To Make You Smile...

daisypope
Mar 29, 2020
3 min read

At these uncertain times, and with all the craziness around, here is something to lighten your day and hopefully make you smile through these fun new designs...

Memphis Extension Cables

The Memphis Cables were born out of, almost an accident, when Diego Faivre needed to use an extension cable for his degree show. Not happy with the look of it, he simply covered it with air dry clay to make it a design object in its own right, and much more aesthetically pleasing. Faivre is now customising other people's extension cables by utilising minute manufacturing, for which he charges £1 per minute for the customisation, so the price is a direct reflection of the effort that is put in to the design. It makes you wonder, what other everyday objects that we use ,without really thinking about, could we apply this beautification to?... Door handles... Printers... Wheelie bins? See more at https://www.dezeen.com/2020/02/27/diego-faivre-gives-extension-cables-a-memphis-makeover/

Draw Every Meal

Imagine if you drew everyday, three times a day, for 32 years?... You would be a pretty accomplished drawer by the end of it. But this is exactly what Itsuo Kobayashi did. He worked as a Chef until, at the age for 46, he had to retire due to a neurological disorder. So whilst indoors he used his love of food in a different way, by drawing it. He drew every meal he ate, every day, for 32 years. It is a very commendable achievement, and the results are exquisite. What could you do every day to become a master of? Could you sustain it for three decades?

See more images at https://www.core77.com/posts/93778/Japanese-Cook-Draws-Every-Meal-He-Eats-Now-Has-32-Years-Worth?utm_source=core77&utm_medium=from_title.

Unusual Action Heroes

I guess this one could be described as wonderfully... weird!... Japanese sculptor Tomohiro Yasui has taken everyday toys such as rubber ducks, plastic hammers and squirting frogs to create unassuming super heroes. He carefully cuts up the toys and creates them in to posable action figures. What a great example of making the ordinary, extraordinary!

See more at https://www.designboom.com/design/tomohiro-yasui-action-figures-toys-03-10-2020/.

Lego Waffle

This could be one of those products you look at and think, 'why has this never been done before?'... Recently launched on Kickstarter the Waffle Wow has cooking plates that make your waffle into Lego building bricks! Bringing fun to breakfast time, you can build the blocks into any structure you like, building plates are even available to help your structure stay secure. Although they have reached their Kickstarter goal, so should be shipping in August, the waffle maker only comes with a type A electrical plug, and so it not available to ship to the UK yet... Hours of fun guaranteed, and maybe a cold breakfast by the time you're done building!

See the full Kickstater campaign here (even if you can't get your hands on one, or can someone create a UK version?) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/594005125/the-worlds-first-building-brick-waffle-maker?ref=project_link.

And finally...

It seems that there isn't an awful lot going on in design news recently that isn't about new ventilator technology or face mask variations, although this is really interesting, I was trying to avoid all mention of the V word to have a bit more lighthearted fun.

So here is a picture of my RSPCA rescue cat before she ran off with my pencil... to make you smile.