All photos by Petr Krejci

Seeing as he cut his teeth with the likes of Max Lamb, Studio Gilthero, Martino Gamper and Julia Lohmann, it comes as no surprise that designer Phil Cuttance is well-versed in materials and processes. "FACETURE" is a series of household objects that take a vaguely crystalline appearance based on a unique fabrication process. Each vase, lamp and side table looks is made by casting a water-based resin in a handmade mold:

First the mould of the object is hand-made by scoring and cutting a sheet of 0.5mm plastic sheet. This sheet is then folded, cut and taped into the overall shape of the product that is to be cast. The mould's final shape, and strength, is dictated by which triangular facets I pop in and out. I do this each time I ready the mould for the next object, meaning that no two castings are the same. I then mix a water-based casting resin that is cast in the mould where it sets solid.

The resin is poured into the hollow mould and rolled around to coat and encase the sides, controlled by me on the casting jig on the machine. The material soon sets creating a hollow solid object. Then another, different coloured measure of resin is poured into the same mould, and swirled around inside, over the first. When it has set, the mould is removed to reveal the solid set cast piece.

The results look something like stalagmites from a virtual cave, though Cuttance notes that their origin is neither geological nor digital: "The casting appears with sharp accurate lines and a digital quality to its aesthetic, a visual 'surprise' considering the 'lo-fi,' hand-made process from which it came."

But the real gem is the bespoke machine with which Cuttance creates "FACETURE":

"The best interaction design doesn't just make things easier to use, it opens up new spaces for play and collaboration to enhance our relationship with the world and each other," explained jurist Robert Fabricant, VP of Creative at frog. Kicking off the announcements for this year's inaugural IxDA Interaction Awards, San Francisco-based agency Stimulant won Best in Show AND the People's Choice Award for Loop Loop, an innovative music sequencer app that encourages kids and adults to create improvised musical compositions using their Sifteo cubes to stitch and layer a set of samples and beats.

Stimulant LoopLoop for Sifteo from Stimulant on Vimeo.

From a pool of over 300 entries representing 33 countries, 26 projects were awarded honors in the categories of Best in Show, Best Concept, Best Student, People's Choice, and Best in Category for Optimizing, Connecting, Disrupting, Expressing, Engaging and Empowering.

Best Concept went to Out of the Box by London-based Vitamins, and the award for Best Student was given to Ishac Bertran from Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design for his project Pas-à-Pas.

Out of the box from Vitamins on Vimeo.

Pas A Pas from Ishac Bertran on Vimeo.

Congratulations to all of this year's winners and click the jump for full list of 2012 Interaction Awards Winners!

It's no secret that we're fans of London's Black+Blum: year in, year out, the design duo always seems to have something new up their collective sleeve. The recent NYIGF was no exception, as it was occasion for the official unveiling of three new designs.

First up, the "Eau Good" water bottle is a clever take on a water bottle with a natural filter.

The bottle uses a filter system with binchotan active charcoal, which has been used in Japan as a water purifier since the 17th century. It reduces chlorine, balances the pH and adds minerals to the water. Most importantly, it makes tap water taste clean and delicious.

The design of the eau good combines the vintage feel of the cork stopper with the unique clear, blow-molded bottle and the utilitarian aspect of the centuries-old filtering system.

The filter takes roughly 6–8 hours to work its magic and after its six-month lifetime, the charcoal can be used as an odor absorber for refrigerators.

The "Lunch Pot" (center) is a new offering in their line of tupperware containers: a pair of pots that neatly snap together, a handy solution for those of us who often bring multi-part meals for lunch. The watertight, BPA-free, microwave- and dishwasher-safe pots also feature an unique threadless enclosure for added convenience. Meanwhile, the strap remains secure even when the "Lunch Pot" is inverted or otherwise subject to the abuse of transit.

[photos via wood and metal]

That there is the perfect object. It's completely functional, it's the latest evolution from a history of progressively better objects that have been around since man's earliest days, and it's freaking beautiful. It's the two-pound Velvicut Premium Hudson Bay Axe, and it's made using that perfect blend of high-tech machines and an experienced craftsman's handwork.

While I'm suspicious of outdoor tools that are pretty--when you're working outdoors, hardcore functionality is everything and aesthetics don't mean a damn thing--this one is made by Council Tool, lending it some instant cred. The North-Carolina-based manufacturer has been producing quality tools since 1886, and I dig that the company president who narrates the making-of video has the same name as the company.

In the vid you see a 90-year-old eye-punching machine, the brutal, no-margin-for-error drop forging process in action, and you learn something cool about Council's ideology: They retain and retrain. Even as they upgraded their tooling, they kept the guys who used to do the rough grinding by hand and trained them to program the machine that took the task over, rather than letting the machine replace them altogether. "There's no substitute for experience here," says Council.

Like Carousel USA, Turntable Works is another California-based manufacturer of large-scale turntables. But the latter firm has got a product I could not have envisioned: A portable, folding motorized turntable called the Pack-Man, which comes in diameters ranging from eight to fourteen feet.

Here's a sign you've seen too many building projects go wrong: At the six-second mark of the demo video, when the whole mechanism starts to tilt, I instinctively jerked my hands out towards the screen as if I could help the guy by grabbing it. But apparently it's designed or allowed, however inelegantly, to do that.

Didn't think it would fit a full-size car, did you? I like how they jump-cut the footage during loading, as I'm sure there was some finagling required to avoid driving off of the platform. But in any case the Pack-Man is an impressive feat of design and engineering, allowing one person to set the thing up in just five minutes.