Have an Expresso

An espresso machine is a challenging object to design, on the one hand you have to innovate and appeal to the eye, and on the other hand it has to be pragmatic and intuitive to use as is the original design of an espresso machine.This design is about reconstructing the parts that make an espresso machine, while innovating in its curvature, without loosing its simplicity of use. All you need to do now is pick a cup out of its branch and make yourself a morning espresso.

Designer: Adam Zerbib

Vertical Ice

You love the cold water. For when you want ice in a nice place, there is the “Iced Carafe.” Design team “Officeoriginair” brings you what’s basically a simple contraption, made simply for having wonderful time! Molded plastic with a rubber stopper, made in such a fashion that if you freeze an amount of water in the bottle while it’s on it’s side, the ice will stay put!

Full on cold your entire drink experience.

The ice. It sticks to the inside of the bottle, on the side. It makes the whole drink cold. The whole time you drink it. And if you just sit there and wait to see if the ice will fall off into your drink, you’ll notice that once it does, it’s still a giant hunk of ice, a vertical piece of ice, which is still keeping your drink cold.

I think the design of the bottle is good enough. The idea is ok, and the implementation is not that special as the concept is very simple. One you use the ice for a few minutes, all the ices will be melted and blend in with the liquid, then there is no more interesting stuff to see.

Anyway, Viva vertical ice!

Handy Toaster

As far as innovative toasters go, I’ll stick with the VHS Toaster over this butter-knife type deal. At least with that one I wont accidentally toast my hand in the morning.

It’s a design concept by Kim Been that looks like a knife but is really a handheld toaster. All you need to do is run it across the bread until it’s toasted to your liking. An animated graphic shows you how you are doing, which your you should be able to see with your own eyes.

How are you going to get toasting power in this knife-thing? It would likely take awhile to toast your bread. Therefore this may be more of a dieting tool as you will surely go hungry.

Refrigreator Design Lab Competition

Out of nine tremendously creative and functional household designs produced by the finalists in the 2008 Electrolux Design Lab competition , one design really stood out in the judges minds: The "Flatshare" Refrigerator, by Austrian design student, Stefan Buchberger, whose inspiration came from sharing a flat, of course.

The mess he described in his flat's refrigerator is familiar to most of us who have had roommates, so he came up with a way that everyone could keep their mess a secret from each other, by designing a "to each his own" modular refrigerator that is portable, so when you move, your fridge mess moves with you!

A fridge is a tricky thing to reinvent,” said Henrik Otto, head of Global Design for Electrolux and chair for the jury. “Flatshare, however, manages to be new in a fun and expressive way. A shared refrigerator is also very relevant from a consumer-insight perspective, managing to resolve the needs and wants of the target group.”

As winner of the Electrolux Design Lab competition, Mr. Buchberger receives €5,000 plus a six month scholarship to an Electrolux Group design center!