In my last column, I introduced a few tenets of basic product licensing strategy. Namely, that it's unwise to spend too much time developing a concept before getting feedback if you want to do this for a living. To put it more bluntly, you will need to check your ego at the door. Fine-tuning a prototype is fun, satisfying, and ultimately, a form of self-expression. Of course you enjoy manifesting your vision in such a concrete, beautiful way. Who doesn't? But for the most part, that's not what this is about — not at all. Because during product development, the concepts you submit to potential licensees will inevitably change. They always do. If you want to partner with companies to bring your own ideas to market, your focus needs to be on strategy, not highly detailed design.

There are exceptions, of course. Licensing an existing product is entirely possible. And there are legitimate benefits to further developing a concept first, like the ability to negotiate a higher royalty rate. When my student Eskil Nordhaug was unable to find a compact portable video stabilizer for smart phones and action cameras on the market, he decided to design one himself. Rather than trying to license the concept he developed outright, he built a prototype and spent months drumming up support for a crowdfunding campaign. His hard work paid off: Shortly after his Kickstarter campaign exceeded its goal of raising $35,000 by 350 percent, international distributors began reaching out to him. Sometimes getting proof of demand is not just potentially beneficial, but even necessary to secure a licensing agreement.

StabylCam by Eskil Nordhaug exceeded its fundraising campaign by 350 percent.

But — and this is an important but — licensing an existing product doesn't happen often. In fact it's quite rare. It's far, far more risky to bring an idea to market on your own and then try to license it. As an entrepreneur, my focus is always on minimizing risk, and my advice is an extension of that perspective. Keep that in mind. Like I've said and will say again, licensing is a numbers game. You've got to stay in the game long enough in order to land one.

At the end of the day, the sooner you get comfortable relinquishing full control, the better. The way I see it, that's a small price to pay! With total control comes great risk. When you pursue a licensing agreement instead of venturing, you essentially outsource the risk of bringing a new product to market. You let your licensee focus on the heavy lifting, like manufacturing, distribution, and marketing. So really licensing is about finding the right partner — a partner that has the existing manufacturing capabilities, distribution channels, retail shelf space, and marketing budget to bring your concept to market quickly and efficiently.

...Licensing is a numbers game. You've got to stay in the game long enough in order to land one.

What kinds of companies should you approach to partner with, then? In my experience, Fortune 500 companies are dinosaurs. They haven't embraced open innovation because frankly, they don't have to. They're market takers, not risk takers. These companies are more interested in letting smaller companies fight it out. When a product is successful, they either create a similar one or buy the startup outright. You'll be able to spot a company that hasn't embraced open innovation from a mile away because they'll tell you they're only interested in looking at ideas that are patented.

The reality is, the vast majority products on the market are not patented. Most products cycle in and out of the marketplace so quickly, patents aren't relevant. And a single patent is never enough, anyway! If you build a wall of intellectual property with multiple patents and other forms of intellectual property, you may be able to dissuade a competitor. But even then, your portfolio is only as strong as your ability to defend it. The most powerful companies in the world aren't able to shut down copycats and me-too products. After licensing my ideas for more than 30 years, I know of only a few people who have licensed their ideas to a major player.

Avoid industries that have limited competition. If there are only two or three major players, breaking in is difficult. These companies have robust in-house design departments and invest heavily in research and development. Examples include the cooler industry (Igloo, Coleman) and until more recently, razor blades. I don't recommend approaching extremely design-oriented companies for licensing consideration either. There's too much competition. Companies like OXO may be willing to look at ideas, but they have such long-standing relationships with design firms, your efforts are more likely to resonate elsewhere.

The toy industry is another I'd avoid because of steep competition. If you're set on developing toys, work in the industry first. When you leave, you'll have the insight and contacts you need to move forward without a toy broker. Fat Brain Toys is an exception. If you have an idea, longtime director of product development Erik Quam wants to hear from you. The packaging industry is similarly challenging, unless you're intimately familiar with manufacturing techniques and processes. I know; I've been in the industry for 20 years now. It can be done, but without prior insight, it's an uphill battle.

Who should you reach out to then? Smaller companies. Midsize is best. These companies are hungry. They need us. Because they're focused on differentiating themselves, they're more willing to innovate.

My students have the most success licensing their concepts to the following industries:

1. Hardware. An enormous industry that is always looking for new products.

2. Housewares. Focus on companies that don't typically work with product design firms.

3. Pet. Something like half of all Americans own pets. This industry is on fire.

4. Fitness. Not the easiest to break in to, but growing. Read the fine print on the non-disclosure agreements they'll want you to sign carefully!

5. As Seen on TV. Direct-response television companies rely entirely on outside product developers. Patents aren't required, only prototypes. These products have a short lifespan, but there's a lot of money to be made. 

Professional product developers don't reach out to these types of companies often — inventors do. Which is another way of saying, they present a massive opportunity for you to put your training to use.

Erik Johansson is a professional photographer and retoucher. He's also got a surrealist streak, and the collision between his passion and his skillset has yielded unbelievable images like these:

Not all of his images are Escher-esque. A good chunk of his work eschews rotational symmetry for pure surrealism:

Those of you with rendering skills might think "Well, big deal, I could whip those up." But Johansson actually captures all of the constituent parts of these images in-camera, then stitches them together. Take a look at this final image, for instance:

Now take a look at what went into creating it:

Putting in hours like that, it's no wonder that Johansson only produces six to eight images (excluding contract work) per year!

See more of his shots here, and more behind-the-scenes videos here.

Our newest 1-Hour Design Challenge focuses on creating objects and furniture for the freelance sector of the professional world, a group growing rapidly in the United States. As the popularity of this career path advances and the variety of freelance jobs expands, there are plenty of issues design can tackle to improve the life of an independent worker.

Here are just a few questions you can ask yourself in the midst of designing for our latest competition, any of which could help drive your product concept:

How do you outfit a home office or small work space?

This area is an appropriate one to explore if you're interested in designing a furniture piece or standing object. Perhaps one issue to investigate and design for is having a piece of furniture that can adapt to any situation in your home office that may come up—whether it's a meeting with clients or simply creating a proper space for you to work (take a look at Flexible Love's chair prototype above for some inspiration in this regard). 

Not much space in your home office? Maybe there's a way to re-imagine objects in your environment to save space—consider a design like designer Paul Menand's incredibly clever take on stacking chairs. 

How do you make it easy to take your work on the go?

As a freelancer, you probably not only have to visit other people's offices for meetings several times a week, but also might be traveling around the world. So what kind of products could you make to improve efficiency and overall satisfaction when mobile? 

You could, for one, sketch up a backpack or briefcase such as Aer's travel pack designed specifically as a convenient carry-on when you're having to go on short business trips. 

If you're in a position where you're still managing much of your freelance business in coffee shop environments, there may be some basic issues to consider such as having enough power throughout the day to power your electronics. Perhaps a helpful product to design would be something like the Solarbook, which allows you to stay powered in any sunny place. 

How do you create routines and stay organized?

Freelancers today rely on a number of software programs and apps in order to keep their appointments straight and get all their tasks done. 

One product to take inspiration from could be Evernote's collaboration with Moleskine: a clever idea for a notebook that allows you to digitize your handwritten notes and automatically organize them within the accompanying app. 

Tranquilo lamp 

An important part of a routine might be establishing space for silence and concentration; one aspect of this could be avoiding your phone and people who might deter you from the task at hand. One clever solution to such a problem is this Tranquillo lamp concept by Avid Kadam, which only stays on as long as your smartphone rests on the base of the lamp.

How do you stay focused and avoid distraction?

Nowadays there are many apps available to help quell the temptation to procrastinate, and many people swear by them. Freedom, for instance, is an app which shuts down the internet on your phone and computer for a pre-determined period of time so you can focus on the task at hand. But are there any physical objects aiding in this self-motivational struggle? 

"Zip It" by Rae Bei-Han Kuo for Lund University's In Our Officecourse

One great project we saw during Milan Design Week is a chair by Lund University student Bei-Han Kuo, which acts as a visualization of the idea that when we're in a productive work zone we often need no opportunity for distraction. Her play on a wingback chair can be zipped up or down depending on the level of privacy needed at the moment.

Your design could also tackle problems specific to very small groups of freelancers—for example, writers. An interesting product called Freewrite is a source of inspiration in this field: aesthetically similar to computers from the 80's, this machine incorporates an interface that allows you to write and only write. 

In a challenge like this, the opportunities for design are endless and we want to see them all! Read more about the rules here and contribute your submissions on our 1-Hour Design Challenge discussion board or Facebook group. Submit as many as you'd like! We want to see all your brilliant ideas.

Our latest 1-Hour Design Challenge runs until Thursday, June 23rd, so get to it!

In a surprise move, this week the producing team behind American Ninja Warrior decided to allow a Tyrannosaurus Rex to compete on the fabled course. The 65-million-year-old, five-ton beast had to battle more than the obstacles; the creature's disproportionately short arms and lack of upper body strength put him at a distinct disadvantage, as did the pressure of being ANW's first competitor from the Cretaceous Period. Here's how he did:

That looked absolutely grueling. We're sure that after putting in a showing like that, he was a little…dino-sore.

SUMMARY: Cutting edge clean energy startup seeks a talented and energetic Industrial designer to assist in creating compelling energy products for the outdoor recreational market and emerging markets. HOURS: Full-time DURATION: Late Summer-Fall 2016 LOCATION: Brooklyn, New York REPORTS TO: Director of Design

Like many of us, I was trained to smooth wood surfaces with sandpaper. It's messy, time-consuming and I've always hated the process. Getting into Festool's system reduced the pain somewhat, and if I were doing it for a living (where time is money) that would be the only method I'd use; but as a hobbyist, I've discovered that nothing is more satisfying than smoothing a wood surface with a handplane. To turn a board into something glassy-smooth with several judicious passes brings a real feeling of satisfaction, and to my fingers the finish beats a sanded one all day long.

Learning to use a handplane requires you to form pictures in your head, something we as industrial designers are supposed to be able to do. You need to understand how the angle of the blade is attacking the fibers of the wood and how to work with the grain. Some of these images come easily, but the role of the chipbreaker is more difficult to envision. Thankfully, a pair of professors at Japan's Yamagata University created a handplane-simulating rig and shot microscopic video to show us exactly what the chipbreaker does (note that they refer to it here as the cap iron) and how to set it under a variety of circumstances:

Credit where credit is due:

The video was created by Professor Yasunori Kawai and Honorary Professor Chutaro Kato of the Faculty of Education, Art and Science at Yamagata University, and shot circa 1989.

Several people subsequently made it possible for the video to be viewed and understood by English-speaking audiences. Woodworker Bill Tindall gained permission from professor Kawai to post the video publicly; Mia Iwasaki translated the text and audio; and woodworker Wilbur Pan created the subtitles from Iwasaki's translation.

When my air conditioner recently failed, I followed New York City environmental regulations and arranged for a curbside pick-up for the next morning. But they never got to collect it. Later that night I was awakened by the sound of a hammer on metal, and looked out of my window to see one of NYC's notorious and unlicensed scrap metal guys dismantling my dead air conditioner the hard way. These guys cruise the streets at night with vans, dismantling discarded machinery to harvest the metals within. The only thing left in the morning was the plastic faceplate.

I don't know what valuable metals an air conditioner contains, but I've just learned that your average photocopier contains five pounds of copper, which we all know is worth a pretty penny. (See what I did there?) The Science Channel has put together this fascinating video showing how the copper can be harvested, mixed with zinc to create brass, and turned into musical instruments!

I do wish that video was a bit longer, as I wanted to see details on how they produce the rolled edge on the rim of the bell, not to mention the second half of the object's manufacture. As it turns out, they left out a lot of cool details, as you'll see in this second video I found, which shows the entire trumpet-making process:

Mobile power supplies and Bluetooth speakers are often bulky, delicate and lack style. We envisioned a multifunctional device that allows users to secure it to virtually any object, providing audio and a backup power source wherever they go. The clasp allows you to clip it onto your pack, tent, clothing, virtually anywhere you want. Developed with a rugged, rubber over-mold and a waterproof outer shell, the Latch conveys high-quality in a functional accessory you’ll want to take everywhere.

This is sort of a followup to my blog entry on sawing straight. After I posted it I got to thinking that my approach is not really about anything other than paying attention to what you are doing, learning to "see" square, and then learning to feel when everything is going right. I'm training my body more than any specific technique or tweak. I thought about this and I think I know why I have drifted to this approach. 

Note: The picture has little to do with anything except that it is a superb example of craftsmanship from 15th century Venice (It's in the Metropolitan Museum).

Many many years ago I was editing a short film and had tremendous back pain just sitting at the flatbed editor (analog editing - this was a long time ago). At the same time my posture was horrible. An actress I knew suggested that I try The Alexander Technique. While not common in the US, The Alexander Technique is pretty much a defacto training aid for singers, dancers and most actors. It's a common course in Drama and Performing Arts programs.

I was desperate so I tried it. It was magic. After an initial jolt of progress it took several years but my back pain disappeared, my posture got better, etc. One premise of the Alexander Technique is that we are accustomed to use the muscles of our body (and back) to hold ourselves in bad positions and by proper training we can learn to not hold ourselves that way and do nothing instead. Doing nothing releases lots of muscle tension and lets our body behave the way it's supposed to. Over time the natural positions that are good for our body feel unnatural and a goal with Alexander is to make them feel natural again so we work our bodies more efficiently.

I realized that what I am trying to do with my woodworking is make it natural for me. I'm an amateur and I know I don't have to punch a clock on productivity. Since I have some dexterity (I can't draw or anything but I can follow a line) given enough time, and enough tools, and enough attempts I can build just about anything. But that's not the part of woodworking I am interested in.

It's like basketball. I know I can shoot baskets all afternoon and get some in. But what I want to be able to do is be able to sink baskets consistently. Craftsmanship is about certainty. So far, gosh darn it, I'm nowhere near that point.

And maybe that's what being a craftsman is. It's the ability to make something by hand in a consistent production-like manner. Whether it's a master craftsman making folding knives at so much a dozen, or a master craftsman carving gargoyles in a church, what separates the master from the beginner or the amateur is the ability to work consistently and fast. The master knife-maker may be repetitively working on a small group of unoriginal designs but he can work materials with certainty and ease. The master working high on a scaffold carving figures into stone might have more freedom in design than the knife-maker but what ties them together is the fluency with the work. An amateur—even one producing amazing stuff—simply doesn't have the practice and training to reach that fluency. 

Once the fluency of the work has been mastered then for some craftsman there can be a liberation of design and an interest in pushing the envelope on what can be done. Unfortunately for most craftsman through history the opposite has been true, Henry Mayhew in the 1850's quotes a craftsman who basically states that in order to make a living there is no room for branching out. You have to be able to maintain production speed at what you know to make a living. 

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This new "Tools & Craft" section is provided courtesy of Joel Moskowitz, founder of Tools for Working Wood, the Brooklyn-based catalog retailer of everything from hand tools to Festool; check out their online shop here. Joel also founded Gramercy Tools, the award-winning boutique manufacturer of hand tools made the old-fashioned way: Built to work and built to last.

Designers want to use the tools of design to change the world and, for many designers, their world is their child. Every parent wants their child to be safe, happy and healthy, and this year saw a notable effort from designers to try to ensure just that. Many honored projects were focused on bettering and enriching the lives of young children and infants from both an entertainment and safety perspective. Below is just a sampling of the projects honored through the 2016 Core77 Design Awards geared toward tykes and tots.

Firefly Infant Phototherapy - Design for Social Impact Professional Notable

Firefly phototherapy device is an intuitive, cost-effective tool for reducing unnecessary suffering caused by untreated newborn jaundice in developing countries.

Firefly's LEDs are rated to last up to 44,000 hours before requiring replacement.

Firefly Infant Phototherapy is an affordable, easy to use phototherapy device used to treat jaundice in infants. Specifically, the device targets impoverished, rural areas where the staff may be inexperienced and have limited access to resources. The device was designed with the following four design prompts in mind: effective, maintainable, user-friendly and comforting. After considerable research and testing, "clinical results show that, compared to overhead LED phototherapy, Firefly significantly reduces phototherapy treatment times, reduces the incidence of nosocomial or hospital-acquired infection and in some cases averts the need for expensive and risky exchange blood transfusions."

Owlet Smartsock - Design for Social Impact Professional Notable

An indicator light on the base station shows green when vital signs are normal and red when something requires a parent's attention.

Soft, light, and nontoxic materials keep the baby comfortable while wearing the sock.

The Owlet Smartsock is designed to reduce the number of Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths (SUIDs) by providing parents with real-time monitoring of their infant's vital signs. As Project Team outlines, "the Owlet Smartsock combines hospital-grade pulse oximetry technology with a bluetooth transmitter that connects to an independent base station." Should there be an abnormality with the infant's vital signs, the base station turns red and an alert is sent immediately to the parents' phone via an app. While highly functional, Owlet Smartsock is, above all, a product for newborns, which is why "pastel colors, a charging station that doubles as a night light, and a friendly animal logo come together for a product and brand that's both future-facing and baby-friendly."

Fort Boards - Custom Fort Builder - Open Design Professional Notable

Fort Boards is an open-ended construction set that fosters imagination and creativity while giving kids a sense of independence.

When kids connect two Board parts together, they can rotate them together to form the desired angle and add a Connector part to solidify the two Boards at a precise angle.

As Principle Designer August Graube explains, "Fort Boards is a custom fort building kit that allows kids to play inside of their own creations." Fort Boards offers children the opportunity to channel their creativity into endless constructive possibilities, and build an environment that is uniquely their own. Design Cards can be added to the exterior of each tab to give the structure a metallic, stone or wooden aesthetic, while hinges can be used to create doors and windows. The design also aims to foster skills that can be otherwise difficult to teach: spatial reasoning, imagination, and structural engineering. Ultimately, August Graube hopes for Fort Boards to become "a timeless toy that grows up with children and opens up endless design possibilities for young builders everywhere."

4moms™ high chair - Consumer Product Professional Notable

The combination of functionality and aesthetics makes for a high chair unlike any other.

The 4moms high chair uses magnets both in the tray latches and on the tray top to make mealtime easier for parents.

4moms™ high chair addresses a persistent issue in an often neglected area of design with a simple but clever solution. By replacing the traditional latch system with a series of magnets, securing your child into the high chair becomes considerably faster and easier. Additionally, magnets are installed in the tray to help your child's plates and trays stay upright and off the floor. Though seemingly straightforward, considerable research, ideation and troubleshooting went into the 4moms™ high chair design. "The team became experts on magnets throughout the development process," details the Project Team, "creating dozens of prototypes to hone in on the perfect size, strength and placement for the magnets in both the tray latches and tray top where the magnets were located in a grid pattern to accommodate where plates and bowls would typically be used."

For the past three years, my girlfriend and I have been living in an old house slated for demolition. At first, we had no idea how long we'd be able to stay, but we embraced the temporary nature of the situation (and the cheap rent!) and found ways to make the house work for us. It took us a while before we turned the old, abandoned house into a place we like, but we slowly cleaned it up, repaired it, made a vegetable garden and even raised some chickens. Now, after three years, it's perfect: comfortable, efficient and practical. And yet, somewhere down the line we realized that being comfortable scares us. Sure, everything works perfectly well and we have everything we need, but we also stopped waking up with that super excited feeling in the morning. We like to explore, make mistakes and try out new things. So, we decided to leave this wonderful house and dive into a new adventure. (More on that next week...)

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

Japanese variety shows are the king of staging elaborate pranks, but this digital creative agency in Georgia is giving them a run for their money. Leavingstone, in the capital of Tbilisi, was recently tasked with promoting tourism to Ireland (or a local beer brand called "Old Irish," which I've never heard of) and came up with this plan: Accost passersby in a public square, and have them wear VR goggles that immerse them in 360-degree footage of Ireland.

Sounds simple, but the producers figured out a way to take it to the next level, in a way that really screws with people's perceptions of time and space:

The details of the execution are quite clever. Notice, for instance, that they have the target standing on a box that the set then slots around. And I assume the noise and rumbling of the set being moved into place are disguised by whatever's coming through the headphones and goggles, i.e. the running horses scene.

So: You reckon it's real, or staged?

Thanks Jaysun!

Nate Berkus Associates is looking for a Design Assistant in our Chicago studio with 2-4 years of professional experience in the design field who is creative, bright and driven with a positive attitude and great communication skills. The Design Assistant will provide direct support to the Senior Designers in the

Adriaan van der Ploeg and Ward van Gemert have never worked in an office. So, it might come as a surprise that the latest collection of work from their Netherlands-based studio Nightshop is, in fact, office furniture.

The aptly titled Business collection includes standard office fare such as tables and file cabinets, each meticulously detailed with hand-drawn patterns reminiscent of graffiti on high school lockers and bathroom stalls, which are then coated in a thick layer of clear resin to protect them for eternity.

More unexpected pieces include lamps, a mirror, a sign with no message, a series of misshapen heads with no function at all and selections from Showdown, a collection of urethane foam rugs we covered earlier this year.

"We grew frustrated by the often costly and time-consuming nature of the modern-day design process," van der Ploeg says. Giving themselves a one year deadline, the duo worked quickly, making as much as they could in-house to avoid time spent on external manufacturing.

Drawn to office furniture for its "boring neutralness," van der Ploeg and van Gemert saw it as a blank canvas and an opportunity to elevate the traditionally drab pieces. Carving out a somewhat unique space for themselves at the intersection of good taste and bad, Nightshop sees their latest endeavor as a continuation of that exploration, mixing high culture and pop references to create a collection of office furniture and accessories that deviate from the norm.

The end result is an exercise in patience and a close collaboration with Robert van Oosterom Interiors & Fine Art, where the collection will be making its debut this Thursday. "We have no idea what's next. There's only Thursday," van der Ploeg says.

"Business," the first solo exhibition by design studio NIGHTSHOP will be hold an opening reception at Robert van Oosterom Interiors & Fine Art on June 16, 2016. 

This week we lost a designer whose work launched 20th century hair to some of its highest accomplishments. You might not recognize the name Margaret Vinci Heldt, but you certainly know her work: Mrs. Heldt's iconic innovation defines its era more concisely than politicians, writers or musicians. 

Whoa, Dolly

The sudden popularity of the Beehive is hard to explain, as though it stepped fully formed out of its first editorial into every bathroom in America, only to die slowly, entombed in grandma's Jello "salad." But the super stacked style was one woman's conscious creation. 

Asked to submit an all-new hairstyle for the 1960 issue of Modern Beauty Shop magazine, Mrs. Heldt debated long and hard before whipping up an unusually frothy tower of hair. The submitted photos, simple black and white snaps of the hairdresser's mannequin, started an undeniably enormous trend. 

Who had time for this?

The 1950s were hardly free of big hair. In the post-war boom, bouffant styles got bigger and helmetier by the year. But the poofy bobs worn by cocktail sipping moms lacked a certain monumental something that Heldt and her followers would soon supply. The updo was seen as a graceful and classy way to position modern hair, and the Beehive made upward movement into a manifest destiny. 

The original 'do

The original how-to

In this debut feature, the Beehive was described as "wrap-around crown movement, softly draped bangs and ear-hugging side patterns." I assume this is clear to hair design professionals, but to the average wearer it really meant piles and piles of engineered hair structures, insane swirls of detailing, and trying not to deflate the resulting concoction for as many days as possible.

Though it involved aching amounts of curling, back-combing, industrial grade hairspray, and days of pained sleep, this design became immensely popular. Modern beauty industry indulgences like hairspray were on the rise, as WWII engineering and manufacturing saturated the post-war domestic arena. As Heldt herself once remarked, "I don't know how we could have done it without hairspray!" The Beehive's influence on subsequent styles can be seen in hairspray-laden coifs over the last few decades.

Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany's a.k.a. every white girl's favorite film

Audrey Hepburn

Adopted by glossy stars like Audrey Hepburn, fashionable pop groups like the Ronettes, and tousled sex icons like Brigitte Bardot, it's no wonder the bulging look boomed on women of all ages. A quick search of ladies alive in the 1960's yields intensely Beehived versions of everyone from Barbara Streisand to your Aunt Vicky.

The Ronettes and Phil Specter

The Beehive's mix of high and low culture were likely part of the appeal too. Big teased hair was already a Dolly Parton-esque marker of "fast women" but this smooth updo version shellacked it with class, and hip women could take it as high as they dared. 

Brigitte Bardot

The name came from the bee-ish clip on Heldt's original model along with the mounded shape of the coif, but the style was also called the B-52 for its aggressive avian (some say missile-like) angles. It's hardly a coincidence that the band The B-52s later donned massive beehive hairdos as part of their act. 

More of a butterfly, really

Since it was new, the Beehive has served as a countercultural reference point for comedy and satire on the excesses of fashion and American culture. From Hairspray to Absolutely Fabulous and every drag queen in between, the Beehive's hair turban is deeply ingrained in campy entertainment around the globe.  

It satirized itself, tbh

Contemporary musicians and actors regularly bulge with modern renditions of the Beehive, proving that the poofy 'do has lasting value for icons as disparate as Amy Winehouse and Beyonce. If its continued appeal seems surprising, a quick Pinterest search will vomit up thousands of soft-focus selfies, chic editorial examples, and how-to blog posts on making a Beehive of your very own. 

Simple utilitarian style

No matter how dramatic, this style's tenacity and creative hideousness might only be outshined by the mullet. Its cycle through wild popularity into revulsion and back into Vogue (literally) has been intense, a bit embarrassing, and probably terrible for the ozone.

Margaret Vinci Heldt was the daughter of Italian immigrants, and knew she wanted to be a hairstylist from an early age. She maintained her Chicago salon, Margaret Vinci Coiffures, from shortly after her graduation from beauty school through her retirement at the age of 80. Mrs. Heldt died this week at 98. She is survived by two children and six decades of posh, odd and literally over the top hairstyles.

As I've mentioned before, hooks are one of an organizer's favorite tools because they make it so easy to put things away. So I'm always interested when a new design comes along, like the Lift from Ippinka, now available via Kickstarter.

Ippinka wanted to design a versatile hook that could hold everything from a bicycle to a cashmere scarf. The Lift will do just that, and flexibility is always a nice product feature.

But I wonder how many people would use this hook for both a bike and something else. If people come home at the end of the day and put their bikes away, they are unlikely to also use the Lift for something else like a coat. Therefore, they might prefer to have one of the many nice wall-mounted bike racks that are available (or use the Lift almost exclusively as a bike rack). They could then use other hooks, which wouldn't need to be as long. And there are certainly plenty of other hooks available.

Peg style hooks are a simple design that can often work well. Many of these are made from various woods, but Naive Noir Furniture makes some from concrete. 

These hooks can hold quite a bit of weight, but they do need to be installed on walls like wood or masonry, not thin walls like plasterboard/drywall/gypsum.

Angled pegs like these from Cambridge Handcraft can help keep items from sliding off the hooks. With the rounded surfaces, there's nothing to snag delicate knitted items.

The circular hook is another design that works well in many situations. Fort Standard provides them in three diameters, all with the same depth, so a combination of different sizes will still look good.

The basic curved hook can take on interesting forms. The Homestead Hook from Dominic Fiorello is made using a bent lamination technique. As Fiorello's website explains: "Many thin American Walnut veneers are glued and bent over a smooth form. With clamps, pressure and time to dry, the basic curve is formed. After that it is up to templates, band saws and sanders to dial the final form into place."

I appreciate that even with the notch that accommodates a keyring, this design still avoids any sharp edges. 

Aller-retour's Astro hook combines a circular hook and a curved hook, giving the end user two different ways to hang things up. 

The tumbled stone hooks from Sea Stones also provide two mechanisms for hanging things: draping an item over the stone or threading something like a towel or scarf through the posts that mount the stone to the backplate. 

The Gym hook from Hay, designed by Staffan Holm, has somewhat more limited uses, but it provides an easy way to hang a towel or a scarf. It's also designed to hold a hanger, but using a hanger undermines the whole "hooks are easier than hangers" advantage.

The Monsieur DressUp Collar from Loyal Loot, available in wood or leather, is a less-flexible hook than many others, but it works well for things like shirts, sweaters and robes. And it can also accommodate things like scarves and headphones.

While the Lift hook at the start of this post is flexible enough to serve a wide range of needs, this product is designed to serve more limited needs very well. That's always going to be an interesting design trade-off.

The MULTI-TIER SHELF designed by Ammar Kalo has shelves that rest on vertical slanting legs without any hardware connections. They're pinned to the topmost shelve with a custom-designed solid brass connector, which allows the legs to fold down for flat pack shipping.

Our latest Design Challenge focuses on creating task-related furniture for freelancers in an ever-evolving and highly amorphous work landscape, an issue that is becoming even more relevant as freelancers begin adding up to more than a third of the workforce in the United States today. Who better to ask about how office environments and the nature of work has changed than designers working for a company specializing in this area for over 30 years?

Humanscale, a company specializing in office furniture since 1983, is well known for its ultra ergonomic and consumer-sensitive understanding of design. One of its most familiar pieces of furniture, the Freedom Chair by Niels Diffrient, was apparently a response to the iconic Aeron Chair. Diffrient realized that the Aeron Chair's levers and adjusters failed to recognize the average consumer's lack of knowledge surrounding ergonomics, so he strived to design a chair that automatically adjusted rather than requiring manual manipulation. The idea turned out to be a hit and his Freedom Chair continues to be one of Humanscale's top grossing products.

Niels Diffrient and his Freedom Chair

DESIGN IS IN THE DETAILS

This type of essential design thinking informs Humanscale Design Engineering Director (and 1-Hour Design Challenge judge) Brad Augustine's everyday work and decision making. Leading a team of over 30 design engineers, his studio works to make sure every Humanscale product is highly functional and reliable. The team also strives to pay attention to changing office environment behaviors, as he explains to Core77: "We've got a mantra: 'creating a more comfortable place to work.' And that really asks the question, how are people working and nowadays? It seems to become more and more the question of how people are interfacing with technology to work,"

So what is there to consider when designing an indispensable piece for the office? Augustine notes that a common misconception about prototyping is that once you've got a model, you're pretty much ready for manufacturing and bringing that product to market when really it's much more complicated than that: "We have to stress that the work we do for regulatory liability, for value—it's a very very iterative process and there's a lot of trade-offs." This means creating something that not only fits all the ergonomic requirements, but is also engineered to incorporate helpful new technologies while meeting business goals. 

DESIGNING FOR A CHANGING CORPORATE WORLD

Technicalities aside, working in such a specific market means designers and engineers must pay attention to trends to stay competitive—in the office world, that means things like standing desks, mobility and flexible workspaces. "There are significant trends going on in office right now, enough where we're almost having to recreate our entire portfolio," says Augustine. "People are working differently than just coming in to a desktop computer that's on their desk and just working with that. We're having to create entirely new products that work with people who are bringing their laptop and want to be able to work very easily...So it's really kind of taking a look at how the user wants to work and how it's changing."

"People are working differently than just coming in to a desktop computer that's on their desk and just working with that. So we're having to create entirely new products"

New product categories include items like sit/stand desks and products like M/Connect, a docking station that provides a more seamless way of connecting electronics on a desktop. Augustine notes that products like M/Connect are a response to office worker's shifting demands for a work environment that conforms to consumer needs rather than the other way around: 

"Before, you were able to just have your [desktop] computer, you install your monitor at your desk and everything is already set up so when a person comes in your station is ready to go...But now, people are bringing their laptop, [so] how do you create a different set of tools that relate to kind of a completely different user experience?" 

These are the sorts of questions many companies are having to ask and respond to as professional and corporate workspaces take new shape. As offices steer away from the once ubiquitous cubicle culture of yesteryear, designers are not only considering how our work environments are shifting, but also anticipating evolving attitudes about how we work. How can a space adjust to accommodate an inspiration-fueled, impromptu brainstorm? How do you create a work station that integrates current and future tech products? These sort of questions are not just beneficial to ask—they are essential.

Brad Augustine of Humanscale is a judge for your 1-Hour Design Challenge: Furniture for Freelancers submission! You have until Thursday, June 23rd to submit your sketches and be in the running for some amazing Grovemade desk gear—so get to sketching! 

Afrormosia

Pericopsis elata 

Popularity of wood species comes and goes just like architecture and fashion styles. In fact, these elements usually feed each other. As styles change, materials and industries shift to meet the demand for raw materials. Over the last few years we have seen a growing demand for Teak beyond the boat building industry. Minimalist Asian and Scandinavian influenced interior designs are using Teak more and more for flooring, wall panels, and ceilings. High end homes use Teak for exterior trim and doors and windows. You even see Teak decks. The honey brown coloring and smooth consistent grain plays very well with these styles. There is a small problem though. Teak is very expensive and with a strong demand from the boat builders who usually buy much larger quantities, the home builders and architects have to play second fiddle and either get lesser quality material or pay higher prices. What can you do? The people want what they want and the demand is still there thoroughly ingrained in our modern design aesthetic. Enter Afrormosia, a strong substitute to handle the overflow of demand for Teak.

Freshly sawn Afrormosia on the left and Teak on the right

Afrormosia, Pericopsis elata, grows in West Africa and mostly is imported from Ghana, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast. It is usually marketed at "African Teak" because it has a very similar color and grain appearance. Afrormosia is also a great exterior species with moderate levels of silica much like Teak. To be clear, it is not Teak and is not as superbly resistant to water and the elements. This is actually a good thing because the boat builders can therefore accept nothing less than Teak leaving the Afrormosia market free from competition from the boat industry. Moreover, the muted golden color that Teak achieves after oxidation and UV exposure is readily present in Afrormosia from the saw so waiting for darker streaks to fade isn't an issue. The hardness and stability are great and milling for flooring, trim, windows, etc goes without a hitch. Afrormosia doesn't have the same oily feel as Teak so it finishes much easier. In other words, Afrormosia is a great alternative to Teak for the home building market. As a bonus you can expect to pay about half of what you would pay for Teak…for now. (Cue ominous music.)

The reality is that the growing demand for Afrormosia has been recognized by CITES and now the species is listed as an appendix II species. This means that while Afromosia isn't endangered, current trade practices pose a threat to long term viability. So now the trade and harvest of the species is tightly controlled. It does mean that prices have climbed, lead times are longer, and availability is strained. We believe this is the right thing to do and with proper management, one can expect Afrormosia will be taken off CITES. At least that is the goal.

Teak on the left and Afrormosia on the right with 1 coat of lacquer

So consider this a kind of tease if you will and a sign of the times. Just when a good alternative is found, the spike in demand can threaten the species making it harder and more expensive to get. I guess the search will continue to now find an alternative to the alternative. The bright side to all of this is that CITES protection has shored up the forestry practices around Afrormosia and made it a generally more valuable species. Prior to the spike in demand, Afrormosia may have been discarded as a byproduct of another species trade like Sapele, Utile, or African Mahogany. With increased demand and protection, now Afrormosia isn't being wasted.

Really, Afrormosia continues to be the best solution for a Teak alternative as long as you are not building boats. CITES regulation may have complicated things a bit, but the species is still available without endangering the resource. So don't fear using it, just be aware that greater care and lead time may be needed when specifying it in a build project.

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This continuation of the Wood Species series is written by Shannon Rogers, a/k/a The Renaissance Woodworker and founder of The Hand Tool School. It has been provided courtesy of the J. Gibson McIlvain Lumber Company, where Rogers works as Director of Marketing.

See all of the Wood Species entries.

This week we bring you our pressing topic of the moment straight from our reader-driven discussion boards! This one's an interesting inquiry by Core77 reader Gabriele_Ermacora that involves a bit of future gazing. Well-versed in robotics, Gabriele asks: 

"I am about to develop this idea that excited me a lot: making accessible robotic software development to designers and artists in an easy way. [I want to make] a very easy interface for developing robotic applications accessible to non-expert or not-super geeks. In this way an artists or designers could create easily a robotic art installation or robotics application. 
I come from the robotics geek world so I have no idea (that's why I'm asking here) if this could be interesting to designers..."

[Have you] ever used robots? Would it be interesting for a designer to have this tool?

As robots infiltrate more and more corners of our lives, it's interesting to consider the vast opportunities for solutions having robots around might be able to solve. Ralphzoontjens tuned in to contribute a few different ideas for how designers could incorporate robots into their lives: 

"If I would use a robot would depend on its price and functionality. Some of my ideas:

- a robotic desk light with integrated web cam so it can track and follow my hands. This would be nice for creating videos of me working on sketches / tinkering to send to clients for either presentation or work logging.

- A robot/virtual assistant that handles the scanning and documenting of my sketches and notes, automatically adjusting contrast, recognizing my hand writing etc. and a piece of software to store and catalog all my sketches.

- A robot that I put on the coffee table to translate to me when people are speaking different languages or even just pick up words and output them on a simple display... It would be a nice feature if it could also store a to-do list and randomly ask whether or not you already did certain tasks, another feature could be that it stimulates creativity by randomly uttering sentences like 'what if you would combine a solar panel (x) and a piggy bank (y)?'

- A robot in the car that dispenses mints/sweets/drinks and does tasks like holding your parking tickets.

So how would you apply a robot to your daily routine? Share your ideas in the comment feed below!

(Also feel free to check out the original post and contribute on our discussion board!)