How the Pros Package: Better Packages’ Electric Water-Activated Tape Dispenser

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This month has been a flurry of packing cardboard boxes with gifts, as all of you prepare to send our excellent Gift Guide selections to loved ones around the world. Even if you had no experience with a tape gun in November, you’re probably a pro with it by now; but how do the real pros seal boxes? Surely they don’t futz around with tape guns like the rest of us?

Folks in packaging facilities are more likely to use machines like the Better Pack 555eS, an electric water-activated tape dispenser. (To be clear, the tape is what’s water-activated, not the dispenser.) The operator punches in the length of the seam to be sealed, and the machine then spits out a slightly longer strip of “water-activated”—i.e. gummed—tape that forms an actual chemical bond with the cardboard.

The benefits versus plastic tape are multi-pronged: The reinforced gummed tape is hardier and you can print on it, as we’ve all seen with Amazon packages; not having to use a tape gun supposedly cuts down on repetitive stress injuries; and the tape itself is recyclable. Here’s Better Packages, Inc.’s pitch video:

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Spar supermarket displays groceries between curved wooden ribs

Dutch supermarket Spar’s flagship store in Budapest features a series of undulating wooden forms through its interior by local firm LAB5 architects (+ slideshow).

Spar supermarket in Budapest by LAB5 architects

The curvaceous forms of the interior are designed to guide shoppers to the back of the store. “There is a short route for quick daily shopping and a long route for weekend buyers,” Andras Dobos of LAB5 architects told Dezeen. “All the forms in the interior are inspired by this flow of customers.”

Spar supermarket in Budapest by LAB5 architects

Shelving is created in between curved wooden ribs that extend from the walls and across the ceiling.

Spar supermarket in Budapest by LAB5 architects

The wooden sections merge into an island for displaying bottles of wine. “[The wood] helps to create a more cosy atmosphere in spite of many industrial elements,” said Dobos.

Spar supermarket in Budapest by LAB5 architects

Curved counters are clad vertically with similar wooden lengths in the bakery. Walls are painted brown, in keeping with the natural feel of the materials.

Spar supermarket in Budapest by LAB5 architects

In other parts of the store, white beams zigzag between ribbed sections on the ceiling where wooden lengths are spread more sparsely.

Spar supermarket in Budapest by LAB5 architects

A mix of pendant lamps, spotlights and tube lights are attached between the ribs on the ceiling.

Spar supermarket in Budapest by LAB5 architects

A pair of curved white beams guide the shopper through the aisles, while fruit and vegetables are displayed within rounded counters made from Corian – a solid surface material that creates a smooth finish.

Spar supermarket in Budapest by LAB5 architects

Rounded grey and white tills are positioned at the front of the store, which is located in Budapest’s MOM Park shopping centre.

Photography is by Zsolt Batár.

Here is some more information from the architects:


MOM Park is a shopping mall located in a wealthy district of Budapest. When SPAR decided to open its supermarket there, they had the idea to build a flagship store, and have a unique design for it to achieve elevated experience of shopping. They invited architects and interior designers to submit design proposals in a non-open competition. LAB5 architects won because of the look and feel of a market space, with a friendly industrial atmosphere. Luckily later 90% of the original ideas could have been realised.

Spar supermarket in Budapest by LAB5 architects

Located in a shopping mall, this retail can draw mainly three kinds of costumers, so the layout is organised accordingly. One can be shopping very quickly even not entering across the gates. There is a “short route” for quick daily shopping, and a “long route” for weekend buyers. All the forms in the interior are inspired by this flow of costumers.

From the entrance the ceiling is attracting you to the back zone, and then shows different possible ways to go on. The block before cashiers doesn’t have suspended ceiling, and it is just clear and organised.

Spar supermarket in Budapest by LAB5 architects

Due to the condition of the modest internal height, we wanted to gain the space above the suspended ceiling zone, so we didn’t put a ceiling, unless it was really necessary, and also in a free-form way. Where we could we used solid white surface, and where we had to put additional elements (lights, sprinkler, etc.) we used optical ceiling.

Spar supermarket in Budapest by LAB5 architects

Where possible, shelves and counters are forming islands, just as if they were standing at a market.

Spar supermarket in Budapest by LAB5 architects

There are two zones where the ceiling converts into a 3d form by flowing down to the ground. At the bakery products warm feelings are strengthen. At the wine section, the lamellas of the ceiling are continuing down to the ground to form a space of a cellar, and to indicate at this point the quality and the culture of the product. Generally saying, as the ceiling is the element that can be seen from everywhere, it became one of the main elements in orientation and of impression.

Spar supermarket in Budapest by LAB5 architects

The Dutch word “Spar” meaning pinewood gave the idea of using “wood-like” materials at the ceiling or at the winery. It also helps to create a more cosy atmosphere in spite of many industrial elements. We chose acryl (corian) for the finishing of all rounded furniture, as they had to be white, shiny, clean, durable, and supporting the “fluid” effect.

Due to many contradictory specifications we couldn’t apply concrete for the floor as we planned, but the single colour solution of grey tiling is perfect for the goal.

Spar supermarket in Budapest by LAB5 architects

Maybe because of the fact that we are architects and not interior designers originally, we were seeing this retail as being one part of the big shopping mall, so we used the colour brown of its public spaces, on many elements (floor, ceiling, rear of shelves, etc.), and no other colours (beside grey and white).

Supermarket with 2000 m2 of public zone.
Location: Piazza floor of MOM Park (EU – Hungary, 1123 Budapest, Alkotás utca 53.)
Competition: March 2013
Design: May 2013
Construction: June – September 2013

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between curved wooden ribs
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Sports, Science Toys and Games! ALEX Toys Wants a Package Designer in Northvale, New Jersey

Work for ALEX Toys!

ALEX’s mission is to provide children with quality creative products that foster personal expression and build self-esteem. Their extensive product line covers over 1,000 items in expanded categories of toys including imaginative and dramatic play, fashion and jewelry, whimsical children’s furniture, and more.

ALEX Toys is seeking creative, energetic and talented graphic /packaging designers to join their Northvale, NJ team who can create effective packaging in their Sports/Outdoor, Science and Game categories. If you have experience with dielines and blister packaging, you’re that much closer to landing this outstanding job. Apply Now.

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Earthrise: The 45th Anniversary

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Dezeen’s A-Zdvent calendar: Zaha Hadid

Z-for-Zaha-Hadid

We’ve reached the final edition of our festive A-Zdvent calendar of architects, which wouldn’t be complete without Zaha Hadid. The architect’s recent built projects include the Heydar Aliyev Centre in Azerbaijan (pictured) and a new exhibition space for the Serpentine Gallery in London, but she is also working on a stadium for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and a Miami skyscraper.

See more architecture by Zaha Hadid »

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Zaha Hadid
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Mikhail Kalashnikov 1919-2013

Mikhail Kalashnikov portrait

News: the Russian designer of the AK-47 assault rifle Mikhail Kalashnikov has died aged 94.

A general in the Russian army and the designer of the widely used weapon that bears his name, Kalashnikov died in hospital yesterday after a long illness.

The AK-47, abbreviated from Avtomat Kalashnikova 1947, is a selective-fire, gas-operated assault rifle and one of the first to have been mass produced.

Kalashnikov and his team developed the gun at the end of the Second World War to function reliably in harsh conditions. Its success was put down to the simple design, compact size and cheap manufacturing cost.

AK-47 assault rifle
AK-47 assault rifle

The firearm was adopted as the standard issue assault rifle of the Soviet Army in 1949 and was later disseminated worldwide, undergoing a series of modifications until the present day.

Kalashnikov continued working as chief designer at the firm that first built the AK-47 in Izhevsk, Russia, into his late 80s.

He received many state honours and was twice lauded with the honorary title Hero of Socialist Labour by the Soviet Union.

The AK-47 was added to the collection at London’s Design Museum in December 2011.

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1919-2013
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Dezeen’s A-Zdvent calendar: Ma Yansong

Advent-calendar-Ma-Yansong

Ma Yansong of Beijing studio MAD is the penultimate architect to appear in this year’s A-Zdvent calendar. Featured here is his blob-shaped Ordos Museum in the Gobi desert, which is clad in polished metal tiles to resist sandstorms. The firm also recently presented a masterplan for China where buildings are designed to look like mountains and public spaces overlap with the natural landscape.

See more architecture by MAD architects »

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Unconventional Locomotion: The Cubli, a Freaky Self-Balancing Cube

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Your cell phone is able to vibrate because there’s a little motor inside that rotates a small, off-balance weight. We’ve all seen our phones skitter across a desk when a call comes in, some further than others, depending on what model you have. But the phone’s locomotion is not directed or intended, it’s just a side effect of this little device spinning inside.

What if that motion was directed, and even precisely predetermined? Independent of cell phones, researchers at Switzerland’s Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control designed and built the Cubli, a 15-cm cube that can move around by means of little flywheels, motors and sensors inside of it. While a cube is not the shape you think of when you think about designing a miniature vehicle, check out what this thing can do:

I’m going to forego my usual robophobic tirade about the borderline creepiness of a cube that can move like that, and instead propose that these guys make my cell phone silently stand straight up on my desk whenever a call or text comes in.

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