design

Get your act together, chair.

Raffaello D'Andrea, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Cornell University, has created a chair in conjunction with Canadian artist Max Dean that can crumple itself into a disjointed pile of wood and then reassemble itself. Dean came up with the vision and D'Andrea, who advises the university's robot teams, designed it. Another Canadian artist and a former student of D'Andrea's then helped them build it.

"It has no utilitarian value," D'Andrea said in a prepared statement. "It is an art piece."

No, … Read more

Art. Lebedev Studio, which touts itself as the leading design firm in Russia, seems to have taken a page from Apple's marketing book--provide as little information as possible about a coming product and still get maximum exposure.

A case in point is the "Upravlator," a device whose use is about as clear as its name. Various other gadget blogs have tried to skirt around the fact that its purpose is entirely a mystery; we think it has something to do with technology, but that's about as far as we're willing to go.

We do know … Read more

Can you measure the quality of a piece of art? According to a post over at We Make Money Not Art, Marcelo Coelho at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology thinks so. He's created a contraption called the "Art-o-Meter," which claims to measure the quality of a piece of art by using a motion detector to gauge how much time people stand around staring at it. That clock is then compared to the total length of the exhibition in question, and voila!--you have a definitive answer to the question, "Is there such thing as bad art?&… Read more

Eco-chic uberblog Treehugger has written up the winners of the "Light Objects" sustainable design competition hosted by Core77, and the first-prize gadget looks something like...an iPod. Called "Pulse," this slender little device monitors energy output and glows red when you're dealing with a nasty energy hog (oink, oink). Designer Daniel Sutherland has said that he intends "Pulse" to be used as an indicator of how many electronic products we leave on standby throughout the course of the day and night--and how many of those, like our computers, could be turned off instead.… Read more

Crave's car tech experts warned us not to get too excited about this because it's only a concept model, but we couldn't resist. The photos alone are just too delicious to pass up.

The proposed electric Audi R-Zero, which Treehugger says was created by three students at France's International School of Design, looks like something right out of a sci-fi movie. In fact, some sharp-eyed readers have noted its similarities to another Audi concept developed for the 2004 movie "I, Robot."

Its proposed specs are equally fantastic, with four in-wheel motors that would supposedly … Read more

Calling someone a carpetbagger may actually become a compliment if people take the advice of designer Giles Miller. Miller offers laptop cases made out of corrugated cardboard and carpet as an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional laptop cases.

The cases were featured as part of London's [Re] design event in September. The non-profit organization seeks to promote sustainable design by connecting designers with people who can put their ideas into the marketplace. "[Re] design supports designers who don't want to make landfill," according to its posted philosophy.

The corrugated cardboard cases are $224 each, or $ 448 … Read more

We got a kick out of this slightly mind-bending lightbulb by 100% Design. In addition to adding some verve to the common household item, the Lamp/Lamp, coming soon, adds another possible joke to the lightbulb-joke genre: How many bloggers does it take to...well, you get the picture.

Thanks, Gizmodo, for helping us see the light on this wacky gadget.

Eco-chic blog Inhabitat has introduced us to the Plantwall, the latest offering from Swedish "urban cultivation" company Green Fortune. (Something like this just had to come out of Scandinavia.) It is indeed a wall of plants. But before you say, "Hey, I could make that myself with some ivy and chicken wire," get this: The Plantwall is not only watered by drip irrigation, but a four-layer textile system provides fertilizer and keeps moisture from straying away from the wall. Try asking for that at Home Depot.

Currently, the Plantwall is only installed in one location, the … Read more

Whoever said a laptop case had to look like, well, a laptop case? Obviously not the European arbiters of global fashion.

Spanish designer Marc Navarro is but the latest to apply a runway sensibility to the previously utilitarian business of computer casings, as Fosfor Gadgets points out. In fact, if one didn't know the designated contents of Navarro's new line, the cases might be mistaken for high-end handbags.

Besides, we're in favor of anything that replaces those tired bike messenger bags.

(Photo: ReadyForDesign.com)