"design" news and stories

Strawberry milkshakes and juice boxes shaped like fruit: Two things that make us grateful for April heat waves.

Food & Wine's own Dana Cowin alerted us to this luscious milkshake on the Saveur Web site, accompanied by a recipe that calls for an ingenious combination of strawberry ice cream, strawberry sorbet and strawberry jam.

The juice boxes, meanwhile, are the brilliant invention of Naoto Fukasawa, a Japanese industrial designer who designed the boxes to mimic the look and texture of the fruit they contain: pictured here are banana and strawberry, along with soy, which rather uncannily mimics a block of tofu. We can't help but feel that these boxes blow the Capri Suns of our elementary school days out of the water, or at least the sandbox.

[Saveur via Dana Cowin]
[Via TokyoMango]

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Your favorite beer may have just gotten a makeover. To those wandering the suds store in vain searching for those classic pyramid-sporting, Tintin-esque brews, listen up: Pyramid Hefeweizen will henceforth be known as Haywire Hefeweizen (above left), and Pyramid Apricot Ale is now Audacious Apricot Ale. Pyramid Breweries, America's 11th largest brewing company and fifth largest craft brewer, just announced this "revitalized brand positioning," and we're pretty surprised by the assertive redesign.

We're not alone. "Do they make beer or energy drinks?" quipped one BeerAdvocate user. Others, however, are more blasé: At Charlotte, N.C.'s Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, which stocks over 200 beers, general manager Daniel Parks remarked, "I don't think it will change [sales] one bit."

Typically reserved brewers have been shaking it up a bit of late: Sierra Nevada named a new year-round brew Torpedo IPA, a step up from their unadorned line of Pale Ale, Porter, Stout and Wheat. In Pyramid's case, this may be due to a recent buyout by flamboyantly designed Magic Hat's parent company, Independent Brewers United. (Pyramid did not return several requests for comment). To us, Haywire and Audacious sound like sheer marketing, uh, audacity.

Will you miss the Pyramids of the past the way we will?

There's design creativity that makes sense and needs to be mass marketed, designs that are almost there but need some tweaking, and then designs that are just plain silly.

MocoLocco has shared about the above design, Min Hoo Park's Unified Dining Table from IMM Cologne 2009. As you can see, the plates, glasses, and even vase and candleholder are a part of the lacquered table. You dine by candlelight, apparently drinking your wine and other beverages through straws, and then flip it over for a regular table top when you're done.

As it is there, it's quite silly, but maybe this designer is onto something. Get a click-in cup, so you can drink, and turn the inside into a dishwasher! Eat at your placesetting, flip it over to enjoy your table, and when it's time to eat again, your place setting is all clean.

Of course, you can't have a bunch of guests over unless you get them your own tables, but at least some loners could revel in the design.

[via Serious Eats]

We've heard a lot about reusable grocery bags this year. Not only did Whole Foods stop supplying plastic grocery bags on Earth Day this year, but the city of San Francisco banned them as well.

There is certainly no shortage of reusable shopping bags out there, but Whole Foods is rolling out one with some celebrity power behind it. The organic grocery store chain has teamed up with Sheryl Crow, who designed the new bag. The bag features the design of a tree with some of Sheryl's words on it and is made from 80% post consumer product.

I think I'll check it out next time I'm in Whole Foods. What do you think?

[via Just Food]

I came across this cool set of chopping boards over at InventorSpot recently and thought they were worth sharing.

The set of cutting boards is designed to like like tabs in a file folder, and they're color coded to indicate what should be cut on each: red for meat, white for poultry and pork, blue for fish, and green for vegetables and fruits. They are also a good size at 8" by 12". I also love that the chopping boards are in a container, so they look neat and tidy on your counter.

You can find the Index Chopping Boards at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) online store. Be aware, though, that you're paying for design. At $85 for the set, this is some pricey kitchen ware. If you have the money to spend, this could be a nice addition to you kitchen. For me, though, I'll just stick with my inexpensive, yet reliable, cutting boards from Target. What's your take on the Index Cutting Boards?