Pantone recently announced that its 2022 color of the year is a shade of blue! Called Very Peri, and described as “periwinkle blue”, the intriguing color, to be honest, looks almost purple, instead of blue! “PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri displays a spritely, joyous attitude and dynamic presence that encourages courageous creativity and imaginative expressions,” says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of The Pantone Color Institute. In an ode to the newest Pantone color, we’ve curated a collection of product designs that perfectly capture this mesmerizing shade of purple! From a MagSafe iStorage that adds snap-on physical drive to increase the storage on your phone to Black Panther-inspired sneakers – these innovative products are truly a periwinkle purple!
1. The iStorage
Designer Abdelrahman Shaapan has an idea – Magsafe Storage. Designed to resemble Apple’s newly launched MagSafe Battery Pack (although Abdel came up with this design all the way back in May), the iStorage is a nifty wireless drive that lets you add extra storage to your phone in literally a snap. How would the iStorage even work in theory? Clearly, the MagSafe is built just for hooking accessories to the iPhone and chargers to the wireless charging coil. How would the iStorage even transfer data? Well, even though Abdelrahman’s iStorage is just a fan-made concept, the real device could easily communicate with the iPhone or any other Apple device using AirDrop protocols. The snap-on feature would probably be just something of a convenience, but I could easily imagine the iStorage as being Apple’s own hard drive… something that the company hasn’t really ever worked on.
2. The Pebble
Titled the Pebble, these gorgeously vivid and funky cutlery tools are a collaboration between Pentatonic and i am OTHER, a creative collective assembled by Pharrell, and are made mostly from recycled materials. The unusually vibrant cutlery set is named after the pebble-shaped container it comes in. The colored container is made using plastic recycled from music CDs, and perfectly houses a spoon, knife, fork, a pair of chopsticks, and even a collapsible drinking straw. Plastic handles for the cutlery are crafted from recycled food packaging, while the cutlery themselves are crafted from steel, with a highly durable anodized titanium coating for strength as well as to give the cutlery their unmistakable vibrant purple hue.
3. The GameCube Controller
After waiting for as long as 2 years for Nintendo or another third-party modder to make GameCube joy-cons for the Switch, ShankMods decided to do it himself post the release of Super Smash Bros. for the Switch, and the reissue of the GameCube controller. The design process is detailed, months-long, and a strong combination of catharsis and nostalgia. Shank decided to repurpose an existing GameCube controller rather than a 3D printing one. He, along with help from his friends, then tore apart the Switch Joy-Con and added the PCB and components to the GameCube housing, with the help of a few 3D printed components that would give the controllers the best of both worlds. Shank even managed to integrate the Z buttons and the four extra buttons on the original controllers into his mod.
4. The Royal Oak “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon
The Royal Oak “Black Panther” Flying Tourbillon looks a lot like something Shuri would cook up in her Wakandan lab. It uses the signature black, purple, and silver color combination, while also using textural elements and patterns that help it look the part. The hands-on watch face closely resembles the fang necklace seen around the Black Panther suit’s neck area, while the exhibition back uses a low-poly pattern quite similar to the one seen in the film’s artwork. The miniature figurine on the front looks stunningly realistic, with a laser-engraved micro-texture on the suit, while the rest of the details are hand-carved and hand-painted to absolute perfection. Adding dynamism to the front of the watch is that tourbillon, which completes one full rotation every minute.
5. The HYPERBOUNCE
The HYPERBOUNCE concept by Alexander Ordonez explores using the inherent ‘bounciness’ of spheres by adding a series of balloons to the outsole. Not only do the balloons help activate your foot’s pressure points, but they also add an extra spring in your step as you walk, giving credence to the name, HYPERBOUNCE.T he shoes come with what I like to call a Black Panther aesthetic, sporting a dark gray exterior with purple accents that glow on the inside, much like the Vibranium nanites in the Black Panther suit that glow when they absorb kinetic energy.
6. Mac Mini Concept
An interesting concept design by Qocept Graphics gives us a purview of the Mac mini design for this year with very subtle modifications on the outside and some major improvements on the inside. The size on this one reduces the footprint a tad with dimensions of 13.5cm in width and length, and a 3cm thickness – making it the thinnest Mac thus far. To provide extra protection to the aluminum body, and a premium overall feel, the Mac mini concept gets a 2cm thin acrylic enclosure. This also raises the machine slightly above the work surface for active dissipation of heat.
7. BaoPham Design’s e-bike concept
This e-bike concept differentiates by merging a more rounded/not-so-edgy (finally a non-Cybertruck inspired idea) with the neon glow of the Tron universe we love. The e-bike concept designed by BaoPham Design is eye-candy for all the right reasons, and our favorite is the humongous tires, providing a contact patch so wide, it could do without the side stands and act as a self-standing bike. Just imagine this two-wheeler in a sci-fi flick, as the protagonist rides it to the badlands to seek revenge from the evil scientist-turned villain. Sounds like a plot you love? The purple hues of the e-bike provide a mysterious element that is supported by the black and white contrasting sides of the e-bike.
8. RE:CYCLE
Crafted from recycled aluminum coffee capsules, RE:CYCLE is the brainchild of Jimmy Östholm, a bike entrepreneur. The aluminum in the coffee capsules is melted down and then used by Vélosophy to create the sturdy and rigid bike. A perfect marriage of sustainability and design, it is an instance of recycling that has been upcycled. RE:CYCLE maintains Vélosophy’s simple and iconic design philosophy, a minimalistic and sleek bike with clear-cut edges. However, there are a few surprising touches! The vibrant purple frame has been inspired by Arpeggio (the famous Nespresso coffee), while the bell has been molded to resemble the shape of the much-loved coffee capsule.
9. Eclipse Booths
Inspired by a recent viewing of a solar eclipse, Goodrich designed Eclipse Booths to offer a photo-visual experience for Instagram users to immerse their grids in the cosmos. Describing the booths in her own words, Goodrich says, “Lit from behind, the round portion of the booth emits a soft, indirect light. The mirrors on the ceiling extend the graphic steps throughout the booth’s interior to allude to… steps leading into eternity.” While one of the booths embodies the night sky with a darker color palette of twilight purple and midnight blue, a cooler, icy light emanates from behind the round plate – mimicking the Moon moving into the Earth’s shadow. The Eclipse Booth’s solar counterpart echoes the day we all spent cutting up old cereal boxes to watch as the Moon, Sun, and Earth aligned. With peach-rose suede curtains and tangerine-yellow accents, the brighter of the two Eclipse Booths pours warmer, golden light from behind the round plate.
10. Oyasai Crayons
Did you know that over 150 million crayons are discarded annually throughout the U.S. by restaurants alone? Most of the crayons in the market are made of paraffin wax, which contains petroleum, a toxic chemical to the environment making the product non-biodegradable and harmful – now imagine a child putting that in their mouth. That is where Oyasai Crayons come in – these safe and organic crayons are made from rice bran oil and rice wax from rice bran. Both solid rice bran wax and liquid rice bran oil are byproducts of the rice polishing process so these crayons are essentially made from waste. The pigment is all-natural too, it comes from recycled plant materials like outer leaves of vegetables are typically discarded after harvesting. However, Oyasai Crayons use this food waste by collecting it and converting it into colors for the crayons. In fact, these are the same pigments used for natural food coloring further showcasing that everything in the product is chemical-free.
