Hasta La Ideas

Here’s what we looked at this week:

Fun for corporate drones: The Escalator Slide, by artist/designer Julijonas Urbonas.

Mitsubishi Electric’s sealed, insulated $270-$500 single-slice toaster apparently makes perfect toast.

The precursor to the bicycle: This 1816 “running machine,” a/k/a the Draisine.

Designed for the contract market, industrial designer Goncalo Campos’ Babar chair uses less parts and simplifies production compared to an incumbent design.

Steadicam inventor Garrett Brown created the Zeen, a lift-assist mobility chair that “re-invents walking.”

I think the developers of these Frame AI eyeglasses have made some poor design choices for conveying information.

This Justrite Plunger Can is a smart design for dispensing dangerous chemicals.

Chrysler’s Halcyon concept demonstrates a pleasing return to focusing on form rather than visual tricks.

The 1X EVE is a stunningly competent humanoid robot with a high creepiness factor.

This concept for a laptop with retractable ports is by industrial design firm Junichiro Yokota Studio.

This powered M-Stairs unit uses a new design approach to stair-climbing handtrucks.

Thermos manufacturer Stanley pivots with the times and gets into the pour-over coffee game.

Veteran industrial designer Anders Hermansen designed this $250 modernist toy car for Teenage Engineering.

This chess set, by sculptor Tatsiana Shevarenkova, has pieces that are candles meant to be lit during gameplay.

Industrial design from Thailand: This quirky alarm clock concept has a pretty different form sensibility from Western firms.

These sexy Nomadife knife cases, by Japanese knifemaker Babacho, are for “nomadic cooking.”

This Storm Jacket has 18 pockets; it’s an EDC’ers dream.

This collapsible hair pick and makeup mirror is by industrial design firm Shark Design.