Universal Plate, Martin Azua Designer

A one-piece polypropylene tray for eating.
Martín Azúa 1999 / Photographies Martín Azúa.

martinazua.com

Table Dish Cover by Maezm

maezm.com

Inflatable Plates, Mina Song, Designer

yankodesign.com

Garden Cart, RIT School of Design

One of the concepts, designed by junior industrial design student Gino Santaguida, is a three-wheeled garden cart that carries soil, tools and seedlings to the Rivers Run community garden.

An intergenerational project between industrial design students in RIT’s School of Designand residents of Rivers Run Senior Living Community, a lifelong learning facility operated in conjunction with RIT, has resulted in a wide range of innovative prototype solutions that address everyday needs of residents and help enhance “aging in place.”

The students will present their design concepts during an interactive session with residents from 3 to 5 p.m. today at The Riparian at Rivers Run. During the session, set up like a science fair, students will showcase their design process with presentation boards featuring detailed models, prototypes and computer animations of their design solutions—ranging from the improvement of products in the kitchen to the bedroom to the garden.

The Center for Disease Control defines aging in place as “the ability to live in one’s own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level.” In December 2011, AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) Policy Institute and the National Conference of State Legislatures released a report titled, “Aging in Place: A State Survey of Livability Policies and Practices” to foster aging in place by giving state legislators examples of how laws, policies and programs can support this goal.

In addition to governmental initiatives, the effort determined that livability could be optimized through the incorporation of universal design principles, telecare and other assistive technologies—including communications, health and wellness monitoring, home safety and security.

Professors Stan Rickel and Bruce Leonard developed a course proposal involving 28 third-year industrial design students who worked with an advisory team from Rivers Run over a 10-week period to research and develop new design concepts for everyday products that enable aging in place.

“These product concepts our students have come up with are the result of a unique and collaborative brainstorming with Rivers Run residents and staff,” says Leonard, an adjunct professor in the industrial design program. “Residents told us, ‘I wish I had a product that …’ and our students took their feedback and ran with it.”

Beginning with a survey of Rivers Run residents back in February, RIT students, faculty and the team at Rivers Run—including Executive Director Jeff Rowoth and Director of Community Life Chad Estabrooks—came up with hundreds of ideas for the industrial design students to consider. Concepts include a three-wheeled cart that carries soil, tools and seedlings to the Rivers Run community garden, along with a counter-top device that sorts and delivers medications at the right dosage levels when they are needed.

“The survey, subsequent workshop sessions and periodic reviews of the concepts between RIT and our advisory team of residents enabled students to get real-life ideas from consumers who have had difficulty using or just plain think there’s got to be a better way to design some of the things our residents use every day,” Rowoth says. “This is the first of what we hope will be many collaborative efforts between Rivers Run and the various colleges at RIT.”

Source is Rochester Institute of Technology. Link here.

THIS Toothbrush

WHAT IS THIS?

THIS is a line of products that reintroduces and modernizes an ancient tooth-cleaning twig called the Miswak. The first product we've designed is the Standard Cutter Case that allows you to cut, peel, and carry the Miswak around easily.
THIS began in 2010 as a student project and has since gained international recognition. After crowd funding $18,000 last August, THIS Cutter Case is currently in production. 

WHAT IS A MISWAK?

The Miswak, also known as the Siwak, is a natural, organic root of the Salvadora Persica tree that has been used for centuries as a method of oral hygiene. Recent studies have proven that regular use of Miswak can significantly reduce plaque and strengthen enamel, as well as help reduce tooth decay.
The Miswak is portable, does not require toothpaste or water, and can access hard-to-reach parts of the mouth for a thorough cleaning experience.

SOURCE LINKS:

http://www.industrialdesignserved.com/gallery/THIS-Toothbrush/939513

http://www.thisisatoothbrush.com/#this

Tableware, Qiyun Deng, Designer

What happens when anything disposable becomes simply too beautiful to throw away? This is the main question behind a fresh design project by Qiyun Deng, a graduate of ECAL (University of Art and Design Lausanne), who has given tableware utensils the touch and feel of real vegetables and fruits. The ‘‘Graft’’ tableware set was Deng’s graduation project for her Master’s in Product Design (2013), and is an impressive set of forks, knives, spoons and serving bowls that look as if functional objects have been humorously grafted out of farm produce. Deng first copies real plant textures with resin in order to study them, and then imagines how each vegetable or fruit should be used as a piece of tableware. Although we don’t see ourselves picking out any celery forks from our back yard any time soon, we can certainly use them for the garden's compost, since Deng’s Graft tableware are made of biodegradable PLA bioplastic. The products are still in their development phase, they should reach production phase and become commercially available some time soon.

Qiyun Deng is a product designer from Foshan, China. She currently lives in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Text and image source Yatzer. Link here.

Clear Bottom Kayak

Source is Well Done Stuff.  Link here.