The Design Crack Guide to $0-50
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Well Designed Gifts for a Tight Budget
Let’s be frank. Times are tight. I just listened to a radio news report detailing that American consumers have spent all they can spend on high end goods and are now sticking with the basics. But, nothing says I love you better than a well designed gift, right? You could make a gift yourself which [...]
Blaue Blume Teacup by Undergrowth Design
I met the maker of the Blaue Blume Teacup at the 2008 ICFF, and I still have about one hundred of posts left to do covering the fabulous designers I met while at the show. This was one of my favorites. The design feature a baroque cup and saucer set in pure white porcelain. The [...]
Mobile Light by Kyouei Design
I’ve covered the work of Kyouei Design, but in May I had the opportunity to see all of their products featured at the ICFF in New York. Their work is just so incredibly simple and clever. For instance, their latest design, the Mobile Light is three simple beams and a thin wire. Each [...]
Benjamin Hubert Desk Acessories for Welmade
Do you remember when you were a kid, and your mother gave you a toy comprised of a board with various geometric holes in it along with a number of colored sqaures, stars and spheres? I remember this at least. It was a toy that teased your brain to fit the blocks in the right [...]
Tape Dispenser by J-Me
Like so many other products on DesignCrack.com, there is not much you need to say beyond your immediate visceral reaction to clever products such as this tape dispenser. Yep. It’s a tape dispenser in the form of that all important audio media device: the cassette tape. The design is so damn cute. And at twenty [...]
Knife Hooks by TC Studio
I love the playful stories that come to mind when you install a number of knife hooks into your wall. For instance, you could tell people that you were attacked by a blind knife thrower who left all these knives in your wall, and when you left them there in your walls as a memento [...]
The umbrella but no handle UFOCAP
The beauty of this design is it’s so practical yet it’s so stupid looking. The advertising says, " On a rainy day, it will be the wings for your arms". Which is a not so good way of saying that the UFOCAP frees your hands from the umbrella. So, it solves a great [...]
Toothbrushes by Radius
Finally! I’ve gotten around to this post. It is a rare pleasure to get tips from my friends in town. Yes, I get tips about products from my cyberspace friends and from my PR friends, but rarely do I get any great leads on well designed products from the people that I see on a [...]
Cityplates by not Neutral
Cityplates by NotNeutral are old news in the hyper acute world of cool trends being exploded into the blog ether at a mile a minute. But I haven’t written about them and maybe that’s what matters most to me, art least. The graphic nature of the map is so eye popping as to attract every [...]
Balancing Bowls from Royal VKB: Stupidly Simple Measuring Device
I am in love with this product! These are the unbelievably simple measuring devices by Royal VKB called Balancing Bowls. Royal VKB, by the way, is a young Dutch kitchenware firm with a vast stable of talented designers. Their work really creates new rules for how you can eat serve and make food. It’s quite [...]
Self Healing Tape: Finally, a way to break something without breaking anything
I recently covered the fun and innovative Nature V2.0 chair by Dream Me a Sheep which is so clever in itself. But the designers at dream me a sheep are constantly finding smart and witty ways to reintroduce old product concepts. One of their recent designs is Self Healing Tape. It’s a new take on [...]
The Dosh All-Polymer Wallet Doesn’t Leave You All Wet
A couple of weeks ago, Dosh sent me an anoucment to me. I spent some time on the site, and I must admit that I really like the wallet. The designers of the product have developed a clear and compelling site to promote their product which I think on its own might have been overlooked. [...]
Bendable Interior Objects by Form Us With Love
I subscribe to a newsletter by a Swedish company by the name of Form Us With Love, and they just sent me an announcement for their latest design product/company called BIO (Bendable Interior Objects). This design object is very similar to BluDot’s line of accessories in that they both use a very simple stamping process [...]
Blue Pyramid Bracelet by Mark Jacobs: Ethereal Superchunky
Have you ever wanted to wear something that looked like it came from an ancient alien civilization? Your only choices in the past were pretty much either a Halloween costume store, where most of the items are made from some Chinese rubber that smells as if you wore it too long you might get cancer [...]
Green Week: The Egg Plant by SMP
What could be greener than plants? Nothing. The Egg Plant by SMP brings a bit of “green” design into your home. It’s a simple concept: place a beautifully crafted ceramic egg into an overly designed recycled box. Place some seeds and dirt in the egg. Now, you’ve got something worth selling as long as you [...]
Balance by Carl Mertens
Back in 2000, Carl Martens designed Balance: a cup that reacts to its contents. It’s a bit of kinetic sculpture, really. As the user fills the cup, the cup slowly turns from laying on its side to sitting more upright. The effect is that even when slightly full the cup always appears to be completely [...]
