Hasta La Ideas

While Dane Whitehurst has a pretty decent dayjob as the Creative Director of Burgopak, a packaging design company, the London-based designer has also been known to dabble in “Products for the Modern Thinker” on the side.

The things that interest, bother, upset, delight and define my outlook on the world are what drive my personal work. Each project has a message, some obvious, some more subtle but all exist as a means to provoke thought and discussion.

He recently reached out to us about his most recent design, the “iPeace,” which is easily Whitehurst’s most utilitarian design: a pair of earplugs with a carrying case. “iPeace allows you to carry a set of earplugs wherever you go, and by significantly reducing background noise will help those hectic moments to be that much more… peaceful.”

As someone who can’t bear to be on the train or plane sans iPod+earbuds, I appreciate the sentiment, but I still feel that the iPeace doesn’t quite fit the bill as a necessity for the “modern thinker.” I personally carry a Bullet (bike valve adapter), and I can see how a flashlight would be handy, but I can’t imagine there’s a huge market—of modern thinkers or otherwise—for everyday-carry earplugs.

Nevertheless, Whitehurst’s website invites at least a little bit of “what’s-behind-door-#2” exploration for a curious visitor, and I was pleased to discover that his other concepts are truer to their target audience. The “Martyr,” above, is a playful take on a nightlight:

The Martyr is an energy saving fundamentalist. He wrestles tirelessly with the uncomfortable notion that in order to fulfill his ultimate cause in life; to save as much energy as possible he must extinguish his own light by pulling himself out of his socket.

His other designs venture further afield from practical application towards clever conceptual designs: the “Cliffhanger” mug lies somewhere between quotidian houseware and speculative object. It’s a “seat-of-the-pants workout for the domestic thrill-seeker,” a set of mugs that are characterized by “climbing holds instead of handles to provide a more challenging way to enjoy a cup of tea.”

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