Hasta La Ideas

The Venus of Willendorf is a significant figure in art history since it is thought to have been created between 30,000 and 25,000 BCE, making it one of the world’s oldest known works of art to have been discovered.

Furniture design is an art that seamlessly merges aesthetics with functionality. The Venus Folding Chair, with its gorgeous design and usefulness, is an excellent example of this idea. This foldable chair not only provides a cozy seating option but also gives any room a sense of style and history. The Venus Folding Chair, which was created with great care and attention to detail, stands out as an example of how form and function can be creatively combined. Because any chair represents a similar sitting person, allowing people to be comfortable, this figure of a sitting woman can be changed into a chair. It’d be similar to sitting on her lap.

Designer: Lameice Abu Aker and Eva Castany

Rendered on KeyShot: Click Here to Download Your Free Trial Now!

The design and shape of most Venus sculptures are identical. They are often lozenge-shaped, with a large fat belly tapering to the head and legs, and no arms, feet, or face detail. Furthermore, their sexual organs are deliberately exaggerated.

The Venus Folding Chair’s space-saving folding mechanism is one of its most notable characteristics. The chair’s fold-and-store capabilities make it a practical and convenient design. For people with limited room or those who frequently host events or gatherings, this option is especially helpful. A chair is an excellent option for tiny flats, outdoor events, or temporary seating arrangements due to its compact and folding design, which makes storage simple. The form of the figure was outlined by the designer and translated into a chair. It has 2 points of joinery on either side of the chair which have channels for the lower structure to slide upward when the chair is in the folded state.

This creative and simple design can be disassembled very easily into just 4 parts; the mesh seat, the back structure, the front support, and the base.

The chair is a sustainable product on multiple levels. The foldable design can be flat-packed which allows it to be stacked and transported easily. This makes the product transport-efficient and reduces its carbon footprint, allowing more chairs to be shipped in the same amount of space. It can be used around the house as an extra chair as well and can fit in the minimum available space. The single-line nature of the chair makes it even easier to pick up and move around as it has the space to be held all across. Overall, it’s surely a conversation starter and a great pick for history and art buffs who enjoy the evolution and adaptations of classics.

The post This foldable “Venus of Willendorf” inspired chair literally puts you in the lap of art history first appeared on Yanko Design.

Nintendo, Valve and Asus are keeping the handheld gaming niche intact, encouraging new entrants to come up with their own versions. The average screen size for these gaming monsters is anywhere around 7 inches, but when a handheld measures no more than a credit card, it’s bound to grab our attention.

This is the RG Nano ultra-portable mini-game console by ANBERNIC all set to land in the hands of busy gamers who want an option to kill time on their evening transit. The Chinese company has already created ripples in the portable gaming industry with offerings like the RG35XX emulator that plays retro games as smoothly as it could get.

Designer: ANBERNIC

Measuring just 68 x 42 mm, the gadget is smaller than the SEGA’s Visual Memory Unit (VMU) designed for Dreamcast. It is ideal to hook up with your keychain since the miniature handheld comes with an offline clock function. It can even slot in a microSD card to store music files for audio playback. The ability to play high-fidelity lossless files will make you skip the high-resolution audio player when space is a premium. The only downside is, it doesn’t have a dedicated headphone jack and you’ll have to connect to the USB-C charging port with a USB-C adapter.

The build quality is impressive since the 2.5-inch handheld is made from a textured aluminum alloy body. Given the small form factor, don’t mind the missing analog joysticks which give way to the single D-pad with four action buttons. Thankfully a pair of shoulder buttons means you’ll be able to play 16-bit games with ease.

The mini handheld’s screen has a 1:1 aspect ratio perfect for playing all-time classic titles from the Game Boy Color, NES, SEGA, SNES or even the Genisis games. Playing Game Boy Advance titles won’t be recommended though, since the aspect ratio won’t match and the viewable screen area will be shrunk down even more.

Allwinner K3S chipset-powered RG Nano is loaded with a 1050mAh battery which should be enough for a few hours of non-stop playing. There’s no word on the pricing yet but it should come for less than $65 which stacks it right in the impulse-buying domain.

The post Miniature Handheld game console the size of credit card is a nostalgic Game Boy dupe first appeared on Yanko Design.

It’s hard to put a price on poise, on stateliness and presence. I can quantify cargo space and performance figures until I’m blue in the face, but some vehicles offer something a little bit more, something a lot less substantial though no less important.

The Range Rover is absolutely one of those vehicles. Though it has evolved incredibly over the generations, the position it has earned as a posh all-roader has remained strong over the last few generations. What you see here is the latest, fifth generation installment, the most refined and luxurious Range Rover yet and, under the skin at least, the most advanced.

Understated elegance

Take a passing glance and you might not even notice that anything has changed, but closer examination shows that this new Range Rover is quite radically evolved, controversially so. Everything here is smooth to an extreme, winged eyeliner on those now narrower headlights extending mid-way back over the front fenders while the rest of the nose details have been minimized.

The nose is smooth, as is much of the rest of the car, with very little detailing applied to break up the giant swaths of bodywork that cover this 17-foot-long, six-foot-tall SUV. Many have called it too understated, but to my eye at least it looks far from boring.

About the only highlight on that long, gentle journey from nose to tail is the vertical slat detailing on both front doors, a seeming reference to the fender vents on the third-generation L322 Range Rover. Beyond that, even the flares over the giant 23-inch rear wheels are slim.

Above the belt-line, the Range Rover is entirely blacked out, dark tint paired with black paint on roof and pillars creating a simple, clean look. In fact, much of the brightwork on this First Edition Range Rover is darkened, part of a $1,000 options package.

The SUV terminates with a set of taillights that are Lilliputian in comparison to the rest of the Range Rover’s proportions, curiously sized and positioned. It’s a bit odd, much like the new Defender’s tails seem mis-sized, but again like on the Defender somehow it all works. The whole package is stately and sophisticated, especially in the Champagne-like matte Sunset Gold Satin hue here. Even covered in winter road salt it looked good, and that’s not something you can say for most cars.

Interior appointments abound

I’m not convinced that the interior would look so good with similar amounts of muck and grime. The warm, white leather that extends from headliner to floor definitely defines this particular Range Rover as more of a limousine than a proper utility vehicle, but given the extent of the comfort appointments here, that’s appropriate.

This Rover has the Executive Class Comfort package, offering proper executive seating in the rear with massaging for both second-row passengers and even an extending footrest for the right-rear. Shame, though, that there just doesn’t seem to be quite enough legroom to really enjoy it in this short wheelbase model. With the seatback-mounted display units, which can stream media from HDMI, sitting in the back can feel just a little bit claustrophobic despite the generous headroom.

The seats pose another problem should you actually want to carry anything in your Range Rover: they don’t fold flat. Yes, they do fold, automatically even, going through a carefully choreographed sequence of motions and clicks as various latches engage and disengage, but at best they only fold to about a 30-degree angle. Worse, with those seatback displays protruding, they won’t fold without awkwardly pushing front seat occupants forward. Yet more evidence that this particular Range Rover configuration is designed for hauling people.

Up front, driver and passenger have similarly appointed thrones, with five separate massaging routines, each with customizable direction and intensity. Seat heaters are likewise intense and the heated armrests a nice touch on cold days. There are physical, tactile controls for seat heating and cooling, Lang Rover’s dual-purpose knobs that also control HVAC settings, but to fiddle with the massage settings or any of the other hundreds of options here you’ll need to dig into the 13.1-inch touchscreen that floats above the dashboard.

Tech and infotainment

Land Rover’s Pivi Pro infotainment system feels quite solid and responsive, offering plenty of configurability as well as quick access to things you’ll need quickly, like parking cameras — bolstered here by a neat feature that turns your car transparent to let you see what you’re driving over. Though I found the voice recognition infuriatingly obtuse, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay obviate that to a good degree.

Behind the steering wheel is a 13.7-inch, dynamic gauge cluster with three different views: a barebones Focused mode, the traditional Dials mode, and a full-screen nav view. That’s controlled by a touch-sensitive pad that rests beneath your left thumb, while a similar pad on the right handles cruise control. There is at least a physical roller for volume on the left and a rocker on the right for adjusting cruise-control speed, but in general these touch surfaces are hard to use without looking down, a big step backwards from previous tactile controls.

In fact the cabin is remarkably free of buttons and knobs. Yes, there’s still a tactile volume knob down in the center between seats, and a drive mode knob as well that pops up if you want it, but just about everything else has been consumed by the touchscreen and various other touch surfaces. Even the seat adjustment controls have capacitive touch pads for setting memory.

Other than the on-wheel controls it all works well enough, and it looks good, too. Again I fear the longevity of leather interiors of this color in an SUV, but then the people who buy these are rarely too concerned about long-term viability, and in the moment everything looks stark, clean, and sophisticated. It all feels good, too. Materials everywhere are top-notch, even the headliner and the insides of the pockets in the doors, doors which must be the heaviest portals known to man. Park on an incline and be prepared to throw your weight behind these things to get out.

Ride quality

On the move, everything is quiet and calm and composed. Part of the appeal of those giant rear seats is that they’re actually positioned ahead of a sort of rear bulkhead. That’s I’m sure partly why the rear legroom is a bit compromised, but it does help to cut out the excessive road noise that SUVs can offer. That makes for a fine soundstage for the 29-speaker Meridian sound system, which doesn’t shout for your attention like some premium audio systems, but it deserves respect just the same.

Ride quality is similarly relaxed, with just a hint of stiffness on bigger bumps to remind you that this is indeed a very capable off-roader. Locking differentials front, center, and rear help keep the power moving where it’s needed, while eight separate modes ensure you’ll have just the right amount of throttle response and suspension compliance for whatever you need. There’s even automatic wade sensing for those everyday fording opportunities, an off-road specific heads-up display mode, and the ability to make four different custom configurations. This is, as ever, the perfect companion for posh off-roading.

In its most aggressive on-road mode the Range Rover is certainly willing in this, the P530 engine configuration, the 523-horsepower, 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 not offering much in the way of throttle response. But, give it a moment to build boost and this massive machine surges forward. This is the sort of car that will usher you up to speed quickly and just keep piling on velocity if you’re not careful. It’ll just keep drinking more and more fuel, too. The P530 is rated for 16 mpg city, 21 highway and 18 combined. I netted 20.5 mpg in my testing, most of which was spent on the highway.

Best to use the cruise control, then. It’s adaptive, of course, and works quite well at maintaining speed smoothly in traffic. Sadly, the active lane-keep system doesn’t work so well. It had a tendency to wander in the lane, sometimes jerking the wheel abruptly, which is unpleasant in a big SUV. It seemed to frequently confuse asphalt snakes for line markings, especially at dusk, which left me turning the system off unless visibility was pristine.

Other active safety systems include active blind spot monitoring, automatic emergency braking front and rear with pedestrian detection, and occupancy alerts to ensure nothing (and nobody) gets left behind.

Pricing and Options

This First Edition Range Rover was well optioned and priced appropriately, $158,200 to start but stickering at $169,900 with $7,450 for the Sunset Gold Satin paint (exorbitant but worth it), $1,000 for the blacked out detailing, another $1,000 for the blacked out roof, $900 for the 23-inch wheels, and another $1,350 for delivery.

For that money you could cross-shop this with something like a Mercedes-Benz GLS or even an Alpina XB7. That’s some luxe competition, in many ways even more posh and comforting.

But then they’re not Range Rovers, without the presence, off-road capability, and frankly the dimensions of this thing. There aren’t many SUVs out there with true pedigree, and above all else that’s what the Range Rover delivers in spades.

The post 2023 Land Rover Defender 130 Review first appeared on Yanko Design.

There are probably almost zero chances that you will be ejected from a jet soon (unless that is a regular part of your job) but on the off chance that you will be, you’d probably want your watch to survive along with yourself. And if a watch claims that it can survive something as extreme as being ejected from a fighter jet, then you know it can survive the most brutal of situations. So if that’s the kind of watch you’re looking for, read on.

Designer: Bremont

You know that the British watch brand is serious about creating an in-house movement that will be able to survive extreme conditions when it worked with Martin-Baker, a company that creates ejection seats and other aviation equipment. They created a prototype watch to test out in their fighter jet ejection seat testing programme and this became the basis for what is now known as the MB Viper. It sounds like a fighter jet model but yes, it is a heavy-duty watch.

The watch is housed in a Grade 5 titanium and anodised aluminum case and is composed of rhodium plated bridges, a gold plated automatic bridge, and a rhodium plated, solid tungsten rotor. The carbon-coated case itself is 43.5mm long and 10.8mm thick and has a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal. It has an orange bezel, a white dial, and in keeping with the jet theme, the chevron decorated hands look like the ejector handles on a military fighter jet.

Aside from being ejected from a jet, it also underwent zoom temperature climb testing, extreme temperature endurance, high altitude testing, and salt fog testing. It has 100 meters of water resistance and has 65 hours of battery life. You get black and orange canvas straps and there’s also a Super LumiNova giving a green light for the hour markers and hands in low lighting conditions. Each watch is hand-assembled upon order so you can expect a pretty high price tag for the MB Viper.

The post This sleek luxury watch tested (and survived) ejection from a military fighter jet first appeared on Yanko Design.

Five years after the original e-tron was introduced an evolution in design and engineering is delivered

In the growing and evolving landscape of electric vehicles, Audi has consistently been early and pushed the boundaries of innovation with their e-tron models with a focused intent to smoothly transition new customers to the EV world. With the introduction of the Audi Q8 e-tron, they have revisited their original electric SUV from 2019 that was based largely on the Q5 and pushed it forward with more streamlined aerodynamics, better battery efficiency, improved driving performance and now a Sportback version. The Q8 e-tron also marks the introduction of a subtly evolved, new brand direction applied to the four rings and model badging.

Drawing inspiration from the original Q8, married it with the original e-tron, this new car is the same dimensions as the former but bears more aggressive proportions. For customers interested in a less SUV-like shape, the coupe-like roofline of the Sportback version flows effortlessly to the taillights. On both shapes the sharp lines and sculpted contours create a sense of dynamic movement, while the front grille showcases the brands four rings which have been redesigned as narrower, flat lines that read as more sophisticated than the three dimensional version and also likely constitute an improvement (albeit minimal) to the overall aerodynamics.  Lines on the nose of the car have been extended to create a wider look and a new line of LED light spans between the headlamps to create a more futuristic look. In addition to the four rings, the model badging is also evolved and presented subtly on the outside of the B-pillar.

Inside the Q8 e-tron’s interior offers all the comfort, technology and sophistication seen in the current high-end of Audi’s line-up. Brushed metal, open-pore wood veneers and other premium materials are sculpted to define space without creating distraction. Audi’s Virtual Cockpit, a fully digital instrument cluster that seamlessly integrates with the dual-screen MMI touch response infotainment system, also remains consistent across the brand’s vehicles providing information and controls that are future-forward and at the same time, no frills. The Q8 e-tron’s interior is a quiet and generous space offering ample room for all passengers and cargo.

As for the driving experience, the Audi Q8 e-tron sets new benchmarks for electric performance among their SUVs. Its powertrain delivers the instant torque that’s familiar among all EVs pushing the vehicle forward with impressive acceleration coming from front and rear motors. The motors and batteries are carefully integrated into the chassis, providing a low center of gravity that enhances agility and stability so the Q8 e-tron effortlessly glides through corners, thanks to its precise steering and well-tuned suspension system, offering a sporty yet refined driving experience. It’s a big SUV that drives like a performance sport sedan. And a forthcoming SQ8 model will add a third motor so there’s one on each rear wheel which we anticipate will offer an even more exciting cornering experience.

Audi has equipped the Q8 e-tron with an updated battery system with 23% more capacity fit into the same physical space as the previous model resulting in an estimated 300 miles of range per charge. The system also supports faster DC charging which means it only takes 31 minutes to get from 10% to 80% on a Level-3 charger.

The Audi Q8 e-tron is a thoughtful evolution of design and engineering, showcasing Audi’s clear commitment to electric mobility. Its striking aesthetics, luxurious interior and exhilarating driving dynamics make it a significant reference point in the electric SUV segment.

Audi will begin deliveries of Q8 e-trons this Summer and its starting price is $74,400.

Lead image by Josh Rubin