This Tove Lounge Chair was designed by Arnold Madsen and Henry Schübell*, a 20th-century Danish design duo. Produced in the 1950s and '60s, it's finely designed and made, with a well-balanced blend of curves and straight lines. The frame is Oak and the sculpted armrests are made of Teak, and the transitions between the two have been beautifully done. The armrests flow gracefully into the front legs, and are joined to the rear legs via wedged tenon. Looking at the underside, you can see this piece has been repaired at some point. The telltale is the screws that attach to the seat. The ..read more

This low-tech Cloche table smoker is by Paris-based industrial designer Guillaume Bloget. It's made of Beech and stainless steel. "CLOCHE is for cold smoking food from aromatic plants or wood chips. It preserves the intrinsic flavors of each food while perfuming them with a smoky note." "The smoker becomes both a preparation and presentation utensil. Placed on a table, it establishes a sort of ritual. We arrange the food, we light the fire in the hearth, then we put out the fire with the bell to stifle the combustion and create smoke. After about thirty minutes, the bell is lifted, a re ..read more

Despite the name, the UK's Grimsdyke Farm is actually a research facility and experimental fabrication workshop for artists, designers and architects. "Established in 2004 by [architect and RCA instructor] Guan Lee, it has been hosting workshops, seminars and residencies with the aim of exploring the essential connections between materials, processes of design, and place," they write. One participant in Grimsdyke Farm's programmes is London-based designer and design researcher Marco Campardo. "Marco's work starts with hands-on experimentation and research to question the nature of contemporary ..read more

Early sewing machine designs failed because the inventors attempted to replicate human motions with mechanical parts. The way humans sew is by drawing a needle all the way through the fabric, thus the needle's eye is at the tail end. There was no workable way, using 19th century technology, to mechanically grab the needle on the underside of the fabric. But by moving the eye to the pointy end of the needle and having it only partially pierce the fabric, while a hook beneath it grabbed only the thread, the designs eventually succeeded. Similarly, right now humanoid robots are trending, with the ..read more

Produced in the 1950s and '60s, this AT-33 sewing table was designed by Hans J. Wegner. (The "AT" is for manufacturer Andreas Tuck, and "33" is the model number.) The frame is oak, and the tabletop and shelf are made of teak. Up top, the design is straightforward and conventional. There are two drop leaves. The drawer is compartmentalized for sewing notions. The rightmost compartment features two types of wooden pins, for holding both cylindrical and conical spools of thread. Moving down below reveals a couple of design details that will seem strange to modern eyes. The first is the sli ..read more

While this design of desk doesn't provide much flexibility for room layout, it is a good example of doing more with less. Made of rosewood and chromed steel, the vintage furniture site reselling it describes it as a wall desk from 1970s France. Although France was not a resource-poor environment, this design of desk, created with more humble materials and a simpler drawer, would make sense in one that was (for instance, a school in a developing nation). While you'd need battens and fasteners, or L-brackets, to secure the desks to the walls, that cost could be outweighed by the savings on ..read more

For the record I think this is a terrible, terrible idea. Sadly I think it's one that a subset of Americans will love, particularly those who suffer from package theft. The PaintCam is a night-vision-equipped security camera that uses facial recognition and "deters intruders with paintball markers," write the developers, OZ-IT. When it spots someone it doesn't recognize, it issues verbal instructions to skedaddle via its speaker. If the intruder chooses to stick around, it fires a paintball at them. Alternatively, you can load it with tear gas projectiles. I'm not kidding, that's what the comp ..read more

Designed by Carlos Jimenez during his internship at NormannCopenhagen and codesigned with the Danish designer Simon Legald, Junto is a collection of carafe and cups that captivates with its traditional charm, revitalized through contemporary approaches. One piece of the collection in particular stands out, and that is the botijo. The design upholds the characteristic elements of the traditional botijo while infusing it with a unique and revitalized aesthetic. As Carlos states "When looking at the pieces from Junto collection people can easily recognize elements and details from traditional po ..read more

Industrial designer Kenji Takeuchi curated "Walking Sticks & Canes," a research exhibition currently running at the Triennale Milano. Takeuchi asked 17 fellow designers to re-imagine the titular object, considering the following: "[The first walking stick] must have been one of those primitive objects that people made on the spot as needed. As time passed, it evolved in step with social changes and cultural developments, naturally taking on different purposes and meanings. At some point, it became a symbol of power and authority or religious status and later an icon of fashion and wealth ..read more

DeWalt's $33 manual Carbon Fiber Composite Staple Gun is made out of the stuff, and thus weighs 50% less. It's actually 2-in-1 tool as it can also fire brad nails. As for design features, it's got a little windows on either side of the nose, so you can see when you're running low on staples/nails. There's also a belt/pocket clip at the back, which can be placed on either side, to accommodate both lefties and righties. The tool is also bottom-loading, rather than slide-loaded (i.e. you pull the slide out, invert the tool, drop the staples straight into an opening in the bottom of the tool ..read more