T.A.G. (Take. Act. Give.) – by Heidi Mok

The T.A.G. concept is a clothing donation system designed for the Salvation Army. It was developed to enhance the way clothes were given out such that it would be easy, dependable, and carried out in a socially-minded manner. The Salvation Army, as most of you probably know, have established their Thrift Stores where they collect used clothing donated by donors to sell in order to provide care for those in need of it. Problems arise however when the drop bins used to collect clothes are vandalized and treated as waste bins for garbage. Read more »

Compartment stores, consignment boxes, cubicle shops. Whatever you wish to call it, this new retail space concept is slowly creeping its way into North America after taking off successfully all throughout Hong Kong (see here & here) and in other parts of Asia. As a concept originating from Tokyo’s Akihabara shopping district, these compartment stores (the term I have chosen to use for the sake of writing this post) are stores made up of numerous small cubicles. Hopeful store owners who don’t have enough capital to set up their own shops can lease these small cubicles to display the items that they wish to sell. It’s attractive for sellers since they don’t have to spend much time or money minding a shop, while shoppers appreciate the variety and relatively lower cost items in the cubicles. Read more »

It is my pleasure to feature some of the works by the very talented Swiss designer, Florian Kräutli. Now practicing in the Netherlands, Florian finds his inspirations from many sources. In fact, he covers such a wide spectrum of designs that I don’t want to spam you with photos, so I will separate them into two posts… so let’s get right into it! Read more »

Vidafine recently discovered Philips Design Probes, a community dedicated to ‘far-future’ research initiatives which is believed to become the creative force behind innovative products that will one day become mainstream. One of the most interesting concepts we’ve found within their Food section, is the Biosphere (which isn’t exactly a sphere) concept idea which is something we believe all culinary geniuses or addicted gamers to the popular Facebook game ‘Farmville’ will appreciate! Read more »

Lettuce. Lobster Bisque. Mild Curry. Cantaloupe. Pumpkin Pudding. Snow Pea.

You may be thinking I’m listing my grocery list. In fact, these are the names of Felissimo’s latest product.

Social Designer is the brainchild of Felissimo Group, (a global company that strives to promote social responsibility through good design) out of New York. Social Designer’s mission is to spark new thinking by encouraging the design of socially-relevant and creative totes and tees which they sell online through their shop.

The Social Designer is currently holding a competition for a new Felissimo product, 500 Coloured Pencils. If you’re interested you can check out the competition here. But for those who are interested to know what these 500 Coloured Pencils are all about, let me explain. Read more »

Fall is definitely here and if you’re shivering constantly like I am, a white sandy beach with blue skies and a cocktail in our hands could easily fix that. But the closest I’ll ever get to a nice warm exotic place, is staring at pictures on my computer screen of Aruba. So, the next best thing is a cup of hot tea. Here are some new stylish tea pots and sets. Read more »

Dear Readers, Vidafine is proud to showcase some of the great projects that local industrial design students from OCAD (Ontario College of Art and Design) have come up with recently. We hope these posts will inspire you to think outside of the box and seek creative change in everyday life!

The Wii Chi – by Chun Lam Lee:

Wii Chi is a game concept inspired by the traditional Chinese martial art Tai Chi, which is widely practiced amongst the Chinese seniors. It is an activity where seniors can gather as a group to practice in an open space (such as parks) usually in the morning. Due to physical and environmental changes when these seniors are put into nursing homes, this morning routine is no longer performed. By creating a game concept which will work with the popular Wii game console, these seniors are able to easily maintain their healthy lifestyles! Read more »

Writing material just isn’t what it used to be nowadays since most of our ‘writing’ is done either on computers or smartphones. Needless to say, companies who were in the business of producing writing materials have taken a beating and it’s even led to quite a few going out of business. Like the saying goes, only the strongest survive and in this case, Serrote has been one of the strongest in the industry by being imaginative and unique. Read more »