In CAD

'Hatch Live' Championship Weekend: Which Rhino Modeling Warrior Reigned Victorious?

5 Mins Read

Last month we reported on the opening weekend of the new Hatch Live tournament—a sort of Cut+Paste-like competition with the end goal of having a unique, manufacturable design. Well, after a month’s worth of tournament weekends, this past weekend saw the championship round between talented designers Wil Rodriguez-Joglar and Nelson Ayala as they battled out a unique and original lamp design in front of a live audience. With $4000 cash money, a ‘Designer in Residence’ exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, and a personal portfolio review and brunch with former Editor-in-Chief of Surface Magazine Dan Rubenstein, the champion will most certainly have something to rightfully brag about for the next few months. We had a chance to catch up with the lucky champ to hear more about their experience after competing through the entire tournament, as well as advice for the next round of competitors in the next tournament.

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In DESIGN

Sandwichbike: This Flat-Pack Bike is Real and Ready to Ship

2 Mins Read

We’ve seen quite the gamut of unique bicycle designs over the past year. From the 19th century velocipede re-imagined with today’s bicycle technologies to custom bicycle designs that utilize rapid manufacturing methods and everything in between, riders looking for a funkier ride have never had more options. The Sandwichbike from designer Basten Leijh is the latest funky bicycle design to hit the market and comes in the form of a flat-pack design a la IKEA—however don’t get your hopes up if Swedish meatballs and lingonberry juice aren’t an included option.

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In FAB

Kinematics: New Platform from Nervous System Allows User-Generated 4D Printed Designs (Video)

2 Mins Read

It was only yesterday that we took a look at Autodesk’s Project Shapeshifter and explored how it is moving away from existing simple modeling apps and into more complex modeling aimed at the consumer market. Although 3D printer sales have surged (and will continue to do so), the bridge between concept and well-executed print is still a long one for most consumers: there’s a reason why we have four-year industrial design and mechanical engineering degrees. Yet this long divide presents a plethora of opportunities for new platforms to bring that division a little closer while keeping designs more exciting than the typical pre-made pencil-toppers, cups, and figurines. The Kinematics app from Nervous System is the latest platform that not only wants to bring 3D printing to the consumer market, but the self-assembling 4D printing experience as well. We took a look at the platform to see how quickly we could throw together our own little 4D jewelry collection.

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In DESIGN

The 100% ToBeUs Collection: 100 Architects and Designers Re-Imagine the Wooden Toy Car

2 Mins Read

If you’re a fan of the popular Automoblox toys, then this one’s for you. Architect Matteo Ragni organized a list of one-hundred designers and architects to design their own take on the wooden toy car as a part of his 100% ToBeUs initiative. The well-conceived initiative is focused on moving kids away from disposable toys and objects and to learn to better appreciate well-crafted objects. With a sponsorship from Alessi and 100 world-class designers and architects on board, there are most certainly some favorable designs in the mix. Here’s a few of our favorites.

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In RADIO

SolidSmack Radio | Turkey Coma in D Minor

1 Min Read

This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days (although we hope you’ll take some time out this week to stuff your face with turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie). This week we’re going to bring the tempo down a few notches with some songs inspired by Dude Lebowski. We’ll start off with Tumbling Tumbleweeds by the Sons of Pioneers and work our way through some Bob Dylan, The Monks, Captain Beefheart, Gipsy Kings, and others before wrapping up with the classic Standing On the Corner by the one and only Dean Martin.

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