For those who spend their days slicin’ and dicin’ material—be it for rough prototyping or simply just opening up all those Amazon purchases—having the right utility blade is an absolute must. While we love the simple and old-fashioned X-Acto blade, we’ve found them to be better for precision cutting versus all-around, at-the-ready utility. This grippy heavy-duty cutter makes use of OLFA’s unique snap-off blade system, so you’re never without a sharp blade at the ready. And with an anti-slip rubber grip design featuring a ratchet-wheel blade lock for safety, you won’t have to worry about slipping or unexpected pocket surprises. OLFA 18mm Rubber Inset Heavy-Duty Utility Knife — $11.43 Features:…

The canopy was a sandwich of eyes and dew-drenched leaves. We had all but to shift our gaze to see blinks that would start a rainfall. We inched closer to the clearing, their movements becoming more intense with each of our steps and their eyes starting to glow like the edges of these links. Alice Bruderer – Industrial designer with a crush on creatures creating amazing mash-ups of mechs, ships, racecars, and aircraft with beast. More on her site at mechanized-monsters.com. Moving Backwards – There’s this dolly out method in film that backs you away from the scene. This is a montage of how it has been used over the years. Cowboys,…

In an age where humans generate more waste than they know how to dispose of properly, more designers are continuing to make greener choices with their creations. We have kitchen knives made from old skateboard racks, furniture made from bricks made from recycled newspapers, speakers which use plastic bottles as bass boosters, and now… aluminum ladder furniture? French collective PZZL (not to be confused with ‘pizza’ – your favorite food), has gone the recycling route for one of its projects. ‘The Great Escape’, as it is called, is a collection of three furniture pieces: a stool, a lounge chair, and an ottoman; all of which use aluminum ladders as their…

Even though centuries have passed, the act of designing and making objects is still primarily the same: the human mind comes up with a project, the human hand sketches it down, and finally, human hands get to work on manually making the dream a reality. Throw in some modern computer-know-how and manufacturing technologies in there, and you’ve got the foundation for just about any mass manufactured object. But what if you reversed this process? What if … the computer was in charge of crafting the project? Such is the premise behind the chAIr project is. The big ‘AI’ in the project name stands for “Artificial Intelligence” – which pertains to…

It’s no secret that commercial 3D printing has been taking giant technological leaps in the past few years—but bringing the price per part down has been a significant technological barrier for just about every industrial 3D printer manufacturer. With their recently-announced Metal Jet commercial 3D printing platform, HP aims to take what they’ve learned from their Multi Jet Fusion 3D Printer platform—particularly, their “voxel-level binder jetting technology”— and apply it to metallic components, starting with stainless steel finished parts. Among the platform’s beta testers is Volkswagen, where engineers are using it to create customizable auto components including key fobs, mirror mounts, and gearshift knobs. https://youtu.be/6cSOFBTJxX0 “We are in the midst…

Autodesk is making very significant changes to their Fusion 360 product offerings. Fusion 360 is Autodesk’s flagship 3D design tool that is offered in a cloud-based subscription service. The system provides not only CAD, but also CAM, simulations and even generative components. It’s proven quite popular in certain circles. As of October 7th, they will no longer offer anything other than a single product configuration. Currently, the company markets several configurations of Autodesk Fusion 360: A free tier for students and startups A paid Standard Edition A paid Ultimate Edition, which includes advanced simulation, advanced manufacturing (5-axis support) and generative design. The new Fusion 360 plan from Autodesk collapses the paid…