Superior mousetraps have their public health benefits, but they’ve got nothing on condoms. Reinventing the modest but life-saving device (some 15 billion are produced each year) is among the latest round of “Grand Challenges Explorations,” an initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has previously thrown its substantial resources behind design-minded projects such as rethinking the toilet and, in parternship with IDEO, a human-centered approach to poverty-related challenges. Grand Challenges Explorations is ready to award $100,000 grants to anyone–students, scientists, entrepreneurs–with a transformative condom idea:

We are looking for a Next Generation Condom that significantly preserves or enhances pleasure, in order to improve uptake and regular use. Additional concepts that might increase uptake include attributes that increase ease-of-use for male and female condoms, for example better packaging or designs that are easier to properly apply. In addition, attributes that address and overcome cultural barriers are also desired. Proposals must (i) have a testable hypothesis, (ii) include an associated plan for how the idea would be tested or validated, and (iii) yield interpretable and unambiguous data in Phase I, in order to be considered for Phase II funding.

The entry process is as streamlined and agile as the grant-making program itself: simply complete the two-page online application. Puzzled by prophylactics? Check out the other new Grand Challenges topics, which include increasing interoperability of social good data and labor-saving innovations for women smallholder farmers.

A judge has nixed the NYC “soda ban”–due to take effect Tuesday, it would have banned 16-ounce containers of sugary drinks that have more than 25 calories per ounce–but an appeal is in the works, and Mayor Bloomberg isn’t the only one looking to change the way we look at fizzy beverages. SodaStream is shaking up the market with its DIY take (slogan: “If you love the bubbles, set them free”). Founded in 1903 with the introduction of “an apparatus for aerating liquids,” the Israel-based company recently teamed up with Yves Behar and his team at Fuseproject to design the Source, a sleek home soda maker. “The design of Source was a process of elimination,” says Behar, who also worked on the packaging, naming, and graphic design of the compostable soda pods. Yaron Kopel, SodaStream’s chief innovation and design officer, made time during his recent trip to NYC to answer our questions about soda, the Fuseproject collaboration, and what’s next for the company.

First things first, what is your favorite beverage?
SodaStream Ginger Ale.

How do you describe SodaStream to someone who is unfamiliar with it?
SodaStream allows you to make carbonated water–which can become cola, fizzy juice, you name it–from home, in an instant. We have become so accustomed to the everyday consumption of bottled soda that its impact has been rendered mostly invisible. From an environmental perspective, when we consume and toss out plastic soda bottles, we’re doing damage. That plastic ends up forgotten, in landfills, in oceans. With SodaStream, consumers can enjoy their bubbles without any environmental impact. In essence, SodaStream takes what was once a passive, environmentally damaging practice–purchasing and enjoying soda–and has made it simple, active and environmentally sound.

What led you to seek out Yves Behar/Fuseproject, and what did you ask them to do?
Yves is among the finest industrial designers in the world. He is an innovator in sustainable design. Yves was tasked with reducing complexity and waste and creating a simple and beautiful object for the kitchen that keeps with 21st Century values. The result is SodaStream Source. Realizing that world-class design is a prerequisite to securing space on the countertop, SodaStream Source combines outstanding design with best-in-class engineering to improve functionality and ease-of-use. Its refined mechanics make the entire top surface responsive to touch. A new Snap-Lock mechanism makes the process quick, easy and intuitive, while an LED display provides instant visual feedback on the level of carbonation.

How was the process of working with Yves?
Yves and I worked together 24/7 for nine months to bring Source to fruition. It was a collaborative process. We shared a similar vision and joint desire to reduce and refine the user experience. Nothing about Yves’ work is redundant–every design attribute has a purpose. The finished product is a beautifully pared back design delivering the luxury of sparkling water, sodas, and bubbly beverages in one iconic minimal piece for the modern kitchen.
Read more

How do you solve a problem like James Dyson, he of the life-changing vaccuums and bladeless fans? “Put faith in frustrations and solve the problems that cause them,” advises the Norfolk-born industrial designer. “We’re looking for people who rather than accept a problem, go further to design a simple and effective solution.” Such is the premise of the James Dyson Award, a competition open to students studying product design, industrial design, and engineering at the university level (or recent graduates) in 18 countries, including the United States and Canada. Last year’s big winner was Royal College of Art grad Dan Watson‘s SafetyNet, a device to increase the sustainability of fishing:

Inspired yet? Entries open today for the 2013 award, and the prize money has been doubled. Register here to submit footage, images, and sketches of your idea, along with details of your design process and inspiration by the deadline of August 1. The national winners and finalists will be announced this fall after local panels of designers, engineers, and design critics compile their shortlists. Up for grabs is around $150,000 in prize money, including an international prize of $45,000 for the student/team and another $15,000 for his or her school, along with a swell trophy that may well double as a dustbuster.

Rotterdam-based Studio Makkink & Bey, led by architect Rianne Makkink and designer Jurgen Bey, has long envisioned a progressive office in which the multitasking extends to the furnishings: a seat that doubles as a self-contained desk and cupboard, a flexible “WorkSofa,” a cozy chair that can be coupled up to create instant meeting space (the “EarChair,” pictured above). The studio is showcasing these designs and more as part of “Fantasy Room for Working,” an exhibition on view through Sunday within the Creative Lounge MOV, a huge shared office space in Tokyo. Earlier this week, among the KadE Chair, Vacuum Cleaner Chair, stools, and aprons, was Bey himself–he put his designs to the test by working from the flexible fantasy office for eight days. Studio Makkink & Bey’s Prooff (Progressive Office) “working and living landscape” interior was also recently acquired by Utrecht’s Centraal Museum, where parts of it are on view through May 25. Take note, Marissa Meyer.

Cycling the mean and obstacle-laden streets of NYC is a bit too nerve-wracking for our delicate constitution, but like many design lovers, we adore bikes. Our own ride–in leafier environs–is an old orange Cannondale, but we’ll gladly take Trek and can’t say enough great things about Rob Forbes‘ PUBLIC, maker of snazzy urban cruisers. Bianchi bikes, in their toothpaste hues, appear frequently in our dreams (Un giorno sarà mia, Impulso Dama 105). And so we’re excited to report that Budnitz Bicycles has launched the Budnitz Bicycle Builder. Part of a website overhaul for the company, founded in 2011 by Kidrobot King Paul Budnitz, it allows users to customize a bicycle and watch it change in real time. Time flies when you’re deliberating among colors (Ultramarine, Racing Green Special, Butterscotch Glitter) and swapping out components, so be ready to invest some time, and cash–the built-to-last-a-lifetime bikes, available in titanium- and steel-framed models, start at $2600.

The Azzedine Alaia boutique in Paris.

“It’s one of my little marble fantasies. I started used marble a lot in 2005, 2006–in fact, Azzedine’s shop was one of the first things I did. At the time, no one was really using marble in a contemporary way. Marble was considered a really old-fashioned material. I’d picked up a little bit of experience over the years from going to Ferrara in Italy where they carve a lot of marble. People are always looking for new materials and new technology, like brand new high-tech things, but they don’t really exist. All of the materials that we think of as new materials have actually been around for at least ten or fifteen years. Doing something new is really about re-appropriating something, using a new material in a different context. As a designer you can only really do that if you work in different disciplines. That’s why I like doing all these different things and learning about different things. I designed a range of luggage for Samsonite ages ago, and the technology I used was something I had learned from designing trainers for Nike.”

-Marc Newson, interviewed by Jonathan Ive in i-D magazine

“Ettore Sottsass’s Valentine typewriter, designed in 1969, was made in tens of thousands at the Olivetti factory in Barcelona. What makes it fascinating is that it was the first time a company that specialized in making office equipment tried to turn the kind of machine that signalled work into something that looked playful. Or, as Sottsass put it, the kind of thing that might keep poets company on lonely Sundays in the country.

Sottsass made the Valentine bright red and used moulded plastic for the shell. The two ribbon spools were bright orange. According to Perry King, Sottsass’s British assistant on the project, the spools were meant to suggest the flashing of a pair of nipples. Less sexist, the carrying case was designed to be as stylish as the machine itself and could, at a push, be turned into a makeshift stool. But the marketing department at Olivetti vetoed Sottsass’s other idea: that it should only have upper case letters so as to simplify the mechanism and lower the price. The company saw itself as radical but not that radical.”

-Deyan Sudjic, director of London’s Design Museum, in the Financial Times

Rare is the design angle on a presidential address, but last night’s State of the Union included a shout-out to 3D prototyping. Early in the speech President Obama highlighted recent gains in domestic manufacturing jobs–more than 500,000 have been added in the past three years–offering examples of in-sourcing in progress at Caterpillar, Ford, and a little company in Cupertino. “This year, Apple will start making Macs in America again,” he said [cut to shot of a grinning Tim Cook] before turning to his administration’s manufacturing preservation initiative:

Last year, we created our first manufacturing innovation institute in Youngstown, Ohio. A once-shuttered warehouse is now a state-of-the art lab where new workers are mastering the 3-D printing that has the potential to revolutionize the way we make almost everything. There’s no reason this can’t happen in other towns. So tonight, I’m announcing the launch of three more of these manufacturing hubs, where businesses will partner with the Departments of Defense and Energy to turn regions left behind by globalization into global centers of high-tech jobs. And I ask this Congress to help create a network of 15 of these hubs and guarantee that the next revolution in manufacturing is made right here in America. We can get that done.

To which approximately half of the audience responded, “Yes we can!”

London’s Design Museum, which opened in 1981 in a former basement boilerroom of the Victoria & Albert Museum, is gearing up to move out of its current home–once a banana warehouse–into a $125 million new building, the former Commonwealth Institute, spruced up by OMA and with interiors by John Pawson. Until the big move, slated for 2015, the museum is pulling out the stops, or at least the stories, for an exhibition of memorable objects from its permanent collection.

“Extraordinary Stories About Ordinary Things,” which opened today, focuses on stories such as national identity (road signage, the Euro), the dominance of plastic in our lives (from 1960s furniture to recent Issey Miyake garments made from upcycled plastic bottles), and Modernism, in which visitors can marvel at the work of designers such as Marcel Breuer and…Erno Goldfinger (Ian Fleming borrowed his name for a Bond villain because of a personal vendetta, according to the museum). Among the objects singled out for special treatment are the Anglepoise lamp and Jasper Morrison‘s Handlebar Table, which is among the latest additions to the museum’s 3,000-object-collection. Another recent acquisition? An AK-47, soon to be followed by a Russian cosmonaut spacesuit. Until you can make it to London (the show will be on view until 2015), visit vicariously via the Design Museum Collection App, free on iTunes.

Among Zhukova’s picks are Sebastian Wrong’s “Logger Head” table light and a miniature “Therapeutic Toy” elephant by Renate Müller.

“Design really thrives when it pushes boundaries,” says Dasha Zhukova, founder of the Moscow-based Garage Center for Contemporary Culture. And while she adores edgy furniture, such as Jonathan Muecke‘s primordial carbon fiber and epoxy chair, as a self-described couch potato, she’s also a sucker for a comfortable sofa. Clever and cozy coexist in the 20 unique and limited edition design objects Zhukova has selected for Artsy, the online art hub that recently underwent a hasty rebranding after its Art.sy URL encountered snafus related to tensions in Syria (the country hosts the .sy domain).

“This collection comprises pieces by cutting-edge designers who are experimenting with new materials and manufacturing processes,” says Zhukova, who is an investor in Artsy. “I chose objects that are accessible and functional on one hand, yet conceptually challenging on the other.” All of the works, drawn from leading galleries such as Victor Hunt and R 20th Century, are available for purchase directly from the site. Prices top out at $10,000–a sum that will get you Front Design’s mesmerizing “Surface Tension Lamp” (below), which generates its own ever-changing bulb made of a soap bubble.

Read more