Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

The Micro Wallet answers the question, “How much can you truly achieve with minimalism?”. Its answer is, “Quite a bit!”. Designed to be the thinnest and lightest wallet we’ve ever seen, the Micro Wallet is just 2.3mm thick, is durable, waterproof, eco-friendly, comes with space for 8 cards and cash, and even integrates RFID protection. It also acts as a canvas for art, featuring the works of artists all around the globe, making it (also) much more fun than your traditional leather, fabric, or even your contemporary metal card-holder/money-clip.

Fashioned out of Tyvek (a material that’s seen itself get used everywhere from postal envelopes to shoe design, to even use during the Space Shuttle program), the wallet manages to achieve everything you’d expect out of a bifold, but at a mere fraction of the weight and thickness. At just 2.3mm thick (that’s just 0.3mm thicker than a card), the Micro Wallet can fit cash and up to 8 cards together, and still be thin enough to sit in your pocket without giving you the pocket-bump that you’d get with a leather wallet.

Tyvek offers some noteworthy physical properties. It’s virtually tear-proof, durable/expandable, light, water resistant, and most importantly, eco-friendly. Another property of Tyvek is its ability to be printed on. Paper-thin, Tyvek doesn’t just act as a wallet’s material but also as a canvas for your fashion statement. Designed in collaboration with artists from all around the world, the Micro Wallet features seamless artwork all around it. Treating the wallet as not just a storage device, but also a canvas for art, the Micro Wallet gives the wallet its true status of a fashion accessory, allowing you to express a style, as you would with your attire.

It’s quite remarkable how much the Micro Wallet can do with its minimalist approach. Designed with the capabilities of a regular bi-fold wallet, the Micro Wallet is just a size and material cut-back, and not a functional one. Waterproof, tear-proof, and RFID secure, the Micro Wallet is unquestionably as good as the wallet you currently have. At just a fraction of the thickness (and price), and surrounded with incredible art that’s definitely worth showing off, the Micro Wallet is perhaps better than the wallet you currently have!

Designer: Paperwallet

Click here to Buy Now: $20.00

Click here to Buy Now: $20.00

The FABRIQ Chorus does what the smart-speaker industry should honestly be doing. Focusing on the consumer. Taking the best bits from everywhere, the Chorus combines style, sound, and eco-system into a single package.

Realizing that the Homepod was too restrictive, the Echo and Home too service-oriented, and the other brands and products too expensive, product designers and enthusiastic audio-connoisseurs at Toronto-based Shape Products built FABRIQ, a speaker that looks as stylish as they get, with high precision drivers and amplifiers that deliver booming audio, working on Amazon’s Alexa platform, and using its far-field voice recognition technology to provide a stellar smart-speaker experience that combines great software with great hardware too. Named Chorus rather too aptly, the speaker can pair with multiple units around the house to provide zero-latency streaming on all the speakers, so your house literally reverberates with the audio.

The name FABRIQ comes from its textile clad that brings a vibrancy to the otherwise cylindrical shape. While most speakers only play with color, FABRIQ plays with print, allowing you to choose a speaker that fits your personality, or the upholstery of your house. On the functionality front, the FABRIQ Chorus makes no compromises. It delivers high-end audio, integrates with your smart-home, and works with all your services without batting an eyelid. With two 2-inch precision drivers and a passive radiator on the inside, the Chorus reproduces music at about 90% of the human hearing range. Far-field microphones mean you can talk to your speaker from anywhere around the house and it’ll listen to you. You can even choose to disable the microphones with the push of a button, giving you privacy that’s usually hard to find in today’s IoT dominated homes.

The Chorus’ $99 price tag puts it well above its competition, allowing it to be the only hi-fi audio smart-speaker on the market in its price range. Throw in the capability to allow multiple speakers to interconnect, the ability to toggle your microphone (and along with it, protect your privacy), the wireless charging dock, and its 6-hour battery life and you’ve sealed the deal!

Designer: Shape Products for FABRIQ

Click here to Buy Now! 25% off with the code FABRIQ25.

Click here to Buy Now! 25% off with the code FABRIQ25.

The way Caswell’s Morphing Karambit knife opens and closes is a thing of sheer beauty. It uses a parallel motion linkage, as opposed to a single-point swivel. The result is a knife where the blade can slide outwards even as your palm is wrapped around the handle. The action is swift, decisive, and the blade doesn’t even have to touch your palm or fingers as it slides outwards and in. It also makes the Morphing Karambit incredibly hypnotic to look at (especially in slow motion!).

The Karambit’s award-winning design comes from asking a basic question. How can you deploy a pocket knife’s blade while your fingers are securely wrapped around the handle? The same goes for when you’re closing the blade. With regular pocket knives, the blade essentially needs to travel through your fingers, because its path was defined by its single-pivot design. The resulting Morphing Karambit does a 180 (clever wordplay intended) on the default mechanism, opting for a linkage that causes the blade to move in and out innovatively, through the front of the knife. Using a parallel motion linkage, the blade slides out like the claw of a ferocious jungle cat, clicking satisfyingly as it locks in its open position, and casually returning to its retracted position when you’re done using it.

The Karambit’s curved blade design lends itself to a lot of activities, from cutting to shearing and shredding (coming originally from 11th century Indonesia, where it was used for hunting and agriculture). Made from Steel with a Tungsten DLC coating, the Karambit is unexpectedly efficient, and can be used not only for everyday tasks and outdoor activities, but even in emergencies, cutting through paracords, seatbelts, tough clothing, medical packages, etc. With just five precisely machined parts, fasteners, and a zero-profile titanium pocket clip, the Karambit’s elegant design fits well into the hand as well as comfortably into pockets, making it ideal EDC for passionate hobbyists, outdoor wanderers, safety personnel, and first responders alike!

Designer: Joe Caswell

Click here to Buy Now: $450.00 $650.00

– Seamless, Intuitive Blade Deployment. No need to remove fingers from the tool to allow blade to pass.

– User Safety is Enhanced because fingers do not cross a rotational path of a blade while the tool is grasped for use. [While safety is enhanced with this design, it should NOT be construed that conventional designs, made and used properly, are “unsafe.”]

– Convenient, Discrete “Zero-Profile” titanium pocket clip allows secure, deep-pocket carry without sacrificing accessibility. It does not create discomfort while the knife is grasped for use. It is much less likely to snag upon or damage objects encountered in close quarters compared with a conventional protruding pocket clip.

– Elegant Design including just FIVE principle parts, plus fasteners (and pocket clip). It is compact, rugged and optimized for use under demanding conditions.

–  Versatile. The MKV2 may be safely grasped and deployed in different ways to accommodate the present task.

100% MANUAL. MKV2 is NOT an automatic or assisted-opening knife! As such, it is generally legal to possess and carry anywhere a 2.5-inch locking folding knife is allowed. *Always know your local restrictions concerning pocket knives.

Click here to Buy Now: $450.00 $650.00

Being able to work-out without leaving the comfort of your home is ideal, but what isn’t so ideal is the unsightly aesthetic of the equipment that can become a permanent feature in the room.

PLAT is the solution to this problem; its designers recognized that conventional dumbbells lose their purpose when they are not in use. Integrated into the design is a second function, a desk clock. The dumbbell rests on a small, angular stand which features a digital clock on its face.

When the dumbbell is not in use it becomes a welcomed feature within the room; rather than being an eye-sore, it harmonizes with its surroundings while remaining functional. The carefully designed form ensures that it is still ergonomic while allowing for a visually interesting product. You’d be forgiving for thinking it was a sculpture as opposed to a piece of gym equipment!

Designers: Mun-mi Kang & Suyeon Hong

The designers of the Kopeva really went the extra mile to make sure this thing was uber-multifunctional. I just can’t get over how simplistic its construction is. It’s pure genius! They’ve literally slapped a little felt and wood veneer together (albeit in a very handsome way) and achieved not 1, not 2, not 3, but SIX clever ways to use this item.

Simple by folding, unfolding, or flipping it around, users can enjoy one of many different uses. These include a side table, magazine rack, hand/laptop bag, bookstand, storage unit and standing desk surface elevator. All while rocking a cool, modern, minimalistic aesthetic. I can easily imagine using this to take my computer to work, using it to transform my regular desk into a standing desk and then packing it up and heading home where I can use it to rest an ice cold beer while I kick back on the sofa. DO want!

Designers: Mark Choi, Joash Alexis & Valeria Mont for BoConcept Vancouver

When you think of a trivet, chances are that you imagine a heavy, iron, decorative holder or an oversized ceramic coaster for hot pans and other containers. Once you see the Joseph Joseph Surface Saver, however, you’ll forever picture something entirely different! This innovative design is a slimmer, more convenient twist on the classic trivet that can fold flat and be tucked away neatly in any drawer. The outer skin is highly heat-resistant and available in a bunch of quirky color combinations. It’s a must-have for your kitchen kit!

Designer: Rich Clough