Due to the summer being a typically lackluster time of year for new vehicle releases (unless you’re Chevrolet) design studios tend to branch out and, err, TRY a few things.  It is this time of year that we see all manner of products come from these studios, usually as a Design House in collaboration with some other product entity.

We’ve seen LaCie’s Porsche-designed hard drives, watches from Ducati, bobsleds from Lotus, and even foosball tables from Audi.  While this has been a regular part of the design world for decades, we are seeing the current crop become all the more “in our faces” as the automotive market remains in a lull and the studios look to work outside of the auto industry.

Which brings about a great question:  When is it too much?  Or, is it EVER too much?  Should auto industry studios be MORE involved in the rest of the design world, spreading their talents into areas where Design is sorely missed?

Let us know in the comments, and click the link for more images.

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It’s not often we dive into the world of the ridiculously rich and famous, as our Design instincts regularly tell us that great design doesn’t typically float in their oceans of gaudiness.  However, to further along my inability to tell a story with very, very bad boating-related puns have a look at the latest creation from Philippe Starck: the Motor Yacht A, designed for Russian uber-billionaire Andrey Melnichenko and his uber-hot wife Aleksandra.

Melnichenko, the bad boy of Russian wealth (aren’t they all?) commissioned Starck to create this epic yacht design, throwing away the typical rules of boats of the redonkulously rich in favor of a vessel that can scare the bejeezus out of paddle-boats in its way.  Opting for a sleak, streamlined design, with a more enclosed body (read: none of the crazy amounts of open decks), we can only imagine that Starck’s vision was for a menace on the ocean, able to conjure up images of Battlecruisers and war boats of the 40s.

Leave it up to us Designers to throw a monkey wrench into yet another industry, and leave it up to Russian billionaires to use that wrench in excess.

More photos after the break. Images courtesy YachtSpotter.com and SuperYachtTimes.com.

(Thanks, Sean!)

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We have all heard of Lego Land but what about actually visiting Lego World, as in World Headquarters.  That is just what Gizmodo was able to do and they got a lot of questions answered.  Everyone has had Legos, in fact I am staring at some on my desk right now.  It is amazing to see how far they have come in design and innovation of a plastic brick and yet still are successful at selling the original design from 1958.  This is truly a toy that will endure the times and last forever (because they are plastic).  I am surprised you didn’t see any in the trash that Wall-e was compacting.  (Great movie)  Check out the article and cure those inner questions of Lego.

Click here for the article.

From Gizmodo….

You sent the questions and now here are the answers. Do you want to know how many bricks are produced per minute? How many bricks have been produced n history? What’s the best-selling set ever? What has been the worst? Do they recycle? How did they survive the crisis that almost killed them? How successful is Mindstorms? What are the actual names of each of the pieces? Why there are no blondes in Lego sets? Why there are extra pieces sometimes? Here’s the definitive mega-reference, straight from Lego.

Thanks for the link CShedGo

Complete the following phrase:

Harley Earl is to things that go fast, as James Dyson is to _______.

If you said “things that suck,” then you’re right!  James Dyson is the master of vacuum cleaners.  World famous for his creations, the CEO/inventor is known for bringing about a renaissance of vacuum design, incorporating new materials, cleaning methods, and business models into our everyday, typical Hoovers.

Recently, Dyson also purportedly threw his hat into the electric-car ring, discussing his intentions to create a vacuum motor powerful enough for an electric vehicle.  Those British inventors…  always thinking!

On a recent trip out to Dyson labs, Crunchgear.com had the satisfaction of witnessing Dyson show-off how he tests the durability of their products… by throwing around a vacuum until all the good bits are hanging out, and then proceeding to actually get it to work.

Watch the video, and check out Crunchgear’s journey into his mind.

[EDIT:  Fixed a few of the facts.  Thanks, internet, for your wonderful incorrectness.]

Move over Nalgene.  There is a new bottle in town.  We all know that it is bad for the environment to throw away all those empty water bottles, but we do it anyway.  We don’t want to have to lug around a cumbersome unattractive water bottle all day.  Until maybe now.

The Kor One Hydration Vessel is a sleek stylish vessel made of BPA free Eastman Tritan providing a truly healthy water container.  The hinged cap is a one handed operation and gets rid of the cap/ tether strap design or the loss of the cap in general.  I thought my new Camelbak water bottle was cool but this blows it out of the water (or the water out of the bottle…).  The only downfall is that it will retail come August for 30 bones.  At first I think oh,ok, but then I realize it’s $30 for a water bottle.  Of course once I see one I will still probably buy it.  How about you?  Would you fork over $30 for one?

Check out the pics below of this trendy hotness…. Read more

Step 1:  Take a piece of paper.

Step 2: Drop into water.

Step 3: Surf..?

That’s what Mike Sheldrake set out to do.  Taking surf board construction from a decidedly Product Designer point of view, Sheldrake, bored of his slowly dying surfboard and looking to build his own, came up with the concept of replacing the typically-used foam in a surfboard with a honeycomb-ish lattice isogrid of a lighter-weight material: paper.  Or in this case, cardboard.

Starting with some free modeling software and a few curves, Sheldrake designed the board and had the pieces cut on a CNC router.  After tediously assembling the slotted pieces together to form the lattice, fibreglass sheets are applied and board is born.

Sheldrake is currently perfecting the board’s construction (via several prototypes) and attributes the idea to expanding on  previous efforts to make surfable paper by Tom Morey.

It just goes to show you that great flashes of design often come out of taking a step back and looking at a product in all of its possible simplicity, and applying basic construction techniques to achieve that goal.

Images courtesy sheldrake.net

(Thanks Candice!)

More images after the break! Read more

When we all went to art school we chose design knowing that there would be some sort of income after graduation to pay for all those loans.  While in school you always wondered how the fine artist were going to live in the real world.  I am sure you have all seen the emails that get passed around where an artist creates chalk drawing on the ground, but in perspective.  With the right camera angle the artist can create the illusion of holes or buildings that look 10 stories high, when in reality they are about 100 feet long.  All of that art could now be made profitable.

Here in Detroit drivers have a sixth sense for dodging potholes, but what happens when it is just too big to stradle?  Read more

One thing you’ll find on every designer is an interesting watch.  This is the one accessory that designers will drop a boat load on to have bragging rights of the coolest watch.  I think these watches by Romain Jerome have to top the scales as the most extravagant.  There are not many products out there that can charge more money than a lot of cars and have no guarantee or even be able to touch it.

The metal oxidized ring on the watch (reminiscent of many Michigan vehicles) is actual metal from the Titanic.  Some of the watches have been coated with a substance to preserve the look but one of the models stays true to its material and must be kept in a glass jar filled with argon gas to keep from the continual attack of oxidation.   Why make it a watch that you can’t wear?  Why not just make it clock for a shelf?

Anyway there is also a version that doesn’t even tell time, only if it is day or night.  Do you really need something to tell you that?  Exessive design at its best but they do look sweet.

There will be 2012 watches made in honor of the Titanic which will be available in 2012.  The 100 year anniversary of the 1912 disaster.

Thanks for the link Garrett!

Leave it up to Karim Rashid to come up with inventive, creative concepts for typically mundane objects.

This time, it’s the champagne chiller. Rashid’s Globalight design for Veuve-Clicquot is absolutely stunning, albeit not the most practical. It is, in all effects, a pure study in the beauty and art of product design.

The giant “hoop” contains the champagne cool and provides a handle to carry it with. The LED-lighted inner ring glows from bright to dull, depending on how cold your champagne is. And… well, that’s it. There really isn’t much to this study in beautiful exorbitance.

For more info, and a great synopsis (with photos) on the project, visit Notcot.com

Forget about batteries, power cords and all that crap to charge things.  This is all you need.  About the size of a thumb drive this little baby can charge your usb devices such as a cell phone or ipod.   The Powerstick also has a sweet fuel gauge that will surely hit our automotive hearts.  For $70 bucks this could be a life saver when the power goes out or you just don’t have access to a plug.

Thanks to Uncrate for link.