Designed to add a touch of chic and convenience to any home (although I can’t think of a person who needs this more than a bachelor), the Slide Table from Studio Lorier comes with a unique nesting design comprising three concentric circular table surfaces. When you need yourself a small side table, the Slide exists in its nested avatar, but lo and behold, when the lockdown ends and you start throwing house parties again, you can expand the table by sliding out its nested surfaces to increase its holding space! Plus, I’m honestly really digging that green lacquer finish on the table’s beechwood construction!

Designer: Studio Lorier

At just 2.24 inches long when folded shut, the Falcon is no larger than the average pinky finger, but size doesn’t take away from the Falcon’s capabilities… because even for a knife that small, it can easily take on the job of EDC knives that are thrice its size. It’s safe to say that the Falcon is inspired directly by its namesake, with a small, sharp, claw-shaped design that looks similar to the tiny yet powerful talons found on the feet of predatory birds. No bigger than a key and quite literally lighter than a tablespoon of water, the Falcon is the kind of EDC that’s prone to being underestimated just because of its compact form… but that just allows you to be wowed by how capable it is too. On the design front, the Falcon comes in a safe, foldable format that tucks the blade into the knife’s handle. The handle packs a keyring hole too, allowing you to easily secure the EDC with your keys for convenience – so that you can access it when you need it and forget about it when you don’t… after all, it does measure 2.24 inches and weighs less than 5 grams.

The Falcon’s durability (despite its challengingly tiny size) comes from its titanium construction. With a body machined entirely from Grade 5 Titanium (including the hinge), the Falcon was designed to be ready for anything. Armed with a detachable and replaceable stainless steel #11 scalpel blade, the Falcon is adept at cutting, piercing, slicing, whittling, and scraping. Small enough to securely grip between your thumb and index finger, the knife cuts into vegetables, opens boxes, sharpens pencils, and can even be used to scrape flint-sticks and start fires. Built right into the Falcon’s edgy design is its spring mechanism that gives it the ability to snap open or close, while a clever detail allows you to easily lock on or disengage the Falcon’s scalpel… a feature that should prove handy when you’re carrying your EDC at the airport, but more so when you periodically need to change your blade every couple of months/years, because that robust titanium construction is easily built to last you a lifetime, while its practical, versatile, and hyper-portable design should make it your preferred choice for all small and large tasks! It’s definitely on our list of EDC favorites!

Designer: Leo Zhang

Click Here to Buy Now: $52 $75 (30% off).

The Falcon – 2.24″ Titanium Micro Knife

2.24″ when closed and 3.92″ when open, the Falcon is a micro knife designed for those that want a practical, durable and stylish compact knife to take with you everywhere.

They wanted to avoid this knife having the fate of all those old pocket knives stowed away, unable to even peel a potato. Integrating a replaceable #11 scalpel blade it’s easy and inexpensive to maintain the sharpest of edges.

Inspired by falcons, with their bullet-shaped bodies, long pointed wings and hooked claws, they went through a number of design iterations so that it looks good, holds well and stays safe in your pocket all whilst minimizing the number of parts.

Practical & Versatile

Easy lock safety latch and release system.

Loaded snap. Secure. Springy.

Replaceable blades made easy with their smart catch system.

Suitable for everyday tasks.

Camping? No worries, fire starting.

The Tiny Pick

Key chains are made to be kitted out so they have also made available their latest Tiny Pick titanium toothpick, at 1.8″ this is super compact and handy, a companion with your Falcon.

Click Here to Buy Now: $52 $75 (30% off).

On the Core77 Discussion Boards you can find gems like this one, a show-and-tell by industrial designers with footwear experience. It was kicked off by ex-Nike-designer Michael DiTullo who, on lockdown, began catching up on documenting past designs that had gone into production.

Writes DiTullo:

“This was the Jordan Highrise from 2008. I think this was my highest seller at about 300k pairs in the first quarter. It also was the first shoe in a long time in Jordan to have a visible Air Max bag and it also featured zoom air in the forefoot.

“The icons on the bottom symbolized each of the teams Michael Jordan beat for his championship rings. At the time Jason Mayden and I were on the design team and D’Wayne Edwards was the Design Director and all of us loved those little storytelling details.

“The factory was not super excited about the laces going under the overlay on the tongue where the Jumpman symbol is welded. I cut up a sample to show them it could be done, but once I saw them producing thousands of them on an assembly line I saw what a pain it was. So for the second quarter when we did MP2 a revised the tongue to not do that so it was easier to produce. Instead it just had two traditional slits for the laces to pass through there instead of going under the entire panel. The effect was 80% the same. Probably only designers would really see the difference.

“Also, MJ hated toecaps for some reason, but every once in awhile we could get one on a team shoe like this and he would let it slide. :)”

Writes designer and former Pensole scholarship winner Ray Zavesky:

“One of my favorite projects I worked on at Clarks was this ‘Lution’ shoe. We wanted to see if leather could be molded into a heel cup, and after a lot of experimenting in the factory we ended up with this design.

“We wanted to minimize manufacturing steps, and I believe we got this down to 12 steps or so? The butt seam runs from heel to toe so that you’re actually standing on the leather (no footbed). EVA midsole with a super soft foam insert and rubber pods for the construction. We all felt like we were onto something special, but boy was it a pain to get made!”

Richard Kuchinsky, Principal/Founder of the Directive Collective design consultancy, shares about his time with SKORA:

“Here’s my first (released 2011) and last (released 2015) shoes for SKORA. I created the brand and did all the development, packaging and marketing on the project.

“FORM was one of two first models for the new minimal performance running brand. The design was really a challenge to the status quo of what running shoes look like and how they are built.

“The outsole and tread is very different from traditional running shoes and features a rounded heel, and concave forefoot to mimic the foot, under a zero drop EVA midsole.

“The upper is 100% leather, using Pittards performance goat leather over sheepskin lining. The shoe was designed to literally fit like a glove (the sheepskin leather is traditionally used for glove making) with asymmetric lacing, velcro heel pull and custom last shape.

“TEMPO was the evolution of the brand language and performance construction. While still zero drop, the CM EVA midsole has more cushioning, and with a more minimal co-molded rubber tread design.

“The upper is super lightweight mesh, with no sew overlays and strategically placed microfiber reinforcements and collar lining. Fit again with asymmetric lacing and custom last shape.

“[In addition to those two models,] dots were part of the brand design language from the beginning. A moire pattern was a part of the brand DNA and used on everything from posters to boxes to outsole tread to insole patterns and 3M reflective print patterns and across different models. A few more examples below.”

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If you’ve got your own footwear story to share, jump in.

“I.P.” means “intellectual property” to most folks, but to car designers, it stands for “instrument panel.” Like all design specialties, car designers have their own language, which can sound strange to the layperson.

In forthcoming entries for this “Car Design Terms that Sound Like Cocktail Names” series, we’ll highlight some of the more bizarre terms auto designers use when describing particular design features.

We’ll start with “tumblehome,” a term borrowed from nautical design. Tumblehome is something you cannot see in a side view sketch of a car, only from the front or rear; it refers to the way (and amount) that a vehicle’s side windows curve or slant in towards the center of the vehicle. This van, for instance, can be said to have no or little tumblehome:

Image by TONYWONG, C.C. A-SA 4.0

This car has tumblehome:

Image by TONYWONG, C.C. A-SA 4.0

In general, the sportier the car, the more pronounced the tumblehome.

The Lamborghini Countach has extreme tumblehome.

The counterpart term to tumblehome is “turn under,” which refers to the car’s sides below the beltline sloping in towards the center as it gets closer to the ground. The Countach has a fair amount of turn under. However, “turn under” doesn’t sound like a cool cocktail so it doesn’t make the cut here.

Balcony designs are often overlooked. Now especially, in quarantine do we realize our need for that little nook that lets you connect to the outside world. But when you pay attention, that balcony space converts into a haven where you can spend some time and rejuvenate. Architects who realize this have also realise that balconies, from the exterior, create a visually interesting focal point that will help their creations stand apart. The designs curated here showcase this collection of buildings and home that have certainly made their balcony space, their personal space!

Zigzagging balconies with larch railings in the Ragnitzstrasse 36, Austria, enliven the facade of this apartment block in Graz, Austria, by Love Architecture and Urbanism. “Building cost and flat size were the big issues in this project. Besides that we had a free hand to design something unique,” says architect Bernhard Schönherr. “This building’s overall architectural character is defined by relatively inexpensive building components, such as the balconies.”

The Opus is a mirrored glass building occupied by a hotel, offices, serviced apartments, and several restaurants, set in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa district. The exteriors of the building were completed last year and the ME Dubai at the Opus is the only hotel in the world that can claim to have had both it’s exterior and interiors designed by the late Zaha Hadid. The interior is highlighted with furniture by Zaha Hadid Design and curving sculptural balconies that give the building a unique aesthetic.

Grillagh Water House by Patrick Bradley is made up of four stacked shipping containers! A balcony shaded by steel fins projects from the upper storey of this house in Northern Ireland, which this architect and farmer built using four used shipping containers. “I didn’t want to change the idea or the aesthetics of the design but I had to come up with an alternative that was more affordable and that’s where the idea for shipping containers came from,” says Bradley.

Overlooking the Atlantic ocean on the island of the Gomera in the canary islands, a simple metal guard rail is replaced by a contemporary concrete structure with a glass balcony that projects 200 meters from the cliff.

Not everyone has the luxury of creating our own balcony but worry not. Velux, the window manufacturer has come up with a new system that adds not only light and air to your interior spaces but also a balcony. Dubbed the Cabrio, this window system is perfect for attic rooms or any dark interior space under a pitched roof.

Balconies fan out like leaves from the mixed-use L’Arbre Blanc tower, which Sou Fujimoto has completed in Montpellier with Nicolas Laisné, Dimitri Roussel, and OXO Architectes. Modeled on the shape of a tree, the curved 17-storey building contains 113 apartments with cantilevering balconies, alongside publicly accessible facilities on the ground floor and rooftop.

A striking facade of protruding balconies make up the exterior of this residential building in Poland, which has been designed by local architecture firm KWK Promes. Located in the center of Katowice – once a dynamically developing industrial city – UNIKATO is a low budget building, which re-establishes life in what is now a depopulating downtown dominated with car traffic.

Balconies are surely space for you to mold as per your needs. But in the future, what purpose do these balconies play? MVRDV has collaborated with Airbus, Bauhaus Luftfahrt, ETH Zurich, and Systra, to develop a plan for the future of urban air mobility (UAM). The investigation tackles the integration of ‘flying vehicles’ into our urban environments and envisions a comprehensive mobility concept. over the last two years, MVRDV has supported airbus in exploring strategic urban development scenarios that leverage UAM as an opportunity to grow cities around the globe into thriving urban regions. Together they have produced a study aimed to avoid any detrimental impacts from this disruptive technology, which can so easily arise when truly revolutionary transport modes are introduced to cities without careful planning for both short-term and long-term scenarios.

Concrete balconies filled with tropical plants cover the Chicland hotel in Danang, Vietnam, designed by Vo Trong Nghia. Overlooking the sea on the coastal road of Vo Nguyen Giap, every room of the 21-storey hotel has its own tropical garden. Along with 129 bedrooms, the slim tower houses a coffee house, spa, bars, and a restaurant and is topped by an infinity pool and sky bar. Chicland’s entrance sits directly off the promenade alongside the popular My Khe Beach.

Local studio Peripheriques Marin+Trottin and Jumeau Architectes has completed an apartment complex on L’Ile-Saint-Denis in Paris, which features wavy balconies enclosed by a ribbon of perforated metal. The development is situated on a plot overlooking the Seine river, which is undergoing significant redevelopment ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The building features eight storeys, with some duplex apartments incorporated on the top floor. A pair of private courtyards create a direct passage through the complex from the street to the pedestrian alleyway behind.