Below are samples of product copy that I have written for IPPINKA, a company that promotes products with a minimalist design and is environmentally and socially conscious.
Spyndi: A Spine Inspired Chair
July 9 2016
One of the most important parts of the human body is the spine. If we don’t take care of it, we can hurt our back and put ourselves out of commission. Though it’s vital to our mobility, we don’t always take care of our spine even when it comes to simple tasks such as sitting. Stiff backs on chairs that don’t curve to our bodies are terrible for our posture. Ergonomic chairs that adjust to our height and curvature of our back are becoming more and more popular, but an ergonomic office chair in the middle of your living room isn’t the most stylish piece of furniture. Combining style and comfort, Spyndi, the spine inspired chair, is born. (Read more…)
June 12 2016
Ping pong and robots—sounds pretty sweet, doesn’t it? Just as robots have been made to help a basketballer take constant shots, help a batter perfect his swing, and a tennis player to move swiftly across the court catching lobs and smash shots, so too has one been created for table tennis. Yes, ping pong has joined the ranks of competitive sports with robotic aids that allow the player the time to practice and enhance their skill. Trainerbot, a ping pong robot, was created by a company of the same name including two brothers, Alexander and Harrison Chen, who love robots and ping pong. It was a no-brainer that they created this little gem. (Read more…)
May 23 2016
A typical way to make something as simple as making dinner or cleaning your home more enjoyable is to blast music. It makes the time go by faster as chores and errands get done. However, there are limitations with stereos or Bluetooth speakers, but the main one is the dead zones. It’s he zone in the room where the music just doesn’t quite reach, and it’s more muted there than right beside the speaker. That problem is a thing of the past with HiddenHUB’s smart speaker. (Read more…)
May 9 2016
It’s always a hassle when camping on the beach or having a picnic in the park to find a comfortable spot to sit with your friends and hang around. Not every campsite is hammock-friendly, not every beach has available loungers, and not every picnic spot has enough benches or tables to claim. Combine that with the fact that carrying lawn chairs adds an awkward weight and takes up quite a bit of trunk space, and you’ve got yourself a tiring adventure on what should have been a relaxing day. With Made in College’s Kozē inflatable chair, everyone can relax no matter the place. (Read more…)
FreezTHAT!: Fast Frozen Treats
April 28 2016
The idea of an ice dispenser as part of the fridge may seem like an overlooked design, but for people who don’t have the fortune of having ice on demand, they resort to large and clunky ice containers that take hours to freeze. Next thing you know, you have a party and within the first tray, the ice is all gone (if you were able to get it out). FreezTHAT! stops that issue and freezes ice in just ten minutes. (Read more…)
Bamboo Sushi Tray: Beautiful Plating
April 14 2016
As a self-proclaimed connoisseur of sushi, this neat little tray adds to an already delicious meal. I’ve been to many restaurants where the presentation of the sushi is just as great as the food itself. The Bamboo Sushi Tray is a simple yet elegant design to spice up even the simplest of sushi presentations. (Read more…)
Slash Lamp: Designed To Be Broken
April 2 2016
The old rule of “no running in the house” because you might break something becomes irrelevant with Drago Motica’s Slash Lamp that is designed to be broken. Created for the Romanian furniture brand UBIKUBI, the Slash Lamp was made by Motica with the hope that every single lamp will be unique based on the buyer’s preference. Inside a cardboard tube is a lamp made of corkscrew, mesh, and concrete. Along with the packaging is a stone. Motica urges buyers to use the stone to chip away at the concrete of the lamp to create your own design so when the lamp turns on, different patterns of light filter through the mesh and concrete. (Read more…)
Arc Bicycle Display Rack: Sculptural Bike Rack
March 17 2016
Any bicycle enthusiast who lives in the big city knows that bikes can be bulky and take up prime real estate against a wall where a table or couch could go. Living with limited space, there’s nowhere to go but up. That’s where the Arc Bicycle Display Rack comes in. Created by Rob Magee, a cyclist enthusiast from Sydney, Australia, the bicycle display rack is nothing more than an intricately designed hanger that screws into your wall. Not only does it keep your bike out of the way, but it adds a sense of character to your home as your favourite bike becomes a conversation art piece. (Read more…)
ONAGOfly: Personal Camera Drone
March 1 2016
In the age of selfie sticks and front facing cameras, people have perfected the exact way to hold a phone, an SLR, or a selfie stick in order to get the best possible picture, especially if the camera person wants to be in it too. The process of posing, taking the picture, making sure everyone is in it, then making sure everyone looks good, is time-consuming when all anyone (or most people, rather) wants to do is just enjoy the event in which they’re at, preferring to live it then spend the time taking pictures to capture the memory. We may not have flying cars or personal rocketships, but with the combined effort of Sam Tsu and Wei Lau and the rest of their design team, we now have a personal camera drone called the ONAGOfly. (Read more…)
February 15 2016
The name of this furniture says it all: you sit on or use 100% eco-friendly furniture that is made entirely out of recyclable materials. While traditional furniture needs to be held together by glue, SITGREEN designs come to life by using the power of compression, stacks of cardboard, and other pieces that would have ended up in a landfill like wood and screw bolts. The lifespan of these materials is revitalized to create a whole new set of cardboard furniture. (Read more…)
Bungy Sofa: Never Lose an Item
February 1 2016
Don’t let the name fool you; this isn’t a sofa where you can relax and plummet off the edge of a canyon. Rather, the Bungy Sofa, created by Bucks New University graduate Leala Dymond, integrates bungee cords over the couch cushions in a rectangular pattern. No, this isn’t with the intention of doing some bungee jumping, but for the purpose of keeping miscellaneous objects like remote controls, magazines, and pillows in place. (Read more…)
ProGo: Revolutionary Carry-On Backpack
January 20 2016
Now though I am sadly not a backpacker, making my way through Europe, nor am I a landscape photographer, hiking across terrains with nothing more than my camera, I can appreciate a fantastic piece of storage space that comes in the form of the ProGo, a carry-on backpack. For those frequent flyers racking up their Airmiles or the executives constantly flying from one city to the next, this carry-on backpack is far more practical, spacious, and safer than having a duffel bag, mixing you clean and dirty clothes with your spare sneakers or pulling along a small luggage and forcing it through the check-in. (Read more…)
Ario: Better Health Smart Lighting
January 5 2016
In the era of smart phones and hover boards, it’s easy to take advantage of such advanced technology and even forget the necessary, seemingly simpler ones that make our day-to-day living so much easier. For centuries, civilizations have thrived without basic electricity and have lived, sleeping, and eating, and having a balanced life, with nothing more than nature’s sun to guide their way. Ario, a smart lighting lamp, helps us embrace those roots once more by simulating the cycle of the sun in our own homes rather than producing a static, artificial light. (Read more…)
Anda: Modern Inflatable Furniture
December 26 2015
Growing up in the 90s, inflatable chairs were all the rage. The problem with inflatable furniture, however, was the lack of structure within them. At the end of the day, you’re sitting on a chair-shaped piece of plastic with tons of air blown into it, and eventually, your body doesn’t mould quite right or the plastic engulfs you and you sink to the ground. With Anda, inflatable furniture designed by Tehila Guy, the sinking feeling disappears as she gives the iconic design structure and stability. (Read more…)
SunGod Revolts: Custom Ski & Snowboard Goggles
December 10 2015
I may not be much of a winter athlete, but I can attest to the fact that when the world is covered in that thick patch of snow and the sun is high in the sky, the reflection it casts can burn through any and all types of sunglasses. Differentiating sidewalk from road becomes next to impossible, and if you’re off a ski hill, you better hope you’re not at the edge of a cliff. With the the rising interest in winter recreations, SunGod, founded by two passionate skiers and kitesurfers, Ali and Zoe, has reinvented optics for all who enjoy the colder side of the great outdoors through their Kickstarter campaign. (Read more…)
Widgets: Future-Retro USB Microphones
November 20 2015
In a world where becoming a YouTube sensation is an upload away, it’s helpful to have excellent equipment at a reasonable price. Add spunky colours to the mix, and you’ve got yourself some state of the art podcasting technology. Created by Gibson Guitars, an innovative USB microphone called Widgets is available for purchase as of November 2015. It can track instrument and vocals in 96Hz/24 big audio, has custom capsules, built-in pop filters, shock mounts, and an adjustable stand. What sets Widgets apart is not only the fact that it’s simply USB compatible, but that it ranges in quirky colours and designs. Featured are a seafoam green, a two-toned sky blue and sunshine yellow, and a burnt orange and matte black. USB microphones in this price range of $99 generally only have basic black, silver, or gold colours, but Gibson lets you show your true colours with these futuristic-retro hues. (Read more…)
November 9 2015
There’s nothing like a cold drink on a hot day to refresh the body and cool the tongue, or maybe you’ve bought your favourite bottle of white and you want to uncork that bad boy as soon as you get home. No one wants to wait for a cold drink and ice in wine isn’t always the most appealing option. Enter V-Tex. V-Tex is a cooling machine that can chill anything from soda to wine in less than 45 seconds. (Read more…)
Magne-Hinge Glasses: The Unbreakable Glasses
October 30 2015
Raise your hand if you’ve ever experienced the soul-crushing dilemma of trying to fix a pair of glasses with a tiny screwdriver and an even punier screw! Maybe you’re one of the lucky few who never had to suffer through a loose screw in your glasses. However, if you’re like me and wear spectacles constantly, the idea of placing a tiny screw inside a tiny hole while simultaneously trying to hold the entire frame together, all while not being able to see is upright nightmare-inducing. But fret not! Nendo, a Japanese design studio, has broken through the designer crowd by creating simple and imaginative products you never realized you needed. Oki Sato, the face behind the brand, offers many unique products that are meant to give people a “small ‘!’ moment”, a second of amazement for such simplicity. And with his Magne-Hinge Glasses, he certainly hit the nail on the head. (Read more…)
CycloCable: Uphill Bicycle Lift
October 18 2015
Inclement weather and both motor and pedestrian traffic aren’t the only things that can be deterring as a cyclist. Battling uphill slopes on a daily basis can be tiring to the body, and some places (San Francisco I’m looking at you!) are just overly hilly. Add that to a cyclist’s daily commute, and you can understand why people are more inclined to drive or take public transportation everywhere, losing the opportunity to get a workout as they ride. With Trampe CycloCable, an uphill bicycle lift, you’ll have just as fun going uphill as you will downhill. (Read more…)
October 2 2015
Don’t let the name fool you, this high-tech piece of equipment is not Harry Potter’s first broomstick. In fact, it doesn’t fly at all, but rather, it remains station in your bathroom, acting as a multi-functional smart bathroom towel rack. Created by the Nimbus team, a group stationed in Shenzhen, China that specializes in the research and development of small household appliances, the Nimbus 2.0 is a towel rack that does much more than just hold your towels. (Read more…)
SmartHalo: Smart Bicycles for the Future
September 27 2015
When riding a bike on the mean streets of Toronto, it can be difficult to navigate through one-way roads and timed intersections. Add that to security issues with cyclists needing to remove their bike seat or front wheel constantly just to prevent it from being stolen, and you’ve got one hassle of a ride. Created by a team of Montreal designers, SmartHalo eliminates navigational errors and acts as a safety feature for any urban bikers. With the SmartHalo you can turn your ordinary bike into a smart bicycle–urban biking problems solved. (Read more…)
September 16 2015
There’s a reason why cooking is considered to be a fine art: it’s a mixture of both creativity and logic. Knowing what ingredients to mix together is one thing, but how to cook it is another thing entirely. GKILO, an innovative concept mixing both smart technology and cooking practices, is a smart kitchen scale created by designer Thingk. Thingk, comprised of Stefano Marangoni, Andrea Gallivanoni, Giuseppe Valenti, Umberto Tolino, and Domenico Consentino (who all came from the renowned European University of Politecnico di Milano for Engineering, Architecture, and Industrial Design), believe in more than just single-function objects. Introducing, the GKILO. (Read more…)
September 5 2015
For all you Torontonians out there who survived the epidemic of H1N1, SARS, and just the downtown lifestyle entirely, the door handle with Self-Sterilization System puts fears of bacteria-spreading influenza to rest. Door handles are a breeding ground for bacteria since all it takes is for a person to sneeze into their palm and touch a door handle. Add that to the million other people following behind, opening that same door, and it’s a wonder why we don’t all live in a plastic bubble. It may seem silly to sterile a door handle when there’s good ol’ Purell at our disposal, but too much hand sanitizer isn’t always a good thing. Bacteria adapts, and eventually you’ll have to use more and more sanitizer until germs become completely resistant to its effect. Cue the self-sterilizing door handle. (Read more…)
Floatastic: Inflatable Floating Roof Pavilion
August 25 2015
Children (and some very awesome adults) have their bounce houses, but for the more refined folk or those looking for alternatives for pavilion shading without the huge structure, there comes an inflatable invention that puts simplicity and style to the test. It floats, it’s fantastic – it’s Floatastic. Created by Qastic, a New York-area architecture and industrial design practice headed notably by Mahdi Alibakhskian, Floatastic is a floating roof pavilion made of a custom-made giant balloon filled with helium. (Read more…)
A Mini Power Plant At Your Finger Tips
August 22 2015
There have been portable batteries and solar powered chargers to get us through the day-to-day life of dying phones, cameras, or tablets, but nothing is as revolutionary as kraftwerk, a power plant that fits right in your pocket. CEO of eZelleron Inc., Sascha Kühn, created kraftwerk after his extensive research in his director role for a European fuel cell company. Kraftwerk uses a new kind of fuel cell created by their team that transforms gas into energy. It’s crazy, right? Walking around with compressed gas in your pocket, but it’s completely safe for you and the environment. (Read more…)
Solar Paper: The Thinnest, Lightest, and Smartest Solar Charger
August 12 2015
On the go or summoning your inner adventurer? The Solar Paper is there to keep your equipment fully charged and ready to go. Portable chargers are good to have whenever you’re on a hike and your GPS or phone needs more juice, but some portable chargers require an electrical plug in. Solar Paper, however, does not. (Read more…)
myFC Powertrekk: Power Your Phone Using Water
August 9 2015
I know what you’re thinking. Another portable charger. But if there wasn’t any spice in life, we wouldn’t have any options and we would be stuck with the same boring thing forever. From solar powered to gas induced fuel cells and now to Powertrekk — this portable charger offers an environmentally friendly and easy way to charge on the go. Created by myFC, a Swedish innovation company that focuses on industrializing environmentally friendly energy sources, Powertrekk gets the best of both worlds with portable chargers. Where the solar chargers have capabilities limited to the degree of the sun and fuel cell energy chargers needing compressed gas can sound a wee bit dangerous, Powertrekk provide great and constant power at a more efficient cost. (Read more…)
SPIN Remote: Spin Back Into Control
August 6 2015
Imagine if all your remote controls were compressed into a single device no bigger than the palm of your hand. The SPIN Remote makes that imagining a reality. The creators of SPIN remote, Ruud de Vaal, Arjan van Bremen, and Mathijs Vaessen perfected the invention, product, and business development of the SPIN remote so that the complexities of 40+ button remotes can be simplified to its basic and necessary functions without pushing a single button. (Read more…)
Multifunctional Bathtub: Water-Saving Tub
July 28 2015
If you’re an average sized person or just love the underwater experience of baths, you’ll know that most bath tubs are just not big enough for a proper soaking. Sometimes the hassle is that you just need to shave your legs or wash your feet and the water trickles back onto the flat surface of the tub. Seung Hyun Lee, il Woong Jwa, Bom Yi Lee and Jiwon Moon take these problems into consideration and uses that knowledge to create The Multifunctional Bathtub. (Read more…)
Mercury Skates: Enjoy Smooth Ride
July 25 2015
In-line skating has never been more fashionable or safer with designer Puvan Mokhtarani’s Mercury Skates. It wasn’t too long ago when in-line skating was the rage – a preferred way of simple transportation and a fun way of recreational activity. However, skating in-line posed many problems on the skater’s calf, joints, and knees. The design we’re all familiar with caused immense vibrations under the wheels, irritating the heel all the way up to the knee joints. This makes the rider more fatigued and leaves deep shocks within the legs. With Mercury Skates, the vibrations disappear leaving the in-line skater with a smoother, safer, and faster ride. (Read more…)
Green Pedestals: A Sustainable Vegetation
July 15 2015
An oasis, a piece of paradise in an otherwise desolate space, is not just privy to vast and dry deserts. The oasis is within your reach with Front’s Green Pedestal design. Front, a contemporary design group consisting of Sofia Lagerkvist, Charlotte von der Lancken, and Anna Lindgren, reimagines the pedestal plant holder design for greenery and vegetation by combining it with OFFECCT’s O2asis project — to improve air quality through greenery. (Read more…)
KidRunner: Take Your Kids On A Jog
July 8 2015
The three F’s of life – fitness, family, and fun – have never been easier with KidRunner. Created by Will Warne, Mauricio Mejia, and Andre Caradec from Bend, Oregon, KidRunner is an innovative stroller that brings jogging with kids to a whole new level.
It’s difficult to find the time to get a good run in, even with the standard running stroller. Those strollers force the child in front of the runner and requires the runner to keep one or both hands on the handle at all times. This position puts strain on running form, causes back issues, and does little to work out the upper body. That problem is non-existent with KidRunner since the beauty of the design is not pushing the child but pulling them along behind you hands-free. (Read more…)
Fold Pot: The Pot That Grows With Your Plant
July 2 2015
Like any living creature, the essentials like nourishment and shelter are key ingredients to a healthy growth. It’s hard to thrive in an environment that’s suffocating. For plants, the fear of restricted shelters and withered roots are no more with Emanuele Pizzolorusso’s Fold Pot.
Made of silicone, the Fold Pot is as simple as its name. It can fold into different sizes ranging from a small cup for your seedling before expanding for a larger home. Initially folded like a cuff in its baby stages, as the plant grows, so does the Fold Pot. By easily manoeuvring the edges, you increase the size of the pot to give the plant more room to grow. (Read more…)
Personal Robot: Advanced Home Automation System
June 24 2015
We may not have hover cars filling our skies or helmets that project our thoughts visually just yet, but the world of artificial intelligence is already here, and her name is Maya.
Maya, created by Duy, founder and CEO of Robotbase, is a Personal Robot made to make your everyday life easier. She may not look like a robotic human, standing at just over 4 feet with nothing more but an oval screen and avatar for a face and lithe body and base, but the Personal Robot can do just about anything a human can do. (Read more…)
LoopPay: A Digital Wallet That Works Anywhere
June 13 2015
There’s nothing worse than waiting in line at the coffee shop and ordering your dark roast double double only to realize you left your wallet at home. Keys? Check. Phone? Of course. But your wallet is sitting on the stairs, and the cashier is staring at you impatiently. It’s more than a little embarrassing to retract your order or hope some kind soul will take pity on you and pay for your coffee, but it’s okay, because with your phone and the invention of LoopPay, your momentary embarrassment is forgotten with Will Graylin and George Wallner’s digital wallet. (Read more…)
Eames Sofa: Entirely Out of Carbon Fiber
June 12 2015
The 1950s Eames Moulded Fiberglass chair originally crafted by Ray and Charles Eames gets re-designed by architect and designer Matthew Strong who shows off the ins and outs of the iconic model. Literally.
The original Eames design boasted a fiberglass shell of vibrant colours with a low back and a scooped bottom, typically seating one person. Strong’s sofa differs from Eames’ original design in two ways: the length and the materials used. Attempting to create an Eames sofa using the original fiberglass material back in the 1950s proved a difficult task since the weight alone made it immovable. Since then, a fiberglass Eames sofa has been sitting on the back shelf collecting dust.
Not anymore. (Read more…)
June 5 2015
Whether you’re on a camping trip in the middle of a forest or looking for ways to save on your energy bill, the WAT Lamp is there to help light your way. The WAT Lamp, created by innovative French designer Manon Leblanc, is the perfect lamp to have when electrical outlets are few and the sun is quickly setting. It is also an elegant decorative to have if one is simply wishing for an ecologically-friendly way to conserve power yet provide a warm light to any home decor. How? It’s a water powered lamp. (Read more…)
Lantern: A Digital Library That Fits In Your Pocket
May 25 2015
Imagine a world where information can be shared at a moment’s notice in any city all across the globe. That world ceases to be just a thought with Outernet’s innovative technology dubbed the Lantern. The Lantern, created by Thane Richard, Syed Karim, Branko Vukelic and the rest of Outernet’s team, is a technological advancement in the procurement of information. It broadcasts information into digital files like news updates, eBooks, or webpages. The bottom line: free global WI-FI. (Read more…)
Eija Jimenez 