Around The Home

For people who want portable LED lighting that mounts just about anywhere, there are already devices such as the Joby Gorillatorch, most of which are variations on the tried-and-trusted flashlight form factor. Striker’s new FLEXiT Light takes a bit of a different approach, however. Instead of incorporating three or so LEDs within one lens, it utilizes a bendable array of 16 high-output bulbs. Read More

Everywhere you look, items made with or from silicone rubber continue to pop up like mushrooms after a long spring rain. From artificial lungs to cookie sheets, even baby bottles, this versatile, non-toxic material is becoming increasingly indispensable in our everyday lives. Now tea kettles can be added to the list of items getting the silicone treatment with the four-cup SlickBoil from Cuissential that takes advantage of silicone's flexibility to shrink to a space-saving package when not preparing a refreshing brew. Read More

There's a bit of controversy surrounding MVRDV's design for a luxury residential environment in South Korea. Some people are concerned about the resemblance of MVRD's “Cloud” to the 9/11 twin towers explosions. Whether it is a 9-11 lookalike is immaterial because it's meant to be a cloud, and it's an ingenious reinvention of the skyscraper using glass and sky and light and sun to create a unique and compelling environment, with many material advantages to the community. Read More

Coffee lovers Chris Mclean (design engineer) and Bruce Constantine (engineer/ entrepreneur) have spent the last two years developing a precision coffee brewer dubbed Espro Press. The product is similar to classical french presses, however Espro Press features a two-stage micro-filter that reportedly preserves coffee flavors and prevents sediments or muddiness in the coffee. Read More

Want to install a satellite dish at your home but can't due to a building regulation or uncooperative landlord? Hiding an in-built dish and LNB, the SatPlus Sat Chair will let you pull in those satellite signals and the landlord will be none the wiser. The chair can be installed on a terrace, balcony or anywhere else you want to install a satellite dish without breaking any rules - although it might look out of place on the roof. Read More

The Swilden desk - a flourish of metal in which the desk surface winds in on itself to become the chair - was originally commissioned in 1966 for the foyer of the then new Peugeot head office in Paris. Three desks were created and three receptionists were each seated at their very own work of art. Since they were decommissioned, the three extraordinary industrial chic desks have been so sought after at auction, that French furniture designer Furdess has negotiated with the original designer, Ben Swildens, to create a limited re-release of eight desks. Only three are still to be sold, with an asking price of EUR65,000 (US$87,000) a piece. Read More

Wouldn't it be cool if, along with your flying car and your robot butler, you had a tap in your kitchen that dispensed hot beverages? You'd just shuffle into the kitchen in the morning, and grab a cappuccino in the same way that you'd usually get a glass of water from the tap in the sink - that said, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to put your mouth right up to the coffee tap. Anyhow, such a thing does indeed now exist, and it's called the Top Brewer. Read More

Now here's an exciting piece of design. At first glance the Tetra-Shed, designed by architect David Ajasa-Adekunle, looks like the ideal hypermodern outdoor studio for the hipster home-worker. That it may be, but the Tetra-Shed's modular design means that (space, money and imagination allowing) there's no limit to the number of units that can be connected together, literally opening up the Tetra-Shed to a vast array of possible uses. Read More

Whereas the majority of vertical farming concepts and projects featured in Gizmag over the years have either been huge dedicated structures or add-ons to existing buildings, the Windowfarms system downsizes and personalizes veggie growing by placing an indoor farm in the window. The original plastic-bottle-based, do-it-yourself hydroponics system design has been available for a while now but the developers are getting ready to make a new, improved kit version available. Read More