Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

Time’s usually perceived as ruthless. The saying goes “The clock STRIKES midnight”… not “The clock casually saunters to midnight”. There’s something very mechanical and rhythmic about time’s passage, and the Lithe Clock changes ALL of that. Time, as experienced by us, is a free-flowing dimension, and the only reason we chop it up into seconds, minutes, and hours, is so that we can measure it. Lithe captures that free-flowing spirit of time, with its blade-of-grass-like hands. The face of the clock is but a mere canvas to the long and slender hands that glide and dance like ballerinas, even flexing and bending with an alluring grace, rising and wilting like natural things do.

With its incredibly long hands, the Lithe Clock is best suited for a completely barren wall. The shorter end of the hands tell the time with their leaf-like heads pointing at their intended numeric values, while the opposite ends dramatize the effects of time with their length and ability to bend like blades of grass do when they get longer and longer… because time moves gracefully, and there’s no reason your clocks shouldn’t too.

Designers: Shay Carmon & Ben Klinger (Stuio VE).

With its vintage-hip design language, including exposed show tires and a stub-nose front end, the Avanti Gara is reminiscent of prewar speedsters only with a cushy interior that’s undeniably today.

It’s unabashedly designed for the self-indulgent who care less about track times and more about inspiring the imagination through stunning visual appeal and closeness to the road. Its all aluminum body is scattered with rivets and venting including signature 3 dot vents along the side at the rear that provide a focal point as well as ample venting for the engine that sits directly behind the driver. The front hood contains a small storage compartment where you can fit just a few bag or two for your getaway. Leather straps give the exterior a bespoke feel.

As for the inside, it’s all modern luxury with dials and details milled from a single block of copper. The dials themselves are modeled after fine wristwatches. Aside from paddle shifters, the block steering wheel is free of any superfluous buttons or switches, encouraging the driver to fully immerse in the open cockpit driving experience. Unlike over-complicated cockpits of today, the Gara’s is tastefully reduced to the essentials including start/stop function, lights and hazard lights. Despite being quite minimal, it does sport a stereo system reliant on Bluetooth and your phone.

Designer: Ross Compton for Macchina Design

No two ears are alike, so why should your headphones be any different?! If you’ve ever experienced ear pain after wearing the cans for a prolonged period, then you might just be a victim of current designs’ one-size-fits all approach.

Mode Modular Headphones are the exact opposite. They feature interchangeable ear pads that can be swapped out in seconds to accommodate different sized ears OR for different listening experiences. Better yet, each set comes with 2 headband options: the MD1 Activity Band for listening when you’re moving around and the MD2 Headband with 3 earned configurations for enhanced entertainment immersion you can control with a gestural interface.

In a variety of material and color combinations, the Mode series is designed to compliment your unique style as much as it compliments your anatomy!

Designer: Richard Price

Let not its adorable size fool you. These folding knives and multi-tools are powerful and proficient and are sure to get you out of random daily situations. Touted as the world’s smallest folding scalpels, the Crane and Puna pack a punch even though they’re literally the size of your pinky finger.

The Crane, modeled on the format of a straight razor, comes at just over 2 inches when closed, and just short of 4 inches when opened. It easily fits into the ticket pocket on your jeans (yes, that tiny little pocket you see on the front-right side of your hip), and is officially the smallest folding scalpel blade in the world. However, it’s the Puna multi-tool that steals the show. Modeled to look like a rifle, the Puna actually packs functionality in every possible detail. For example, its barrel doubles as a scalpel blade, while the silencer that attaches itself to the front is actually a miniature screw-driver, ideal for small screws you’d find anywhere from on your phones to even your spectacles. Move on to the detachable magazine and you’ve got yourself another interchangeable screwdriver that can be inverted to reveal the screwdriver’s head. Lastly, the stock of the rifle serves the purpose of working as not only a bottle opener, but its hollow design allows it to slip directly into your keychain too!

Both the Crane and Puna are made out of stainless steel, but the Puna takes its avatar a bit too seriously and comes in a rather extensive miniature (business-card-sized) gun-case with all your tools laid out, waiting to be assembled. Both scalpels use standard No.11 blades that are interchangeable as well as disposable, just in case you end up carrying these tiny punters to the airport by accident. Ideal for having at your desk as a cool addition to your stationery set, or even on your person (if EDC is bae), the Crane and Puna go on to show that size doesn’t matter… and that the world’s smallest scalpel can still be the world’s coolest and most efficient one!

Designer: 3Coil Design

Click here to Buy Now: $19.00

The Puna, tiny in size but big in features, is a multi-tool in disguise. It is perfect for cutting, twisting, prying, unscrewing or just fidgeting with!

What is the “Crane” Knife?

The Crane is the smallest folding scalpel blade in the world. Keeping a blade sharp can be a real challenge, and depending on the knife this can also require a lot of skill. This is why we love scalpel blades for day-to-day use. Since a blunt knife is more dangerous than a sharp one, it is important that as soon as a blade shows signs of dullness, it is replaced with a razor sharp new one.

Click here to Buy Now: $19.00

Meet, Sam – a sleek electric vehicle designed with renewable energy in mind. It actually sports its own version of wind turbines to provide supplemental power.

Located in each wheel section, each time the wheels turn, the horizontal-axis turbines are activated. This produces electricity that can then be used to power other features like cabin lighting, entertainment systems, headlights and more. The energy created can also be harnessed and stored in the battery for enhanced range.

As far as looks go, Sam has an edgier aesthetic than your average pod-style EVs. You might even say it’s menacing! Its swept cockpit and near-seamless fender cladding make it as aggressive as it is aerodynamic.

Designer: Snežana Jeremić

As modern living spaces shrink, so grows the need for more compact and dual-functioning appliances! That’s the idea behind the Grundig Exclusive line by Sıla Tülay Zeytin. These common kitchen products aim to free up counter and storage space so you have more room to live!

The two parts in the series each serve distinct purposes. The central unit marries the functionality of a kettle and a coffee maker – a simple and natural combination. The same water that’s boiled for tea can be used in the coffee filtration process, eliminating the need for a stovetop kettle. As an added bonus, the other appliance in the series is a barely-there toaster that’s so slim you might miss it! Clad in black temperature-resistant material, they’re a sleek and handsome addition to kitchens large and small.

Designer: Sıla Tülay Zeytin

An increasingly difficult space to innovate in is furniture design, yet again and again, we are treated to some gorgeous new designs that stand out. One of these is the Pocket Chair by Sven Rudolph. Washable and resistant, the pocket chair has a glove-like leather seat which can be slipped off and on quite like a glove.

The seat is suspended by the use of the wooden structure sliding into the four pockets located around the leather seat. The cozy shape gives it a familiar, yet sophisticated look. Due to the finishing and material choices of the Pocket Chair, it’s not exactly traditional but also not really modern either, which can be a very good thing. Pocket Chair has its own space, where it can be used in different contexts, from home to office but also in lounge bars, wine shops, and restaurants.

Designer: Sven Rudolph

We don’t normally foray into print media, but this one completely bowled us over for how innovative it was. A perfectly unsuspecting advert you’d see in the newspaper, there’s more to it than what meets the eye with IKEA’s new print campaign developed by Åkestam Holst in conjunction with Mercene Labs.

This print campaign aptly named the “Pee Ad,” urges expectant mothers to urinate onto the ad itself. That’s right – their latest advertisement is a pregnancy test. After the ad has been ‘used’ if there are are no red lines or blue lines (indicating pregnant) a new price, that of 50% off, will appear under the crib – a new discount for IKEA Family members. With planned parenthood and the rise of pregnancy test prices a current topic of great debate around the world, I can’t help but applaud IKEA for this bit of creativity. I look forward to the next installment of Ikea’s functional ads, but for now, let’s just celebrate this little sliver of (stinky) genius!

Designer: IKEA

You can tell when you’ve got an allergy. You can tell when you’re feeling faint. You can tell when you’re down with the flu, but there are some things you can’t tell. For instance, how much UV your skin has been exposed to.

L’Oreal plans to change that with its UV Sense, a series of smart, battery-free ornamental stickers that sit anywhere on your body (although I do have to admit they look rather pretty on the nails). These stickers comprise patterns made from photoreactive dyes that change based on how much UV they’re exposed to. In short, the more time you spend outside, the more change the stickers register. They even broadcast the data to your phone, allowing you to monitor how healthy your skin is and whether you need an extra dollop of sunscreen or not.

Designed by the minds at Fuseproject, the tiles wonderfully blend aesthetics and medical functionality (seamlessly, if I may add). Perfectly capturing the style of the demographic they’re meant for, L’Oreal hopes that these stick-on UV meters will be as common as carrying chapstick around with you.

Designer: Yves Behar (Fuseproject) for L’Oreal