A Scandinavian Take on the La-Z-Boy Chair by Rain Noe

If that horrifically ugly modernist La-Z-Boy chair is still burned into your brain, have a look at the Stressless Sam and Scott chairs instead. Designed by Norwegian industrial design firm Permafrost, the Sam and Scott combines clean Scandinavian looks with motorized reclining, heating and massaging functions. Two different base styles, which both swivel, are offered.

There are actually two versions. The more refined Sam version has winged armrests and a tapered back...

...whereas the Scott has more of a bare bones look.

I couldn't find any U.S. distributor for these nor list price, but comparable chairs in the Stressless line-up are in the $3,000 range.

from Core77 https://ift.tt/gITWhr4
via IFTTT

The 2022 WantedDesign Schools Workshop, presented with Core77, is Back in Person in May during NYCxDESIGN by Core Jr

The 2022 WantedDesign Schools Workshop (the program started in 2012) will take place once again at Industry City, Brooklyn, in the beautiful Camp David co-working studio space, from May 10 to May 14 during NYCxDESIGN.

PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS are:

Appalachian State University (USA) Art Center College for Design (USA) Centro (Mexico) Monica Herrera (El Salvador) Pratt Institute (USA) Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico)

The participating students from the 6 schools will be organized into 7 teams of 4 or 5 students. The workshop is intense by nature, and constrained so participants go from concept to finalized ritual within a five day period. The beauty of the workshop is that students will working in creative, collaborative teams. The students coming from all 6 schools will bring fresh perspectives, unique ideas and varied backgrounds.

Students brainstorm as a team during WantedDesign Schools Workshop 2019

The goal is: Break out of your norms. Listen, engage and develop understandings and insights that push your process and designs to new levels. The teams will work together to create a new artifact-based ritual to help people rebalance, reconnect, revitalize, and refocus.

The final presentation to the Jury, led by Allan Chochinov (School of Visual Arts, Core77) will take place on Saturday, May 14, 2-4pm, at Industry City.

To learn more about this year's workshop, we chatted with the leaders of the 2022 WantedDesign Schools Workshop, Appalachian State University's Donald Corey, Professor and Industrial Design Program Director, and Michael Rall, Associate Professor and Assistant Chair of the Department of Applied Design.

David Corey (left) and Michael Rall (right)

The 2022 workshop theme is "NEW RITUALS: Reconnecting, revitalizing, and refocusing through ceremony and artifact"; Can you elaborate on the theme?

For two years [throughout the pandemic], everyone's lives, schedules, interactions, and daily benchmarks were changed, disappeared, or forever altered. We felt it was important as designers that we look closely and discuss, "how do we readjust to the paradigm of this 'new' world?" There is a lot less of the familiar. What used to balance, strengthen, and connect us has in many ways changed, been interrupted or disappeared completely. This workshop asks the students to evaluate what is missing. What do they need, and what is possible for them to envision and create together that will fill those voids, by nurturing, reconnecting, and refocusing them and others. We saw the creation of a ceremony or ritual, something that is tangible and repeatable, as a great vehicle to explore those possibilities and concepts they design.

The WantedDesign Schools Workshop is coming back in person, after the 2 last years being virtual; should we expect a "before" and "after" in terms of the students' spirit and general outcome?

Humans need each other, and designers (especially) inherently need to be inspired by others, share with others, and grow with each other. The shared design experience, in person, is its purest embodiment. It allows students to be honest, engaged, and notice the idiosyncrasies of each other: their environment, and the underlying energy between all these things that is lost when interactions are conducted between screens. It is our hope that through this amazing dynamic experience, the students recognize and tap into that energy and each other, allowing exponential creative growth and understanding to occur.

The 2019 WantedDesign Schools Workshop cohort share ideas with the entire group in Industry City

What do you think the deliverables will be from the student teams? Is there anything in particular that you are hoping to see?

There is absolutely no way to tell or even guess where these projects will go. The international makeup of the groups, their backgrounds, their differences, their similarities, their shared experiences, the different lenses they will employ, all work to create way too many variables to even guess. But what we hope to see are concepts that really engage the senses, the user(s), and the environment. And at the same time, we want the students to leave the workshop energized, feeling better connected to themselves, others, and happier than when they came.

Anything you would like to add as being the school leading the workshop this year?

Michael and I are honored to lead this workshop. The schools involved are all amazing bastions of creative thought, insight, and expression. Appalachian State is proud to be included and add our lenses to the scope of what we are all looking for: a better world, a more inclusive and sustainable world. We are so glad that WantedDesign allowed us to help start the discussion on how we might all participate in making that vision happen.

If you're interested in learning more about the 2022 WantedDesign Schools Workshop, click here, and stay tuned for more information about the winners of the workshop in the coming months!

from Core77 https://ift.tt/rDgZwzQ
via IFTTT

Stride Senze: A Hi-Tech Cane Concept for the Elderly by Rain Noe

I'm a little skeptical of a central element of this design, but I admire the initiative. Industrial design consultancy NextOfKin Creatives worked up this Stride Senze concept, a cane for the elderly that would use sensors and a motor to assist the user. In theory it would reduce the amount of force required to move it, and its Segway-like motion correction would keep it stable when weight is applied to it.

The part I'm skeptical about is the smooth sphere. Should be fine for shopping malls, freshly-paved parking lots and tiled surfaces; but when I think of my elderly neighbor who uses a cane, when she arrives home she must navigate a gravel driveway, then a flagstone path laid over grass to get to the house. Unsurprisingly, she uses one of those canes that terminates in four little legs with rubber caps.

I wonder if a more effective motorized cane could utilize an outside-of-the-box locomotive/balancing element, like those mecha tanks that you see in anime:

Of course, this wouldn't solve the problem of weight; a cane, at least in my neighbor's case, has to be light enough for her to get it into the car.

I do hope NOK develops the concept further.

from Core77 https://ift.tt/XQqmTU6
via IFTTT

Two Industrial Design Firms Collaborate on Modular Fire Engine Design by Rain Noe

The layperson may hear "fire engine" and think of a single vehicle type. In actuality the term refers to a variety of truck forms holding different types of equipment, each ordered according to a specific department's needs and customized by the manufacturer. That takes time, and time costs money.

In an effort to streamline both the manufacturing process and the end-user experience, Swiss fire engine manufacturer Brändle contracted not one, but two industrial design firms. Milan Rohrer and Shibuleru, both Zurich-based, collaborated on the design of Brändle's modular Neorosso vehicle.

"The new design is modular and allows individual equipment and configuration for each customer," writes Milan Rohrer Studio, with Shibuleru adding that they developed together "a more systemic and modular build process."

In terms of improving the user experience, both firms worked on "the overall design including the light installations, the introduction of the world's first on board hygiene station, all tactile interaction elements and the complete overhaul of the pump user interaction."

ANALOG/DIGITAL USER INTERACTION DESIGN

"Physical switches and buttons are a core requirement from commanders and machinists operating the pump. A graphic design treatment that is clear and immediately illustrates the water flow by the means of animated LED's integrated in the control panel renders the system volunteer proof.""The panel design is modular itself so it can display any possible configuration of inlets, outlets and mixtures."

"The fire teams can fully customize their vehicle while the manufacturing complexity of the command center is not impacted."

THE WORLD'S FIRST ON-BOARD HYGIENE STATION

"We designed the on-board hygiene station including touch-free water faucet, hand dryer integrated in the pull-out handle, air hose, mirror, eye rinsing pump and storage for gloves and towels."

 

"The station stores flush inside the truck and can be pulled-out fully within seconds for easy use."

"With the modular and user-oriented design," MRS concludes, "Brändle is one of the few companies that can respond very individually to customer needs and still compete with international competitors."

from Core77 https://ift.tt/iOHevJQ
via IFTTT

Industrial Design Student Work: A Portable Motorcycle Jack by Rain Noe

Motorcycle jacks come in different varieties…

…but what they have in common is that they're not easy to transport. Marine Fondin, an Industrial Design student at Switzerland's ECAL, tackled this problem for her recent U-Lift project.

"The workshop stand is a product that is systematically found in the workshops or garages of people who wish and who like to maintain their motorcycle at home. U-Lift is the innovation and the redesign of this massive and bulky object, in order to make it practical and compact to take it into the world of motorcycle travel."

"Lubricating a chain or checking an oil level are essential maintenance that must be carried out regularly on a motorcycle, especially during long trips. These actions are not always easy to do when you don't have any equipment."

"This product has been designed and adapted to offer the user the opportunity to carry out his maintenance, alone, in a simple and secure way."

Fondin scored an "Excellent" grade for the project. You can see more of her work here.

from Core77 https://ift.tt/cSTvHnr
via IFTTT