Haven't submitted your best work from 2015 to the Core77 Design Awards yet? What are you waiting for? You have until March 8th to submit while the regular pricing is still in effect, and the absolute final deadline to enter is April 6th, but we all know how time flies. For a little extra motivation, get to know the folks that will be critiquing your work in the first of our four-part interview series: Meet Your 2016 Core77 Design Awards Jury Captains! 

Part one introduces the esteemed captains of the Open Design, Packaging, Furniture & Lighting and Service Design categories and asks them each a few questions about their design practices. 

Bethany Koby - 2016 Open Design Jury Captain

CEO & Co-Founder, Technology Will Save Us

Bethany Koby is a mom, designer, educator and the co-founder of Technology Will Save Us. Technology Will Save Us is on a mission to spark the imagination using hands-on technology. Their beautifully designed DIY Gadget Kits and digital resources are the most accessible way to make, play, code and invent with technology.

What do you see as the most significant changes/developments in Open Design/DIY in the past few years?

The maker movement is growing and over the last few years we've seen a lot of maker businesses growing and expanding. Personally, I think it's a need for tangibility, in a world where so much of what we do is on a computer or screen, people are looking for something they can create that they can touch and feel. Digital making is bringing these two things together, the screens that are everywhere around us, the excitement of creating something that you can hold in your hand, and has an impact on the real world.

Cathy Davidson, a scholar of learning technology, concluded that 65% of children entering grade school this year will end up working in careers that haven't even been invented yet. We think kids will invent future jobs based on playing with Minecraft, making thirsty plant detectors in their kitchens and designing their own games controlled by their micro:bits. This is why Tech Will Save Us is focusing on sparking the creative imagination of young people using hands-on technology.

What do you think is the greatest misunderstanding about Open Design and DIY?

We talk a lot about kids and they are at the forefront of everything that we do and create. But really this is for everyone. We want to create a generation of makers, but we also want to influence everyone to pick up something that is broken and learn how to fix it. The impact of having more switched on kids will touch everyone, and will affect our lives in the futures.

We wanted to create a brand that invited people into the world of technology and helped them to feel empowered and confident around what they potentially would be able to make. Realizing that you can create circuits using really simple materials, and then creating really interesting beats and bespoke music using that synthesizer and other things in the house—that could unleash a whole understanding of a hobby or profession. It doesn't matter how old you are, that's a really satisfying experience.

What serves as your greatest source of inspiration these days?

Users inspire the work I do. Young people and the adults that love and support them give me inspiration and insight around new themes, skills and possibilities I could have never have imagined. Our awesome team also inspires my work. We have an incredibly talented, passionate and dynamic group that continually invent and create experiences to delight and surprise me always!

Somchana Kangwarnjit - 2016 Packaging Jury Captain

Founder, Prompt Design

Somchana Kangwarnjit graduated from King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang with a degree in industrial design. In 2009, he founded Prompt Design, helping his clients to build brands and businesses by delivering new experiences in strategies and design executions. Prompt Design's clients include Nestlé, CP, Singha Corp, Pfizer, FrieslandCampina, Diageo Moet Hennessy, BJC, etc. He is regularly invited to be a committee or jury member for design competitions and often serves as a guest columnist and professor for many publishers and top universities.

What do you see as the most significant changes/developments in packaging during the past few years?

The online world has been more and more important style of living in the past half decade. The packaging will not only be a simple package with limited space label and box. More information and tactics like QR code, AR/VR technology are applied to it. New packaging development will be more advance and tends to combine some media onto it to make a viral campaign. Therefore packaging has to be continually evolving both in terms of technology and distribution and certainly taking care of our planet.

What do you think is the greatest misunderstanding about packaging design?

Many people misunderstood that TV advertisement has more influence than packaging presentation. There is a research showing that the buying choice influential for food product is 40% more and also for wine choice is 46% more with packaging. This is a proof that packaging design is very important as well.

What serves as your greatest source of inspiration these days?

Looking back into the history of packaging and advertisement at each period and time may be helpful in forecasting our future trends in packaging and design.

Luca Nichetto - 2016 Furniture & Lighting Jury Captain

Founder, Nichetto Studio

Luca Nichetto was born in 1976 in Venice. He studied at the city's Istituto statale d'arte, before undertaking a degree in industrial design at the Università Iuav di Venezia, from which he graduated in 1998. In 1999, Nichetto began his professional career with Murano-based glass maker Salviati, later becoming a product designer and consultant for lighting company Foscarini. In 2006, he founded his eponymous practice in Venice. In 2011 he moved to Stockholm, Sweden, to open a second studio and he continues to live in and work from this city. Over the course of his career, Nichetto has served as art director for many international design brands and he has developed an in-depth knowledge of the design industry.

What do you see as the most significant changes/developments in your field in the past few years?

There is a big difference between the way various designers in different locations approach the design and manufacturing process. I think Italian design is famous for its connection to the manufacturer, and an approach that all the time pushes for experimentation. It's where I'm from, so it's in my DNA and everything. This industry, in Italy, is not built for mass production, but more medium size, which really help to develop and increase your knowledge doing new products and new projects. In that sense it helps the connection between the designer and entrepreneur. You see more family run companies in Italy, and designers who talk more about projects, follow their gut and instincts, rather than what the market or some marketing guy tells them. This helps challenge things in the industry. There's a totally different approach in Sweden, which I found much more American when I moved there. Rather than just talk to one person about a design, it's a team of people. I'm not saying one approach is better than the other, but experiencing both helped me adjust my point of view so I'm not always pursuing ways to create iconic or emotional pieces.

Discovering the Scandinavian world helped me also to understand and to try to clean a bit my design and to be more focused also on the functionality and the respect for the environment. For example the environment point of view is something that I really started to appreciate much more when I move here. Before it wasn't something that really connected with the Italian design. Not in a bad way, but it was not one of the skills that was required for a design. In Sweden it is much more Scandinavian so you start to look at things differently, which for me, in the beginning, was a big challenge because that means you need to change your approach. Eventually it became like a kind of mindset, so right now, for me, it's kind of easy... it has become part of my way to do design. To be a designer is one of the most beautiful things because you can learn by doing your job. And so it means that you can learn all the time and your design always constantly developing.

What serves as your greatest source of inspiration these days?

Yeah that is the kind of question that is very difficult to give an answer because personally I think inspiration is almost everywhere. You can read a book you can watch a movie you can listen a song. So to be honest I think inspiration is a match for me between what I know, in terms of knowledge, means what is possible to realize. So know the limit of production. And eventually knowing that push that the supplier or the factory to try to improve to try to experiment. And to the other side to be curious. I think the curiosity is the thing that make you inspire for many things. Inspiration could be in a candy or really could be everywhere. There are no one thing that just I can say, "this is absolutely the only that gives me inspiration." Would be sad if it was like that.

What are you most looking forward to seeing in the entries of the Design Awards this year?

I would love to see the knowledge of people if they are able to express in their project what is a good idea. And a good idea for me means that they need to understand if is possible to realize that. I'm not a person that is looking just to if the shapes or is fine is cool or whatever. I want to see if what they are designing is also, they thought that it is possible to be realized. Personally I think design is always connected with industry. Otherwise we would be artists. So if the design need to be connected to the industry to exist, the designer need to know something about industry to exist. If you don't know you are not a good designer and your idea is not good enough. So that would be probably the main things that I will check.

Joe Gebbia - 2016 Service Design Jury Captain

Co-founder, Chief Product Officer of Airbnb

Joe Gebbia is a designer and entrepreneur, and is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Airbnb. In 2009, Gebbia was listed in BusinessWeek's Top 20 Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs. In 2010, he was named in Inc. Magazine's Thirty under Thirty, and 2013, he was named in Fortune Magazine's Forty-under-Forty.

What do you see as the most significant changes/developments in service design over the past few years?

Design has the potential to move beyond objects. We're all taught in school that design is more than look and feel, that it's the whole experience. Given that we're always on, connected by a device to the internet, the practice of service design is highly underrated. There are so many touch points into products and service systems that you can't focus on the design of just one moment without considering the entire scope of the experience. In the future, I believe design can serve even higher callings, such as designing more trust into people's lives.

What do you think is the greatest misunderstanding about service design?

People think design is only about style, that it is just an aesthetic afterthought. When done right, design considers everything.

What serves as your greatest source of inspiration these days?

Recently, I visited the Martin Luther King Jr. center in Atlanta. His birthplace home, tomb, church, museum, and neighborhood he grew up in are all located within a two block radius. In learning about his life from beginning to end, I could see someone who beautifully communicated a vision that was much bigger than himself. I would highly recommend checking it out.

Get your designs in front of these industry leaders! Get your entry in today! 

No need to be shy, human beings have been exploring sexuality since the dawn of time and as it turns out, sex toys have been around for just as long. The history of their design offers a strange, often humorous, look at our constant quest for innovation and connection. Here is only a small glimpse...

28,000 B.C.

The earliest known dildo was recently discovered at Hohle Fels Cave in Germany and found to date back to the Paleolithic era. While the jury is still out on whether or not its primary purpose was of a sexual nature (researchers think it was also used as a hammerstone), its high-gloss polish and the fact that other similarly carved stone/bone artifacts have been found among common personal care items seems to suggest it was the kind of object one would keep tucked away in their nightstand drawer (or cavernous nook, in this case)...

500 B.C.

It's no wonder that the Greeks and Romans—who worshipped Dionysus and Bacchus, gods of wine and fertility—would make room in their culture for sex toys. They even left us literary evidence of this: to persuade their partners into ending the war, the women of Aristophanes' "Lysistrata" withheld sex while enjoying dildos on the side. The Greeks were also keen on material innovations. In an effort to upgrade from hard (not to mention dangerous and uncomfortable) materials like stone, tar and wood, the Greeks developed olisbokollikes which were essentially dildos baked out of bread—or breadsticks, for a whole new take on "food porn." They also experimented with using olive oil as lube and covering dildos with a layer of leather or animal intestines to impart a more natural texture—a quality that sex toy manufacturers today continue to strive for. Meanwhile, the Romans are known for creating the double-ended dildo, which was used between partners, friends and even during certain ceremonies. 

100 B.C.

Fragment of the Turin Erotic papyrus depicting what seems to be a woman pleasuring herself with a cone-like object. 

This may be a complete rumor, but it is thought that Cleopatra was the mastermind behind the world's first vibrator. Apparently, the great seductress had her servants fill a hollowed-out gourd with bees and used the angry vibrations they emanated to pleasure herself.  

1200

Chinese nobility believed that wearing cock rings would increase their chance of producing an heir. While many of these were beautiful objects in their own right carved out of jade and ivory, it was very common to find them made out of goat eyelids...with the eyelashes still attached for greater stimulation. 

1818-1830

Woodblock prints from Japan's Edo Period show a catalog of sex toys for both men and women, organized according to the four seasons. The images were accompanied by pseudo-scientific explanations about why each sex toy should be used at a different time of the year, stemming from the belief that sex and health are inextricably intertwined. There was even a common saying about how often one should have sex for optimal health: "spring three [times a week], summer six, autumn one, winter none." Fittingly, the illustration for winter depicts a chastity device for men and a rather generous dildo for women. 

1869

The patient interface for George Taylor's steam-powered Manipulator (circa 1885)

Ironically, the male doctors who devised and implemented the first vibrators were not at all concerned with women's sexual pleasure—they were attempting to rid themselves of the inconvenient hand cramps that came from treating "hysteria," a common "women's ailment" at the time that was treated by inducing a "hysterical paroxysm" (ie. orgasm) through manual stimulation. American physician George Taylor patented the first such machine in 1869, the steam-powered Manipulator—a padded table outfitted with a motor powering a vibrating ball in the center, where "treatments" were administered. (To make sure clientele walked out with a healthy glow, beauty parlors began using vibrators around the same time because "the sensations from their use are pleasing and the results instantaneous")

The Chattanooga

Another of these early devices was The Chattanooga, which was being sold around the end of the 19th century to doctors for just under $200—almost what it cost for an entire house! Here is a description of its complex workings:

"The Chattanooga…stood nearly 2m tall and required a couple of men to operate it. Being steam-powered, the engine of the machine was located in a small room and two men shoveled coal into the furnace and monitored the steam temperature, pressure, and thrust required to drive the Chattanooga. The engine room was separated from the doctor's room by a wall which had a hole in it. A mechanical arm extended from the engine through the wall and into the consulting room where the doctor controlled it and used the vibrating arm to administer the appropriate genital massage to the grateful patient."

Another early example, this prototype for a steam-powered dildo was rejected by the US Patent Office in 1891. Though they were purportedly used to treat mental illness, it strikes us as absolutely bonkers that anyone could go near such a frightening device!

1883 

Drawing of Granville's Electric Vibrator

The vibrator market began to develop once consumers started to desire their personal machines. Dr. Mortimer Granville patented the first portable, battery-powered vibrator in 1883 and equipped it with an array of vibratodes (a fun word for attachments) to tickle every fancy. 

Drawing showing variation of vibratodes

The vibrator was the fifth home appliance to be electrified (after the sewing machine, fan, teakettle and toaster) preceding the electric vacuum by about nine years. In the early 1900s, several personal models were on the market and advertisements touting the healing powers of vibration were common. 

According to the Antique Vibrator Museum, the Vendee Vibratory Massager (1906) was operated by "loosening a nut the offset of the spinning weight can be adjusted thus controlling the magnitude of the vibration." 

White Cross Electric Vibrator (1917)

The electric Gyro-Lator (1945) is the closes looking to modern day equivalents. 

World War II

Classified as "Geheime Reichssache" (more secret than top secret) the Borghild Project was a German attempt to create the world's first sex doll during World War II in order to "counterbalance" the "unnecessary losses" their troops had suffered from STD's. As they outline below, their goals were lofty: 

"The only purpose and goal of the dolls is to relieve our soldiers. They have to fight and not be on the prowl or mingle with foreign womenfolk. However, no real men will prefer a doll to a real woman, until our technicians meet the following quality standards:

1. The synthetic flesh has to feel the same like real flesh

2. The doll's body should be as agile and moveable as the real body

3. The doll's organ should feel absolutely realistic."

Bombs destroyed the Hygiene Museum of Dresden where their research was being conducted, so, for better or worse, we'll never know just what they had in the works. 

1990-Present

We've certainly come a long way in terms of ergonomics! Toys like the Rabbit have entered the mainstream and become rather iconic in their own right. It's hard to think of a product category that spans across so many layers (ergonomic, emotional, psychological) and now—since they're no longer doctor-prescribed— we can begin to explore this multi-dimensionality through objects that celebrate our bodies and our senses.  

2050

You decide! Send us your visionary designs for the 1-Hour Sex Toy Design Challenge!

This article is part of the Core77 Sex-tacular, an editorial series exploring the myriad ways that technology and design are shaping the future of intimacy and sex.

Electron Chair by LOCK is a new concept in flat-pack furniture. The chair combines art design, ergonomics, innovative engineering and puzzle structure. The Electron Chair is not just a typical chair, but a functional sculpture.

We know you have opinions about the future for 3D printing so here's the chance to tell us how you really feel. Join the Core77 editors (@core77) and Eastman Innovation Lab for a lively discussion about how rapid prototyping, materials innovation and 3D printing at different scales for everyone from hobbyists to businesses.

Thursday, February 18th at 1PM EST

The current topic of discussion? The Future of Material Innovations in 3D Printing. 

How do material innovations impact the future of 3D printing? What are some of the biggest challenges for wide-scale adoption of 3D printing? How can 3D printing evolve to be more environmentally responsible? Along with Eastman Innovation Lab (@Eastman_EIL) , we'll be chatting with Erik de Brujin (@ultimaker), Kenny Harris (@lulzbot3D) and Filemon Schoffer (@3DHubs).

Ready your ideas. Send us your burning questions. Tweet us your questions using the #EILConvos hashtag between now (and even during) the Twitter chat and we'll pick our favorites to ask this month's panel of experts. And join the conversation tomorrow! We look forward to chatting with you.

Did you see Nissan's self-organizing chair video? In one of the cutaways revealing the stripped chair base, the sharp-eyed among you may have spotted some rather funky-looking wheels:

Those are called Mecanum wheels, named for Swedish engineering firm Mecanum AB, where inventor Bengt Ilon developed them in 1973. Here's a closer look at some Mecanum wheel designs:

What they all have in common is a series of tapered rollers angled at 45 degrees around their circumference. By placing these wheels with opposing angles on either side of a vehicle and allowing them to be controlled independently, a range of motion that defies a simple wheel is possible—and without having to install any steering mechanisms.

A company called Airtrax licensed the technology in the '90s, using it to create nimble forklifts:

I know you think that the Breakbeat music was simply added to the video, but in fact, Airtrax's Mecanum wheels were fitted with hidden speakers and programmed to blare that exact song at all times. That's probably why the company stopped producing them in the last decade: Drivers who were feverishly overcome with the urge to boogie outweighed any productivity gains.

Several years ago a Japanese company prototyped a wheelchair that ran on Mecanum wheels. Learning from Airtrax's mistake, they declined to have the wheels' internal speakers produce bass-heavy club music. Unfortunately, they opted for Smooth Jazz instead:

Despite hiring Kenny G. as a spokesperson, the Smooth Jazz soundtrack proved too cloying to customers and the design never took off.

For years, musically-challenged engineers have struggled to combine Mecanum wheels with the right type of soundtrack. Bluegrass, Death Metal and K-Pop were all attempted and discarded. It was only when Russian company Robotnik went back to Airtrax's roots that they struck upon the correct music. They again chose Breakbeat--but this time they cleverly stripped out the bass:

Unfortunately, the Mecanum wheel community cannot leave well enough alone. This last group of developers started with no-bass Breakbeat…but then decided to combine it with Smooth Jazz:

Hopefully this will serve as a lesson for those of you in the transportation field: Kenny G. has no place in the world of alternate propulsion systems.

Here's a job description you don't hear every day: Tony Fisher is a full-time professional puzzle maker. Britain-based Fisher has been at it since 1980, when he became fascinated—some might say obsessed—with the Rubik's Cube and began DIY'ing his own variants.

Those variants eventually drew customers, and today Fisher runs Tony Fisher Puzzles, where he sells an insane variety of what he calls "Rubik's-Cube-type twisty puzzles." Here's literally just a fraction of what he offers:

The thing about Fisher is, he's spent decades dreaming up puzzle variants in his head and building them with his hands. But in recent years, folks jumping into the DIY puzzle pool have taken the CAD and digital fabrication route--an approach Fisher eschews. "When 3D printing started to improve around 2010, many amateur puzzle makers switched from hand made creations to CAD and paying companies like Shapeways to 3D print their puzzle parts," he writes. "I had little interest in doing this and much prefer the satisfaction of creating something by myself."

Perhaps that's why he built this gigantic Rubik's cube that's 1.56 meters (a little over five feet) cubed. And amazingly, the thing is functional:

It's quite the UI problem, no? Having to constantly tip it onto one face to turn the opposite face looks like one heck of a workout. But I can't think of any other way he could manipulate a puzzle this size, short of putting a giant magnet in the center and having it levitate. 

Actually…that would be very cool! Fisher, are you reading this?

Via Gizmodo

You'll see production samples of your design efforts in a matter of weeks and production pieces hit the market in a matter of months. You'll contribute to and assist in bringing concepts to life from sketch to full 3D renderings for a variety of point-of-sale products while meeting tight deadlines.

In the summer of 2013, Andy Quitmeyer was teaching electronics workshops to scientists in the jungles of Panama as part of his dissertation, when he met a woman with a very specific project in mind: a vibrator. Quitmeyer sat down with the woman and showed her how to program various vibrating patterns and build one of her own. "These scientists are spending all this time out in the jungle and have needs to be taken care of," Quitmeyer says. "It was a cool design challenge."

Sometimes designers become briefly famous or micro-famous, then just fall off the face of the Earth. I was reminded of this as I saw this GIF making the social media rounds, of course with no mention of the designer who created it:

I knew I'd seen this design before, years ago, and I struggled to remember the designer's name: Fred-something. Fred McQueen. No, Fred McNeil. McNeil Queen Fredericksen? After an evening beer I was reasonably certain it was King Frederick Nielsen, but the closest that landed me on Google was some tennis player.

Thanks to Reddit, I finally tracked the name down. The designer's name is Nils Frederking (get off my back, I was close) and he designed that table, called the F2, way back in 2003. In 2007 he "caught rec," as the kids used to say, at the Salone with this video of the F2 and a chair he'd designed:

Having stoked the appropriate amount of attention, in 2008 the F2 went into production by Ligne Roset. Frederking's website, however, has not been updated since 2006. So what happened to the guy, where did he go? Is he living off of royalties on the French Riviera? It's unlikely, as the F2 went out of production at some point. There's no trace of him in any design publication after 2008, and the last work in his online portfolio dates to 2006.

A page on an unlikely website may provide a clue as to his whereabouts. Tango-Unterricht.com (that's "Teaching Tango" in German) lists their dance instructor as a Nils Frederking. A translation of his bio reveals that he studied tango dancing for three years in Berlin and during two trips to Argentina. The bio goes on to state:

I have occupied myself intensively since 2006 with the Argentine Tango. I'm interested to combine the various aspects of the Tango together, the connection in the couple, the structure of the dance, the interpretation of the music and dancing at the milonga [a tango dance hall].

In my life before the Tango I studied music and composition and worked as a furniture designer.

How about that?

Would it be easy for you to give up a successful start to a furniture design career if your true passion was dance?

I guess that sometimes…it takes F2 to tango.

When I work with clients needing more storage space, the walls are one place where we look for options. As I've noted before, wall-mounted shelves can be used in spaces where floor-based shelving won't work.

Gubi focuses on relaunching designs from the 1930s to the 1970s; one of its products is the Demon shelving system created by Mathieu Matégot. 

This shelving is often described as "modular" as it comes in multiple sizes: a single shelf or three, four or five shelves. Four different lengths are available, too. However, once you pick your size, it wouldn't be easy to add a shelf—to go from four shelves to five, for example. So there's not quite as much flexibility as would be ideal to meet changing needs.

Up The Wall from Bent Hansen is a fully modular shelving system. The end user can buy as many 2-shelf sets as needed. The design above uses eight sets.

The laminate shelves fit together in a cross, and the sets can be laid out in whatever pattern best fits the end user's space. 

Shelves can also be innovative in many different ways. The floating Dash shelves from UrbanCase, designed by Darin Montgomery, have a "unique mounting system" that "allows the one inch thick shelf to hold up to forty pounds requiring no stud mounting locations." 

The Hitch Shelf from Umbra Shift has a double-bracket system; each of the two shelves can be installed horizontally or vertically. The vertical option allows the end user to display something like a book or a magazine. Most end users I know are looking for horizontal shelving, so this would be over-designed for them, but it might be perfect for someone.

Paperback was designed by Studio Parade for Spectrum Design. It would be good for narrow spaces, since the shelves which fit into the wall panels are only 12 cm deep—less than five inches. (There are also some larger tabs which are 20 cm deep; it would be nice if these were optional rather than standard.) Paperback might also be good for any end users who get tired of tilting their heads to read the book titles on the spines.

Another design for small spaces is the Luft Shelf from Mox, designed by Anna Salonen. It's only 9.7 cm deep and 9.5 cm tall (if hung horizontally) or wide (if hung vertically). It's made from powder coated steel. 

Clopen is a prototype product from Torafu Architects. It has a secret drawer that is opened with magnetic "keys." It sounds nice, except I can just see those keys either getting misplaced or being left out in the open, somewhat defeating the idea of a secret locked drawer.

A shelf with an ordinary drawer or two, such as this one from woodworker Gideon Rettich, might be much more practical.

The Mesh Series Shelves from Bride and Wolfe combine a shelf with a perforated powder coated metal backdrop from which things can be hung. Some of the backdrops also have magnetized spots. Combination products like this sometimes work well, providing storage for things that often get used together but that don't all work with the same type of storage solutions. 

Note: In this case, the items on the shelf would have to be on the short side so as not to interfere with any hanging items.

The Beam from NakNak, designed by Kyuhyung Cho and John Astbury, is a metal shelf with a hidden space behind the wooden beam. That secondary storage space could be used for postcards, notebooks or anything that wouldn't stand up well on a shelf without some support. Still, some things like large magazines might still tend to bow over if placed behind the beam.

I could see this being used in an entryway, with keys and such on the shelf and incoming/outgoing mail behind the beam.

The Kubo shelf from Maze Interior, designed by Studio Malin Lundmark, provides two-tiered storage in a different way. The Kubo provides better support for magazines, but wouldn't work for the smaller items that the Beam handles well.

As you're waiting for your prototype to print, log onto Twitter and join this month's Eastman Innovation Lab Twitter Chat about the future of 3D printing. We have a panel of international experts representing the fields of material innovation, hardware development and the maker community joining us for today's dialogue. Dive right in by using the hashtag #EILConvos and sharing your thoughts—it's easy.

Beginning at 1PM EST, we'll be chatting with Eastman Innovation Lab (@Eastman_EIL) , along with Erik de Brujin (@ultimaker), Kenny Harris (@lulzbot3D) and Filemon Schoffer (@3DHubs) about the future of material innovations in 3D printing. 

Feel free to ask questions yourself or answer the ones we ask. Just use the hashtag #EILConvos—we'll be tracking and retweeting your ideas.

Follow us on Twitter @Core77 now! 

Each year, Cape Town transforms for one week to host the annual Design Indaba Conference. For 21 years, the city has celebrated creativity with the three-day conference attracting some of the finest minds in fashion, architecture, design and art. 

This morning the conference opened to 1,000+ delegates who filled the auditorium of the Artscape Theater, ready to hear about design and building a better world through creativity. Kicking off the event was Johannesburg-based design duo Stephen Dirnberger and Chanel Cartell. The pair shared the story of quitting their jobs, selling their belongings and embarking on a creative sabbatical, inspired by 2014 Design Indaba speaker Stefan Sagmeister. Proving creativity begets creativity, their talk took us through their year traveling over 100,000 km and their creative breakthroughs as they filled their wanderlust bucket list—including mushing with huskies in the arctic circle and going a month unplugged.  The documentation of their travels on their blog How Far from Home, details their route and stands as a testament to the importance of challenging your creative practice.

Stephen Dirnberger and Chanel Cartell - Design Indaba 2016

While most us won't spare the time for a Sagmeister-ish sabbatical (although, it doesn't look half bad)—the first talk was a light start to a day that would soon take on heavier topics from the British Welfare State to South Africa's housing shortage. The afternoon was highlighted with creative pragmatists, notably social entrepreneur Hilary Cottam and architect Alfredo Brillembourg, both reimagining social systems from the ground level.

British social designer Hilary Cottam took the stage in the afternoon with a non-apologetic declaration of being an 'accidental designer.' She likely gets a pass here having built a career on addressing some of the most complex social systems the UK has to offer. For nearly a decade, Cottam has focused on the British Welfare State – looking not to institutions to solve the problems - but toward a more human approach of relationship building and prevention.

Hilary Cottam - Design Indaba 2016

Cottam's approach for radical social change looks to foster human connections with an acute understanding of the limitations of institutions. She presented Circle, a low-cost service solution for aging populations to find social and practical support thereby reducing the isolation often felt by the elderly. 

Circle is fairly simple in design—members join for a small fee to take advantage of any number of different types of support - social, logistical or otherwise. The service makes no assumptions about what people need in terms of support, rather it connects individuals and groups via a platform to create real relationships that can be built on organically. 

Hilary Cottam - Design Indaba 2016

Circle is compelling because it locates the root of the complex issue related to the aging population in the UK—it's also bolstered by technology allowing the service to be scalable and transferable to different communities. Since 2009, Circle has gained over 7,500 members and 7,700+ helpers who provide a variety of different types of support, on-demand. 

The day ended with Venezuelan-born architect Alfredo Brillembourg discussing an ongoing project specifically sited in Cape Town. As a founder of Urban-Think Tank (U-TT), Brillembourg works internationally at the cross-section of contemporary architecture and urbanism often tackling social and contextual issues deeply embedded in the communities in which he is designing. 

Alfredo Brillembourg - Design Indaba 2016

Empower Shack, while still in the pilot phase, has been supported by the City of Cape Town to develop more livable and sustainable housing from the many informal settlements in South Africa. In light of a countrywide housing shortage, Empower Shack looks to redesign the physical structures of these settlements by creating two-story housing prototypes. 

In addition to the legitimate need for better designed structures - the Empower Shack goes further to address a number of financial, political and cultural issues to create lasting infrastructure. Brillembourg and his team plan to create a solution that is not only feasible in the short term—but ultimately gives agency back to the residents to build and develop their own spaces once the foundation is put in place. 

Empower Shack's Two-Story Structures in Khayelitsha, Cape Town

As day one drew to a close, Brillembourg invited his local team from Cape Town to the stage for an emotional round of applause for the work already completed on the Empower Shack project. 

While there are still two days of the conference to go, already Design Indaba 2016 has already proven refreshing showing a mixture of not only great design—but social impact internationally and close to home. 

Can you imagine being the last industrial/graphic/fashion/interior designer, not just in your town, but in your country? Imagine that design is not being taught anymore and you are literally the last person to possess the skills within your specialty. What would you do? Continue to work on your projects until you're no longer able? Take on an apprentice to pass the skills on?

West-Yorkshire-based Jeremy Atkinson has chosen both options. The designer and fabricator has the distinction of being England's last clog maker, and provides this sobering quote: "People are going 'Oh, you're the expert,' and I'm saying 'No, I'm the only one.'" Thankfully he's got two apprentices—or one-and-a-half, as he jokingly puts it—to pass the skills along to:

It's heartbreaking to hear that he knows his hand is going, and that he's got mere years left to work his trade. But at least he's got those apprentices (the one shown in the video is JoJo Wood, a craftsperson and wooden spoon carver) and an international client base.

Speaking of which, you're probably wondering how Atkinson manages to fit his custom shoes to clients in remote locations. He has clients from afar simply trace their foot on paper, and send it in to him with their shoe size. He then rough-cuts the soles, and ships it back to the client with "simple and easy to follow" fitting instructions. Then the soles are shipped back to Atkinson—the postage is on him—where he brings them to completion with the fitting data.

You can check out Atkinson's offerings here.

The video above was shot by filmmaker Duncan Parker. It's actually the first episode of an ongoing series he's launching called "Tales of Forgotten Crafts." We can't wait to see the rest!

From the street, the 99¢ Plus Gallery emits a yellow glow. The strange glow is partially due to its illuminated contents, but mostly due to the primary yellow coat of paint applied to the floor and walls of the one room Bushwick gallery. Inside, the room buzzes with the sound of electricity from 33 lights, crafted by emerging and established artists and designers.

The show is the first in a series to be curated this year by Zoe Fisher, who in addition to being the co-founder of the gallery, is the founder and director of Handjob Gallery/Store and the art director of Kwambio, a newly launched retailer of 3D-printed goods. Starting with The Lamp Show, each show will focus on homes and the objects in them, taking sculptural objects and attempting to ascribe function to them.

"WIN/WIN Lamp" by SNEAKYKARMA (Joey Watson & Noël Morical)

Fisher is determined to take the concept of functionality and use it as an exploratory tool for both artists and designers to create more interesting products. "It's about functionality and art," says Fisher. For The Lamp Show, Fisher invited a mix of traditional industrial designers and fine artists to contribute work.

"It's definitely been challenging because no matter what, there's a certain set of knowledge—a certain way of talking about things—when you're in either the art or the design world," says Fisher. "It's been really interesting in my work with designers or in my work with artists. They each have different sets of questions, but it's also really fun for most people to make something different. A lot of people just kind of appreciate it as something different."

Nick DeMarco's floor lamp is threaded through a set of wooden steps.

The resulting objects turn everything one might imagine a lamp could be on its head — including, very literally, suspending lights from the ceiling. From an undulating floor lamp by B. Thom Stevenson to a wooden set of steps inching its way up a nearby wall from Nick DeMarco, the work defies traditional art or design buckets, choosing to live somewhere in between.

"Candelabra" by Matthew Ronay (basswood, dye, beeswax)

When asked whether the pieces are art or design, Fisher prefers to ignore the question altogether. "That's basically been my mission since day one, to completely ignore that question," says the curator. "My mission is to make it all equal, in one space, without losing the artist's autonomy as artist, without losing the designer as the designer. I want to allow people to explore and experiment with just ideas, not art worlds or design worlds." Fisher has more shows planned for the rest of this year, including a show on vessels that is already in the works.

The Lamp Show will be on display until April 10th, so if you're a lamp aficionado and live in New York, be sure to make the trek out to the 99¢ Plus Gallery in Brooklyn (238 Wilson Avenue).

Last year we showed you this cool crane that folds into the bumper of your truck. This year we've spotted another neat power lifting device, this one completely mobile, which allows a single user to effortlessly hoist and transport up to 390 pounds.

Developed by Australia's Makinex Construction Products, the PHT (Powered Hand Truck) has a clever cantilevered design and a simple 12-volt linear actuator driving the strut. Here it is in action (note that the Makinex rep is using the product's original name, the OneLift):

There's also an optional forklift attachment:

After seeing this, I now feel bad for my local UPS guy and his outdated handtruck. Since the PHT folds flat, it could conceivably fit into his truck, but I suppose this isn't really designed to hold a bunch of stacked boxes.

You can learn more about the PHT, and where to get one, here.

Let's talk about those things that make eggs, chickens. There are different ways in which farmers house chickens: pumped up in cramped cages, free-range (mostly clustered in a warehouse but sometimes able to go outside) or cage free. I was familiar with the images of the first two chicken rearing systems, but never really understood the last one. "Cage free" sounds alright, but what does it actually mean? In fact, it turns out the name is quite misleading. "Cage free" chickens are actually stuffed by the thousands in warehouses like these:

Even thought they're not technically in a cage, it doesn't seem like they have too many significant advantages. I visited one of these places and was really struck by how sad the whole situation was. So we decided to get our own chicken and give it the kind of life it deserves. We called her Frieda.

This story originally appeared on Story Hopper, a collection of design stories worth sharing squeezed into short videos.

I became so fascinated by Jeremy Atkinson's strange-looking tools (seen in the "Tales of Forgotten Crafts" video) that I had to look into them. And I'm glad I did. Because those three ancient, weirdly-shaped pieces of iron surprisingly enable Atkinson to perform a task that would be a challenge to any modern-day designer/builder wielding any number of power tools.

That task is to create—quickly, no less—a complex, compound-curved, undercut-riddled three-dimensional object in an occasionally uncooperative material. The first kicker is that this object, known as a clog, must then mesh perfectly with a rather crucial piece of human anatomy, the feet on which all of our weight rests. The second kicker is that Atkinson can make these by hand faster than you could possibly draw them in CAD and 3D print them.

First off, let's look at these strange tools, which resemble medieval torture devices:

You can't help but notice the wicked-looking hook on the end of them. That hook is what makes these tools modular. That functionality becomes more apparent when you look at a clog maker's workbench:

Note: I have grossly overexposed this image of Atkinson's bench so that you can make out the details.

A craftsperson can insert the hook end of the tool of their choice into that eyelet, creating a pivot point at one end. 

The eyelet is captive but not fixed; it can rotate freely and also has some slack in the up-down direction. Thus the craftsperson has both leverage and a relatively free range of motion with which to swing the blade.

You now see why these are sometimes collectively referred to as "pivot knives." Also, each of the blades has a different function. Take a look at the image below:

Here's some explanation of what they do, in the order in which they are used: No. 3 above is called a stock knife and features a heavy straight blade. 

No. 1 above is called a hollower and has a curved blade that can be used to create concave surfaces. 

No. 2 above is called a gripper bit and is missing the blade in the black-and-white diagram above; in that image, north of the hook, you can make out the rectangular aperture into which a v-shaped blade is fastened. This v-shaped blade enables the craftsperson to carve what is essentially a rabbet, albeit one that curves and winds 360 degrees and through three dimensions.

If the functions are not clear by the descriptions, you'll swiftly grasp them by watching the videos below. As clever as their designs are, the tools are nothing without the skilled hands to work them, and here Jeremy Atkinson demonstrates his craft. For instance, would you think that you could rough out an item like this…

…in five to ten minutes? Atkinson can, as you'll see here:

I was surprised to see him break out the Japanese-style Silky pull saw for the heel. But unsurprising is Atkinson's obvious lifelong experience in working with wood grain and great manual skill: You can see him swiftly but ever-so-gently start a light cut going with the grain, then suddenly accelerate with great force and accuracy as he rounds a curve to go cross-grain.

In the second video, you see him using the hollower, and again his skill is apparent. But it's when he starts deftly using the v-blade, to get that perfect ledge all around, that my mind was blown:

For someone who says "Don't ask me the mathematical formula [about the cutting geometry], because I can't work it out," Atkinson's clear explanations of how the chamfers on the back of the hollowing blade service the cuts is illuminating. I was also interested to hear that the tools are in fact composites, with raw iron handles laminated to high-carbon steel blades.

Overall, I was as impressed by Atkinson's head as much as I was impressed by his hands and the tools. His sharp understanding of the anatomy of the human foot and his keen grasp of how two-dimensional outlines must be translated into 3D space surely rival that of any modern-day sneaker designer.

It is a shame he is due to retire, pending the forthcoming loss of manual dexterity he touched on in the "Forgotten Crafts" video. At that time, Nike or one of the larger footwear companies really ought to hire him as a consultant. I'm sure a lot of his knowledge would apply, and that subsequent generations would benefit from his experience.

You undoubtedly recognize this object:

However, unless you got an "A" in History of Industrial Design 101, you may not know the story behind it. Here it is.

If you wanted an espresso in early-20th-Century Italy, you put your hat on and tramped down to your local coffee bar. They had these fancy, expensive steam-driven machines that created the pressure required to make the delicious black stuff. Working-class people never had espresso in their own kitchens because there was no way to make one.

That began to change in the 1930s, when an Italian metalworker named Alfonso Bialetti reportedly had a Eureka moment at home. According to William Lidwell and Gerry Manacsa's "Deconstructing Product Design: Exploring the Form, Function, Usability, Sustainability, and Commercial Success of 100 Amazing Products":

While watching his wife do laundry, Alfonso Bialetti observed the workings of their primitive washing machine: a fire, a bucket, and a lid with a tube coming out of it. The bucket was filled with soapy water, sealed with the lid, and then brought to a boil over the fire, at which point the vaporized soapy water was pushed up through the tube and expelled on to the laundry. Bialetti imagined a similar mechanism for coffee, one in which a lower chamber filled with boiling water would force steam up through coffee grounds and then condense in an upper chamber.

Bialetti envisioned the process going like this:

The enterprising Bialetti began working with inventor Luigi di Ponti to create a series of prototypes. It was decided that this percolator would be made from aluminum, as stainless steel was hard to come by due to an Italian embargo (thanks, Mussolini). The Moka Express device that they created was ready by 1933, enabling working-class folk to make espresso in their own kitchens, and the octagonal-in-cross-section form would become iconic.

Not for a while, though. While Bialetti managed to move 70,000 units before World War II put a damper on things, it wasn't until his son, Renato, took over that the Moka really took off.

Renato was a marketing genius. After being handed the reins to his father's company in 1946, he began a billboard marketing blitz across Italian cities for the Moka. In the early '50s he then commissioned artist Paul Campani to create a logo and mascot that became known as L'omino coi baffi, "The little man with the moustache," and had it emblazoned on both the product and the ads. (The cartoon man was either based on Alfonso or Renato, depending on whom you listen to.) 

Here's a Moka Express TV commercial of the era:

Sales took off and the Moka Express line was eventually expanded into a multitude of sizes. Incredibly, the original design lasted for seven decades before eventually being tweaked, and some 330 million have been sold to date. The Bialetti company itself also expanded, growing into today's Bialetti Industrie S.P.A., a global kitchenware giant.

Renato Bialetti passed away last week, aged 93. His children, following his wishes according to Quartz, had him interred within an urn shaped like an extra-large Moka Express.

Image via ABC

Note: Some publications credit Luigi di Ponti with the invention of the Moka. We're going to stick with the MoMA and the New York Times'assessment that Alfonso Bialetti was the guy.

This ergonomic chair with unique geometry keeps your back straight while you are working and improves concentration and productivity.

Design models

Sketches

If you've been following BioLite for the last few years you'll remember them for their biofuel camp stoves and innovative electricity-generating tech. This season they're released a new suite of gear, including the new PowerLight Mini: a compact rechargeable light, designed for both in-city and outdoor applications. 

This thing prompts some questions. While we don't often approach lighting design from a multi-tool perspective, maybe we should?

The basics of the PowerLight Mini seem well covered: for $45 you get a rechargeable 135 lumen LED light with a battery life up to 52 hours on low/5 on high, plus the ability to recharge other electronics. The light itself offers a wide bright surface, with options for general lantern use, bike use, and an intense spot-focus for reading or hunting nightcrawlers. 

This X is where you can find the most worms.

This is where it gets fun. The lantern dims by button and switches easily to flashing or solid-red settings. An all-red option is a boon both for both biking safely and preserving your night vision in the woods. 

Its posable wire stand lets you hang the light at different angles, use it upright, or clip it to a pocket or strap, and the included bike bracket gives you a secure way of sticking it to yourself through traffic.

This thing is way smaller than most camping lanterns, provides a soft even glow, and cuts out the hassle of worrying about either fuel or batteries. While I'm a fan of traditional headlamps (hands-free light, pointed right where you're looking, etc.) the PowerLight Mini offers flexibility and a couple perks that even staunch headlight users might find nice. By clipping to a lower pocket you can give steady lighting without needing to hold your head just-so, and standing it on a table could cut down on the accidental friend-blinding that comes with making dinner by headlamp light.

It weighs in at a manageable 2.8oz, with a tough stainless body and a very slim 3.4 x 2 x 0.6 inch package, making it pretty pocket-friendly and a hell of a lot more space efficient than your old Coleman. The USB output will work for most phones and widgets, and standard micro USB input to charge.

All in all, it looks like an unusual but thoughtful all-rounder light. The super portable size and reasonable battery life could make it a painless addition on all types of trips where you might need extra light, extra space, and extra juice, whether that's to the woods or your poorly lit backyard.

Low setting image via Bikehugger