So much news and so little time!
As the world of product design and engineering continues to shift shape thanks to recent developments in digital fabrication, cheaper and more powerful CAD platforms, an ever-increasing interest from a younger generation, and all-around interest in the field, SolidSmack exists to help drive the future of product design and engineering forward by bringing you the news.
Over the last year in design, we’ve seen everything from Buckminster Fuller’s Fly’s Eye dome concept resurrected in Miami to an 11-year old who proved to know more about bringing a product to market successfully than some people three or four times her age.
Here, we’ve rounded up ten of of our most-read stories over the past 12 months that helped lead us into another great year of pushing the boundaries for what’s to come next in 2015.
Buckminster Fuller’s Fly’s Eye Dome Comes to Life in Miami
“Back in 1965, neo-futuristic designer, architect, philosopher and all-around badass Buckminster Fuller designed and patented an “autonomous dwelling machine” that he coined the Fly’s Eye Dome. The designer, whose fascination with material usage and energy efficiency in design and architecture led to a career highlighted with a variety of geodesic dome designs, sadly passed away before his hand-built prototypes for the structure came to life as the real-world spaces he had envisioned…”
Apple Industrial Designer Marc Newson Adds Beretta Shotgun Design to His Portfolio
“Having designed everything from jetpacks to furniture and clothing to restaurant interiors prior to joining Apple’s industrial design team, industrial designer Marc Newson had one more product to get off his chest before signing up for the Cupertino all-star team: a modern 21st century shotgun for Beretta…”
Thailand-Based ‘Studiohole’ Knows a Thing or Two About Designing with Concrete
“It’s hard not to appreciate concrete from a manufacturing standpoint regardless of your taste for or against the cool minimalist aesthetic. Between its widespread availability and ability to be formed into literally any cavity, concrete is an excellent medium for the cheap up-front cost of manufacturing with it alone…”
Industrial Designer Eli Chissick’s Brilliant Upcycled Wood Furniture
“Oftentimes with upcycling, the best executions haven’t always been in repurposing wasted objects in their current physical state but rather, using the base material to create a new material to work with. We’ve seen this with ‘useless’ bike tubes that have been sliced and sewn together to create a rubber sheet for bags—or even something similar with discarded sails that before being converted into an iPad case, were sailing off the shores of Maine…”
An 11-Year-Old Just Designed A Better Unbreakable Cup Than You Probably Could
“Inspired by the need to create a cup for her grandfather who had difficulty holding onto drinking vessels due to his Parkinson’s Disease symptoms, 11-year-old Lily Born of Chicago created a unique cup design that has already surpassed its goal on Kickstarter in less than a week…”
Coca-Cola’s New Bottle Cap Designs Encourage Immediate Upcycling
“Already ranked number 43 of the 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World, Coca Cola has been working relentlessly to improve their image in the realm of recycling plastic bottles. While one could argue that doing away with plastic bottles would be the end-all solution, the fact of the matter is that plastic bottles aren’t going away anytime soon…”
The R0tring 800+ Aims To Make Switching Between Your Sketchbook and Tablet a Breeze
“While using a stylus and a tablet for sketching is still a cumbersome experience for a lot of designers (particularly in the fine-point tip department), it is still very doable with enough practice…and in some cases, with some spare paper nearby. We’ve seen two-in-one hybrids that pair a stylus tip with a pen in the past, but the more traditionally-styled mechanical pencil/stylus hybrid 800+ from German writing instrument company r0tring just might be one of the best we’ve seen for designers and engineers so far…”
The LeverAxe: You’ll Wish You Could Chop Wood All Day With This Physics-Exploiting Axe
“Chopping wood is one of those things that people love or they hate. There’s a reason why professional lumberjacks are nearly as ripped as professional bodybuilders…throwing a heavy object over and over again is one heck-of-a-workout. Regardless if you’re a professional lumberjack or a ‘casual woodsplitter’, the Vipukirves (Finnish for LeverAxe) is without a doubt something that makes everybody’s job easier and more fun…”
Industrial Designer and Oblivion Concept Artist Daniel Simon’s C-01 Superbike for Lotus+Kodewa
“Last time we talked with Daniel Simon, we were at the Autodesk CAVE conference in Las Vegas this past December where he was explaining how he finds inspiration for his futuristic vehicle concept art. Between both his own personal projects and various concept design for films such as Oblivion, Tron, and Captain America, he is far from being bored these days. His latest project however brings his signature classic car-meets-spaceship aesthetic to the real world with the C-01 Superbike for Lotus…”
Reinventing the Wheel. The Smart Wheel vs. The Copenhagen Wheel (Part 1/3)
“Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve seen either the FlyKly Smart Wheel or the Superpedestrian Copenhagen Wheel — probably somewhere in your Facebook News Feed. As an avid cyclist, I knew the first moment I saw the Copenhagen Wheel that I would buy one, but got pretty confused when FlyKly launched their Kickstarter campaign with what appeared to be a carbon copy of the Copenhagen Wheel…”
