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An Example of Smart, Humble ID: Can You Guess What This Object Does?

By Rain Noe - February 18, 2022

in Object Culture

At your average nuts-and-bolts industrial design firm, any of us might be tasked with designing something like this:

Can you guess what it is, and what it does? The only hint I'll provide is that it comes from Japan.

Answer:

While there's nothing particularly Japanese about it, it is common in Japan for stores to put signs like these out front with some sort of ballast.

I imagine that once filled, this object is never emptied by the storeowner, and is stored just inside the front door at closing time. My guess is that the object is designed to use water as the ballast simply to reduce its shipping costs.

I like quiet, intelligent and unsung designs like these. The designer is Ryosuke Fukusada.

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steve hassler

2 years ago

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A variation would be great in the garage for different gasoline mixes.

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Donald Jones

2 years ago

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you put liquid in the top for weight and you put the soy cheese in the through the slots at the top and it presses out Tofu blocks.

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Bradford Waugh

2 years ago

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I love it. There's a lot of unglamorous design out there that silently gets taken for granted.

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