First used to carry items in nomadic times, then later sold as a way to sustain life, woven baskets have played a critical role in the history of human culture across all continents. While we may not have a massive need for them anymore, the craft of making woven baskets from scratch is still very…

With another year just about coming to a close, companies who are gearing up to show off their latest wares at CES in Las Vegas in early January are already getting a head start on the news cycle. Among others, LG has just announced a pair of new monitors for the professional market that are…

When it comes to communicating design ideas effectively on paper, sketches that follow the basic principals of perspective are absolutely critical. While modern digital sketching tools including various iPad Pro apps can assist with perspective drawing, training your mind to see perspective in the analog world can be an entirely different beast to tackle. Aiming…

Of all the places you’d expect the sad remnants of a wrecked automobile to show up, on a wrist as a high-end watch likely isn’t at the top of that list. Yet. designers Christian Mygh and Jonathan Kamstrup of REC Watches have done just that with their P-51 Timepiece; a luxury watch made from discarded…

When it comes to zany, off-the-wall projects that actually work, it takes a lot for Colin Furze to outdo himself—yet, the ingenious (and ballsy) garage inventor from Stamford Lincolnshire in the UK may have finally done it. In celebration of the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi this week, Furze partnered with eBay to…

Gone are the days of the simple computer monitor. These days, curved screen dimensions, color profiles, resolutions, mounting capabilities, and connection ports sit amongst the top demands of professionals. Among others, Phillips wants in on some of that high-end market in 2018. Hitting stores in January (only in Europe – North America expected later), the…

Google is no stranger when it comes to supporting Do-It-Yourselfers. Earlier this year, the company released their AIY Voice Kit for makers to bring the search giant’s Google Assistant artificial intelligence network to their Raspberry Pi projects. Not surprisingly, the kit was a huge hit. This week, the company is following up on the success…

From building an insane Rube Goldberg Machine to manipulating time with slow motion and tons of salt, Ok Go has made a subtle art of creating jaw-droppingly awesome music videos. It’s no surprise that each has garnered the indie rock outfit tens of millions of views on YouTube. For their latest stunt, the rockers brought…

While multimedia notetaking and sketching continue to drive professional tablet sales, the ability to pull the best from both worlds—the immediate digitization of analog sketches created with physical media—still leaves a lot to be desired. In the Spring of 2016, Moleskine released what we declared “The Best Analog/Digital Sketchbook of Them All” in the form…

Plagued by a loss of his Native American identity, booze, and drugs, Master carver Wayne Price was once a drifter who no longer had a connection to his warrior spirit. Today, the Tlingit wood carver from Haines, Alaska calls upon thousands of years of his ancestry in the form of wood carving to help both…

File this one under strange but true. The DipClip is—for all you fast food chicken nugget fans out there—a sauce dip holder that clips into just about any type of vehicle AC vent to make your sauce dippin’ culinary delight a hands-free experience. Yes—just like the GPS or mobile phone mounts, BBQ, Ranch, and Honey…

It’s not very often—if ever—that a software app is made in response to a mass distaste for a particular hardware feature. And as Apple’s design team has learned time and time again, you can’t please everybody all the time. The most recent example comes from the “notch” in the physical body of the new iPhone…

When they hit the scene back in 2006, the TechShop business model had everything going for it: a fitness gym-like membership program for the use of manufacturing and other shop equipment. For many urban-dwelling designers or engineers, the wide open shop floors provided a haven to work on weekend projects and use industrial machinery. For…

Cardboard generally isn’t the first material that comes to mind when discussing sculptures, models, and prototypes—but legions of designers and artists have shown us otherwise. From quick and dirty product models to functional skateboards, it’s difficult to imagine what can’t be made with a little creativity. More recently, artist James Lake has been slicing and…

When it comes to upcycling, it’s not always easy to create something new out of discarded waste that doesn’t appear as repurposed…discarded waste. Yet, Czech artist Veronika Richterová seems to have pulled it off. For her recent PET Luminaries series, the artist sliced and diced dozens of discarded plastic PET bottles to create a collection…

Less than a month ago, developer Astro HQ revealed a clever update to their upcoming Luna Display app that sneakily turned the iPad’s front-facing camera into a contextual button while keeping the UI clear of clutter. “While Apple is taking away buttons, we found a way to add one,” said the company. “Meet the Camera…

When it comes to knock-their-socks off CG work, Esben Oxholm is a force to be reckoned with. With a background in both industrial design engineering and lighting design, it’s safe to say that his product visualizations rank up there among the best of ’em. And like other great industrial designers, Esben takes the time to…

With his near-seamless ability to fuse traditional craftsmanship with modern technology, it’s no wonder designer Love Hultén consistently makes his way into mainstream media with his clever interpretations of retro arcade cabinets. Heck, one of his creations even ended up on the Tonight Show. The Swedish designer, whose approach to design is to present genuine…

As frivolous as it may seem, the humble mouse pad can be a serious tool on the desktop. Whether it’s a simple run-of-the-mill pad from a vendor or a more robust ergonomically-crafted wrist support system, a good mouse pad can save your sanity after hours of clicking away on a project. But you’ve likely never…

It’s not every day when we hear about an exciting new power tool innovation—so when we do get one, it’s usually worth giving a hoot about. The LignoLoc wood nail fastening system is most certainly one of those. Designed to be used in industrial production and ecological timber construction, LignoLoc is the first-ever fireable wooden…

Candles are typically manufactured with scents that put people at ease—such as those that invoke Christmas morning or the salty ocean air, among others. And in the year 2017, what could possibly put some people more at ease than the scent of a freshly-opened Apple product? Inspired by Apple’s own signature packaging ‘scent’, candle manufacturer…

Never underestimate the power of an ergonomic mouse. And for many CAD modelers, the Surface Mouse from Microsoft has been a great balance between price and comfort for years. But like most other things, it’s been long overdue for an update beyond the typical left click, right click, and scroll wheel functionalities. Arriving November 16th,…

With less than a day left to go, Luna Display from Astro HQ has already shot past their $30,000 Kickstarter campaign goal and is currently sitting at nearly $600,000. The Luna Display Mini DisplayPort or USB-C dongle, along with a free accompanying app, seamlessly extends a Mac desktop environment to an iPad using an existing…

It’s been years in development, but the chance to see giant robots fight to the metal-crunching finish is now upon us. Back in the summer of 2015, MegaBots, Inc created a 15-foot tall, 12,000lb piloted mech capable of hurling a 3lb hunk of metal at over 130 mph. The only problem: there was nobody to…

When it comes to inspirational source material, NASA’s archive of open source multimedia is a treasure trove for creatives. No, seriously. Among others, French designer Harold Sangourd recently pulled some source material for the creation of his Apollo 11 Table—a tribute to the famous NASA expedition. The table, which consists of molded fiberglass covering a…

It’s been years in development, but the chance to see giant robots fight to the metal-crunching finish is now upon us. Back in the summer of 2015, MegaBots, Inc created a 15-foot tall, 12,000lb piloted mech capable of hurling a 3lb hunk of metal at over 130 mph. The only problem: there was nobody to…

Nike made a splash with their self-lacing shoes, but a foot isn’t the only place to take advantage of auto-adjusting tech. According to AppleInsider, Apple was granted US Patent No. 9,781,984 for a self-adjusting Apple Watch band—leaving puny straps, buttons, velcro, clasps and every other attachment ‘inconvenience’ in its wake. Reads the patent’s abstract: “Systems…

Sure, mushrooms are good in your salads…but you’ve likely never given any thought into mushrooms as a medium for physical products. Call it a typical Brooklyn experiment, but the GROW lamp from Ecovative just might have some sense behind it. In combining the essence of DIY with the power of nature, the GROW is a…

Born out of a successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2013, CandyLab Toys has been one of the most popular Kickstarter campaigns to date. The NYC toy company, founded by two friends with a mutual love for classic American cars, has even been elevated to Kickstarter Gold status—even making a feature in the platform’s retail partnership…

As we become increasingly tied to our digital devices., the longing and joy for analog experiences continues to inspire a realm of new digital products that aim to capture the best of both worlds—products like the reMarkable e-ink tablet. The Yashica Y35 is the latest to enter this realm—with the goal of capturing the joy…

Welp, he’s at it again. Colin Furze, our favorite garage inventor going on about 3 years now, has raised the bar yet again for zany garage invention hijinks. And while he’s previously created death-trap vehicles including ‘The World’s Fastest Pram’ and a fully-working hoverbike, this time he took a different route to create something a…

File this one under “why didn’t I think of that?” Created by ‘Eric and Angela,’ a husband and wife team with a love for all things outdoors and product design, Firefly is a brilliant replacement for the near-useless ‘toothpick’ accessory that comes standard with the Swiss Army Knife. Using the same form factor as the…

Remarkably resistant to water, acid, and in some cases, heat, lacquer—a natural plastic—has been used by East Asian craftsmen for centuries to create highly-detailed inlaid decorative boxes. Although it can take up to twelve months of labor to make one of the treasured boxes, the results are nothing short of stunning. It comes as little…

Have you ever wondered why your best ideas come to at the times that they do? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to tap into that ‘magic formula’ a bit more often? Well—you can…kind of. The key to understanding why we have great ideas when we do is to first understand where ideas come…

When it comes to coffee, hardcore aficionados take every step of the process seriously—from the origins of the bean, down to the milliseconds for brew time and method. And while making a solid cup of coffee at home can be done with the ultra-simplified pour over method, espresso machines have been another story—unless you’ve been…

If you have a habit of eating at your desk—and let’s be honest, we all do—then keeping those peripherals clean is a daily challenge. Well, thanks to The Wype, you may not have to suffer through that pain and agony anymore. Billed as a “personal desktop snack rag,” the Wype is a patent-pending $12 desktop…

Between sporadic viral social content and entire YouTube channels, the hydraulic press is certainly having a moment. While most of that content is focused on the fascinating destruction of everything from cell phones to mountain bike suspension forks, a new Kickstarter project aims to take an entirely new angle: creating unique tableware from clay scraps.…

While video game consoles are becoming increasingly more advanced and powerful, it’s only natural for there to be a growing interest in retro consoles that hark back to simpler times—as evidenced by the massive demand for Nintendo’s NES and SNES Classic consoles alone. Well, now old-school favorite Atari is making a comeback for a slice…

Despite a long list of benefits, working from home is also not without its fair share of downsides. For those that depend on billing clients for regular hours, digital time tracking can be a major pain—particularly when you’re constantly bouncing back and forth between tasks. But what if starting and stopping different tasks was as…

You’d have to be pretty deep under a rock to have not heard about the latest iPhones by now. And while early performance tests are calling the iPhone 8 (nevermind about the more advanced, soon to be released iPhone X) the most powerful smartphone ever made (it’s not even close), the continuation of the same…

Augmented reality is already making a splash with consumers, but its real impact could be in commercial applications. When Microsoft first unveiled their HoloLens mixed reality headset on stage in 2015, they presented a living room where everything from watching TV to playing Minecraft could be totally virtual and in an augmented reality environment. But…

For all of the nauseating “Smartphone of the Future” noise we’ve been hearing over the past week, let’s take a minute to go back to basics. SolidSmack favorite YouTuber Primitive Technology, a mastermind in working with natural materials to create functional shelters and objects, recently created his own furnace using—yep, primitive technology—for manufacturing ceramic goods.…

We shouldn’t need to tell you the reasons to not stare directly at a Solar Eclipse. If you did, you likely wouldn’t be reading this right now. As you might expect, camera sensors and delicate lenses aren’t safe, either. In a series of gorgeous—yet slightly sad—shots, Tennessee-based camera lens rental shop LensRentals shares a number…

Between instant water balloons, DIY computers, or even just simply finding a reason to get back to nature, kids today have never had it so good when it comes to busy activities. And now, they can add Droid Inventor to that list. Announced last week by LittleBits, the Star Wars Droid Inventor Kit includes everything…

If there is one thing the LEGO is good at—besides creating some of the best toys of all time—it’s staying in the news. Last week, the company announced their new 7,541-piece Lego Millennium Falcon—the biggest and most expensive set ever released by the company. Created for diehard fans under their Ultimate Collector Series collection, the…

While McLaren Automotive is known for designing and manufacturing some of the world’s fastest supercars, they’ve never been one to shy away from lending their expertise to the design of lower-tech vehicles, too—particularly, the bicycle. More recently, the British Automaker teamed up with Specialized Bicycles to celebrate their 50th year of Grand Prix racing and…

When it comes to computer peripherals, today’s digital designers have never had it so good. From wireless pen tablets to 3D mice, we’ve come a long way since the days of a simple wired keyboard and one-button mouse. The recently unveiled Craft keyboard from Logitech adds just one more option to that growing pile. The…

With demand for analog records surging in recent years, it comes as little surprise that some of the original turntable manufacturers have been coming out of the woodwork to refine their products for a new generation. Yesterday, Panasonic unveiled a prototype of the Technics SP-10R, a direct-drive turntable with the world’s highest-level S/N (signal-to-noise) ratio…

If you’ve ever needed an excuse to buy a 3D printer, let this be the one. YouTuber Matt Denton recently 3D printed an entire LEGO ‘vintage’ Technic kit (#1972—released in 1985) scaled up to a full-sized go-kart. Yes—we’re talking modeling and printing all 98 pieces including the tires. With nearly 170 hours of printing time…

Ever since Apple’s beloved iPad was released, developers have been clamoring to create the ideal second screen experience. Now, over seven years since Steve Jobs presented the first iPad on stage, Astro HQ just might have cracked the code. The company—whom some might remember as the creators of Astropad, a utility for turning your iPad…