Studio Ghibli could be considered the Japanese equivalent of Walt Disney Pictures. If you haven’t watched at least one of their heartfelt children’s films such as My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, or Spirited Away, please stop reading this and do that instead (you’ll thank me later). The movies have as much impact on Japanese pop culture as Disney films do in the west, and their fan base is just as big. As proof of this, YouTube user Mocchi Hajikura has been devoting the past few years recreating the floating castle from Studio Ghibli’s Laputa: Castle in the Sky in Minecraft. You know Minecraft – the insanely popular video game…

Welp, he’s at it again. Colin Furze, our favorite garage inventor going on about 3 years now, has raised the bar yet again for zany garage invention hijinks. And while he’s previously created death-trap vehicles including ‘The World’s Fastest Pram’ and a fully-working hoverbike, this time he took a different route to create something a little more…relaxing. The Spa Car is Furze’s interpretation of a drivable hot tub—complete with a bubble machine and room for friends. Created in partnership with Google, Furze created The Spa Car with only products found through Google Advertisers. The resulting watertight, flooded car interior (a repurposed BMW E30) includes built-in leaf blowers to power bubble…

From quick repairs to form exploration studies, few materials are as useful around the design engineer’s workshop as good old Bondo. Featuring a resin-based filler and a hardening solution, the hardener is blended together with the filler to create a chemical reaction which cures the creamy and spreadable product into a solid body. Originally created as a quick-fix putty for auto body repairs, the fast-curing, and easy-to-sand formula carries a tremendous range of semi-permanent applications. No wonder, then, that the two-part putty is used extensively by industrial designers and engineers to easily prototype concepts. Needless to say, a can of Bondo belongs in every workshop. https://youtu.be/DXv1EX3YQcg Bondo 261 Lightweight Filler…

File this one under “why didn’t I think of that?” Created by ‘Eric and Angela,’ a husband and wife team with a love for all things outdoors and product design, Firefly is a brilliant replacement for the near-useless ‘toothpick’ accessory that comes standard with the Swiss Army Knife. Using the same form factor as the standard toothpick, Eric and Angela created a fire starter capable of dropping down a spark in camping or survival situations. Needless to say—something that would be immeasurably more useful than a toothpick in a true life or death situation. And no—the Firefly isn’t limited to just the standard SAK. Any model—there are plenty—that contains the…

When it comes to woodworking, the quality of your work really can come down to the quality of your tools—which is why it’s critical to invest in tools that perform properly for the cuts you need. Thankfully, wood craftsmen have been refining many of these tools and techniques for centuries. And among others that stand out above the rest are Japanese hand tools—which are different from Western tools in that they are minimally designed, which results in a lighter and simpler tool. The SUIZNAN brand of Japanese Pull Saws is a perfect example. Pull saws are popular in both Western and Japanese woodworking shops because they require less power and…

It seems no matter how small the problem, there is someone willing to provide a slick design solution. This time around, the problem is cargo management. Not the heavy duty kind of cargo you need for construction; I’m talking about conundrum and troubles of placing things like groceries in your trunk. Stayhold, an Irish company which specializes in patented cargo holders, was formed with the sole purpose of solving this issue through some smart application of material and engineering. Their plastic cargo stoppers are specifically designed to hold the things in your vehicle’s trunk in place. Now, the company has added two new items to its roster via Kickstarter. The…