Product Design Spotlight: The Little Bottle That Could

Why the key to revolutionary innovation is being completely incompetent.

UPDATE: Thanks to reader Kimmo for pointing out that we (as in our source) had gotten both the designer’s and the product name wrong. Thanks, AdAge, for the always-reliable information…

Is it possible to create a plastic bottle that isn’t just a despicable hallmark of human wastefulness? According to Finish designer Stefan Lindfors, yes.

Linfoss has created PLUP, a donut-shaped plastic bottle that not only revolutionizes the aesthetics of beverage manufacturing, but also solves some of the industry’s largest functional and environmental problems.

One of the biggest shortcomings of traditional bottles is that they can’t be stacked. Which means they take up too much space to store, they tip over on the table, and they’re a nightmare to transport. With PLUP, a waiter can put several bottles on a stick and take them to the table, and you can use the string that comes with the product to attach it to your belt when you go for a run on a hot day or just roam around town.

I think it’s very important that you don’t have too much knowledge of the industry as a designer, because it prevents you from flying high enough. If you do have a lot of knowledge, you have to have the ability to let go of it in the creative process.

But here’s the best part: PLUP is made of a modified PET polymer, which is not only highly recyclable, but also extremely durable, making the bottle as reusable as your average Nalgene, but without the carcinogenic connotations. At the same time, the design — pure aesthetic brilliance — is “cool” enough to actually encourage such reuse, transforming the bottle from a functional aid into a lifestyle accessory.

Okay, we lied: The real best part is that in every country where PLUP is distributed, a major share of the profits from each bottle sold goes to a charity fighting a major local environmental problem. (In Finland, for instance, donations go towards cleaning up the Blatic Sea, which is the world’s most polluted natural water resource.)

See the interview with Stefan and watch as PLUP transforms the packaging industry’s sorest spot.

via 3-Minute AdAge

Revisiting the Retail Experience: BBlessing

Absinthe, portraiture, and where a hipster-elitist can finally feel at home.

We’ve always been fascinated by shopping. How we use “things” in order to define ourselves, relate to others, and make sense of the world. And since consumption is such a major component of our capitalist ego, it’s only fitting that the retail experience itself be treated with the kind of attention to detail that its cultural status warrants.

That’s why we applaud inspired efforts to rethink and revolutionize the realm of retail. Case in point: BBlessing — a boutique-slash-gallery-slash-hangout in New York, dedicated to men’s fashion and all the lifestyle essentials that go along with the broader concept of personal style.

BBlessing is a boutique dedicated to redefining the retail experience as it pertains to modern life. BBlessing features a unique, tightly edited selection of bleeding edge men’s fashion, art, music, literature and film, all in a constantly evolving environment.

The retail interior, designed by artist Daniel Jackson, was inspired by a turn-of-the-century Parisian absinthe bar, which migrated to the Pacific Northwest via the Lower East Side.

Besides the selection of both up-and-coming and established menswear designers from New York, Japan and Europe, and the signature BBlessing collection, BBlessing offers a meticulously curated selection of art, film, literature and (really, really good) music, making for an experience the cultural antithesis of a trip to JC Penny.

Explore BBlessing and all its hidden gems.

We, for one, truly enjoyed photographer Danielle Levitt‘s wonderful portraiture in the current art selection.

Vintage Russian Ads

What Dostoevsky has to do with sausage art and bicycles.

Today, we’re looking at that weird limbo of Russian heritage between the cultural zenith of the Dostoevsky era and the nadir of Russia’s current status as the Gas Grinch – namely, vintage Russian ads, the intersection of art and commerce.

From tobacco to tailoring, the collection speaks to a striking resemblance between the cultural valuables of Russian society and those of the Western world circa early 20th century, debunking the whole “us vs. them” notion of lack of cultural common ground.

And while much of the typography and illustration appear to… ahem… “borrow” from their Western brethren, we notice some surprisingly sophisticated techniques rarely seen in Western vintage ads — such as this perspective treatment of type:

Courtesy of English Russia. (Remember sausage art?)

But before we get too caught up in the cultural common tangents here, let’s not forget the other side of the whole Soviet-American relationship, clearly and stride-stoppingly revealed in the Soviet propaganda of the day.

We encourage you to play around with English Russia, the second most addictive source of relentless amusement we’ve discovered last year.

via Coudal

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