20 most recent innovations in paper

Inkless Printer

Wed, 09 Nov 2016 00:00:00 Z

We’re all familiar with the problems surrounding ink cartridges: they’re expensive, bad for the environment and just when you want to print that important document, your cartridge runs out of ink.

With the method of Inkless, the paper is carbonized. If you would normally try this with thin material, such as paper, you would burn through it quickly. The resulting print would also not be permanent in that case and would not be black enough. Inkless has a much better control over the carbonization process, which means we don’t have to print as deep and therefore do not damage the paper. Furthermore, we have developed a solution which ensures that the print is black enough and also permanent. The technology is protected by several patents.

Jewelry Greetings

Fri, 07 Nov 2014 00:00:00 Z

When a card alone is not enough to express how much you care, a Jewelry Greetings card takes your heartfelt expression to the next level with a wearable paper ring design that is the perfect fit for any occasion and any loving relationship.

Jewelry Greetings are a new concept in affectionate messaging because they allow the gift to be displayed by the recipient wherever she goes, keeping the “joy of receiving” in the forefront of her mind as well as gleefully displayed on her finger.

Graphic designer Oliver Hampel, and award-winning goldsmith Christiane Hampel, have been creating exquisite gold and silver jewelry in Naples, Florida since 2008. The couple decided to take their craft of fashioning jewelry to an even wider audience with the launch of their new Jewelry Greetings line of greeting cards with a fold-out, wearable ring. Their philosophy is that the greatest value of “jewelry” is the joy it brings to the recipient and the appreciation shown by the sender. Jewelry Greetings cards put a ring on the finger of every female recipient.

So the challenge for the artists was to find a way to express their love of using Earth’s elements of metals and jewels as wearable art, but shift to create a form of wearable “paper art” that also honored Earth’s beauty. That personal challenge was met with their creation of Jewelry Greetings cards in the form of delicate flowers or dancing hearts.

The Jewelry Greetings cards come in six designs and are crafted from richly-textured Strathmore Grandee felt paper. They have a perforation that the receiver punches out, folds into the paper ring, and displays the wearable greeting on her finger for all to appreciate.

Paper Pathfinder

Fri, 17 Oct 2014 00:00:00 Z

This design Paper Pathfinder is in use in the Rijks Museum, Amsterdam as a 3-Dimensional pathfinder to help visitors find their way through this 8-shaped building. When you fold this design into its 2-Dimensional form, you can easily put it into your bag or book.

Fully Automated Paper Airplane Machine Gun

Thu, 09 Oct 2014 00:00:00 Z

German inventor Dieter Michael Krone has created a machine gun that not only shoots small paper airplanes—it also does the tedious task of folding it for you in seconds.

The Drinkable Book Provides Safe Drinking Water

Wed, 14 May 2014 00:00:00 Z

One of the biggest problems in the developing world is access to safe, reliable drinking water. The charity organisation Water is Life dedicates its energies to providing this most basic of necessities. Its latest project seeks to combine education with actual resources.

Called The Drinkable Book, it combines a variety of technologies to achieve this goal. On each of its tear-out pages, water safety tips are written in various languages -- the first print run, intended for Kenya, is printed in English and Swahili -- in food-grade ink, providing much-needed information to people in areas where access to education about such matters may be low.

Each book comes packaged in a 3D printed box, which converts into a filtration tray. When you tear out one of the pages and slip it into the tray, you can use it to filter water.

Each page is impregnated with silver nanoparticles (which gives the paper its distinctive orange colouring). The nanoparticles don't quite work like a traditional filter. Rather than providing a barrier, they actually kill the bacteria as they pass through the paper. As the water runs through, the bacteria absorb the silver ions, which kill the bacteria. The paper kills over 99.9 percent of harmful bacteria, which puts the resulting water on a par with tap water in the US. It has proven effective at destroying bacteria that cause diseases such as cholera, E.coli and typhoid.

Origami Toothpaste Tube That Squeezes Out Every Last Drop

Mon, 14 Apr 2014 00:00:00 Z

Before a 19th-century Connecticut inventor named Washington Wentworth Sheffield came up with the idea of using a collapsible lead tube for long-term toothpaste storage, people used to keep the stuff in jars. But it's kind of incredible that a toothpaste tube design from the 1890s has survived mostly unchanged to this day, despite its inefficient packaging. One Consumer Reports test on Crest and Colgate tubes found that up to 13% of the packaged toothpaste would be wasted, even when the user pushed, pulled, squeezed, and otherwise abused the tubes to get it all out.

Then, late last year, 22-year-old interior architecture design major received an assignment in one of her Arizona State University classes. She would have to redesign the classic Colgate tube, along with the company's logo. So, inspired by origami and a collapsible ketchup bottle, she came up with a tube that would do a less wasteful job of delivering paste onto the brush.

"I found this little tiny bottle--it looked like it was for a kids' toy--and it was a collapsible ketchup bottle. It just goes up and down, accordion style," Pannuzzo says. "From that I knew it could be done, somehow. So that's why I kept going with the origami thing. It was mostly just experimenting."

Pannuzzo's collapsible design certainly looks cool, but she admits she hasn't put it through any rigorous tests. Commenters on the Smithsonian blog, which originally discovered her invention, have also been quick to point out that the tube's many creases could also serve as traps for toothpaste.

Ad Lets You Try Custom Colors Before You Buy

Mon, 23 Dec 2013 00:00:00 Z

Designing compelling interactive ads for web is hardly a challenge for experienced marketers, but engaging print magazine readers in a similar way requires significant creativity. One method is through technology -- Esquire stood out at newsstands with its attention-grabbing E Ink cover in October 2008, and Forbes turned some heads with a Microsoft ad earlier this year that integrated a functioning T-Mobile WiFi hotspot -- but Wired's January 2014 issue shall not go without mention, thanks in no small part to a partnership with Motorola.

A trio of LEDs, a slab of plexiglass, four batteries and an array of buttons make up an interactive Moto X ad, right in the middle of the magazine. The design enables readers to "customize" a Moto X's rear, with bright LEDs illuminating the phone in 11 different colors. Tap blue and the phone lights up blue, yellow and it's yellow, red for red, and so on. The ad shuts off after a few seconds of inactivity, so those four lithium batteries should last you for quite some time, serving as a reminder of Moto's accomplishment long after the smartphone is laid to rest, while boosting this issue's appeal for collectors as well.

Ink-Jet Printing Custom-Designed Micro Circuits

Thu, 21 Nov 2013 00:00:00 Z

Researchers have demonstrated a technique that produces inexpensive, functional electrical circuits that can be printed using about $300 worth of materials and equipment, including generic inkjet printers.

The technique, developed by researchers from Georgia Tech, the University of Tokyo and Microsoft Research, allows circuits to be printed onto irregularly-shaped materials or almost anything able to go through the paper feed on a printer designed for consumers.

The chief advantage of the technique is the ability to print circuits using silver nanoparticle ink rather than relying on the thermal-bonding technique called sintering, which is time-consuming and can destroy delicate base materials.

Researchers were able to print new circuits in about 60 seconds on almost any material that could go through the printer, though resin-covered paper, PET film and glossy photo paper worked best, while sheets of canvas cloth and anything magnetic were ineffective.

Once printed using silver ink on flexible base material, the circuits can be attached to existing hardware by simply laying or taping them in place and making connections using conductive tape or conductive glue. (Soldering would destroy the underlying material.)

“Tear Off” Wallpaper

Tue, 08 Oct 2013 00:00:00 Z

Applying wallpaper to walls has never been so fun. With this perforated “tear off” wallpaper from ZNAK, you can customize the appearance of your space by tearing off the pieces as you please. The wallpaper is created out of non-woven material and the shapes are inspired by the the transformation process of snakes.

Personalised Christmas wrapping paper

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 00:00:00 Z

Put a personal touch on your presents, and make sure they’re wonderfully well-wrapped at the same time, with this

Personalized Christmas Wrapping Paper

. The design features a very festive (and very appropriate) Merry Christmas phrase in multiple fonts and colours.

Then you can add up to 30 characters of your own. Names, hilarious jokes or just a sweet and tender message of Christmas goodwill; it’s your call.

Woodpecker inspired cardboard bike helmet

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:00:00 Z

Kranium is a bicycle helmet constructed from cardboard and designed by Royal College of Art student Anirudha Surabhi. Ani was inspired to create the Kranium following a nasty fall from his bicycle. Taking this experience as a cue to design a better helmet, he looked toward the animal kingdom, and the woodpecker in particular.

The designer was struck by the woodpecker’s ability to withstand repeated heavy impact, thanks to the bird’s unique corrugated cartilage structure which separates beak from skull – this concept gave rise to the Kranium’s honeycomb cardboard structure dubbed "Dual Density Honey Comb Board," or D2.

Rather than remaining completely rigid, the helmet is designed to allow a degree of flexing in order to help absorb impact force, of which it can withstand up to three times as much as typical expanded polystyrene (EPS) helmets, while remaining 15 percent lighter.

New font designed to help dyslexic people read

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 00:00:00 Z

Developer Abelardo Gonzalez has created an open-source font designed to help people with dyslexia read more easily. Dubbed OpenDyslexic, the font is currently available as a free download, in the form of a Safari and Chrome extension, a bookmarklet, and a free iOS web-browsing app. OpenDyslexic has also been incorporated into several third-party apps, including popular read-it-later service Instapaper.

Each OpenDyslexic letter features a heavy-weighted bottom, intended to lend "gravity" to text displayed with the font. Presenting a character in this way is believed to help prevent the letters from rotating, flipping, or becoming otherwise confused in the brains of some dyslexics.

NFC-enabled business cards

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 00:00:00 Z

With our smartphones these days starting to feature more connectivity options, such as wireless charging and NFC, it was only a matter of time before we started seeing everyday items modified and evolve to interact with our devices. Well it looks like Moo has taken the initiative and the company has recently announced that they have been working on a secret project which they are now ready to reveal to the world – NFC enabled business cards.

“We’ve always aimed to upset the existing order within print – to do new things, think in exciting ways, and to go where no man has gone before. Starting today, any pack of Business Cards you buy from MOO will come with a little extra – a free NFC enable (sic) Business Card.”

Basically your business cards in the future, if you get them from Moo, will feature NFC connectivity. A tiny microchip and an antenna will be embedded into the card and what sort of data the chip will transfer will be entirely up to you! If you were a graphics artist, you can have the chip launch photos or videos of your work, or if you were a musician, you can have the chip start playing back your recorded songs on the receiver’s phone. The possibilities are endless!

Super paper is magnetic, waterproof and antibacterial

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 Z

A nanoparticle spray can turn regular paper into superpaper, rendering it waterproof, antimicrobial, magnetic and probably very expensive. Who said paper was an old technology?

Scientists at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Genoa, Italy, developed a process to cover any cellulose fiber, like paper or fabric, with a reactive coating. It involves combining the fiber molecules with a nanoparticle solution, creating a polymer matrix.

The cellulose fibers are wetted with an acrylic solution containing manganese ferrite nanoparticles, which are magnetic. When it gets wet, the mixture forms a nano-shell around each individual fiber, rendering the fiber water-repellent. Scientists can change the composition of the nanoparticles to make it more or less magnetically responsive, or to add other attributes, like perhaps fluorescence. Add some colloidal silver, and it could be antibacterial.

Aside from the small nano-shell around each of the fibers, the paper’s properties don’t change — you could still print with it, fold it, mail it or whatever you want, as Forbes explains. The paper could have a wide range of applications, from food packaging and medical documents to secure bank notes. Waterproof paper could be used to protect valuable documents, according to Roberto Cingolani, scientific director at the IIT.

The superpaper is described in the Journal of Materials Chemistry.

Print your own self-folding paper

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:00:00 Z

This inkjet printer has been adapted by Ecole Cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL) student Christophe Guberan to print patterns that contort pieces of paper into specific 3D forms. The machine prints a mixture of water and ink that causes the paper to fold automatically along wet lines and humid areas. It’s hooked up to a computer that can be used to generate patterns for different fold configurations.

Albatros, a bookmark that follows your reading

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 00:00:00 Z

The Albatros is a new kind of bookmark that follows your reading. No need to remember the page number, each time you turn one, it inserts itself at the right place. The Albatros bookmarks have been invented and developed by Oscar Lhermitte and are made in France.

See it this way: the Albatros bookmark enables you to forget about bookmarks. Once you’ve placed it in your book, it will take care of the rest. If you are reading a novel and suddenly have to rush to catch the bus, simply drop the book in your bag; you will find the Albatros at the page you stopped last.

The Albatros bookmark consists of a thin piece of polyester that is inserted in the book; thanks to its structure and shape, every time you turn a page, the bookmark follows it. Placing the bookmark in a book is done in the blink of an eye. Its repositionable adhesive allows it to last a long time without damaging any pages. Once you have finished reading the book, leave the bookmark in place or simply discard it. It works on any book, pocketbook, sketchbook, diary, of any format.

Paper Dish

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 Z

I love the Paper Dish concept and hope that Dominos or Pizza Hut take up on this idea ASAP. The thang is only a well-cut paper with appropriate perforations, that allow you to slice and devour a pizza slice, without getting your hands messy. The idea is very clever, more like a makeshift paper plate, but worth including in my next box of hot takeaway!

BoxBag

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:00:00 Z

An intuitive perforated strip around the bottom, rigid half of the bag can be removed in seconds, separating the top half and leaving a good-size container for serving the contents. Perfect for lunches, picnics or carrying anything else where easy access is beneficial.

Ikea's Cardboard Pallets

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 Z

In just a few weeks, Ikea will enact a massive design change that will be largely invisible to consumers: They're ditching wooden shipping pallets in favor of cardboard ones. The furniture giant has designed a way to fold corrugated cardboard into a structure that is far thinner than a traditional wooden pallet, yet can still support the 1,650 pounds necessary to transport their goods. According to Bloomberg Businessweek,

One-third the height of wooden trays at 5 centimeters (2 inches) and 90 percent lighter at 2.5 kilos, they'll save thousands of truck trips and cut transport bills by 140 million euros ($193 million) a year at a cost of 90 million euros for paper purchases and new forklifts, Ikea says.

As Ikea uses some 10 million pallets a year, if the experiment is a success it's a good bet that other retail giants will take notice. But the thing that has analysts skeptical is that the pallets can only be used once. While they'll surely be recycled afterwards, perhaps on-site at each facility, this bucks the industry trend of "pooling," whereby used wooden pallets are collected by companies dedicated to the task who then redistribute them to other retailers, prolonging the pallets' lives.

Constrained Ball

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:00:00 Z

Usually we need a foot ruler to draw straight and precise lines on a paper or canvas, but Korean product designer Giha Woo has developed an innovative drawing aid named the “Constrained Ball” that attaching to your pen or pencil lets you draw straight lines with minimum fuss. You can fasten the aid at the tip of your ballpoint pen to roll it freely in one direction to avoid winding lines on the paper. With Constrained Ball lets, users not only can draw clear-cut lines in horizontal and vertical directions, but strokes in 45-degree angles as well without the use of a ruler or any other accessory.