Deep Dive
Toward Maximum Well-being
The thesis behind Gentle Future. Five design principles for the shift from tools that do more to objects that know when to stop.
A Map of the East Bay Where the Roads Are Copper and the Dots Are Family
A wall-hung circuit board where every street is a copper trace and every glowing dot is a person you love. Jonathan turned his family's whereabouts into furniture.
May 25, 2026
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A Butterfly That Flaps With Your Pulse, And Slows When You Do
Calm-tech rendered as a small unhurried toy instead of a wellness device. The pulse drives the wings, the wings teach you to slow the pulse, and the loop is the whole medicine.
May 22, 2026
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A Speaker That Forgot It Was a Speaker
Devon Turnbull's OJAS and Karimoku built a Sound House in Tokyo where speakers are machined from oak and listening rooms follow tea ceremony. When you can't tell where the room ends and the speaker begins.
May 18, 2026
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"Calm" Is Dead. Good.
Samsung built an entire Milan Design Week exhibition around emotion and never once said "calm." The label has died. What replaced it is more interesting.
May 16, 2026
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They Made a Tamagotchi That Can't Die. Did They Also Kill the Point?
Sweekar is a $100 AI companion with warmth simulation, breathing rhythms, and an unkillable mode at Level 51. But the original Tamagotchi worked because yours could die.
May 16, 2026
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Her Cyberdeck Lives in a Vintage Purse. 32 Million People Watched.
A mermaid-themed computer in a thrifted clamshell purse. 32 million TikTok views. The cyberdeck scene just discovered what happens when someone brings taste.
May 11, 2026
#tiktok.com
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This PCB Has a Mood Engine. When It Gets Angry, It Takes Down Your WiFi.
A custom PCB virtual pet that feeds on WiFi signals and deauths your network when it gets angry. Open-source firmware with feelings baked into the board.
May 10, 2026
#github.com
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ECAL Students Showing Work Inside an Underground Water Tank
For the Mapping Festival, ECAL filled a disused Geneva cistern with 360-degree immersive projections. The most interesting design school work is happening inside infrastructure nobody was supposed to see.
May 10, 2026
#ecal.ch
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A Desk Robot That Gets Sad When You Leave
An ESP32 weather display with a face, a mood, and the ability to notice when you leave. Open-source, pocket-sized, and more emotionally honest than most consumer electronics.
May 10, 2026
#github.com
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Kutarq Studio's Totem de Luz — A Pulley Where Your Dimmer Used to Be
No app. No dimmer. Pull a counterweight and the onyx glows. Kutarq Studio replaces electronic controls with sailboat hardware and the weight of your hand.
May 8, 2026
#kutarqstudio.com
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Quantum Jungle — Robin Baumgarten's Installation Turns Physics into Something You Pet
A wall of 1,000 touch-sensitive metal springs running Schrödinger's equation in real time. Robin Baumgarten made quantum physics feel like tall grass.
May 8, 2026
#robinbaumgarten.com
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Toward Maximum Well-being
The thesis behind Gentle Future. Five design principles for the shift from tools that do more to objects that know when to stop.
May 8, 2026
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