DZINE San Francisco: Unidentified Design Objects

‘That’s great! ... What is it?’ is a phrase that comes up a lot when scrolling through beautiful design blogs in search of the newest, coolest products. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? On a white background, completely taken out of context, designs can take on a whole new meaning in the reader’s imagination.

Here are a few examples to ponder on... (Answers at the end of the blog)

Designed by Judith Jacobi (student at Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule), this structure could be a fancy bird house/bath, a planter with pole for tomato vines, or convenient place to put your sticks.

‘Fanions’ by Dimitri Bahler, Linn Kandel and Ismael Studer: Street art? Panic button?

‘Cuts’ by Philippe Nigro looks like a desk organizer or a cake stand. Of course, it’s pretty impossible to guess scale from this picture... Maybe an outdoor structure?

Here’s an interesting looking object: ‘Spike’ by Alexander Lervik. This could be a knife holder, a file organizer, a holder for matches of all different lengths? Ooh, or a dish rack!

‘Scout’, by sandbox industries, is a series of boxes in all different sizes. This could indicate a series of kitchen containers, or possibly some kind of set of technological accessories to accompany your TV? The mystery shall remain until the end of this post.

Not sure why this odd bike rack ended up in the middle of a field... Maybe it’s one of Theo Jansen’s kinetic sculptures.

Ready-made for the ‘freak-of-nature’ part of the Museum of Natural History? These strange growths swimming in a vat of formaldehyde could be anything from a glob of mercury to double-headed cow embryo (in the most appealing way possible). Looks more like a Damien Hirst than a Jean-Marie Massaud..

‘Nekton’ by Zaha Hadid is a collection of four organic, white, non-symmetrical objects. Possibly hearing aids adapted to different people’s ears? Braces for awkward muscle sprains? Ergonomic neck(ton) pillows?

Another organic shape for the ‘Saruyama’ by Moroso; this time I’m going with a place to put keys, marbles, paperclips and other random hair accessories. Could also be some kind of embarrassing medical device.