumination, the Tesla Model SD’s front features an interactive inverted-mustache panel of lights that give the car its face-like quality again while also bringing something innovative to the table.

Touted as one of the few Lamborghini cars with 4 seats… and a car that the company calls the world’s first Super Sports Utility Vehicle (SSUV).

It’s hard to imagine Lamborghini ever ditching the guzzle of a petrol engine for a silent hyperdynamic electric system. It’s thanks to the beautiful design of the Terzo Millennio, that shows that maybe Lamborghini is thinking very seriously about a move into the future of electric vehicles.

50% impossible, 50% real vehicle, and 100% awesomeness, the Apocalyptic Vehicle series by Jomar Machado gives us a taste of what our rides would look like if the world collapsed into collective chaos.

If you weren’t amped on Formula E before, take a look at these concept images of what the 2018 cars look like and you just might be! They’re from Spark Racing Technologies – the company chosen by the FIA for building the second-generation Formula E cars.

“The need to modernize the Phantom was absolutely clear for us,” Rolls-Royce design director Giles Taylor said at the official reveal event. “We wanted to give this car a little more energy.” and energize they have! The grill on the front has been vertically elongated a slight bit, with chrome lines at the ends running upwards and around the hood of the car.

Surus doesn’t require a driver thanks to the autonomous functionality, so in-turn, it also doesn’t need a cabin. The ‘platform’ as it’s being called, has a vast amount of applications ranging from cargo delivery, commercial freight with an emphasis on disaster relief.

This concept car designed by Arthur B. Nustas revives the classic vintage Bugatti Type 57T coupe by the German automotive giant, combining Jean Bugatti’s original work with the modern Bugatti aesthetic everyone so instantly recognizes and loves!

The Cap Snap asks the question, why use two hands to open one bottle when you could use two hands to open TWO bottles?!

The simple water-jet cut piece of metal weighs a meager 11 grams and can be placed in your pocket strung along your key-chain. When needed, the Cap Snap can be operated single-handedly by just placing it on top of a regular bottle cap and with the simple push down on the lever that extends off the top. With an action that’s literally easier than working a hand-grip, and more suave and responsible than busting open a bottle on a counter-top, the Cap Snap lets you open bottles when you’ve only got the one free hand, or when you want to work both hands opening bottles like an absolute pro.

Available in Aluminum, Stainless Steel and Titanium variants, the Cap Snap comes cut from a sheet of metal using a water-jet, ensuring precision as well as allowing for much less material loss and faster production runs than CNC machining. The 2D design fits easily into the pocket along with your keys and other EDC, and its curves ensure your hand never gets tired no matter how many caps you pop!

Designer: Wilson Mefford

Click here to Buy Now: $15.00

Click here to Buy Now: $15.00

Even if you get your hands on one of those prized vintage Nixie clocks from the 1950s, its vintage appeal might not suit your modern style. A better option might be the Nixie Brick. It’s a retro-modern clock giving us minimalist and steampunk vibes at once! Vintage orange Nixie tubes meet raw wood and steel in an uber-cool material combination that’s very in-mode right now. However stark on the outside, its glowing filament bulbs provide a warm, cozy glow that feels right at home next to your bedside.

Designer: Seohee Lee

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The Italians have been in charge of Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Maserati to name a few, and it appears each one of them has had a hand in the influence of Project Panther – the first project to be entirely designed, engineered and built in the new ARES factory in Modena Italy next year.

Project Panther is currently undergoing a series of testing to make this throwback vision of a car is ready to go ahead before they go on sale in the latter half of next year. A bespoke design, project panther, is one of the only truly elegant classics being released nowadays. With the world focusing its attention on minimalistic design languages and tiny details, the Project Panther speaks out to the romantics of automotive design and those who wish the days of the 1967 Maserati Ghibli would return and fast.

This car is a balanced load between new and old with an exciting look at what ARES has in store for the world. The front greets us with a sharp, edgy face, not dissimilar to that of the 1976 Lotus Esprit. While the transition from the front to the rear slowly teases similar design styles of the Lamborghini Huracan and, I for one, am really excited by it.

Designer: ARES Design

Air pollution in across East Asia is a truly frightening problem. The concentration of ultrafine dust in Korea particularly is getting worse over the years, while 1.6 million people were killed by air pollution in Northeast Asia in 2014. Hyungjun Koo has designed a gorgeously elegant concept of an air purifier using a water curtain called Sun Shower.

Contrary to the belief that an air purifier alone can clean out fine dust perfectly, it’s appropriate ventilation that is actually needed for clean air. Sun Shower is a new concept of air purifier that ventilates and purifies at the same time by using the principle of water curtain.

What makes this product a true pleasure to use its ease of interaction. The user is notified of the air making its way into the house/room by the shaking bell under the eaves. The user simply pulls the switch which is the bells themselves to activate the Sun Shower.

The water used for the purification is circulated in and out of the device several times and works as a natural filter. If the turbidity becomes too high, the water can be easily removed and replaced with clean water. As for the installation, a high elasticity spring is built inside the frame, and it can be easily installed by adjusting the size of the Sun Shower frame to fit the height of the window frame and voila.

Designer: Hyungjun Koo

There are two ways to go about making your iMac portable. A, you get yourself the Lavolta iMac carrying case, or B. something less bizarre, and more cool. You turn your iPad into a miniature iMac! The Slope helps you turn your iPad or iPad Mini into a miniature desktop by allowing it to become a monitor. The stand sits on any surface using friction pads and allows you to dock/place your iPad on it securely (friction pads again) in landscape and portrait modes. The stand comes CNC milled out of Aluminum, lending a beautiful Apple-esque feel to it, and as soon as you place your tablet on the stand, it instantly looks like the iMac had a little child. Except this one runs iOS and comes with a touch-screen! Connect your keyboard to it, or even use the Duet Display App to make your iPad a secondary MacOS running machine!

No more just using your tablet for Netflix or games… With the Slope, and the power of iOS 11, you can get some serious work done on your iPad!

Designer: Erik Kittlaus of Dekke

BUY NOW

BUY NOW

I don’t know who’s been sending out the memo to designers to redesign the hair-dryer, but boy have we seen some incredible concepts in the past year! The Nameless Hair-dryer adds itself to that list with its rather cool folding design that still manages to retain the hair-dryer’s cylindrical shape (something that’s pretty much axiomatic).

The Nameless Hair-dryer is called so because it doesn’t believe in associating to brands, or trying to create a perceived image with a product name. It’s nameless because the way the product looks and performs is brand enough for it. Made out of two simple cylindrical bodies that are connected at one end, the hair-dryer folds down when not in use, and when you want to blow-dry your hair, the handle opens up elegantly to reveal the hair-dryer’s iconic “7” shape. The grill on the back remains slatted, but the front has a rather hypnotic spiral detail on it, in a way indicating importance. What tops everything off is the fact that the hair-dryer is wireless, and comes with a snap-on plug that attaches to the base of the handle, powering the battery to full capacity in under 10 minutes, so you waste no time doing anything else but drying your hair, and probably admiring this work of art that is the Nameless Hair-Dryer!

Designer: Gong Yunji