That’s a big stroke of brilliance for our environment, as one-third of the average U.S. garbage dump today is made up of packaging material. And the situation’s not much better in other industrialized countries, either. According to the EU, Europeans generated roughly 174 kgs (383 pounds) of packaging waste per person in 2018.

Eliminating more of those cardboard boxes and plastic bubble wrap sheets is exactly what was on the mind of industrial design student Sungrai Kim when he invented the “Light Box.” More specifically, his concept uses the cardboard case that houses the electrical kit to become a lampshade. Its biodegradable, economical, and even gives the buyer a little origami practice.

Included in the Light Box is a mini electric light kit with three bulb modules, three solar panels, and a charging wire. The binding string that holds the package together also doubles as the hanging string, while the box itself is marked with both perforated and dotted lines, with enough material to build three separate luminescent configurations.

The first is an indoor hanging light that uses the cardboard as an adjustable lamp shade. It utilizes the package fastening strap and a retaining clip to allow a range of height and brightness.

Secondly, the Light Box can be shaped for the outdoors, similar in style to a flashlight. In this case, the carton folds up into a handheld device with an octagonal grip.

Finally, the contents can be assembled as a show light. Working like a spotlight, this configuration allows users to “enjoy a variety of shadow plays” with the four different shadow graph frames included in the packaging (one even looks like a ship with its sails unfurled). Kim, currently enrolled at Chung-Ang University in Seoul, says the show version can also provide indoor mood ambience.

Because of its solar capabilities, Kim’s creation is super versatile. It can light up your camping trips or provide a cozy glow in an apartment. It could also have widespread applications in poorer areas of the world where electricity is scarce or unreliable. Kim hopes his invention will improve the quality of life for people everywhere.

And of course, this modular lantern is revolutionary in its use of packaging as product. Most companies are simply looking for ways to make packing materials more biodegradable or more sustainably-sourced, but the Light Box is one of a kind in terms of wrapping and shipping the product in itself.

Some notable attempts to compel packaging to at least multi-task include Pizza Hut’s 2016 gimmick that saw its iconic pizza box turned into a DJ turntable, which itself could be Bluetooth-paired and controlled via smartphone phone. Later, in 2019, Puma fashioned the Clever Little Bag, a shoebox for bringing home purchases that morphed into a reusable tote after the shoes and cardboard insert were removed.

For those interested in learning more about Kim’s illuminating handiwork, his Light Box can be found exclusively on Behance.com, a social media platform that aims to “showcase and discover creative work.”

The post This Light is Made Out of Its Own Packaging first appeared on Dornob.

Dubbed “The Black Collection,” the designer’s newest series of chairs came about with multiple goals in mind. Firstly, Kibardin is passionate about sustainable design. He aims to always use materials he already has on hand, or that are otherwise readily available, to show that furniture can be made from almost anything. The cardboard he used for the Black Collection was mostly sourced from his own shop, Kibardin Design Studio, which also means that no additional transport emissions were released while gathering supplies. His other goal is to ruffle the feathers of the mainstream furniture manufacturing industry by reverting back to an era of unique, handmade pieces that stand out in terms of both functionality and personality.

On Kibardin’s website, you’ll find all the pieces that make up the Black Furniture Collection. Some are complete and ready for purchase, while others offer a design that can be made at request. Ever better, each piece is unique in the way of materials used and manufacturing approach, as the designer never uses molds to precisely replicate his pieces. Instead, his process involves forming stacks of flattened cardboard of varying thicknesses, and then shaping them into chairs. While it sounds like this might result in wobbly and questionable support, the durability of Kibardin’s designs has been widely recognized by leading museums, galleries, and competitions around the world.

In fact, the designer’s preference for paper-based furniture has become something of a signature style for him. And while he might sell many of same type of chair, you can always rest assured that your piece will be at least a little different from the rest. To further express this culmination of art and function, each chair is numbered with an authentic design signature from Kibardin himself.

Kibardin sums up his feelings on the project by explaining that “modern minimalism is a freedom from the trappings of consumer culture. It is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important, enhancing the meaning of what we choose to retain. Shifting from the produced to the personalized with environmental concerns about the throwaway culture.”

Unlike standard product design, this type of output is characterized by artistic expression and limited production. To Kibardin, appealing to the masses and making sales are less important than sending a message of sustainability and simplification. In fact, this idea is so important to him that he launched a campaign of sorts at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, encouraging kids and families to build their own paper furniture while they sheltered in place. Kibardin provided online patterns to spark creativity, but he also challenged the kids to create and share their own designs, too.

This “Totem” collection represents a creative artform that can be replicated in homes all around the world. Kibardin states, “Take a look at my Totem furniture collection. It is essentially a condensed version of my vision, which transcends trends by being functional as a serial product and handmade piece of art. I focus on construction and delivering key looks, without the styling and theatrics of a show. I can bring you modern solutions at affordable prices, just collect paper and cardboard packaging, download patterns and manuals, and produce it with your kids.”

The post Vadim Kibardin Creates High-End Furniture from Recycled Cardboard first appeared on Dornob.

Finding yourself in need of a new laptop stand? You don’t have to spend any money at all. Before you go shopping for a product that’s little more than a platform to elevate your computer off your work surface, check out this simple DIY laptop stand tutorial that makes use of a common waste material.

It might not look terribly impressive at first glance, but think for a second on how functional – and cheap – this basic laptop stand design is. It is highly portable, requires nothing you do not already own and costs next to nothing to construct.

The essential steps are fairly self-explanatory: collect a pair of scissors, a used cardboard box and print out the simple shapes you will need to overlay on the cardboard in order to begin cutting out the three pieces to create the stand. Since corrugated cardboard is surprisingly strong for its weight, just two pieces will effectively do all the work to support your laptop.

Fitting together like a puzzle, the recycled cardboard pieces require no glue or fasteners, which means they can come apart as easily as they go together for maximum portability and future reuse. Just slot them together and voila, you’ve got a stand that will last you a while and didn’t cost you a cent.

If you’re not crazy about the look of this one, it would be easy to take the idea and customize it to your liking, with a different shape or size. You really don’t even have to have the pattern or print out any pieces; you might be able to eyeball the example and reproduce it on your own.

The instructions for the version pictured here can be found in greater detail at Green Upgrader, and a slightly more complex (but cooler-looking) Steampunk version can be seen at Thingiverse. 

The post How to Make a Recycled Cardboard Laptop Stand first appeared on Dornob.

The “Wikkelhouse” (which literally translates to “Wrapper House”) is made up of corrugated cardboard that has been glued together with an eco-friendly adhesive, and the construction process is pretty cool. Each house consists of interlocking cardboard segments, each weighing about 1100 pounds (500 kilograms) and measuring about four feet long. Each segment is composed of 24 layers of cardboard and wraps around a house-shaped mold to create a gabled form. The overall house is just under 15 feet (4.5 meters) wide.

These layers of cardboard and glue create a kind of insulation, which in turn is protected by a breathable waterproof film called “Miotex” and covered by wooden cladding boards on the exterior. Inside, the house is lined with plywood for a minimalist but cozy effect, and it’s full of optional built-in features that slot into the frame, including shelves, desks, kitchen counters, and showers. You can add extra segments or change the floor plan whenever you want, making the Wikkelhouse unusually adaptable. Imagine being able to add an extra bedroom to your house for your growing family or insert new space for a home office or studio, all in a matter of hours.

“Each Wikkelhouse is tailor-made by our specialized craftsmen,” says Fiction Factory, the group of Dutch artists who created the home. “Extra windows, different finishings, or your own color scheme — tell us your ideas and make Wikkelhouse even more to your liking. Since Wikkelhouse is sustainably produced and made of materials that have minimal impact on the environment, it is three times more eco-friendly than traditional housing. Forever, the segments can be reused over and over again and are 100 percent recyclable.”

“A one-of-a-kind holiday home, guest house, or office space — Wikkelhouse can be whatever you want it to be. With its friendly design and premium finishings, Wikkelhouse brings comfort in many ways. Even its acoustics are unequaled.”

Each Wikkelhouse is built at the company’s Amsterdam workshop and then transported to the location of the buyer’s choice, requiring no foundation. It takes just a single day to set it up. Each individual module costs $4,500 USD, with the minimum size of three modules totaling $29,000 once delivery and assembly fees have been added on. A complete house with a kitchen and bathroom starts at around $80,000.

Currently, the Wikkelhouse is only available in select European countries and the United Kingdom, and it’s proven so popular, there’s already a waiting list for it. Only twenty can be made at a time in the factory. But between its portability, modularity, and sustainability, it seems safe to say that the Wikkelhouse could be the beginning of an exciting new way to design and erect housing all over the world.

The post Adaptable Cardboard House Sets Up in a Day first appeared on Dornob.

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When it came time to give that former factory the makeover it deserved, Mills was more than ready. His firsthand knowledge of the way industrial spaces should be used and changed has resulted in a dramatic transformation, with an emphasis on precise acoustic engineering to dampen the building’s tendencies to echo while preserving the sounds of adjacent parklands. The factory is now an opulent five-bedroom home built to house three generations in comfort and refinement.

“When you design for yourself, there are no frames of reference,” he says. “I was keen, however, to ensure that there is enough light, that the materials push a strong design ethos and, moreover, that it becomes a family home as opposed to a bachelor pad.”

The heart of the home is a shimmering golden kitchen almost entirely outfitted in brass − a material that’s carried throughout the rest of the home in the form of lighting and bathroom fixtures, ventilation grates, fireplace surrounds, and the lining of each recessed doorway. Materiality is one of the most important elements of the renovation, and Mills’ work in general. He works with things like stone, wood, steel, brass, glass, and stucco to create a sensory experience that’s both visual and tactile.

The velvety stucco creates smooth curves that complement the angular lines of the cabinetry and the gleam of the metal, and it also helps absorb sound. The black and white spiral staircase, which itself has been topped with a round skylight, stands as a sculptural centerpiece that connects the ground level, which serves as its own self-contained apartment for guests and extended family, to the main living spaces on the first floor and the private bedrooms above that.

The black marble that lines this staircase, sourced from a sixth-generation quarry in Verona, contrasts with the paler Fior di Pesco Carnico stone flooring, appearing again in the home’s striking bathroom. Oak, velvet, leather, and linen help make the space feel warm and welcoming, and wide expanses of glazing on the rear walls ensure plenty of natural daylight.

Sustainability was another hugely important factor, Mills explains: “With Armadale Residence we aimed to create a healthy building. To achieve this we looked not only at fresh air and the proximity to the trees and the park but also at the use of organic and low-VOC paints and glues, indirect lighting, cross-ventilation, and low-e glass. It is the experiential aspect of architecture and we are paying more and more attention to it at RMA.”

The post Spinning Cardboard into Gold: Luxurious Factory Renovation in Australia first appeared on Dornob.

How green can your outdoor furniture get? Sure, you can buy recycled plastic lawn chairs, loungers with renewable bamboo frames and cushions covered with reclaimed burlap sacks, but nothing has taken the word ‘green’ more literally than this product.

‘Terra!’ is a flat-pack, biodegradable and recyclable cardboard framework developed by an Italy-based collective of designers. Designed to be set on just about any earthen surface, filled with soil and planted with grass seeds, it results in a surprisingly ergonomic and comfortable seat that ultimately becomes integrated into the landscape.

Originally designed in 2000 and sold commercially through 2005, the Terra! grass armchair features notched cardboard framework elements that are quick and easy to assemble. The project got lots of attention for its clever design and sold out around the world, but its creators ran into some production hiccups and the chair was taken off the market.

On the internet, however, the idea lived on, and prospective customers often contacted the Studio Nucleo design collective hoping to make a purchase. In fact, it was an enthusiastic letter from a fan that encouraged them to look into reviving the grassy chair.

Thankfully, a lot of things have changed in the way products are made in the last decade, placing manufacturing capabilities directly in the hands of designers. That gave Studio Nucleo another chance to get Terra! out into the world. Studio Nucleo no longer has to rely on bigger companies to help create and distribute its product, and the company has made some tweaks to the design that enables an even smoother shipping and assembly process.

This summer, the company turned to Kickstarter to fund a whole new round of production integrating modern laser-cutting technology for precision and consistency. The whole thing packs up as slim as a flattened cardboard box.

The campaign was a smashing success, surpassing its funding goal, and the first backer rewards are set to ship in October 2016 before the product is officially available for sale to the public.

To celebrate, Studio Nucleo expanded the product range beyond the original armchair. New offerings include a mini cushion, kids chair, a miniature for gardens and terrariums, a two-seater sofa, a three-seater sofa and even site-specific installations, like a long curving sofa big enough for a group.

The concept is so simple, it’s a wonder we don’t see similar modified grassy mounds more often. Once you see the Terra! in action, it’s easy to envision everything from complete living room setups to stadium seating made primarily of earth and covered in grasses or durable sedum. The framework could easily be replicated on a larger scale, conserving resources and eliminating a whole lot of waste.

“Design products are made to be used, and disposed,” says Studio Nucleo. “TERRA! instead is a living product, it grows as a tree grows. As the world around you grows, so does your Terra! To take care of TERRA! you don’t have to be a designer, an architect or an artist. The pleasure of TERRA! is not only found in its ‘functionality.’ It is also found in the making of your own place to relax, growing a piece of nature, a place where we can all experience the peace.”

The post Grassy DIY Seats Sprout Up From Your Yard first appeared on Dornob.

Humor and funerals don’t often appear in the same sentence, but Creative Coffins tries to brighten sad, dark days with its colorful, often whimsical, casket designs. Indeed, some will definitely raise a smile, such as the “Rest in Peas”option (above), the chocolates or the popcorn carton.

Whether you want roses for Grandma or a scenic “Gone Fishing” image for Uncle Jim, there are plenty of options. You can go colorful and classy or bright and silly, depending on the person who will be residing in the casket or the approach of your family. Whatever you choose, you can bet you’ll turn some heads.

What can you get on your Creative Coffin?

“Virtually anything is possible,” say the designers. They can select pictures from a large photo library, but if you want a particular image, they’ll do their best to track it down for you.

They explain:

“Please bear in mind, though, that company and sports club logos and images such as cartoon characters may be subject to copyright and require the relevant permission. Nevertheless, we have found most organizations to be very understanding.”Can’t decide what type of coffin you’d like to custom-order? Fear not—the company has an impressive selection of stock designs you can order, and they are divided into several broad, browsable categories: flags, natural, pastimes, personal and sports.

Every Creative Coffin comes with free personalization, so you can include your relative or friend’s name, date of birth and death, and perhaps an apt saying or a favorite spiritual verse or quote.

The British business started when it found that a sizable number of people wanted to ditch the traditional heavy wooden casket and instead choose an environmentally-friendly coffin with character. They didn’t want just a plain white finish. People were seeking options, a more visible way to commemorate, celebrate and reflect their departed loved ones.

The coffins take advantage of all the latest advances in technology, the designers explain:

“Using cutting-edge engineering and printing techniques enables us to produce a cardboard coffin that has no visible folds, a traditional style rounded lid and a beautiful matte finish.”

Creative Coffins also boasts impressive eco credentials. It sources all its materials locally, which cuts down on transportation costs and fuel, and makes its coffins from 98 percent cardboard and paper, of which 70-percent is recycled (post-consumer waste). And of course, since they are lightweight, they also enjoy transportation savings.

They may be lightweight, but you might be surprised to learn that they are strong enough to carry up to 350 pounds—not too shabby for cardboard and paper!

The construction of the caskets uses only cornstarch glue and environmentally friendly inks, too, compared to the chemical-heavy traditional processing, and the casket handles are fashioned from natural woven cotton. You can also choose biodegradable lining.

While death and funerals are not topics any of us like to think about, Creative Coffins offers a fresh approach that may shake up our notion of sad and somber, all while considering our final impact on the Earth.

The post Creative Coffins: Bringing Quirky Color to Sad Times first appeared on Dornob.

When you hear the phrase “cardboard home,” you might imagine a child’s playhouse or an emergency pop-up shelter not meant for permanent use. The material seems far too disposable and soft to actually form the basis of an entire residence, providing the structural integrity it needs to stand up to the stresses of weather and time. But the Wikkelhouse asks you to take another look at this surprisingly versatile and durable material. In fact, the creators say that this tiny house will last at least 100 years.

Envisioned as a vacation getaway with a minimalist interior, the Wikkelhouse is modular, with 3.9-foot-deep sections in the archetypal shape of a house connecting into a customizable whole. Each module consists of 24 layers of high-quality corrugated cardboard, wrapped and glued around a form.

“Wikkelhouse is what you get when an everyday material finds a groundbreaking purpose,” says Fiction Factory, the company that manufactures the home. They spent four years in research and development to pioneer a new construction technology involving a rotating house-shaped mold to create each module. Once the layers are all glued together, the structure is incredibly strong, with optimal insulation properties.

The buyer decides how many modules go into the home, how they’re arranged, and what materials are used to finish them. You can create your own floorpan and even change it when you feel like it. ‘Smart home segments’ add kitchen and bathroom elements wherever they’re desired, as well as shelves and cabinets.

Since it’s mostly composed of materials that have minimal impact on the environment, the Wikkelhouse is three times more eco-friendly than traditional housing, according to the manufacturers. The segments can be reused over and over again, and are 100% recyclable. Built in a workshop in Amsterdam, the segments are then transported to the location of your choice and connected on the spot, with the whole house constructed in just a single day. There is no need for a foundation, since the house weighs just 1,102 pounds per module.

Each house is finished with waterproofed wood paneling to protect it from the weather, and the end walls can be solid or made entirely of glass to bring in natural light and enable views of your chosen surroundings. Perhaps the coolest part is that when you want to move, you don’t have to leave your house behind – it can simply be loaded up on a truck and transported to your next destination.

The post Wikkelhouse: Compact Cardboard Home is Stronger Than It Sounds first appeared on Dornob.

The words “healthy lifestyle” are so very rarely used in connection with “McDonald’s” that putting them together sounds like kind of a joke. But in keeping with a worldwide trend of increasingly healthy lifestyles, McDonald’s new takeout containers that hang securely on your bike’s handlebars.

The fast food giant worked with Argentinian ad agency Tribal Buenos Aires to create the unique packaging. The folding cardboard container has compartments to keep the sandwich and fries separate along with a hole in the bottom to carry a drink. Everything is held securely so it doesn’t get too banged up during the ride. You’re out of luck if you want to order a salad.

The recyclable container has a cutout at the top that slips easily onto your handlebars. It’s light and compact enough that it won’t add much weight to your ride, and it won’t get in your way while you’re pedaling. McDonald’s rolled out the packaging in Copenhagen, Denmark and Medellin, Colombia. They plan to introduce it in Amsterdam and Tokyo – all four cities are known for their high concentration of cyclists.

More from Phaidon:

“Made of recyclable card, the container opens flat to reveal two compartments for solid food, with the cup of drink lodged securely in a circular hole in the base of the box. Integrated into the top of the box, which is a sea-green colour and carries the McBike logo in orange, is a convenient hook. With the number of big city cyclists hugely on the up, we can’t believe somebody hasn’t done this before. All in all, it’s a great way of ensuring that  tonight’s ‘supper’ is not your last.”

About Tribal Buenos Aires:

“Tribal DDB Worldwide is a digitally centric global advertising agency, headquartered in New York. But you can find them pretty much anywhere: with more than 56 offices spanning 38 countries throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific region, they’re never far from your front door. The first digitally centric agency to win the Grand Prix in Film at the International Advertising Festival at Cannes in 2009, and also the first digitally centric agency to ever win Global Agency Network of the Year from Advertising Age in 2007. Tribal DDB Worldwide is part of Omnicom Group’s DDB Worldwide.”

The post McDonald’s New Packaging Caters to Burger-Loving Cyclists first appeared on Dornob.

When you’re in college or just starting out on your own, moving from one place to another is a frustratingly frequent event. Lots of people at this stage in life accumulate cheap furniture and simply throw it away or give it away rather than having to lug it to yet another home. Room in a Box offers a much more eco-friendly way to move without the need to ditch your old stuff and buy more later.

Room in a Box is basically everything you need to set up a single room, whether it’s in a dorm or a shared house. The cardboard furniture folds flat to fit into an easily-transported box; when you get to your new place, you can assemble everything in less than 30 minutes.

Included in the box are a bed frame, a chair, a desk, a dresser, a garbage bin, and a recycling bin. The dresser consists of four individual boxes that can be moved around and configured in any way you want; the bed frame is made of the same type of boxes (with connectors holding them together) to provide additional storage. All of the pieces are made of 75% recycled materials, and everything is 100% recyclable when you wear it out – which, according to the designers, should take years.

The cardboard is coated with waterproof material so you don’t have to worry about a spill ruining your cool new desk. No tools or glue are needed to assemble or disassemble the furniture, and when you’re between homes everything fits into a neat outer box. The storage box even has wheels and a handle to make it simple to move from one place to the next.

“Typically, furnishing a new place involves certain trips to a furniture company, (often a Swedish one) a rented truck, pulled muscles, a cost of around $1000, and a blister-inducing relationship with an Allan Key… We don’t know who this Allan is, but we can’t say we’re a huge fan. The idea for our business  came while we were undergraduate students experiencing the difficulty of furnishing student housing semester after semester.”

Check it out at IndieGoGo.

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You know the irritated feeling you get after you buy your feline friend a brand new playhouse, only to find him minutes later playing instead with the box it came in? Dutch company Poopy Cat is making it okay for Mr. Whiskers to play around in boxes by introducing a kitty play system made completely of cardboard boxes.

The system is called Boxes, and it’s basically a set of building blocks for you to play with until you get tired of them – and then your cat can crawl around in them. You can take them apart, rearrange the blocks, and unfold them so you can store them flat in a closet when you need to free up some floor space.

Each piece is made from recycled cardboard that can be recycled again once the playhouse has reached the end of its usable life. The kits contain several different sizes and types of chambers for your cat to play in and tunnels to walk through. An assembled kit sort of looks like a hamster play set with tons of places to hide, sleep, and covertly bat at your legs as you walk by.

Blocks comes packed flat and ready for you to fold together. The cardboard components are super-strong and you can paint or draw on them to personalize them. The Blocks system is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to raise cash for their initial production run, and as of publication time they have raised nearly three times their initial goal.

About Poopy Cat

“Our original Poopy Cat product was born out of a moment of panic and epiphany. After losing my kitten Mushi I had been frantically turning my flat over when I found her inside a bag of cat litter. At that point I realized that the cat saw the litter as its garden, not the tray so why not make the tray disposable?”

“Our litter boxes allow the cosmopolitan cat owner to save themselves, their cat and the environment some dignity. The owner wins by having a disposable litter box with a cat friendly design. There are 10 million cats in the UK, each using an average 30k of litter a year, so it’s the perfect low footprint product.” [via appear here]

The post Make Your Cat’s Dream House with Cardboard Building Blocks first appeared on Dornob.

The first generation or two of standing desks were prohibitively expensive, but the health benefits of standing versus sitting have been so lauded that lower-cost options have been popping up all over the place. Now a foldable cardboard version called Refold is throwing its hat into the ring, and it looks promising.

The 100% recyclable kraft cardboard desk is surprisingly strong; it’s able to support the weight of a fully-grown man easily. It comes in three different sizes for users of different heights, and its only drawback may be that its height is not adjustable. It does, however, come with an extra set of legs to turn it into a sitting desk when needed.

The Refold flat-pack furniture design comes in a carrying case with a handle and consists of six pieces. It goes from its flat state in the carrying case to a fully-functional desk in just two minutes with no glue or other fasteners.

Unexpectedly for a cardboard design, the Refold desk can be disassembled and reassembled so you can take your office with you no matter where you go. Refold was developed with philanthropy in mind; the company behind it is working with UNICEF to supply Refold desks to a school in the Pacific Islands. Their Kickstarter campaign includes options to send pieces or whole desks to the school.

“An enjoyable user experience is at the centre of our design process. This has resulted in an assembly that on the surface may appear complex, but in reality is intuitive, memorable and incredibly simple. Not everyone is the same height, so neither are our standing desks. The design comes in three sizes – small, medium & large – to help you achieve an ergonomic work surface. For desks that are going to be shared we recommend medium.”

“Refold is driven by aspirations of giving back and using our designs to ‘do some good’. We see these desks as a product to instigate positive change in the schools of those who are less fortunate. We are honored to be able to collaborate with UNICEF New Zealand to make this happen! “

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Game of frisbee? Pint of beer with a couple friends? Why not both?

Most product packaging is meant to be used once and then thrown away or recycled. It seems a pity to let still-usable materials go to waste, and designer Simon Kern agrees. He created Frisbeer as a way to carry beers for yourself and a couple of friends (or three beers just for you if it’s that kind of day) – then when it has served its first purpose, it turns into a fun toy.

As can be inferred from its name, Frisbeer is a disc-shaped object that’s made to fly. It can hold up to three beers at a time and comes with three finger holes in the center for transporting your drinks from one place to another. Once your beers are removed, the holes in the cardboard disc help it easily sail through the air.

The game Frisbeer is kind of like a weird cross between Ultimate Frisbee and Beer Pong. It involves sailing the cardboard disc through the air toward goalposts and either hitting or not hitting them. Simon Kern’s inventive carrying case is a student project and not an actual product, but it could be the best thing to hit music festivals one day.

“Frisbee is a connection of tray and a frisbee in one object, made from cardboard. It was design for Young Package 2014 design competition, where it received Prize of Slovak Design Center. The idea was to make a package, which after the usage will come out with another function, and so i wouldnt be necesarry to throw it away. Frisbeer is designed for the festivals, where is very useful as a tray, which lets a customer to hold three cups in each hand.After that, it can be used as a proper frisbee.”

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Telling kids about engineering is kind of like trying to explain quantum physics to your goldfish. But show a kid how to use engineering in a  fun way and they’ll never forget those “lessons.” Product designer Brian Lilly came up with a beautifully simple and effective way to teach kids the finer points of engineering through something every kid loves: building forts.

Lilly’s invention is called Buildies. The main part is big blocks that look like giant-size Lego bricks. They have protruding bumps on the top and matching cavities on the bottom, allowing them to interlock safely. Strips of “mortar” have cutouts that hold the blocks together to further stabilize structures.

Roof modules come with the kits, which is important for the defense of any good fort. The roof pieces can also be used in novel ways – building drawbridges, ship hulls, ramps, or whatever else strikes your fancy. The blocks come in a rather dull grey, but this is an intentional design choice. Lilly wanted to make the blocks gender-neutral so builders of any age and gender would feel like the blocks were made just for them. They are infinitely customizable with markers, stickers, wallpaper – whatever is available.

Because there are no rules or patterns, Buildies can be made into anything at all. They could even be helpful for students or adults who want to build temporary custom furniture without spending an arm and a leg.When you’re done building, every block can be folded down and stored flat. As if we weren’t impressed enough with the idea and the execution, the sight of a makeshift Kool-Aid man breaking through a wall totally won us over. Unfortunately, the Kickstarter project fell just short of its goal, but hopefully Lilly will find another way to bring this product to shelves because we can’t wait to build a castle in the dining room.

The post Build Awesome Forts with a Set of Interlocking Cardboard Blocks first appeared on Dornob.