Bedding pioneers Michael Rothbard and Chris Ann Ernst helped introduce visco memory foam to the U.S. market almost two decades ago with their first company, Comfort Sleeper. The business was extremely successful and grew into a $50 million dollar operation in five years. Now joining forces once again, they have recently co-founded a new specialty sleep company called Sleep Studio, LLC.
Sleep Studio is named for just that – a studio dedicated to creating innovative sleep products around their customers. Their new line of products includes accessories such as pillows and mattress toppers, as well as five different customizable bed systems that focus on dual comfort, pressure relief and support. Each one of Sleep Studio’s bed systems – the VX, SX, SO, LX and the Signature, can be customized with your choice of fabrics, colors and styles.
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Russia has traditional tea ceremony which use water heating container (samovar) to keep the tea hot. This design aim was to create an original samovar not based on the traditional prototypes and to demonstrate that an object may look very different, but still keeps its main function – to heat the water. A charcoal-burning samovar that doesn’t need electricity and gives a possibility to take part in the process of brew-up and the following tea ceremony in a big company. This fascinating design won Red Dot Design Awards in 2007.
The pipe construction allows an effective use of heat-producing value of a charcoal, distributing it homogeneously.
Double body with a thermal insulation is safe in use. The low temperature on the upper shell allows the use of non conventional materials for refinishing of a body, such as wood or leather.
A complicated form of a internal reservoir gives a unique method of water preparation, which is typical for samovars. Because of a natural convection, the liquid intensively circulates, mixes up and homogeneously and gradually warms up. The efficiency of a samovar is no less than 70%.
The high volume and the construction allow preserving the water warm for a long time and providing a possibility for a leisured conversation without a necessity to add water to the samovar.
Designer : ManWorksDesign
Using soft materials, this Soft Phone concept is a finalist in Tancher Award 2008. The interface features its fabric material, to define the function modules by extrusion and fold. This soft phone concept is based on the fabric digital display technology, which will lead to a new experience in more flexible cell phone operation. Jian Qian says “The Bluetooth earphone buckled to the string can charge the phone by Electromagnetic Induction. The material of the interface is fabric while the one of clip and circle is silica gel, which makes the phone very soft and portable.”
Different directions of extruding make different functions for the phone and the camera.
Camera Usage (Extruding vertically)
Extruding to a little extend: focus (take photos) ,
Extruding to a larger extend: pulling the trigger
Release: Photo finish
Designer : Jian Qian
Another innovative design concept from Nokia, the morph concept. Featured in The Museum of Modern Art ?Design and The Elastic Mind? exhibition, the Morph concept device is a bridge between highly advanced technologies and their potential benefits to end-users. Developed by NRC (Nokia Research Center) in collaboration with the Cambridge Nanoscience Centre (United Kingdom), Morph is a concept phone that using nanotechnology which enables materials and components that are flexible, stretchable, transparent and remarkably strong. Users should be able to transform their cell phone into different shapes.
From the website :
“Morph concept technologies might create fantastic opportunities for mobile devices: * Newly-enabled flexible and transparent materials blend more seamlessly with the way we live
* Devices become self-cleaning and self-preserving
* Transparent electronics offering an entirely new aesthetic dimension
* Built-in solar absorption might charge a device, whilst batteries become smaller, longer lasting and faster to charge
* Integrated sensors might allow us to learn more about the environment around us, empowering us to make better choices”
We probably see this technology another 5-7 years in the future, by using nanotechnology, hopefully can lead to low cost manufacturing solutions and the possibility of integrating complex functionality at a low price.
Source : Nokia
Fred de GARILHE tried to create a 2 in1 phone: sms position when closed, easy to use as a pager, “pebble” form to imitate surf and beach spirit… special materials as neoprene texture to create a fusion with Quiksilver apparel collections. When the phone’s opened, the screen is double larger, that permit to navigate on a mobile web system, watch TV or movies.
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