Hasta La Ideas

Scissors are often kept hidden in drawers for safety, but this handsome pair is something you’d actually want everyone to see.

Our workspaces are often littered with two kinds of things. On the one hand, you have tools designed to accomplish a task. On the other hand, you have decorative items designed to please the senses. Of course, there are now stationary and desk tools that are designed to hit two birds with one stone, especially those that embrace minimalist aesthetics that fit well in almost any situation. These scissors from popular brand HMM are designed to bridge those two worlds together, offering a tool that not only creates a sense of wonder but also inspires confidence in every snip.

Designer: HMM

Click Here to Buy Now: $45

Just as with the tools mentioned above, scissors often come in two classes. One type is clearly designed for cutting away at your problems, while another type almost looks too pretty to be used. The HMM Scissors is definitely not the latter, with an aesthetic that clearly exudes its power. The wide and flat blades are almost reminiscent of industrial tools, and its black Japanese steel body gives off an aura of strength and durability.

That’s not to say that the HMM Scissors looks like a monster you’d rather hide away in a drawer. The absence of extraneous shapes makes it easily stand out from a crowd of other desk tools. The “tang” or extruded part of one of the finger rings becomes a visual focal point that guides the eyes towards the center of the scissors, pulling one’s attention back to those muscular blades.

That seemingly innocuous shape jutting out of the finger ring isn’t just for show, though. Like every part of the scissors, it is functional as well as aesthetic. Flip the scissors and hold it by the blades, and you instantly have a box cutter. There is no need to reach out for a separate tool or even buy one.

Reaching for this pair is also made easy thanks to the disc base. A custom-made magnet lets the scissors stand upright with its sharp tip safely hidden inside the base. While it is clearly built to be an indispensable tool for everyday needs, the HMM Scissors is also clearly meant to be a testament of fine craftsmanship, standing tall on your desk like a tower of power, ever-ready to transform into a weapon that cuts down your tasks with a mighty and crunchy snip.

Click Here to Buy Now: $45

The post HMM Scissor’s 2-in-1 design cuts through conventions to stand proudly on your desk first appeared on Yanko Design.

Marvel will have you believe multiple timelines exist like railroads crossing each other and occasionally intertwining. The Oblivion AX-01 watch ditches the conventional notion that time should be represented as a cyclical concept. Instead, it puts time on a linear trajectory, letting you read both the time and the date in a single left-to-right glance.

With an undeniable Urwerk-inspired design aesthetic, the Oblivion AX-01 watch by Rajesh Sriram looks to uncomplicate the concept of ‘reading time’. Given that almost all cultures read from left to right, Sriram decided to just lay the time and date out in a straight line, letting you view your watch with ease. However, to retain the archetype of your average watch, the Oblivion AX-01 watch still has a circular body, creating a unique composition that even has two semi-circular hollow zones above and below the watch’s face. Pair that with a chunky visual aesthetic and an all-black design with just a hint of red and you’ve got a wristwatch that’s simple yet incredibly dynamic.

Designer: Rajesh Sriram

The Oblivion breaks the mold on wristwatch design in a lot of ways. For starters, its silhouette may look like your average wristwatch, but the Oblivion AX-01 is far from it in reality. There isn’t any official word on what sort of movement the watch uses, but its odometer-style watch-face is carefully built into a 3D watch body made from metal, with an outer lip that protects the watch from any accidental impact.  The face itself is covered by a curved glass piece and sealed within the watch’s 200M water-resistant body (although whether the markings on the watch are luminescent or not is yet to be determined). Finally, the Oblivion AX-01 is outfitted with a rubber bracelet that seamlessly integrates into the watch’s design, keeping its simple silhouette intact, but ensuring that the watch goes beyond the expectations of your average two-hand timepiece.

The post The Oblivion Watch’s unique hybrid movement makes time look ‘linear’ again first appeared on Yanko Design.

Now that remote work is common practice as most companies, so is video interviewing. Regardless of if you’ve interviewed with companies before or are just getting started in your job search, it’s likely that the new factor of interviewing online will emerge into your life. Here are some tips that will set you up for success as you head into a virtual interview.

Make sure you have a stable internet connection

This may seem like an obvious one, but having a stable internet connection is the first step to a successful video interview. Test your connection to make sure you have a bandwidth speed of at least 1 megabit per second. Also, closing out extra tabs on your computer will also help. It will not only help your Internet speed but will also limit possible distractions that could occur during the interview.  

Have your résumé handy

A perk that naturally comes with the nature of a video interview is the ability to be overprepared—especially when it comes to any questions you could be asked. Make sure to have a printed (or digital) résumé on hand so you can speak to any questions the interviewer may ask about your skills, qualifications, and background.

Test your microphone and webcam

“You’re on mute!” may be the most common Zoom phrase of the past few years due to the resurgence of remote work and people forgetting to unmute themselves on their computer before speaking. Testing your microphone and webcam are crucial steps to take before going into an interview—making sure the interviewer will be able to see and hear you properly.

Make sure you have a distraction-free setting

Video interviews quite literally invite the hiring managers or recruiters into your home, and most of the time you only have so much space and settings to work with. Even if you don’t have the fanciest background, make sure it’s at least neutral, without distractions, and will help give the interviewer a sense that you’re organized and thoughtful about your surroundings. Also, be sure you’ll be free from interruptions during the time allotted for the interview.

Pro-tip: set your phone to silent.

Dress professionally

Anyone who has been on a video interview knows you don’t technically have to wear dress pants, but make sure to wear a professional top and look as presentable as possible. Once again, since the interview is remote, there’s only so much you can show off to the person on the other end. Make sure that what you do show is impactful and makes a good impression.

Try to maintain eye contact & confident body language

Maintaining eye contact and confident body language may seem impossible through a virtual medium, but you may be surprised to learn that people on the other end of the screen can still pick up if you’re feeling confident and comfortable (or not). Here are some more tips on body language.

Go into the interview prepared to troubleshoot and remember there’s only so much you can control. Good luck!

Your desk lighting doesn’t have to be mellow to keep you calm and relaxed, especially when you can have a lamp that easily reminds you of a peaceful forest.

Very few things immediately remind us of peaceful atmospheres. Many of them are related to nature, like trees, forests, rivers, lakes, fountains, and mountains. Having plants on your work table might not always be practical, and even a simple desk fountain near your computer could be unsafe. Almost everyone, however, will have some need for a desk lamp, and this concept for a modular lighting solution tries to have the same effect by resembling one of the most resilient plants in the world.

Designer: Sudhamshu Ds

Bamboo is well-known for how it can survive a storm without breaking, and it has become a symbol of resiliency and strength in the midst of stress. The larger bamboo plants have also adorned many homes, especially those with Oriental motifs, both as a reminder of that property as well as for practical purposes. Suffice it to say, bamboo has always been associated with calmness, coolness, and sometimes even mystical or spiritual thoughts.

Those might be the ideas and feelings you’ll encounter when seeing Moi, a modular desk lamp that takes its inspiration from bamboo. Rather than standing upright like bamboo, however, the idea is to have four tube lights resembling bamboos lying on top of each other like a mat. It might have been fine to leave it at that, but the design actually goes the extra mile to provide some level of customization.

Each “bamboo light” can be turned on or off independently of the rest with a simple twist, with no need for extraneous switches or buttons that don’t match the theme. Simply rotate the tube to make the light source face away from you, and that light turns off. There is a global knob that controls the light intensity for all four lamps, as well as a discrete power button that likes flush with the base, so it doesn’t distract from the bamboo motif.

The design suggests that the lights don’t actually work when disconnected from the base where they get their power from. The design is modular in the sense that it’s relatively easy to take the desk lamp apart and store or transfer it in a space-saving manner. Then again, it might be easier to simply pick up the entire assembled lamp if you’re just moving it across the room.

The Moi lamp is sadly not actually made of bamboo, which is a bit of a missed opportunity. The concept could have helped make the lamp sustainable in addition to being modular, giving you some peace of mind knowing that you’ve done your small part in not making the planet worse.

The post This modular table lamp tries to make you feel you’re in a bamboo forest first appeared on Yanko Design.

[The designers of this product are of Ukrainian origin. YD is sharing work from Ukrainian designers/students in the hopes of amplifying their talent and giving them a global platform.]

With its arc-shaped design, the BondArtStudio’s color-pencil holder puts the literal ‘bow’ in rainbow!

Crafted out of beech wood, the holder comes in a variety of sizes, storing anywhere between 24 to 72 pencils. A small area in the middle acts as a container for other stationery like brushes, erasers, sharpeners, etc. while the most attractive element of the holder remains its ‘perforated arc’ that lets you spread out your color pencils in an eye-catching spectrum of hues.

[Follow BondArtStudio on Instagram]

Designer: BondArtStudio

By vertically holding all your color pencils in a single file, the holder occupies lesser space while allowing you to individually access each color without digging around in your color pencil drawer or pencil-stand. The horizontal holder sits easily on any desk, with a base-heavy design that prevents it from tipping over, and a vertical mounting system that prevents the color pencils from rolling around on your table.

Each holder is hand-made out of beechwood and finished with a coat of thung oil at BondArtStudio’s workshop in Kolomyya, Ukraine. Given current global affairs, BondArtStudio was forced to temporarily shut its studio, although their work and craftsmanship speaks volumes and deserves amplification and support.

The post BondArtStudio’s pencil-holder turns your color-pencils into an organized rainbow of hues first appeared on Yanko Design.