Futuristic Volkswagen Aqua Air-Cushion Vehicle

Volkswagen Aqua is a Chinese off-road based vehicle. It has an imminent approach of futuristic means of transportation powered by hydrogen and driven by impeller. It functions with severalengines and the major one drives the fan and is accountable for elating the vehicle by giving highpressure air below the craft. This blow up the “skirt” in the vehicle and thus it rises above the surface. This product reads the idea of Volkswagen Design without any change and short appearance. The door is on the back and this product has no pollutant emissions.

Designer : Yuhan Zhang

Tuvie has received this project from our ‘Submit A Design‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their design/concept for publication.

This Ring Fits Me Right

Those of you, who travel by cars, please move on to the next post, because this one is just for my friends who take the bus and trains like me! Overhead handles and rings, tell me about it! If god wanted us to be of the same height, he would have done so…..we don’t need the transport department helping us out there. Press, Change Length is a concept that allows the user to adjust the length of the grip ring so that we can keep a comfortable posture while standing in a moving vehicle. Buses in my route need this so badly!

Press, Change Length is a reddot design concept winning entry.

Designers: Jia Shenghui, Zhou Hailun, Liu Zhen & Chen Jian

The Future of Vespa?

The monocoque body of designer Niklas Wagner’s Vespa concept combines the classic curves of the “twist & go” scooter with modern minimalism, creating a futuristic look and feel that also gives a nod to its origins. The instrument cluster has also been revamped in a recessed LED display but reflects the simplicity of the classic chrome and transparent plastic style on the original dash.

Designer: Niklas Wagner

Smiling Stool Gives Hope

The Smile Stool is the result of a study on the declining Indonesian furniture industry, that in recent years has had incredible difficulty competing its handmade craftsmanship against China’s mass manufactured products. In addition, the more than 3500 Indonesian companies often end up with huge amounts of excess material that often ends up as firewood. Using the waste in the construction & streamlining a simple assembly process, this sustainable design gives hope to the industry & provides a solution for the survival of the local craftsman.

Designer: Fitorio Leksono

Book Review: Hella Jongerius: Misfit

Phaidon's new monograph of Hella Jongerius, Misfit, is a text and photographic extension of her love of "misfit" products that defy appearances of mass production despite being mass produced. Its quirks are apparent from right off of the bat, from the non-traditional binding to the transparent shapes on the cover that the user can employ to "customize" the cover image vase. We immediately turned the vase into a "bug" by deploying the transparencies as "wings." Even the simple line-drawn vase on the cover has depth, which isn't immediately apparent until you touch it. Like enamel on a vase, the lines have weight and are echoed in the string used to hold the book together.

The unorthodox design is beautiful, but whether you're a reviewer hellbent on viewing absolutely every page or you're simply a coffee table book-lover, the binding makes the pages slightly hard to turn. Even so, you'll want to see the work on each page, because it's lovely. Perhaps the difficult pages are simply the cost of interacting with beauty. The cover is basically a version of her "Coloured Vases," but we were particularly knocked out by her larger scale furniture and intrigued by the level of insight and detail the book provides on her process. Irma Boom's layout is visually striking and includes several "conversations that might have taken place" with design luminaries such Louise Schouwenberg, Paola Antonelli and Alice Rawthorn. We're glad that apparently they actually did take place because through those interviews readers can find that Jongerius follows her philosophy in craftsmanship in her own life.

The literal center of Misfit is detailed history of Jongerius' work, including timing and production, but the soul of it is the variety of visual expression. Many of her products are unique editions, but for the ones that are not (collections for IKEA, for example), she still tries to inject a bit of craft. It is virtually impossible for the viewer to tell which are one-offs versus mass-produced. In terms of furniture, the use of varied materials in "The Bob Garden Club Chair" or the "Polder Sofa" for Vitra means that small blemishes will fade into the variety of color to help it age with character.

Vase for Ikea

On the other end of the spectrum, much of her earthenware shares that Frankenstein character, as meshing of materials and colors is played with, while in others, small production marks are left as design elements. In some cases, function is attacked by the decoration, rather than served by her use of color. In Vitra's "Office Pets," stools are overrun with decoration, and even the casters are made of fabric, which would likely impair their rolling function. For us, the most fun was the "Frog Table" produced by the Galerie Kreo, where the frog "decoration" literally crawls onto the table at a scale that must disrupt at least one seat of the dining experience. We still want it. Form over function indeed.

Detail from "Office Pets"

"Frog Table"

A specially commissioned Collector's Edition volume also comes with a unique special edition vase. Previous Phaidon special editions have included photos and prints but to the best of our knowledge, this is the first object. That particular detail we learned when we popped into Phaidon's SoHo store to browse for ID books but wound up speaking with the staff instead. It's a lovely store, and if you happen to be interested in the special vase, it's a perfect place to start.

Additional interview: here

Long Neck and Groove Bottles

Luzzo Bespoke's "Bugatti": an Executive Desk Worthy of a Grand Prix

Given that Alan Sawyer arrived at luxury automobile interiors and decorative components via furniture design, it is only fitting that his return to furniture production—under the Luzzo Bespoke moniker—was inspired by a classic car. Specifically, he wanted to create a series of executive desks based on "the great classic names in motorsport like Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Bentley, Bugatti, Ferrari, Maserati, Porsche and American Indy cars from the 1930's."

Hence, the Bugatti desk:

Luzzo's first project is inspired by the Grand Prix cars created by Ettore Bugatti, cars like the Type 35 and 59. The beautifully cast aluminium components, French Racing Blue bodywork with its louvres and unique body bolts, honeycomb grille, engine spun dashboard and the use of leather are some of the inspirations for this desk.

From the outset, Alan was not aiming to make a desk that simply resembled a car, but to draw inspiration from the unique aesthetic of the Type 37 Bugatti from the late 1920's and convey the original concept—if not the period itself—in a newly-designed piece of furniture. (The desk also incorporates details from other Bugattis of the same period, namely the Type 57 and 59.)

The majority of the body is made of aircraft-grade aluminum, bonded and riveted to a machined aluminum frame, combined with stainless steel components as necessary. Similarly, the leading edges of the surface are made of billet aluminum that has been machined, polished and lacquered, as are the 30's-style finned sumps (it's ok; I had to look it up too) that line the bottom of the drawers. The drawers themselves were made of a "special ultra strong laminate"—aluminum sheets with a black Perspex core.

The work area of is demarcated by a patch of "3mm saddle leather, [which] reflects the straps used to restrain the bonnet."

The built-in iMac can be "deployed electronically through the desk top via a rack and pinion system," while it remains concealed beneath a vent when not in use. Save for the built-in iMac, the final product remains true to its analog inspiration: the adjustable height of the desktop is controlled with a hand crank. "Electronic drive was discounted as it was felt that the manual system was more in keeping with the theme."

Nor did they skimp on the paint job: "A number of coats of etch primer and primer filler are applied and once baked the primer is flatted prior to the application of 6 coats of catalysed acrylic paint. The finished panels are baked for 12 hours then polished to remove any imperfections."

Luzzo's Bugatti desk was designed in CAD, where the majority of the aluminum components were CNC-milled. The 20-man team spent some "2000 hours to complete the design and tooling to produce the 350 precision components required. A further 1500 hours was required for the machining, polishing, painting and assembly of the desk."

Of course, the final product is a world away from Carlo Bugatti's furniture designs, though it is arguably as successful in harking back to a bygone era.

Photo by Lars-Göran Lindgren

Curiosity Club Q&A with Chris Hoffman of RYNO Motors

As Hand-Eye Supply Curiosity Club quickly approaches, we thought we'd give you a little insight in to our speaker, Chris Hoffman, and his RYNO: an innovative self-balancing, one wheel, electric scooter. Chris will be speaking next Tuesday, May 31st at the Hand-Eye Supply store in Portland at 6PM.

Curiosity Club: As designer and engineer you specialize in two fields that can at times be at odds in the product development process. Do you have advice for designers and engineers on how to communicate ideas, inspiration and practicality?

Chris Hoffman: Not sure what "fields" means in this context but if you're talking about design attributes that are at odds they might be:

a) Simplicity as opposed to useless complexity

b) Usefulness as to cost of manufacturing that feature

c) Visible quality as to real longevity

Regardless, before you start any design project you have to start with refining why you're designing the product. How does it align with projecting the culture of the brand and how will the product compete in the market based on what features. This all has to be identified before you start the design. Otherwise there is no way to know how to tell the story. Remember, everything we buy has to entertain us, connect us to a peer group, display our position in that group and make us feel like we made the right purchase choice long before we look at the real features of the product.

Are there any specific tools that you consistently use in your work? Are there any rare, unique or otherwise specialized tools that you find indispensable?

Tools come and go, evolve, change and have to be discarded sometimes to make room for new tools. All I have is an old HP 11C calculator that I can't think without and an expensive Mitutoyo 6 digital caliper I trust.

Can you speak about the evolution of your processes as an engineer and designer mentioning specific milestones (past and forthcoming)?

a) Spent 15 years in the auto industry as a machine designer and component part designer learned a lot about designing for manufacturability.

b) Spent 5 years designing consumer products listened to sales guys tell me what products should look like.

c) Spent 3 years in a skunkworks-like R&D lab learning how to think differently about design.

d) Discovered I had it all wrong and started on a path to get out of my head in into my body. Ditched my ego and started really listening.

e) Got really good at being honest with myself and the people around me, developed a style of looking how to kill an idea as soon as possible, learned to see risk of failure before it killed me. I put up my own road blocks and then challenged myself to figure out how to get around them. If I could get around them I would keep going. I rarely hit a challenge I didn't see coming.

f) Prototype often and as fast as possible

What's the one thing you never leave home without, and why?

My cell phone because I have access to a lot of people.

Are there any resources or links you'd like to share?

http://jnd.org/index.html

NY Design Week 2011: Satellite Shows Photo Gallery

Anchored by the ICFF, the real fun of New York Design Week is exploring the various exhibitions that pop-up in new and familiar places, and the parties help to make everything seem a lot less like work! This year saw the third edition of Model Citizens NYC, newcomer Wanted Design, and the return of the Meatpacking Design District where New Finnish Designwas eager to live up to their title as World Design Capital 2012. MatterMade was a highlight in Soho, while Gallery R'Pure's "BrokenOff BrokenOff," the highly-anticipated exhibition in memory of the inimitable Tobias Wong, did not disappoint.

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