Lagerkvist and Lindgren’s design process involved researching the therapeutic benefits of nature to determine what people find most calming and relaxing. The designers believe the allure of stone lies in its symbolism, representing “nature’s slow and boundless rhythm.” When translated into malleable materials, those same qualities can feel like the reassuring embrace of Mother Nature herself.

The designers wanted “Pebble Rubble” to transcend the functions and qualities of an ordinary seat, reminding the user to slow down and appreciate the resilience and dependability of the natural world. The shapes of the rocks call to mind the process by which all the jagged edges were polished over long periods of time by the rain and wind, perhaps cloaked by a coating of moss or a layer of fallen leaves.

“Imagine we find ourselves upon a massive, mysterious slab of stone,” say Lagerkvist and Lindgren. “As if, in a time long before our own, someone gifted with superhuman strength lifted and positioned it, creating a megalithic seat. Let’s imagine that all this occurs in an unexpected location – in the entrance of a bank, the lounge of a hotel, or in the halls of a library. Lastly, let’s imagine that we are getting closer to its surface and only then becoming aware of their softness.”

“Our new system of furniture for Moroso took its forms from found shapes in nature. As children in our native Sweden, our playground was the forest, and we imagined rocks, moss, and fallen trees to be furniture and places for the body to rest and occupy. For this seating group, we 3D scanned rocks we saw on our many forest walks, and composed these organic shapes together into furniture pieces.”

Designed for Italian furniture brand Moroso, the modular cushions of the Pebble Rubble sofas come in 15 different shapes and sizes, and a range of colors including beige, gray, brown, green, lavender, and orange. Each one is available in 16 new textiles produced by Kvadrat by digitally scanning natural surfaces like moss, minerals, and snow for a realistically organic effect.

You can custom-order your preferred combination to create oversized river rock vignettes that fit your space, choosing from shapes that can act as base cushions, back support cushions, throw pillows, and stools.

The Pebble Rubble collection was produced with the hospitality and corporate sectors in mind, but it’s easy to imagine them in the home, too. You can purchase them online from shops like Mohd Furniture, with prices available upon request.

The post Pebble Rubble: Nature-Inspired Sofas Reveal the Softer Side of Stone first appeared on Dornob.

The idea for Muuw started during the pandemic when Tommy Truup, an expert in steel fabrication, decided he wanted to create work-from-home spaces that could also act as backyard retreats. Truup founded Muuwspace and designed his ideal one-room escape, with a shape inspired by beehives and the carbon structures in human cells.

Three of the pod’s six walls are floor-to-ceiling windows, so the 100-square-foot space feels much more expansive than it really is. Insulated glazing from Saint-Gobain features a metallic blue external reflection so you can maintain privacy and avoid getting overheated.

The cabin is constructed from durable galvanized steel, insulated fully for all climates, and capable of withstanding a heavy snow load on its roof. It also boasts luxurious floor heating, a quiet speed-controllable ventilation system, dimmable LED lights inside and out, a triple-glazed aluminum entry door, wall-integrated speakers, five electrical sockets, and two separate USB charging sockets. It even comes with an attached terrace with a frame made of hot dip galvanized steel.

A variety of interior finishes are available for the Muuw backyard work pod, including oak laminate on the ceiling and walls. The outdoor deck and screen at the entrance of the pod can be made of ash or pine wood. Buyers customize the Muuw to their liking and send the order to Muuwspace’s factory, where it’s built and delivered to the installation site in separate pieces. Assembly takes just one or two days depending on access to the installation site, which could be a backyard, garden, terrace, or even remote land. The whole thing is delivered on the back of a truck.

“Muuw can be used as an add-on to your main home or placed in a completely separate area of your choice – depending on whether you’d use it for focused work, productivity, reading, self-development, hobbies, or full relaxation,” the company says. “The interior is a calming, personal space – fitting snugly inside the building’s hexagonal structure. Each Muuw space boasts modern interiors and vast, panoramic views.”

“The unique exterior design also feels incredibly contemporary, using minimalistic materials combined with warm, traditional wood that’s sure to attract everyone’s attention. Just picture yourself stood in the Muuw, looking out over the horizon – we guarantee it will provide you with the feeling that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to, with relaxation being the key to productivity and accomplishment.”

Pricing for each Muuw pod starts at $32,000, depending on the options you choose. Muuwspace is currently able to deliver and assemble the pods throughout Europe and the United States, including the UK, Ireland, Norway, and Switzerland. It takes 8 to 16 weeks to receive your Muuw after ordering.

The post Upgrade Your Home Office with the Muuw Backyard Work Pod first appeared on Dornob.

Expandable and customizable, The Dresser starts with a single base for all sizes. You simply select the drawer units that fit your needs now, with the ability to swap them out in the future if your needs change. Start with either the Two Unit Dresser, which is 47 inches wide, or the Three Unit Dresser, which is 71 inches wide. Then choose your drawer configuration from eight available combinations. You could have a smaller number of larger drawers, a larger number of smaller drawers, shelves with cabinet-style doors, or a combination of any of the three.

Then, you get to choose your frame and top color in walnut, maple, or beige, and your drawer/door covers, available in the same options plus jasper green and canary yellow. You can always change your mind later and purchase new drawer units in different configurations or colors. If you want to go from a double unit to a triple unit, just add an extra base surface.

The idea behind Floyd’s modular system is that your furniture can easily move and grow with you. The modularity makes it easy to transport — a key reason why many people buy from IKEA in the first place — and easy to shift into new shapes and sizes as needed. Say you move into a studio apartment, and suddenly that huge bookcase you bought no longer fits your space. If you had Floyd’s shelving system, instead of getting rid of it, you could just assemble it into a different shape, or break it into multiple units.

The heavy duty base materials, including 11-gauge steel and FSC-certified walnut, mean that unlike most modular minimalist furniture you’ll find on the market, these pieces could be a new version of the old family heirloom, adapted to the more nomadic modern lifestyle. Founders Kyle Hoff and Alex O’Dell launched Floyd in an effort to reduce our reliance on disposable furniture, designing the pieces to be as inclusive as possible.

In addition to the new Dresser, favorites from Floyd include the aforementioned Bed Frame, which boasts a simple, low-slung design with available add-ons like underbed storage, a headboard, and a size expansion kit; The Sofa, a minimalist frame covered in cozy cushions that can be expanded with a chaise; The Sectional, which is just as modular as you’d imagine; and The Table, which draws inspiration from Floyd’s original Leg.

The Dresser is available now, starting at $3,000 for the Two Unit version, $4,500 for the Three Unit version, and $1,200 for the expansion units.

The post The Dresser by Floyd Furniture is Modular, Minimalist, and Expandable to Grow With You first appeared on Dornob.

Taking the traditional flat screen and turning it on its head, the new Xeneon Flex gaming monitor from Corsair is mind and screen-bending tech at its finest. A flexible OLED screen that literally curves to create a more immersive gaming experience, the Xeneon Flex isn’t the first of its kind. However, it seems to have worked out the kinks of its predecessors by developing a way to allow the user to bend the screen (and flatten it again) whenever they want.

Again, this is not a new idea. LG unveiled a prototype of a similar design at CES 2021, an appropriate platform for such a boon to the gaming world. But despite its promise, LG’s version was problematic. Consisting of a 48-inch OLED screen that was incredibly bendable, that display was theoretically able to create a gentle curve that granted players better peripheral vision at the push of a button. Unfortunately, the mechanism behind this monitor magic presented problems in terms of both cost (more expensive) and durability.

To ameliorate these obstacles, Corsair has taken things a step further with the Xeneon Flex, eliminating the use of motors entirely. But how does the screen move if it’s not mechanized?

The answer is strangely simple: users simply have to grab the screen and pull it to their desired curvature, a grab and yank maneuver that may lack elegance, but makes up for it with its effectiveness. Just grab the screen on either end, give it a good pull, and voila! A completely customizable gaming experience. Practicality aside, the design also allows the screen to have a different level of curvature on each side, adding a level of freedom that would most likely be impossible with a motor.

If this seems like magic, that could be because it’s as close to magic as gaming screens get. The Xeneon Flex boasts a 45-inch OLED display that not only has a surprisingly generous aspect ratio (21:9) but also has a resolution and brightness whose peak performance makes for an undeniably immersive gaming experience. The Xeneon is also tops on compatibility, working with both Nvidia G-Sync and AMD Free Sync Premium. And don’t worry, it’s loaded up with plenty of connectivity ports, too.

While Corsair has yet to announce the pricing and availability for the Xeneon Flex, we’re sure gamers everywhere will be waiting with bated breath for the chance to bend their screens and immerse themselves a little deeper into their favorites.

The post Corsair’s Curved OLED Monitor Lets You Shape Your Gaming Experience first appeared on Dornob.

Every piece by BOMMA is handcrafted to preserve the company’s long history of superior craftsmanship. “Every manager says they are proud of their team, and all glassmaking is fascinating to watch,” says BOMMA owner Martin Wichterle. “But seeing our craftsmen handle oversized pieces of cut glass with extreme precision is an otherworldly experience. You never get used to it.”

BOMMA invited artists, designers, and architects to take their five modular shapes and transform them into spectacular grouped creations, and now they’re sharing the results.

Dechem Studio crafted a multi-pendant centerpiece using the Dark & Bright Star collection. Within smoked and frosted white glass vessels, a light source shines in the shape of a crystal star. The designers alternated the colors as two interlocking spirals spilling down the center of a white spiral staircase.

Dechem Studio also came up with two arrangements for the Pyrite collection, which is itself inspired by the famous “fool’s gold” stone. The golden version of the Pyrite light is in the shape of a perfect cube, and the silver version takes inspiration from salt crystals. The designers envisioned one installation as a series of swags reminiscent of a layered necklace, while another tightly groups the lights together in the shape of a larger shard.

The Soap Mini collection features glass blown into teardrop shapes without the use of a mold to mimic the appearance of soap bubbles glistening in shades of silver, gold, and blue. Designer Oto Svoboda put that iridescent quality to work, turning 1,070 frosted droplets together to form a sort of crystal canopy.

The Lens collection plays with the way lenses refract and reflect light, in this case pairing two lenses into a single object to multiply the illumination of the bulb within. Since these pieces are hand-painted, they can be made into any desired color. Studio deFORM took 16 Lens lights in amber glass and suspended them from a living room ceiling to create a dual-purpose chandelier and sculpture.

The Metamorphosis collection draws its inspiration from the scales of snakeskin and gothic arches. Produced as a collaboration with designer Rony Plesl, it comes in shades of amber, frosted white, and pearlescent gray.

BOMMA also collaborated with Studio deFORM and CMC architects to produce the Stellar Dust customized collection, which pairs 727 mouth-blown crystal droplets with 2,476 additional glass components to create an installation for the ceiling of J&T bank’s entrance hall in Prague.

What would you create if you had access to these gorgeous customizable lighting elements?

The post BOMMA Invites Designers to Turn Its Blown Glass Lighting into Beautiful Constellations first appeared on Dornob.

A family affair, Sherle Wagner International is now overseen by the third generation of Wagners including Sherle’s granddaughter Marissa Geoffrey, who serves as Creative Director. But what’s made these designs so enduring? What’s caused them to transcend time and continue to be coveted by those who wish to create the ultimate in bathroom luxury?

History, tradition, and of course, quality.

Starting with a “dedication to timelessness and creating covetable elements for the bath,” according to a recent piece from Interior Design, the brand has continued to produce iconic fixtures whose craftsmanship and durability are only matched by their long-standing devotion to luxe materials and design concepts.

One only needs to look at the company’s very first offering to see why the Sherle Wagner International name has endured: the 24-karat-gold Dolphin Lever Faucet Set. Still available today, the set is an iconic reminder of the brand’s devotion to luxury. Curvy, intricate, and extravagant, it’s striking enough to be the centerpiece of any bathroom.

The Molecule Knob is another enduring classic. Designed by Sherle Wagner himself in the mid-20th century, it’s modern, classic, and timeless look is still coveted today by those looking to add midcentury flair to their space with a dash of glamorous subtlety.

All of Sherle Wagner International’s fixtures are handmade and hand-finished, with an attention to detail that shines through in the finished products. The process is rigorous from start to finish, “as a team of metalworkers, ceramicists, painters, and other artisans combine old-world techniques with today’s cutting-edge technologies,” according to Interior Design. And this attention to detail extends even beyond the creative process. The company operates from a 19th-century manufacturing facility in Massachusetts, cementing its reputation as a classically modern manufacturer of high-end, American-made products for almost a century.

It’s this devotion to both history and craftsmanship that’s made the brand as desirable as ever when it comes to contemporary bathroom design. Today, both residential and hospitality designers turn to Sherle Wagner International for their customizable artistic designs. The company prides itself on its “practically limitless custom capabilities” that enable their clients to choose from a vast number of options, from hand-painted detailed design to semi-precious stones and accents like ceramic glaze that complete the overall luxe looks.

Timeless design, American-made quality, and exquisite attention to detail combine with an enduring family legacy to create Sherle Wagner International’s distinctive bath hardware and accessories. Sought by designers everywhere for their classic, old-world devotion to craftsmanship and iconic modern designs, the company’s luxurious fixtures will no doubt continue to catch our eye and spark our imaginations for years to come.

The post Sherle Wagner Continues to Wow with Luxe Bathroom Fixtures first appeared on Dornob.

This portable modern cabin is based on the firm’s RCA-03 design, available in either 225 or 375-square-foot versions. Manufactured off-site and capable of being assembled within just four weeks, the fully furnished cabin consists of a system of both fixed and flexible elements. The layout of each cabin is the same, with a bathroom, kitchenette, and living space with built-in storage, but elements like lighting, fixtures, and material finishes can be customized.

The A24 itself is a 225-square-foot RCA-03 cabin tucked into a lush hillside on a coffee plantation in Bettagere Estate, Coorg, India as part of an upcoming resort called Betta Living. Clients Sunny Watwani and Adithya Roongta dreamed of building a series of cabins near their home city of Chennai, but didn’t want to go the usual route of building a resource-intensive, environment-disrupting vacation home. “There’s little or no regard for the surrounding nature,” Watwani told Architectural Digest. “People have blocked natural streams, cut down trees, and damaged the local biodiversity.”

Watwani and Roongta were adamant that not a single tree be cut down to accommodate the cabin, which was initially conceptualized by SPASM Design Architects with design development and execution completed by DDAA. As a result, the cabin sits lightly on the carefully chosen site, supported by four adjustable legs. The reflective glass and ACP metal siding panels help it blend into its environment, but the cabin feels thoroughly contemporary thanks to its sleek materials and jewel-like silhouette.

Inside, it offers guests a full bathroom with a shower, wardrobe, queen-size bed, and kitchenette foyer. Service equipment like the condenser unit is hidden behind the bathroom block. Walnut wood flooring, matte finish interior cladding, glowing amber pendant lights, and bespoke furniture give it a refined yet cozy atmosphere with incredible views of the surrounding mountain range.

“While the initial concept for A24 was designed by Spasm, DDAA worked to develop the design and prefabricate it in record time,” say the architects. “Every corner in the cabin strives to visually if not spatially connect with the natural context, be it the bathroom which comes furnished with all the modern amenities, or the kitchenette in the living space that captures stunning views of the valley.”

“The cabin’s most prominent features are its large, open facades that frame gorgeous views of the natural beauty outside. The 225-square-foot interior space reflects a minimal abode prioritized for comfort and design. A coherent design language resonates with all other cabins as well, and is perfect for sites located in the woods, the mountains, or along the shore.”

The post Off-Grid Living Gets Luxurious in This Tiny Modern Cabin by DDAA first appeared on Dornob.

Yes, this video game is a year late, along with the actual Olympic Games, but don’t let that stop you from checking it out. Mastering each sporting event does require a bit of technical skill, and just like training for the real thing, it’ll take some practice to make progress, though it’ll mostly just be your thumbs getting a workout. But as you get better, you’ll unlock more features, like fine-tuned tips, new skills, and spiffy outfits for your avatar.

Speaking of outfits, the best part of Sega’s Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 video game is the degree to which you can customize your avatar. Not only do you have a wide range of skin tones, hair styles, and facial features to choose from, you can also slide your character’s weight up and down to achieve whatever the most realistic physique is for you. You can even apply makeup, freckles, and face paint. All the different styles of characters can play together across all 18 events, and no avatar choices will affect performance.

There’s virtually no limit to just how ridiculous you can look, if you so choose. The apparel choices include sumo wrestling, astronaut, neanderthal, knight, pirate, and many other costumes so you can fulfill your very specific fantasy of winning a BMX race while dressed like a cowboy with tiger-themed face paint. Have at it. You could even compete with your friends and family in multiplayer mode – not just in the sports themselves, but at who can come up with the most hilarious getup. And if you would still rather play as Sonic the Hedgehog, you can do that, too.

“The Olympic Games are a unifying symbol of sportsmanship and competition for athletes and fans throughout the world,” president and COO at Sega of America Ian Curran said in a press release. “Tokyo 2020 channels that same positive spirit into a fun, arcade-style experience for friends and family to play together as we all look forward to the start of the Olympic Games this summer.”

“By working with SEGA, we are able to engage new and existing fans – particularly young people – with the Olympic Games far beyond the Games period,” says Elisabeth Allaman, VP Commercial integration at the IOC Television and Marketing Services. “We’re looking forward to seeing the next generation of young Olympic fans build their first tangible connection to the Olympic Games and Olympism through the official video game.”

The full list of sporting events available to play in the game include 110m Hurdles, 4×100 Relay, Hammer Throw, Beach Volleyball, Long Jump, BMX, Boxing, Judo, Rugby Sevens, Football (Soccer), 100m Freestyle (Swimming), 200m Individual Medley (Swimming), Sport Climbing, Tennis, Table Tennis, Basketball, Baseball, and the 100m Dash. The game is available now for $39.99 USD at major retailers including Amazon, Best Buy, Gamestop, VGP, and EBGames. You can also get a digital version from the Playstation store. PS Plus is required for online play and multiplayer mode (up to 8 players).

The post Sega’s Olympic Games 2020 Video Game is Full of Fun Challenges and Absurd Avatars first appeared on Dornob.

Those architectural elements are exactly what make LeGrow stand out. They include stackable vertical planters in two depths, an LED grow lamp, an automated 360-degree diffusing mist humidifier, a riser for stacking hanging plants, and a Bluetooth speaker, all of which you layer on top of a self-watering tray. Each one has a unique and interesting shape, looking more like a sculpture than a functional object. Presented in all white with lots of curves and arches, these growing modules have sort of a utopian look to them that pairs beautifully with living plants.

The process of building your LeGrow garden is as satisfying as watching it grow. It’s designed to be as easy as assembling your very own LEGO creation, giving you the freedom to build in whatever shapes and configurations you like. Create a terraced arrangement, vertical towers, a long narrow strip for the center of a table, or a system that looks like a tiny neighborhood.

Once assembled, the LeGrow garden becomes its own self-contained ecosystem. Since it has its own built-in lighting, you don’t have to worry about finding a window with suitable sunlight to support it. The rounded glass humidifier distributes moisture evenly across the whole thing, and a built-in water pipe structure makes sure that all the planters are connected to each other, sharing water from the tray. Even better, the tray has been made translucent so you can keep an eye on the water level.

It’s rare to see sound incorporated into an indoor garden system, so the Bluetooth speaker is a bit of a fun extra in this set. You can connect it to your phone and play relaxing music for the ultimate in stress-reducing mini Zen gardens, or maybe experiment with the concept that plants can be affected by sound. What you grow in your desktop garden is really up to you, but the LeGrow system can support succulents and cacti, herbs, flowers, and tropical greenery, including finicky plants that need a lot of water, like carnivorous pitcher plants and Venus flytraps.

The LeGrow Desktop Garden is currently available for pre-order at Indiegogo in a variety of packages. The Vertical Garden is the smallest at $34 USD, coming with a single pot, an LED grow lamp, three vertical planters, and a water tray. The systems get bigger from there, all the way up to the $428 Rainforest configuration, which comes with a speaker, a humidifier, 26 pots, 11 vertical planters, 20 shallow moss planters, four grow lamps, and more. All orders are estimated to ship out in September 2021.

The post LeGrow: Meditative Modular Desktop Garden System Full of Automated Features first appeared on Dornob.

The “Ooneepod” is a compact, prefabricated, and customizable bike locker that keeps your whip secure while you work, shop, dine, or hang out. Oonee co-founder and CEO Shabazz Stuart, a 31-year-old Brooklyn native, dreamed up the idea back in 2015 after his bike was stolen three times in five years on commutes to and from work. He and co-founder J. Manuel Mansylla decided New York needed secure, affordable bike storage that wasn’t an eyesore and developed an ad-supported walk-in design that basically acts as a mobile billboard. While most people probably wouldn’t consider ads attractive, they attempted to balance out that element of the design with a green roof.

The first two ad-supported Oonepods were installed in Jersey City and at The Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn near Barclays Center in 2018. This year, the company will add two “Oonepod Minis” in New York City through a sponsorship by scooter sharing company Voi. Oonee worked with cyclists, pedestrians, public space managers, city officials, and even school children to develop these smaller storage huts, which feature large illustrations of bikes on the outside instead of ads.

Smart Access technology lets riders unlock the pods by keycard or smartphone, and inside, they’ll find lights and a free air pump. You don’t lock up individually, but if you’re worried somebody might swipe your costly electric scooter for their beater, at least take heart that bikes stored inside are covered by insurance. While the original pods stand quite tall, the minis are barely taller than a standard sedan, so they won’t block sunlight or views from the buildings they’re placed in front of. Each Ooneepod Mini is about seven feet long.

The founders explain that “cars are everywhere on city streets, but what about some space for bikes? Built to survive the demanding streets of New York, Oonee Mini delivers up to 10 high-quality secure bike parking spaces in place of one car. We packed the pod with hundreds of design and technology innovations that ensure a top-notch experience for both cyclists and community members that just happen to be walking by.”

In the future, Oonee hopes to bring its pods to cities around the U.S., and provide additional services through its app, like on-demand mechanics fixing flat tires, or even the direct purchase of bikes and scooters. The pods are currently free to anyone who signs up for the app and provides proof of identity (a measure aimed at preventing theft).

The post Oonepod Mini: A Secure Bike Storage Pod That Fits into a Parking Space first appeared on Dornob.

The LEGO Botanical Collection, announced on December 30th, 2020, is a range of “mindful models,” including a flowered bouquet and a seasonally changing Bonsai tree.

“While many people seek out green spaces to de-stress and relax, adults can now bring a touch of nature into their home and unwind as they create and customize their botanical builds,” LEGO said in its official press release. “And the great news is that LEGO plants don’t need to be watered to stay fresh.”

Those are some encouraging words for aspiring gardeners who don’t have much of a green thumb. And appropriately, both sets feature some components constructed from plant-based plastic, itself made from sustainably sourced sugarcane.

The 756-piece, first-ever “Bouquet” set consists of an assortment of roses, poppies, snapdragons, asters, daisies, and various grasses in a visually-striking array of colors. The stems can be adjusted to fit in any size vase, and the petals are repositionable for an endless combination of displays. The company suggests this bunch of beaming blossoms would even make a “special and unusual gift” for anniversaries and birthdays.

The Bonsai tree kit, with its 878 pieces, allows LEGO fans to experience the ancient art of carefully snipping leaves and branches to create an exquisitely shaped shrub. The green leaves can be swapped out for pink cherry buds to keep pace with the seasons, or simply whenever builder wants a change. Only astute observers will be able to tell that most of the blushing blooms are actually tiny and charming LEGO frogs. Standing in its included slatted wood-effect pot, the tree is a decent synthetic version of the real thing. Its soothing shape and hues could believably help liberate some of those feel-good neurochemicals that help people calm down.

“As adults look for new ways to switch off and relax, we’re delighted to be able to help them seek solace from their busy everyday lives as they immerse themselves in creating these beautiful botanical builds,” says Jamie Berard, Design Lead at the LEGO Group. “The customizable elements and mindful building experience will hopefully help them express their personality as their creativity blossoms.”

LEGO may have been right about adults using to play to relax, because within days of its January 1 release, the new collection completely sold out on the company website, as well as on retail sites like Target and Walmart. Once back in stock, the Flower Bouquet can be purchased online here, while the Bonsai Tree is listed here.

The LEGO Flower Bouquet perennials can stand more than 14 inches tall and are priced at $49.99. Plastic horticulturists can add to their arrangements with individually sold LEGO Roses and Tulips for $12.99 each. The completed LEGO Bonsai Tree reaches seven inches high and also retails for $49.99.

The post LEGO’s Botanical Collection Helps Adults Shed Stress and Sprout New Energy first appeared on Dornob.

In the old days, it wasn’t uncommon to fill a home with huge, heavy furniture that remained in place until the owners passed away, but new times require new ways of thinking about the way we choose and organize our belongings. Even if you do intend to stay in your home forever, life happens, and tastes inevitably change. For those reasons, the furniture we buy should always be both stylish and easy to rearrange, dismantle, and move.

Adaptability might just be the single most important characteristic of modern furniture, and systems that do it well can pay for themselves many times over. The Julia Collection by Momocca is a prime example of beautiful, fully configurable furniture that makes the process of freshening up a room or transferring your life to a whole new space as effortless as stacking LEGOs. The Valencia, Spain-based brand debuted the system at this year’s Feria Hábitat Valencia furniture and lighting fair, embodying the exact opposite of stuffy with its airy open design and versatile palette of colors and materials.

“Julia” consists of modular elements that fit together in virtually unlimited ways, yet it’s minimalist, streamlined, and much more adult than the average configurable shelf set. A framework of nickel-plated steel supports either oak veneer or natural walnut shelves, as well as sliding panels covered in a range of upholstery fabrics. Once assembled, the system can stretch up to the ceiling or low across the floor, closed in some areas to hide clutter and wide open in others to accommodate couches, chairs, televisions, or works of art.

The shelves are available in a variety of widths, from small squares to ultra-long platforms that fit the scale of larger rooms. The freestanding system doesn’t even have to be attached to the wall (though it can be mounted if you like), giving it total freedom of movement and the ability to double as a room divider. Move it around, expand it, or contract it. Use it to build desks, coffee tables, media stands, nightstands, corner systems, or sculptural creations of your own design. Since it’s so modular, you can assemble it to perfectly frame windows and doorways for a custom result. Momocca describes the collection as a “big open canvas” just waiting for your creative touch.

Moving to a new home with an entirely different layout? Expecting a baby? Just sick of looking at your living room and craving something new? Adaptable systems like the Julia Collection allow you to rearrange and redecorate to your heart’s desire without requiring you to purchase all new furniture, and it all packs up flat for easy moving. That’s great news for wanderers, apartment dwellers, the aesthetically indecisive, and most importantly, the planet. Just imagine how much less furniture you would buy (and discard) over the course of your life if you had this kind of customization at your fingertips?

The post One Furniture System to Rule Them All: Create Infinite Configurations with the Julia Shelf first appeared on Dornob.

With these changes come new opportunities. If you’ve ever considered running an Airbnb, a treehouse company is offering an easy, relatively low-maintenance way to do it. “Treewalkers” by O2 Treehouse is “a treehouse hospitality franchise” with beautiful modular treehouse structures that can be erected as single units or “treehouse villages,” so you can turn a chunk of vacant land into a money-making paradise.

First of all, the structures are beautiful, providing an experience that’s a few notches above tent camping — more in the realm of “glamping.” They can either be strung up among trees or installed on the ground, coming in modular kits that are customizable to adapt to the final location. They consist of O2 Treehouse’s “tetra truss” wooden structure system, a wooden platform, built-in furniture, tension cables, and a canvas canopy. Each unit can also contain all the furniture you’d normally find in a hotel room, including a queen-size bed, built-in benches, bookcases, and a dining bar.

Aiming to capitalize on both the ecotourism and home-sharing markets, “Treewalkers” is a franchise network that enables investors to start their own mini getaway businesses for about $35,000 to $50,000 per glamping treehouse (plus the cost of whatever land you’re putting it on). The company recommends renting them out for $150 to $200 per night with 30 to 60-percent expected annual occupancy, potentially earning buyers a fast return on their initial investment.

The ecotourism industry was valued at $265 billion worldwide in 2018, and while it definitely took a hit this year, it’s still projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 14 percent. O2 Treewalkers founder Dustin Feider believes that his company’s unique treehouses are exactly the kind of thing travelers are going to be looking for in 2021 and beyond.

“We offer the ideal product both for potential franchisees looking for a unique opportunity to invest, and for consumers looking for a chance to get away from their fast-paced, concrete-filled life and enter a more tranquil and beautiful world,” says Feider.

“Our vision is to create stunning and inspired architectural forms that delight heart and soul and bring people together in unique natural settings. In this way, we believe that the disconnect between humans and the natural world may begin to heal.”

O2 Treehouses has built about 85 treehouses since Feider built his first geodesic structure in a Wisconsin poplar tree in 2005, many of which have been featured in over 100 design publications. Their portfolio is full of stunning custom treehouses, including geodesic domes and the unique (and appropriately named) Pinecone Treehouse.

If you’d rather just buy one exclusively for your own use, you can definitely do that, too. And hey, if the project is successful, maybe there will be a Treewalker treehouse for rent in a desirable area near you sometime soon.

The post Create Your Own Glamping Airbnb With O2 Treewalkers Treehouses first appeared on Dornob.

Like many of us, the Barcelona-based artist found some extra time on her hands due to the pandemic and wanted to create something to help people collectively flourish and grow even in difficult situations. Thus, “The Resilence Project” was born.

“The Resilience Project is an optimistic and artistic approach to the current pandemic situation. Showcasing our capacity to build strength in this difficult situation allows us to bloom and reimagine the world from scratch,” says Marquez. “This new recovery has to be a collective one in which all elements of creation are accessible to everyone. We propose 3D printing as a democratic transmission media of art and fashion. Introducing two downloadable, sharable, and printable pieces that anyone can self-produce anywhere around our globe.”

The files are designed for FDM (fused deposition modeling) 3D printers, which deposit strands of plastic filament in layers to create an object. The filament is fed through a hot extruder to make it delicate enough for fine details. These days, you can find this type of 3D printer online for as little as $200, though you get better-looking results from more sophisticated models.

The Resilience Project features two downloadable and printable pieces: a cropped, flower-bedecked tank top and a face mask. Offered via Creative Commons license, which makes them freely shareable, the files can be downloaded at no cost from Thingiverse. Marquez enlisted the help of CGI digital artists to design the garments, which can be assembled easily as they come out of the printing bed. The files even include instructions for customizing the pieces to your size and printing them with a net-like texture that will be extra-pleasant against the skin.

She adds that “we can innovate applying 3D printing technologies to produce fashion, but if we distribute it the old way, are we really changing the game? That’s why we want you to have the chance to download and create the garments in her desktop 3d printer. We truly believe that the experience of creating your own garment will change your emotional link with the garment and, in the last instance, your way of consuming fashion. This is a really experimental approach to fashion and we have a lot to learn about, starting with your opinion.”

The Resilience Project represents a whole new world of emerging fashion technology that traditional manufacturers are going to have to keep up with. As 3D printers become less of a curiosity and more of a household essential, consumers will have more power to produce their own goods, reducing their dependency on the marketplace. Plastic filament can be melted and reused at home, making it easier to recycle the things we create, too. If it’s adopted on a wide scale, it could be a game changer — not just for fashion, but for consumerism at large.

The post You Can 3D Print These Fashionable Garments from Your Home first appeared on Dornob.

The dog comes as a kit of puzzle-like parts you assemble yourself. Then, whether you’re already well-versed in code or a complete beginner, you can download demo code from GitHub to get the Bittle moving. The process will teach you how to code or help you refine your skills, and you can experiment with writing your own code to teach the dog new tricks.

Bittle is an open platform with a customized Arduino board coordinating all movements, and you can add various types of sensors and artificial intelligence capabilities through Raspberry Pi and other AI chips. Its four legs have springs that give the dog an adorable little jaunt, allowing it to navigate uneven terrain and express “the joy of life whenever it moves.”

If you’re familiar with bigger robot dogs like Boston Dynamics Spot, you probably already know that researchers have only recently been able to achieve this kind of maneuverability, even with the best of the best engineering and components. Spot costs a whopping $74,500, making this kind of robot out of reach for most people. But not only does the Bittle look a lot like a scaled-down Spot, it’s also super affordable.

The whole Bittle Kit is offered as a Kickstarter special for $225, or you can purchase parts individually if you’re already a well-equipped robotics enthusiast. The system comes with five major components: body frame, actuator, electronics, battery, and the software to coordinate the hardware’s tasks. The interlocking frame is like a 3D puzzle, making assembly fun, and it takes about an hour to put it together. The frame is compatible with most 9g servos.

The company explains that they “also designed Bittle to be soft. Besides the elasticity of the material, the spring-loaded upper legs flatten the shock on joint servos to protect their gears. Bittle usually survives regular collisions. In the extreme cases, it will disintegrate at the designated ‘weak link in the chain,’ which is easy and cheap to reinstall or replace.”

“Thanks to the Arduino and Raspberry Pi community, you can find many customization ideas for Bittle. There are four Seeed Grove sockets on NyBoard V1 for extensible modules. To make installation easier, we designed Bittle’s head as a clip to bite on those modules. That explains why we created a dog out of OpenCat this time. We will compile a ‘sensor pack’ perk, including an intelligent camera module, a gesture sensor, a PIR motion sensor, and some other useful sensors. There’s also a screw hole inside Bittle’s head for fixing additional modules.”

If you’re interested in the nitty-gritty of how the Bittle works, like the customized Arduino board, the robot’s Kickstarter page has lots of great info. The campaign closes on Thursday, October 8th, and rewards will start to ship in December 2020.

The post Palm-Sized Robot Dog Does Tricks and Teaches STEM first appeared on Dornob.

But the individual workstations we sit at could change, too, and that’s not necessarily such a bad thing. It’s an opportunity to ditch the one-size-fits-all approach and customize these spaces to better suit our needs. Enter “Olli” by Pair, a workspace solution that’s designed to evolve with you.

Made to be as flexible as possible, the Olli system includes modular elements like desks, chairs, meeting tables, coat racks, benches, screens, peg boards, and storage along with “Olli,” a base module with built-in outlets. All of the “Sidekick” elements slot quickly and easily onto the Olli beam (and each other) in hundreds of different ways. Workers can be seated a full six feet away from each other, but still be close enough to chat. Screens slide out of the way and back in place with a flick of the wrist.

They also let you redesign your own workspace whenever you like. Want to add a plant, or some extra books? Block out an annoying bright overhead light? Get some privacy from that one guy who’s always staring at you? Just reconfigure or add new elements to the mix.

The elements themselves are sleek, contemporary, and colorful — a far cry from a lot of the furniture commonly found in offices. “Serif,” for instance, is a simple table for small meeting rooms and communal spaces that comes in a variety of powder coated finishes. “Toast” is a portable sound-dampening privacy screen on a metal tension stand. “EOR” is a lounge sofa with a high back. They’re all perfect for pandemic protocol, even if the designers didn’t necessarily intend them to be when they started.

Pair originally planned to launch their latest workplace collection at the industry’s annual furniture trade show, NeoCon, but was forced to cancel at the outset of the pandemic. All of the company’s employees had to work from home, and there was no room for anyone to experiment with staging the collection in their own spaces. To get around the problem — and show off what the collection can do — they created miniatures of every module, with each product designer building their own configurations at home. The results are pretty cute.

“Companies are still navigating what the future office will look like for them,” says Pair product designer Hillary. “The intent and reasoning for its need will definitely change. I’m confident the office will always hold a place in our future.”

“One of my favorite quotes is, ‘There is nothing wrong with change if it’s in the right direction’ and I am proud to say Olli answers to that,” says Pair product design engineer Samantha. “When we return to the workplace, it will inevitably be a different experience; with Olli’s versatility, organizations can virtually ‘future-proof’ their spaces.”

The post Customize Your Own Workspace Setup With Modular Systems From Pair first appeared on Dornob.