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Design

And the Finalists Are…

August 26, 2010

Last night, a group of us met with the YouGoods guest judges at the Tribeca Grand in downtown Manhattan to pick our finalists among all the great entries we received.

And the finalists are:

The Grocery’minder by Francene Pisano Dudziec. With a wet-erase front, this bag is perfect for making your grocery list, checking it twice, and heading off to the market. . Judges thought the concept solved a basic problem; sure, everyone tries to be a good person and bring their reusable bag to the grocery store. But it’s hard to remember every time. With your grocery list stuck right on the front of your bag, the grocery’minder tote makes it hard to forget.

But the judges did have some questions.
1. Would you be more likely to use the grocery list if the bag were easily attachable to your refrigerator?
2. Are there enough blank spaces for you to fill in your personal shopping list?

If you’re a fan, you can vote for the grocery’minder tote through Sunday, August 29 at 11:59 PM ET.

The Double Wall Tea Cup by Endrit Hajno. The judges admired the basic concept of this tea cup made of glazed porcelain or ceramic. Each cup has an insulated double wall for keeping your drink warm, but not burning your hands. The bottom strip of color is notched, allowing you to tuck the string of your tea bag out of sight. While the judges expressed some reservations about how difficult it could be to make this cup and the choice of materials, they all agreed that with a little tweaking this tea cup had a lot of potential!

If you enjoy the idea of a Double Wall Tea Cup, vote for it through Sunday, August 29 at 11:59 PM.


And last but not least, regreet by Christy Eichers. regreet offers you a way to reuse old greeting cards without the stigma of seeming cheap. Judges thought of this entry as a great social concept. These greeting cards make “regifting” cool and give senders a way to reuse last year’s greeting cards. The designer even included a way for you to track your regreet-ed card’s journey using Google maps.

Judges were curious to know what the environmental impact is of using additional paper to regreet an old card.  And judges also wondered if after seeing the idea of regreet, you wouldn’t just use your own scrap paper to reuse your stack of birthday and holiday cards. But everyone acknowledged it was a great way to inspire us all to be more sustainable during the holiday season.

If you love the regreet gift card set, vote for it now through August 29 at 11:59 PM.

If you like them all, don’t worry. You can vote for each entry once, through August 29.  And feel free to leave a comment if you have a question or idea about the designs. We’ll announce the winner on Monday!

Special thanks to our guest judges: Becky Stern, editor at CRAFT and Make: Online, Debera Johnson, Academic Director of Sustainability at the Pratt Institute, Allan Chochinov, Editor-in-Chief at Core77, Coroflot.com and DesignDirectory.com, and Graham Hill, founder of Treehugger.com.

Design

How to Make a Seatbelt Chair

August 20, 2010

Every product has a story. Rarely, however, do we get to hear about the people, materials, and processes involved in the product’s manufacturing. As part of Inventor’s Month, we thought we’d give you the unheard product story behind the Seatbelt Chair. Here’s how it went from an entry in theYouGoods design contest to the focal point of your living room:

On April 30th, 2010, Adam Barron’s Seatbelt Chair had just won the YouGoods Vintage Vehicle Challenge. Everyone here in the offices at UncommonGoods was in love with the chair, but one question was on our minds: Continue Reading…

Design

The Latest Inventions in Line Drying

August 19, 2010

Air-drying your clothes is one simple way you can lower your carbon footprint. And I’ll be honest– living in an apartment in a city, it’s not something I ever thought I could do. But after seeing all the great entries from the Care To Air Design Challenge, I just might get started.

A few days ago, our CEO Dave Bolotsky went out to San Francisco to join a panel of judges for the Levi’s Care to Air Design Challenge, hosted by Myoocreate.

And after some careful deliberations and some great presentations from the finalists, the judges picked a winner– Nothing is What It Seems

Photo by Eurydice Thomas

Nothing is What It Seems blends modern design with functionality. The perfect size for small apartments, it folds out from the wall when you have a load of laundry to dry. And when your clothes are put away, it folds back in, cleverly disguised as wall art.
You can check out all the entries at Myoocreate.

Once you see them all, I’ll bet you’ll be inspired to start air drying your laundry too!

Maker Stories

Inventors Month: The Alyce Santoro Story

August 18, 2010

When I first saw the sonic fabric tie, I knew which uncommon artisan I wanted to talk to for National Inventors Month.  Alyce Santoro makes each sonic tie from prerecorded audio-cassette tapes– and if you’ve got a tape deck handy, you can actually listen to your tie sing. The sonic fabric tie is available for $120 in platinum or onyx black.

Read my interview with Alyce Santoro below

Continue Reading…

Design

Announcing the YouGoods Guest Judges

August 11, 2010

Update 8/12, 1:18 PM: Meet Allan Cochinov, Editor-in-Chief of Core 77.com and our fourth YouGoods judge.

Update 8/11, 5:52 PM: Meet Becky Stern, an editor at CRAFT and MAKE: Online, and our third YouGoods guest judge!


We only announced the YouGoods “Inventors Month” Design Challenge last week, but already, we’ve seen some really clever and sustainable product ideas.  And there’s still a few more days to enter. In fact, we’re extending the entry deadline to August 23!

So be sure to submit your great ideas to the YouGoods Design Challenge today.

In other exciting YouGoods news… I’m thrilled to introduce two four of our guest judges.

Allan Cochinov is a partner of Core77, a New York-based design network serving a global community of designers and design enthusiasts. He is the editor-in-chief of Core77.com, the widely read design website, Coroflot.com design job and portfolio site, and DesignDirectory.com design firm database. He has been named on numerous design and utility patents, and has received awards from Communication Arts, The Art Directors Club, I.D. Magazine, and The One Club. He teaches in the graduate departments of Pratt Institute and the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and serves on the boards of the Designers Accord and Design Ignites Change.

Continue Reading…

Design

YouGoods Inventors Month Design Challenge

August 3, 2010

Inventors month

Do you have what it takes to become the next Thomas Edison or Benjamin Franklin? Are you sitting on a genius design or invention that is sure to be the next big thing? Then we want to hear from you!

In honor of National Inventors Month (the month of August), UncommonGoods is issuing a wide-open design challenge to find our next Uncommon Inventor or Designer. The fourth of our YouGoods product design challenges, this contest is looking for a product with a spark of inventive genius, a flash of innovation and something that makes us say, “Why didn’t we think of that?” Oh, and did we mention there’s a $,1500 prize and a chance to showcase your design at Makerfaire NYC?

Click here for more details and how to enter.

Check out some of our past YouGoods winners for inspiration.

Design

Care to Air Design Challenge

July 23, 2010

 

Care to Air

Just a friendly little reminder that this is the last week to submit  your entry to the Care to Air contest, which challenges people to design “the world’s most innovative, covetable, and sustainable air-drying solution for clothing.” Sponsored by Levi’s and Myoocreate, the contest prize is $10,000 to be split among the finalists, plus a chance to meet with some really cool judges, including our CEO and founder Dave Bolotsky!

If you’ve got an idea, please visit Myoocreate to submit. Entries are due by July 31. Good luck!