The Collapsible and The Modular

Interesting Umbrella Designs

Alex Coblentz — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:22:08 +0200

The umbrella has become a faithful companion for anyone on a rainy day. Their collapsibility is a necessary convenience for people to carry around when simply preparing for a day of showers. The first recorded collapsible umbrella originates from China in the first century CE, created for Wang Mang's ceremonial carriage. While some only fold, umbrellas with telescoping shafts enable their owners to easily store them while on the go, making them even more portable. Recently, umbrellas capable of being folded multiple times more than the typical fold have been designed. This notion of reducing the storage size challenges developers to design a product that not only adequately protects users from rainfall, but is also easy to carry and store.

Russian Matryoshka Nesting Dolls

Alex Coblentz — Tue, 18 May 2010 14:10:28 +0200

Nesting containers are an essential branch of modern collapsible design today. We see mixing bowls nested together in kitchens and the USPS use portable stacking storage totes to haul mail in bulk. However, the idea of nesting containers as a means of decoration and amusement has been well-pursued by the ever popular Russian Matryoshka (Матрёшка) nesting dolls.

OXO Pour & Store

Brian Hefele — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 19:32:27 +0200

For twenty years, OXO has been at the forefront of great, functional industrial design. Their products are not always the most aesthetically pleasing, but they find problems and create products that solve them. They adhere strongly to the concept of 'universal design,' making their products usable, comfortable, pleasant for as many people as they can. They look at how people use products, and what problems arise that users might not even know about. OXO's president, Alex Lee, gave a riveting speech at Gel 2008, which does a good job of explaining what makes OXO great. To me, it's not just having good, smart design (technically, the majority of OXO's design work is done by firm Smart Design, an apt name…) but rather getting said designs in the hands of the masses, rather than making absurdly-priced one-offs or even the somewhat-more-accessible products sold by Alessi.

Tukluk Triangles & Open Systems for Children

Alex Coblentz — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 10:27:42 +0200

Who hasn’t built an indoor fort out of sheets or chairs as a child? However, looking at the Tukluk, designed by Benedikt Kirsch+ Katharina Schildgen makes me wish I had this as a kid. A rough translation from the German website the Tukluk is featured on describes these triangles as microfiber, with sewn-in magnets running along the sides of each piece, enabling a child to reconfigure these triangles to their hearts content. The website demonstrates uses ranging from a play mat to a cave or fort structure.

The Collapsible and The Modular.

Brian Hefele & Alex Coblentz — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 10:24:50 +0200

Welcome! The Collapsible and the Modular is a small blog branch of the tree that is brainaxle ideas, dedicated to finding and examining products which make use of two of Brian's favorite industrial design techniques - that which is collapsible¹, and that which is modular. Brian says:

By now we should be past excessive, bigger-is-better notions. More products are coming to fruition which allow us, even encourage us to only take up as much space as we actually need. To better make use of small spaces while still having the products we need to lead a comfortable, normal life.