Hasta La Ideas

Everyone’s talking about the future, AI, blah blah blah. But this year we saw plenty of cool design solutions from earlier decades and centuries.

Early mass production: In ancient China they developed Dragon Kilns, which run up hills. The fires at the bottom send heat throughout the entirety of the structure, enabling mass firings.

In Japan, these Inuyarai bamboo slats protect businesses from dog pee and rain splatter.

An old-school construction trick, used everywhere from the Swiss Alps to Japan, is using rocks to hold roofing in place.

Farmers in Scandinavia have a low-tech way to make it easier for a horse and cart to reach the second story of a barn.

Residents of rural Eastern Europe built these Vâltoare, a natural washing machine made by tapping into rivers.

Here’s a 19th-century British design for a multi-tool.

Around the same time, the Shakers were building these retractable drying racks for their laundry facilities.

Doctors of the era, meanwhile, examined patients on one of these. Hopefully it was padded at some point.

Moving into the 20th century, we find this clever design for a no-tools-required-to-install hanging hook. The design persists today.

Architect Fabrizio Batoni designed these Art Deco faucets by reaching into manufacturer Mamoli’s back catalog, circa 1938.

Industrial designer Bruno Munari designed this Cubo, a modernist ashtray, around 1954.

Image: Di Albertozanardo – CC BY-SA 4.0

Arne Jacobsen’s Cylinda ashtray is another carcinogenic classic, circa late ’50s/early ’60s.

Legendary Italian industrial designer Enzo Mari designed his Formosa and Timor perpetual calendars in the 1960s. They’re still in production.

Spanish industrial designer Rafael Marquina designed his classic no-drip oil cruet in 1961. It too is still in production.

While this might look like an ashtray, it’s actually for storing jewelry. It’s part of a 1970s line of ceramic objects by Italian industrial designer Robert Grigato.

This Wildo Fold-A-Cup, a classic Swedish design, first went into production in 1979. It’s still on the market (with a slight materials update).

Here’s to hoping we encounter more objects in 2025 that have withstood the test of time.