Core77

The Monza Minimalist Shelf Bracket

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It's pleasing to see a veteran industrial designer practicing the art of reduction. This Monza shelf bracket, by British ID'er Michael Marriott, uses the barest amount of material possible to fulfill its mission:

The packaging, too, is quite minimal.

It's in production by Marriott's Wood Metal Plastic brand. Made of stainless steel, each unit can hold 20kg (44 lbs).

On the product's web page, Marriott writes: "If you're local I can cut shelves too??"

Industrial Designer Fengfan Yang's Table Re-Think with +Halle

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It takes guts for a designer to re-imagine something as basic as a table. But Stuttgart-based industrial designer Fengfan Yang has done just that, in collaboration with Danish furniture brand +Halle.

"Hang On" is an unconventional table system for public spaces, designed to rethink and simplify the architecture of a table while offering customizable add-ons.

In today's fast-paced society, public furniture must address challenges like accommodating large crowds, catering to diverse needs, and maintaining spatial flow. "Hang On" meets these demands in public spaces such as restaurants, canteens, outdoor venues, festivals, markets, shopping centers, airports, and more.

It rethinks and challenges the architecture of table by reducing the table's components to essential elements provided as add-ons, it allows businesses and users to customize setups with a simple hanging action. The design saves space, facilitates cleanliness, and ensures quick assembly and disassembly. Its extruded profile construction also makes it cost-efficient and sustainable.

Incredibly, just last year Yang was an ID student at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart; this year he's signed a production deal with +Halle, and is also a 2026 German Design Award Newcomer nominee.

Audi Unveils Secret Supercar, New Design Direction

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Since taking over as Chief Creative Officer of Audi, automotive designer Massimo Frascella has made his goal clear: "Making our brand truly distinctive once again," he explains. "We want to shape a brand capable of inspiring desire and creating cultural impact."

Frascella—who has put in shifts at Bertone, Ford, Kia and Jaguar Land Rover, where he was formerly Design Director—says that the Audi TT made a strong impression on him. "In 1998, when the first Audi TT arrived at a dealership in Turin, I took a day off work to just look at the car in peace. I was there for hours, looking at the car from every angle, touching every surface. The staff probably thought I was crazy. But for me, the TT was more than just a car. It was a message: you don't need to shout to be heard. You don't need excess to make a statement. You just need clarity. And, more importantly, the courage to follow it."

Two years into the job, Frascella has now revealed his stamp on the brand. While most brands signal new design directions by unveiling a concept car, Frascella and Audi have skipped a step and brought a bold new design vision directly into production. This month they unveiled the Nuvolari, a supercar with a techno-futuristic look.

The move caught the automotive press off-guard; Audi managed to keep the development process leak-free and completely secret.

"Radical simplicity is at the heart of our approach," Frascella says. "We achieve clarity by reducing everything to the essential. We live in a world that is often shrill, fast-paced, and overloaded. Almost everything is overdone. The danger of losing your way is greater than ever. Our responsibility is to be better and do what really matters. And the outcome always has to be an emotion."

"Audi is an inexplicable harmony of technicality and emotion, where rational and irrational coexist."

The Nuvolari represents Audi's new design direction, which Frascella calls "The Radical Next."

The vehicle, which is clad in carbon-fiber composite body panels, is actually a hybrid. A 4-liter twin turbo V8 and three electric motors work together to produce nearly 1,000 horsepower. Just 499 units will be made, and they'll cost over $650,000.

Core77 Weekly Roundup (6-1-26 to 6-5-26)

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Here's what we looked at this week:

From Japan, a sexy matte black sledge.

The Japanese matte black tool trend came from the L.A. car scene.

Nifty hardware: These quick-release pins.

W.steps' Adjustable Safety Feet for ladders.

"Form Follows Fabrication:" This elegant metal handrail by Steel & Form.

An inventive design for a drill bit sharpening jig.

Encore RV's clever design for a pop-up bathroom for camping trailers.

Manfredini's hi-tech shoe lasts. (Unsurprisingly, consumers don't know what they are.)

Good UX: Fernweh Woodworking's brilliant movable-leg design for tables.

A folding chair that absolutely doesn't look like a folding chair.

French industrial designer invents durable, four-season outdoor inflatable furniture.

A lovely interior detail: KinkFab's adjustable solid brass ventilation screens.

Knipex's innovatively-shaped Slim Knips precision cutting pliers.

The RevivaBlade: An angle-grinder-based multitool blade resharpener.

The RevivaBlade: An Angle-Grinder-Based Multitool Blade Resharpener

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Multitool blades are expensive, and tradespeople can extend their lives by resharpening them. We've looked at Jim Dimond's Tiger's Teeth invention, designed for the task, as well as the SharpTool, a drill-based solution from the Netherlands.

Now there's another player on the market: UK-based RevivaBlade, who makes this Pro Sharpening Disc that fits in 4.5" angle grinders.

The Disc runs $92.

French Industrial Designer Invents Durable, Four-Season Outdoor Inflatable Furniture

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French industrial designer Johannes Faure-Brac knows furniture; he grew up in his father's woodworking shop in the French Alps, building traditional furniture. But after gaining two degrees in ID and working in the furniture industry, he found its practices wasteful. "It had become inefficient to produce, store, transport [furniture]," he writes. "A cumbersome, expensive, energy-intensive system.

"Ever more volume, containers, logistics costs, and wasted energy. To compensate, the industry has cut back on materials and sacrificed quality, comfort, and design. Ultimately, users pay the price for this logic, which impoverishes the object, its use, and the experience [of it]."

Faure-Brac spent six years researching and developing an alternative type of furniture. "The goal was not to lighten the furniture at all costs, but to rethink its structure," he explains. "The solution came from an aeronautical technology developed by the American military, then adopted by the French military for naval applications.

"[I designed furniture that could be] inflated rather than assembled, using technical materials: High pressure, low weight, little material, maximum resistance."

Faure-Brac's company, Airmaan, uses an undisclosed durable and easy-to-clean inflatable material with a reinforced structure. Full-size chairs and sofas are light enough to carry one-handed, yet sturdy enough to support an adult's weight. And the furniture is designed to be used outdoors, at any time of year.

"Compact, lightweight, exceptionally durable and designed for year-round use, Airmaan gives you all the options, and your living room becomes the whole world."

Airmaan's M Sofa was successfully Kickstarted earlier this year, to the tune of $316,748. It's currently in pre-production, and Faure-Brac expects to start shipping next month. They're also taking pre-orders for a companion N Club Chair piece. They retail for $355 and $296, respectively; additional padding for the pieces is available for $118 and $78, respectively.

Though their crowdfunding campaign is no longer live, the pitch video gives you a good look at the furniture, and what it can withstand:

A Folding Chair That Absolutely Doesn't Look Like a Folding Chair

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This unusual Kael Walnut Folding Chair is by a no-history company called Esspur.

While it doesn't appear to be high-quality, the folding design is certainly interesting:

The company's completely lack of history and undisclosed location does give one pause.

Manfredini's Hi-Tech Shoe Lasts

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Italian manufacturer Manfredini specializes in making shoe lasts for high-end footwear manufacturers. These are objects that only those within the manufacturing industry ever get to see; even the most avowed footwear lover probably has no idea they even exist.

Now the company's created a new Modulast, made by CNC-machining both polyethylene and steel. "The steel binary system allows the complete release of the last inside the assembled shoe," the firm writes, "overcoming the limitations of traditional constructions and enabling greater design freedom."

The company showed this Modulast off on their Instagram, which is otherwise populated with sexy shots of women's footwear. Prompting the amusing viewer comment, "How does this actually work?"

Encore RV's Clever Design for a Pop-Up Bathroom for Camping Trailers

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Indiana-based Encore RV makes "Adventure Trailers," camping trailers designed to handle rugged terrain. And for their ROG 12RK model, they've designed a module that makes off-road life way more comfortable: A heated pop-up wet bathroom.

In its closed position, the bathroom doesn't look like anything more than a storage box. But it unfurls into a structure providing seven feet of interior height, and providing the ability to use the toilet and take hot showers in a heated environment:

I especially like the metal rods that bow the walls out, so that you don't have wet walls potentially clinging to you. Little UX details like that make all the difference.

Knipex's Innovatively-Shaped Slim Knips Precision Cutting Pliers

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To work the handles of pliers, you need a certain amount of throw. Knipex's new Slim Knips cutting pliers were designed for tight spaces, where handle travel would be limited.

Asymmetrical handles make it easier to both hold and work the pliers, while the hand position provides good visibility.

The handles are spring-loaded, to ease repetitive snipping tasks.

Furthermore the tool's butt end is tapered, to reduce interference with other tools or errant limbs when it's in a tool pouch or its holster.

Alternatively, it can be hung from a lanyard.

Overall a great design.

A Lovely Interior Detail: KinkFab's Adjustable Solid Brass Ventilation Screens

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Australian fabrication firm KinkFab creates high-end architectural products, many of them one-offs. They designed, built and installed these adjustable solid brass ventilation screens:

"Yes," they write, "it was expensive."

A Brilliant Movable-Leg Design for Tables Improves UX

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"Last year, we were awarded a utility patent for a table system designed to make group seating more flexible and comfortable," writes furniture designer/builder Justin Nelson, a/k/a Fernweh Woodworking. "The problem is simple: when tables are combined, the legs often end up where people need to sit. This design lets the legs move to better positions, making room for more people and more comfortable seating."

The design is clever, and Nelson recognizes that a different sort of firm could put it to best use:

"Unlike most of our patents, this one wasn't created with plans to build and sell it ourselves. We developed and protected the idea, but it's a better fit for an established commercial or hospitality furniture manufacturer that can bring it to scale.

"If you're in the hospitality, education, office, or furniture industry—or know someone who is—we're open to licensing or acquisition conversations."

Interested parties can check out the patent here.

Core77 Weekly Roundup (5-26-26 to 5-29-26)

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Here's what we looked at this week:

Sony's personal wearable air conditioner / heater is coming to the U.S.

Architect Paco Martinez's low-tech height-adjustable workbench.

Star-M's substantial No. 4960 edge band trimmer.

SAGA's Transat, a suspension-based outdoor chair.

Sir Jony Ive on designing the incredible UI of Ferrari's new EV.

A handy kitchen doodad for repurposing produce bags to collect trash.

Lije Studio's Pommel stool was not inspired by mushrooms.

Formarkivet's outrageously chunky Cubio, a raw aluminum coffee table.

1x1 Systems' DIY Pylon Lamp gets an assist from the garden.

Japanese design for an alternative, easier-to-install elevator indicator panel. (It's a tiny projector.)

This Gordix tool turns a trim router into a CNC mill.

The Japanese Matte Black Tool Trend Came from the L.A. Car Scene

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Yesterday we wrote about the Japanese trend of making tools with a matte black finish. Today we've tracked down the origin of that trend.

Just over a decade ago Yasunobu Nozaki, the President of Japanese tool brand Fujiya, felt that the market was ready for design-forward tools.

"Around [the 2010s], Japanese manufacturing began to shift away from low-cost, mass-production models, and people started to demand value that brings richness to the heart," Nozaki said in an interview.

"In other words, it is important to create products that are market-oriented, listening to users' opinions, rather than product-oriented, which sells what you have made. That's where design comes into play. We wanted to create products with high brand value, differentiating them with cool designs that users want."

On a 2015 trip to Los Angeles, Nozaki noticed an automotive trend. "There were matte black cars zipping around town, and it was really cool. When I came back to Japan and casually talked about it with members of the design, marketing, and product development departments, they said, 'Let's make a black tool.'"

This was pretty against-the-grain of Japanese tool designs of the time. "In the past, black tools were not preferred among craftsmen. For some reason, they had the image of being cheap, and people preferred colors that stand out, such as red and yellow. [But we felt] black is the representative color of luxury. So, I thought it would be interesting to make tools based on black, and add gold as an accent."

In 2016 Nozaki then launched Kurokin ("Black Gold,"), a sub-brand of Fujiya with its own dedicated design department. Their mandate was to produce cool-looking, design-focused tools.

Kurokin's eye-catching tools became a hit on social media; craftspeople carrying and wielding sexy tools became cool.

Sales rose, and today the brand has over 130 SKUs. For now, at least, the matte black tool trend remains popular.