Colorful Chipolo Pop Bluetooth item tracker works with both Apple and Google, but not simultaneously

Whether you choose an Apple AirTag or a Google Find My Device compatible Bluetooth item tracker, one thing is common, it will work with a dedicated network. If you want a tracking device that can work across both platforms – because you are someone who regularly switches between an iPhone or Android device – the choices are limited: Tile may be one, but I cannot think of any other at the moment.

Now that we are at it, an ideal cross-platform solution on the horizon is the Chipolo Pop. Launched recently, the item tracker is a compact coin-sized device, with a built-in key ring hole, that can work with both the Apple Find My and Google Find My Device networks out of the box. Available in several colors and a choice of matching key ring color, the Chipolo Pop is precisely the colorful tracking device that you would want.

Designer: Chipolo

Designed like the other tracking devices, to keep track of your keys, bag, luggage, and more, the Chipolo Pop is a round tracking device. The little thing measures only 38.8 millimeters in diameter and comes in blue, yellow, red, green, black, and white color options to choose from. Despite the petite size, it has a key ring hole – to attach the device to a range of items – which can be matched to the color of the tracker for more symmetry and vibrance.

The tracker along with dual network compatibility also receives an improved 120dB speaker, for very loud alerts, and a companion app to provide you with more finding superpowers. Chipolo has some interesting trackers already in its range, but all are dedicated to either network, Pop is the company’s first attempt at a universal solution, but it comes with a catch. The device can either be set up with the Find My app on iOS or it can connect with the Google’s Find My Device app on Android; at no point can the Pop work with both the ecosystem at the same time. Choose one network at a time is the mantra.

For more versatility, however, the Chipolo Pop comes paired to a dedicated companion app, which allows the device to be used as a remote camera shutter for your connected smartphone. In addition, it offers Call Your Phone feature that triggers by pressing the tracker twice and rings your misplaced phone even if it’s set on silent mode. When you’re feeling playful, you can use the app to customize the alert tone on the Pop.

Powered by a replaceable CR2032 coin cell battery, the Chipolo Pop with a Bluetooth range of up to 300 feet, comes in an IP55 rated body for water and dust resistance. It is currently available at $29 for a single unit. You can opt for a pack of four, which would cost you $89. The Pop is available through Amazon and is also selling on the company website where a pack of six of these trackers is going for $121 at the time of writing.

The post Colorful Chipolo Pop Bluetooth item tracker works with both Apple and Google, but not simultaneously first appeared on Yanko Design.

Water purifier concept inspired by industrial aesthetics

When it comes to appliances and furniture that serve specific functions, we more often than not don’t pay much attention to the aesthetics of it. We’re more concerned that they do what they’re supposed to do and if they look nice, then that’s a bonus. But if you’re the type of person who likes to have visually pleasing things at home, design should also be an important part of the product. There are a lot of product designers out there who try to reimagine ordinary things into something that’s a bit more well thought of, design-wise. The challenge eventually is how to turn them into actual, working products.

Designer: Seongmin Lim

The Stonewell water purifier concept exemplifies a harmonious blend of industrial aesthetics and functional innovation.Drawing inspiration from exposed concrete interiors, the purifier embodies a minimalist design that reflects the purity and clarity of water. It is influenced by natural erosion and weathering processes, evident in its front pattern that resembles surfaces sculpted by flowing water. This approach not only enhances its visual appeal but also reinforces the concept of water’s natural journey.

The purifier utilizes film transfer technology and specialized coatings, such as embossing and UV treatments, to replicate the texture of natural materials.This technique ensures durability and maintains the aesthetic quality over time. Equipped with a dual filtration system, it ensures cleaner and more stable water quality.Its intuitive sliding cover design allows for easy filter replacement, making maintenance straightforward for users. The purifier features a unique combination of colors and materials inspired by nature, including concrete, travertine, blue sapphire, and onyx.This selection creates a distinctive ambiance, allowing the purifier to seamlessly integrate into various interior settings.

In essence, the Stonewell water purifier transcends its basic function, becoming an object of art within the home. The designer has successfully reimagined a typically utilitarian appliance, infusing it with a sense of natural elegance and thoughtful design. More than just providing clean water, the Stonewell concept offers a visual narrative, a daily reminder of the elemental power and beauty of water itself. It speaks to a growing desire for objects that not only perform flawlessly but also enhance our living spaces with their aesthetic presence, proving that even the most practical of items can contribute to a more beautiful and considered home. Hopefully, this is something that can eventually be turned into an actual water purifier that we can enjoy having in our living spaces.

The post Water purifier concept inspired by industrial aesthetics first appeared on Yanko Design.

Lina Ghotmeh brings "sense of voyage" to Osaka Expo with boat-like Bahrain Pavilion

Bahrain National Pavilion by Lina Ghotmeh

A web of wooden joinery designed to mimic the rafters of a boat frames the Bahrain Pavilion, designed by Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh for the Expo 2025 Osaka.

Named Connecting Seas, the 17-metre-tall pavilion draws on Bahrain’s coastal heritage, taking cues from the region’s traditional dhow boats that were once used to transport heavy goods.

Bahrain National Pavilion by Lina Ghotmeh
Lina Ghotmeh has designed the Bahrain Pavilion at the Expo 2025 Osaka

“The Bahrain Pavilion is conceived as an anatomy of a dhow, a contemporary evocation of the traditional Bahraini dhow – a vessel deeply embedded in the kingdom’s maritime heritage,” Ghotmeh told Dezeen.

“Rather than directly replicating the vessel, the architecture captures its essence – its rhythm, timber construction and sense of voyage,” she added.

Side elevation of wooden pavilion by Lina Ghotmeh
The pavilion’s form draws on a traditional dhow boat

Ghotmeh, who is founder of Paris-based studio Lina Ghotmeh Architecture, designed the pavilion with a curving roof that dips at its middle and rises at each end.

The structure encompasses 995 square metres and is built from 3,000 pieces of Japanese cedar. The framework protrudes in a patterned formation from the pavilion’s side elevations to “evoke the movement of rafters in the sea”.

In contrast to the wood, a translucent membrane envelops the front facade as a nod to the sails typically found on a dhow boat.

Entrance to Bahrain National Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka
A translucent facade marks the front elevation

Beyond its gridded facade, the pavilion opens up to an atrium that traverses the structure’s four floors and is crowned by a roof opening.

This central area serves as the main exhibition space and is divided from the adjacent spaces by expansive membrane walls chosen to create an “ethereal presence” within the pavilion.

“These materials give the structure a soft, sail-like appearance, evoking the fabric of a traditional dhow and gently filtering daylight into the space,” Ghotmeh said.

“The choice of membrane not only enhances the pavilion’s lightness and permeability but also supports passive climate control.”

Bahrain National Pavilion by Lina Ghotmeh
The space is organised around a full-height atrium. Photo by Ishaq Madan

Flanking the atrium is a cafe on one side and a gift shop on the other, where openings draw light and ventilation into the interior.

A wide central staircase leads to the upper levels, with the first and second floors containing additional exhibition spaces that wind around the central void. The exhibits are dedicated to “trade, crafts, manufacture, pearling and ecology” in Bahrain.

The pavilion’s third floor operates as a business area, complete with seating and meeting spaces. Additional services, including an elevator and second staircase, are held at the building’s rear.

Bahrain National Pavilion by Lina Ghotmeh
A cafe sits on the ground floor. Photo by Ishaq Madan

Sustainable strategies integrated into the design include the use of reusable materials, minimal foundations and passive cooling techniques.

“The Bahrain Pavilion integrates sustainability holistically through its design, materials, and construction methods,” Ghotmeh said.

“These strategies aim at making the Bahrain Pavilion a model of circular, low-impact architecture.”

Bahrain National Pavilion by Lina Ghotmeh
The pavilion contains a series of exhibition spaces. Photo by Ishaq Madan

Other national pavilions at Osaka Expo include the Saudi Arabia Pavilion designed by Foster + Partners to mimic traditional villages in the Kingdom and the UK Pavilion by Woo Architects which has been cloaked in a “tessellated veil”.

These two structures were featured in our roundup of 10 stand-out pavilions at the event, along with the Bahrain Pavilion.

The photography is by Iwan Baan unless otherwise stated.

Expo 2025 Osaka takes place in Osaka until 13 October 2025. For more fairs, events and talks in architecture and design visit Dezeen Events Guide.

The post Lina Ghotmeh brings “sense of voyage” to Osaka Expo with boat-like Bahrain Pavilion appeared first on Dezeen.

Midgard Licht lights up Dezeen Showroom with four adjustable lamps

Loja lighting collection by Sebastian Herkner for Midgard Licht

Dezeen Showroom: German lighting brand Midgard Licht has advertised a selection of lighting from its catalogue on Dezeen Showroom, all unified by being manually adjustable.

An adjustable hat-like shade is common to each of the lamps in Midgard Licht‘s Loja collection, which consists of pendant, floor and table lamps.

Loja lighting collection by Sebastian Herkner for Midgard Licht
Loja lamps come in three iterations that share the same tilting shade

Available in a single white colourway, each of the lamps’ shades can be rotated and tilted by hand.

In its table and floor variations, the shade sits atop a hand-blown, frosted glass cylinder, which contains the lighting element, creating an upward wash of light.

Modular Neo lamps by Midgard
Modular Neo lamps are linked to Bauhaus design

The brand’s Modular Neo lamps have a deceptively simple three-piece composition based on Midgard Licht’s 1920s-era TYP 113 lamp – one of the world’s first mass-produced adjustable desk lamps.

Users can choose between two styles of shade and two metallic colourways, which all share the same basic design that is based on Bauhaus design conventions.

Ray lamps by Christian Loddo, Hugo Berger and David Einsiedler for Midgard
Midgard’s Ray lamp has a minimalist form

A lack of visible wires and an inventive adjustment mechanism characterises the brand’s Ray lamps, created by designers Christian Loddo Hugo Berger and David Einsiedler, who is Midgard Licht’s CEO and owner.

The cylindrical base supports a steel band that is adjusted by sliding a buckle-like component up and down its length. The light fixture itself can be controlled via a touch-pad on the lamp’s head.

Ayno light in Silk Grey looming over a breakfast table
The Ayno lighting collection is adjustable despite having no joints in its design

Midgard Licht’s Ayno lighting collection was created by designer German designer Stefan Diez in a selection of colourways including Silk Grey. Users can choose between a neutral black or bright orange cable.

All lamps culminate in a conical shade at the end of a slender fibreglass rod, the posture of which is controlled by a fabric-covered cable pulled taut between two moveable rings.

Ayno light in Silk Grey looming over a breakfast table
Two floor lamps and one table lamp are included in the series

Midgard Licht is a German lighting brand founded in 1919 that specialises in the design and manufacturing of lamps that can be manually adjusted.

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.

Dezeen Showroom new releases newsletter

Click here to subscribe to our Dezeen Showroom new releases newsletter, a quarterly bulletin highlighting our editor’s pick of the products we have published in the previous season.

The post Midgard Licht lights up Dezeen Showroom with four adjustable lamps appeared first on Dezeen.

Low-Cost Robot Hands Made of Measuring Tape

The humble tape measure is easy to take for granted, but it’s a marvel of modern engineering. A 25-foot-long piece of spring steel, far less than 1mm thick, can be coiled into something that clips to a pocket. Unfurled, a curve is induced across its width, giving it a beam-like strength that allows it to hold a rigid, straight shape.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego found another application for tape measures beyond measuring: Being used as robot hands. Those companies currently developing humanoid robots will tell you that developing artificial human-like hands is expensive. The UCSD researchers reckon tape measures can accomplish a lot of gripping and conveying tasks at a fraction of the cost.

“We like to look for non-traditional, non-intuitive robot mechanisms,” says Nick Gravish, an Assistant Professor at UCSD’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. “The tape measure is such a wonderful structure because of its combined softness and stiffness together.”

The gripper has two “fingers,” made of two spools–each made of two rolls of measuring tape bound together. Each spool is rolled up, in a compact configuration, with only a small part extending out in a triangle shape to form a finger. These triangle sections are controlled by four motors each that control the finger’s motion. Each finger can move independently. The triangle sections can lengthen to reach objects that are farther away. They can also retract to bring objects closer to the robot arm the gripper is mounted on.

The dual-conveyor-belt configuration means their invention, called GRIP-tape (Grasping and Rolling In-Plane), can rotate objects in place:

In a fruit-picking application pursued by the team, the two fingers can rotate a lemon to break it off at the stem:

For now, the invention requires remote control. The team’s next steps will be to add sensors and AI, in hopes of achieving autonomous function.

Foster + Partners supertall skyscraper for JP Morgan progresses in New York

Foster Partners JP Morgan

Much of the exterior cladding and superstructural work has been completed on the 270 Park Avenue supertall skyscraper in New York, designed by UK architecture studio Foster + Partners to be “all-electric”.

After topping out in November 2023, the 1,388-foot (423-metres) Foster + Partners-designed skyscraper is nearing completion on Park Avenue, set to be complete later this year.

Foster + Partners 270 Park Avenue construction
The 270 Park Avenue supertall skyscraper by Foster + Partners is nearing completion in New York

It will be the sixth-tallest skyscraper in New York City and serve as the offices for American financial firm JP Morgan.

The massive skyscraper has four deep setbacks that taper to a pinnacle.

270 Park Avenue skyscraper by Foster + Partners under construction
It has setbacks and visible diagrids

At its base, the tower is supported by a unique truss system that allows its structure to touch the ground in limited places. Foster + Partners described this system, visible from the outside, as an “innovative fan-column structure and triangular bracing”.

This structural system allows for the tower to be lifted off the ground, creating room for an 80-foot-tall (24-meter) lobby and allowing for a substantial setback from the street, designed to open up the block.

270 Park Avenue skyscraper by Foster + Partners under construction
It is supported by fan columns at the base

Along the ceiling of the lobby and between the triangular fan columns are decorative circular steel ringlets tightly clustered. The rings have the appearance of exhaust pipes.

With the construction elevator still in place, the tower now has most of its cladding. Slightly coloured glass gives the building a brownish appearance, and massive diagrids crisscross its east and west-facing aspects.

Its structural inventiveness, the large swathes of metal on the facade and its slightly brown colour demarcate the skyscraper from other recent office towers built in the city, most of which are characterized by reflective glass curtain walls.

270 Park Avenue replaced the SOM-designed Union Carbide building, which became the tallest building to be voluntarily destroyed in 2021 when it was torn down to make room for the taller tower.

270 Park Ave Skyscraper
Its glass has a distinct tint

According to Foster + Partners, 97 per cent of the materials from the demolition were “recycled, reused or upcycled”.

The architecture studio has highlighted the skyscraper’s “all-electric” operational systems, claiming that it will have “net zero operational emissions”.

In 2023, New York passed a law that prohibits fossil fuel use for heating, cooking, or power in new buildings.

A series of zoning changes for Midtown allowed for the higher construction.

Other skyscrapers under construction in New York include a skyscraper by Snøhetta on Central Park and a beaux-arts skyscraper by KPF.

The photography is by Ben Dreith.

The post Foster + Partners supertall skyscraper for JP Morgan progresses in New York appeared first on Dezeen.

Re-Thinking the Design of the Sleeping Bag, for More Freedom of Sleeping Positions

The most extreme version of a sleeping bag is probably the mummy bag, so named for its sarcophagus-like shape. Designed for cold climates, the tapered form minimizes the interior volume, allowing your body’s heat to more easily fill every cubic inch.

The mummy bag is fine for those who can sleep in a position like the bag’s namesake, all night. More casual campers, and those who toss and turn because they haven’t spent the entire day scaling an icy peak, can find even ordinary zip-sided sleeping bags restricting. Thus Rumpl, the Oregon-based camping gear company that pioneered the technical blanket, has adapted their signature product into a wrap-style sleeping bag that offers more freedom of sleeping positions.

Called the Wrap Sack, it is slightly tapered at 20° (the mummy bag shown above is tapered at 15°) but is structured more like a trapezoidal tortilla than a book. The center of the wrap is what you lie on, before folding the side wings over you, turning you into a human burrito.

You can go wild-style and leave the wings unfastened, or clip them shut at intervals to prevent shifting.

A two-way zipper is also incorporated, and rounds the corner at the bottom, so you can free sweaty feet if need be.

A hood-like “pillow pocket” up top holds one of the company’s Camp Pillows in place.

The company says having both wings folded over you will get you through a 20°-30° night, while just one wing can handle a 35°-45° night. It will fit campers up to 6’2″ in height.

Rumpl is a B Corp that offsets 100% of their carbon footprint each year. The Wrap Bag’s 100% post-consumer recycled shell, liner, and insulation is made from 155 plastic bottles.

The Wrap Sack runs $200.

Functional Mad Max Bikes vs. the Motototem Art Bike

It must have been tremendous fun (and a lot of work) for Australian production designer Colin Gibson, the man tasked with designing the bikes for 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road. Gibson, known for designing and building fully functional props and vehicles, worked with motocross champ Stephen Gall, stunt coordinator Guy Norris and mechanic Matt Bromley to ensure his fantastic creations could actually tear up terrain.

The team produced some 47 motorcycles with eclectic designs. Bolted to the frames was everything from upholstery, mannequin parts, leather scraps, Persian rug off-cuts, chain-link fence segments, horse saddles, bird feathers, boat sails and household knick-knacks. In some cases tires were replaced with steel paddles, the better to climb sand dunes. Paint was removed, and all bikes were given a desert patina.

Those bikes are technically called props. I might refer to them as art. So too might Italian artist Mattia Biagi, who often blends industrial materials with natural elements in his sculptural works. Biagi, who is also a motorcycle enthusiast, recently collaborated with Flying Flea (Royal Enfield’s electric sub-brand) to re-interpret their FF-C6, an off-road electric motorcycle.

Biagi didn’t hold back. His resultant Motototem, unveiled at Milan Design Week, employs a tank sculpted from travertine stone. The handlebars and pegs are made of bronze (literally imprinted with Biagi’s fingerprints, a bit much, some might say). The fenders are resin with dried leaves embedded during the casting process. The seat is made of sculpted Walnut. The lighting is housed in hand-blown glass forms.

To be clear, Biagi hasn’t cited Mad Max nor Gibson & co. as influences; it’s me drawing that connecting line. And as beautiful as Biagi’s creation is, I still think Gibson and his team’s feats take the cake. All 47 of their bikes ran. The non-functional Motototem is purely an art piece.

Limited Edition Crayon-themed Apple Pencil Pro is a Must-Have For Creatives

Why blend into the masses with your boring white Apple Pencil when you could opt for something vastly cooler? Meet the Apple Crayon Pro, a custom version of the Pencil Pro built by the folks at ColorWare. Designed to look exactly like a Crayola crayon (while functioning seamlessly as Apple’s cutting-edge iPad Pro stylus), the Crayon Pro comes in 7 color options, and looks perfectly gorgeous when docked to the side of your iPad.

ColorWare’s built its reputation on building unique colored alternatives to regular tech products, from colorful mice to earbuds to even speakers – although the Apple Crayon Pro might just be their cutest little invention yet, paying tribute to the first ever creative tool most of us grew up using.

Designer: ColorWare

As its name suggests, the Crayon Pro is a customized version of the Pencil Pro, which debuted in 2024 along with the latest iPad Pro model running the M4 chip. On the inside, it’s every bit the Apple peripheral, but it gets a customized exterior, available in as many as 7 different colors – ranging from white and black, to more eye-catching options like mint green, red, and my favorite yellow. No, Space Grey and Rose Gold aren’t available yet!

The Crayon Pro is undoubtedly creative, but the price of this creativity is a whopping $215, or $86 more than the original $129 Pencil Pro. For that surcharge, you do get a unique stylus like no other, and the bragging rights of being a true creative. Just don’t accidentally give your Crayon Pro to your toddler, lest they brake it while scribbling on paper, or worse, try to sharpen it!

The Crayon Pro ships 2 weeks from now (so sometime in May 2025), and is compatible with the M4 iPad Pro models, the M2/M3 iPad Air models, as well as the A17 Pro iPad Mini.

The post Limited Edition Crayon-themed Apple Pencil Pro is a Must-Have For Creatives first appeared on Yanko Design.

Strut chair by Yağmur Köylü for Yet

Strut chair by Yağmur Köylü for Yet

Dezeen Showroom: Istanbul and London-based design studio Yet has launched a stackable aluminium seat informed by an everyday building product.

Designed by studio co-founder Yağmur Köylü, the Strut chair‘s 90-degree edges draw inspiration from angle profiles – L-shaped struts commonly used as a trim in construction.

Detail of Strut Chair by Yağmur Köylü for Yet
Strut chair designer Yağmur Köylü took inspiration from aluminium angle profiles

Yet conceived the chair, which was unveiled in Milan last week, as a challenge to the common perception of aluminium as a cold and uncompromising material.

Its sturdy, industrial aesthetic is softened by a circular leather seating pad and a gently curving back support.

Strut chair by Yağmur Köylü for Yet
The chair is stackable

“Free from superfluous elements, Strut embodies the purity of purposeful design – where every line is intentional and every angle tells a story,” said the studio.

“More than a chair, Strut is a spatial gesture. It listens to the rhythm of the room and subtly amplifies it, forging a dialogue between function, form and feeling.”


Product details:

Product: Strut Chair
Designer: Yağmur Köylü
Brand: Yet
Contact: info@yetdesignstudio.com

Materials: aluminium, leather
Dimensions: 500 x 420 x 780 millimetres

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.

Dezeen Showroom new releases newsletter

Click here to subscribe to our Dezeen Showroom new releases newsletter, a quarterly bulletin highlighting our editor’s pick of the products we have published in the previous season.

The post Strut chair by Yağmur Köylü for Yet appeared first on Dezeen.