As one of the most coveted of all design jobs, sneaker designers often have it made. From hanging out with pro athletes to working with the most innovative color trends, materials, and finishes day in and day out, it’s no wonder why colleges and trade schools are beginning to offer sneaker design courses to keep…

From cottages in the middle of the forest to hyper-organized New York City studios, no two workshops are alike. But few—if any workshops—are as gonzo as this setup from Spanish furniture designer Fernando Abellanas. The core of the workspace has all of the common knick-knacks— the chair, the desk, the computer, the potted plants. But…

First introduced in 1976, Stretch Armstrong has been pulled, plied, and (sadly) torn by thousands of kids over his lifetime. The short, well-muscled blonde man always returns to his original size though—and has proven to be indestructible no matter how many kids pull on each of his arms. But can this latex and corn syrup-filled…

With over 1 million subscribers on YouTube, woodworker Matthias Wandel knows a thing or two about making shop time entertaining. Whether he’s making marble machines, wooden combination locks, Jenga pistols, or even a wooden air raid siren, he’s always having a killer time making it. And who wouldn’t want to watch that? More recently, the…

From Hippies to Van Lifers, few vehicles have come to represent multiple subcultures as well as the VW Microbus. While the German automotive manufacturer ceased production of the vans years ago, that hasn’t discouraged die-hard fans from rebuilding their own custom VW Microbus models to their own standards. Unsurprisingly—and after years of teaser concept models—the…

As often as we look at and use appliances that live out their entire lives on our kitchen counters, you would expect there to be more exploration into thinking of these objects as ‘functional sculptures’ rather than ‘attractive mass manufactured objects’. At least, this was a glaring concern from Berkely-based design studio Montaag Products. After…

When he published The Measure of Man and Woman: Human Factors in Design in 1960 to provide “up-to-date measurements and information for children, teenagers, adult men and women, and the elderly through its detailed text, convenient tabular material, and 200 anthropometric drawings,” industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss likely had no idea how much of an influence…

Few objects are as ubiquitous in the New York City landscape as the humble pushcart. Whether to ferry packages up a skyscraper or transport a piece of artwork down the block, the assistive devices have come to represent the number of goods that flow in and out of the city on a daily basis. It…

If there’s one thing that can turn an ordinary object into an extraordinary object, it’s knowing that you built said object yourself. As to be expected, however, things tend to hit a snag when functional electronic appliances enter the mix. Aiming to satisfy the middle ground between a functional object and a DIY experience, the…

It’s no secret that LEGO designers have always been drawn to supercars as inspiration for new LEGO sets. Whether it’s an F1 racer or a Porsche 911 designed to be assembled after the true-to-life factory assembly process, you can be sure that somebody at LEGO HQ has considered replicating it with the plastic bricks. But…

From the introduction of color television to the formation of NASA, few decades have offered a glimpse of endless possibilities quite like the 1950s. And while commercial jet travel and the wonder of Xerox copiers were making their way into dinner table conversations, the rise in post-war manufacturing also introduced cost competition and a growing…

Having been practicing digital illustration since the early 1990s (this after years of practicing traditional art), Brazil’s Jomar Machado has amassed an impressive portfolio of 3D design work that spans decades. While the early years of his professional career were spent creating storyboards, layouts, and concept art for print at the advertising firm JW Thompson,…

With nearly 3 million YouTube subscribers, Kevin Kohler, aka The Backyard Scientist, knows a thing or two about holding people’s attention. Whether it’s pouring molten aluminum into a watermelon (and subsequently pulling out the odd-shaped sculpture) or creating a giant human-sized mousetrap (sorry again, watermelons) the mad scientist seamlessly blends science with entertainment—a sort of…

Featuring the world’s first back-illuminated 35 millimeter full-frame CMOS image sensor, Sony’s α7R II mirrorless camera holds a pretty significant torch next to some of the older players in the camera game. And at $2,900 for just the camera body, it’s priced that way, too. But before the α7R II ever captures an image, it…

Few tools are as indispensable in the design engineer’s toolbox as a solid product visualization tool. After all, why wouldn’t you want to see your model rendered beautifully after hours of modeling in a drab CAD modeling environment? And for many industrial designers, mechanical engineers, and artists today, KeyShot is the go-to tool for its…

In most cases, picking a product that is ‘built to last’ should be high up on a consumer’s priority checklist, but with recent advances in sustainable materials, that hasn’t always proven to be the case. In fact, ‘leaving no trace’ can actually be a selling point for some disposable products. But a one-time use grill…

Despite constant updates to the iPad Pro and Microsoft Surface tablets to make them more appealing to professionals, Wacom has managed to remain the tool of choice for serious concept designers that need to tap into the power of more robust laptops and workstations. But out of the entire family of Wacom tablets, it’s the…

The last time we checked in with former NASA engineer Mark Rober, he was demonstrating the World’s Largest Nerf Blaster; a scaled-up version of the $29.95 Nerf N-Strike Maverick that shoots massive foam darts made from pool noodles and toilet plungers at an impressive 40 mph thanks to an onboard 3,000 PSI air tank. For…

Since they came on the scene back in 2010 with the Glif iPhone 4 Tripod Mount & Stand, Studio Neat collaborators Dan Provost and Tom Gerhardt have become one of the few success stories to rise out of the Kingdom of Kickstarter. Starting with that smartphone tripod, which, at the time, was an entirely new…

From smart homes with voice interfaces to AI-powered cars that can navigate morning rush hour traffic hands-free, many promises of the so-called ‘future’ have been slowly making their way into our day-to-day lives. And while we’re still waiting on a reliable Breakfast Machine, there’s plenty more cool doodads to hold us over until then. Doodads…

As far as furniture design goes, Amsterdam-based industrial designer Sebastian Brajkovic certainly has an interesting backstory. As a child, his interest in the rotation and skewing of objects—ranging from spinning tape decks to car wheels—was so intense, that his parents believed that he may have been autistic. While he is not, his interest in perspective…

From a Porsche 911 model with build instructions based on the true life factory assembly process to a functional laser cutter mini-factory, there’s never been a better time to be a LEGO fan. And while some of the best projects are those that happen spontaneously by throwing some random bricks together, the toy bricks can…

When it comes to ingenious video game mods, Ben Heck usually has just about everything covered. But with the arrival of the Nintendo Switch earlier this year, plenty of DIY modders and hardware hackers have been coming out of the woodwork to show us their own interpretations of Nintendo’s latest device. And when it comes…

Ah, the good old Bic pen. Where would we be without you? As a cheap and disposable tool capable of at least a fair enough amount of line weights, the Bic pen is one of the most indispensable tools that can be found in a designer or engineer’s toolkit. Sure—there are plenty of other great…

Great things seem to happen when you put a video camera in the hands of somebody with fabrication knowledge. We’ve seen this numerous times before with Frank Howarth’s creative woodworking videos—not to mention a slew of other creative types. More recently, engineer Brett Foxwell, who also happens to work as an armature builder on such…

In the (relatively new) world of on-demand services ranging from car rides to grocery delivery, winners can come out on both sides: the buyer is happy to have more time in their pocket and the seller has a steady line of revenue that previously might not have existed before—all from the convenience of a smartphone…

Introduced by Lesney Products in 1953 as a way for British children to bring toys to school that satisfied the “toys must fit into a matchbox” requirement, the Matchbox brand of die-cast cars have since become one of the most iconic toy brands of all time. While the brand expanded out from die-cast cars into…

In the case that you might have gotten bored with your fleet of Bentleys, Porsches, and other luxury automobiles, a new roundup of vehicle concepts might tickle your (vehicular) taste buds. Produced by UK-based Ford van dealership Ford Transit Direct (??), this small collection of form studies takes a look at what modern ‘luxury’ might…

Despite that old expression of “you don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” Michelin has proved this week that there’s still plenty of ground to play with the future of wheel design…and tires, too. Introduced at the company’s annual Movin’On conference in Montreal, the new Vision concept tire is a one-piece 3D printed wheel-and-tire design that…

Sure—zombies have already taken over mainstream culture, so it makes sense. Still, it seems as though just about everybody and their grandma has a morbid fascination with how to survive a zombie doomsday. And if there’s one thing that you can count on just about every craftsman on YouTube to do well, it’s making survival…

As more 3D pros—and other creatives with system-intensive needs— turn to Apple for their hardware needs, it would make sense for the company to introduce a full-fledged workstation offering that is on-par with some of the more advanced Windows-based workstations on the market. And after years of speculation, the answer arrived on Monday in the…

While ‘razor thin’ is a great marketing term for promoting the Macbook Air, you certainly wouldn’t cut fresh fruit and vegetables with it like you would your paring knife. …Unless you’re Japanese artist Shimabuku. Known for his obscure sense of humor that pokes fun at the banalities of human culture and everyday life, the Berlin-based…

Thanks to Instagram, it’s never been easier for designers, engineers, makers, and just about anybody else who makes something document their creative process. For some of us, it can be educational content—while for others, it can be a way to live through a highly-skilled craftsman vicariously for a few seconds a day. G. Phil Poirier…

Since its first release, Duet Pro has been a fantastic utility for macOS and Windows users looking to add additional responsive displays using their various iDevices—particularly the iPad. Last year, the app introduced new features that helped turn the iPad Pro into a makeshift Wacom tablet for iPad Pro + Pencil owners. With a recent…

We’ve said it time and time again, and we still mean it from the bottom of our hearts: if a zombie apocalypse ever breaks out, we want to be as close to ‘Slingshot Master’ Joerg Sprave as humanly possible. While the German slingshot sensei has created everything from an Oreo Cookie Separation Pump Gun to…

While not feasible for every product out there, ceramic materials are one of the few natural materials available to us that can be formed into just about anything. Best of all, it’s a sustainable and cheap material to work with. But ceramic furniture? Inspired by German machinery manufacturer Carl Schlickeysen, inventor of the first machine…

What if you could surf on tram tracks? Faced with rough cobblestone streets instead of smooth and paved roads, these creative skaters created a workaround by modding their boards to fit the tram tracks embedded within the cobblestone streets…effectively providing an ultimate smooth ride. Featuring one wheel in the front center of the board and…

We’ve seen legions of YouTubers manifest chaos to bring us absurd contraptions with little purpose other than to document how capable they are of destruction. And with high-end slow-speed cameras more accessible now than ever, watching these homegrown science experiments has never been more entertaining…even, educational. Among others leading the way is Kevin Kohler, aka…

There’s no denying that voice interfaces are the future of interaction design. Whether it’s through Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home, or any number of chatbots and new AI technologies, ‘the invisible interface’ eschews screens in favor of speech to feed us information or take commands. Thankfully, affordable development boards like the Raspberry Pi have…

Back in 2014, Kickstarter teamed up with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to sell some of the quirkiest and most successful products that come out of the crowdfunding platform through the museum’s lauded retail stores. The result was in many ways a glimpse into what a possible Kickstarter retail store would look like—a powerful…

At a price point that could afford a mid-sized home, it’s understandable why many people choose to just appreciate a Ferrari from a distance rather than as a weekday commuter. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll miss out on sitting in the driver’s seat every day. Through a partnership with Italian outfit Poltrona Frau,…

A huge bonus for any manufacturer is the ability to upcycle any wasted material from the manufacturing process into entirely new products. We’ve seen this before with discarded cardboard upcycled into surfboards and even sawdust as a result of pencil manufacturing upcycled into Duraflame logs. More recently, tequila brand Jose Cuervo has been to getting…

With such a wide variety of camera lenses available to us these days, it’s easy to overlook the details that go into creating each and every precision-engineered “glass.” From the ultra wide-angle 24mm f/1.4L for expansive landscape shots to the behemoth 800mm f/5.6L monsters used to capture high detail from a distance, each and every…

While the beloved Raspberry Pi is perfect for lightweight (and cheap!) computing tasks, it is far from ideal for heavier jobs typically done on more robust ARM-based laptops. But what if you could have the same operating power of a laptop in the same versatile package as a Raspberry Pi? The answer would likely be…

Jet packs aren’t going to be the only way to get around in the not-too-distant future. While it sounds like pure science fiction, the days of flying cars are soon upon us. And no, it’s not Elon Musk helping to lead the charge on this one. This time around, it’s none other than Google co-founder…

Last August, woodworker John Heisz blew up the internet after demonstrating the cutting power of a single piece of 8×11 paper when cut into a circular disc and mounted it like a 40-tooth wood shredder in an average table saw. Not only was this seemingly harmless piece of paper capable of delivering the mother of…

Few materials are as cheap and versatile as cardboard, which makes it a perfect building material for everything from rough prototypes to even finished products. Put in the hands of a true artist, however, and the material elevates to a new dimension entirely. At least, this is the case with Japanese artist Monomi Ohno. While…

As the story goes, Leonardo Pisano Bigollo was a young man in his twenties during the year 1202. A member of a prominent local trading family, he spent a lot of time traveling to the Middle East. During his travels to the Arabic countries, he became enamored by the mathematical ideas and formulas used in…

When it comes to summertime activities, few things beat a lazy ride around a lake or down a creek in a canoe. And while today you can fetch a decent newer model for anywhere from $500-$2000, nothing beats the beauty and craftsmanship of a traditional dugout canoe. And if you’ve ever wanted to make your…

When it comes to some of the more exciting developments in product design, oftentimes it comes down to simply looking at new ways of manipulating old materials rather than seeking out new ones. Such is the case with ‘Tenderwood’, an experimental new bench design from Taiwanese industrial designer YenHao Chu. Using a combination of Japanese…