Hasta La Ideas

Traveling by train cross-country or long-distance is probably not the most comfortable way you can go. But there are times when this may be the cheapest or maybe even the only option. The sleeper cars that are currently available, at least for the budget-conscious, may give you cramps, claustrophobia, and even nightmares. There’s always room to improve these kinds of compartments without forcing people to upgrade to the more comfortable but more expensive kind of train accommodations.

Designer: 2050 Lab

This design for a sleeper car not only makes it a bit more comfortable for those who will be spending overnight in the space but it will also let the train itself increase the number of seats per car. What they did was to design coupe-capsules with two tiers that are angled diagonally to create a herringbone structure. Each car is separated by a wall and a curtain to give each occupant a sense of privacy.

Each capsule has a sleeping space but also an extended berth as well as a window. There’s also a table in case you need to work at any time during the night. There’s also a space to place your luggage since most likely you’re carrying a piece or more to wherever you’re traveling to. Since there’s also a limited space, some functionalities serve dual purposes. For example the ladder and ledges that have built-in cushions can also serve as a standing rest.

The product renders for this concept make it look like a space that you wouldn’t mind spending 12 hours, or at least part of that, in when you’re traveling. Being a bit claustrophobic, I still would prefer to travel like this but it’s still a better alternative to the budget sleeper cars I’ve seen (through pictures and videos). It would be interesting to if the train manufacturer would eventually adopt this to an actual train.

The post Diagonal sleeper car design is an innovative solution to increase comfort and space on an overnight train first appeared on Yanko Design.

There are some people who are born to be fur parents, specifically to puppies and dogs. But there are also those who for one reason or another, whether allergies or living situations, cannot have an actual pet. Probably the next best thing to get is a virtual pet although that doesn’t seem to bring the same comfort as having an actual dog. Maybe the next best thing would be to get a dog-inspired robot, if you’re not scared of them one day becoming your robot overlord (although actual dogs can also be overlords).

Designer: Hengzhi Future Team

We’ve seen some robot dogs in the market but there’s still room for improvement in terms of mobility and functionality. Sparky is a new robot dog designed by a Chinese consumer robotic company and it says that it’s able to be more “realistic” in terms of movement and even the musculature of the animal that inspired it. Well, even though it’s meant to be a dog, their inspiration for the movement is based on various wildlife like horses and ostriches. The final look is meant to still be all canine though.

They studied how the limbs of these real animals moved and then incorporated them into modular connecting rods using an AIA actuator motor unit. The final result is that these musculoskeletal limbs lets Sparky be able to run, jump, and play just like a real dog, or at least the closest that a robot dog is able to do so. However, don’t expect it to be as cuddly as dogs since it’s actually made from metal. You get a shiny and sleek finish that may seem unnatural at first.

This robot dog is meant to be an alternative to a pet for those who cannot afford to keep a dog. It comes with a built-in camera and microphone so it can interact with its owners. It has an AI system that can understand commands and even “talk” with the people around it. You also get a remote control or a dedicated app that lets you control your metal pet and customize it according to what you may need in a four-legged companion.

The post This Musculoskeletal robot dog is the upgrade that makes your robot pet dream more realistic first appeared on Yanko Design.

One of my favorite times of the day is bathtime! As we’ve grown older and life has gotten super hectic, bathtime is that precious hour of the day when we can fully indulge in self-care, and pamper ourselves. Whether that’s in the form of a bubble bath or a long warm shower. And having a beautifully designed bathroom with thoughtful designs will only amplify this special time of the day. These products can make a huge difference in our everyday bathroom experience. They not only help us carry out our personal and grooming activities even more easily, but they also help us take care of ourselves and our washrooms a little better. From a drop-dead gorgeous bathtub made using translucent resin to a cleverly designed dual-sided shower scrubber – these well-designed products are all you need to elevate your daily bathtime!

1. The Tandem Shower

Designed to attach directly to your existing showerhead, the Tandem Shower is an easy-to-install no-plumber-required shower accessory that distributes your shower into two distinct streams. Although perfect for couples, the Tandem Shower also makes a pretty compelling case for solo showers with a much more luxurious, immersive 360° shower experience (think Ross Geller in the tanning booth).

Why is it noteworthy?

The Tandem Shower comes with an adjustable design, allowing it to fit in most bathrooms. It connects directly to your existing showerhead’s water inlet, which effectively distributes the water supply between the two showerheads. A valve on the Tandem Shower then lets you effectively switch between either of the showerheads or run both simultaneously. It’s worth noting that the Tandem Shower was also designed keeping other considerations in mind – for starters, it comes with a flexible hose that lets you mount your Tandem with plenty of clearance, allowing for a second showerhead that’s much higher than your current one (especially useful for taller people).

What we like

• The Tandem showerhead also comes mounted on a ball and socket joint, letting you angle-adjust your water flow as you would with the existing shower
• The high-velocity setting in particular delivers nearly two times more force than standard showerheads

What we dislike

• It’s an added installation, making it difficult for people living in rental apartments

2. The VAPPEBY Speaker

I wouldn’t really put you at fault if you accidentally grabbed IKEA’s latest VAPPEBY speaker and mistook it for a bar of soap in the shower. The tiny device, designed for a water-friendly environment, is perfectly soap-sized, and pairs rather wonderfully with shower karaoke sessions.

Why is it noteworthy?

The VAPPEBY speaker sports a charming design that takes cues from the humble bar of soap. Featuring a square shape with rounded edges and available in an array of pastel colors, this compact speaker adds a touch of whimsy to your shower experience.

What we like

• To complete the look, the VAPPEBY comes with a woven cord lanyard, allowing you to hang it up anywhere you please, be it on your showerhead or a nearby hook

What we dislike

• Nothing is spoken about the repairable nature of this design

3. Amore

British bathroom brand Lusso recently launched the Amore. What makes Amore so special? Probably the fact that it looks drop-dead gorgeous.

Why is it noteworthy?

Designed to make a dramatic and magnificent impression, the Amore is a freestanding bathtub made from translucent resin. Designed by the Lusso founder Wayne Spriggs, the choice of material for Amore was truly ingenious. It’s what imparts the bathtub with its truly unique and awe-spiring appearance.

What we like

• It’s a far cry from Lusso’s usual bathtubs which are built using stone or marble

What we dislike

• Space-consuming design, not suited for smaller washrooms

4. Two-toned Mirrors

Designed by Parisian studio AC/AL Studio for Petite Friture, these innovative mirrors feature transparent two-toned glass frames that cast out a stunning colorful halo on its surroundings.

Why is it noteworthy?

The mirrors are mounted through a unique hanging system, allowing them to sit at a slight distance from the wall, which enables light to pass through the stained-colored glass, projecting the colors on the wall the mirror is mounted on.

What we like

• The varying color shades perfectly contrast one another, creating a stunning visual

What we dislike

• Cleaning and maintaining the mirrors might be difficult

5. The Bell Jar

This unique concept for a showerhead and bath spout is named after the book that inspired it. The Bell Jar is a showerhead with a hidden cable and a fixed adaptor that can turn it into a calmer and single water spout in case you want to take a bath instead of a shower.

Why is it noteworthy?

The designer says she was inspired by the allegory from the book about the human condition and the main character’s state of mind. The flow of the water that goes through the bell jar design depends on what you need: practicality (showering) or purification (bathing).

What we like

• Very minimalist and feminine
• The single design allows you to use it in 2 ways with ease

What we dislike

• It’s a concept!

6. Woodio

Finland-based design company Woodio designed a toilet built entirely from wood composite. The wood composite was used to create everything from the seat to the toilet.

Why is it noteworthy?

Wood composite is supposed to be a pretty sustainable material since it produces 99% fewer emissions in its production than ceramics. The toiled is called ‘Block’, and was built using a material that Woodio founder Petro Lahtinen developed himself.

What we like

• The material is supposed to be 80 percent wood by volume and was created using locally sourced aspen and offcuts from the Finnish forest industry

What we dislike

• Woodio claims that the material generates 99% lesser emissions as compared to ceramics, this claim does not involve any emissions from material sourcing or disposal, which do have a major impact on the complete footprint of a product

7. Angle

We could always do with a new and exciting wash basin since the regular ones can tend to get boring. This concept for a ceramic washbasin is called Angle. It provides a completely different look for a sink and is a far cry from the normal ones. But this isn’t just something decorative as the design is actually to make it easier for the water to go down the drain.

Why is it noteworthy?

The washbasin uses curved and triangular surfaces from the faucet to the basin itself. The drain is a tiny opening at the corner of the basin so all the water that comes out of the faucet will flow towards there without you having a visible drain. The V-shaped basin makes it easier to drain the water.

What we like

• The V shape makes it easier for the water to drain

What we dislike

• With the design boasting a very thin drain at the corner, there is a possibility of bigger particles and debris not going through

8. The Shower Scrubber

Designed by Casamera, the Shower Scrubber features a unique dual-sided design, that lets you pick between the two sides – a softer side great for massaging, and an exfoliating side to get rid of all the dry skin! The Shower Scrubber comes with a radical new redesign, sporting a honeycomb pattern on one side, to open your skin pores, and a walnut-shell textured surface on the other side, for scrubbing off dead cells to leave your skin shining.

Why is it noteworthy?

Konjac sponges have been on the market for ages galore, and they’ve been designed and redesigned in quite a few forms, however, the Shower Scrubber unlocks its true potential with its design and various infusions. The large guitar-pick-shaped design comes with a honeycomb texture on one side, inspired by Casamera’s waffle-textured towels. The honeycomb texture helps gently massage and pamper the skin (especially around the face), open the pores, and more importantly, is incredibly effective at building up a lather. The other side, however, is a textural contrast, as the sponge comes with particles of walnut shells suspended within the surface, offering an exfoliating experience that’s great at removing dead skin on your body to reveal shining, supple, radiant skin underneath.

What we like

• Dual sides to meet the different needs of your skin
• Biodegradable

What we dislike

• Given its single color, it is difficult to assign unique sponges to different people using the bath

9. Vis-à-vis and Rendez-vous

I’ve realized that filling up your bathroom with thoughtful designs, only makes your time in it much more comfortable and smooth. And this collection of bathroom seating by Italian bathroom brand Agape strives to be exactly that! Designed by Marco Carini for Agape, the collection includes two seating designs created from recycled cork.

Why is it noteworthy?

The first design is called Vis-à-vis, and it is a light and sturdy stool that also doubles up as a tiny side table. The second design is Rendez-vous, and it’s a bench that serves as an extensive seating option for bathroom users. Both designs function as comfortable spots to sit and relax in the bathroom.

What we like

• Crafted from recycled cork
• The curving form resembles someone smiling

What we dislike

• Not suited for bathrooms with a smaller footprint

10. The‘At the Same Time Body Dryer’

The ‘At the Same Time Body Dryer’ is an attempt to make public bath facilities more convenient, efficient, and fast. Speedy bathing and drying are possible with this concept body dryer as more can dry off at the same time.

Why is it noteworthy?

The name alone tells us its unique selling point. The round square shape of the dryer allows four persons to stand and be dried off. The four parts are separated by an opaque transition that offers privacy. They may be facing each other but their private parts are still covered. The footrest on the whole features concentric circles that provide a softer surface for the feet. The footrest is divided into four equal parts and each part can be removed for cleaning. The water doesn’t stay on the footrest as it drips.

What we like

• Hastens drying time

What we dislike

• While public bathing is popular in the East, not everyone will feel comfortable standing so close to dry off

The post Top 10 products designed to make your bathroom the favorite space of your home first appeared on Yanko Design.

In the lead-up to Milan design week, we have rounded up eight residential and hotel interiors in the Italian city that are united by their use of muted colours and diverse materials.

As the Salone del Mobile furniture fair is set to kick off next week, alongside its surrounding Fuorisalone events programme, these interiors provide a glimpse into some of the city’s design-led apartments, homes and hotels.

Among the featured projects in Italy’s industrial capital is a hybrid home and office space in a former dental studio, a home set within a 200-year-old palazzo and a nunnery-turned-hotel.

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides curated visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring accent walls, bookshelves and terracotta tiles.

Teorema Milanese, Italy, by Marcante-Testa

With the exception of removing a partition wall to create an open-plan living and dining area, Italian design studio Marcante-Testa looked to maintain the classic layout of this apartment in a 1960s building on Corso Sempione during its renovation.

The studio decorated the apartment in muted colours and used pale grey cipollino tirreno marble as a “carpet” across the sitting area. Elsewhere, a pale lemon-hued cabinet functions as a partition while the bathroom is clad in a maroon-streaked salomè marble.

Find out more about Teorema Milanese ›

Out of the Blue, Italy, by AIM

Italian design studio AIM made liberal use of the colour grey when renovating the interior of this 150-square-metre home in Milan. The concealed staircase that forms the centre of the renovation is framed in the distinctive bluey-grey hue.

And in the dining area, the home’s wooden flooring was decorated with a painted rectangle that aims to visually zone and separate the space from its surroundings. Brass fixtures complement its grey hue, which can also be found across light fixings and ornaments.

Find out more about Out of the Blue ›

Private apartment, Italy, by Untitled Architecture

A cylindrical staircase and metal structural elements are the focal features of this small apartment, designed by local studio Untitled Architecture.

The apartment has a minimal paired-back aesthetic, with white-painted walls and bleached wood elements contrasted against tiny pops of colour introduced through blue-hued grouting and balustrades.

Find out more about the private apartment ›

CPR Apartment, Italy, by +R Piuerre

Housed in a former dental studio, this hybrid home and office belongs to a young remote-working couple and was designed to combine Milanese modernism with Nordic design.

Two areas of the apartment were colour-coded according to their function, with the bedroom, office and entryway covered in tones of grey while the living area and kitchen are marked by a bright yellow hue. The spaces are connected by a white-painted staircase constructed from sheets of folded metal.

Find out more about CPR Apartment ›

Room Mate Giulia, Italy, by Patricia Urquiola

Pistachio green was used to colour the dado wall panelling and soft furnishings inside this suite in Milan’s Room Mate Giulia hotel decorated by Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola. Meanwhile, the upper half of the walls and the ceilings are covered in white wallpaper with a geometric grid pattern.

Industrial materials and furnishings, including a galvanised metal shelving unit, were repurposed as boutique storage solutions and room partitions.

Find out more about Room Mate Hotels ›

Casa Salvatori, Italy, by Elissa Ossino Studio

This home, designed by Milanese architecture practice Elissa Ossino Studio for the head of Italian stone company Salvatori, brings together marble furnishings and flecked terrazzo floors to link the interior with Salvatori’s stone manufacturing history.

Dulled hues of blue, peach, green and yellow were carried through the interior of the home, which is set within a 200-year-old palazzo in the city’s Brera district.

Find out more about Casa Salvatori ›

House with an iron staircase, Italy, by Roberto Murgia and Valentina Ravara

An iron staircase with a zig-zagging framework reminiscent of structural trusses was installed along one wall of this apartment in the Isola district, designed by Italian architects Roberto Murgia and Valentina Ravara.

The floor of the main living space features a geometric design, achieved through the use of hexagonal cement tiles. Each of the tiles is handmade and coloured in shades of light blue and white to provide tonal variation.

Find out more about House with an iron staircase ›

The Sister Hotel, Italy, by Quincoces-Dragò

Housed in a former 16th-century nunnery in Milan’s city centre, The Sister Hotel features decadent yet eclectic interiors by architecture studio Quincoces-Dragò.

The studio looked to grandiose private townhouses when designing the interiors, opting for moody shades of navy blue and deep green within the bedrooms. Furnishings introduce brighter colours into the suites, including a velvet-upholstered orange sofa.

Find out more about The Sister Hotel ›

This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring accent walls, bookshelves and terracotta tiles.

The post Eight Milanese interiors with eye-catching material palettes appeared first on Dezeen.

As a user of Logitech’s ergonomic mouse, I have to admit that it isn’t really the most ergonomic device I’ve used. You end up losing some amount of detail when you design an ergonomic gaming or performance mouse that’s meant to be for everyone – it’s sort of like making a single shoe that fits every foot. Now, while the footwear industry’s somewhat figured out how to build customized shoes, it seems like the mouse industry has some catching up to do. Leading the charge, however, is Formify, a startup that wants to 3D print a bespoke mouse that’s custom-made to perfectly fit your hand.

Designer: Will MacLaughlin

Click Here to Buy Now: $139 $177 (20% off). Hurry, only 126/175 left!

Formify does this by scanning an image of your palm and feeding the data it gathers into a parametric software. The software then creates an outer shell that’s 100% ergonomically designed for you, and Formify manufactures the mouse based on those specs. The result, Formify attests, is comparable to a custom-tailored suit. The mouse fits your hand perfectly, providing just the right angle for your wrist, cushioning for your palm, texture for your fingertips, and lift for your overall comfort. Each mouse weighs in a ballpark of 55 grams (1.9 ounces), undercutting even Logitech’s G Pro X Superlight flagship gaming mouse by 5 grams, and comes with a 650 IPS sensor for crisp tracking, and esports-grade low-latency connectivity so you can use your mouse for everything from Gmail to Genshin Impact.

Custom Design – Custom-fitted grip for unmatched precision, accuracy, and control.

55g Average Weight – Lightweight agile design averaging 55g.

650 IPS Sensor Tracking – Cutting-edge optical sensor technology (Pixar 3395).

Low Latency Wireless – Esports grade low latency wireless.

Grip Textures – Five side-grip texture options available, with more to come.

The process of designing the Formify Mouse starts with a simple image of your hand. The image is used to extract as many as 10,000 different data points, from hand width to finger length, thickness, shape, etc. These data points help determine the shape of the mouse’s body, including its height, width, angle, curvature, and overall size. The mouse body is then 3D printed using Multi-Jet Fusion, with as many as five grip textures to choose from, for a better tactile grasp.

Designed for Claw-Grip and Palm-Grip.

Programmable Thumb Buttons – Two optimally placed programmable thumb buttons.

Kailh 8.0 Clear Switches – Crisp Esports preferred gaming mouse clickers.

Formify builds the mouse to support both claw-grip and palm-grip styles, suiting all users. The mouse itself is outfitted with a left and right click as well as a clickable scroll wheel, along with two extra programmable buttons located near the thumb. Industry-standard Kailh 8.0 clear switches give the mouse buttons a clicky, reliable response, and a PixArt 3395 sensor on the underbelly gives the Formify Mouse a tracking speed of 650 IPS (inches per second) and a resolution of up to 26,000 DPI so it tracks all your micro-movements too. The Formify Mouse also boasts a wireless design that pairs with a 2.4GHz USB receiver for low-latency connectivity and charges via USB-C, providing up to 2 weeks of battery life on a full charge. You can grab your own Formify Mouse for a discounted price of $142, which puts it in the ball-park for other flagship gaming mice, although with a custom-built 3D-printed ergonomic and lightweight design, you’re sure to have an edge above your competitor…

Click Here to Buy Now: $139 $177 (20% off). Hurry, only 126/175 left!

The post This company builds fully customized ergonomic mice by using 3D scans of your palm first appeared on Yanko Design.