Bike hangers: Vertical installed bike parkings between high buildings.

What is it?

The Bike-Hanger is a vertically rotating, multi-level bike parking by Manifesto Architecture.

Why it’s cool?

The Bike Hanger is an innovative and essential facility for the South-Korean city of Seoul which aims to increase its bicycle-friendliness. This facility is not only low-maintenance and environmentally friendly. By being installed in between buildings it it takes advantage of many of the underutilized spaces that exist around the city.Each Bike-Hanger is able to store between 20-36 bicycles and it is easily attached to the sides of buildings. This bike parking has a minimal disturbing factor to the pedestrian traffic below.

This sustainable design doesn’t require any other Electricity or other energy. In fact the designers are ‘re-cycling’ the underutilized spaces in the Korean city. These bike-hangers could be introduced to Europe as the innovative and good-looking solution to save space in our packed cities. 

www.treehugger.com

NYC: Taxi of tomorrow: The new 'green' yellow cab.

What is it?

Let me present you the ‘taxi of tomorrow’.

The well-known yellow NYC cabs will be exchanged for these ‘green’ electric versions in 2017.

Why it’s cool?

World’s fastest city has picked it’s new generation of cabs. This future electric cab is still yellow but greener. This nissan cab isn’t only making a difference for the enviroment; passengers will experience a huge practical difference aswell. 

There is enough space for 4 passengers and their luggage, substantially improved over current taxi models. The vehicle owns sliding doors and grab handles which provide an easy entry and exit. Thanks to the transparent shaded roof panel it will give you unique views of the city. 

The passengers will also experience more ease by the overhead reading lights and Floor lighting which willl them help to locate their belongings. During this enjoyable ride you can easily charge your smartphone by using the mobile charging station. 

This cab also comes with lot’s of benefits for the taxi-driver, which you can find here.

With more than 13,000 taxis traveling through NYC and a cumulative 500 million miles per year this innovative cab will bring NYC nothing but succes and improvement!

www.treehugger.com

MINI Vending Machine. The easiest way to choose your MINI car.

What is it? Mini presents a digital fully interaction projection eaturing the new line-up of cars and accessories. Mini made it look like a vending machine.  Every random viewer can text a short code representing the MINI of their choice. Then the vending machine will dispense the particular model for a playful ride, accompanied with a personalized message.

Why it’s cool? This is the very first interactive vendingmachine with a largest projection. It ’s very remarkable and something passers will not forget.  This is a innovative form of advertising.  It gives potential MINI buyers another reason to get one of these cars. 

www.crossmarks.nl

Self-Employed professionals at home: Innovative and inspiring workspaces

What is it?

Nowadays there are many opportunities to make your work more enjoyable. A lot of young professionals need an innovative and dynamic workspace to get inspired. Now there is Spaces. Spaces, located in Amsterdam, offers you many services from independent spaces to inspiring workspaces. A membership at spaces will cost you €150,-. In exchange you will get a classy work space which you can use whenever you want to. At the same time you get the entrance to the café that serves dishes made up by Jamie Oliver.

Why it’s cool?

Whether you prefer working in a private place or at a public workspace, Spaces offers you diverse services. Once you become one of the members you practically own an innovative and dynamic work spot. At spaces you will get inspired for sure, not just by the amazing building but also by the other premium members. Another great thing is the fact that Spaces allows you to have your own postbox. And it is pretty cool to put this address on your business card as Spaces is located in the centre of Amsterdam. This is great office for young professionals to expand their network and take their business to a higher level.

Green truck on the go: Healing our planet, one meal at a time

What is it? 

Green truck on the go is a foodtruck with a mission: healing our planet, one meal at a time. They serve fresh and organic food and green truck believes that a healthy enviroment is essential to healty living.

Here are a few ways Green Truck uses to help making our planet a happier and healthier place:

Runnin’ on veggie
The vegetable oil that is used in the kitchen for cooking our foods is used to power our food trucks the next day.

Sun power
The commissary kitchen is solar-powered. And if it’s a really sunny day and the truck generated more energy than it needs, they give it back to the grid.

Saying NO to plastic and styrofoam
All of the packaging and utensils are either recyclable or compostable. The utensils in fact, are made out of potato starch. (But no, they’re not edible.)

Serious composting
The packaging and utensils the green truck compost are delivered back to the farms from which they have sourced their ingredients. In turn, the compost is used to grow more food. It’s a circle of life sort of thing.

Why it’s cool?
Buying food from the green truck is more than just a meal.
Truly, it’s making a simple commitment to a greener earth and a better, happier you. “You can pay the farmer now or pay the doctor later.” What you put into your body, that really matters.

This foodtruck is a 100% healthy and eco-friendly. If you want to improve your eco-habits and start helping the planet, this is the perfect way to start.

I think it’s fascinating the green truck buys locally farmed vegetables whenever possible. Because the tomato on your Mother Trucker burger shouldn’t have to travel 2,000 miles just for lunch.

www.greentruckonthego.com

Some like it hot!

What is it?
Hot as hell to lukewarm…..there are many ways to drink your coffee, but the best way is your very personal way! To keep the temperature of your hot drink in control there is the Boog Coffee Warmer. It works like a magic stick and maintains the ideal temperature of your coffee. You have to pull on the tab at the top and a chemical reaction inside the spoon between water and calcium chloride generate enough warmth to re-heat your drink.


Why it’s cool?
Wherever coffeelovers go, their coffees are with them. And as busy as they are, their coffee might get cold. With this little easy-to-go stick your favorite drink in the morning will maintain the enjoyable temperature. This is an easy and handy product for all the coffee lovers in the city. With this warmer you don’t need any special electrical pocketboilers to re-heat your drink. This isn’t just a beautiful design but also a very smart solution!


www.trendhunter.com

Müv Box: Think inside the box

What is it?
The Muv box is a pop-up kind of restaurant.  This compact and mobile unit uncovers a fully operational kitchen in around 90 seconds at the touch of a button and transforms into a lobster restaurant powered by solar energy.

Why it’s cool? This concept shows that the food industry actually can keep up with our extremely fast lifestyle. Since we’re 24/7 on the move, we want a restaurant to be available anytime and anywhere. The muv box is not set permanently in the ground, so there is no need for building permits. It can be dropped anywhere, with relative ease and without a large truck around  the container taking up space. Daily opening and closing and table-set up couldn’t been more simple. Besides that it can be easily transported by road, rail or sea. Having dinner at this pop-up restaurant gives you an experience that’s evironmentally-friendly, ethical and affordable. The designers of the Mux box were litterally thinking ‘inside the box’. Eating lobster isn’t getting any easier

www.muvboxconcept.com

Watch these grassy coffee mugs 'grow up'.

What is it?
''Grow Up'' is a set of mugs with grassy bottoms. The Grow Up Ceramic Mug has an inset base where soil can be packed and grass seeds can be planted.

Why it’s cool? 
The water that will create the grassy bottoms brings life into the mugs, that’s what makes it a strong concept. By literally watching this mugs ‘grow up’, a simple set piece gives you an extraordinary experience.
If you want to add an eco-look to your interior, this is exactly what you need! It hasn’t only a charming and green appearance, at the same time it has multiple functions!. This clever coffee cup can spend 5% of its time as a drinking cup, and 95% as a planter on your windowsill.

www.yankodesign.com

Tree wrapped traffic lights

What is it?
Korean designers Gisung Han, Hwanju Jeon & Jaemin Lee have come up with a way to make crossing the street safer and more eco-friendly. They designed the “Wearable Signal Walking Sign”. This is a solar powered LED traffic signal that wraps around trees, lamp posts or poles and wirelessly communicates with traffic lights to display the correct “walk” or “don’t walk” signal. The design consists of a small flexible solar panel, which is attached to a panel of flexible LED lights. This is a sustainable solution that turns trees into traffic lights.

Why it’s cool?
Why would you install seperate poles for traffic lights? Why not put them on existing ones and trees? With the wearable walking sign you don’t need electricity and additional installation of poles. This is easy and urban cause you can wrap it around any existing circular base like a tree or a utility pole. So now a tree can be a prime spot for a pedestrian signal. Nowadays designers want sustainability to be integrated in our daily routine. These traffic lights add a eco-cool aspect to the streetscape that everyone will notice! 

www.trendhunter.com

Upcycled hydrogardens: The grow bottle

What is it?

The grow bottle is part of Potting Shed Creations' new line coming spring 2011. This bottle is designed to be reused and makes indoor hydroponic herb farming compact and easy. The containers are made out of reclaimed, cut wine bottles.  After enjoying your freshly grown herbs, simply rinse out the system and replant with your own seeds or any of the organic replant kits offered by Potting Shed Creations. There’s a lot of diversity when it comes to te seeds: from basil to mint.

Why it’s cool?
Potting Shed Creations should be proud for its sustainable, forward-thinking gardening products. These sustainable Grow Bottles are a stylish addition to any home, especially one with limited space.With these bottles you can show other people you are socially-aware of the enviroment. When you finished your herbs you can easily refill and replant it yourself. This DIY garden-kit is easily to be used en reused over and over again!

www.pottingshedcreations.com

One liter ℓimit tap

What is it?
The  1ℓimit faucet looks more like an elegant test tube inverted on top of a tap. The glass tube holds exactly one liter of water, enough for a quick handwash. Normally we waste 6 liters of water while we only use 1 liter. Once the stored one-liter is used up, you have to turn off the tap till the next one liter fills up the tube.

Why it’s cool?
Other than other water-saving taps this one actually looks cool. At the same time it makes you waste less water. Hopefully this tap makes people realize the value of tapwater. I don’t get how people are able to waste 6L of water at one time. For certain people this water tap is a must have.
www.trendhunter.com

Eco-Sneakers that bloom

What is it?

At Amsterdam’s International Fashion Week, OAT shoes presented its “Virgin Collection”. This is a new line of bio-degradable shoes that can be planted in the ground to sprout trees. Its materials break down easily and the seeds are embedded somewhere inside the design. Bury them in garden, woods or compost and nature will welcome them! The concept was well received and won second prize at the Green Fashion Awards. 

Why it’s cool?

Finally, you can look cool and not feel guilty about what you’re wearing. Wearing those OAT shoes gets extra comfortable because you have the knowledge that one day your fashion will beautify the world with literal shoetrees. The goal of the founder Christiaan Maats is to help people connect with the enviroment in imaginative ways. And that worked out pretty well!

 www.yatzer.com

Monumental Glasses

What is it?

Artist Agathe Snow and German eyewear label MYKITA created the ‘’All Access World” show with a pair of ‘monumental’ sunglasses. On these special limited glasses you see the etchings of two separated skylines like Manhattan and the Egyptian Pyramids of Giza. These products belong to the ‘All Access World’ Exhibition for a show in Berlin. This exhibition examines the relationship of people and specific surroundings near monuments.Filled with lot’s of mobile sculptures, large-scale wall collages, video works and more, the exhibit shows the factors that bind people to places.

Why it’s cool?
The artist believes that monuments should be  "available as products".  The skylines were added in gold to the inner side of the glasses, so the wearer barely notices it.
These sunglasses are all handmade at the Mykita workshop, each pair is individually numbered on the temple and comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by Agathe Snow. By paying €370 you will ‘own’ a monument on your glasses. 

"Monuments are a contradiction. Things that depend on the act of remembering cannot be static. How can you be of a moment in history yet speak of timelessness?" – Agathe Snow

www.leicismore.wordpress.com

Reincarnation of prints? Nike makes shoes from shredded magazines

What is it? Nike just released the Women’s Premim Print pack, a limited edition set of three shoe styles. All of the shoes were made using shredded magazines. The main material used in eaxh shoe is a kind of laminated fabric, created from old glossies. They are a part of Nike’s spring collection and probably only available in Europe and China.

Why it’s cool? These shoes give print publications a kind of afterlife.  Due the use of recycled magazines, each shoe will be unique and different from all others. The people who are going to wear these limited editions will spread the word about recycling and sustainability.

www.freshnessmag.com