An Australian Off-Road Camper Trailer Designed Specifically for E-Bikers

This Trekka 01, by Australian pod trailer manufacturer Stockman, is an off-road camper trailer designed specifically for e-bikers.

Rather than having an exterior rack for the bikes, the Trekka has a two-bike garage in the nose, keeping them out of the elements. Loading is made easier via a retractable ramp.

In the garage, the bikes can be charged while you’re on the move.

Stockman offers an option for rooftop solar.

When it’s time to set up camp, the trailer automatically levels itself.

The interior is well-appointed. The roof pops up to provide headspace and light, and there’s a queen-sized bed in the back.

A bench seat and table by the entry provide space to dine or work.

The tabletop stows away when not needed (I have no idea where it goes, they don’t mention it) and there’s a small kitchen opposite the bench.

Fore of the kitchen there’s a wet room containing a shower and toilet. This being a pop-up camper, the walls don’t go all the way to the ceiling, but at least there’s visual privacy.

Incredibly, this camper has two kitchens. The second one is an outside kitchen.

Other nice touches include a backup camera, an electrically-deployed entry step and a pull-out awning.

These are Australian-market only, and run about AUD $130,000 (USD $85,000).

DEVIATION: Artist Sven Sauer’s Incredible Kinetic Light Installation Brings a Message of Hope

Visual Atelier 8 is an online platform that seeks to expose the general public to talented creatives. They presented this dazzling DEVIATION installation, created by Berlin-based artist Sven Sauer:

The piece is a direct comment on the divided state of today’s world.

“The installation stretches across the room like a carpet of glass fragments, woven from shards collected worldwide. Broken glass often feels ominous: shattered windows before earthquakes, shards from riots, or jagged borders meant to keep people out. Today, it can seem as though shards are everywhere, and humanity doesn’t always appear in the best light.”

“Based on texts by historian @RutgerBregman, DEVIATION reveals another truth: in times of crisis, people tend to move closer together, and acts of kindness grow. Negativity may be louder, but history shows cooperation prevails. From certain angles, the processed shards catch light and divide it a hundredfold, turning fragments of destruction into reflections of hope.”

Above is a condensed version of Sauer’s statement. The full copy is below, as well as credit to all of the parties that helped bring this installation to light, no pun intended.

Design Postcard: Paris, Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2G

Let’s be honest: when travelling, nobody is looking forward to the time at the gate, waiting to board. Airports also rarely tell a story unique to the place they’re at, often being purely pragmatic, frequently pretty soulless spaces, sometimes not even offering a decent place to sit for everyone.

We were expecting just that for a 4-hour layover in Paris on a trip from South America to Germany, and even considered rushing into Paris or paying for a lounge. A delay and Charles de Gaulle’s vast and confusing layout had us head to the gate at Terminal 2G straight away, and we were pleasantly surprised with possibly one of the most thoughtfully designed airport spaces we’ve ever encountered.

The airport

Charles de Gaulle itself is a bit of a user experience nightmare: signage isn’t exactly clear, and you sometimes have to take long bus rides from one sub-terminal to the next. However, upon entering the – from the outside rather drab – Terminal 2G, you find yourself in a delightful ode to Parisian design history and flair.

A grand entrance with terazzo floors. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Frescos by Studio CHZON. Photo by Anki Delfmann

The escalator and stairs to the gates are the first sign of a waiting area that differs from the norm: custom floors, handrails, frescos and lamps lead the traveler upstairs into a space celebrating quintessentially French 20th century furniture and decorative arts.

Celebrating Parisian Monuments. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Recharging

Spaces to recharge. Photo by Anki Delfmann

The 1,300 sqm area designed by studio CHZON combines solutions for every traveler’s most urgent functional needs (sitting, lounging or lying down comfortably, charging your devices) with the emotional benefits of feeling like you’re still in Paris, enjoying carefully designed spaces inspired by the 1960s and 1970s, and thus extending your experience of place up until you board your flight.

Celebrating Paris

Celebrating Parisian Monuments. Photo by Anki Delfmann

The centerpiece of the space is a monumental white sculpture by Jean-Marie and Marthe Simonnet made of glass-resin composites, resembling a bench under trees. An arch structure of the same material is a nod to the monuments of Paris, and a fountain surrounded by the unmistakable green metal chairs of the Jardin du Luxembourg completes the landmarks in the waiting area.

Celebrating Parisian Monuments. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Celebrating Parisian Monuments. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Waiting

Surrounding these, lingerers can choose from various arrangements of sofas and chairs, covered in leather or bespoke textile featuring an airplane pattern, and reclining seats – designed by the Italian architect and furniture designer Osvaldo Borsani.

Seating by Osvaldo Borsani. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Seating by Osvaldo Borsani. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Seating by Osvaldo Borsani. Photo by Anki Delfmann

Playing

Solid wood tables add an element of play with inlay work that creates boards for chess, checkers, and other popular games to pass the waiting time.

Photo by Anki Delfmann

Custom-designed lamps and recycling bins made from airplane trolleys complete this experience, which unexpectedly turns often dead space and time into something unique, interesting and entertaining.

Photo by Anki Delfmann

Photo by Anki Delfmann

See a video of the experience

Watch the Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2G Design Postcard to get a more immersive feeling of the space.

Fidlock’s Nifty Variety of Magnetic Buckles

In the mid-2000s, Joachim Fiedler was a professional cellist in Germany. A tinkerer by nature, he found himself frustrated by the bow holders inside the lid of a cello case: They were fiddly and required two hands to open, whereas Fiedler wanted to do it one-handed. He thus prototyped and refined a magnetic bow holder. Pressing against a latch released the bow.

Despite having played with the Berlin Philharmonic and having toured the world with different orchestras, Fiedler became obsessed with magnetic connections rather than music. In 2007, he hung up the bow and started Fidlock, a company that makes magnetic buckles for bags, helmets, tents, clothes and more.

For some examples of the actions, this SNAP pops open at the pull of a strap:

This 3-point JUNIOR is for baby carriages:

This magnetic ratcheting WINCH is for bags and outdoor gear:

This COINTRAP is for bike helmets, and is designed to be easy to use in cold weather, when one is wearing gloves:

You can see more of Fidlock’s offerings here.

The Nomad Collection: Sleek Power Strips with Plug-In Lamps

These Nomad Block power strips were designed by Swedish design studio Form Us With Love.

No fragile plastic here: The shells are cast out of 100% recycled aluminum.

They can also be pared with Nomad Lamps, which plug directly into the sockets.

There’s also a Nomad Strip variant, designed to be flush-mounted.

The Nomad Collection was designed in collaboration with Forming Function, a Swedish manufacturer of designey technical accessories.

“Electricity and charging are among the most used and indispensable products in our daily lives, both at home and at work,” the company writes. “Yet, they have long been the most overlooked when it comes to design, sustainability, and holistic system solutions. At Forming Function, we believe there’s no reason to hide electricity and charging. Instead, we aim to make them a beautiful, integrated part of interior design.”

An Elegant Stool from Leather Offcuts, by Industrial Designer Friedrich Gerlach

This Lecrase Stool is by German industrial designer Friedrich Gerlach.

The form might suggest plywood, but it’s in fact made of leather offcuts from the automotive and fashion industry; the carefully-chosen folds not only give the stool its flair, but exploits the material to allow it to support itself.

“In a world where increasing consumption generates more leftover materials, I see these not as waste, but as valuable resources,” Gerlach told the Maison&Objet trade fair. “I find it exciting to work with what’s already there – designing in a way that anticipates transformation, reuse, or even disappearance.”

The stool won Gerlach a 2025 Rising Talent Award.

A 3D Printer that Walks and Lays Walls

There is a fascinating type of wasp where I live called a mud dauber. These little guys are like the 3D printers of the natural world. They take individual globs of mud and, using their mandibles, shape them into layers attached to vertical surfaces in order to build cylindrical nests.

Image: Mike Dunn, Walter Magazine

You can clearly see the “print lines” on their nests. The different colors are from different types of mud, and while adjacent nests can be made from different muds, they always go mono-mud for individual nests.

Image: Pollinator, CC BY-SA 3.0

Anyway I thought of mud daubers while looking at this Charlotte robot. It was developed by two Australian firms, Crest Robotics and climate technology company Earthbuilt Technology, as a response to Australia’s housing crisis.

Like the mud dauber, Charlotte uses local materials to build. It’s hooked up to wheeled vehicle that’s loaded with sand, earth and waste products like crushed brick. The ‘bot essentially digests these, then poops out a composite material in layers to build walls.

The point of all this is that you’re not transporting construction materials to the site. “Raw materials go in. Solid walls come out. Easy,” writes Earthbuilt Technology.

“Earthbuilt® was conceived with a simple insight: the real cost and carbon of construction come from repeated industrial processing and endless transport. Our patented printer shortens the supply chain to a single, low-energy, high-speed process. Using local soil or clean waste, Earthbuilt® creates strong, durable walls without cement, firing, or manual laying.”

Earthbuilt says the robot is fast, affordable and accurate. They also envision it being used in the future to build structures on the moon.

Functioning prototypes have been built, and are reportedly on display at the currently-running International Astronautical Congress in Sydney. However, at press time we could not locate any videos of Charlotte in action.

Titaner’s Innovative Take on the Fractal Vise

In the past, it was common for a Western company to release some hot new object, then Chinese manufacturers would rush in with knock-offs. Thankfully we’re seeing a shift away from this, where Chinese manufacturers are starting to add their own innovations to improve existing products. As one example Titaner, a Chinese manufacturer of titanium tools, is taking a more Apple-like approach: Let others be the first, then take your time to design a better version of that object.

In this case, the object that’s having a moment is the fractal vise. This all started in 2021, when artist Steve J. Lindsay designed his based on a jaw he’d seen on a milling machine from the early 1900s.

Lindsay’s design went viral, and later that year product designer Chris Borge made 3D-print files of a similar design available.

Earlier this year, British tool manufacturer MetMo successfully Kickstarted their own fractal vise design, to the tune of $1.8 million.

Enter Titaner. Rather than merely knock off the designs above, the company instead decided to design the ultimate version of a fractal vise.

First off it’s on a ball joint, greatly improving the ergonomics.

Secondly, it has a feature critical for working on delicate objects: The ability to set the clamping pressure. The user dials it in via a torque mechanism, and when the vise hits the desired pressure, it audibly clicks, like a torque wrench.

Thirdly the jaws have a width capacity of nearly 4 inches.

Lastly the jaws are reversible, allowing you to hold objects from the inside out.

The tool, being made entirely out of precision-CNC-milled titanium, is well expensive, starting at $1,100. The company’s only making 1,000 units and selling them on Kickstarter. At press time the campaign had been successfully funded, with 85 units spoken for and 27 days left to pledge.

Industrial Design Case Study (From a Mechanical Engineer): This Beautiful, Tiny Bike Pump

This Featherforged: Nano is a tiny, elegant bike pump. It was created by an anonymous mechanical engineer, who posted the project online. ME credentials aside, this makes for a great ID case study.

I wanted to show off a personal project I spent many months on (designing, testing, building).

After some extremely long rides into remote areas, such as my 14 hour ride from Denver to the top of Mt Evans/Blue Sky and back, I wanted to create a bike pump that was infinitely reliable (all metal/overbuilt design/no plastic/batteries) and also would fit in a tiny seat post bag. It would also be small enough to pair with CO2 cartridges as a last resort if the CO2 ran out.

I settled on a design that would fit directly onto a presta valve stem- no rubber tubes or attachments to add weight or potentially fail or add complexity.

I created the computer aided design (CAD) in Fusion 360 and added drawings and tolerances for important components (I’m a mechanical engineer with 15 years of designing >100 products for tool/defense/medical companies. This is my first solo build of a product for myself).

I ran finite element analysis in Fusion 360 to ensure that everything was overbuilt (A casing that was laughably designed to hold many thousands of PSI, for example, when it would only see about 100 psi). This would ensure it would survive drops, impacts, crashes, etc (I did take a 35mph, worst crash of my life, with this pump, and it obviously did not suffer ill effects, like I did).

My initial 3D print and then metal prototype build had a tiny handle that was extremely uncomfortable, and gave me blisters, so I added a large, thick, and comfortable aluminum handle that gave it a “flash bang” aesthetic. Then, I added neodymium magnets for quick latching and a sort of fidget mechanic.

I purchased a simple reciprocating jig and tested the O-rings, lubricants, and seals to a million cycles at 130F and running high pressures.

For my final build, I sent out the drawings and CAD to a CNC shop for the parts to be manufactured. I received enough parts for about 300 pumps (it’s much more cost effective per unit to order a lot of parts than even just a few). When these parts arrived, I assembled them by hand and give them a mirror polish.

Overall, I’m very happy with the results and carry it everywhere for my bikes and even my car (God forbid).

It takes about 2 minutes to add a few psi and about 10 minutes for a completely flat tire. My rationale for this is: Flat tires are rare with tubeless, at most, one per year. It can be combined with CO2 or electric as a final last resort pump, if you get frequent flats (CO2 and electric being less reliable/limited). I would rather carry a very small/light pump for two thousand plus miles a year and spend ten minutes on the side of the road once per year, than carrying a large pump all year for this rare occasion (but this is just my experience and opinion).

I’ve posted this project on Etsy and I sell about 1 per month, so I plan to break even on my expenditure in like 2030 (haha) (It’s been a passion project). I named it the Featherforged: nanotap (seemed like a fitting name for an ultralight/full-metal project). I would like to design more all-metal/ultralight tools in the future.

As for the “I sell about 1 per month,” claim, the units sold out within five days of the project being posted!

Flos Design Space Opens in Chicago

This month lighting brand Flos launched the Flos Design Space in Chicago, a shop located within the Lightology showroom.

On hand for in-person viewing are the company’s classics, alongside contemporary designs:

Bilboquet by Philippe Malouin

IC Lights by Michael Anastassiades

Snoopy table lamp by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni

Arrangements by Michael Anastassiades

“Flos Design Spaces are minimalistic in approach yet have a theatrical flair, drawing customers into the brand’s philosophy and enduring designs. A palette of rough concrete, milled wood, black calamine iron, and dark grey plaster allows for layered lighting e?ects and flexible modular display solutions o?er infinite configurations that mirror true living environments so shoppers can visualize what a piece might look like in their own homes.”

Taccia table lamp by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni

Noctambule by Konstantin Grcic

Céramique by Ronan Bouroullec

SuperWire Table lamp by Simone Farresin and Andrea Trimarchi of FormaFantasma

Skynest by Marcel Wanders

The space is located at 215 W Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60654. It’s open 9am – 5:30pm on weekdays, and 10am – 5pm on Saturdays.