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Look Inside This Comprehensive "Secret" Museum of All White Porsches

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I think buying a Porsche is partly about getting to drive a Porsche, and largely about gaining access to a relatively exclusive tribe. And the members of this tribe can be fanatical. Case in point is this "super-secret white Porsche collection," where the secret part is that they don't reveal the location in this very public video. (Members of the Porsche Club of America, the organization that produced this video, presumably get the address.)

Here caretaker Carl Bauer, who has on-site living quarters, waxes rhapsodic about the 65 all-white (except for at least one) models they've got on show, the centerpiece of which is a stunning 1987 959:



Tools & Craft #117: Why New Tools Used to Arrive Unsharpened

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When you purchase an edge tool (plane, chisel, knife, carving tool, etc.), it will either have a "Factory Edge" or be described as "Sharp and ready to use." The idea of having a ready-to-use status is a comparatively new idea in tool marketing. Up until fairly recently - let's say 1960 - it was generally understood that most of the customers of tools were craftsmen who understood that even a new and sharpened tool would, after a few minutes work, require resharpening again. So why spend more initially for a temporary fix? But even more importantly, people have different preferences how a tool should be sharpened. Joseph Moxon (1678) writes in Mechanick Exercises about buying a saw:

"When Workman Light of a good Blade thus qualified [previously described], they matter not much whether the Teeth be sharp or deep, or set to their mind; For to make them so, is a Task they take to Themselves: And thus they perform it: [text goes on to write about saw sharpening]

I have a fair number of older tools whose cutting edges came with rough grind marks. These days, however, it is rare to see that. Most tools of any quality that are stocked by any dealer might not be ready to use, but they have at least a respectable "factory edge." The backs should be decent, the bevel ground to a good finish, and in theory the tool might even work, albeit perhaps inefficiently, out of the box. Carving tools are the exception. Most modern carving tool companies really intend for their tools to be usable right away. Ashley Iles tools, one of the first companies to offer sharp tools, deliver decent sharpness. Certainly the tools are sharp enough to get started and at least see if you like the way the tool feels in the hand. You can actually carve with the tools, but as you get more experienced, you will realize that the tools aren't as sharp as they can be, and the bevels are a little steep for some tastes. Flexcut - which we also stock in a limited number of tools, come sharp and ready to use.

Ray Iles's mortise chisels are not intentionally sharp and ready to use, but the factory edge is reasonable. Considering mortise chisel work without a superb edge, they work reasonably well straight out of the box.

Japanese tools as a group are now almost universally sold with a decent factory edge. This is also pretty new. Traditionally in Japan, one would purchase the tools from the toolmaker, ground only and without a handle. You would either take them to a handler for handles, or fit the mushrooming of the rear hand hoops yourself. The actual sharpening was up to you.

I am glad that all our chisels come with a good factory edge. I don't think any of them are ready to use, but for a lot of customers who don't have grinders, having a tool pretty close to usable saves hours.

Our veneer saws are sharp and ready to use. We found that our combination of hand and mechanical sharpening methods produced a far better edge than most people could easily do themselves. Having sharp saws means you can hit the ground running. It seemed to make more sense spending time veneering than figuring out how to get a veneer saw sharp enough to cooperate.

In the photo below are three never-used edge tools as they came from the factory. 

In this next photo, are the same tools flipped over. 

Clockwise from the top:

A German Wilhelm Schmitt toothing iron from the mid-19th century. Yes! This is the same company known today as Two Cherries and the iron is stamped with the two cherries mark (see picture at top of blog). There are no grind marks, but there are file marks on the bevel. I think it's a laminated iron so filing the bevel below the toothed area would work.

A 1960's Stanley 720. The grind marks on the bevel are fairly fine, although the finish on the body of the chisel is even finer. This chisel was made on production grinding machines that were invented just before WWII.

Finally a 19th century Buck Brothers wooden plane iron. The bevel on this is close to a mirror finish, but not quite: there are regular fine grind marks evenly along the bevel. If you hold a rule against the bevel, you can see a very slight hollow from having been hand ground against a very large diameter wheel.

When the iron is flipped over, we can see the ridges of the toothing iron. This iron was designed to successfully plane weirdly grained wood. The marks look forged in, but I am not sure how. Interestingly, they aren't symmetrical - they are more like a sawtooth. Again I don't know why.

The back of the Stanley 720 has even, consistent, grind marks of a large rotary horizontal tool grinder.

Finally, on the Buck Brothers iron you can clearly see the weld marks of the laminated blade. The back is strangely polished and shiny. The back seems flat left to right but there is a definite hollow from front to back. The hollow means that it will be really easy when sharpening to get an even line of flat right at the cutting edge.

If I had to draw a conclusion, it would be that the tool makers made their tools with as close to a finished edge as time and the technology of the time would allow.

___________________

This "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.

Steven M. Johnson's Bizarre Invention #191: The 12-Passenger Van

Design Job: Exciting Bike Brand Looking for an Industrial Designer in MN

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From creating a portfolio of award-winning brands, to distributing the top names in cycling products, QBP is doing its part to further bike-kind. We understand that it is our employees that make us successful and we do our best to make QBP and our family of brands a fun and

View the full design job here

A Bike Invention from Norway: Zip-On, Zip-Off Tire Treads

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"What happens when a bunch of creative (and somewhat lazy) engineers get together to solve the pain of tire changes?" writes Norway-based bike accessories outfit reTyre. "They add zippers, file for a patent and remove the need for tire changes completely."

We'll place this in the category of Design Ideas Cooked Up at a Bar, but it looks like they've got this kooky concept working:

"We have rigorously tested and improved the reTyre System all around the world," the company writes. "Over the past year, more than 4,500 units of the alpha version have been sold and tested."

I had wondered about how the ends attach to each other, as it's not shown in the video. Interestingly, it appears that they're joined by a sort of "tongue," the way Hot Wheels tracks go together (or at least used to when I was a kid):

Judging by their retailer map, there's no place in Norway where you can't buy reTyres, though neighboring Denmark and Sweden appear to have gotten the retail shaft.

Much of northern Europe appears to have at least one retailer per country.

Following a successful Kickstarter campaign based out of Delaware, reTyres will be coming to America in 2019. Now if only they could pull this off for car tires….

Reader Submitted: Marmals

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Marmals: Unlimited Creativity. Unlimited Stories.

Marmals are a revolutionary new line of modular vinyl figurines that are designed to be a tactile launchpad for creative play and storytelling.

View the full project here

Applications for an Enormous, Heavy-Lifting Drone That Can Convey Water

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I've still not found a good solution for clearing my clogged gutters, and I think someone should invent a gutter-cleaning drone. To my knowledge no one yet has, though a company called Aerones has created massive 10-foot-wide multi-rotor drones to de-ice wind turbines (warning, turn your speakers down):

Because the thing is tethered with both electric and water, it has no limitation on flying time or liquid dispensing, and you can keep it running until the job is done.

Having solved the problem of both payload and power, the company has expanded into a more pedestrian task: Washing windows.

The next logical application might be firefighting, if they could manage the water pressure. If they can't, I'm hoping they make a lateral move into gutter cleaning.


Studio Cult Co Founder Yulia Veligurskaya Shares Her 5 Favorite Gifts for Dweeby Designers

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Yuliya Veligurskaya is a designer based in New York City. She is the creative behind Studio Cult Co, a brand specializing in visually stimulating gifts. Each piece of eye candy is inspired by design, digital culture and excites us with unexpected transformations. Taking subjects from overlooked to intriguing, from digital to physical, this is just a few of the ways she creates curious, delightful and exciting experiences in the form of art, pins, patches and housewares.

View the full content here

Kickstarter and EDF Team Up to Push for Greener Product Development

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How many companies can you think of that launched 9,500 products over the past year? That's the amount that appeared on Kickstarter over that period of time—and in the "Design & Technology" section alone. The company has essentially mastered a method for allowing entrepreneurial designers to realize their visions; now, in a nod to their sheer scale, Kickstarter is focusing on ensuring that they enable goods that are environmentally sound.

To do this they've formed a freely-accessible information hub called the Environmental Resource Center, created in conjunction with the Environmental Defense Fund.

Genusee makes eyewear in Flint, Michigan, from the overabundance of recycled water bottles.
The Environmental Resource Center, at kickstarter.com/environment, presents case studies and best practices from industry experts on how to assess, adopt, and communicate sustainability efforts. With a digestible format and pointers to information around the web, the Center will serve as a starting point for research.
The Resource Center features tips like these:
- Consider how your product can be repaired if it breaks: "Make disassembly easy by choosing screws to bind parts instead of glue, for example."
- Design your product with recycling in mind: "Black plastics aren't usually seen by optical recycling sorting systems, causing them to end up in landfills."
- Think carefully about your packaging: "Use sustainable filling materials like organic starch cushioning, instead of styrofoam."
EcoTruck is a toy made with a 300% heavier gauge material than comparable toys for maximum durability and longevity.

Kickstarter is also implementing an important change to their core service, to get would-be Kickstartees thinking about environmental issues from the get-go. "When creators are getting ready to launch design and technology projects," the company explains, "Kickstarter will ask them to commit to reducing their environmental impact in five key areas: long-lasting design, reusability and recyclability, sustainable materials, environmentally friendly factories, and sustainable distribution. Their responses will appear in a new 'Environmental Commitments' section of their project pages."

The team behind Transparent Speaker ensures that its manufacturers work with the best available standards and initiatives for labor rights and environmental management, including Global Compact and ISO 14001. They also work with manufacturers to set up a less monotonous working environment, which provides a better working experience for assembly line employees and produces a better product overall.

Initiatives like these are what can happen when an organization is a PBC, or Public Benefit Corporation, rather than a mere traditional corporation whose sole purpose is to enrich shareholders. "As a Public Benefit Corporation, Kickstarter is obligated to consider the impact of its decisions on society, not just on shareholders," says Perry Chen, Kickstarter's Chairman and CEO. "We're committed to helping creators make environmentally conscious decisions, and these new features are our biggest step yet toward fulfilling that commitment."

Bureo makes the first skateboard deck made out of recycled fishnets.

Whether you're planning a Kickstarter campaign or not, be sure to check out their Environmental Resource Center. It will make you a more informed designer--or consumer.

The Vamp team transforms old, useless speakers into great-sounding, portable Bluetooth speakers.

The Environmental Commitments feature is available now for design and technology projects in the US, Canada, and Mexico, and will expand to other countries in the coming months.

HuskeeCup makes reusable mugs from husk waste material from the production of coffee.


How to Create the "Design Guide" You Need to Get Your Product Manufactured

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Get ready for some ID nitty-gritty. "Honestly, [this here is] probably the least enjoyable part of being an industrial designer for me," confesses ID'er Eric Strebel. "It's a huge amount of work to reach out and find a manufacturer and then sort through the data of quotes and numbers. It is, however, part of what an independent designer is sometimes required to do, to see your vision become a reality."

This week's video is something that nobody ever really talks about in the industrial design world: The "Design Guide." What happens after the initial design work is done? How do you get your design prototyped, and ultimately manufactured? You know the ins and outs of your product; how do you convey this information to someone or a team of people that are new to your product?
You need to create a package of information that can be handed off and reviewed by others to quickly understand what you want to make and to your specifications.
A good design package will get you a quote quicker and to production faster. In the video below, I cover the steps of creating what is needed to get the "Backpack Hanger" quoted for prototyping and production.
Also covered: How I create the various documents that make up the design guide, that gets shipped out to manufacturers to quote the project. And how I use an online tool called mfg.com to help me find a possible manufacturer.


Currently Crowdfunding: Easily Create Your Own Yarns, GIFS, Plant Fertilizer and More

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Brought to you by MAKO Design + Invent, North America's leading design firm for taking your product idea from a sketch on a napkin to store shelves. Download Mako's Invention Guide for free here.

Navigating the world of crowdfunding can be overwhelming, to put it lightly. Which projects are worth backing? Where's the filter to weed out the hundreds of useless smart devices? To make the process less frustrating, we scour the various online crowdfunding platforms to put together a weekly roundup of our favorite campaigns for your viewing (and spending!) pleasure. Go ahead, free your disposable income:

Atolla is a monthly skincare subscription kit developed by a designer, a data scientist and a dermatologist at MIT that adapts to natural changes your skin faces. The kit comes with skin analysis tools and a custom serum that changes each month based on the data you upload to your phone. 

This little smart pod, called Pivo, attaches to your phone to help create some pretty awesome GIFs and images that are either impossible or extremely hard to do just within your smartphone. Besides the ability to track you while you're in motion, our favorite modes include "Versus" and "ManyMe".

This one goes out to all the knitters out there who want to up their game. The Electric Eel Wheel Mini 2 is an easy at-home way to spin fibers into yarn. 

Grow and eat mealworms with your kids! The Hive Explorer is a fun way to do just that in addition to offering a fun way to recycle food waste, watch mealworms digest plastics (yes, this is real) and collect fertilizer for your plants.

Sleep sound at night with Aizome Bedding's oranic indigo-dyed sheets. The Japan-based company uses sonic wave technology to dye their bedding, which ensures that their color will actually last. 

Cook in style with this super compact pocket stove, called Ember. The vortex flame concentrates heat at high temperatures to cook your meals more efficiently while also looking majestic in the process.

Do you need help designing, developing, patenting, manufacturing, and/or selling YOUR product idea? MAKO Design + Invent is a one-stop-shop specifically for inventors / startups / small businesses. Click HERE for a free confidential product consultation.

Joe Gebbia & Samara's Backyard Initiative Will Prototype New Ways to Build Homes—and They're Hiring

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After the raging success of Airbnb, co-founder Joe Gebbia is expanding on his initial home sharing and loaning vision with Backyard, a new initiative within the Samara team at Airbnb that will prototype new ways in which homes can be built and shared. Backyard will have a special focus on waste-conscious construction and the ways in which smart home technologies can better shape the future of our time at home. 

"We began with a simple question: what does a home that is designed and built for sharing actually look and feel like? The answer is not simple at all. Other questions quickly emerged. Can a home respond to the needs of many inhabitants over a long period of time? Can it support and reflect the tremendous diversity of human experience? Can it keep up with the rate at which the world changes? Can we accomplish this without filling landfills with needless waste? It's a tall order. But because it's so complicated, and touches us in such essential ways, it's a challenge worth engaging." —Joe Gebbia

Airbnb was ahead of their game by recognizing a shift in what "home" means to people—especially city dwellers and travelers. Now, Gebbia and his team want to further explore what the next phase in this shift could be. In order to do so to the fullest potential, Backyard is currently seeking designers in various fields, including industrial, interaction and architecture to join their team. In terms of timeline, Backyard plans to test prototype units as early as next fall. Design minds with big ideas should strike while the iron's hot—or perhaps even before the iron's hot in this case, as the initiative was just announced today.

The Freitag Design Team Shares Their "Thinking in Cycles" Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide

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Inspired by the multicolored heavy traffic that rumbled through the Zurich transit intersection in front of their flat, graphic designers Markus and Daniel Freitag developed a messenger bag from used truck tarpaulins, discarded bicycle inner tubes and car seat belts. This is how the first FREITAG bags took shape in the living room of their shared apartment—each one recycled, each one unique.

View the full content here

Chat Agents Can See What You Type Before You Hit Send, and You're Being Recorded Even When You're On Hold

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I used to drive an ambulance, and like most crews, ours often mingled with cops on-site and knew them well. One of them told us about a trick he used during traffic stops:

After approaching the car and conversing with the driver and/or passenger, if something seemed fishy he would surreptitiously remove his walkie-talkie and lower it to the ground while pretending to scratch his leg. Unbeknownst to the car's occupants, the walkie was then left standing up just outside of the driver's door--switched on.

When the officer returned to his cruiser to run their paperwork, he switched on a second walkie in the cabin and could now overhear the conversation of the driver and passenger. A lot of times, he said, it was just scared teenagers and panicky chatter; but sometimes they'd refer to having something in the car they oughtn't, and would even mention where it was stashed.

I have no idea if this was legal, but the following similar practice apparently is: When you call customer service, the call starts with "This call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance and training purposes." You'd assume this refers to the part where you're actually speaking to a representative. But as it turns out, according to a 2005 article in the Times,

Most callers do not realize that they may be taped even while they are on hold.
It is at these times that monitors hear husbands arguing with their wives, mothers yelling at their children, and dog owners throwing fits at disobedient pets, all when they think no one is listening. Most times, the only way a customer can avoid being recorded is to hang up.

This longstanding, but little-talked-about practice has made its way to the modern-day customer service rep chat window. As Gizmodo reveals:

A live chat service…offers a feature it calls "real-time typing view" to allow agents to have their "answers prepared before the customer submits his questions." Another live chat service, which lists McDonalds, Ikea, and Paypal as its customers, calls the same feature "message sneak peek," saying it will allow you to "see what the visitor is typing in before they send it over." Salesforce Live Agent also offers "sneak peak."
… This particular magic trick happens thanks to JavaScript operating in your browser and detecting what's happening on a particular site in real time. It's also how companies capture information you've entered into web forms before you've hit submit.

Design Job: fuseproject Is Seeking a Senior Industrial Designer to Lead Their Team in San Francisco

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We are currently seeking a Senior Industrial Designer that has an outstanding product portfolio and experience building and guiding a team of designers. Duties/Responsibilities: + Defining and leading the activities required to generate a clear, compelling, and actionable design point of view for the

View the full design job here

New Book: "Streamliner - Raymond Loewy and Image-making in the Age of American Industrial Design"

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Raymond Loewy, the father of the profession of industrial design, is renowned for (among other things) designing trains in the streamlined style. But here's a fun fact: Before he was designing trains, he got his foot in the door at the Pennsylvania Railroad by designing…a trash can for Penn Station in New York City.

That was in 1932, and Loewy of course went on to design trains, planes, automobiles, appliances, logos and more. If you're interested in both Loewy's life story and his many design accomplishments, there's a new book out where you can stock up on Loewy tidbits.

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1213131

Back in the '80s Journalist John Wall wrote an assignment on the Loewy-designed S-1 steam locomotive, which then evolved into a lifelong fascination with the designer's work. Wall's "Streamliner: Raymond Loewy and Image-making in the Age of American Industrial Design," is 344 pages and available for $39.95. Here are some of the endorsements:

"An elegant synthesis of Raymond Loewy's life and achievements, Streamliner is a splendid story and well told."
— Stephen Bayley, author of Ugly: The Aesthetics of Everything
"With wry wit, John Wall's aptly titled and illustrated Streamliner covers Raymond Loewy's long twentieth century, from the Gestetner duplicator in the 1920s to the interior of Skylab for NASA. 'Pure form,' Wall explains about Loewy's stylish, self-branding industrial designs, 'does not move the metal.' With line and shape, Loewy in Wall's pages moves products big and small, from the Pennsy locomotive S-1, the Greyhound Scenicruiser, the Studebaker Starliner coupe, and the presidential Air Force One, to eye-catching corporate logos, the lipstick cylinder, and the Lucky Strike packet. A fascinating yet unhagiographic read."
— Stanley Weintraub, author of Long Day's Journey into War: Pearl Harbor and a World at War—December 7, 1941
"Raymond Loewy shaped the iconic images of postwar America. His sleek elegance branded consumer goods, cars, trains, Air Force One, and his own relentlessly perfected personal celebrity. John Wall vividly brings this design genius to life as a flesh-and-blood master of how we see the modern world."
— Richard Cordray, fomer Director of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
"Streamliner ably summarizes the career of Raymond Loewy. Relying on a wide range of sources, John Wall provides the most expansive summary yet of the industrial designer's career. Distinguishing this account from others is its emphasis on Loewy's most successful design—his own image and reputation as a recognizable brand."
— Jeffrey L. Meikle, author of Design in the USA
"My late aunt was a fashion illustrator and my first cousin is named Alfred Dreyfus. Symmetry? My good friend John T. Wall expertly reports and writes a fabulous book about one of the greatest inventors in history. Aunt Pat never designed a refrigerator, a car, or a train, but good lines are good lines. This is a delightful read."
— Shelley Smith, ESPN SportsCenter
"This meticulously researched biography of designer Raymond Loewy introduces us to an underappreciated genius—the man behind many of America's most iconic product and logo designs. John Wall writes with elegant authority; it's clear from his cinematic and literary allusions that we are in the hands of a master prose stylist. Sit back and prepared to be informed and entertained."
— Mike Tharp, former Tokyo Bureau Chief, the Wall Street Journal and U.S. News & World Report

Check it out here.


Fanciful Renderings Friday: Supercars Reimagined as Rally Cars

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When you picture a powerful car clawing its way to victory at Paris-Dakar or the World Rally Championship, it's undoubtedly a stubby Subaru or a pugnacious Peugeot. But UK-based NeoMam studios, whose designers frequently render risible auto design mash-ups, asked themselves what ultra-exclusive supercars would look like in rally trim and posted them on BudgetDirect. I wouldn't click past any of these if they came on the TV:

1. Bugatti Divo Rally Car

"Bugattis are renowned for their speed, hardly surprising with the Veyron and Chiron both capable of clocking well over 400 kph. They aren't all about straight-line racing though, in fact the tag line for their new Divo is "Happiness isn't just around the corner, it is the corner". So maybe they've actually been trying to build rally cars all this time and were just misunderstood. With the downforce generated by its massive hydraulically actuated rear wing, the car is perfectly built to put its quad-turbocharged 16-cylinder 8.0L engine to full use, while still being able to manoeuvre nimbly in and out of rain-soaked corners."

2. Ford GT40 Rally Car

"The GT40 is one of the greatest racing cars the world has ever seen, though that's obviously an easier title to claim on an oval speedway. To truly be worthy of such high praise the GT40 should also give rallying a shot. What would it look like? Well it would have to have the classic blue and orange, "Gulf Oil" colours from its Shelby heyday, while its lower centre of gravity and relatively wide wheelbase would give it a serious boost when it comes to tricky cornering."

3. Ferrari Portofino Rally Car

"The Portofino is Ferrari's "everyday" car, you know, the one you jump into when popping down to the servo to pick up some milk. As it's their entry-level Ferrari for the common person, it's the most obvious car for them to introduce to rallying. Expect plenty of pony from its twin-turbo V8. 591 ponies to be precise. While the lightweight aluminium chassis would mean it could accelerate like a rocket, but with slightly better handling."

4. Koenigsegg Regera Rally Car

"Acceleration certainly wouldn't be an issue with a Koenigsegg Regera rally car. The Swedish supercar makers famously did away with the very confusing multi-gear setup that so many manufacturers persist with in favour of a single fixed gear. The early speed is provided by electric motors which combine to give it the fastest acceleration in the world, 0-100 kph (0-62 mph) in a mind-blowing 2.8 seconds. It wouldn't matter how tricky the course, in the Regera you could navigate turns like you were pushing a pram full of Faberge eggs then basically warp drive yourself to the next one. With the car's speed topping out at around 402 kph (250 mph), which it gets to in 20 seconds, a rallying experience would feel like just doing the exciting stuff, without having to waste time on the boring straight road bits."

5. Lamborghini Aventador SVJ Rally Car

"Going fast can be fun, but you can do that anywhere. The real thrill of rallying is barrelling along a dirt track with an almighty beast of a vehicle, getting drenched in mud and smashing through the undergrowth. What better car for that exact purpose than one which was named after a heroic bull. The Lamborghini Aventador doesn't just bring power however (and with 690bhp it brings plenty of that), it's the first Lamborghini to have their state-of-the-art Aerodynamica Lamborghini Attiva, giving it huge amounts of extra downforce and reductions in drag, to make handling at brutally high speeds a thing of leisure."

6. McLaren Senna Rally Car

"Named in honour of one of the greatest icons of motorsport, it would be fitting to have the McLaren Senna prove itself outside of the track too. The prominent, electronically-adjustable rear wing would certainly help with handling, as well as functioning as an air-brake if you were getting near its 340 kph (211 mph) top speed, though its ultra-cool Brambo carbon ceramic brakes are pretty nifty at bringing you back down to zero in a hurry too. As can be expected with McLaren, they bring their Formula 1 knowledge to bear with a roof scoop and front and side air intakes to keep its twin-turbo V8 ticking nicely, so it'd certainly be interesting to see if track expertise could bring success in a more 'natural' environment."

7. Tesla Model X Rally Car

"For a whole new take on rallying, the Tesla Model X would really shake up the old order. Being all-electric it would have frightening acceleration though unfortunately without any of the engine noise that makes the sport so thrilling. Not to be deterred however, the Model X already has all wheel drive as well as Tesla's unique, Smart Air Suspension while its performance edition doubles up the rear motor's power to 503 bhp. It sounds like they were planning for a foray into rallying all along and with Elon Musk still at the helm who would be surprised?"

8. Reliant Robin Rally Car

"Maybe not the most obvious of rally cars but the Reliant Robin would certainly be a much-loved people's champion wherever it did turn out. The Robin does have some features which would be advantageous as a rally car, like its super-lightweight fibreglass frame and aerodynamic frame. Probably its biggest advantage however is the fact that it only has three wheels. That might seem counter intuitive but, as its own engineer explained, as its so much like driving a motorbike, Robin drivers become hyper-aware of the car's limitations, forcing them to become expert wheel handlers. A glorious underdog, crowds would surely carry it shoulder-high from the finish line if it were even able to finish a race without turning over at least once."

Reader Submitted: Mechanical Mixologist

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London based design studio Rogue Projects have developed an Isambard Brunel inspired cocktail machine.

A collaboration between Rogue Projects, Bombay Sapphire and Inception Group, the 'Mechanical Mixologist' was designed as an experience-driven invention that enables patrons to watch their Negroni being made and take a trip in time.

It was commissioned for the Victorian-themed Mr Fogg's 'Society of Exploration'. The underground cocktail bar opened in September 2018, a stone's throw from the bustling Charing Cross station where Mr Fogg, the protagonist in Jules Verne's 1873 novel Around the World in Eighty Days embarked upon his infamous journey around the world.
The Mechanical Mixologist
The Mechanical Mixologist
Detail of Bombay Sapphire jewel on brass disk
Detail of Bombay Sapphire jewel on brass disk
Close up of Mr Foggs ice stamp
Close up of Mr Foggs ice stamp
Mechanical Mixologist Components
Mechanical Mixologist Components
Mechanical Mixologist Elevation
Mechanical Mixologist Elevation
Mechanical Mixologist etchings
Mechanical Mixologist etchings
Mechanical Mixologist prototyping
Mechanical Mixologist prototyping
Mechanical Mixologist processing unit detail
Mechanical Mixologist processing unit detail
View the full project here

Core77's Ultimate Gift Guide for Designers: Week 1 Winners

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This holiday, share your Ultimate Gift Guide with Core77 for a chance to gift yourself some fun prizes. We're on the lookout for your favorite 5 holiday gift ideas and will reward the best gift guides with awesome rewards, including gift certificates and designer-approved products. It gets betterr—one Editor's pick will take home a Spin Bag from IAMRUNBOX, and one Community Choice winner with the most votes will win a Core77 ~Mystery Box~!

Okay, it's time to announce our first set of weekly winners. Drum roll please....

This week, three submissions chosen by our editors have earned their curators a pin from Studio Cult Co.and a spot in the running for the grand prize come December 18th. And remember, the more guides you submit the better your chances are of one of them getting selected!

Here are our 3 Editor's Picks:

Zero waste products that look this nice? You have our attention. Adam Gilbert's Zero Waste, Christmas Aced gift guide has us re-thinking the goal behind the gifts we're giving our loved ones this year. We encourage you to spread the joy of reusable products this year!

Miranda Degg's ode to space enthusiast designers caught our eye because, well, who doesn't love space eye candy? The 5 items on this list will truly have you ready to venture off into the unknown, covering everything from what you should wear to what you should read to prepare

This guide by Krista Sharp features a fun, nerdy design theme (our favorite type of theme hint, hint) that is thoroughly researched and executed. We have a feeling Krista will particularly enjoy her Studio Cult Co. pin!

____________________________________

NEXT WEEK

Want in on the fun? MAKE YOUR OWN ULTIMATE GIFT GUIDE HERE— three of next week's winners will be receiving a gift certificate to Tetra so you can gift yourself some designer-approved smoking accessories. If you didn't win this week, get your friends to vote for your guide, and you could still be crowned the Community Choice winner!

IAMRUNBOX's Spin Bag is a Stylish and Functional Backpack Option for People on the Go

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IAMRUNBOX first caught our attention when they announced their first backpack. We were intrigued by a backpack designed for commuters who run to work instead of commuting via subway, car or bus, as running poses a completely new challenge for backpack designers. Needless to say, we were curious to see how the brand would play out. Now, IAMRUNBOX has taken to Kickstarter to introduce the Spin bag, a stylish, more design-focused approach to the commuting or traveling backpack:

The Spin bag features a roll top that can be customized in a variety of ways and a clever laptop pocket situated in between the wearer's back and the main backpack compartment. Our favorite feature is a zip-off ventilated compartment at the bottom of the bag that can store things like your lunch, dirty clothes and shoes, helping you avoid that gross smell you get when you open your suitcase after a long trip. The compartment can also be removed and washed, so if anything spills or loose dirt sticks to it, you aren't facing the struggle of cleaning a sticky mess later on. 

In addition to clever compartments, the Spin bag is available in three colors, comes with a removable bungee cord (great for wet items) and is made from a durable TPU coated polyester. There are two sizes of the Spin bag available, 18L and 30L. The larger 30L bag was a little too big for me since I'm only 5 ft 4 in, so if you're on the smaller side I would recommend sizing down to the 18L option. The only noticeable difference besides size is that there is no ventilated pocket on the 18L one. All around, both sizes are solid backpack options, but I would say the 18L one works best for commutes and the 30L one works best for travel purposes.

We sat down with IAMRUNBOX's designer, Lina Westin to learn more about her design background and what makes the Spin bag different from other travel backpacks on the market:

What were you doing before you joined the IAMRUNBOX team?

After graduating from design school, I began working with different brands in Sweden, like Gant. I worked at Gant for a short while, and my job was more focused on pattern construction, clothing design and shoes. At the time I was aiming for Paris, high fashion, this and that. That was what I thought I wanted to do, but as time goes by you get other values and meet new people. You travel and get new insights.  

Gant was founded in New Haven, Connecticut. It was a great job, and everything was good. I was just tired of it, and I was also tired of commuting in the city because by the time I finished commuting, I never had time for anything. It was just a big hassle, it took a lot of time and it was very stressful for me. I also found myself gravitatin g towards gyms because I wanted to try maintain a healthy lifestyle. After awhile, I just decided to start running to work since we had showers at our office. I saved so much time because it was faster to run between my job and my home then to take the bus or sit in the car during traffic jams. I was able to sell my car, quit my metro card and quit my gym card. It was basically the a start of a new life. It was like an aha moment for me. Can it be this easy to commute? 

Why did you decide to join IAMRUNBOX?

I had a lot of time to think and reflect during my runs, and as a result of all this thinking I decided to quit my job. I ended up bumping into Kirill who's the founder of IAMRUNBOX, and he had no idea that I had had this running to work experience. He had already started to develop this lifestyle as the core product offering of this company—the running backpack that can store your laptop, clothes and everyday essentials that you need when you commute. So I joined IAMRUNBOX since I found the idea so interesting, healthy, and futuristic. I decided to try to take the company's design language in a new direction. I still wanted to maintain that active lifestyle, but the Spin bag is just a little bridge between the first products from IAMRUNBOX and what's about to come. We will keep doing a mix between sport and fashion.

What are some of the main updates you made with the Spin bag, compared to the first IAMRUNBOX backpack?

The spin bag, first and above all is not running focused in the same way as the original IAMRUNBOX backpack. You can still run with it, but it's more focused on walking and cycling. We just wanted a super simple backpack. The roll top we came up with is not rocket science—we'd seen it before, but it's overall a popular style and people like it. We all together decided that that was the style we wanted to go for. Then, we had to consider what we didn't like about other similar models on the market. We wanted to find a way to avoid creating too many pockets because so many backpacks nowadays have gotten a bit crazy with pockets. We just wanted essential pockets to make things easier, so we added a simple laptop compartment. It can hold a 15 inch, whereas the old one only holds a 13 inch for now. 

For the future we're also going to develop pockets that you can add onto and combine with different products. We added the ventilated bottom compartment to the spin bag because a lot of people bring their lunch to work in an extra plastic box. It always leaks and becomes a big hassle. Our ventilated compartment is easy to clean so you can store, for instance, a lunch box there. If it leaks it won't matter because you can wash it. You can also put whatever you want in there. I was swimming the other day and threw my swimwear in there. I didn't bring an extra plastic bag or anything. We wanted it to be waterproof and with waterproof-ness you don't get much ventilation, really. So that's at least one little compartment that has that feature.

Has it been fun for you to get out of the fashion realm to focus on active bags instead?

Yeah, especially since I am an active person myself. For me it's also been fun to visit a lot of factories in China and in Europe. It's very important to me to have a good relationship with our factories and to make sure the workers and the working conditions are good. The better the environment, the better the product, I feel. So, that is something that I love doing and that I care a lot for. It's a very interesting part of all the design work that I do. I get to learn about new techniques and am forced to think in new ways when I design. It's more complicated to create carrying solutions than to construct clothes as well, and I like designing functional objects. It's not what I started out wanting to do, but sometimes you have to think differently than what you're used to. 

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Want a Spin Bag of your own?

One lucky Core77 Ultimate Gift Guide winner will receive an IAMRUNBOX Spin bag. Create a gift guide HERE, and you'll be automatically in the running for a Spin Bag and some fun prizes along the way.

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