Design

Section

Craft Design

An Elaborately Designed Book on Weaving Opens to Reveal a Fully Functional Loom

The swish of a shuttle moving from left to right as it carries threads through the warp might be described as a “xui” sound. A Taiwanese onomatopoeia, the auditory word is also the title of Cai Wei Qun’s elaborately constructed book on the craft, which opens to reveal a trove of history, techniques and tricks, and an entire loom tucked between its covers.

The clever design is fully functional and able to produce tiny tapestries based on the patterns and practices described, making the book an immersive and accessible manual. “Traditional weaving tools are large and have complicated processes,” Wei Qun tells Colossal. “It is commonly difficult to experience. So we hope, by experiencing simple weaving processes, one can initiate ‘interest’ during the process (and) thoroughly understand the culture of weaving.”

Wei Qun was recently awarded a Red Dot Design Award for the conceptual project, and you can find much more on the designer’s website and Instagram. (via Yanko Design)

 

Animation Design

A Satisfying Stop-Motion Tutorial by omozoc Effortlessly Slices and Assembles a Wooden Box Entirely by Hand

omozoc (previously) gives new meaning to handcrafted in one of his latest stop-motion tutorials. With a simple touch of his fingertip or nail zipping along the edge of a piece of wood, the animator appears to cut, bevel, and construct a tissue box without any outside tools or fasteners. Comprised of 791 individual photos, the seamless video took 22 days to complete and is part of omozoc’s growing archive of woodworking lessons, which you can find more of (make sure you turn your volume up to hear the incredibly satisfying audio) on YouTube.

 

Design

Cosmic Cliffs Infinite Galaxy Puzzle Features New Imagery from the James Webb Space Telescope

This week, the first images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope amazed and daunted us with their inordinately deep looks at the cosmos, particularly the shot of the glimmering star-forming region known as the “Cosmic Cliffs” of the Carina Nebula. The team over at the Catskills-based studio Nervous System translated this galactic masterpiece into a new, similarly expansive infinity puzzle intended to be tiled continuously, with no predetermined shape, start, or end. Similar to its other designs, this iteration includes four whimsy cuts in the shape of an astronaut, a shooting star, a satellite, and the gold mirrors of the groundbreaking telescope itself. Try your hand at puzzling together distant galaxies by picking up the 264-piece jigsaw from the Nervous System shop.

 

Design

A Temporary Sanctuary at Hitokotonushi Shrine Provides Fresh Water for Japan’s Honeybees

Established more than 1,200 years ago in 809, the historic Hitokotonushi Shrine just outside of Tokyo becomes a secondary sanctuary for local pollinators each summer. The on-site water basins, which are designed to hydrate humans, undergo a miniature makeover complete with moss, tiny architecture, and climbing surfaces so that the spaces are hospitable to the region’s bee population, offering a clean source used for drinking, feeding their offspring, diluting honey, and helping to stabilize the hive’s temperature. Just like humans and other animals, bees sometimes struggle to find clean water in hot weather, and when they do, they risk drowning if there aren’t enough spots to land. According to the shrine’s Twitter, this year’s oasis is already buzzing with visitors, which you can see in the video below. (via Spoon & Tamago)

 

 

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Design

Coffee Grounds Live a Second Life as Reusable Mugs That Circumvent Single-Use Plastics

Disposable coffee cups are undeniably damaging to the planet and its inhabitants, and even as some regions ban them entirely, we’ll continue to feel the effects of our consumption for generations. The estimated 250 billion vessels we collectively use each year often wind up in landfills and oceans contributing to pollution, although they aren’t the only harmful component of our morning habits: The grounds also produce gasses and damage soils when discarded in large quantities, two problems the designers behind the innovative Kreis Cup want to remedy.

Already fully funded on Kickstarter, the sustainability-focused project combines coffee grounds with plant materials, creating a hardy substance molded into a travel mug and latte cup. The practical, recycled designs are dishwasher safe, double-walled for insulation, and fully biodegradable. As an additional perk, they even retain that signature coffee smell.

The Kreis Cup—which translates to “circle cup” in reference to the process of being part of a circular economy—is currently in the production stage, but you can still pick up the designs on Indiegogo. (via Yanko Design)

 

Design Science

Invisible Forces Vibrate and Quiver within Elaborately Constructed Fields of Magnets

Elaborately configured grids and systems capitalize on the immense power of neodymium magnets to visualize the invisible. A new collaborative video from Magnet Tricks and Magnetic Games demonstrates how shifting a single element can set an entire design in motion, prompting each component to shake and vibrate in response. A visually mesmerizing example of basic physics, the project is also a study of sound and its manipulable patterns, so make sure you turn your volume up. (via The Kids Should See This)