One thing that a lot of product designers like doing is to imagine and re-imagine what other products famous brands can come up with. They bring the original aesthetic of these design-focused brands and then think of what other furniture, appliances, or basically related (sometimes even unrelated) products they can come up with. We’ve seen some pretty interesting concepts out there. If you’re a fan of the Swiss modular furniture brand USM, this is something you’d like to take a look at.
Designer: PDF HAUS / Seung Jae Lee
USM, particularly its signature product line USM Haller, is known for its classic modern modular design for homes and offices, including credenzas, shelves, storage, etc. They follow the philosophy that form should follow function. While they produce furniture, it’s also nice to imagine if this design philosophy can also be applied to kitchen appliances. Think of an appliance line that can match your USM furniture line as well.
These designers from South Korea started with something simple: a kettle. While most of us would likely choose a kettle for its function rather than its design, we can also think about something that goes for the form follows function idea. Their design uses basic shapes and the replaceable (and colorful) panels that the USM Haller line uses. The 2D renders showed shapes like triangles, circles, and rectangles coming together to form a sleekly designed kettle.
The base and the body of the kettle itself are the circles while the handle is rectangular. The spout where the water pours out is where the triangle comes in. The 3D renders also shows the various colors that the kettle can have, which are the basic colors that the USM Haller line has: blue, orange, red, yellow, and white. The end product concept seems to be something I would like to have in my kitchen. It’s minimalist but sleek and really embodies the idea of form following function.
It would also be interesting to see the other USM-inspired kitchen appliance product concept that they will come up with. I wouldn’t mind having USM-themed stuff in my kitchen although I’m still dreaming of actually having their actual furniture in my dream house.
