Hasta La Ideas

Yesterday, we saw the first dozen honorees for iF Design Talents‘ International Bicycle Design Competition. The top ten selections were handsomely awarded for making the cut; here are the five ‘second place’ winners, who received 20,000 TWD (~$670) each for their efforts.

We also have some comments from the judges this time around—the submissions were reviewed by Henry Chang (Gearlab Co. Ltd., Taipei, Taiwan), Edward Chiang (Giant Bicycle, Taichung, Taiwan), Martin Kessler (Process Group, Zurich, Switzerland), Ishigaki Tetsuya (Toyo frame, Tokyo, Japan), Georg Todtenbier (Cre8 Design, Taipei, Taiwan) and Michael Tseng (Merida Bikes, Taichung, Taiwan).

Frame 22 | Urban Bike with Bamboo Frame
Yu-Yuan Lai – Shih Chien University, Taipei, Taiwan

Frame 22 is an urban bike with bamboo elastic structure, completed with a bamboo-craft master. The shock absorber and handle bar stems are made of flexible bamboo, which reduces the vibration and maintains the flexibility of the bicycle. In order to enhance the power of back triangles, the bamboo structure extends from seat stay to chain stay. Bicycles are always cruising around in cities and the road bike is the best choice among all the alternatives for riding on concrete roads. Sometimes roads are cratered, and it is risky for bikers to dodge the holes; therefore, Frame 22 was created as an urban bike with light shock absorber, which offers a more comfortable riding experience to bikers.

What the judges had to say: “This is a fantastic combination of wood and steel. One of the judges would actually like to ride it.”

– I share the judge’s curiosity about how this actually rides. Interestingly, the cantilevered seatpost / extra-long seatstay design is actually quite similar to Yojiro Oshima’s recently-seen wooden bicycle.

The Essence | One Bike – Two Riding Styles
Ming-Kang Chang – Shih Chien University, Taipei, Taiwan

This bike offers two different riding styles, fixed-gear [or] single-speed. To achieve this concept, the bike’s top tube and seat stays are replaced by thinner steel bars. There is a special rear hub that can turn in two modes: single-speed freewheel or single cog. The seat is also designed to be removed or assembled quickly to adapt easily to the way in which the rider wants to use it.

What the judges had to say: “The only difference in this special design lies in the carbon fiber frame using steel bars. It’s a good design that can actually work and reduce the total weight by 100-200 grams.”

– I was a bit baffled by this one, as I thought the skinny tubes were supposed to be tension cables. Frankly, I don’t understand how the fin-like ‘saddle’ works or if it has a shaft drivetrain… or, for that matter, how it converts between fixed and freewheel.

Children’s Bike Seat
Martina Staub & Lisa Nissen – Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz, Aarau, Switzerland

The design of this children’s bike seat focuses primarily on the aspects of safety and lightweight. The seat consists of two parts: the protective frame is made of fiberglass reinforced polypropylene. The cushion is a 3D mesh and is soft and protective at the same time. In the event of a sudden stop, the child is secured by the 5-point safety belt. The design of the frame provides optimum protection for the child’s head. The system includes a sleeping position and the footrests can be easily adjusted to virtually any position. If the seat is not in use, it can be used as a carrier. The taillights can be attached to the frame as desired.

What the judges had to say: “The design is very simple. People in Japan or other Asian countries would like to use this product. Regarding the design of the frame, the judges reckoned it can actually be made.”

– Seeing as I’m not a parent myself, I can’t speak to the functionality of this design, but I agree that it strikes me as among the more realistic, production-ready entries.

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If you’re looking to take your hygge out of Copenhagen and into the mean streets of New York, look no further than the recent collaboration between Danish Furniture brand BoConcept and Mercedes-Benz operated smart. We first saw the smart Fortwo BoConcept signature style car a month ago, during its European debut as a brand ambassador vehicle at the 2013 Geneva Auto Show. The car is now joined by its domestic counterpart: the Smartville furniture and accessory collection.

We had the chance to sit down with Head of Marketing Communications & Brand Management smart Michael Schaller, BoConcept’s Collections and Visuals Director, Claus Ditlev Jensen, and General Manager of smart USA, Tracey Matura, to get some insight into designing a major corporate collaboration.

Core77: Tell us about the origin of the collaboration, was smart itching to design a sofa? Had BoConcept been waiting for a chance to get into automotive design?

Claus Ditlev Jensen: Two and a half years ago, the agency for smart approached BoConcept because we have experience as the urban brand for interiors, and smart represents the urban brand for automotives. When we saw the initial presentation and heard about the ideas, we could only agree that it sounded like a fantastic idea.

We have the same mindset—[we both deal with serving] the customer in a functional way, to be cool, to have the right thing at the right time and also the vision about quality. When you buy our products you will be happy.

When we were together the first time, we were saying, “Okay, but what can we get from it?” That’s what we were thinking at BoConcept and I’m sure they did the same at smart, thinking how smart are they at BoConcept? How can they match what we are thinking?

Michael Schaller: It was less that we had been searching for a corporate partner and more that we knew the same people and they said, “Hey, we know both of you and you have so much in common, you should meet”—that was how we had the initial meeting. It was very organic because we had so many similarities. We didn’t have any difficulty making the brands fit to each other. It was more or less by accident that we were connected.

Are there plans for expansion of the line? Will we see more furniture pieces, maybe a storage line for our small urban spaces?

Jensen: Well we can’t say anything about future collaborations. But [our design teams] have a great relationship and if you have a great relationship—you don’t dump it.

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Anytime we look at a new design for airplane seats, they’ve focused on things like increasing your comfort, or decreasing your comfort, or not disturbing other passengers, or cramming more passengers into the fuselage. Now an aircraft interior design house called Molon Labe Designs is using seat design to tackle another problem: slow turnaround times. While we’re not convinced this will solve the problem completely, it is an interesting take.

Despite airlines’ attempts to board us in an order that reduces bottlenecks, we’ve all been stuck behind a passenger blocking the aisle while loading the overhead bin. This slows down the boarding process and, potentially, delays the departure time. Molon Labe’s solution is a row of seats where the outermost one slides up and over the center seat, temporarily increasing the aisle space:

With the seats tucked in, the aisle now goes from 19″ to 43″ wide. The company reports that’s enough room for a wheelchair to roll through, and it’s presumably enough room for us to slide past other people.

The presentation images are a little underwhelming, and the company’s claims seem a bit lofty—they’re claiming the seat design can save airlines $75,000 a day in fuel, as “Airlines waste energy powering essential services while on the ground.” But despite the primitive renderings, the system is apparently for real; they’ve announced they’re debuting this Side Slip Seat at the upcoming Aircraft Interiors Expo next month in Germany.

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Recently, I did a Google search for the Saab Sonnett III to post an image into the Core77 discussion boards (we were discussing V4 engines). On Google’s image search, I noticed a really well-done presentation sketch for a modified Sonnett. Intrigued, I clicked to visit the page and found myself on a blog with some 70-odd presentation sketches for cars, hot rods, engines, suspensions, car interiors and other vehicular concepts, all of equally excellent execution.

I immediately wanted to share this treasure trove of design inspiration with everyone I knew, but thought that I’d contact the blog owner first: Jack Ashcraft in Southern California.

After a career in the USAF, Ashcraft owned a Saab-Fiat-Citroën dealer and also raced Saabs and Fiats in hillclimbs and autocrosses in California. That kind of serious automotive addiction led him to study transportation and industrial design at Art Center. After graduating in 1976, he stayed in California and designed aftermarket parts, kit cars and aircraft and consulting for some major auto makers. On the side, Ashcraft continued to stoke his passion for Saabs by restoring them and dealing in parts for vintage Saabs. Today, he’s semi-retired, but keeps himself busy with restoration projects, his own Fiat hot rod project and reconditioning distributors and vintage speedometers.

This brings us to his sketch blog. All the time, he had been amassing sketches of all kinds of dream projects. A couple of years ago, one of his sons decided to start scanning the sketchbooks and share them with the Internet leading to this very unique collection.

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Designer Ramazan Kaya’s latest yacht concept exudes style, luxury and comfortable recreation, taking design cues from a car brand known for its subtle sophistication and technological innovation. The Audi yacht maintains a handsomely sculpted body, symmetry and minimal detail, but it’s the signature silver and racing red accents that hint to its S-line inspiration.

Designer: Ramazan Kaya

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(Audi Saloon of the Sea was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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