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Moq7 introduces the world to some pretty clever projects such as the Brush and Rinse fountain toothbrush before they become real. The idea is to expose great ideas to the world and let them decide if it’ll ever make it out to the real market by reaching an MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity). An MOQ is needed before a manufacture will actually produce that specific product for a given cost. The more (thousands) orders, the lower the cost.

The benefit to Moq7 is that early purchasers act like supporters, where an early order will get you the real product for a great price, but also help reach the MOQ minimum allowing them to hopefully manufacture many more to retailers around the world.

Give Moq7 a look, check out some cool concepts, and submit any ideas you have. It’s very similar to Threadless in the sense that people submit ideas, people place orders, and once a certain order amount is made by the thousands of other people in the world, it becomes real, and people are happy.

Moq7 is the world’s first discount pre-seller of next generation products.

We help manufacturers meet their concept product MOQ’s by offering consumers the opportunity to pre-order next generation goods at closeout prices in a concerted effort to boost innovation and create jobs.

MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) is the number of units that must be manufactured in order for a product to be produced and sold at a reasonable price – high volume / low cost.  We pre-sell items prior to production to help manufacturers raise the start-up capital they need to produce the item.   The sale price is further reduced for our buyers to reward them for placing orders prior to production.


All money is refunded should we fail to meet the manufacturer’s MOQ.  The numbers of units sold and the respective MOQ’s are listed with each concept product on this website
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Walking the aisles of New York’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair this weekend, it was clear that the Recession was hitting the design world pretty hard. The show seemed to be only 70% of the size of years past, and those who were showing tended to be showing smaller, more affordable products. There was still some good work to be seen, though, including what we thought was the highlight: Kikkerland’s booth.

That’s right, the highlight of the the show was’t furniture at all– it was the booth at Kikkerland, can-structed of 2000 cans of soup, to be donated to New York’s hungry through City Harvest after the show was taken down. Designed by Jan Habraken, the booth was a recession-friendly, environmentally-benign, and captivating show-stealer.

Check out a couple more photos after the jump!

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I was introduced to VerTerra’s intriguing dinnerware products during this years GEL conference. At first sight these unique plates seemed like raw sheets of veneer pressed into structural shapes, but then the founder gave a quick overview of the project. Simply put:

Our environmentally-friendly plates, bowls and serving dishes are made only from two products: fallen leaves and water. They’re non-toxic, biodegradable, compostable, durable, lightweight, convenient and downright stylish.

I love it! Collect fallen leaves, steam press them to shape,  then deliver it. The plates will run you about a dollar for a pair, but once they get into Wholefoods later this month, I’m hoping Verterra will be affordable enough to be a abundant in everyday gatherings.

I wished I grabbed a few samples when I had the chance, but I’ll just have to wait for the next gathering to get some…unles someone from Verterra can send me some for my next party 😉
If your seeking an alternative, check out Wasura paper plates, which will cost you a bit more, but just as cool looking.

Some pictures from VerTerra’s website after the jump.

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Topobo’s kinetic memory toys which I’ve known about since 2004 is finally available for a limited production purchaseCheck out the video above or website to learn more.  I played around with them while at the MIT medialab in 2004-5, and must say, they are addictive! Congrats Hayes and Amanda for inventing, sharing, and bringing this idea to life!


RISD’s
first “What We Do” Event is going on today, April 11th. Head on down.. I’ll be there!

What We Do is a new, student-run, RISD event designed to bridge departmental gaps and create new connections through the sharing of ideas.

On Saturday, April 11th, 100 members of the RISD community (students, faculty, staff, and alums) will share something that they do with the rest of the RISD community and the larger surrounding community of Providence.

Leading up to the day of the event, 8 site-specific “spaces” will be created by members of every department at RISD; majors paired up to encourage cross-departmental collaboration. The spaces that they build will house the day’s events creating a street-fair environment for the open sharing of how people at RISD spend their time and energy. ”

update: some pics of the event after the jump.
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Behance
and Coolhunting bring to us their very first conference “99%” which “focuses less on inspiration, and more on how idea generation and organization come together to make ideas happen.” It all takes place next week at the The Times Center building  NYC, April 16-17, 2009… I’ll be there, so get your tickets here while they last!

A few of the speakers:
Michael Bierut of Pentagram
Cheryl Dorsey at Echoing Green
Seth Godin of  Squidoo, and several Books (purple cow, tribes, marketers are liars)
Ji Lee of Google and Bubble Project
Jeffrey Kalmikoff and Jake Nickell at Threadless
Scott Thomas of Obama for America
– full list here.

“BMW’s MINI division will debut its first color-morphing car in Singapore in June. Called the MINI Chameleon, the car changes color according to weather conditions.

For example, on a rainy day, the car’s paint brightens to improve visibility while on a sunny day, it lightens to reflect heat and cool down the vehicle.

The color-morphing technology was made possible due to a special treatment called FeintPaint by Spanish company Payola Forlids.

Cars treated with FeintPaint comprises tiny magnetic iron oxide particles which can interact with a low grade magnetic field to change the spacing of the particles, and hence its ability to reflect light and change color.

The color changes take effect in seconds, and should be quite a sight to behold! Unless of course, you’re the owner, and you’ve no idea where you last parked your car in a multi-story car park. ”

It’s about time someone did this! Wished this color technology could be applied to the interior leather as well…nothing like black leather during the winter, but oh my is it toasty to the touch in the summer! Would also be cool if the cars color changed as you sped up on the highway, from a cool blue to a hot red the faster you went.

via luxury insider



Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament 2007 from Cut&Paste on Vimeo.

Cut & Paste is storming Boston this Saturday night, March 17th, hosting their visual battle sessions in 2D, 3D, and motion graphics while projecing contestants screens on large projectors as crowds of creatives watch on in Iron Chef fashion jamming to music. The events kick offs at 7pm and tickets can be found via their website. They hold events all over the world so check out their listing for upcoming battles! (NYC, Toronto, Chicago, Europe, Asia) I’ll be in the Boston location. Let me know if your there!

some pics from the event after the jump.
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<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-GB&#038;playlist=videoByUuids:uuids:a517b260-bb6b-48b9-87ac-8e2743a28ec5&#038;showPlaylist=true&#038;from=shared" target="_new" title="Future Vision Montage">Video: Future Vision Montage</a>

Microsoft released a new video with their glimpse into the future. Most of the concepts seen are projects happening world wide and not just at Microsoft and really not that far out. Though most of the ideas are to promote the brand, it’s always good to get a refresh on the future and how technology might change our behaviors.