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Red Dot Goodness, Part 1: Biomimetic Pushpins and Unforgotten Keys

By Rain Noe - February 28, 2012

in Object Culture

Igor Lobanov's Wormhole chair won a Red Dot Award in the Home Furniture category; taking a look at the other categories, we find Lobanov's in good company, with a host of clever designs ranging from sophisticated to simple. The ones that most caught our attention are the concepts that address and improve the little everyday acts we all deal with.

In the Workplace category, Toshi Fukaya's biomimetic pushpins are designed to resemble smooth, pin-free capsules, so you can reach into a box full of them without pricking yourself. A silicone bubble encases the pin, and compresses under pressure you stick the pin into the wall. So where does the biomimetic part come in? Fukaya got the idea from studying his cat's retractable claws.

We all know that awful feeling of pulling our front doors shut and realizing in that split instant that our keys are still inside. In the Productivity category, Kim Ji Soo, Kim Jeongmin and Chung Boogun's Bracelet Key is designed to solve that problem by providing an easy way to keep that one crucial key on you at all times.

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Dean

12 years ago

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Pat - Now thats what I'm talking about!
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Pat

12 years ago

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@kris http://vimeo.com/12111635

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kris

12 years ago

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When did Toshi Fukaya come up with his push-pin idea? Cause I went to school with someone about a year ago, maybe more, that had just about the same exact thing. Only difference is that it's not a full gel cap. The only part that's covered is the pin. He made them by hand using silicon I believe. I will find out who it was and link their portfolio to here.
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Tom

12 years ago

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Interesting push-pin concept, but honestly, how could that be made? Regular gelcaps are assembled in halves, that won't work here because they break apart on the first time you used it. Blow molding won't work because of the huge difference in wall thickness. And injection molding wont work because the inner cavity would be shredded upon de-molding.
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Dean

12 years ago

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Good concept, though you'd have to make sure the holding force of the pin in the wall is able to overcome the spring force of the silicone, otherwise, wont the pin just spring back out of the wall?, a major benefit of using silicone in products is it's spring propoerties.....?
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Sprockets

12 years ago

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They also have the added benefit of a rapid-dissolve gel caplet form for those so inclined to swallow their pins
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Rob

12 years ago

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I agree with Andrew.

I do like the concept, and should be inexpensive to produce. It looks like the added benefit would be that collapsible membrane would distribute the weight of whatever you are hanging, instead or relying on the object's own strength. This should help with hanging large/heavy items with less pins.
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Andrew

12 years ago

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So it's not so much biomimicry as it is bio-inspired?
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