The Objects That Inspire Facebook’s Director of Product Design

Facebook’s director of product design, Margaret Gould Stewart, often turns to physical products when looking for inspiration. In an interview with Fast Company, Stewart reveals how some of her favorite items—including her grandfather’s old drill, a set of plates designed by Eva Zeisel and an ancient Inuit fish hook—have influenced her work. As she explains it, “Part of the creative process is looking for analogies …

Cooking Bacon with Lasers

From precision fabrication to denim distressing, laser-cutting has seen its fair share of applications. Now, Tokyo-based professor and tinkerer Kentaro Fukuchi is turning to laser technology to alter the way we prepare (and experience) food. Using a laser-cutting machine, he’s able to accurately cook only the fatty sections of a piece of bacon, leaving the rest of the meat raw—creating two contrasting flavors. Watch Fukuchi …

Practical DIY Designs From ’70s Book Nomadic Furniture

Long before build-it-yourself furniture behemoths like IKEA came along, thrifty homeowners turned to DIY projects to furnish their spaces. Many of these people looked to the pages of Nomadic Furniture—a book published in 1973 by designers Victor Papanek and James Hennessey—for advice on “How to build and where to buy lightweight furniture that folds, inflates, knocks down, stacks, or is disposable and can be recycled.” …