Hasta La Ideas

As a plant-lover myself, this set gives me nothing but sheer joy. Botanical gardens had their moment in the 19th and 20th centuries, with their massive overarching cast iron structures, coupled with glass facades that made the building essentially look like a bubble-shaped oasis of nature in a concrete jungle. The art-deco stylings, the habitat-esque design, the chlorophyll, it all makes me truly happy, so seeing something as wonderful as that shrunken down to a tiny set big enough to keep on my bookshelf? It feels like a thing of true beauty!

Meet the Botanical Garden LEGO Ideas set. Envisioned by LEGO user Goannas89, this 3000-brick set is perhaps one of the most intricate I’ve ever seen, with an interior that’s even more detailed than the exterior. The set comes with a white outer structure, revealing the greenery peaking out from within. Pop the top open and you get to adore the Botanical Garden even more, with plants in every nook and corner, and minifigures enjoying them – just like I do when I visit the botanical garden in my own city!

Designer: Goannas89

Inspired by the grand cast-iron greenhouses of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the set brings a historical charm to its modern modular design. The neoclassical entrance is the first hint of the detail inside, its stately architecture standing as a gateway to a lush interior. Step through the doors, and you’re greeted by an open and accessible space filled with botanical delights. A banana tree and a palm anchor the central atrium, surrounded by exotic plants like Anthurium, Bamboo, and the whimsical Begonia Maculata. Each species is thoughtfully placed to create a layered effect of foliage, color, and texture.

Step inside the build, and the experience gets even better. The central atrium greets you with towering green life—a banana tree, a palm, and a Beaucarnea recurvata. Around them, succulents and exotic flowers like Anthurium and Strelitzia add bursts of color. The left and right apses house their own botanical surprises, while a spiral staircase leads to a balcony where you can get up close to the treetops. Every element feels purposeful, whether it’s the clever placement of windows to maximize light or the removable skylight roof for added playability.

With over 3,000 pieces, this build is as rewarding as it is detailed. The structure’s layout—spanning 32×48 studs—makes it versatile enough to integrate into a cityscape or stand alone as a park centerpiece. Measuring 11.3 inches tall, it commands attention without overshadowing nearby builds. The use of transparent elements for the greenhouse’s glazing adds a layer of realism, catching light and creating dynamic reflections that elevate the overall presentation.

What sets the Botanical Garden apart is its careful attention to detail. The plants aren’t just generic greenery; each one is meticulously crafted to reflect real-world species. The banana tree’s textured leaves, the palm’s graceful fronds, and the patterned foliage of the Caladium bicolor all showcase the thoughtful artistry that went into the set’s design. It’s a build that rewards careful observation, with little surprises like succulents tucked into corners and a balance of vibrant and earthy tones that mimic nature itself.

Beyond its visual charm, the set feels like a love letter to urban green spaces. It captures the magic of stepping into a real-life botanical garden—those rare places where city life slows down and nature takes center stage. Whether it’s a child marveling at the flowers or a LEGO botanist tending to rare plants, the set brings that same sense of wonder and tranquility to the world of bricks. It’s a reminder of the importance of such spaces in our lives, even if they’re scaled down to fit on a tabletop.

There’s something undeniably captivating about seeing a greenhouse—traditionally a place for nurturing growth—brought to life in LEGO form. It’s a set that not only celebrates the art of building but also the beauty of the natural world. Whether it’s the intricate spiral staircase, the removable balcony, or the interplay of light through the glazed panels, every piece works together to create a space that feels alive and inspiring.

The post Fan-Made LEGO Botanical Garden Blends History, Nature, and Creativity with over 3000 Bricks first appeared on Yanko Design.

Dezeen Showroom: 2024 has seen Italian design brand Mara list a selection of its products on our platform, including minimalist seating, tables and storage.

Mara’s collaboration with Italian studio AMDL Circle resulted in the Typo office chair, which has a distinctively wrinkled, bent metal frame.

This rippling detail gives the chair its name – Typo – as it appears as though it was created by mistake.

Like many of the brand’s products, the chairs come in a selection of finishes for users to choose from to compliment any workplace interior.

The result of the first collaboration between the brand and designer Christophe Pillet, the Foil table has a slimline, understated silhouette.

Its metal materiality makes it durable and timeless, and it can be used in both public offices and as part of home working setups.

The Elle bookcase was created by designer and architect Ferruccio Laviani for Mara, with an emphasis on linear angles in its design.

L-shaped modular components can be arranged in an array of different configurations within the frame, which is composed of slim uprights.

A single-piece wraparound backrest with integrated armrests envelops this task chair by Italian architect Marcello Ziliani for Mara.

The Icon chair represents a new iteration of a previous fully-upholstered design, and can be used both in and outdoors.

Another table in Mara’s catalogue, the Argo Libro Metal table has a central hinge to allow it to be folded up and stored in a space-efficient way and moved with ease.

All components that make up the table are made from metal, meaning that each piece is fully recyclable at the end of its lifespan.

Mara was founded in 1960 and specialises in the design and manufacturing of furniture and systems for offices and home workspaces.

Architects and designers frequently collaborate with the brand to create new and innovative products, which Mara exports to 70 countries worldwide.

Dezeen Showroom

Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen’s huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.

The post Mara lists versatile workspace furnishings on Dezeen Showroom appeared first on Dezeen.

Laptops are getting thinner and smaller, but their functionality is getting even more powerful. The usually means plenty of things to control, and some of them need to be reached faster than digging through menus and clicking on buttons. Keyboard shortcuts are, of course, a viable solution, but they can also be cumbersome, complicated, and unintuitive.

Something as normal and as regular as changing the volume, for example, shouldn’t take two keystrokes or scrolling your mouse wheel (which might not exist) over some tiny icon. This simple yet useful accessory brings a bit of sanity and physicality to that action on laptops, at least if you have an extra USB-C to spare.

Designer: Pavel Burgr

Depending on your laptop’s keyboard layout and settings, turning the volume up or down can involve one or two keystrokes. The problem is that the location of these keys is inconsistent across keyboards and laptop brands, and they’re not exactly memorable or intuitive in their location. Having dedicated volume keys would be nice, but it could be a waste of precious space on the keyboard.

SoundSlide attacks that problem from a different angle by providing a physical volume control that you can connect and remove as needed. It’s a rather small object, smaller than a USB-A port and only 3.5mm thin, so it barely sticks out from the side of your laptop. It does connect via a USB-C port, and when it does, it gives you a way to actually feel like you’re raising or lowering your laptop’s volume.

The flat capacitive surface has exposed gold contacts that translate the sliding gestures to volume controls. A tap also mutes or unmutes the volume, giving you instant physical control without having to second guess which keys to press. It’s also promised to work out of the box on Windows, macOS, and even Linux, so you can use it without any setup or configuration. That said, you can also change a few settings such as sensitivity, orientation, and custom gestures using a Web-based interface.

The catch to this almost wonderful trinket is that it does occupy a USB-C slot. Some laptops have a limited number of ports, so you’re sacrificing what could be a potentially critical connection. That said, you don’t always need to have SoundSlide connected, so it’s not like you’re permanently losing an important USB-C port either.

The post Tiny USB-C accessory adds a physical volume slider to your laptop first appeared on Yanko Design.

“An elite physical trainer came to us with a prototype of what would become the PureTorque, a scientifically proven tool for more effectively targeting the muscles in your torso,” writes industrial design firm The Metcalfe Group. “We were able to refine his original idea to create something that was light, easy to use, strong, visually compelling, and, most importantly, incredibly effective.”

Early prototypes removed mass from the inventor’s prototype and focused how the device should be held and contact the body. This prototype sought to replicate the final materials for the pads and was adjustable to make sure we got the size, shape, and ergonomics just right. Once this was approved through testing with users, we 3D scanned the prototype for use in the next phase.

Once the function and ergonomics were worked out, we created concepts to explore aesthetics and manufacturing methods. These started with hand sketches then were developed further in CAD iterations.

In order to keep the device as light as possible while ensuring it was robust enough to handle the toughest workouts from professional athletes, we ran numerous finite element analysis (FEA) simulations that tested its strength digitally. This allowed us to iterate quickly and fix any potential trouble spots before moving to more expensive and time intensive CNC prototypes and production tooling.

EMG testing (used to measure muscle activity) was done using a CNC machined prototype to measure the PureTorque’s effectiveness. These scientific tests showed a 40%-75% increase in utilization of core muscle groups, leading to a more effective workout. After the design was thoroughly vetted, we moved to production using die-cast aluminum.

The Metcalfe Group was relied on to take the product all the way from sketches and rough prototypes through manufacturing sourcing.

Tyreek Hill, one of the fastest players in NFL, endorsed the product, saying “The very first moment I used PureTorque I thought, ‘Damn, this thing is different.’ I have been hooked ever since.“

You can see more of The Metcalfe Group’s work here.

Smart rings are now being positioned to replace smartwatches but only in terms of tracking the wearer’s health and activities. They can’t tell the time like smartwatches, at least not until they’re able to show a tiny display that’s still readable. There might be a way around that limitation, but it will make you look like you’re wearing a shrunken wristwatch on your finger.

That’s pretty much the case for the new Casio Ring Watch CRW-001-1JR, practically a miniature version of the classic Casio digital watch. It has a full watch face, just smaller, that you can clearly read at a glance. Ironically, it doesn’t have any sensors, but that could be a possibility in the future given how large it is anyway.

Designer: Casio

To be really blunt, this “finger watch” is more of a cute and funny novelty than something you’d really want to depend on. It’s meant to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Casio’s digital watch business, which is why it tries to stick as close as possible to that design. It is also functional, though comfortable use is obviously out of the question.

With a display that’s almost an inch in size, the Casio Ring Watch manages to squeeze in a 7-segment LCD that can display hours, minutes, and seconds. There are also multiple modes, including dual-time, alarm, and a stopwatch. Yes, it has an alarm, but rather than cramming a tiny and terrible speaker, it just flashes the screen to get your attention.

The Casio Ring Watch is roughly 1/10th the size of a regular Casio digital watch, but to accommodate that unusual design, which includes three physical buttons, the company opted to have a single ring size. It’s equivalent to US size 10.5 or 20mm inner diameter, but the package includes two spacers for those with smaller finger sizes. Unfortunately, that design does mean that larger fingers are out of luck.

This odd “smart” ring is more of a collectible product rather than an everyday wear anyway. Since we humans use our hands a lot, such a large ring will get in our way often. It is advertised to be waterproof, though, but the exact rating isn’t disclosed. It runs on a replaceable battery that is also stated to last at least two years before needing a substitute. The Casio Ring Watch will be launching next month with an SRP of 19,800 JPY, roughly $128. International availability is still unknown.

The post Casio ring watch offers a playful yet practical way to tell the time first appeared on Yanko Design.