We used to be limited by drafting technology and production technology. There was a point where if you couldn't sketch something and/or make it with human hands, it would never see the light of day. And those limitations provided a convenient boundary between designing for reality and designing for IDGAF*.

The advent of CAD and digital fabrication began erasing that boundary, and for the most part we as a society have used it to good effect. But every once in a while you'll see some designer pull a Gehry, where they design some functionless, absurdly arbitrary shape that came from a combination of sheer whimsy and randomly pulling splines around in CAD. Previously, abominations like these were impossible to produce, but with digital fabrication people can bring even the most inadvisable shapes into the real world.

The other night I was re-watching Jurassic Park, and it struck me how applicable the speech uttered by Dr. Ian Malcolm, the chaos theorist played by Jeff Goldblum, is to the type of designer mentioned in the paragraph above. Admittedly it's not a perfect fit, but if you swap the words "genetic power" and "scientific power" with "CAD" and "digital fabrication," you've got something a professor might chastise you with in a design crit:

*I Don't Give A…

Director of Design/Creative Lead, Hasbro Adult Gaming Hasbro's Games team is looking for a full-time Design Director for the Adult Gaming team! Reporting to the VP of Design & Development for Hasbro Gaming, you will be directly responsible for the visioning, innovation, development and

Can you think of any 3D-printed objects that could be deemed design classics yet? Thus far we cannot, but Philippe Malouin may be the designer who drags the production method into MoMA territory. Malouin's Connection line of tabletop objects for design brand Othr are unabashedly 3D-printed, wearing their production method on their sleeves—no effort has been made to conceal the striations—while still pursuing the classic form-follows-function doctrine.

The Connection Vessel is made of 3D-printed steel, with an elegantly thin handle that leaves no guesswork as to how you're meant to interact with it:

The Connection Bowl - Steel, also of 3D-printed steel, features thin walls and a generous profile radius. Two intersecting planes compensate for the radius' inherent lack of balance, while providing some rather modernist hand-holds:

The Connection Bowl - Porcelain is a smaller version (3.75" in diameter, as opposed to the 4.25"-diameter steel version) made from 3D-printed porcelain. It's the sole piece in the line that looks as if it might have been made by traditional means, though the flawless joins of the surfaces speak of digital fabrication.

Othr was launched during New York Design Week, a project from Core77 friend and New York-based designer Joe Doucet. "Connection is conceived as a series of simple, thin, everyday objects focusing on the 3D printed techniques as shape creation," Othr states. "These objects have the look and feel of old cast iron [or traditional porcelain], but with the exact precision and features that can only be achieved with modern technology."

The restaurant where I used to wait tables had only four "deuces" or "two-tops," and that was a lousy section to work. Two people don't spend as much as four or eight, but take nearly the same amount of time to wait on, and your tip is the same percentage of a vastly smaller bill. You wanted to work the back room with the big tables, and restaurants didn't have much incentive to install a lot of deuces.

Now, however, Washington Post reporter Lavanya Ramanathan has pointed out something interesting: The rise of dating app Tinder has given restaurateurs a motivation to install more deuces rather than less.

The reasons for this are many. Tinderites are total strangers getting to know each other, and are probably not going to commit to a meal. Nor are they going to get rip-roaring drunk together, running up a pricey tab. And assuming they go through lots of these dates each week and are on a budget, they're also not going to order top-shelf booze.

The result is that you have two people taking up a table and spending very little. What's even worse is when the restaurant is filled with Tinder dates, spilling over into booths and larger tables; because now you've got two cheapskates occupying a table for four, while a newly-entered party of four has to wait for the table to free up.

At least one restaurateur has noticed and made design changes, and others are sure to follow suit.

Ashok Bajaj, owner of several Washington restaurants including Rasika, Ardeo + Bardeo, and Nopa Kitchen + Bar, recalls noti­cing the phenomenon a few years ago. "At Bardeo, we had 10 tables, and a lot of those tables were for four. Every single table, almost every single night, was filled with couples," he says.

When it was time to refresh the space, Bajaj did away with booths and installed tables for two, increasing the number of couples he could seat in that same space every night (which equals more money for the house).

He applied the lesson at Nopa, in Penn Quarter, creating a series of two-seat nooks in the extensive bar area so that couples don't have to plant themselves at a dining room table for hours on end.

What they should install next: Levers at each seat that control a trapdoor under the opposite seat.

According to Norm Penner, it's better to swivel than slide, at least when it comes to the drawers in heavy duty tool storage cabinets. He should know because when the conventional cabinets in his metal fabrication shop failed, he and his father invented the pivoting drawers now used in Swivel Storage Solutions' work benches and cabinets.

They needed to store heavy tooling and supplies but there was a lot of grinding debris in the shop—and grinding debris is the last thing you want to get into delicate ball-bearing slides. The debris settled into the slides on a regular basis causing the slides in their tool cabinets to stick and ultimately fail.

The Penners addressed the problem by devising drawers that pivot off a vertical rod that runs the full height of the cabinet. Unlike drawers with slides—which are rated to carry a given amount of weight—the taller you make a pivoting drawer, the more weight it is able to handle. That's because the height of the drawer is proportional to the bearing it has on the rod.

It's a very cool system—check out the video I shot at the National Hardware Show last month and see for yourself.

The legendary Smith’s knife company approached us seeking fresh designs for a sharpener and fire starter tool. They also wanted something convenient and accessible, but stylish enough that you want to display it on your belt loop or pack. We designed the Pack Pal to fall in line with their brand, but wanted to add some rugged personality and subtle aesthetics to give it added appeal.

Still on the fence about whether you'll submit a sketch to our newest Furniture for Freelancers 1-Hour Design Challenge? Well after checking out our grand prize, your internal battle will finally be over...

Take all the marbles in the 1-Hour Design Challenge and here's what you'll win from our friends making high-quality products over at Grovemade: 

Grovemade's Monitor Stand, a graceful ergonomic boost for your posture constructed from premium woods (comes in walnut and maple)

This luxe mousepad made from high-quality vegetable tanned leather, lined in cork and equipped with a grooved basin for your pen, pencil or stylus. 

A beautiful wooden pen cup to keep all of your writing utensils organized and easily accessible, which is constructed from sold maple or walnut, lined with aluminum and cork and finally hand sanded and finished.  

And finally, this elegant desk lamp that provides a great amount of light to your workspace and can be turned on and off with a simple click. 

This prize package valuing up to $400 is not only expertly crafted, but also a highly functional desk set you'll hold onto for ages. 

And runner-ups, we didn't forget about you: 2 of you will also receive gift certificates from Hand Eye Supply!

So check out the rules here and start the timer for your 1-Hour Design Challenge! Contest runs until Thursday, June 23rd at 11:59 PM EST. Also, stay tuned next week when we speak in detail with Grovemade about their beautiful line of products and what drives their passion for design. 

Core77's editors spend time combing through the news so you don't have to. Here's a weekly roundup of our favorite stories from the World Wide Web.

The Weird Logic Behind Yard Signs in Politics

From local to national elections, America shows an unfortunate obsession with political yard signs that doesn't quite add up.

—Molly Millette, editorial intern

Maybe Everything Doesn't Need to be Smart

The spread of "smart" technology in our culture is a real Catch-22. As the New York Times reports, consumers see this digitization of almost any product we could possibly own (yes ladies, there are even smart tampons) as a chance for ultimate efficiency while sometimes failing to see the darker side of this phenomena. Apps and smart devices may make your life more streamlined, but we musn't forget that they also are able to collect incredibly valuable data for companies that can end up making them very financially successful. So ultimately, the questions surrounding the expansion of smart devices are thorny ones to answer: does this technology exist more to make our lives better, or rather to make the lives of those inventing and controlling them wildly rich?

—Allison Fonder, community manager

Words Are Hard

Recommended to me in a Slack group, of course, (thanks, Alicia!), this piece offered some quick thoughts into how Slack is approaching building a style guide, alongside the voice and tone of the company as a whole. Looking forward to seeing what comes of this.

—Carly Ayres, columnist, In the Details

My Body in Words and Images

This week I'm reading Zanzu,  a website put up by the German Federal Centre for Health Education. The website is intended to teach people (I believe incoming immigrants) about sexual mores in Germany, and thus discusses topics like The Body and Sex, Sexual Pleasure, Virginity, First-Time-With-a-New-Partner Sex, et cetera. It is freaking fascinating and the icons are pretty awesome. Here's an excerpt, loosely translated:

Pornography showing sexual behavior in pictures, films, drawings or texts. People use pornography to be arousing sexually. It is okay if you like pornography. Many people like them, some do not.

Pornography is not the same as sex in reality. The following points are noticeable in pornographic material:
• People always slender body, large penises or large breasts (often these are technically processed).
• People want and at any time to have sex.
• People show no emotion.

—Rain Noe, senior editor

Wooden-Strip Conference Table

This week Jimmy DiResta travels back in time, showing us the build of a conference table he did several years ago. You've gotta love the efficient use of natural wood, and the sawdust-and-epoxy filler trick:

Pantry Closet Shelves

As Matthias Wandel's family grows, they're starting to run out of space. Here he builds some closet/pantry shelfing using leftover wood, and employs some clever building tricks. (Note that when he cuts the notches in the shelves on the tablesaw, he takes a few extra passes to widen the kerf, in order to give himself room to get the bandsaw blade in there sideways. Forethought FTW.) There's also a rare moment where we see Wandel momentarily lose his cool following a mid-project disaster--kudos to him for leaving it in the final edit, so that we know we're not the only ones who've had similar experiences!

Chainsaw Milling a Walnut Tree

Frank Howarth and a friend mill up said friend's fallen walnut tree on-site, showing us the work required to harvest wood with a 36" Alaskan Chainsaw Mill:

Building a Garbage Can Enclosure, Part 2

April Wilkerson finishes up her trash can shed. Midway through she notices an ergonomic flaw in her design, and corrects it with the help of gas shocks:

Asian-Inspired Coat Rack

This week Jay Bates gets an assist from buddy Jeff Ferguson and the two bang out an Asian-inspired coat rack. Bates takes the time to point out something dangerous that he unwittingly did during the process, reminding us all to be vigilant about shop safety.

Mobile Tiny House Tour

The project we've been following for many months, Ana White's mobile tiny house, is finally finished! She's ready to give you the grand tour:

How to Make a Wooden Tape Measure

Bob Clagett's gotten into the habit of keeping a small tape measure attached to his keychain, but the jangling is annoying him. Solution? Replace the tape measure housing with a custom one made of wood. Here's how:

Simple Planer Sled

So you sprung for an 8-inch jointer over the 6-inch--but now you've lucked into a 12-inch-wide board. How can you flatten the twist out of it? You could use handplanes, as Jay Bates showed us last week; but this week, Matt Vanderlist of "Matt's Basement Workshop" shows us how you can build a simple sled for it, then run it through your planer (assuming it's wide enough):

Physical Notification Box for Social Media

A fun, and TransAtlantic, project from La Fabrique DIY this week, as their operative in New York City starts a project that they finish up in Paris. The team build a notification box that lights up whenever someone "likes" them on Facebook or Instagram, as well as when someone subscribes to their YouTube channel:

An Impressive Shed

It's easy to think of Linn from Darbin Orvar as the electronics specialist of this bunch, but this week's video reminds us that she knows how to swing a hammer and do construction, too. Here she builds a seriously sturdy shed, laying a primitive foundation, driving rebar into the ground for stability, and framing out a watertight structure that looks like it will weather the ages:

The judges made their choices. Now it's your turn.

Cast your votes for your favorite projects and bring them one step closer to winning our second annual Community Choice Prize competition.

The Community Choice Prize is an award that debuted during last year's Core77 Design Awards season as a means to incorporate the voices of our loyal readers (that means you!). Fourteen total Community Choice Prizes are distributed: 13 Category Winners—the top vote-getters in their respective category—and one Grand Prize Winner, the project that receives the most votes overall. You can vote for as many projects as you like, however, you are only allowed one vote per project. Every honored project is eligible to be voted on!

2015 Community Choice Prize Grand Winner - P I G E O N by Ignas Survila

The Community Choice Prize is for more than just bragging rights, however. While the winning projects will of course be enshrined on the Core77 site, their designers will also receive one free ticket to the 2016 Core77 Conference this fall. Additionally, the Grand Prize Winner will receive airfare to and from the Core77 Conference, as well as accommodation for two nights. Finally, the Grand Prize Winner will also be introduced onstage, to the raucous applause of hundreds of renowned designers.

The 2016 Core77 Conference, DESIGNING HERE/NOW, will take place in Los Angeles, California between September 29 - 30. To learn more, visit the Conference site, and be sure to check out the below video summarizing last year's sensational Conference.

Help your favorite 2016 Core77 Design Award projects take home another honor. Vote now!

Senior-level mechanical engineer needed. Are you a creative, motivated problem solver with a track record running complex programs? SKILLS: Program/project management and leadership, Solidworks and/or Creo, Strong analytical skills, Electromechanical experience, Creative problem solving, Experience with taking products into production. Candidates must have a

"In our product-oriented civilization, the ungovernable flow of industrial objects, so transferable, so exportable, so transient, has transformed our cities into virtually boundless areas of exchanges, information, and trade," writes Italian architect and designer Andrea Branzi in his essay, Interiors. This virtually boundless area of exchange, filled with transient and industrial objects, does in fact include our homes, the spaces we design and decorate as the most personal manifestations of ourselves.

Through his work, Branzi strives to reconcile art and design, blurring boundaries between the disciplines. To overcome restrictions imposed by traditional design culture, Branzi examines dichotomies: nature vs. technology, natural landscape vs. built landscape, and wilderness vs. civilization. Fascinated by how new technological developments are changing the role of the home into both professional, social, and personal space, Branzi writes:

"Our space is crisscrossed by a stream of relationships produced by the seven billion people inhabiting the planet, each one representing an exception, a variant, a personality that affirms its exclusivity through the objects it chooses to be surrounded with." 

This sentiment begs the question, what exactly is in an object?In his essay, Branzi examines our objects—our belongings—as the byproducts of industrialization and mass production. The items that populate our spaces are often generic and trendy, with materials chosen based on convenience for mass production. Too often, these objects occupying the most intimate moments of our lives are seemingly impersonal.

Yet, art is often too personal for the masses. The problem with art is the notion that it can never be touched, that unique pieces and one-offs are impractical. Ideas about art and design are painfully juxtapositional: unique vs. generic, personal vs. impersonal, to view vs. to use. Through his creations Andrea Branzi takes hold of this dichotomy, resulting in pieces that are neither art nor design, but both.

"Animali Domestici" Bench, 1985

His most recent and second solo exhibition in the U.S., held at Friedman Benda in New York, Interiors—a combination of Branzi's Plank series and Lamp series—works to revive the human habitat. 

Branzi applies artistic techniques to designed objects, combining unique material choices and applications in a way that overcomes restrictions imposed by tradition. Similar to his series Animali Domestici of 1985, the Plank series incorporates raw tree segments into practical painted plywood structures. The polished aluminum and painted wooden cabinets of Branzi's Plank series are vessels, holding personal objects, like books and ceramics.

Shown alongside his cabinets in the gallery installation, Branzi's Lamp series provides a nice visual contrast to the Plank series. Each lamp, fragile and ethereal in appearance, has a shade made of Japanese rice paper. The bases vary in material, some bamboo and marble, others aluminum. 

Branzi concludes: "Objects have become a presence that is sacred because it is linked to the sacredness of man: they continue to live beyond the scope and time of their daily use. They have no knowledge of the night because in the night they survive, unmoving, unchanging, alive even after their own death." Branzi's work addresses the personal, utilitarian and conceptual functions of objects in a way that honors the sacredness of humans and representation through possession.

Jumpstart your week with our insider's guide to events in the design world. From must-see exhibitions to insightful lectures and the competitions you need to know about—here's the best of what's going on, right now.

Monday

In the final installment of the Center for Architecture's Craft and Architecture series, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien—recognized for their institutional projects, like the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia—will talk about their approach to material innovation. 

New York, NY. June 20, 2016 at 6 PM. 

Tuesday

A new conference launches at the Rhode Island School of Design this week. Design in Plastics 2016 will be a two-day event exploring collaborations between design, engineering, manufacturing, marketing and R&D in the product development process, with a focus on the emerging materials and technologies that will impact the way we approach design in the near future. 

Providence, RI. On view through June 22, 2016. 

Wednesday

The South Bronx Trades, an exhibition of Martine Fougeron's photographic documentation of active industrial and manufacturing enterprises in Port Morris and Hunts Point celebrates the work of people who combine craft and labor and persist in an area that is rapidly starting to feel the effects of expansion and rezoning. 

New York, NY. On view through June 26, 2016. 

Thursday

Head to the Museum of Arts and Design for a special screening of The World of Buckminster Fuller, a documentary that captures the innovative designer—who was simultaneously an architect, engineer, geometer, cartographer, philosopher, futurist, inventor of the famous geodesic dome and the dymaxion car—at the height of his career through rare archival material. 

New York, NY. June 23, 2016 at 7 PM. 

Friday

This year's not-to-be-missed Costume Institute exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manus x Machina, explores how fashion designers are reconciling the handmade and the machine-made in the creation of haute couture and avant-garde ready-to-wear.

New York, NY. On view through August 14, 2016. 

Saturday/Sunday

This Intro to Model Making Workshop will focus on real-world techniques that can be applicable for makers across various disciplines. The session will include demos, practical exercises and each attendee will learn how to cast and finish a custom urethane container, as well as sculpt and finish a top for the container.

Southfield, MI. Through June 26, 2016. 

Check out the Core77 Calendar for more design world events, competitions and exhibitions, or submit your own to be considered for our next Week in Design.

When I first stumbled upon Jongjin Park'sArtistic Stratum series, I thought I was looking at giant, deformed sponges, rather than a series of delicately fired ceramics. The beautiful pieces, glazed in pastel pinks and cobalt blues, are a far cry from the typical pottery porn that has been making the blog rounds lately, and look unlike anything I have seen before.

Completed as part of his Master's thesis at Cardiff Metropolitan University, the series is the result of Park's exploration of materiality and natural materials. The artist began to focus on themes of materiality and tension after seeing a collection of ancient jewels on display at the National Museum Wales. "Specifically, I was drawn to the glossy surface and cold mood created by metal in perfect balance with the warm preciousness of gold," Park remarks. "In the twisted metal shapes—created by traditional techniques of hammering, bending and fusing—I was able to realize an inherent property of the material. From then on, I started to be more experimental with materiality."

Due to the availability and low-cost of paper, Park began his explorations there. But his mind quickly moved back to ceramics—his field of focus—and started to think about ways of integrating the two materials. With a strong foundational knowledge of ceramic properties and techniques, Park decided to experiment with layering paper and porcelain slip by painting the slip onto different types of paper and firing them at a high temperature.

The first material he tried this technique with were thick paper towels. "The embossed texture created space between the layers and allowed me to use different color stains, so various colors and textures appeared simultaneously. These early experiments with the material brought to mind the basic technique of folding," Park says. 

When his student budget grew tight, Park moved on to experiment with newspaper—but didn't find the same success. "The absorption of the oily newspaper was poor compared with the towels," Park says. "When thick slip was added, it was difficult to mold and cut the newspaper after firing."

"The initial approach was brushing individual pieces and moving them to the kiln piece by piece," Park says of the process of layering each piece of paper coated in slip (sometimes up to 1,000 pieces of paper!) until they formed a larger mass. "The result of handling the pieces maximized the effect of each layer, but was labor intensive in that I had to constantly regulate the position and, oftentimes, pieces would become detached from the main body."

Park found a solution in overlapping new pieces of paper over the previous layer, then brushing on the slip. "It allowed a greater economy of time and also made the structures more structurally sound," Park says. "For the final step, I started using an iron—primarily with the newspapers—which had the advantage of compressing the pieces and helping them dry."

As part of his research, Park experimented with both porcelain and stoneware, subtly varying oxidation and reduction to vary color and the final effect. Each assembly is fired at 1280 degrees, burning out the paper and leaving the layers of slip, which are hardened into solid ceramic. The pieces are so solid, in fact, that once they come out of the kiln, Park is able to cut and carve the final forms using various electronic tools like dremels and sanders—a task that is much easier than it sounds thanks to the thin space left between each layer. "Stoneware slip made it possible to cut the thicker layers after firing and the iron and grog within the stoneware slip facilitated the use of grinding tools," Park says.

The resulting works are "paper-like, but definitely ceramic," Park notes. Due to the underlying porcelain material, Park has discovered that he can layer the paper structures on top of other vessels and ceramic objects, which combine to create one solid form. "Also, I can layer thousands of pieces and only brush the edges with slip, creating a natural container after the firing process," Park says.

The final form stems from the size of a paper towel—21 by 10 centimeters. "I can manipulate from this size," Park says. "I've mainly made square pieces by using two paper towels and layering them, but sometimes I fold or add paper so the final shape is more rectangular." Despite looking effortlessly light, Park guarantees that the final structures are, in fact, quite heavy.

As for what's next for the artist, Park hopes to create new shapes and see how he can use other technologies like 3D printing. We're eager to see the results. Those interested in learning more about the artist's work can do so over on Artsy.

The main function of the Desk Rail is to organize and centralize the tools on your desk. Inspired by the magnetic knife strip, found in most professional kitchens, the Desk Rail allows users to access their tools efficiently. A relative newcomer to the desk is the now ubiquitous smart phone. The Desk Rail positions the phone so you can quickly check alerts and charge it with an added cable.

Last year we theorized that the design of a gearshift lever was what caused a 49-year-old mother to move her car directly into the path of an oncoming train. Now it looks like another unusual interface design from a different vehicle manufacturer may have contributed to another death.

Over the weekend Anton Yelchin, the 27-year-old actor known for playing Chekov in the recent Star Trek movies, was killed in what was referred to as "a freak accident" in his Los Angeles driveway. But was it really "freak?" It seems to us that lousy design may have played a role.

Yelchin was found crushed between his car, a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee, and the security gate at the end of his driveway. It appears that Yelchin had exited his car and walked behind it, perhaps to close the gate, and apparently believed the transmission was in "Park." Instead it appears it was actually in "Reverse" or "Neutral" and the car rolled down his steep driveway, killing him.

This brings us to the design of the 2014-2015 Grand Cherokee's shifter:

The manufacturer calls it the "Monostable" shifter, and it seems to us that it fails to achieve its most basic purpose, which is to allow the driver to easily change gears and know precisely which gear it's in. Look at the freaking instructions for how to use this thing:

Are you kidding me? As you can see in the video, the shifter automatically returns to the center position after each change is made. The driver must check the letters atop the shifter or on the dashboard to see what gear it's in. In contrast, the more traditional automatic shifter design is to move the lever to a particular angle, where it remains. Remaining in the position where you last manipulated it to is, we think, a better design for enforcing in the user's mind what gear you're in.

The Monostable shifter does not appear to offer any performance advantage or improvement to the UI that we can see. Perhaps it's easier to manufacture. Nevertheless parent company Fiat Chrysler has tacitly admitted that the design is a failure, as they recently recalled 1.1-million vehicles featuring the shifter.

The recall was conducted because while the unfortunate Yelchin was the first reported fatality, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation has linked the design of the Monostable shifter to 121 accidents and 41 injuries as of April of this year. As Autoweek reports,

The [Monostable] issue itself is not a fault of engineering but rather design, as the shifter returns to the default center position without giving the driver sufficient feedback as to the selected gear.

As a result, a number of owners have exited their vehicles thinking that they had put the vehicle into Park, while in reality it remained in Drive or Reverse position. The NHTSA has called the operation of the shifter "unintuitive" and had opened an investigation into the issue months ago.

Sadly, it appears Yelchin had not submitted his vehicle to the recall.

Need an incentive to bring your own bag to the store? Want to teach your kiddos the value of reducing waste? Maybe a cute animal buddy to hang off your arm would do the trick. These whimsically printed cloth totes by Cochae take the traditional Japanese furoshiki and give it some adorable personalities. 

These bags start out as large bandanas, but with a few simple twists become portable and dependable storage. 

Monkey butt not to 

The furoshiki is generally thought to be around 1,300 years old, with its roots in bath house culture where you had to get creative about storing your stuff so it wouldn't get grabbed by some other damp person. Nowadays its minimal pragmatism is just as useful, from packing lunches to carrying books.

Cochae's designs, dreamed up by Yosuke Jikuhara and Miki Takeda, put a modern fauna face on the ancient form. In making this series the Okayama based design duo looked for animals who like to hang around, and adapted them for future tote fame based on the fold that commonly fits bento boxes. While the flat print is cute, their 3D appeal is extra charming.

The wild animal styles include a monkey, a bat and a sloth, all of whom look pretty pleased to see you and ready to hang out. Other styles include a rice ball inspired print with eight different faces depending on the fold you use.

If you're a designer (or design lover) who hasn't heard of furoshiki, do yourself a favor and get to Googlin'! Japanese history is full of these flexible, beautiful and reusable textiles, and getting a few folds under your belt can be seriously inspiring.

If you could use some more chill forest creatures in your daily grind, the Cochae designs are available at Cinra for 1,620 ¥, around $15.50 USD.

Via.

How much damage could be done, monetarily speaking, if your home was flooded with more than two feet of water? Insurance might cover it, though you'd have to fill out paperwork and wait for months or years while rot and mold set in. In the meantime you'd have to replace any floorstanding appliances, possibly your car, and repair whatever structural and electrical damage had been done.

Texas homeowner Randy Wagner did some math and figured that the cost of flooding damage to his home would far exceed $8,300--which is what he paid for an AquaDam, a clever, water-filled take on sandbag dams. Wagner's bet paid off handsomely: When flooding hit Brazoria County, Texas earlier this month, Wagner preserved a miraculous island of dryness for himself and his family, while the neighbors all got washed out. Take a look:

The brilliant AquaDam was invented by a fellow named David Doolaege in the 1980s, when he observed that "Sandbagging was the way of choice to control floodwater, but [building dams with them] was slow, costly, and labor intensive."

Doolaege realized that all sandbags represent is weight and mass. So why not fill a bag with water? It weighs a lot too, and there is plenty of it in any flood situation. Why not use the onsite water that is causing the problem and make it part of the solution?

Interestingly enough, fighting water with water is not only more logical than using earth, but has environmental benefits when it comes time to empty the dams:

…Old methods of earthen fill discharge did not comply with the new [at the time] Clean Water Act guidelines. Earthen fill-material discharges associated with cofferdams caused severe environmental damage, according to the EPA. They were happy to see [Doolaege's idea] being explored.

CalTrans remembered him when they had to deal with a large landslide that had fallen into the Eel River. They decided to use water-filled cofferdams because a female Bald Eagle and her chicks were roosting almost directly across the river. Water turbidity from the job site, using conventional methods of earthen fill discharges to create the needed cofferdam, would cloud the river substantially. This would impair the eagle's ability to fish that portion of the river.

You can learn more about AquaDams here.

Via KHOU

If you've ever been in the home of a friend who's a veteran, you've probably noticed that their beds are always fastidiously made. Habits learned in the military are tough to shake, and with good reason. (More on this later.)

Some of us civilians, though, cannot be bothered to make our beds, despite the desirability of maintaining a neat appearance in our homes. Thus a Spanish company called Ohea (Basque for "bed") designed this Smart Bed self-making model:

As you can guess, Ohea's system only worked with that particular blanket set-up. It had settings for both manual--i.e. push the button, the bed gets made--and automatic, where a sensor detects when you've gotten out of bed and triggers the sequence three seconds later. (This latter setting was presumably a poor choice for those who have to pee in the middle of the night.) Here's a closer look at the mechanisms:

You'll notice that we've been using the past tense. That's because, although this design is currently making the rounds on social media, no one has bothered to check if the company still exists. It doesn't. The bed was publicized in 2012, and as of 2016 Ohea's website no longer exists.

Make your beds, you lazy gits. Or don't. But for chrissakes, don't look for a machine to do it for you!

As we mentioned in the post on the failed self-making bed, men and women who've been in the military tend to keep the bed-making habit long after they've served. Why is that? How, exactly, are they trained to make their beds, and in what manner? To find out we both dug up a video (at bottom of this entry) and spoke to a veteran. Here NYC-based photographer, speaker and on-camera coach Michael Cinquino, who in a previous life was a Petty Officer Third Class on the fast combat support ship U.S.S. Detroit, answers our questions.

Core77: Do you still make your bed every morning?

Michael Cinquino: Yes.

The exact same way you did in the Navy?

No. Because in the Navy it was a two-man job. Our racks were basically bunk beds, so you and your bunkmate stood on opposite sides and made both beds together.

What was the procedure?

You had a set amount of time to make the bed properly, starting from scratch each time--

Sorry, what do you mean by "from scratch?"

You had to rip all of the sheets off and put them in a pile on top of the bed, and start from there.

How did they enforce that?

The drill instructor's standing right there, supervising.

Why make you start from scratch every time?

It was to teach attention to detail. To go through the whole process and teach you that executing little details correctly matters. As a sailor, if you screw up a detail, people can get killed. So the pillow's got to be centered, the catch-hem has to be pointing up, the fold a certain distance, et cetera.

Now that you're back in civilian life and people can't get killed [as a result of your actions], you've kept the habit.

I still make the bed every morning, but I don't do the corners the same way we did it.

Why not?

Takes too long.

Then why make the bed at all?

To accomplish a task first thing in the morning. By making your bed immediately after your feet hit the floor in the morning, you set yourself up to take action for the rest of the day.

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Cinquino's setting-yourself-up-for-success motivation echoes that of retired Admiral William H. McRaven, an ex-Navy-SEAL who discussed the importance of making your bed at a commencement address at the University of Texas, Austin two years ago. Here's McRaven's central point:

As to how the beds are actually made, we couldn't find naval footage of the two-man procedure, but we assume it's done similarly to what we see in this footage of how it's done in the Army. Here Drill Sergeant Shane Medders explains while a grunt demonstrates:

So. Do you guys and gals make your beds each morning? And is there a designer equivalent to a little habit you execute to enforce discipline--like naming your Photoshop layers?