Last week, when Smith + Gill Architects unveiled its design for Imperial Tower, which will become Mumbai’s tallest building (by a lot!), their description of the project confounded many critics. “The building,” the architects explained, “is designed to confuse the wind.” Huh? Curious to know exactly what that meant, I got in touch with the Gordon Gill, one half of the Chicago-based office. Read More >>

The simple form and function of a Zippo lighter has made it an incredibly iconic design. But it could soon be supplanted by Alessi if the Italian houseware manufacturer prices its new Sushi lighter to compete with the Zippo. That, or convince a Hollywood producer to have an action hero prominently use it in an upcoming blockbuster. Read More >>

The "great unwashed" is now aware of 3D printing -- they've read about it in the papers; on blogs, or seen it on TV. They think that it's as simple as downloading products or making them themselves, using CAD programs, apps and 3D scanners; printing them out at home or in localised print shops. But like the cupcake or goji berries, 3D printing is severely overhyped -- I should know, it's what I do for a living. Read More >>

UK site Picksum Ipsum has one job to do. Generate dummy copy for populating page layouts. It does so in the style of the Hollywood star of your choice, compiling quotes from Jim Carrey, Micheal Caine, Clint Eastwood and more. Read More >>

Candles are low tech by definition. We've been using them for thousands of years. But designer Zelf Koelman put a more modern spin on them by whipping up an auto-lighting candle rig that even has a dimmer switch. It's as neat as it is totally absurd. Read More >>

Are we on the verge of a third industrial revolution? The editors at The Economist certainly think so. But while rapid prototyping and the open source movement have been around for decades now, we had yet to see anyone take a truly comprehensive look at the transformation in manufacturing. That is, until the New Museum's latest show, Adhocracy, came along. Read More >>

Illustration and science have always gone hand in hand. If you want to understand something, drawing it is a good place to start. Macoto Murayama, a 29-year-old botanist and designer, goes even further: he carefully dissects and models flowers using 3D drafting software. Read More >>

Escalators that curve. Escalators that glow. Quadruple-decker, gold-plated, Tron-themed escalators. The moving staircase may have been an American invention, but it's the Japanese who have really perfected them. Read More >>

'Completely flat', 'like Android', 'Microsoft-flat' etc., etc., etc. The talk about how Apple are going to 'flatten out' its UI style has set the rumour-mills ablaze with completely spurious conjecture. So I thought I'd add to it. However, let's approach this not from 'what one insider source told someone' but instead from evidence of progression within some of the top iOS apps. Read More >>

What has your calendar done for you lately? Just reminding you of the day isn't going to cut it any more—that's why god gave us smartphones. So if traditional calendars want any hope of staying relevant, it's time to start pulling double-duty. Which is exactly why we love this ingenious—if perhaps mildly unsanitary—drinkable tea calendar from Hälssen & Lyon. Read More >>

Since printing its address and contact details on a slice of Munster cheese would probably do more harm than good for Bon Vivant, the Brazilian-based cheese shop hired ad agency JWT to come up with something better. And in every way possible, this miniature cheese grater business card is a much better idea. Read More >>

If you listen to the architect Kengo Kuma, the craze for kyosho jutaku, that distinctly Japanese variant of the micro home, started in the thirteenth century, when the poet Kamo no Chomei penned an essay about the joys of living in a shack called An Account of My Hut. Contemporaneously speaking, though, micro homes became a thing in the 1990s, when rising real estate prices and a nagging recession spurred many young Tokyo residents to reconsider suburbia. Read More >>

Isotopes v.2 looks alluring. All those pretty, pulsating lines of light draw people in. Relaxing. But once they get in there, things start to change. The lights become more constant and intense. Basically they put people in a somewhat oppressive light prison. Soooo, probably not relaxing. Read More >>

There are endless situations where a Wookiee co-pilot can come in handy, from repairing intergalactic spacecraft, to tearing people's arms off. But when it comes to assembling this miniature laser-cut Millennium Falcon puzzle, you won't need a big walking carpet, just a pair of scissors, pliers, and plenty of patience. Read More >>

It's easy to assume that these stunning and totally surreal images are the work of Photoshop's helping hand, but all the photographs you see before you, unbelievable as they may be, are the work of nothing more than a photographer, a camera, and impeccable timing. Read More >>