Invented just one year after the invention of Scotch tape in 1930, the tape dispenser is a unique package design-tool hybrid that can be found in just about every household. Due to the frustration of finding the loose end of tape on a roll, 3M Engineer John A. Borden invented the serrated-edge dispenser to keep the end of the tape away from the roll. Almost a century later, Japanese designer Kouichi Okamoto has redesigned the tape dispenser to create a liquid-like form from the resulting tape cuts.

Liquid Tape Cutter

Based in Shizuoka, Japan, designer Kouichi Okamoto has designed a unique tape cutter for decorating walls and objects with various lengths of black duct tape. Using a thin piece of formed sheet metal featuring a bendable arm to hold the tape roll, Okamoto has effectively redesigned the tape dispenser so that the cuts are convex rather than flat. By alternating between the different convex curves, Okamoto is able to give off the appearance of dripping paint in a relatively fast amount of time:

While this unique tape cutter would sell like hotcakes to DIY’ers, Okamoto designed the tool for himself to use at his studio Kyouei Design, based in Shizuoka, Japan.