The second single from Kehlani’s forthcoming third studio album, blue water road, “little story” premieres with a beautiful black and white music video. Kehlani and Alexandra Thurmond co-directed the visuals, which intercut intimate close-ups with scenes of the outdoors, a surrealist violin sequence and a tender conclusion that features the singer’s two-year-old daughter.
Cat Is Art is a minimalist cat tower designed for the modern home where cats can play and humans can store their home goods.
Interior design is an art of balance, and the furniture pieces made for our pets don’t always flow with the rest of our home the way we’d like. Too often, it comes down to what we’re willing to sacrifice: our interior design, or our cat’s comfort. Every once in a while, however, a new piece comes out that manages to wrap it all together. Cat Is Art, designed by Plenilunio Design Agency, is a modern cat tower that strikes the ideal balance between minimalism and rustic warmth.
Designer: Seongjin Cheon, Chungjic Kim x Plenilunio Design Agency
Amounting to a clever combination of a large bookshelf and cat tower, Cat Is Art finds climbing components via staggered shelves for cats to hop between and for users to store home appliances. Adding to their original cat den, the cat tower is its larger, taller counterpart. The cat tower’s exposed metal frame dips into farm-style interior design elements, giving it a rustic flair.
Placed between the metal framing, spacious shelves protrude from both ends to give cats safe landing pads for resting and jumping. Plenilunio Design Agency layered each shelf module with padding so cats will always feel comfortable when taking their little cat naps. While the cat tower keeps a unified look throughout, two metal rings situated near the tower’s top-shelf allow pet owners to attach feline-friendly toys to keep their cats entertained.
Maintaining a minimalist look throughout its build, Cat Is Art is comprised of only its metal frame and integrated shelves. The metal framing does find some energy with a diamond-crossed centerpiece that offers a subtle dash of style. Conceptualized in a blue and white color scheme as well as an entirely optic white finish, Cat Is Art has a chameleonic personality that would look right at home in any modern living room.
A diamond-crossed back section offers some flair to the otherwise stripped-down cat tower.
Staggered shelves provide safe landing pads where cats can jump and rest.
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Made in adults’ and children’s sizes, these indoor slippers are part of a capsule collection by artisanal footwear and accessories brand FEIT and Northern Irish artist and author Oliver Jeffers. The super-soft leather slippers are crafted from a single piece vegetable-tanned calfskin and feature a natural latex-padded insole and a suede outsole. The subtly hued leather has been illustrated by Jeffers with symbols (campfires, hammers, storm clouds and more) from his art book All That We Need, which was made exclusively for FEIT. Printed by Brooklyn-based Small Editions, the book will be sent along with the first 100 adult-sized pairs of slippers sold.
Bluetooth speakers have proven to be very convenient and versatile. We can’t live without these audio devices and we’ll only look for better ones as technology improves and more needs arise. We like those portable ones but are powerful enough to start a house party.
The big brands have been introducing products for audiophiles left and right but they can be very expensive. We know there are startups that have been introducing new speakers that offer excellent audio experience in unique forms. The latest on our radar is the RUM Project. No, it’s not the kind that can get you drunk. It’s the kind that will make you in love with music more or dance to your heart’s content.
Designers: Rume Studio
The RUM Project is a concept Bluetooth pendant speaker that features a 360-degree surveillance camera. It’s a combo-gadget that offers a number of conveniences apart from audio playback. Business owners will probably love this because of the discreet feature. People will think it’s just a speaker but they don’t know it’s also a camera.
There is the issue of privacy but most establishments should really have security cameras. Unfortunately, some customers get scared when they see too many cameras so it may be best if you choose something that’s not very obvious. The RUM appears to be more consumer-friendly and won’t scare the customers away. Not that people don’t want them because they’re going to commit a crime, it’s just that they don’t want prying eyes when they’re shopping or eating.
The RUM Project offers several functions but it also serves as decor. It can be placed alongside pendant lamps on the ceiling. It solves the problem of connection and cables by hiding what needs to be hidden. It’s also easy to control using a dedicated remote control so streaming is continuous when needed.
The Bluetooth speaker/security camera delivers clean aesthetics as the design and materials can adapt to any interior. There is a 3D-camera module below the speaker module. It appears like another smart speaker but this one doesn’t “talk back” and do things for you. What it can do is play your favorite music.
The post The RUM Project is a speaker-and-security camera system in one first appeared on Yanko Design.
Using high-frequency sound waves, scientists at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia have managed to grow new bones out of stem cells. Having spent over a decade investigating how sound interacts with different materials, researchers developed a sound wave-generating device that can manipulate cells and fluids. “We can use the sound waves to apply just the right amount of pressure in the right places to the stem cells, to trigger the change process,” says co-lead researcher and professor Leslie Yeo. This innovative feat could crucially help patients who have lost bones to cancer or degenerative diseases—an imperative breakthrough as the current, experimental process requires extracting bone marrow which is expensive and painful. In contrast, this new approach is faster, simpler and more effective. “Our device is cheap and simple to use, so could easily be upscaled for treating large numbers of cells simultaneously,” continues Yeo. Now, the researchers are exploring how to scale their device to treat as many people as possible. Learn more about it at RMIT.
Image courtesy of RMIT
The first step in ensuring your passport, cards, or money doesn’t end up getting left behind… or stolen.
The AirTag Passport Wallet comes with a built-in holder for your Apple AirTag, allowing you to tap into its ultrawide-band tracking abilities to keep tabs on your personal effects like your Passport, cards, cash, boarding pass, and vaccine certificates. Now admittedly, the AirTag itself is a pretty bulky pebble-shaped device and something like the Chipolo CARD Spot would absolutely work like a charm here, but if you’re well tied into the Apple ecosystem and you like the AirTag tracking interface that lets you know where the tracking device is by following a large arrow around the room, the AirTag Passport Wallet makes quite a nice addition to your travel EDC arsenal.
Designer: Simply Soirée
Each AirTag Passport Wallet also comes with an AirTag keychain, effectively covering all your belongings. Made from vegan leather, the wallet has space for a passport, along with 3 cards, a certificate, as well as some cash. The AirTag chamber lets you tuck the tracking device in, and once it’s in place, you can rename the tag on your iPhone or Apple device, personalizing it in a way that lets you track it better. Even with the AirTag, the overall device measures just 0.3-inches in thickness, making it thin enough to slide into most laptop bags, briefcases, purses, or even fanny packs if you’re still the kind to rock those…
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Music makes the world go round. Without it, life is meaningless. Music serves different purposes. It entertains, evokes feelings, and enhances experiences. Sound, in its raw form, engages audiences and helps communicate. When you play sound in an ordered manner, it turns into music.
One can’t just claim to be a music expert just because he listens to different genres or plays instruments. There are audiophiles and then there are sound engineers. These people can be considered experts in their fields in ways regular music lovers can’t comprehend. Perhaps they hear music and sound differently. It’s inexplicable but maybe playing around with the TE-LAB will give us an idea.
Designer: Love Hultén
TE-LAB is a project by designer Love Hultén who is also an audiovisual artist. This Swedish craftsman has created this semi-modular sound machine based on various effects and instruments. Hultén used modules from the Teenage Engineering PO Modular series to build the core sound engine.
You will see different features like a sequencer, filter, analog oscillators, and a Holograms Microcosm. The latter comes with eleven unique algorithms right on a granular effects pedal. When you play sounds on TE-LAB, you will hear the rearranged sound the way the machine interpreted it.
If you’re into sci-fi stuff, you will love the sounds this machine can make. Artists and musicians can get inspiration from the unique sounds and timbres. You can try a lot of effects from loop techniques to delay, sampling, and pitch-shift. Other features of TE-LAB include a circular oscilloscope and a turntable sequencer with pins.
The large device stands out as a bright yellow wooden console. It’s handcrafted which makes it special. Love Hultén also looked at modules from Holograms Microcosm. The design of the sound machine was inspired by a Lomond Campbell turntable.
The sound machine is like a toy for the big boys. Those who want to practice being a disc jockey may try this. Those who want to learn sound engineering can add this to your collection. Those who want to just play, get this. If you want those sci-fi sound effects playing, TE-LAB will be perfect for you.
The post TE-LAB handcrafted sound machine lets you play and create sci-fi sound effects first appeared on Yanko Design.
Audio quality has been one of the biggest apprehensions that audiophiles and audio experts have had over Bluetooth headphones and speakers. That’s why it took a while before the biggest names in the industry were willing to put their brand on wireless audio equipment. Since then, however, Bang and Olufsen, sometimes under its B&O and Beo names, has brought its legacy and iconic aesthetic to the market, inspiring designers and dreamers to come up with beautiful concepts that get that design DNA across in a rather unique way.
Designer: Anis Jabloun
Bang and Olufsen is one of the oldest marques in the audio equipment market, giving its name to a number of iconic speakers, installations, and even cars. Like many brands that have been around for decades, B&O has earned a reputation and a unique visual language that makes it easily identifiable as a Bang and Olufsen product. Of course, such a brand identity also comes with the quality and performance assurances that B&O’s name has been carrying for years.
That is the same association that this headset concept tries to summon using design cues distinct to B&O’s products. In addition to a minimalist design, that design language often involves the use of gold accents or components that add a touch of luxury to the product’s appearance. There’s also the telltale sign of premium materials, like natural leather for comfort and looks.
This concept design almost looks similar to B&O’s first wireless on-ear headphones, the BeoPlay H8 that launched way back in 2015. A key difference, visually speaking at least, is that the inner part of the cups is completely transparent. In theory, this has no effect on the quality of the audio the speakers put out, but it does send a clear (pun intended) message to anyone who sees it. Just like the cups, the sound you should expect from a B&O-branded headphone is crystal clear and unadulterated.
The ring around that transparent cup isn’t just for show either. It invites people to touch it and discover that it is actually the headphone’s controls. In an age where flat, smooth touch surfaces have become the norm for many Bluetooth headsets and earbuds, a return to tactile controls is somewhat comforting, reminding us of our humanity and the need to touch and feel things.
The post Inspired by Bang & Olufsen, this headphone concept takes audio clarity literally first appeared on Yanko Design.
These chairs by Andu Masebo, produced while he was a Masters candidate in Product Design at the Royal College of Art, are handsome enough themselves.
However, it’s when you learn how they’re made that they become doubly interesting:
“This series of chairs have been designed to be as resourceful as possible with the materials with which they are made. Each of their overall forms and relative dimensions have been optimised for the most efficient use of machining methods and the least amount of resulting material wastage. Individual components are cut from a single eight inch plank of wood with a rotating cutter. Each positive cut creates the negative of another, and the thickness and width of each component are determined by standardised commercial timber dimensions. All making for a chair with the best of intentions.”
In Masebo’s eyes, however, the designer’s intentions aren’t enough. The user of these chairs, too, must play their part:
“While this chair may be well intended, its overall impact when considered from cradle to grave may not be. Timber is often spoken about in terms of its capacity for carbon storage, however using it as a material with which to manufacture objects of consumption can only do so successfully when these objects are in use for a reasonable length of time. Once they are broken down, repurposed or turned into waste, their carbon impact on the planet changes considerably.”
“The extent and way in which carbon sequestration during growth may be ‘credited’ varies under different carbon footprint standards. The UK PAS2050 standard credits a proportion of sequestered carbon dependent on the lifetime of a product. For example, 0.19% of the sequestered carbon may be credited for a product in use for 25 years, rising to 50% for a product in use 50 years. Any union considered for this length of time would require a legal framework as well as a contract in place that could uphold the rights and responsibilities of all of the parties involved.”
To that end, Masebo actually drew up the contract, and now the meaning behind the name of the chairs—In Material Union—becomes clear:
“To live in material union is to respect an object beyond simply its monetary value or personal usefulness to us at any given moment in time. It is to fully consider the impact of the materials with which the object was made, the processes and transportation that brought it to be and the impact of these choices on both human and animal populations as well as the natural life cycles that provided us with the materials in the first place.”
“If we were forced to fully consider even one of these variables at the point of purchasing an object, might it change our patterns of consumption and reduce the amount of waste we produce?”
Grace Ives has released her first new music since 2019’s DIY-pop album 2nd. Co-produced with Justin Raisen, “Loose” sounds like Ives, but slightly evolved and more complex than her previous offerings. The Brooklyn-based artist was “living in a bed-bug-infested apartment, withdrawing from SSRIs, not sleeping,” when she wrote the vibrant song, adding that “There’s nowhere to go but up.”
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