While studying abroad in Denmark during the fall of 2013, Meg Czaja toured Lego Headquarters and was disappointed with what she saw. For a class at the Kolding School of Design focused on the topic of play, the designer explored the toymaker's facilities, becoming increasingly disillusioned with the company's outlook on children in the United States. "One of the speakers, whom I believe worked in marketing, said that children in the U.S. don't know how to use Legos without instructions, which is why they are now sold in sets," Czaja says. "Rather than trying to challenge the notion, this mentality was driving their current designs—in lieu of a child's capacity to create. I found it to be incredibly troublesome."

That experience stuck with the Pratt MID candidate when she came back to the States, as she actively sought out opportunities to design for children's unrestricted, self-prompted play. The perfect opportunity came last spring in a soft-goods class taught by Rebbecah Pailes-Freedman. Given the task to design a backpack that incorporated an inherent social message, Czaja naturally gravitated to the topic of free play. The result is the PlayPack, which incorporates toys in its construction and can even become a toy itself.

Czaja kicked off the 14-week project with a comprehensive competitive analysis of existing backpacks. Making trips across New York and New Jersey, Czaja visited Target and REI stores to take photos and gather information about the bags they sold. Focusing on the bag construction, she looked at materials and the way zippers and other fasteners were handled, along with other features. "I think I examined over a hundred backpacks," she says. Czaja sketched out potential designs, honing those down to a final ten to present to her class.

In an effort to make the experience similar to that of a client/designer relationship, the professor picked the final direction for PlayPack, and then Czaja had to execute it. Designing and prototyping happened concurrently as the designer spent a few days mocking up the paper backpack from craft paper and masking tape on a child-sized mannequin, while simultaneously figuring out how the pack could be played with as individual pieces. "What if the bag itself became a toy that could be used in conjunction with the objects it held?" Czaja asked herself. "The form came from there. I never wanted the bag to be a toy in typical terms. I wasn't aiming to make a backpack that looked like a rocket ship or an octopus because, overall, that's limiting."

As the Nazis occupied France and commandeered production at the Citröen factory, Citröen's design team was still secretly working on their own projects. One of those was the iconic 2CV economy car. Another was an equally quirky-looking but very different sort of vehicle called the Type H. And interestingly enough, one of its key design elements was inspired by the aircraft used by the Germans occupying France.

Like the 2CV, the Type H was meant to do more with less. But whereas the 2CV was meant to haul people and their farm goods, The Type H would be its urban counterpart, a proper delivery van. It would be a direct successor to their TUB and TUC delivery vehicles, whose production had been killed for want of raw materials during the war. Here's what that pre-war TUB looked like, by the way:

As you can see, a van requires a lot more surface area than the 2CV. This raised the problem of how to stiffen the van's structure while using materials as economically as possible. The answer was flying above Citröen's heads and landing at airfields in occupied France:

While food trucks are all over NYC, and the cocktail trend continues to spread across the city, we've never seen anyone combine the two and create a Booze Truck. But a select amount of tipplers in the UK just may spot one. It isn't any regular booze truck, and as far as we can tell they ain't charging for the drinks. Which should remain affordable for the proprietors as it can only seat two folks at a time.

With Grey Goose for a client, London-based branding agency Ragged Edge created The World's Most Intimate Martini Bar, as they've nicknamed it, by restoring an old Citröen Type H. In addition to the exterior restoration, they've kitted it out with an interior of leather, marble, bronze, brushed metal, and etched glass to create a "fully functioning luxury bar."

If you're wondering why there are photos of bread on the side for a company hawking vodka, the project is officially called the Boulangerie Francois Camionnette ("French bakery van") as a nod to another branding event RE held last year: In London's Soho they launched a pop-up artisanal bakery, where guests could "sample fresh Grey Goose bread, made using the finest soft winter wheat from the Picardie region in France." (That's the same type of grain Grey Goose is made from.)

Nike does more than outfit the world's best athletes. They are a place to explore potential, obliterate boundaries, and push out the edges of what can be. This iconic company is looking for a Footwear Materials Designer II in Brothers, OR with an exceptional application of design skills including high level concept development to further elevate their brand. Are you up for it?

As their Footwear Materials Designer II - Nike Sportswear, you'll leverage materials to deliver a premium, recognizable and consumer relevant brand point of view in the marketplace through strategic vision, design direction, storytelling and editing. You'll lead the development of the materials creative vision and strategies for category/consumer groups, maintaining hands-on involvement in Materials design and development, in support of creative direction, seasonal initiatives and go-to-market strategies. Glory awaits. Apply Now.

UK design blog Dezeen have collaborated with car manufacturer MINI at London Design Festival this year to create an exhibition of commissions exploring the future of transportation. Far from a showroom for shiny self-driving cars or connected-car dashboard concepts, was eclectic collection of exploratory interpretations by artists, designers and architects was on display in the ground floor entrance of design and furniture fair designjunction. The exhibition space itself embodied the theme—architect Pernilla Ohrstedt teaming up with 3D-scanning specialist ScanLAB to create her contribution 'Glitch Space'—an enormous arrangement of vinyl white dots meticulously laid out across the exhibit floor as a representation of the swaths of environmental data that will flow through the city in a future of driverless cars.

On the same theme, Dominic Wilcox, ever the inspiring out-of-the-box thinker, turned a lot of heads with the revealing of his incredible 'Stained Glass Driverless Sleeper Car.' Not just a pretty piece of craft, Wilcox's creation is actually a profound reflection on the future design possibilities for the automobile. In a future in which cars are self-driving and super safe, the forms, materials and uses that have constrained automotive design in our time may no longer apply. Although Wilcox's fictional future car manufacturer's website shows a spectacular array of possibilities this could present, the stunning stained-glass model on view demonstrated the equally appealing option of rolling around town in a half-car, half-bed 'hybrid,' revealed when lifting up the hood (below).

The young Danish designer Mikkel Mikkelsen first caught my attention when I saw a series of experiments he had created with wood, aluminium and acrylic/plexi. A dining table with the same honesty as the original experiment captures the lessons learned.

Ever since I first saw the experiment, I've enjoyed following his progress as a designer, and a few months ago, one of his latest endeavors caught my attention once again. This time around, it was due to a duck. I know it sounds a bit odd, but this small little character with a metal beak is a remarkable duck, it's a duck you fall in love in a heartbeat, and it's a part of a grander book project created by Aviendo Fairytale. Seeing how far Mikkel has come since the first time i saw his design, how true he has been towards himself, his design and the people he come into contact with, I figured it was about time you all got a proper introduction to his work.

Core77: How did you get into the field of design?

Mikkel Mikkelsen: Before I started in the school of architecture, I was working in construction while I was doing business school. I was working in building high-end private homes in a company where my dad was a constructing architect. So the interest for architecture started there I guess—my dad also had his own studio before this, so drawing houses has always been in my life. It was like it was meant to be.

I think after architecture school, I was looking for a way to keep working on mikkelmikkel because I was, and am not very interested in a 9-to-5 job in one of the big companies. I tried this a couple of times but I always end up feeling stuck behind a computer and very detached from the projects. I think it has something to do with the scale of the projects in the big companies. I have always preferred the smaller scale that relates more directly to the basic needs of human beings.

To me, the interaction with clients are what drives the projects. A new project is always kind of a journey where you get up close and personal with the people you work for, which I find very interesting. Half of the journey is identifying and understanding the needs and challenges in a project before solving them.

As part of the upcoming Design Week Portland, our friends at Ziba are hosting a heavy duty panel discussion, set to take place at their HQ on Friday, October 10, at 6:30pm. Taking the theme of "The Future of Product Design," panelists will address questions such as:
- What defines a product, today?
- How will customization and on-demand printing drive entrenched industries to change?
- How will crowdfunding impact the making or design of products?
- What's the difference between design and making?
- Does the discipline have a future, or could interaction design swallow us whole?
...as well as your questions, submitted via the comments section below!

To show us where we're going and how to think about it, the panel features a lineup of design industry veterans and visionaries from multiple disciplines. The panelists will be Allan Chochinov, Chair and Co-founder, SVA MFA Products of Design and Partner, Core77; John Jay, President and Executive Creative Director of GX (previously of Wieden+Kennedy, Bloomingdale's); Aura Oslapas the former SVP current Chief Design Officer at Best Buy; and Sohrab Vossoughi, Founder and President of Ziba Design.

The discussion will be filmed and released after the festival, and it will tangle with the issues of making of things in the era of apps, Kickstarter, 3D printing, and open source. If you will be attending Design Week Portland, you can buy panel tickets here.

What's missing? You tell us! Leave your questions for the panelists here, and stay tuned for our event recap along with the rest of our DWP coverage.

I keep waiting for a modern-day piece of furniture to top David Roentgen's transforming gaming table, but it ain't gonna happen. The only man who can top Roentgen is Roentgen himself. As evidence, have a look at the Berlin Secretary Cabinet designed and built by Roentgen (possibly with his pops, Abraham) which goes even further than the gaming table. The automatic flip-out easel at the end is just mind-blowing:

Consider that this was all made by hand, prior to the Industrial Revolution.

The cabinet, which was owned by King Frederick William II, is described by the Metropolitan Museum of Art as "One of the finest achievements of European furniture making" and "the most important product from Abraham (1711–1793) and David Roentgen's (1743–1807) workshop."

With all of the culture available to NYers, it might have been easy to miss the massive Picasso original that's been hanging in what is now the Four Seasons restaurant (in the Seagram Building) on Park Avenue since 1959. That being said, there are plenty of locals and tourists alike who wait hours to have the chance to see one of the area's many hidden art gems. "Le Tricorne"—a depiction of a bullfighting scene—is a 19’ × 20’ canvas, originally painted in 1919 and used as a stage curtain for the Ballets Russes. At the time, his wife Olga was a ballerina in the troupe.

The real question here is, why is it being moved at all? It turns out that Aby J. Rosen, owner of the Seagram Building, doesn't want the piece up in the space anymore and wants more room for "other art"—I'd be interested to know what he will find worthy of replacing a Picasso. This didn't really present much of an issue, considering that Rosen doesn't even own the piece. That honor goes to the New York Landmarks Conservancy.

The handlers in charge of moving the piece had no idea as to how or what was keeping the art attached to the wall, making for an adventurous and relatively risky removal process. The New York Times recently put together a fantastic look at how "Le Tricorne" was analyzed and moved from the area:

Weird Crap On Kickstarter can be a pretty depressing beat, but sometimes the odd and terrible offerings can give us opportunities to reflect, to learn, and to better ourselves. Today I present the case of Seatylock: yet another bike lock/bike seat hybrid. This thing addresses a few common complaints about riding in urban areas, namely that it's important to use a strong lock yet irritating to have to bring a strong lock around with you. Additionally, seats are easy to steal with nothing but a crescent or allen wrench. And so, in the age-old tradition of trying to solve too many problems with too little innovation, we get Seatylock. It's a chunky, quick-releasing seat where the attachment rails fold out as a 3-foot folding bar lock.

Yes, it's a neat package. But, obviously, your humble hate-filled author takes issue with several of these "features":

- Two-sizes-fits all approach to ergonomics? Check.
- Dubious attachment mechanism? Check.
- Proprietary parts? Check.
- Questionably tested claims about security? Check.
- Seat that bolts on and off with an allen wrench anyway? Check!
- And colors? Ch-ch-check.

Tom Hanks is a noted vintage typewriter fanatic who often bangs out thank-you notes on one of the machines in his collection. When he released the Hanx Writer—an iPad app that simulates old-school typing with sound and visuals, includes one free "model" and allows the user to purchase additional virtual models and ribbon colors—last month, many probably scoffed... but in four days it had shot to the top of the App Store with effusive reviews.

"Hanx Writer is beautiful, aesthetically pleasing app that fulfills its mission of bringing a certain level of pleasure back to the writing experience," wrote one reviewer. "I've been sitting here typing in the new Hanx app wondering why I find this so delightful," wrote another. "I can't help it, I just do."

It may sound silly, until you see it in action and understand the allure:

Design fair designjunction once again took over 120,000 sq. ft. of old warehouse space in central London, displaying all that is hot in furniture and object design with international brands, smaller cutting-edge labels and pop-up shops all getting in on the action.

With an unexpected twist on last year's format in MINI x Dezeen's take over of the entrance space, there was also of course plenty of the usual eye candy we've come to expect from this jewel in the London Design Festival crown across the three vast stories.

Fitting quite perfectly with the old industrial interior of the venue, design duo Soderlund Davidson took over a large portion of the ground floor with a clever never ending conveyor belt display for their ceramic creations.

Founded in 1987 by three engineers, SRAM became known in the cycling world for Grip Shift road bike shifters, the first ergonomic, indexing shift levers that easily allowed a rider to change gears without removing their hands from the handlebars. Easy-to-use and ultra-simple (they were made of just three parts where a typical shifter from Shimano was composed of nearly 30 pieces), Grip Shift established SRAM as a company that could innovate unique solutions to complex engineering design problems. Acquiring 100 year-old German manufacturer Sachs in 1990s allowed SRAM to broaden its immediate offerings to chains, derailleurs and ultra-complex internal hubs. It also gave SRAM the ability to develop and iterate new drivetrain products at a level that was not previously possible.

The Problem

Multi-gear bicycle drivetrains have been around for over 125 years and, while there have been a steady stream of incremental improvements, there hadn't been major steps forward in decades. With gearing systems becoming more complicated as riders searched for more gears to tackle varied terrain, a simpler solution was needed.

SRAM's acquisition of Sachs and their massive development center in Schweinfurt, Germany, set the stage for drivetrain innovation, with Sachs' history of making simple and intuitive drivetrains for urban consumers. In fact, Sachs had some existing products that would prove instrumental in the development of a mountain bike drivetrain with just one ring. In 2010, working out of the old Sachs factory in Schweinfurt, Germany, a team of engineers led by American Chris Hilton began to develop the 1X system, inspired by modifications made by top professional cross-country racers.

Chris Hilton, External Drivetrain Product Manager

An integral part of the 1x system, the 11-speed X-DOME™ 10-42 tooth cassette delivers an incredibly wide gear range while maintaining even, optimized steps

The Inspiration

SRAM's two-chainring system (2X10) was becoming wildly popular by 2010, replacing the established three-ring set up. Most component companies were offering a 10-speed rear cassette instead of a 9-speed which allowed a comparable gear range to the three-ring set up. However, elite cross-country professionals, always in search of the lightest solution possible, took things further by using only one ring in front. SRAM quickly took notice and set out to design a mountain bike component system like nothing the market had seen before. By assessing the needs of the athlete and building the new system from the ground up, the German engineering team wanted to design a dedicated 1X system that made vast improvements to what existed at the time.

Clockwise from top left: Frank Schmidt, Design engineering manager; Markus Klier, Test engineering manager; Andreas Benz, engineering team leader for rear derailleurs; Robert Boehm, senior design engineer for rear derailleurs; Thorsten Hamisch, senior industrial design engineer; Henrik Braedt, advanced development engineer, who realizes prototype ideas and designs before they become actual projects

PolyOne GLS Thermoplastic Elastomers has launched a contest to find the best ideas for its innovative shape memory technology. This patent-pending technology is a new class of stimuli-responsive materials that can change shape under thermal stimulus. After heating the polymer with a substance such as hot water, it can be formed into any shape, and it will hold its shape when cooled. The polymer can be reheated and reshaped multiple times. Check out the video to see this shape-changing technology in action.

The shape-memory polymer belongs to a class of polymers called thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs). TPEs are flexible, resilient materials that can be made in any color and a variety of textures. The polymers can range from hard to soft, and can be used in single or multi-component constructions. For example, some types of TPEs are popular for "soft touch" grips on everything from toothbrushes to hammers because the soft, textured polymer can be "overmolded" on top of a harder polymer. Learn more about the shape memory TPE's properties and how shape-memory technology works here.

So, how can this shape-memory TPE add value to existing applications? What new products could be made from it? PolyOne thinks it can be used to create user-customized, ergonomic enhancements to a variety of products in the sports, consumer and healthcare industries. Its shape-changing ability could allow users to tailor products to fit their specific needs. For example, an athlete can make a custom mouthguard by putting the warmed polymer into the mouth and shaping it to the teeth. Because the polymer can be reheated and reshaped, deformed parts can be easily repaired. Send PolyOne your best idea using the form on PolyOne's contest page. The deadline is October 31.

Tonight at the Hand-Eye Supply Curiosity Club, we talk metal! Artist and fabricator Jill Torberson brings us a user's guide to steel design.

6pm PT at the Hand-Eye Supply store, or streaming online!
23 NW 4th Ave.
Portland, OR

I will talk about the structural integrity of steel, and how it allows the fabricator to create solid and visually interesting objects that appear delicate and light in form. This is a re-occuring theme in my steelwork, as I reject the idea that steel has to be heavy and massive in interpretation. I will also discuss my design influences.

Jill Torberson is an artist, educator, and musician from Portland, Oregon. Jill works in steel, creating custom ironwork for homes throughout the metro area. Aside from her gallery shows, Jill has several commissions involving custom steel fabrication for residences in the Portland area. She is a licensed contractor, and creates custom gates, trellises, fences, railings, fireplace mantels and screens, as well as site-specific art for both indoor and outdoor enjoyment. Public work includes commissions from Portland general Electric, The Maryhill Museum of Art, and most currently the Hoyt Arboretum in Washington Park. Jill is a musician, and plays the horn in several groups in Portland, including the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, the Portland Festival Symphony, and the Northwest Horn Orchestra. Jill serves an adjunct faculty member at Portland State University. She works in the School of Architecture, teaching metal shop skills to the students in the school of architecture.

In 2011, British tabloid The Daily Mail reported that "The last company left in the world that was still manufacturing typewriters...has shut down its production plant in Mumbai, India with just a few hundred machines left in stock." The tone of the article suggested that typewriters were no longer being made anywhere in the world, but this was an error; in fact Brother was manufacturing typewriters in the UK as late as 2012 before shutting it down.

Today a German company called Triumph-Adler is still making typewriters, but what's initially surprising—then not surprising after thinking about it—is who's buying them. An article last year from this Russian news website reported that after taking note of Wikileaks, Edward Snowden and allegations of even friendly governments spying on each other, the FSB (Russia's successor to the KGB) was placing an order for 486,000 Rubles (USD $12,500) for Triumph-Adler typewriters and ribbons. And the FSB isn't alone—the article claims multiple Russian agencies use typewriters.

The thinking here is twofold: Obviously you can't hack what's not on the internet, but the second benefit to using typewriters is that using forensics, documents can be traced back to specific machines, similar to how bullets can be matched to the guns that fired them.

What's fascinating is that, according to Germany's Der Spiegel, the wait time between placing an order and having the Chinese factory crank out the product is some five months. Kinda puts that iPhone 6 shipping delay in perspective.

This logic is not limited to Russia, of course. Germany's The Local reports that Diehl, a German defense manufacturer, has also switched over to keys and ribbons, and that the German market for typewriters is actually growing. Bandermann, the German company that distributes Triumph-Adler's machines, says they move 10,000 units a year, with business up one-third from the previous year; meanwhile competitor Olympia "expects to sell more typewriters this year than at any time in the last 20 years, with sales set to double in 2014."

The next trend that we're hoping for: People start limiting their naked selfies to Polaroids.

This is the latest installment of our Core77 Questionnaire. Previously, we talked to designer and design educator Josh Owen.

Name:Peter Marigold

Occupation: I'm a designer and maker of objects.

Location: London

Current projects: For the London Design Festival, I did an exhibition at Gallery Libby Sellers, who I've worked with for a long time. I made a large series of tables with this kind of warped wooden texture. There's no wood in the exhibition, but it's called Wooden Tables.

I also recently completed a project for an organization called Workshop for Potential Design—I created a series of objects that are based on making the invisible visible. And I'm designing a doll's house interior as well. That's for an exhibition at the Museum of Childhood, who I've designed some furniture for in the past. They're doing an exhibition of contemporary dolls' houses, so I'm doing one of the rooms in a doll's house.

Mission: God, I don't know—I just kind of graduated into doing things; I don't have any kind of game plan at all. I just get up in the morning and start doing things. I've never been the sort of person that plans, really.

Two pieces from Marigold's Wooden Tables series, now on view at Gallery Libby Sellers in London

Above and below: furniture from Marigold's recent Wassamassaw series

When did you decide that you wanted to be a designer? I knew from when I was a little boy—like, three or four years old. I was really interested in buttons and switches and doors, in taking objects apart and putting them back together. I always wanted to be part of that object world. And I've finally ended up doing that. I've taken a lot of wrong turns along the way, but I've ended up doing that now.

Education: I studied sculpture at Central Saint Martins. I never really wanted to be an artist, but I got pushed into doing art, which was a bad wrong turn. So I ended up, finally, going back to the Royal College of Art and studying product design. But that was after lots of jobs in scenography and making props and models and costumes and things like that. So I've had quite a broad range of types of employment and experiences.

First design job: I've only ever tried to get one job in design. I went for a job at Thomas Heatherwick's, and they told me that I should go into advertising. It was crushing. So I gave up on that. I realized I'm pretty unemployable, so I just do this now.

Who is your design hero? Donald Judd. I find him amazingly pure in one way, because obviously he's doing these incredibly pure objects. But at the same time it's not clear-cut; they're very complex objects. And I like the fact that there's this kind of weird ambiguity in such simple things.

Marigold's Wooden Forms are plaster or metal vessels made using a single small piece of wood as a mold

When modern warplanes have missiles fired at them, they deploy flares or chaff to lead those missiles off-target. The magnesium-containing flares are designed to burn hotter than the airplane's exhaust, drawing heat-seeking missiles to the flare rather than the plane. Meanwhile the reflectiveness of chaff—typically small pieces of aluminum or reflective plastic—are meant to dazzle and confuse radar-guided missiles. This overly dramatic video of a Eurofighter Typhoon shows you how it's supposed to work (at least with flares):

Since 1896, Zodiac Aerospace has been contributing to the development of aeronautics. Zodiac Aerospace meets the new challenges of aerospace industry by providing to its employees challenging positions in an innovative and technical work environment. Their mission is to design, certify, manufacture, and support the world's most innovative aircraft interiors and composite structures, but they need your trim and finish design skills to do it.

The Huntington Beach, CA Zodiac Aerospace team is looking for a Trim and Finish Designer who will be responsible for conceiving and developing the decorative cabin interior material concepts. The right person will need to understand customer needs to conceive, develop, communicate & deliver amazing surface trim and finish material concepts, as well as organize, run and maintain the Trim and Finish studio. This is a great opportunity for someone up for the challenge. Apply Now.

Well-known for being awash with emerging talent from across disciplines, Designersblock has been a mainstay of the London Design Festival, now in it's 17th edition. This year saw the event move from its Southbank home on the River Thames to a more central location, in a jaw-dropping location in a soon to be converted 18th-century courthouse (sold only recently, the story goes, by London Masons). Exhibitors could not have asked for a more inspiring location for their work—enormous projections on the domed ceiling bringing the already epic space to life.

Designer low energy bulb makers Plumen took over one of the grander spaces on the buildings top floor with a stunning installation—'The Glowing Oak'—featuring their newest bulbs, the Plumen002, hanging like fruit from a pretty sizeable tree seeming to grow straight out the centre of the room.