The Orphosis’ ergonomic shape is created by strong folds and an angled bottom that balances the distribution of weight. The folds remain in place while you walk, hike, bend over, or toss the bag into the backseat of your car. The double-layer fabric is durable and water resistant, and the backpack features both padded shoulder and chest straps for the most comfortable carrying experience possible, even when you’re packing it to its maximum capacity.

When folded, the Orphosis origami backpack measures 19.3 inches tall, 12.2 inches wide, and 4.7 inches deep. When expanded, the depth increases to 9.4 inches. Changing the capacity is as simple as folding in the sides and snapping them together.

The Orphosis doesn’t sacrifice functionality for its minimalist looks. You can’t tell from the outside, but it actually has all the special pockets you could ask for in a backpack. The security pocket on the side is the perfect place to tuck your wallet and phone, since you can reach in without taking the backpack off. The chest strap also tucks into its own pocket in one of the main backpack straps when you don’t need it.

A deep side pocket with magnetic closure is capable of holding various water bottle sizes up to 32 ounces, or an umbrella. Inside, you’ll find a pocket that fits laptops up to 16 inches long, a tablet pocket, pockets for other tech like charging cables and ear buds, and even an anti-RFID pocket for the security of your personal data. The whole backpack unzips like a clam shell for easy access to everything you carry.

The backpack’s Kickstarter page explains that the design is “based on research and good understanding of the way people use backpacks. Orphosis was designed and prototyped in California by James Piatt, a well-rounded industrial designer in innovative product design solutions, materials, product engineering, and architecture. ‘We like to think of Orphosis Backpack a piece of functional art, and we hope our designs inspire our users to also think creatively,’ says Piatt.”

The design team adds that the backpack is “socially responsible…and sustainable by design. Longer product lifetime is better for the environment. We have a top-notch and responsible supplier who has supported some successful global brands and well-known crowdfunding brands. Their high-quality testing and quality control system can meet our high function and quality requirements.”

Want to snatch up an Orphosis minimalist backpack of your own? Check out the Kickstarter campaign to back the project. A pledge of $79 or more will get you a backpack at 40 percent off the expected retail price of $129.99.

The post Orphosis: Origami-Like Backpack Expands and Contracts on Demand first appeared on Dornob.

How can paper (even the toughest, thickest paper) be used as a vessel to hold liquids and transport them on-the-go? The answer becomes immediately clear upon an introduction to the genius design of the Uphold Cup.

Unlike the folded swans and fantastic folding fans of origami yore, the Uphold Cup isn’t made of paper. Instead, it uses polymer polypropylene (PP) as the basis for its construction. Stiff yet incredibly foldable, PP is malleable in its own right, allowing the user to fold over and over with relative ease while retaining a shape strong enough to hold both cold and hot beverages (up to 100°C in temperature).

Of course, in an age where more and more people are looking to sustainable materials in everything from their homes to their beauty products, a reusable travel cup is nothing new – many people have made the switch to things like reusable water bottles and straws in an effort to ditch unnecessary plastic consumption. But the Uphold Cup does edge out its competitors with one small (but very important) caveat: it’s not only portable and reusable, it’s foldable, transforming into a flat disc when not in use, making it both cute and super easy to store.

And it’s not just a novelty, either; the Uphold Cup’s materials are food-grade and BPA-free, so users can expect foldable functionality that’s both sturdy and long-lasting (not to mention fun to play with!)

There’s something hypnotizing about the Uphold Cup’s accordian-like unraveling that, similar to its traditional inspiration, instills thoughtfulness and peace — something extremely satisfying about the design that gives it that extra je ne sais quoi not found in your standard reusable coffee cups and water bottles.

A winner of the 2021 Goldreed Industrial Design Award, the Uphold Cup was, according to Yanko Design, “made as a rejection of single-use culture,” and it certainly delivers with its origami-inspired flair that’s both hypnotic and eco-friendly. Compact, reusable, refoldable, and most of all, fun, this cup is sure to fold its way into users’ hearts before long.

The post The Reusable Uphold Cup Folds Away Like Origami first appeared on Dornob.

Of course, the furniture Brian produces through his Venice, California company Degrees of Freedom isn’t the normal furniture you’d find at any corner home decor store. Instead, each piece builds on his experience designing solar arrays that unfold from the Dragon spacecraft’s body to collect solar power after entering space. After six years of out-of-this-world design work at SpaceX, Brian leapt into the furniture-making universe, bringing his affinity for folding aspects with him. In truth, his side hobby of designing foldable furniture had been in the works for quite a while before he created the “space” in his life to work on it full-time.

As seen on Instagram, each piece goes through endless trials and design changes, methodically and persistently working towards easier folding and unfolding. And while his deep space experience undoubtedly has an influence on the products, these designs are also shaped in the artistic style of ancient origami. Brian’s goal is for every piece to be aesthetically pleasing, functional, and able to be set up with minimal effort.

Three products have made it through the research and design process so far, and they’re all currently available on the company website.

The Kinetic Desk Lamp offers a round base and geometric wooden neck. With light pressure, the entire lamp neck seamlessly collapses flat, after which it can be easily stored or packed for transport.

The Loop Table is difficult to describe in words, but its ability to instantly fold flat is remarkable. Current wood options currently include oak, white oak, mahogany, and walnut. However, like all products sold through Degrees of Freedom, there are limited quantities of each item, with several pieces already sold out.

The third product is a diversion from wood working, instead made using solid aluminum alloy. The Kinetic Ring Box has a sci-fi appeal that showcases Ignaut’s roots in cosmic design. Available in both a limited and unlimited series, the box looks like a sleek silver cube that rests on one flat corner, jutting geometrically into the air. With a quick release, though, the sides drop, revealing a velvet-wrapped foam core that holds a ring or other prized gem. Another swift motion closes the box again, restoring its mysterious exterior.

Brian admits that the initial prices are made higher than he would like in an effort to support the business, but he stresses that “affordability is the ultimate goal,” adding: “I’m excited about making things that a wider audience can purchase. Though I’m not there today, hopefully these higher-priced runs will be able to subsidize the development of more cost effective iterations.”

While folding furniture isn’t a new invention, Degrees of Freedom is unique in the process of using hinges that do their job at barely more than a suggestion of effort while maintaining enough integrity to ensure stability when the furniture is asked to function.

Which piece is your favorite?

The post SpaceX Designer Brian Ignaut Launches Folding Furniture Company first appeared on Dornob.

As the population of the planet continues to grow, conversations are increasingly aimed at ways to deal with waste from consumptive societies. More and more shoppers are looking for long-lasting products, preferably made from recycled materials with fully sustainable product life cycles. That’s why designers Andrew and Martin came together to create the POTR, a self-watering planter made with the enviornment in mind.

The plan for the POTR took months of origami practice, since the basic design relies heavily on aspects of the ancient craft. Endless variations were meticulously considered before the final version of the POTR came to be. In the end, the design was very simple: a flat pattern that’s gathered up to form a planter-shaped container.

Andrew and Martin knew they wanted to use recycled products from the outset of the project, and they achieved that goal using recycled cotton for cording and polypropylene made from recycled plastic for the main body of the pot. But despite being recycled, these materials go above and beyond when it comes to performing the tasks required of them. The recycled plastic is strong and durable, and well able to endure a lifetime of knocks and bumps. It also adheres to the need to fold and unfold countless times and is the perfect material for making dependable planters that won’t break down, crack, or leak. Best of all, you can always just recycle your POTR again should you decide to get rid it at some point.

Another part of the sustainability equation involves sourcing materials, manufacturing, and transport. The company behind the POTR, based out of the UK, sources their materials from nearby countries in Europe to minimize transport emissions. They’ve also partnered with a local manufacturing plant to ensure minimal cut-off waste and efficient die-cutting techniques.

The design of the POTR allows it to lay flat when not in use, which makes it especially great for storage. It also makes it easy to pack for a move or for shipping. As a matter of fact, the POTR even arrives in a flat envelope — one of the cheapest forms of shipping. Even better, the envelope can go directly into your mailbox so it doesn’t require an additional truck that contributes to air pollution.

Your POTR is easy to construct once it arrives. Simply weave the cording through the holes along the outer edge of the plastic and pull, drawing the whole thing together in a planter shape. Then assemble the small plastic platform that sits inside to support your plant. Set your potted plant on the support and tuck one end of the cotton cord into the soil. Through wicking, your plant will drink whenever it’s thirsty. The POTR maintains a consistent amount of water by allowing the plant to decide when to drink. The opaque sides allow you to see when the water is getting low so you can refill the reservoir.

Now fully funded through a Kickstarter campaign, the POTR is entering its production phase, with initial orders expected to ship later this fall. It’s currently available in two sizes, small and large, in the hopes that they’ll provide for the needs of most standard houseplants. Still, they do plan to add additional sizes in the future. The cords are available in five color options to match decor or personal preference.

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Instead of trying to replicate the way our own hands work, a new project out of MIT and Harvard takes inspiration from both the Venus flytrap and a particular origami folding technique. The result is a plastic and rubber structure with a soft “skeleton” inside that uses a simple vacuum to contract around an object like a muscle. Its flexibility allows it to grip all sorts of objects, even those with irregular shapes, no matter how fragile they are. MIT has already showcased the cone-shaped gripper in action, instructing it to pick up things like water bottles, bananas, stuffed animals, power tools, and iPhones.

The gripper can lift objects that are as much as 100 times its own weight thanks to the suction achieved when its 3D-printed origami structure flexes to adapt to the shape of whatever object it’s grabbing. This airtight skin, made of a special heat-shrinking plastic that self-folds at high temperatures, keeps the object it’s holding secure. While rigid robotic grippers can only pick up certain kinds of objects and softer ones don’t have enough holding power, MIT’s new creation is able to achieve unprecedented levels of both grip and strength.

“One of my moonshots is to create a robot that can automatically pack groceries for you,” says Daniela Rus, director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), and one of the senior authors of a paper about the gripper.

“Previous approaches to the packing problem could only handle very limited classes of objects — objects that are very light or objects that conform to shapes such as boxes and cylinders, but with the Magic Ball gripper, system we’ve shown that we can do pick-and-place tasks for a large variety of items ranging from wine bottles to broccoli, grapes, and eggs. In other words, objects that are heavy and objects that are light. Objects that are delicate, or sturdy, or that have regular or free-form shapes.”

As you might notice in the video, there is one glaring limitation to this design. Because it doesn’t have “fingers” of any kind, the origami robot gripper has trouble picking up objects that are flat, like books, unless they’re handed to it in an upright position. MIT says it currently works best with cylindrical objects like bottles and cans, so it could someday be used for production lines in factories, but its possibilities certainly don’t end there.

“This is a very clever device that uses the power of 3D printing, a vacuum, and soft robotics to approach the problem of grasping in a whole new way,” says Michael Wehner, an assistant professor of robotics at UC Santa Cruz who was not involved in the project. “In the coming years, I could imagine seeing soft robots gentle and dexterous enough to pick a rose, yet strong enough to safely lift a hospital patient.”

The post MIT’s New Robot Gripper Grabs Objects Like a Venus Flytrap first appeared on Dornob.

The post Blooming House Unfolds Like Origami first appeared on Dornob.

Known for their highly creative wooden micro-architecture, French design studio Fabbricabois applied the same sense of ingenuity to an origami-inspired coffee table that doubles as a pet shelter. ‘Nidin’ consists of seven geometric pieces of wood that fit together using rubber bands, eliminating the need for glue or other fasteners.

The table is delivered in a flat-pack kit, as the designers believe that the assembly process is part of the fun. It only takes a few minutes to fit the pieces together and secure them with the bands, creating a flat diamond-shaped table surface with a niche underneath.

That triangular niche of this adorable modern pet bed is lined with a soft, washable cushion, and just large enough for a cat or a small dog. Two angled spaces on the side also offer storage for items like magazines and remote controls.

“Sharing space with a pet can be difficult if you don’t have much space, but it’s another story if one can somehow integrate pet comforts with that of yours. That appears to be the idea behind Nidin, a multipurpose coffee table that also doubles as a bed for your cat or dog. The table is a re-interpretation of Japanese origami, consisting of seven geometric pieces that come flat packed, and are assembled with elastics, rather than fiddly fasteners or glue.”
“Once assembled, the by 38″ by 24″ by 18″ table has a generous, diamond-shaped surface for all manner of coffee table-related functions, and convenient book storage on both sides. But best of all, the table’s unique form has a central niche — which is lined with a custom-made ergonomic cushion from an Italian company — for a small-sized pet to snuggle in. Characterized as a « pragmatic geometric composition, » this clever space-saving coffee table can fold flat if not needed, can assemble in minutes, and provides humans with a free surface and a furry friend with an instant shelter.”

The post Origami Coffee Table Doubles as a Pet Bed first appeared on Dornob.

Of course, not just anyone can be an origami master. Small, simple projects may be easy enough for children to create, but more complex figures require patience, precision, creativity, and mathematical knowledge (here’s where that high school geometry class could actually be really helpful!). But even if your fingers aren’t nimble enough to craft complex designs, there are all sorts of ways to try your hand at the artform.

“Moduuli” takes a beautiful geometric approach to paper folding. Conceieved of by the Polish-born, Barcelona-based designer and interior architect Kinga Kubowicz (King Kong Design), these customizable wall hangings are especially refreshing because of their modular twist. Find it too hard to come up with your own designs? Moduuli offers pre-folded art pieces made from high-quality Canson paper in the form of “removable wallpaper.” If you just love the way it looks, you can order one of these wall hangings fully assembled. However, the designer also gives you the option of receiving them in modular form, putting the challenge of assembling them entirely on you. To top it all off, these modules also come in a variety of shapes and colors.

The company says: “We like working with our hands as much as we love what our machines can do. At King Kong Design, traditional manual techniques go hand in hand with the latest digital technology. We combine 2D and 3D design with digital manufactur[ing] to produce objects in a variety of design fields, mainly architecture, furniture, and lighting. We are very interested in participatory design. Many of our products are participatory in nature — we like finding ways of involving the customer in the design process.”

“Every King Kong Design product starts with an original design, the result of a creative process based on traditional cutting and folding techniques,” they add. “We then manually prototype the design and, if we’re happy with it, we produce it on a small scale. And this is where you come in: if you like our products too and decide to buy one, we will send it to you disassembled, with a little guide to putting it together at home. The last step in completing the creative process is up to you. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!”

King Kong’s Etsy shop offers a range of designs, from smalls square panels to oversized mandalas. The company also offers a selection of origami-inspired paper accessories like lampshades and pencil cups. Want different colors or shapes than what’s listed online? All you have to do is request a custom order to get the wall art of your dreams.

The post Moduuli: Origami-Style Modular Wall Art Lets You Be the Designer first appeared on Dornob.

As an aficionado of art and design you can’t just curl up in any old blanket. You want to be “enveloped in continuous geometry.” The Bloom Blanket was inspired by origami and synergizes mathematics, art and memory.

Designed by Bianca Cheng Costanzo, the Bloom Blanket consist of 180 triangles whose ridges form little mini pyramids. Despite its unconventional and complex looks, the Bloom is warm and cozy, made from a luxurious cashmere wool blend in Italy, in an area famed for its cashmere production. Each blankets takes five hours to craft. While the wool blend hails from an Italian textile factory, the blankets are sewn in Poland by a small, family-run operation.

Costanzo found herself inspired by visionary mathematician Ron Resch, who investigated 3D tessellations in the 1960s. According to Merriam-Webster, a tessellation is “a covering of an infinite geometric plane without gaps or overlaps by congruent plane figures of one type or a few types.” After a near-fatal accident, Costanzo suffered severe memory loss. As part of her healing process, she played with origami, which she had done with her mom as a kid. As her exploration and experiments became more complex, more Resch-like so to speak, the idea for the Bloom Blanket with its interlocking tetrahedrons came into being. It quickly became one of Spain’s most successful Kickstarter campaigns.

The Bloom Blanket is currently available in one size, measuring 55 by 59 inches and weighing 1.54 pounds. You can choose from Cream or Charcoal. Visit bloomblanket.com.

More from the designer

“Throughout my life, I have been curious about geometric forms and folds. During my time at MIT, I was introduced to more elaborate forms of origami, and a language for analyzing and generating those 3-dimensional shapes. As a child who always invented paper toys and dolls, it was my dream to transform them into something beautiful that I could have at home. Thus, bloom was born.”

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A single piece of inexpensive, durable polypropylene folds into various volumes of measurement depending on the way you hold it. The Polygons Measuring Spoon by Rahul Agarwal employs biomimicry to shift into spoons in a range of sizes, inspired by the way the carrying capacity of the human hand changes based on the way it’s cupped and angled.

The flat piece of polypropylene is scored with live hinges, so the measurement – ranging from half a teaspoon to two tablespoons – changes based on which joint you use to pick it up. Figuring out how to hold it according to how much you need will become second nature soon enough, but during the learning process it’s like challenging yourself to a beginner-level geometry problem.

Not only does this cut back on material usage, reducing an entire set of measuring spoons down to a single piece of plastic, it also reduces waste when cooking since the flat surface can be used to scrape the last bits into a bowl. The all-in-one, origami-inspired device would also be a great item to have on hand when traveling or camping.

“The average tablespoon set comes with 4-8 different sizes tethered to each other with a ring, and if these spoons get untethered, you can kiss finding the one you need goodbye. With Polygons, you are able to find the size you need in seconds, without searching through all of your drawers. Plus, the spoon lays completely flat until you need to use it.”

“When designing Polygons, we wanted to focus on making our product not only durable but also better for the environment than traditional measuring spoons. The hinges of Polygons are made of TPR, which have the property of being able to flex a 100,000 cycles without failure.”

Wondering just how well this multipurpose kitchen tool works? Core77 got their hands on one to try it out. Find out how that went at Core77.com.

The post Flat-Pack Polygonal Measuring Tool first appeared on Dornob.

Dutch designer Renate Nederpel‘s Pop-Up Linen wardrobe is reminiscent of a large piece of functional origami. Made of cotton fabric and wooden panels, the wardrobe is stable enough to use as intended on a daily basis, but simple and lightweight to move when the need arises. It simply folds flat for travel.

The lightweight wooden panels covered in cotton are designed to produce an object that is visually as well as physically lightweight. Its soft, rounded pieces look almost childish, but its contemporary design provides a mature balance.

Four pine wood legs come up through holes in the bottom of the wardrobe, cross on the inside, and poke out through the top. Smaller sticks support the bottom of the wardrobe and another rests inside at the top crossing of the legs, forming a pole on which to hang garments. This arrangement keeps every piece securely in place.

The exterior box shape has extra pieces sewn in at the corners to help it lie completely flat when it is folded. According to the designer, the goal of the project was to create a wardrobe that can be both produced and transported easily. Remember this idea the next time you find yourself schlepping your solid-oak wardrobe during your next move.

“Pop-Up Linen, a wardrobe made out of cotton fabric and wooden panels. The origami-esque construction method makes it able to fold the body completely flat when its wooden poles are removed. The soft foldable Pop-up Linen cabinet rest on high wooden legs. This legs cross through the fabric body structure and hold it in place.”

About the designer

” Renate Nederpel is product designer, specialized in folding structures and textile products. Her studio is based in Kerkdriel, The Netherlands. She has completed a Bachelor of Design in Furniture Design at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, The Netherlands. In recent years she has worked on several projects, from furniture to fashion accessory. Her work is characterized by the combined use of textile materials with the technique of folding. The work of Renate is to mention minimalistic with a strong persenal character.”

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Traditional lacework is a complex process of hand-stitching patterns onto a piece of parchment and linen, with a small piece often taking many hours to complete. Modern technology like laser-cut machines enable a similar effect to be achieved in unexpected forms and materials using computer software and mathematical algorithms.

LACESCAPE TABLE by Miro Roman and Luka Vlahovic features a pattern developed by Croatian lacemakers which was then digitally reproduced and fabricated. Produced on a sheet of metal rather than in textile form, the lace takes on a stiffness that allows it to be manipulated into complex surfaces.

The table is bent and folded into a simple, minimalist shape that balances the intricacy of the lace design. Two addition tables  in the series take the basic shapes from other traditional Croatian lace patterns and transform them into similarly streamlined tables.

Three digital processes make these tables possible: one creating infinite lace landscapes, one stylizing them, and the third giving them their origami-like shape. As such, explain the designers, the human working on these creations no longer manipulates the object itself, “but designs and directs the rules, systems and narratives that will generate, produce and promote that object.”

More from the designers

“Almost a hundred years after Le Corbusier conceived a house as a machine for living in, we find ourselves in a similar situation. A house is now a series of overlapping machines – the ones for heating, cooling, cooking, informing; there, we can find computers, TVs, smartphones, ovens, air conditioning, refrigerators… Le Corbusier’s idea has been driven to infinity. Houses, buildings and cities are now becoming ‘organisms’ – a series of machines, which we control and simulate with powerful computers. Control, rationalization, optimization, logistics and science are celebrated, while design and architecture find their justifications, references and analogies in the ‘ideal machine’ – the nature itself.”

“On the other hand, concepts brought by postmodernism such as collaging, deconstructing and quoting cultural references are being lost in the idea of searching for the optimum, the ideal or a good enough model which describes our reality. The consequence of such an approach is the reduction of objects to a series of statistics, which cannot deal with the complexity of the society in which we live. Finally, by disregarding the cultural context and the interdependence of multiple factors that determine the object, we encounter the generic.”

The post Technology Meets Tradition in Laser-Cut Lacescape Table first appeared on Dornob.

A chair so sharp and angular that it looks like it could cut into your skin may not be the most welcoming piece of furniture to relax into after a long day at work, but it certainly makes a bold statement in a room.  The Triangulation furniture series by Nova Obiecta sculpts lightweight aluminum into eye-catching, minimalist works of art.

The most complex and alien-looking of the series was created by artist Aimeric Chay, reflecting Nova Obiecta’s belief that the aesthetics of an object can be even more important than the function.

Each piece is hand-made in France usage aluminum alloys and a matte black finish. The designers chose aluminum because it is “lightweight, malleable and resistant to the passing of time.” With all of their geometric folds, some of the pieces resemble origami rendered in metal.

The chair, tables and sculptural objects are each available in a limited edition of 8-15 pieces.

More from the designers

“Nova Obiecta is a house of creation and edition of furniture and works of art. The house’s editions share an aesthetic where form can take precedence over function. The creations gain their singularity in the precise choice of materials and through the forms that arise from the singular imagination of the creators, designers and artists edited by Nova Obiecta.”

“Technicality and precision contribute to the sobriety of the pieces. And when it comes to creating its own collection, Nova Obiecta observes a single line of conduct, giving birth to innovative works that all come together in their minimalist and refined character. Nova Obiecta thus seeks to enhance the simple, the refined, through strict and calculated forms.The house, in search of the essential and timelessness, breathes new life into geometry.”

About Nova Obiecta

“When the two founders meet in the heart of Paris, they merge their approaches to aesthetics and find themselves at the crossroads of two worlds: that of heritage, of history on one side and that of creation, of the future. the other.
From their passion for raw materials, craftsmanship and industrial processes, Nova Obiecta was born. Kinetic art, design and contemporary architecture and this proven desire for the two autodidacts of the “after” are at the origin of the refinement of the concept. If the ideas are born from the effervescence of the capital, it is in the south of France that each of the pieces sees the light of day.”

The post Furniture So Sharp, You Might Be Afraid to Sit Down first appeared on Dornob.