Tradition dictates that to properly enjoy a premium whisky you pour it from an elaborately chunky crystal decanter into an unfeasibly heavy tumbler. Weight has long been an outward signifier of quality in the whisky industry, and the luxury industry in general, but this week, Johnnie Walker launched the world’s …
Read More »The Internet’s Favorite Lamp Company Now Lets You Customize Colors—and Everything Else
Ian Yang has a bright idea about lamps. But also much more than that. Yang is the CEO of Gantri, the lighting company that 3D prints its carefully designed creations to make all sorts of shapes and form factors. 3D printing has its challenges, but it has opened up all …
Read More »Humans Are Going to the Moon’s South Pole. This Is How They’ll Drive There
In 2030, about six years from now, American astronauts will return to the surface of the moon. When they land, they’ll face the same challenge as millions of freshly licensed teenagers the world over: They’ll need a sweet ride. The lunar mission, called Artemis V, is slated to send two …
Read More »The Olympics' Hostile Architecture Is a Preview of What's to Come
On a graffiti-stained sidewalk in Paris, a strange sight appeared days before the Olympic opening ceremony in July: Around 40 giant cement Lego-like blocks in neat rows beneath the Pont de Stains, a bridge in the northern suburb of Aubervilliers that connects two Olympic sites, the Stade de France and …
Read More »You Won’t Believe What Car Headlights Have in Store
Sure, duh: Vehicle lights serve the important and vital safety function of allowing drivers to see where they’re going, and everyone else to see when they’re coming. But for decades, car designers have clocked headlamps and tail lights as an opportunity for creativity, to build a distinctive brand that says, …
Read More »A Self-Healing Pole Vault Pole Is One Great Leap for Sports Tech
Pole vaulting is one of the more outlandish Olympic events. The primary instruments of the sport are curious creations—big sticks, between 10 and 17 feet in length, that certain track & field Olympians hold while sprinting, then jab into the ground and hang on to as they hurl themselves through …
Read More »The Time Is Right for a Folding iPhone
The Android world has enjoyed folding smartphones for six years, but Apple stans may soon be able to take part—a folding iPhone might arrive in 2026, according to a report from The Information. The project, codenamed V68, is in early development and there's no guarantee it will come to fruition, …
Read More »The Sensations of Slime Are Serious Business
On its earnings call at the end of April, Newell Brands, which owns the 70-year-old Elmer's Glue business, reported historically positive numbers for the first quarter of 2024. It was Elmer’s first cash-flow-positive Q1 in four years, and only its second positive quarter since 2016. This growth is mostly thanks …
Read More »Health Care Should Be Designed for the Extremes of Life
“The adoption of new ideas and the pace of change in health care can lag behind other innovations that consumers experience every day,” says Yves Behar, an industrial designer and founder of design firm fuseproject. People, Behar continues, become frustrated when they contrast their experience in clinics and hospitals versus, …
Read More »Boring Architecture Is Starving Your Brain
Designer Thomas Heatherwick thinks the construction industry is in a crisis. “We’ve just got so used to buildings that are boring,” says the man behind London’s revived Routemaster bus, Google’s Bay View, and New York’s Little Island. “New buildings, again and again, are too flat, too plain, too straight, too …
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