Street lamps have always been the underdogs, I’d say, in the sense that we never really care to notice or acknowledge their existence, let alone appreciating their body and design work. Onur Cobanli has thought out of the box with his very cool looking upgraded version of the usually boring street lamps. The ‘Crane’ street lamps draw a beautiful inspiration from the bird crane itself and so the body does resemble a little with the bird. To be more frank, to me it resembles the Indian Cobra more than anything else. But otherwise, it is a very differently thought idea for a lamp and will definitely make people stand and admire the design. The best part is that thought the body is made of metal, the lamp has solar panels to draw energy from the sun. More than being just a street light, this design gives a taste and flavor to the street altogether. [OMCDesign]

Anything 3D or close to it has always caught my fantasy, and now when it has been nearly applied to mobile phones, I can only imagine how far we have come from the early 1900’s. Mac Funamizu, has designed an extremely futuristic concept phone –Cobalto. I have been left mesmerized with the mere body and looks of that phone; with the transparent glass display, you have got to check that out. The deformable metal parts either allow you to use the numeric keys or gives you an option of an i-pod like dial. The best feature is the ability of the phone go display 3D objects in thin air. ‘This’ truly proves how far we have gotten in terms of technology and design, and the designer has to be given a pat on the back to have thought of this innovation on a mobile phone.

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Mosaic has always been a very contemporary form of art. They keep coming in and going out of vogue. But Gemstone Creatives have now given another dimension altogether in the expression of mosaic art. They have reintroduced the concept with a new packaging consisting of precious stones. Imagine that life-sized image on your wall, glittering and shimmering all through the day. Although they specialize in custom portraits, but they are not hesitant to turn any regular image into a ‘one-of-a-kind’ piece of art. A diamond studded mosaic set in 18K gold has its prices starting from $750,000. This is definitely an art for the keeps. [TrendHunter]

Education is an integral part of a student's curriculum, but now a days children are not too fond of studying. Designer Ricardo Seola has come up with this educational music toy for that features a train that plays the track. The track of the toy is designed in such a way that it has small bumps on it to pluck the metal keys of the train. This design is inspired by the simple mechanics of wind-up music boxes. The track on which the train runs is divided into sections which can be rearranged to change the song.

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Athanasios Kartas has designed a very cool looking car that looks like its straight out of a matrix film with the green light effect. Called the Deltoid Design DD 20-19, the features of the car are not really disclosed, but as far as the design goes, it gets thumbs up from me. Small and compact, it is a two-seater that looks high-tech and suave. The steering wheel is on the left side and the wheels look fiery with the metal pattern that has been designed on it. Quite a new and innovative design it indeed is. [Designboom]

Just like how Motorola is best known for the body and look of its mobile phone, Samsung has also proved that it is no less in that regard. With Samsung Reclaim, they have shown to the world that they are beautiful and smart. It is basically a mobile phone that is made from 80% recyclable materials. A beautiful green colored slider with a QWERTY keyboard, has its casing made from 40% bio-plastics. It does not have any polyvinyl chloride (pvc) and is designed to use as little energy as possible when in use. The packaging of the phone is also made keeping in mind the smart quotient of eco-sensitivity, since it is made using recyclable cardboard and soy-based inks. Now isn’t that one beauty with brains!

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Most loudspeakers come in boring and predictable shapes like rectangles and squares and circles. I did have some interesting ones that were shaped like the pyramid, but they are long gone. That's why these Mushroom shaped loudspeakers for the wall fixing caught my fancy. They are certain to add some character to any room while blasting out fun tunes. They also resemble little spaceships which is quite cute. I'm impressed.

[DesignSpotter]

Heavy school bags have always bothered me as a kid. I kept blaming the education system about not doing anything positive to avert the need to carry truck loads of books everyday to school. This Smart Bag has come in like saviors for all the kids who go to school now. The slogan for Smart Bag is: “Twist it your way”. The bag has certain multi-use functions such as a carrying it like a haversack, strolling it along or even riding on it. Yes, it has a scooter that you can ride on and go around. It has storage compartments for files, books, stationery and water bottles. Also it consists of ergonomic shoulder straps with breathable material, carbon fiber skin and PVC bottom. The 62mm urethane wheels help to carry it easily. The extra wide flexible aluminum alloy with adjustable handle bars ensure a comfortable ride. The inspiration of this bag has been the designers’ personal experience when he faced acute back and muscular pain due to his heavy school bag. Truly a work of admiration, the concept is definitely amazing and will be highly successful too.

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Phones with access to social networking sites like facebook, twitter and myspace are a rage since a few months now. But those phones are like other usual ones where other phone features like tyexting, camera, microphone and music or video player are the pre-dominant features. But Shane Crozier has come up with a very appealing concept phone that is all about social networking only. Other regular features like microphone, camera, music and video player have been dropped and focus is mainly on the ability to connect with facebook and twitter and also filling up the contact list with the contacts on your social networking profile list, apart from being able to make and receive calls. The most important and distinctive feature is its physical body. It so does not look like a phone to me. A very trendy and snazzy gadget with minimal control system for ease of use, I am already in love with it.

[Concept-phones]

The Nancy Drew in me awakened when I came across this table designed so thoughtfully by Oliver Haddon. This tall table is full of surprise pockets on the inside. The hexagon shaped table stands pretty and smart until you begin opening it. Once dissected, the numerable tiny boxes emerge out of it where you can easily and safely keep your valuable or anything that you want to hide. Perfect for a thief I think, since n one will ever suspect breaking open a table. When closed, it anyway looks very trendy on its own. The shape is very unique. If not just a table, it can also be a stand for your flower vase or a corner stand. I love the idea and innovation behind the concept.

[Design-milk]

Designer Jin Kuramoto from Japan has created a tea set that is a nice blend of authentic and contemporary. This wooden tea set is very pretty and it looks like its Japanese roots are subtly apparent. It can be stacked, and ensures the various finishes for a sculptural appearance. I would love to be sipping my tea from something that looks so traditional. It's almost a patriotic act on the designer's part, as he wants to keep the art from Japan alive. This is a steaming way to do so, I must say!

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Copenhagen is full of cargo bikes, this place is really packed to the brim with them. So it's only natural that there should be adequate parking spaces for them. That's where this Peptobismol pink shell made out of fiber glass steps in. It looks like a pretty car, but it is comprised of four separate cabins, each with room for one bike. this means that four bicycles can park in the space normally taken up by one car. This pseudo car has four solar powered 'headlights' that turn on after dark. Also, a solar powered light turns on inside when one of the doors are opened. There's also some space for hanging up wet gear. Quite a pretty and girly idea, I hope they have other colors or the male population will throw a tantrum.

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‘Hidden desk’ is basically a laptop desk that can be used as a tiny work station also, if required. It is like a normal desk and not-s-like it at the same time. This has a little dent for your laptop to fit in. When required like a full work station or a desk, it can be flipped to the opposite side and the dent can be covered up to give you a proper desk. If not a laptop, you can simply store your computer here too. Depending on the position of the movable part the computer is either hidden away or easily accessed.

[Furnishh]

I still can’t sleep without a night lamp; imagine the little kids who are anyway more prone to getting scared in the night. Nicolas Kedzierski has designed this very innovative night light for the kids. With the color being lime and bright green, I’m sure every kid is going to love it at first sight. With tis unique egg-shaped body, the design surpasses the shape of the usual night lamps. To me it also looks like a space ship or the vehicle straight out of the Jetsons world. It is ideal for a kid and his imagination. Imagine he would sleep every night fighting those aliens in his space suit. Perfect I say!

[Coroflot]

I have always loved craft and especially with paper. No wonder then that origami has been my favorite past times for some time now. But Bertjan Pot has interested me with another amazing talent he has displayed using paper-layering! To be honest I do not think this is something new. I have always known about paper garlands and lamps. But the creations by Bertjan Pot are indeed very delicately and intricately done. He has treated paper like a piece or ornament to make these wonderful garlands and lamps. A beautiful result, the work looks very complicated but indeed beautiful. I’d rather buy these and preserve them for life rather than display it in the open, for the fear of having any damage done to them.

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