Hasta La Ideas

Nine products designed to look like other things

While the MoMA store’s product preview always has us excited for the shopping year ahead, a few designs stood out for their “faux” ingenuity. Below are nine objects cleverly designed to resemble other objects, making for a new way to enjoy an old favorite. Check the
MoMA store site this spring to buy them and peruse consumer expert Rob Walker’s blog Things That Look Like Other Things for more illusory inspiration.

Loose Leaf Door Stop

Thai designer Teerachai Suppameteekulwat’s green leaf-shaped doorstop ($14) adds a bit of brightness to the home while propping open a door to let in springtime air. Tapered to fit beneath most doors, it’s made of polypropylene.

Toast It Coaster

This set of six cork coasters ($10) might make you pine for butter and jam while enjoying your morning brew. The toast-shaped surface protectors, designed by Patricia Naves, even come packed like a loaf of bread.

Watermelon Knife

Forged from Japanese carbon steel, this serrated watermelon knife ($25) has a playfully eerie resemblance to the fruit it’s meant to slice. The knife features an ergonomic design to make cutting through the thick shell of Citrullus Lanatus (or any other melon) easier so that you can enjoy a juicy treat without too much effort.

Tea Bag Infuser

Drawing inspiration from traditional teabags, Claus Jensen and Henrick Holbaek‘s infuser ($30) updates paper versions for a more eco-friendly and (some would say) better-tasting version. The stainless steel and wire infuser can make pots or cups of tea and its rubber base helps it stay put.

Prato Umbrella Stand

Naoki Terada’s umbrella holder ($35), a MoMA exclusive, brings a mini lawn to even the most compact apartments. Cute and functional, the grass patch can hold up to twenty umbrellas and is made of steel and synthetic resin.

Couture Flower Vase

On first glance Sayaka Nishinami’s beautifully-crafted vase ($24) appears to have a delicate lace sleeve around the base. But it’s the effect of matte porcelain that creates the effect on what is actually a seamless design.

Leaf Tray

Argentine design collective VacaValiente ($18) is known for recycling leather into happiness. Their Leaf Tray, which functions as a catch-all for the house, embodies the firm’s optimistic approach.

Faux Bois Placemat

The digitally-printed vinyl placemats ($12) by NYC-based designer Sandy Chilewich bring the outdoors inside. The result is a little rustic harmony for the kitchen table with a woodgrain pattern that, unlike its real-life counterpart, wipes clean easily.

Stop tea time by Esther Aarts.
[Via]

Maybe it’s because the Adult Entertainment Conference was also in town, but the Trojan booth at CES in Las Vegas seemed to get lots of traffic. Trojan? Condoms? At the Consumer Electronics Show, you ask? Well, yes. Apparently in September of 2010, the Trojan brand entered the vibrator market with Trojan Vibrations, a line of vibrators and vibrating rings that help users enhance sexual pleasure. Presented as part of Trojan’s new innovations, the design innovation here seems to be the aesthetic considerations that went into making these products acceptable to just about everyone. As Stephanie Berez, Product Manager for Innovation and Vibrations at Trojan explains, “When we set out to enter this category, we wanted to make sure to carry the brand attributes of Trojan (trusted, safe) through the product line. At the same time, we wanted to create a device that would be sensual.” With their sleek designs in shades of purple (the color of sensuality, we’re told) the products are also designed to be gender neutral and appealing to both partners. There’s is also a level of customization that is built into every product–making the vibrators acceptable to a wide range of the market. Nice, friendly packaging too.

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Per render l’idea di quanto sia resistente la scocca della seduta, viene utilizzata in questo video per scivolare sulla neve. Elephant è stata disegnata dallo studio Neuland e prodotta da Kristalia.
[Via]

Upsetters Architects of Japan have completed the interiors for the new offices of  visual design studio WOW, located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.

Large panoramic windows wrap around the open-plan space and a lack of internal partitions allow workers to enjoy views of the city.

Blocks of timber lining one wall of the space provide informal seating.

Photographs are by Yusuke Wakabayashi.

More about WOW »
More office interiors on Dezeen »

Here’s some more information from the architects:

WOW sendai / upsetters architects

An office refurbishment for WOW, which is a visual design studio based in Tokyo, Sendai and Florence.

The office is slender and located in the office building in front of Sendai Station. It also commands a panoramic view of the City and comparatively large for its staff’s number.

We attempted to place as few partitions as possible, which can make the workers and visitors enjoy the beautiful panoramic view, to show WOW’s multidisciplinarity and freedom from the existing categorisation.

The working space is loosely divided into four sections according to the professions with no clear boundary.

However, instead, it is attempted that all the personal spaces have enough distance in-between and each gaze would not be met so that they can concentrate on working even though the space is not isolated.

Cut timbers are piled by the windows, with which people can flexibly compose what they want. They are supposed to be used as a bench, a desk and so on.

The communication in the “free” space would not be such a formal meeting but a beneficial chat, which must be more fit for the feeling and situations at the moment.

The reason why we just piled cut timbers instead of complete furniture is that the workers can participate in the spatial design even during their use if the space is incomplete.

Moreover, the redundancy and incompleteness can indicate their challenging way of working.

The blank space at the entrance is expected to be used for the examinations of their installation work. It is, therefore, covered with artificial turf so that people can sit on the floor.

Click for larger image

Project name : WOW sendai
completion Date : 2010.10
type : Interior Design
location : Sendai,Miyagi,JPN
total floor Area : 188sqm
Total direction : TOKYO DESIGN LAB INC.

See also:

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Harajyuku MTG point by Upsetters Architects	Reed Space by Upsetters Architects	Brandbase Pallets by Most Architecture