The 2020 Lexus Design Award’s Winner: Bell Tower’s “Open Source Communities”

The Kenya-based team's winning entry aims to empower communities

Launched in 2013, the Lexus Design Award celebrates innovations by emerging designers from all over the world. This year’s call to “Design for a Better Tomorrow” fielded responses from 79 countries. Finalists included proposals for a “breathing cloud,” a life jacket that can attach to others to form a raft, a sewing machine for the visually impaired, a portable body washer and more. The grand prix …

Terra Kaffe’s Design-Forward, Super-Automatic Espresso Machine, the TK-01

Pod-free and precise, a high-quality coffee machine for bean enthusiasts

Brooklyn-based company Terra Kaffe aims to make the ritual of home-brewing coffee more accessible and sustainable. The brand’s 23-pound debut machine, the TK-01, is capable of grinding, tamping, extracting, crafting, and even cleaning up after itself. Existing between the high-end manual espresso machine and the most entry-level pod-pouring product, the TK-01 costs $775—more expensive than the latter but far more affordable than the former. Designed …

Patrick Fry’s “Magic Papers” Explores Ephemera From 1890 to 1960

Released today, designer and CentreCentre Books publisher Patrick Fry’s Magic Papers: Conjuring Ephemera 1890-1960 explores the design language of vintage magic ephemera—from show bills and tickets to journals and periodicals. Made in collaboration with Philip David Treece (whose vast collection and Collecting Magic project piqued Fry’s interest), the book details the eccentricity and history of magic printed matter, and has been expertly designed by Kia …