The only way to prevent package theft is to make sure your deliveries are secured from the moment they arrive. If you’re fed up with porch pirates and have some cash to spare, the new Aristos Home Smart Dropbox is well worth considering. Currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter, the device is about the size of a trash can, securely mounts to the ground or the wall, and comes with extra features that make it more secure than the average drop box.

Aristos’ creators explain that over 210 million packages were stolen between 2020 and 2021, and that 64% of Americans reported being victims of package theft during this time. The problem is that most residential package drop boxes and lockers only deter the most casual of thieves — they either rely on keeping deliveries out of sight as thieves are cruising by, or they use simple padlocks that are all too easy to cut. Like most drop boxes, the Aristos keeps packages dry and protected, and it offers an anti-theft delivery slot that stops hands from going in the unit. But it also goes a lot further than that.

Made of strong metal and weighing nearly 40 pounds, the Aristos has an internal capacity of 75 liters and offers four methods of unlocking: by key, by fixed numeric pass code, by a one-time-use passcode texted to the carrier, or by remote unlock. Most people would likely use the fixed passcode to retrieve their packages, with the key as a backup option in case the unit lost power for some reason. But the remote unlock and one-time-passcode features allow you to leave returns on your porch for pickup, or enable the delivery of packages that are slightly too big to fit in the delivery slot.

The Aristos Home Smart Dropbox records every “event” and notifies you via an app, so you know if packages have been delivered, if someone has accessed the contents, if the batteries are low, and if there are any attempts to tamper with the box. If the door isn’t properly closed after retrieval or the wrong password is input, the box sounds an alarm and notifies all family members using the app. Each device can share up to 50 accounts. The Aristos uses the Tuya Smart platform, which also connects to a variety of smart cameras, doorbells, and locks (sold separately by other manufacturers).

If you’re concerned about any viruses or bacteria your package may have come into contact with on its journey, the Aristos also has a solution for that. An atomizer at the top of the unit disinfects packages with hypochlorous acid water in tiny particles that won’t harm the packaging or contents. The unit itself is made of shock-resistant commercial quality cold-rolled steel and ABS plastic that’s one-millimeter thick to protect contents from extreme weather conditions, from -13 degrees to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. It fixes to the ground or wall with M8 screws.

With an MSRP of $478, the Aristos costs about the same as the Delivery Safe ($449), another popular lockable delivery box option with similar features that’s specially designed for food deliveries. It’s significantly less than the Box Sentinel, which is considered the gold standard drop box but costs a whopping $1,895 for a through-the-wall model and $2,995 for a standalone cabinet model.

Obviously, if you’re on a budget, none of these options are going to be particularly appealing unless you’re regularly ordering high-value packages and risking a lot of theft. For many people, the combination of a security camera and something like the Durabox Package Drop Box will have to do. But if you catch the Kickstarter, you can get the Aristos for up to 67 percent off at just $159 with an Early Bird pledge.

The post Aristos Home Smart Dropbox Protects Your Packages from Porch Pirates first appeared on Dornob.

Winner of a 2021 Red Dot Design Award, the Ventje campervan comes complete with a flexible central space that acts as a bedroom, living room, office, and dining room, as well as a tailgate kitchen that can be used from in or outside the van. The custom IKEA-style built-in furniture found throughout folds, unfolds, and transforms to offer work surfaces and plentiful storage. Would you believe there’s a toilet hidden inside, too?

Instead of placing the bed at the rear, Ventje centers it within the main area. By day, it can either function as benches that face a fold-out table, sort of like a restaurant booth, or it can be arranged into an L-shaped sofa to lounge and watch TV. By night, you simply lower the table surface and move the cushions for a nearly queen-sized bed measuring 55 inches wide and 83 inches long. This setup might not be similar to that of other campervans, but centering it allows for what might be the Ventje’s best quality: a surprisingly spacious kitchen.

When the seating is arranged as the L-shaped couch, the kitchen set along the rear can easily be accessed from the interior. Campervans are often designed so that the kitchen is either exclusively indoors, set directly behind the cab, or exclusively outdoors, accessed by opening the rear doors and standing outside. Ventje’s design isn’t just more practical, it also makes it easier to access storage under the counter. The kitchen features a dual-burner propane stove/sink combo, a 7-gallon freshwater tank, a cutting board, a refrigerator beneath a hinged panel, and bi-directional drawers that swing in or outside the van.

The campervan even has spare flat-pack outdoor chairs stored beneath the benches, so you can pull up a seat to a removable tabletop attached to the outer kitchen frame to create an outdoor dining and work surface. Also located beneath the benches are the toilet and a 95-Ah battery for the rooftop solar panel system. Extra storage compartments can be found in the driver and passenger sidewalls, where you’ll also find 12V electrical sockets and USB charging ports. In addition to the bed for two, another two people can sleep in the somewhat narrow pop-top bed.

Ventje uses either secondhand Volkswagen T5 vans or brand new T6.1 vans as the base for their campervan builds, with prices ranging from $52,600 to $73,600. That’s not bad for a specialty vehicle, but this is where the Ventje’s compact size is extra handy. When everything is all packed up, you can use it as your everyday driver, provided you don’t need to seat more than two passengers (in addition to the driver).

As the company explains: “Ventje is an extension system for Volkswagen buses or transporters, facilitating quick and easy conversions into campervans. With this product, the manufacturers and the designers have got their fingers on the pulse of the times, as it allows people to gain maximum use from a potentially already-available or relatively inexpensive-to-buy vehicle. The effort-benefit ratio of this solution is outstanding. It is fundamentally very simple, modular and logical, with surprising details, and it is smart and practical.”

The post Ventje’s VW Campervan is Conveniently Compact and Impressively Equipped first appeared on Dornob.

Fast forward to 1985. While most people were flocking to theaters to enjoy the fun, futuristic romp Back to the Future, the pop-up camper industry was on the cusp of a futuristic innovation of its own: the awning (also known as the “de markies”). A relatively new concept at the time, the idea was initially developed by Dutch architect Edward Böhtlingk for an architectural competition. Styled as a mobile home and envisioned as an accordian-like caravan that could expand in seconds with a simple push of a button, it was indeed the camper of the future.

Meant to combine “temporary living with a creative travel experience,” Böhtlingk’s cool camper didn’t exactly appear extraordinary on the surface. A box-like construction while traveling, the magic didn’t truly happen until the camper arrived at its destination. There, with the push of a button, the camper would increase to approximately three times its size, complete with distinct spaces that included a bedroom, a small kitchen with appliances, and a sitting room, in addition to several storage spaces built in throughout. While this type of expansion may seem commonplace in today’s camper vans, at the time it was quite the innovation.

Despite Böhtlingk’s success with the concept, the studio wouldn’t go on create a prototype until ten years later, subsequently winning a Rotterdam Design Prize in 1996. Still, it never ended up reaching the market, depriving holiday-makers everywhere of its bigger on the inside,TARDIS-like construction. Perhaps it was simply ahead of its time. Introduced during the excesses of the 1980s, its minimalist, compact simplicity would be much more attractive to today’s campers, who are increasingly embracing design-forward, autonomous structures that allow for more transformative camping experiences.

Next year, this innovative blast from the past will finally have its moment. A project almost 36 years in the making, Böhtlingk’s ‘”folding caravan” will finally meet the public at the 2022 Geneva Architecture Exhibition. With potential investors at the ready, it’s possible that this time-traveling camper will finally reach the market to take its place among its more contemporary fellows. And who knows? By the end of the decade, these small but mighty caravans may even replace their larger, more imposing camper cousins – and prove once again that good ideas never really go out of style.

The post Meet the De Markies: the Innovative Mobile Home That Never Was first appeared on Dornob.

Poster @katallen8 uploaded 43 seconds of video reviewing her new Super Deal Portable Washer-Dryer from Amazon, and it quickly garnered 3.7 million views. It’s compact nature, ability to be used in a bathroom, and under-$200 price point caught the attention of laundromat-weary consumers all over the world.

Here are the specs that make this machine so attractive:

Size

The Super Deal Portable Washer-Dryer is small enough to be tucked into a coat closet at just 23 inches long by 13.5 inches wide by 26 inches tall. And weighing just 26 pounds, it can easily be moved around an apartment, or even carried around on a long-distance RV trip.

Capacity

The washer drum has a 13-pound clothing capacity, which according to @katallen means one load can hold “six pillowcases, two sets of scrubs, and socks.” While that’s certainly not a full traditional load, when you don’t have to leave the comfort of your own home, doing several small loads suddenly seems like much less of a hassle.

The dryer, however, only holds a five-pound load, so some clothes may need to hang on the shower bar or similarly be split up into multiple loads. Some reviewers do warn that the dryer really doesn’t get clothes completely dry – rather, they come out just slightly damp and often still need to hang for a few hours to fully dry out.

Ease of Use

Another plus for this unit is how easy it is to use in any space with waterlines. You don’t even need any kind of insulation. Just connect the hose to a sink, fill the machine with water, and let the rinse water drain into a bathtub, sink, or bucket at the end of the cycle. The controls are also super straightforward, allowing users to choose washer times up to 15 minutes with a five-minute spin cycler timer.

Cost

@katallen told the world she bought the washer-dryer for $196, but interested buyers are in even more luck, as Amazon has since dropped the price to just $154. That makes it a super affordable option for both college students and apartment dwellers across the U.S.

Of course, some of the comments on TikTok reveal that this type of machine has been standard fare for people around the world for many years now.

“It’s so funny seeing people buy this now a days [because] I remember seeing this in my grandma’s house in the Dominican Republic in the countryside,” laughed one commenter. Another said, “Imagine them being ‘in wow’ when that’s what we use in the Caribbean,” while another still added: “Do Americans not know that twin tubs like these are the standard washing machines in most of Africa?”

Even if the U.S. is a little slow to the portable, affordable washer-dryer party, we’ve caught on now and people are excited. One Amazon reviewer raved, “I didn’t believe this machine could do so much. I love it!” and another gushed “We LOVE it! Sure beats sitting in a laundromat and I can get a couple of loads in before I begin my day!” The Super Deal Portable Washer-Dryer is available here for those eager to ditch the laundromat for good.

The post Amazon’s Mini Washer-Dryer Frees Apartment Dwellers from Laundromat Letdowns first appeared on Dornob.

The Lumina webcam offers three essential features that set it apart from all the others. First, it uses artificial intelligence and a CMOS sensor to auto-correct for ideal color. The user simply holds up the included color card and it automatically pairs with the camera, giving the system a baseline “for realistic color which is used to repair color deficiencies, find the perfect exposure levels, and correct for lighting temperature.” Users can customize even further, if desired, by fine-tuning the camera’s 30-plus settings and parameters.

Second, it allows for a DSLR bokeh effect with its innovative blurring techniques. Inspired by the way 3D gaming engines use blur functions, Lumina can keep the user looking crisp and crystal clear while softly fading the background, allowing the focus to stay entirely on the person in the center. Users can manually adjust the amount of blur and even add RGB/HSV transformations if desired.

Third, Lumina includes an auto-framing “cameraman” feature that tracks the subject’s face and body position. This means the background will be ideally composed no matter how often a person moves around during a call. The ultra-wide 95-degree field-of-view lens works with the AI Cameraman software to “adjust everything from video framing, transition speeds, reaction time, and even the transition easing curve to be more fluid and natural.”

The camera’s compact body is made of aluminum, with a choice of four sophisticated colors: gold, rose gold, dark gray, and silver. And at just 2.75 inches long, it’s even smaller than a tube of lipstick. The Lumina package also includes a magnetic privacy cover “that snaps on like magic,” a camera mount, two USB-C cables, and a 17-patch color card for calibration.

Being able to appear perfectly photogenic on each online interaction is apparently a prevalent desire, as Lumina’s Indiegogo campaign raised over 5,000 percent of its funding goal from more than 4,000 supporters with six days left to go.

Lumina’s CEO Raymond Lei is no stranger to finding a need and filling it. After a frustrating interaction while trying to order t-shirts for his high school tennis club, Lei was inspired to improve the online shopping experience for everyone. Starting with just $2,000, he started his own t-shirt company “ooShirts.” After its massive success, he dropped out of UC Berkeley to create Scalable, a multi-million dollar firm that builds e-commerce infrastructure for entrepreneurs. After a year of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, he realized the universal lack of video quality for conference calls and decided to solve that problem, too. Together with Chief Technology Officer Mike Xia, they created the Lumina 4K webcam to give everyone a leg up on Zoom.

Early bird backers of the crowdfunding campaign were offered the AI webcam package for $170, a 32-percent discount from the intended price. The website says Lumina will start shipping sometime after mid-October 2021.

The post Lumina: World’s First AI-Powered Webcam Brings Hollywood Effects to Your Zoom Calls first appeared on Dornob.

That’s all great, but how well does this tiny portable dishwasher actually work? It’s a little too early to say, but the design is definitely promising. Measuring about 17 inches in height, length, and width, it’s easily small enough to fit on the counter of a tiny house, camper van, or RV and weighs just 25 pounds. Perhaps the Tetra’s greatest strength is the fact that it’s truly portable, requiring no plumbing at all to function. You just plug it in, fill the three-liter freshwater tank, load it up, and select a cleaning cycle. When it’s done, you dump out the gray water tank, which can be opened up for a full cleaning when needed.

The “standard” setting is for plates, bowls, glasses, and silverware, and the “eco/short” setting is for quick washes. Choose “stemware” for delicate glasses, “plastic” for items that are at risk of melting in regular dishwashers, and “fruit/vegetables” to wash produce (or whatever else you need to sanitize) without detergent. The shortest setting cleans in about 30 minutes, and the dishes will be totally dry within an hour.

The Tetra fits up to three place settings at a time, along with utensils and whatever other objects you can cram in there. Considering the small size of the load, you might wonder if this unit is actually just a waste of water and energy compared to hand washing. But according to Heatworks, using the Tetra to wash your dishes for just one meal a day can save over 15,000 liters of water in a single year. It also consumes less power than a standard dishwasher, using Ohmic Array Technology to heat water sort of like a microwave instead of traditional metal heating elements.

Another big convenience built into this little appliance is its detergent cartridge system. All the components of the detergent, including prewash, enzymes, and spot removal are kept separate within the cartridge so they can be custom-dosed according to the cleaning setting you choose. Each cartridge lasts at least 20 loads and costs $8.99, with replacements available online. If you’re the type to stay stocked up so you don’t run out, that probably works fine for you, but others might find it annoying that they can’t just pick up any old detergent at the store.

Tetra isn’t the first countertop dishwasher to hit the market, but it appears to be the most advanced thus far. Heatworks says the Tetra cleans 50 percent more dishes using 40 percent less water in 55 percent of the time of the leading countertop dishwasher, a Farberware model with a retail price of $399. First announced back in 2018, the Tetra is finally available to preorder for the same price, but it’ll cost $499 when the presale is over, so grab it now if you want one. Heatworks expects to begin shipping the Tetra by May 18th, 2022, which is apparently “No Dirty Dishes Day.”

The post From Dishes to Sex Toys, the Tiny Tetra Countertop Dishwasher is Ready for Your Dirty Stuff first appeared on Dornob.

Unveiled on December 11th at the China International Industrial Design Expo, the “Slide-phone” features three foldable screens attached by hinges folding over vertically in the same direction. Technically, there’s no real sliding action involved, but rather an “unfurling,” as Engadget put it. The first segment offers a clock and notifications, the second opens the camera for selfies or video calls, and the third reveals the full seven-inch widescreen display you need to perform most tasks, play games, or watch movies.

A built-in stylus provides a finer level of precision on the touchscreen than your fingers allow. Another unusual feature is the suede leather-covered hinges, a material you don’t see on phones…well, ever, really.

“In addition to playing videos with an operable side panel, the user may also enjoy the phone as a controller in game mode with panels on either side, in multitask mode with numerous apps displayed in a row, and panoramic photography mode in full screen,” says Nendo. “The controls on the side of the phone are shaped like ellipses cut in half, functioning as two to four buttons, becoming small, semicircular buttons or combining into one large button as the folds slide up and down.”

“Further, the stylus ordinarily inserted in the phone may be taken out for use and the phone folded in half to give the user the feeling of writing in a notepad. The notion resulted in an interface allowing the user to open and close the upper half of the screen to, as it were, flip the page. The hinges are covered with suede leather to prevent the impression that, for having three hinges, the phone is an inorganic, rigid contrivance.”

The “music-link” feature allows the Slide-phone to interact with a constellation of other devices like a smartwatch, an AI speaker, a portable charger, and a wireless charger, all designed with a similar sleekness. As OPPO explains, “when the TWS earphones and portable charging case are placed on the AI speaker, users can enjoy a seamless music experience transitioning from headphones to speaker. This symbiotic design between devices, and the emphasis on portability and convenience, reflects OPPO’s integration of technology and human-centricity in its design philosophy.”

Folding smartphones aren’t a brand new concept, of course. Samsung’s book-style folding Galaxy Z Fold and Fold2 are widely available now for about $1,379 and $2,000 USD, respectively, and Huawei offers the similar Mate Xs with an edge-to-edge outer display for about $3,900 USD. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip and Motorola’s Razr 2020 are clamshell-style folding phones that become impressively compact when closed. But none of these designs are quite as flexible in use as the Slide-phone, nor do they fold down as impressively small (about the size of a credit card).

For now, the Slide-phone is just a concept, and it’s hard to say whether it’ll ever actually go up for sale. But it could be a peek at where smartphone design is headed in the future. Are you intrigued?

The post Nendo’s New Folding Slide Phone is the Size of a Credit Card first appeared on Dornob.

Capable of washing dishes for two in under twenty minutes, “Bob” is the brainchild of Paris startup Daan Tech. It made its debut at CES 2019, but it’s getting renewed attention for its newly-added UV-C light, which allows for a waterless sanitization cycle that can disinfect all kinds of objects, including phones, face masks, keys, and other small household items. The ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) eliminates bacteria and viruses in just a few minutes.

The company explains that “while most of the world has been locked down, Daan Tech used that time to find a convenient solution on how to sanitize items while continuing building its manufacturing capacity for its small innovative dishwasher. UVGI is an easy and safe way to sanitize items. Thus, it will be an option offered for an extra £49, now available at a discounted price of only £39. With this option, in addition to cleaning the dishes, Bob autonomous dishwasher sanitizes any objects measuring less than 27 x 27 x 34 cm or 10.6 x 10.6 x 13.8 in.”

“Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation or UVGI has been used for years to sanitize drinking water and sterilize tools in hospitals. More recently, it has been used in US hospitals to cope with the mask shortage. The principle is simple: sending high-energy photons whose wavelength is between 200nm and 280nm (with an efficiency peak at 270nm) on viruses. Photons, or light particles, break the RNA of viruses and make them harmless to humans. However, due to their high energy, UV-C rays are also harmful to human cells and can cause skin and eye burns. That is why Daan Tech designed a safe way to use them within Bob autonomous dishwasher.”

The compact dishwasher itself is great for people living in small spaces like apartments, RVs, tiny houses, and boats. It uses five times less water than manual dishwashing, and you don’t even have to connect it to a water line, since it has its own built-in three-liter refillable water tank. It weighs just 22 pounds (10kg), measures just 19.2 inches tall, and can fit a full day of dishes for two people, including four plates, four glasses, two cups, two bowls, a small saucepan or frying pan, and cutlery. There’s also a 10-minute glasses-only mode if you’re just washing cups.

The body comes in either black or white, and you can get the door in black, white, silver, red, orange, yellow, two shades of green, two shades of blue, purple, or pink. It has a drainage hose you simply direct into a nearby sink and features two handles for portability. The new version with the UV-C light is currently available for preorder for €299.90 (about $350 USD).

There is, unfortunately, one catch. “Bob” is only shipping to the European Union and United Kingdom for the time being. You might be able to get around that by having an overseas friend receive it and ship it to you, however. Otherwise, let’s hope some United States-based companies are working on a similar idea.

The post Bob: An Ultra-Compact Dishwasher That’s Also a COVID-19 Sanitizer first appeared on Dornob.

Indoor plant growing systems with varying degrees of automation control the lighting, watering, fertilizing, and other needs, while others tell you when the ambient room temperature isn’t optimal. You can even get robotic planters that will crawl over to a light source as needed.

This compact tech-assisted planter has a unique feature of its own. A telescopic multi-spectrum LED grow light popping up from the PICO pot can be raised or lowered in a single motion, effectively growing with your plant. Made of food-safe, recyclable BPA-free plastic and corrosion-resistant stainless steel, the PICO boasts “the smallest grow light module ever,” powered by high-performance grow lights from OSRAM.

All the necessary wavelengths of light are present to grow plants year-round, even if your space lacks natural light altogether. Each color wavelength stimulates a specific biological function in plants, like supporting healthy leaf growth or flowering. The planter’s telescopic arm is reminiscent of a vintage radio antenna, extending up to a foot in height to accommodate most small houseplants and edible plants like herbs.

Crucially for people who need a lot of plant care help, the PICO is self-watering, too.

The PICO’s official crowdfunding page explains that “regardless of how busy you are, PICO’s watering system makes sure your plants have as much water as they need — no more, no less — to sustain their health and beauty. All you need to do is top-up once a week. Watering too little can kill your plants, but so can too much. Getting it right takes time and experience. Not many of us have it. With PICO, that’s all taken care of for you!”

“The transparent window lets you know when it’s time to top up, typically once a week. Employing just capillary action and gravity, this design does not require any power supply or involve a motor or pumps. Your plants will also grow quicker and healthier due to root oxygenation from below, provided by the ventilation holes.”

Two USB-C cables are included to power the PICO, including a short double-ended option and a ten-foot cable with magnetic organizer loops that will help you route the cable around objects and appliances in your home. Any phone charger power block can be used with these cables. Multiple ports in the grow lights allow you to daisy chain up to three PICOs together to form a mini garden, or you can create an “indoor jungle” of six units connected through a 5V charger.

This mini all-in-one planter is perfect for ultra-small spaces, too. A variety of different mounting options including magnets, velcro, and wall mounts make it easy to put it up out of the way almost anywhere you can imagine, including refrigerators, glass windows, and even vehicle interiors.

PICO’s creators recommend plants like English ivy, spider plants, pilea, zebra plants, succulents, aloe, rosemary, and lavender for room-freshening effects like boosted air quality, pleasant scents, and meal embellishments. Get the details for pre-ordering at Kickstarter.

The post The PICO Mini Garden Features Lights That Grow With Your Plants first appeared on Dornob.

Reintroduced on Kickstarter this fall, “Snowfeet” is a pretty simple concept. They’re made of a highly durable, lightweight fiberglass-reinforced material with metal ski edges and adjustable bindings. They’re only slightly longer than your footwear, too, upturned at the ends like regular skis so you can slide down snowy hills with ease. They also have heel brakes, giving you a bit of control over your speed.

The Snowfeet creators say these strap-on mini skis are ideal for bringing to downhill ski slopes, cross-country ski trails, and snow parks, but you could also use them on forest trails, hilly public parks, and other places with enough snow pack to ski on. Because they’re so compact, you also have more freedom of movement than you normally would with skis, enabling you to attempt more tricks than you might ordinarily dare. But they’re also friendly to total beginners, and arguably less intimidating than conventional ski gear.

They come in two versions: Snowfeet II and Snowfeet X. The latter is a bit more robust, featuring an additional pair of toe straps and ladder straps as well as extra screws, nuts, and an edge tuner stone. The company says that while the original design is “great for those who just want to have fun in the snow,” the X is “great for those who take this sport seriously and require the highest quality without compromise.”

The design is small enough to easily fit into a backpack, though each pair already comes with a storage bag of its very own. You don’t even need ski poles to use them, though you might want to have some anyway, just for fun. The creators recommend using Snowfeet with any winter shoes or snowboard boots with bindings, particularly waterproof shoes that fit your ankle firmly.

They add: “You can use Snowfeet on snow that is not deeper than +/- 20 centimeters. Snowfeet are best on ski slopes, snow parks, forest paths, and off the slopes too, just not in deep powder. By the way, most skis and snowboards are not suited for deep powder either.”

One size fits men’s sizes five through 13 and women’s sizes 6.5 through 14.5, which does, unfortunately, leave some people out — including kids. Maybe a future version will be a little more inclusive of people with smaller and larger-than-average feet.

Feeling intrigued? The original Snowfeet design is currently available online at the company’s website or on Amazon for about $150.

While the Kickstarter campaign for the new, updated versions has already ended, you can still preorder your own pair of Snowfeet II or X on Indiegogo for $118. Even better, initial orders are expected to start shipping in January 2020, so you’ll have them in time for the upcoming winter sport season. The more pairs you buy at once, the more money you save.

The post Snowfeet Instantly Turn Your Shoes into Mini Skis first appeared on Dornob.

The post Amazing Fantasy Murphy Beds for Kids first appeared on Dornob.

IKEA is beloved by people around the world for its affordability, unfussy modern designs, and the ease of loading and unloading its flat-pack furniture boxes. But the process of assembling your new IKEA bed frame, bookshelf, or wardrobe is notoriously confusing and time-consuming, and depending on how durable it is, you might have to repeat the process all over again every time you move.

A new collection of furniture and accessories aims to solve that problem by appealing directly to people who move often and tend to live in small spaces. RÅVAROR consists of more than 20 items that can quickly infuse small spaces with the comforts and convenience of home, including couches, a daybed, a mini kitchen, open storage solutions, lighting, textiles, and storage boxes.

Revealed at the company’s annual Democratic Design Days press event, RÅVAROR’s primary selling point is its adaptability. The set is minimalist and compact, and every element can be broken down into pieces that are easy for a single person to carry, even if you have to navigate flights of stairs. It’s scaled down significantly from your average living room furniture set, but for people living in spaces that measure under 250 square feet, that’s a good thing.

“More and more people are living and moving into cities. Approximately an extra 1.5 million people join the urban population every week. Living spaces are shrinking, and for many people the concept of home is no longer a geographical constant; it’s a space that’s here today, and maybe somewhere else tomorrow,” reads the company’s press release on the collection.

“Our starting point and creative idea was the reality of urban life. We asked ourselves; what is needed to turn a small space, such as 12 square meters [129 square feet], into a home? And what is needed to create that homely feeling even though you might be moving on to a new place soon?,” says Viveca Olsson, Creative leader, IKEA of Sweden.

“There is a rapidly growing urban population and people are living in smaller spaces as well as moving more often than before,” Olsson continues. “With RÅVAROR we wanted to create a few key items that have a new level of versatility, functionality, and simplicity. And when it is time to move, it should be easy to pack everything up, stack them together, and relocate to your next home.”

Obviously, RÅVAROR isn’t for everyone. People who like to spend a lot of time at home might find it worthwhile to place more of an emphasis on comfort than portability, even if it means hiring movers. But for many urbanites, home is just a place to crash and store belongings, with the city outside serving as their living rooms and kitchens.

The collection is also neutral enough that you could treat it like a blank canvas, using it as a backdrop for items that express your personality and tastes. And if it’s popular enough, maybe IKEA will eventually offer additional colors and styles that are just as easy to transport.

RÅVAROR will be available beginning in September 2020, so be sure to check back with us for updates on this exciting new collection.

The post New Packable Furniture from IKEA Makes Moving Easier Than Ever first appeared on Dornob.

Merging futuristic visuals with rustic environments, the Cabin DROP XL capsule house by Barcelona-based IN-TENTA is an environmentally conscious luxury getaway that can be placed virtually anywhere, and removed without leaving a trace. A larger version of the company’s organically-shaped removable hotel room, the DROP XL is a concept that “fits between a caravan and a permanent room in a traditional building.”

Whereas the original DROP measures 25 square meters, the XL comes in at 30. A lounge area converts to a bedroom at night, and a bathroom offers a toilet, shower and tub. Additional modules can be added for kitchens and other facilities.

This portable eco-hotel is made of lightweight materials so it can be installed in a wide variety of terrains and transported to all sorts of remote natural locations such as forests, beaches and mountains. The prefabricated wood and steel module is specially designed to be installed with a minimum impact on the site, with a base that’s elevated off the ground on adjustable steel legs.

Bubble windows at the ends of the central cylindrical tube fill the structure with natural light, and can be opened to remove the barrier between indoors and out. A skylight running the entire length of the pod offers even more daylight, and thin photovoltaic solar films on the roof can be combined with wood siding to generate power.

“The aim of modular suites is to meet the growing demand for eco-tourism with customers that like traveling but don’t want to stay in common hotels and demand sustainable architecture mixed with quality design.”

“Like its predecessor DROP eco-hotel, organic forms found in nature inspired the design of DROP xl. Shaped like a capsule, the tiny hotel is capped on both ends with large bubble windows that let in views and natural light. A long glazed strip that runs down the center of the ceiling offers views of the sky. Its design features flexible and versatile space with a minimum occupation. The new DROP xl models can be used as removable hotel rooms, pop-up pods for events, singular architectural elements and go on.”

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Until now, designs like that have been hard to find. But an Australian company called BCompact specializing in “innovative, clever, and sustainable creations” might have just changed the game for tiny houses, micro-apartments, and other ultra-compact spaces with an amazing hybrid system that allows stairs to be installed in areas they simply couldn’t fit into before.

Winner of a 2019 iF Design Award and the Gold prize at the European Product Design Awards in 2018, these compact hybrid stairs are just as substantial and easy to climb as any standard set, but they fold completely flat against the wall when they’re not in use. That means they can be deployed in spaces where they’d otherwise be blocking traffic, like doorways and hallways, without having to close off the opening between floors the way a fold-down attic staircase would.

Capable of covering distances between 6.5 and 10 feet and customizable to each customer’s specifications, the Hybrid Stair meets building code regulations for both stairs and handrails, unlike many other space-saving designs.

The stairs are made from specially constructed and sustainably sourced bamboo composite plywood, which itself boasts a high tensile strength and flexibility despite its light weight. They can handle loads of up to 440 pounds, and they’re all counterbalanced with a simple spring mechanism so the act of opening and closing them is easy enough for virtually anyone to perform, including children and the elderly. They can be operated from the ground or from the landing, and an optional security gate mechanism can lock them into a closed position to eliminate access, “thus creating an unsurpassed security system denying all access between floors.”

Founder Zev Bianchi explains that he got the idea “during a seven year stop-over in NYC, living in high-priced and confined conditions…partly out of necessity, to design furniture and products to help create the best living environment in the least space.”

“The world we live in is getting smaller and far more expensive! And there is a massive surge now taking place around the world to optimize the way the majority of us all live. Downsizing, compacting, and tiny home movements are just a few, and BCompact design prides itself as being amongst the forerunners of these changes and has been working with these concepts long before [they] became [trends]!”

“Being able to adapt your lifestyle to where you live now and how much you earn is becoming more and more necessary and now more accessible to people around the world, by developing creative and innovative solutions to these issues. From furniture that unpacks and disappears to flat-folding chairs and Hybrid stairs. Products that open areas to your home [and turn them] into new and usable spaces that you never knew you had; ideal for growing families or simply reorganizing your life.”

All photos courtesy of BCompact 

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