Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

Chandeliers from the future!

Posted: 20 Feb 2018 11:54 AM PST

A silver winner of the LG OLED Design Competition, the Versailles Chandelier by Alexandre Boucher mixes history with the future. It uses flexible OLED technology to create a chandelier that visually stays true to its roots, mimicking the overall silhouette, but rather than using bulbs to illuminate the massive lighting fixture (and glass/crystals to disperse the light), the Versailles Chandelier lights up itself, thanks to the properties of OLEDs.

Fit to be seen in any palace ballroom, the Versailles chandelier has a luxury-meets-steampunk appeal. Paper-thin, and extremely energy efficient (courtesy the LEDs), the chandelier manages to look modern and vintage both at the same time. It may not be as intricate and ornate as its ancestors, but it definitely isn’t something your eyes could ignore!

Designer: Alexandre Boucher

A Sculptural Twist on the Speaker

Posted: 20 Feb 2018 09:44 AM PST

This has gotta be one of the most beautiful and bizarre standalone speakers we’ve ever seen! It explores using narrow, rolled strips of beech wood to create coil based shapes – a technique that’s been used in decorative items and light fixtures for ages. While the dangling spiral shape is what’s most apparent, the tighter coil at the top is perfectly structured for pure sound delivery.

It produce a uniquely clear and soft tone with little distortion. The clear acrylic cylinder gives users a window into the inner woodwork, making it possible to see the unfinished edge left spiraling down from the center. It’s at once an aesthetic accent and a way for users to comprehend the structural functionality and incredible craftsmanship that went into its production.

Designer: Nendo

This card case is a single leather piece

Posted: 20 Feb 2018 06:00 AM PST

It’s incredible what one can achieve out of a single piece of leather. The Tsutumu card holder is made from a stamped piece of leather. That’s literally the only production process it went through (aside from the branding being stamped into it too). No glue, no stitches, no rivets. Just pure leather. Basing itself on the Japanese culture of wrapping valued items carefully (google Furoshiki), the Tsutumu comes flat-packed and can easily be folded into shape. Its design ensures it holds its shape while holding cards within it too!

Elegant, simple, stylish, and differently vibrant, the Tsutumu cases wrap around your cards in a way that looks beautiful and unusual. The leather ages with time, gathering a beautiful patina, but the case itself lives on for years and years!

Designer: Hirotaka Satoh

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Car-charging Drones of the Future

Posted: 20 Feb 2018 12:26 AM PST

I love the concept of e-cars for their environmental friendliness but, honestly, my advice would be to never date someone who drives one! My partner’s e-car can travel a whopping 100 miles between each 8 hour charge which means I’m always the one stuck behind the wheel. If only he had access to a Volt drone, then I might actually get to chill out in the passengers seat for once!

The design takes portable charging to the next level. In fact, I can’t recall ever seeing a mobile car charger let alone one that flies. The subscription service is accessible via app. Whether it’s on long road trips where there are few charging stations or simply between spots in town, users can order a charging Volt drone to ensure their vehicle always has enough power to get them from point A to point B.

Designer: Inyeop Baek

World’s tiniest life-jacket

Posted: 19 Feb 2018 04:03 PM PST

The Ploota is remarkable for a lot of reasons. The Sensor Controlled Swimming Safety Device sits around your neck, and will trigger when it comes in contact with water, but even comes with a manual trigger. Sitting around your neck, the Ploota is compact, innovative, reusable, and like I mentioned earlier, remarkable. Here’s a bunch of reasons why. A. Unlike most life-jackets that keep you afloat all the time, the Ploota can be used underwater or in the water too. It means you can go swimming, snorkeling or deep sea diving with it on and trigger it only when you need to be brought to the surface. In that manner, the Ploota can be worn by more people and therefore it can save more lives. B. Probably 1/50th the size of a regular foam-based life jacket, the Ploota is compact, allowing you to carry/store 50 times more life-jackets with you in the same space, hence saving more lives in the event of a disaster. C. Its tiny form factor (it weighs only 280gms) allows you to do more without being weighed down by a bulky chest-strapped jacket. Designed to look sleeker and honestly, cooler, the Ploota is something more people will want to wear.

The Ploota sits relatively snugly around the neck. When it inflates, thanks to the refillable-CO2 cartridges in the front, two bags on the side (above the shoulder) inflate immediately, bringing you to the surface of the water. The Ploota is reusable, as the bags can easily be rolled back into their enclosure and the CO2 cartridges replaced. Given that as many as 372,000 people drown every year, the Ploota’s ability to be used in any and every scenario and its small size can literally ensure MANY more lives are saved.

Designers: Rainer Fakesch, T. Storti & C. Rummel (Ploota)

Fold is gold!

Posted: 19 Feb 2018 02:27 PM PST

As pretty as a picture, the Fold Pendant Lamp uses origami and repetitive geometry to charm, and to hypnotize. Made out of wool, the structure uses a series of bends and folds to create a pattern that looks stunning regardless of whether the light is on or not, making it a decorative piece in the day, and an absolutely beautiful light-source post sunset.

Made for Scandinavian retail company, Northern, the Fold is designed to complement minimal homes with its almost-centeripece-ish style. The lamp, available in three pastel hues, comes made from wool (a result of several years of experimentation and development, making it a unique hybrid of hand-craftsmanship and fibre innovation), that not only diffuses the light beautifully, but also acts as a sound absorbing panel, allowing you to have a nice, peaceful, well-lit zen-spot right under the lamp.

Designer: Foldability for Northern