Inspiration and creation of Mac Funamizu
I’m very excited to have a chance to work with MONO-LAB Japan, where I helped refine their desk called Akamon Desk.
The idea was there and they already had prototypes when they called me. So what I did was to rethink the whole concept, make it simple and elegant and add some features based on the concept, which are all introduced on this page.
http://www.mono-lab-japan-store.com/desk.html
I was looong wondering if there’s a good way to let one notice if the door is to push or pull only with the shape of a normal (round/tulip shaped) doorknob. Thinking of a good knob design for pushing is not so difficult but in most cases the shape is also good for pulling and vice versa.
So I thought differently; it might work if I can find a shape that makes it HARD to push/pull. Then a user instinctively notice which way the door should open. (Not sure if this has already been used.)
The above knob is for pulling. It a little hard to turn this knob and push.
Likewise the above knob makes it a little hard to turn and pull.
There are times when you have to push a pull-door and pull a push-door, such as when you release a door stopped with a door-stopper, so I made it “a little” hard to push/pull. Will these doorknobs help many people you think?
For manufacturers, please contact me for development.
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The LED-Emotionalize your light! Design Contest is about the creation of new and innovative ideas and designs for LED light solutions with a “Wellness/Wellbeing” focus.
I was invited to the contest and am honored to take part in it. Here’s my idea:
ILLUMIO (illumination + emotion)
Emotion changes in various reasons. ILLUMIO is an abstract model of how a human feels in his/her human relationship and the environment.
ILLUMIO has a base with 16 holes and 4 light bulbs. The main body of the base is made of frosted glass, which reflects ambient light around a light bulb. The curved shape represents the earth and the shape of the light bulb implies a human being.
According to the position of the light bulbs, the color that the LED in a bulb emits changes. This shows a human feels differently when the surroundings change.
The arrangement of the bulbs means human relationships. There are numerous patterns of the bulb arrangements. Some examples are shown in the next image.
Color Variation Examples
Robert Plutchik’s psychoevolutionary theory of emotion is one of the most influential classification approaches for general emotional responses. The colors that the lights change to are based on his color graph. In addition to color variations, the intensity of the lights also varies according to the lights’ positions. For example, if the “trusted” square is located in the corner, the intensity of the green light becomes weaker because the position implies “united but biased”.
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umbrella stand + pendulum toy
It swings your umbrella to drain off the water.
Wring the towel and dry it in the sun after using it.
See animation (at the bottom of the page)
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Before going to a new item, I dug a few sketches from my Moleskine.
a bookshelf made of a single wooden board
a desk made of a single wooden board
Mitsubishi and two other Japanese firms invented this foliage plant-like solar cell module by using organic thin-film solar cells. I thought it would be nice if there’s something good to look at and environmentally friendly in your room like this.
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Fun, interactive desktop hygrometer and thermometer just for fun.
Red circles become blue when the temperature becomes negative.
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Sorry for the slow update. I have so many ideas scribbled in my Moleskine, but these days I just haven’t had enough time to have them rendered to introduce here. I’ll make a few posts about some future digital gadgets from next time.
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I’m pretty sure companies like Ikea would quickly start to use this device this way if it became really available.
Also visit the later series of this gadget.
Part1:”Future of Internet Search: Mobile version”
Part2:”Future of Mobile Internet Search: Applications”
Part3:”Look at What You Don’t See Through Glass”
Part4:”Future of Mobile Search for Diet”
Part5:”Future of Mobile Search- Search Beyond Time”
Part6:”Future of Mobile Search- Power of Visualization”
Part8:”Speech Balloons for the Hearing-Impaired”
See also the iPhone version of this concept.
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Again I have absolutely no idea on how this would work, but it would be nice if there were a lamp which also works as a solar panel.
My idea is a half-spherical shape with two holes like these:
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