Gadgets ! What's Next

On first sight, the Octocube is all smoke and mirrors. You could spend quite a while trying to figure out what it is or does. Go on. See if you can figure it out. If you can’t work it out from the pictures alone then how about the name. Octocube. Any help? The sharper eye will observe the 2 cables/pipes at the rear so surely it does something right? Designer Vivien Muller has created this little mystery for your Thursday morning enjoyment. Give up? Entirely created from a single 90 degree elbow, the Octocube builds up into a radiant heater with a large surface area, and the inherent flexibility and modularity of the elbow. It is designed to be a sculptural heater that fits in with any interior.

You know, technology and gadgets don't have to be so cold and impersonal. Even good design usually involves a lot of plastic and curves and smooth surfaces; where's the warmth? The softness? When was the last time you felt like you could cuddle up with a gadget?

That's why I like this unfortunately-named Knit Komputer Kord Kozy. It takes the power cord to a laptop and makes it something squeezable, something you don't need to hide away under a desk. Sure, it'll collect dust like nobody's business, but isn't that worth it for a little softness?

Designed by Ben Wilson the monowheel looks like IT from one Southpark episode only it’s more comfortable. The cycle was made for the XXIst Century Man exhibition at 21_21 Design Sight in Tokyo. This bike, I mean cycle looks really cool but I doubt it’s comfortable, your arms would go to sleep if you keep them up like that.

Absent Nature is the exhibition of designer Arik Levy at Wright20, New York, Chicago. The exhibition included Fractal clouds and Log series. The fractals clouds are made of thousands of light tubes one of my favorite materials. The tubes were made into one light-emitting textile. And the Log series are made of blackened wood, mirror-polished stainless steel and stainless steel mesh giving a sense of weight and raw power derived from forms of nature.