In May of this year, 12 Master of Industrial Design (MID) candidates from the Pratt Institute led by Professor Rebecca Welz, had the opportunity to spend two weeks in the town of Malinalco, Mexico, where they collaborated with 13 local artisans to design and fabricate their projects. Each artisan/student pair spent full working days brainstorming, conceptualizing, designing, sourcing and finally fabricating a variety of products, from tabletop to furniture pieces.

Challenging in many ways, it became an incredibly enriching and educational experience for everyone involved. It was a simultaneous exchange of thoughts, knowledge and interests and a walk through the creative process, with two points of view, hand in hand. It was a human experience, which situates the designer in a very humbling and real place—one that is long way, both geographically and figuratively, from a Brooklyn classroom.

Malinalco is a small town located two hours southwest of Mexico City. It is a charming tourist destination, which features the only monolithic Pre-Columbian structure in Central America, the Cuauhtinchan sanctuary complex. As you enter the archaeological site on a typical bustling weekend (weekdays are incredibly quiet in this town), you will run into dozens of little stands selling local crafts. This is how the artisans make a living: Selling leather bracelets, small woodcarvings of mushrooms and humming birds, and handmade books, among various other things. Many of the artisans also join the annual local wood carving competition, where they make larger scale sculptures and sculpted traditional musical instruments. They are incredibly talented and love their craft, even if it often means barely making a living.

Most of the artisans who participated in the Malinalco Project are master woodcarvers, but the locals also included carpenters, weavers and jewelers. The wealth of knowledge and respect towards their craft, marked with a deep sense of humility, was evident from the very moment we met. The particular wisdom and sensibility, a rich inheritance from their Aztec traditions, was also present in their interests and thought process. Through their work, the artisans represent and interpret the natural world surrounding them, with layers of meanings and a system of symbols that has been passed down through generations. As we, designers and artisans, brainstormed on product ideas, we looked for new applications, in form and function, of each artisan's craft. Our path involved working with both abstraction and representation, with surface treatments and variation in scale, as well as new uses of materials and techniques.

Due out in January, the Mimo Baby Monitor shows the softer side of technology trickle-down. The key object is a baby onesie or "kimono" (kidmono! oh ho ho) employing Bluetooth Low Energy, wearable-washable sensors, and turtles. Once you've suited up your progeny in this thing, you'll received real-time information on your babe's position, breathing, temperature, sleep status, and future SAT scores on your phone.

Although it has one proverbial foot on either side of the precious/practical divide, there definitely seems to be a trend towards wi-fying babies. Mimo is just one product in a small herd of baby-appliedtech devices poised to crowd the digital shelves.

Never mind tracking your runs and heart rate. You're a new parent now; no time for running, and your heart rate is likely to be higher than healthy at all times. Get used to it, get the app, and get some rest.

The first result of a Google Image Search for "Technique"

"Is technique an example of overcoming 'bad' design, or is technique itself a form of design?"

So begins Sanjy009's inquiry into "Technique vs. Design," proceeding to illustrate the topic with a couple of examples, which have driven much of the discussion thus far. He starts with an anecdote about driver's ed in Scandinavia: "Sweden teaches drivers to open their car doors with the opposite arm, so their bodies are facing backwards and the driver is better able to check their blindspot before opening the door" (it turns out it might be Amsterdam; no confirmation as of press time), followed by a discussion of the ergonomics on musical instruments.

The latter serves as the primary talking point; to Michael DiTullo's point that "we are due for something new, but even most of the purely digital tools mimic analog inputs," I would note that:

1.) I think the Ondes Martenot is a good example of how an avant-garde instrument still requires an intuitive UI: It's essentially a theremin (i.e. a sine-wave generator) that has a graphic interface, as seen in this video overview (it starts a little slow, but gets pretty cool at 3:55; by the end, the interviewer notes that "It's definitely the most 'alive'-sounding electronic instrument... It has a very human quality to it.") Radiohead fans might recognize the coveted synthesizer, which multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood has played on every one of their albums since Kid A; it also features heavily in his solo side projects.

2.) The Tenori-On also comes to mind—the short write-up on MoMA's Inside/Out blog (they've acquired it in their permanent collection) offers a nice summary of how the 16×16 grid actually works.

Clockwise from top left: Ondes Martenot via Wikimedia Commons; Jonny Greenwood via Wikimedia Commons; Tenori-Onvia Wikimedia commons; Theremin player

If your holiday shopping list includes any serious home cooks, there is probably nothing you can get them that will be as useful, or as appreciated, as a high-quality knife. But buying chef's knives is hardly a straightforward matter—indeed, the world of knife-making is its own complicated and fascinating design niche.

Recently, I set out to learn more about the design of Japanese knives, which have become increasingly widely available in the United States through brands like Shun and Global. [Editor's Note: Our own Hand-Eye Supply offers a few options from the more obscure Midori Hamano.] Not surprisingly, Japanese knife manufacturers take their craft very seriously. Shun, for instance, describes its blade as "a way of life"—and the name Shun (rhymes with "moon") is derived from a Japanese word that refers to the moment when a piece of fruit is at its sweetest, the peak of perfection.

This perfectionist approach trickles down to every aspect of the Japanese knife manufacturing process, which traces its roots back to the blade-making tradition of ancient samurai swords. Companies like Shun and Global pride themselves in the fact that none of their knives leave the factory untouched by human hands, as the final balancing process requires a myriad of hand-working techniques by skilled craftsmen to achieve the ideal weight.

Weight is one of the key areas where Eastern- and Western-styles knives differ. Eastern knives tend to be balanced with the weight in the blade, allowing for quick and easy chopping with no additional pressure. The Chinese cleaver is an excellent example of this, having a rectangular blade and a slight curve for easily mincing and dicing food using only a slight rocking motion. Western knives, more often, are neutral-balanced, meaning that the center of gravity exists at the "pinch point," or where the blade meets the bolster. This allows the chef to pinch the knife between the blade and the handle.

"Think of how a sushi chef works," says Tommie Lucas, the product development manager in the housewares division of Kai USA Ltd., the Stateside division of Kai Group, which manufacturers Shun cutlery. "They swiftly chop tons of fish and vegetables into clean, tiny pieces. That cut needs to be as seamless as possible and, since it's so repetitive, the motion needs to be easy and effortless."

Michigan-based designer Susan (Yating) Qiu is exploring the frontier of minimal furniture design with work that features unexpected materials and natural inspirations. They may not catch your eye for being the most practical pieces, but they sure are fun.

Her first series, "Adret & Ubac" may come off as a defective rug (which is partly true, according to the designer), but it's actually a snooze-worthy seating option for those looking to catch-up with a friend or on their sleep.

It's essentially a rug on the floor that elevates at the center to function as a backrest. The form defines dual spaces for both conversation and self retreat. Different tones used on two sides of the ridge signify the adret and ubac of the mountain, the binary nature of the piece, as active catalyst for social interaction as well as for passive repose.

In a world of open office layouts and temporary workspaces, this would fit in perfectly at one of those progressive nap-friendly employers.

Here's a holiday project for those of us DIY-inclined and prone to self-supergluing/mixing up the salt with the sugar. These iconic ornaments, Legoized by Chris McVeigh, are available in build-it-yourself kits. If your house is already replete with plastic stackables, his site offers tons of free downloadable "recipes," too.

As we reported back in August, at this year's Autodesk University they decided to try something different, kicking the conference off with a sort of pre-conference focused on "creative talent from multiple disciplines." The idea behind this new Autodesk CAVE Conference was to assemble some of the finest artists, designers and storytellers around and throw them into the same event in the hopes of yielding an entertaining and informative cross pollination.

With such a nebulous description, I didn't know what to expect. But now, having attended, I'm here to tell you the event was a rousing success—everything it was billed to be and more—and that you must check it out next year!

The speaker list was an embarrassment of riches, and the packed schedule meant I'd only get to attend three sessions. Unable to decide which to attend first, my mind was quickly made up for me: I walked past an open door and heard the distinctly rapid-fire Bronx patter—of someone passionately discussing the movie Dumbo. Before I knew it my legs had brought me into the packed room where not a single seat was available.

The man presenting was Louis Gonzales, an animator and storyboard artist for Pixar. (If you don't know his name, you know his work: Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, et cetera.) Gonzales is both a gifted artist and a student of story, and his childlike enthusiasm for Dumbo's tale was coupled with a trenchant, technical analysis of how certain scenes were framed, and why they create particular kinds of emotional punch. Just as it began dawning on the audience that there was way more packed into Dumbo than the story of an elephant with big ears, Gonzales took us through a comprehensive slideshow of movies both classic and contemporary—his knowledge of film and film visuals is encyclopedic—showing us the insane level of construction and forethought that the creators had put into every frame. Before a single word is spoken by any of the characters, information is conveyed via lines, triangles, squares, circles, lighting, color.

After seeing script pages for Brave that Gonzales had covered in his red-ink notes, and him explaining what visual elements he knew he had to inject into particular scenes and why, I don't think I'll ever look at film or animation the same way again. I've been watching movies my entire life, and in the mere 55 minutes I saw Gonzales speak, he completely changed my perspective on visual presentation. And these were lessons anyone creating industrial design renderings could have drawn from.

Next came the keynote presentation, where we were treated to both Angelo Sotira's story of how he started up DeviantArt followed by a chat from the wonderfully weird Neil Gaiman. Gaiman began his talk by explaining how the Chinese government had traditionally frowned upon science fiction, as that genre is often used to obliquely criticize institutional flaws, then recounted how they eventually relented and invited him to speak at their first-ever sci-fi convention. Intensely curious as to how this had happened, Gaiman tracked down the party official in charge of this action and asked him why sci-fi had suddenly been given the green light. "We [the Chinese] make everything," the Chinese official explained, referring to his country's manufacturing base, "but we don't invent anything." Science fiction, it had been decided by the party bosses, would be an effective way to stimulate the imaginations of Chinese youth, whom they hoped would subsequently provide original thought for the next generation of manufacturing.

This is the second part of Hipstomp's reporting from the inaugural Autodesk CAVE Conference, which took place in conjunction with their annual Autodesk University event last week in Las Vegas. See Part One here.

Following Tibbits' talk, the entirety of the CAVE conference attendees filed into a ballroom at The Venetian to see a rare presentation from the legendary Syd Mead. (Mead will typically not travel in December to give presentations, but he relented for CAVE, a testament to the conference's attractiveness.) At 80 years of age, Mead has the killer combination of a lifetime's worth of experience and an irreverent, devil-may-care veteran status that allows him to say whatever the hell he wants; I won't name the Hollywood stars or clients he skewered in passing asides, but I will say his stories were funny.

More importantly, we were treated to a narrated slideshow of Syd Mead images projected onto a gi-normous screen so that we could see every detail, every dot of gouache. And of course there was Mead himself to explain the thinking behind the vehicles and sets of Blade Runner, how he's managed to "future-proof" his concepts—making futuristic sketches from the 1960s still appear futuristic today—and showing us the sketches (and exact drawing) that got him the job on Elysium.

Syd Mead artwork, courtesy of BravinLee Gallery

It was during Mead's presentation that CAVE started to come full circle for me, and I began to see the light. Mead was discussing one of his more technical renderings for Honda, and as he went in-depth, explaining the drawing's composition, content and framing, it echoed what Louis Gonzales was discussing that morning. Gonzales is a storyboard artist and Mead an industrial designer, so the terminology and context was a little different; but the principles they were discussing were precisely the same. Whether you are Gonzales, Robertson, Gaiman, Tibbits or Mead, you are creating something and attempting to convey ideas to others. The brilliance of CAVE is to get all of these creative bodies into the same space, and to allow us attendees to connect those dots.

Show off your true colors this holiday season! Enter Philips' Facebook competition for the chance to win their new range of lighting products, Friends of Hue, that will brighten up your home with any color you want. LivingColors Bloom ($79.95 value) and LightStrips ($89.95 value) deliver new ways to experience personalized light controlled from a smartphone or tablet.

Philips is giving its fans a chance to win these cool products by submitting an inspirational image that you'd like to recreate with light or a photo of how you already use Friends of Hue in your home. Through December 19th, ten people will win every five days.

Upload your photos to the Facebook page or use #hueinspired on Instagram or Twitter to enter!

If you've ever dreamed of making your art available to millions of indifferent people in the form of a cold, hard choking hazard, we've got good news. The US Mint and the National Endowment for the Arts are teaming up for a wham-bam coin-design slam, and they want you to apply. They're looking for professional artists with several years of artistic training and a portfolio that shows mastery of symbolism and complex subjects. Digital skills required.

Up to 20 artists will be given year-long contracts to make commissioned demonstration designs. The designs produced will be considered for use on circulated coins and national medals of honor and/or importance. If chosen, the designs are rewarded with additional ca$h money and the offer of longer term contracts.

The first application deadline is January 10th, so don't put off for the next year what you can do while avoiding your relatives during the holidays. If you're a US citizen with a passion for coinage or obscure types of fame, put that wolf painting on the back burner and apply for your chance to design a national icon. You too could creatively serve the country by carving a bas-relief turkey butt in plastilene.

As I've said before, it doesn't make sense to me that the iPhone and iPad are such beautiful devices when naked, and yet we must swaddle them in protective covers in order to use them in our everyday lives. I use a cheapie silicone case for my iPhone, not because I like it, but because it's easier than most cases to remove the phone so I can place it in the dock. But now I've seen a better solution.

UK-based designers Jack Spencer and Alex Boswell (collectively known as Nodus) feel the same way as I do about the iDevices, and resolved to design handsome cases for them that could be quickly removed from each device. "We think that protecting your phone or tablet from everyday bumps and scratches is important," the duo writes, "[but feel that] a case should never impair your devices' functionality, tactile experience and amazing design." They turned to "micro-suction technology"—a kind of film that has millions of tiny suction cups embedded within its surface—and bonded it to the inside of a simple leather case of their own design. Check out the resultant adhesive power and attachment and removal procedures:

In this series, Matthew Sullivan (AQQ Design) highlights some designers that you should know, but might not. Previously, he looked at the work of Jacques Adnet.

Martino Gamper: Born in Merano, Italy, 1971

So many design movements have come and gone in recent times, with each new one obfuscating or damning the previous, that we are often left to think that replacement (and probably a relativistic stasis) is all there is. It can seem like there is no genuine, conscientious dialogue; that the child is impervious to the parent. Whether this is an entrenched biological strategy of evolution or simply not seeing the forest for the trees is not for me to know, but . . . the feeling is certainly a drag.

Countering this tendency and this feeling is possible, but it would require a particular intelligence and temperament, a standalone perspective with buoyancy and perhaps joyousness. This person would need to have a conversational and extemporal technique for problem-solving, not inclined towards specious, ex nihilo design innovations.

Martino Gamper is such an empathic and curious personage, and is a fair and welcome exception for our times.

Above: Gamper's 2010 Vigna chair for Magis (left) and a chair from the exhibition Tu Casa, Mi Casa, now on view at the Modern Institute in Glasgow, Scotland.
Top image: three chairs from Gamper's 100 Chairs in 100 Days series

We've been fans of Sugru since before the stuff even launched and are not surprised to see it's been a smashing success. What we didn't foresee is that there's a way to make it even better: Magnets.

Last year, Jane Ni Dhulchaointigh, Sugru's inventor, accidentally broke the mount for her bike light. When product designers have accidents, fortunate discoveries are often made; so it was with Jane, who hacked the light back onto her bike with Sugru and magnets. Realizing that this was a far more convenient way to attach, remove and re-attach a bike light—as well as thousands of other things that need attaching—the Sugru team set about finding magnets with the perfect blend of size, strength and versatility, then spent a year testing them in the field.

Now the Sugru + Magnets Kit is ready to go, albeit in limited release; presumably they're being cautious and dipping their foot in the water. Click here if you want to get in on the first batch of just 1,000 kits.

In Chinese, JIA means "positive" and "home" for the same sound. To the founders of JIA Studios, the name represents specialization in 3D rendering, architectural visualization product visualizations for use in posters, promotional literature, or for product concepts. To you, this job could be the opportunity that takes your 3D rendering career to the next level.

With at least 3 years experience in 3D Rendering, excellent design flair and a team player attitude, you're the perfect candidate for this job. If you are also a proactive, flexible, adaptable, and fast learner who will thrive in a fast-paced work environment, you should Apply Right Now to work in their Singapore office.

We were excited to offer an exclusive weekly look into Francis Bitonti's first New Skins Computational Design for Fashion Workshop last summer. The debut session, which took place from July 22nd – August 8th at Pratt's Digital Arts and Humanities Research Center in Brooklyn, New York, ended with a beautifully collaborated dress using design elements from all of the students' work. The successful design for the Verlan Dress lead to the creation of another workshop starting this winter. But you'd better hurry—the registration deadline is December 15th.

Last session's final design: the Verlan Dress

It's the most marvelous time of the year—Core77 Design Awards! After three super successful years of receiving the best designs from professionals and students worldwide, we're opening registration for our fourth go-around on December 10th. As always, we're looking forward to seeing what fresh, new designs you have to share.

We know money is tight during the holidays, so we're offering a 20% discount on the entry fee if you submit your project before the Earlybird deadline. And if you enter before December 31, 2013, we'll also throw in one of our limited edition posters—designed by Manuel Miranda and screen-printed in Brooklyn—as a gift for being so fiscally responsible.

We also realize what a busy time it is right now so we'll be reminding you about these important calendar dates after things have settled down, but for the record, here they are:

Dates to remember:

• Submissions Open: December 10, 2013
• Earlybird Deadline: January 30, 2014
• Official Deadline: March 20, 2013
• Winner Announcements: June 2014

Claim your Earlybird discount AND limited edition screen-printed poster by entering here before midnight Dec 31st.

At first glance, insectOrama might simply seem like a cute, quirky idea. And while it is true that the drawing templates are cute and somewhat quirky, insectOrama has also proven to be a way for people of all ages to let their imaginations run free. On his website, Belgian graphic designer Stefan de Pauw makes available sets of templates that he designed featuring parts of insects, people, and animals from land, air, and water. From Stefan's point of view, the templates are not "products" but are intended to be starting points—source material—for people to take their creativity in new directions.

Like many children, Stefan loved to draw. In fact, he can't remember a time when he wasn't drawing, and aspired to become a cartoonist in his youth. In high school, he further honed his interests and developed a passion for photography, eventually pursuing a degree in photography at the art school Hogeschool Sint-Lukas Brussel. But as he was completing his studies, his passion for drawing was reignited and he was again drawn to the expression and impact achievable through graphic design and illustration.

Artwork by Sam de Buysscher / Toy Factory

Simon Enever is the head designer of New York based agency ECCO Design and the founder of byDEFAULT. Formerly a designer at fuseproject, Enever has focused on bringing iconic design to overlooked everyday products. byDEFAULT's first product, TOOTHBRUSH, is a truly customizable modular toothbrush that's as unique as the person who's using it. But the main focus of this daily essential was to choose simplicity over complicated features we may see with other toothbrushes. Enever takes some time to step us through the design process.

After taking my first trip to a dentist after moving to the U.S. from London, I was told that I was damaging my gums by brushing too hard. Among various other tips, I was recommended to try out a simple vibrating brush. On the way home, I popped into the pharmacy to pick up a brush—somewhat excited about this new, slightly "techy" sounding product I was about to pick up. I was presented with this familiar sight:

Sifting through shelf after shelf, it didn't matter if I was looking at manual, vibrating or full electric models, store brands or high-end brands; everything had that same gaudy look and cheap feel. Each brush was packed with gimmicky features and slogans in an attempt to lure me in. I gave up in the store and decided to look online. I had the exact same experience.

"Surely someone out there must have put some effort toward creating a well-designed, intelligent brush," I thought. Despite a few nice attempts in the eco-friendly manual brush market, I couldn't find a version that was reasonably priced (read: not $280 like some I came across) without the showy tendencies.

As a designer, these are the moments you wait for. I immediately got in touch with—what was to later become—the byDEFAULT team.

This year's Autodesk University was the largest we'd attended, with around 10,000 bodies swarming through the enormous Exhibition Hall. But unlike in previous years, where we saw tons of neat physical gizmos—like Zebra Imaging's crazy holographic prints, the affordable but powerful ShopBot Desktop CNC mill or unusual interface devices like Leonar3Do's "Bird" 3D mouse—this year the bulk of the Hall was either things we'd previously covered, or software. Better content management software and rendering plug-ins do not a sexy blog post make, so we combed the floor seeking things that we could touch and feel.

Our criteria for finding physically-designed objects meant the pickings in the vast Hall were slim, but we did find the very unusual RollerMouse from Contour Design. Designed specifically for traders and CAD users with multiple-monitor set-ups, the RollerMouse is intended to increase efficiency and speed while reducing or preventing repetitive stress injuries. Have a look:

This is the latest installment of our Core77 Questionnaire. Previously, we talked to the Finnish designer Harri Koskinen.

Name:Bec Brittain

Occupation: Lighting designer

Location: Brooklyn

Current projects: Our latest project is the Twin Vise, which is a new iteration of a light that launched last spring. It's these two hand-blown glass globes that are held in place with a metal infrastructure. The "twin" bit is that, in turning it from one globe to two, it's actually sharing an infrastructure and it looks like a twinning crystal or a splitting cell. I'm very excited about it.

Mission: To make things that people would want to keep around for a while. I am very influenced in how I approach objects by my grandmother. She collected a lot of things, and it didn't quite matter whether they were contemporary or older; she just put them all together in her house and they looked amazing. I think about how happy I am now to have a few of her things, and I'm very aware of how old these objects are but in what good condition they're in. So I want to create things that are well made enough that they could be passed down to grandchildren, and that are timeless enough that a grandchild would even want them.

The Vise pendant (above) was released last spring. Brittain recently developed it into a new iteration called Twin Vise (below).

When did you decide that you wanted to be a designer? I came from a family of makers, and I always knew I was going to be some sort of maker. It went from maybe being a fashion designer to maybe being a product designer to architecture—there was a winding road. It was when I started working in metal for a hardware company that I realized that I really love metal, and that was a guiding force.

Also, working at Lindey Adelman's was really helpful, to see her business model and experience making things to order. Making small things and being able to concentrate on them—essentially, being able to do product design while side-stepping the mass-production element of it—that's what led me to doing this, to doing small production in metal and to dealing with light.

Education: I started out at Parsons, but I left there after a couple of years because it wasn't a good fit. Instead I got a philosophy degree at NYU, and then I got an architecture degree at the Architectural Association in London.

First design job: Well, I worked for an interior designer all through my undergrad years. But my first graduated, adult job was working for the architecture firm Work AC as a project designer. I was on a project for Anthropologie; they wanted a new, crazy concept and were trying to refresh the brand, so that was my project for a year.

Who is your design hero? I'm going to go with the Dutch artist Madelon Vriesendrop. She's just really great. She doesn't take it all too seriously, but she's a smart cookie.

Inside Brittain's Brooklyn studio