If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives)

A Power Pig with 17 Snoutlets (and the Design Process behind it.)

Russian design studio Art Lebedev is always designing clever items, some as concepts, some as produced items. One of their latest concepts is something I wish would come to fruition. Check out the design process and final protoypes of their Power Strip Svintus with 17 snout-plugs (or Power Pig with 'snoutlets' as I like to call it.)

Task: to play up a conventional piggy.

Svintus power strip is a multi-snout cutie that you will not want to hide behind a couch. It’s a pink, fully functional device with seventeen snout-plugs.

Spiral cord evolved from a pig tail:

The built-in circuit breaker protects from overload (Circuit breaker disguised as a mono-nipple):

The Design Process:

Release date: September 30, 2011

Credits:
artistic director: Artemy Lebedev
art director: Timur Burbayev
designer: Kirill Musienko
industrial designer: Alexei Sharshakov
modeler: Alexander Pozdeyev
visualizator: Philipp Gorbachev

A special shout out to Technabob for bringing this to my attention.

A Brush With Design. Functional and Stylish Toothbrushes from Yumaki.

Clearly oral care can be cool.

The other day I came home to some boxed goodies and in a small package postmarked from Vietnam were some fabulous toothbrushes! I tried one and sure enough, it were both comfortable and effective. Gentle on the teeth, vivid to the eyes, Yumaki stylish toothbrushes are made from 100% recyclable PP material with 100% nylon bristles imported from Japan and crafted in a factory in Vietnam.

Founded in 2009 by a Scandinavian Product Design company and a Japanese Oral Care factory, Yumaki has an evergrowing collection of high quality dental products that are both functional and fun. A collection of toothbrushes with ergonomically designed colored handles combined with medium density nylon bristles in varied designs and colors.

The brushes are packaged in clear branded cylindrical tubes and their color combinations are inspired by everything from race cars to forests:

Below are just a few from their collection:

Yumaki follows all international production standards for professional dental care products and although they looks extremely simple they not only have a great grip in the palm of your hand, they also clean your teeth and gum just as efficient as any other toothbrush produced with state of the art machines and material.

The toothbrushes make excellent gifts and if you purchase 5 sets or more, they ship free anywhere in the world. You can buy direct from Yumaki here.

Our Fonts, Our Friends. A Film From the Folks At Veer.

Veer has just released this fun animated short film to market their font selection. "Our Fonts, Our Friends" is the first in a series of retro science films from the stock photo, image, illustration and typeface company. In this installment, the narrator discusses font styles, how to choose your font, and where to find an endless supply of affordable fonts.

Veer is one of my favorite type and image houses for their style, selection, attitude and design. Photography, illustration and all sorts of fonts are available to purchase and download. In addition to a wonderful array of type styles, they offer a few stylish gifts for fontophiles, lots of fun free images, wallpapers, fonts, book and more.

above: Ampersand cufflinks and Font coffee mug are both available online at Veer

Veer

Jason Freeny's Sculptures Dissect Icons & Toys From Hello Kitty to Mickey Mouse.

Hello Kitty © Sanrio

In June of 2008, I introduced you to the twisted talents of illustrator Jason Freeny who exposed the insides of such fun items as Balloon Dogs and Gummi Bears. Since then, he's begun crafting 3D sculptures by modifiying existing vinyl toys by fellow artists or creating the sculptures from scratch - partially revealing the insides of advertising icons and well-known characters.

The ultimate compliment, Jason takes a deeper look, literally, at the works of Disney and Pixar characters, Charles Schultz characters, Toy and commercial icons like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, the Pillsbury Dough Boy, Hello Kitty, video game characters, vinyl collectibles like Dunnys, Qees and more. He even exposes vintage Care Bares and Kewpie Dolls.

Dunny ©KidRobot, Mini Qee ©Toy2r

Stay Puft ©Columbia Pictures

Gloomy Bear ©Mori Chack

Mickey Mouse ©Disney, Lucy ©Charles Schultz and Exposed ©Ron English

Giving credit to the original designers*, his cutaway sculptures are both compelling and collectible.

You can purchase some of the above original sculptures here.

Jason Freeny, Moist Productions

*sadly and somewhat ridiculously, 20th Century Fox and David Horvath of Ugly Dolls made Mr. Freeny remove his versions of their characters from his site.