everybody loves stuff

July 2, 2006 4:48 AM

Best designed stuff of '06.The Industrial Design Excellence Awards. Winners include the 2 second tent, a new coffin and the hover creeper. Want more design? See what shaking in ecodesign, gadgetry, or concept cars. Perhaps you just want to know what's cool or what those crafty Germans are up to. Then again, maybe it's all just too much to handle.
posted by cubby (22 comments total)

Whenever I see design awards I'm always expecting a bunch of whacky looking chairs. Unfortunately all we have here are a bunch of highly useful and practical tools and objects.

Jokes aside, I really like that tent, even though I can tell that putting it back together would be nowhere as easy as they say. It never is.
posted by Serial Killer Slumber Party at 5:42 AM on July 2, 2006

The memory card with the embedded USB connection is brilliant.
posted by danb at 5:55 AM on July 2, 2006

Those crafty Germans. They're always up to something, aren't they?
posted by meh at 6:09 AM on July 2, 2006

No awards for IDEO ths year? Unbelievable!
posted by briank at 6:18 AM on July 2, 2006

What's a "creeper", in the case of the hover creeper? Is it what automechanics lie on when they roll under your car?
posted by jonson at 6:29 AM on July 2, 2006

The endorsement copy for that ResQ hydraulic rescue thing on the first link is wacky brilliant, in a Designer with a capital D sorta way:

“Powerful, capable, confident. Exactly the impression you want to project in an emergency.”
--Richard Eisermann, founder, Prospect

Because looking like a star is 90% of being a star.
posted by paulsc at 6:34 AM on July 2, 2006

A hoverboard for mechanics! What a cool idea since you always have pressured air in a shop anyway.
posted by octothorpe at 6:38 AM on July 2, 2006

I suppose the self-opening tent is an improved version or something, because that concept's been around for some time.

If, for instance, you watch the 1999 "Brotherhood of Man" episode of The Drew Carey Show, you'll see Drew deploy one with, needless to say, a flourish.

Further snarkery may be found here.
posted by dansdata at 6:50 AM on July 2, 2006

“…brings a new, fresh design to monitoring and surveillance…you'll want to watch it while it's watching you.”
posted by dobie at 7:04 AM on July 2, 2006

Holy crap, a flashlight that can take any sized battery? Where the fuck have you been all my life clever flashlight?
posted by mathowie at 7:08 AM on July 2, 2006

everybody loves stuff

That's the main problem with this planet.
posted by Meatbomb at 7:30 AM on July 2, 2006

The hover board thing struck me as crap until I saw you can also use it to power other things. Sounds great for the high end market, although most guys will stick with a board with four castors for £20 and five miuntes work.

But who the hell designed the IDEA logo? That is truly awful.
posted by twine42 at 7:54 AM on July 2, 2006

i like portland's south waterfront design strategy (cf.) and panasonic's household fuel cell cogeneration system :P

Nutty Buddy® - designed to hold your nuts!
posted by kliuless at 9:23 AM on July 2, 2006

nice awards site - but you would think that they would add an URL for people to find out more about each products. The 2-second tent site was a bit of a ramble to find, then ggaaaah! flash overload. Nice idea though...
posted by seawallrunner at 9:35 AM on July 2, 2006

The is a pretty awesome post, cubby, I must say. I have spent at least 30 minutes sifting through all the various award winners, and I've plenty left to still check out. Thanks!
posted by jonson at 10:04 AM on July 2, 2006

That coffin gives me the heeby-jeebies. I'm also not entirely sure why you'd want a coffin "free of the associations of the typical rectilinear casket" since I'd imagine most of those associations have to do with exactly what the "cocoon" is built for: puttin' dead folks in the ground.
posted by renraw at 11:45 AM on July 2, 2006

It took me awhile to figure out why the Next Generation CyberKinfe Concept Investigation kinda freaked me out.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:34 PM on July 2, 2006

whoops-my first link should be this.
posted by oneirodynia at 1:37 PM on July 2, 2006

i dunno about you guys, but me? i heartily laughed at some of these products, in a good way. i like the hovercraft, and the bike/scooter crossbreed (#32). the chrysler AKINO (#48) was just plain friggin smart). the nutty buddy (#53) made me giggle like a schoolgirl (don't ask), and the disaster relief shelters (#56) were downright ridiculous.
posted by alona at 10:39 PM on July 2, 2006

That coffin looks familliar.
posted by luminous phenomena at 10:47 PM on July 2, 2006

All of these similarities to Star Trek are making me think that maybe, back in the mid-60's, Gene Roddenberry had a pretty clear and pretty acurate idea of what the future would be like. Who knows what'll come next!?
posted by alona at 10:54 PM on July 2, 2006

I always enjoy these design awards posts, thanks!
posted by fenriq at 11:58 PM on July 2, 2006