Last week at the Salone del Mobile furniture show in Milan, Ford Motor Company unveiled what they’ve been doing to keep their designers busy as of late – and it has nothing to do with designing the future of automobiles. Rather, the company had some of their A-list designers behind their recently-announced 2017 Ford GT…

With a base price of $845,000 (yes, that’s before any options), Porsche’s 918 Spyder hybrid supercar is certainly not an everyday cruiser that most would expect to see on their daily commute. As a matter of fact, the company is only planning on producing 918 of them this year alone worldwide. But perhaps what the…

Among others who have had a profound influence on the history of industrial design, Dieter Rams is among the most prolific designers whose opinion is still sought after today. The German designer, who cut his teeth at Braun and established the company as one of the most historically-significant contributors to the history of “understandable products”,…

As interest in consumer-based 3D printing continues to grow, many new users are still finding themselves on the fence about actually purchasing a desktop 3D printer or using any number of 3D printing services including Shapeways, 3D Hubs or one of the many local Makerspaces that are continuing to pop up in communities worldwide -…

Without surprise, this year’s annual NYC 3D printing extravaganza has been the biggest, ever. After starting from humble roots with just a few tables and a sparse speaker offering less than five years ago, the Inside 3D Printing show has since expanded into a multiple-event showcase that features over a week of curated activities, presentations…

Having been working together for over twenty years now, brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec likely have what most would consider a solid sibling relationship. The brothers – who are five years apart in age and are known for carrying distinctly-different personalities – have been keeping busy during the last two decades working on product designs…

Previously, we’ve already seen how car manufacturers are able to bring their customers into their manufacturing process by way of virtual reality. Considering that the future consists of various head-mounted displays and other VR-tech including the Microsoft Hololens, the Oculus Rift and Magic Leap – among others – we may as well start to fabricate…

It’s hard to deny that of all the things that go well together, workshops and rural settings are among the best. Perhaps it’s the mixture of nature and industry that seems to balance everything out, or maybe the rolling brooks and grass hills are simply just a nice contrast from the more industrialized factories in…

It’s been an interesting past few years for bicycle design and fabrication – among other reasons, the combination of both traditional craftsmanship techniques and more modern manufacturing methods have not only changed how bicycles are made, but also what they are made out of. While some have opted to use additive manufacturing technologies to create…

Before the era of smartphone video and video sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo, one of the more frustrating skills to learn was sketching – and to be more specific – design sketching. As the old saying goes, “kids today don’t know how good they have it,” using video to learn new skills is…

Ever since he exploded onto the additive manufacturing scene in October of 2011 – thanks in no small part to the success of his Crania Anatomica Filigre Kickstarter campaign – 3D designer Joshua Harker has been keeping himself busy with projects that explore the outer limits of 3D modeling and additive manufacturing. As a young…

No matter how you watch it – from your iPhone while on the subway or from the cozy confines of a plush leather couch with a bowl of cheddar popcorn – there’s no denying that HBO’s Game of Thrones is one of the best television shows ever made. It’s so good in fact, that HBO…

Okay, perhaps we’re all glad that winter is over (at least in the Northeast US) – but that doesn’t mean we can’t start preparing next winter’s adventures…particularly if it means having a full-year to consider riding a pair of handmade skis on the slopes next season. In the case that you find yourself in Norway…

Having featured his designs at over 16 international design exhibitions since he started studying product design nearly five years ago, young South Korean industrial designer Seungji Mun has shown no signs of slowing down his hustle. The designer, who attended the Kaywon School of Art and Design in South Korea and graduated in 2012, has…

While it’s common knowledge that crowdfunding has changed how products are brought to market, the process of going from grassroots Kickstarter campaign to viral success has also introduced entirely new challenges for ensuring that supply chains and vendors are capable of meeting necessary manufacturing requirements that thousands of eager backers – and not to mention…

Usually when it comes to recreating logos with pixel-by-pixel perfection, a high-resolution reference image of said logo(s) is needed to trace – with careful precision – using a bezier curve tool such as Adobe Illustrator’s Pen Tool. The process – depending on the level of one’s OCD tendencies – can take up to an hour…

Known widely for his ceramic speaker and Sorapot teapot designs, industrial designer Joey Roth has made a name for himself over the past five years by delivering unique products that preserve and highlight their natural material qualities. His ingenious ceramic speakers alone set the internet on fire when they were first released and continue to…

Since finding crowdfunding success on Indiegogo in April of last year, the design team behind Amsterdam-based Dick Moby Sunglasses have showed no signs of slowing down. The team, which consists of designers Tim Holland and Robbert Bettink, met while studying together in Amsterdam and came up with the original idea of sustainable eyewear while on…

With all of the excitement centered around space exploration as of late – thanks in no small part to Elon Musk’s one-man PR machine – it comes with little surprise that model rocketry has exploded in popularity within the past few years. While hobbyist companies such as Estes Rockets have been developing model rockets for…

For those needing to create presentations on-the-go, the iPad has been both a blessing and a burden; while it clearly enables users to do something, it lacks the power to create something that most people would feel comfortable standing in front of while giving a presentation. Ultimately, the tablet has become an in-between tool for…

For some, working between the worlds of art, design, craft and technology seems like a part of your everyday workflow. For inventor Dominic Wilcox, these means literally taking objects and ideas from across the widest points of any given scale and merging them into singular concepts that mix the four disciplines to create innovative and…

Some of the best conceptual manufacturing equipment designs that we’ve seen over the past few years have involved altering traditional processes into more simplified approaches that strip away the complexities in favor of the bare minimum. Among others that come to mind instantly is Dave Hakkens’ Precious Plastic project – where he has simplified traditional…

Although Kickstarter has been responsible for churning out successful product after successful product, what happens to a Kickstarter campaign page after a product launches has been…pretty much nothing. Thanks to the popularity of some projects, the SEO for any search of said product is likely to bring up the Kickstarter page first (go ahead, try…

If creating big budget animated films such as those produced by Pixar and Dreamworks has been on your bucket list, we have good news for you, friends. Pixar has just announced that they have released their RenderMan software into the wild for non-commercial use. Although the software isn’t an all-in-one modeling, rendering and animation package…

Along with a host of other announcements at Apple’s Spring Forward event earlier this month was the announcement of an entirely new keyboard and trackpad system that focuses on more intuitive experiences and further flexibility for control. While the keyboard keys will provide a more touch-sensitive experience, the Force Touch upgrade on trackpads will offer…

With all of the recent developments between OnShape, Autodesk’s 360 cloud offerings and even DS’ 3DEXPERIENCE, this truly is an exciting time for MCAD and ultimately, what the near-future holds for millions of users who depend on the software to bring their product designs to life. But as discussions surrounding what the best offering is…

While 3D printers are certainly one of the more fun digital fabrication tools, laser cutters aren’t too far behind. Not to mention, the ability to quickly and easily create a physical product from a digital file is made all the more fun when visible lasers are involved. For Martin Raynsford – a co-owner of the…

It was only a week ago when we got a sneak-peek at Carbon3D’s CLIP Technology which spread like wildfire across the design, engineering and general ‘maker’ community. The company claimed that they are able to print 3D objects between 25 and 100-times faster than more common additive manufacturing techniques including FDM and SLA-based 3D printing.…

Last time we checked in with self-described “Stuffmaker” Mac Premo, the Brooklyn-based multimedia artist, videographer and designer was waxing philosophical about why he creates and why “(being) the arbiter of good stories is to live forever”. Since then, the 7-time New York Emmy® Award-winning Promo has been focusing on a different kind of project that…

When it comes to watching videos of wood products come to life, leave it up to artisanal wood craftsman Frank Howarth and his creative camera work to be among the most entertaining. The YouTube artisanal craft star picked up an obsession with both woodworking and filmmaking soon after retiring from architecture in the heavily-forested portion…

Although the concept of urban farming isn’t necessarily new, the trifecta of crowdfunding platforms, widespread access to digital fabrication tools and the general public’s interest in eating healthier has helped propel the practice into both single-family homes and apartment rooftops at a rapid rate. In cities such as London, Chicago and New York City, urban…

It’s hard to not talk about the history of design without “Bucky Fuller” being mentioned at least once. The designer, architect, systems theorist and neo-futurist is famous for dipping his talent in multiple projects ranging from transportation design to urban planning and beyond. Along the way, he somehow managed to publish over 30 books on…

You would think that for as long as wood has been around, its various possibilities and forms within its natural state would have been exhausted by now – not unlike various pop music melodies. However every now and again, we’re reminded of just how many more possibilities are out there that takes the old and…

It’s no secret that although 3D printing has emerged to become a mainstream technology, the speed of being able to convert a digital file into a physical object leaves much to be desired regardless of the additive manufacturing technology being used. In what sounds like something that’s too good to be true, Redwood City, California…

If you happened to be at the London Design Festival in early 2010, chances are you stopped by Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram’s OUTRACE installation – which invited the general public to take control of eight industrial robots on loan from Audi’s production line and use them to write personal light messages that were recorded…

Your office microwave may soon no longer be reserved for just Prismacolor pencils, stale coffee or the occasional Ham and Cheese Hot Pocket anymore. The Rocketbook Cloud-Integrated Microwavable Notebook, which has currently raised over $260,000 on Indiegogo, just might be the zaniest and most impressive crowdfunded sketchbook concept we’ve seen yet. While the Rocketbook is…

After moving from Japan to LA in 1999, a young Shin Okuda held a variety of different jobs over the following couple of years before finding work with a sculptor who also happened to do furniture pieces. After spending countless hours in the studio absorbing the various woodworking techniques and studying designers, Okuda set out…

It’s been a wild and crazy week for the Apple Watch, but the best parts of Apple’s Spring Forward event this past Monday had little to do with the final details of the Watch at all, but rather the material and process videos behind how the watch even got there. While many have been moaning…

Over the past few years (partially thanks to the 3D printing revolution) we’ve been seeing an explosion of customization apps and augmented reality viewers that allow consumers to customize their retail experience. The apps consistently ride the fine line between allowing a consumer to customize their retail experience while also keeping them constrained to the…

When he was on pace to become the youngest head designer ever at General Motors, John Delorean boldly decided to ditch the car giant and set out on his own path to establish his own car company that would later become Delorean. After setting up shop in Ireland, Delorean developed what would later become one…

Although “remixing” existing products has become popular over the past few years thanks to desktop fabrication, fail-proof basic 3D modeling programs and a seemingly endless library of shareable 3d models, NYC-based pop artist Morgan Phillips (AKA The Sucklord) has been actively remixing his own toy designs using mass production methods for nearly two decades. Operating…

Similar to other board sports that have taken the recreation and lifestyle industries by storm, some of skateboarding’s most influential developments didn’t occur in a research lab, but rather the garage of an engineer. After studying engineering at Stanford University, engineer George Powell started making his own skateboards in 1957. Almost twenty years later in…

We don’t normally report on street art here on SolidSmack, but we do love sharing various 3D technologies and the use of raw talent – if for no other reason than for inspiration’s sake. Featuring the work of Sofles – an Australian born, internationally-renowned artist – Graffiti Mapped is an interactive street mural project curated…

Starting next month, some flat-pack college dorm furniture may be more design and environmentally-savvy than that table you bought last year that you swore would be handed down to your grandchildren. Thankfully, the flat-pack furniture in question won’t take too much of a dent out of your wallet in the case that you want to…

Although we’ve been seeing an increase in wooden bicycle concepts over the past few years, few have ever made it outside of the concept stage – and for many bicycle enthusiasts, this is for good reason. Despite the unarguable beauty of a handcrafted wooden bicycle frame, most designs have come across as purely that: aesthetics…

Although living in a big city may have a seemingly endless list of perks for many, living in a cultural epicenter with millions of other people is not without its drawbacks, too. Aside from high real estate costs and a lack of greenery, many who work on creative projects are oftentimes left with having to…

Between using a standard pair of earbuds that come with a smartphone to spending thousands of dollars on a world-class audiophile flagship kit, everybody has their preferred way of listening. While free earbuds might make for a great on-the-go option, it’s hard to deny that the sound that comes from well-engineered headphones is actually worth…

Although there might have been some questions left unanswered at last week’s SolidWorks World, there were still some announcements that are sure to please a lot of users – even if they might take a little while to develop. Perhaps most notably is the announcement of the new SolidWorks Manufacturing Network. The new platform -…

It seems that now more than ever, those who focused their careers on digital products have been coming out of the woodwork in favor of creating real-world objects with their hands. Whether or not these designers pick up the skills as hobbies or as full-fledged new careers, the return to that old-world tradition and desire…

Ever since the first iPad was released in 2010, the discussion regarding what the best portable digital sketching tool or tool combination is has only grown more complicated over the years. Between those who have found success with using the later Microsoft Surface to early adopters of the Wacom Cintiq Companion, the debate ultimately always…