Yanko Design - Latest Posts

Your Laundry, Circa 2020

Posted: 20 Nov 2008 03:31 AM PST

The Re-cycle Laundry Center looks like if you booted it up it would kick into hyperdrive and send your shirts to another dimension, but the designers has assured me it is intended to just clean your clothes, and you will indeed get them back when it is finished with them.

The laundry Center was inspired quite literary from the recycling logo both in form and function. The three units may look identical, but one is a washer, one is a dryer, and the third is a water tank and filtration system. By spinning the unit clockwise, water is gravity fed from the tank to the washing machine and vice versa, eliminating the need for a pump. After the washing cycle, the dirty water flows back to the storage tank where it is cleaned and filtered ready to be used again. Meanwhile the user can use the dryer because although the three volumes form a single piece, each unit acts independently according to its function. Once the process of cleaning and filtration is complete, a touch screen indicates a new washing cycle can be initiated again by spinning the Laundry center and feeding the water back into the washing unit.

This all sounds quite logical and believable, but I’m still not entirely convinced Dr. Who wont be wearing one of my shirts if i wash it in Re-Cycle.

Designers: Fernanda Villanueva & Arturo Ariño

For when Disabled Folks want to Consolidate!

Posted: 20 Nov 2008 01:26 AM PST

For the disabled person, or the person who’s name is Homer Simpson, certain solutions for everyday living are lacking. In a home that has stairs and a bed (most homes have these!), the wheelchair, patient lifter, uppers, downers, go-arounders, are just not enough on their own. Mr. Christen Halter just may have a combo machine for the win.

Mr. Christen Halter, designer of the Home Chare, shares the following:

The Home Chare enables three different adjustment positions – lying, sitting and standing. In lying position it is adjusted to the same level as a sick bed. The attendant pulls the lying patient on to the Home Chare. The device is then adjusted in to sitting position which replaces a wheelchair. The attendant doesn't have to lift up the patient.

Affordable? Probably not until they become standardized, at which point it’s going to be a whole lot easier for disabled folks, (or whoever else feels the need!,) to get around the house and whatnot.

Complete self-reliance for people who once needed assistance to simply get out of bed!

How possible?

Designer: Christen Halter

Christen Halter

Electric Trees Light the Hallway, Green Style

Posted: 20 Nov 2008 12:14 AM PST

How would you like to be able to accessorize your tree-house, (or your regular house, for that matter,) with tree-branches of light? I would like that a lot. Yes please. Wan-jin Joo, and Hyun-Joung Yoo present the Arbre, a light-up tree whose concept makes other light-up trees look like a garbage truck unloading trash at a landfill.

Designers Wan-jin Joo, and Hyun-Joung Yoo present the Arbre

Since the beginning of the 21st century, environmental friendly design in material and shape has been getting increasingly important. So I made lightning that gives us a feeling just like nature is getting into the house literally by using tree-shape. For light, LEDs are used, while recycled plastic is used for the branch part. Arbre utilizes a module method of lighting. To use this light, the user must put the branch shaped pieces into one another. As the human inspires life into the tree, the tree releases the light through its branches.

When you take trees and make them light up like we’re at Rivendell in the springtime, you’ve got the attention of… elves. Also lots of other people! This strange and excellent an idea would only be at home in an interior specifically tailored for tree-like forms (or a [Grid-House] sort of deal.)

Or would it be at home in your home?

And more importantly:

Do you live in a tree-house, and can I visit?

Designers: Wan-jin Joo & Hyun-Joung Yoo

Hyun Joung Yoo, Wan jin Joo

Update your Facebook with a Pile of Ooze

Posted: 19 Nov 2008 04:36 PM PST

Sometimes you just want to sit back and interact with a gelatinous black liquid on your desk. And of course, when you do, you want it to update your Facebook. Yes. That is what this goo does. It gets you more friends on social networks, and places yet another barrier between you and other real people.

Designer Nicolas Myers gives you some background:

Social networks, such as Facebook or Myspace, are a reality people using Internet can’t avoid. They become more and more important and take a crucial part of our virtual but at the same time real world identities. The way these systems work leads to new yet somewhat limited relationships : you can either “add a friend” or not, say “yes” or “no”. A binary thinking like this leaves no room for degrees of shade.

These oversimplified interactions are to some extent compensated by quantity - by collecting hundreds or even thousands of “friends”. On Myspace the true quality of the service lies in the size of the network itself. But how can you deal with these such complex networks? Are concepts like “friendship” or “relationship” still meaningful when you handle hundreds of them?

And then he goes ahead and goos up your social life:

Our project offers an indirect way to deal with these problems. A virtual robot makes and keeps new contacts for you by taking over your virtual identity. Your only control over its decisions is through an interface representing the network itself : a black liquid surface covered by numerous spikes that stand for each of your “friends”. It is by altering the surface of this « liquid », that one can interact with the robot and influence his actions in the virtual world.

This reminds me of a game called Progress Quest, a game in which your only interaction with the character, storyline, or anything else, is turning the game on. Heard of it? Me either.

By the way, this project is called Sociable Robot.

Designer: Nicolas Myers

Nicolas Myers

Embracing the New Age with Tablechair!

Posted: 19 Nov 2008 09:38 AM PST

I am not called “Tablechair,” silly human. I am Polyether foam, leather, and European Oak. With these elements combined, I am the SwiTCh! Yes, I am both a table and a chair. I am two bits of pure Belgian craftspersonship and I come in some beautiful assortment of colors. Look to me for your entire living room collection. …Unless of course you want a couch; I am not a couch quite yet.

Bless The Maker, Ellen Ectors, this description is going to feel so good:

SwiTCh is a new concept in design. It is a chair and a table, a relaxing seat and a small working place in one. It switches instantly and effortlessly. Encompassing the timeless geometries of both a cube and a sphere SwiTCh is formal and playful. The balance of contrasts yet proving highest comfort for sitting, working and playing. Ergonomic aspects of the ball improve the posture, provide energy, and help stay alert. SwiTCh is 100% Belgian. Completely handmade.

Want me? I know you do. I am two things at once.

Designer: Ellen Ectors