Here's a list of Kickstarter projects that not only went into production, but which were deemed good enough to be sold in the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum Store. "These standout alumni projects," write the curators, "illustrate how designers are able to build a practice using the platform [Kickstarter]."
"A bell with a beautiful tone, but also a remarkable style and choice of materials that embodies a rider's personality. With a spring-loaded actuator built into the mount, the strike of the bell is firm and fast, allowing a good balance of volume and longevity of sound. It has several pitch tones—one core and several supportive higher tones to ensure it's unmistakable and safely heard.
"The Oi bell's shape originates from its home—the handlebar. Where bells usually protrude up or out, Oi doesn't. It appears to hover around the handlebars. In one sense, it's discreet. But in another, it stands out as recognizable. Built into the shape of the mount is a cable management system. So not only does it allow the bell to look and sound uninterrupted, but it also helps gather your cables. Just pop it over your handlebars, give the hex screw a quick tighten up, and you're good to go—no sliding down the handlebars, no dismantling, and re-assembling."
"It's not a plotter nor a printer; it's a draw-er, which gives Line-us its style and unique character. The magic bit is that Line-us draws in precisely the same order you did. Line-us is a small internet-connected robot drawing arm – it mimics your motion with a pen and recreates whatever you draw on the screen. Draw with your finger, mouse, stylus, or Apple Pencil and follow it in real-time as it copies your movements.
"Just connect it to a USB battery or power supply, and you are ready to go. Line-us comes with a small metal plate to hold it in place. You can use it on any writable surface: in your sketchbook, diary, notebook, or just a piece of paper. You can also hang it to the wall or mount it on a fridge. If you're into coding, Line-us has an easy interface to talk to Scratch, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Python, and Processing."
"The HuskeeCup is sustainable, versatile, and beautiful, making it perfect for coffee on the go. Created using waste husk leftover from the production of coffee, HuskeeCup features up to 50% coffee husk (waste) as a raw material. The binding agent, polypropylene, allows the cup to meet demanding food-grade quality standards, whilst being highly durable and recyclable at the end of life through Huskee's closed-loop system."
"The best cycling sidekick with everything you need to make adjustments on your bike. Features a chain breaker with a tool grade stainless steel pin. The Breaker uses the tool bit extender as a handle, giving you the functionality of a workshop chain breaker in a multi-tool.
A magnetic tool bit slot is located in the tool's end allowing the device to be used as a screwdriver. The Breaker is compact and fits nicely into a leather and recycled inner tube pouch. The Breaker is cast from stainless steel using a loss wax casting process, and then is tool hardened.
"The Breaker includes: a chain breaker with tool hardened stainless steel pin, glass-filled nylon tire lever with a stainless steel core, a spoke key, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8mm hex tool bits, PH2 Philips head screwdriver, T25 Torx bit, tool bit extender, a bottle opener, and leather and recycled inner tube pouch."
"Pen Type-C is a flat, durable, bookmark pen, perfect for everyday carry in a pocket or tucked in a notebook with a durable, stainless steel clip to keep it anchored. Machined out of high-quality materials with longevity in mind, Pen Type-C is made of grade 5 titanium with a glass bead blast finish. It is precision machined to house a high-quality cartridge that never dries or leaks.
"Pen Type-C is designed to fit the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto ink cartridge, available in 15 colors and multiple thicknesses. These cartridges are designed and engineered to be exposed to air and not dry or leak. To replace, use a new cartridge to snap the old one out. Insert the new cartridge's tip and press it into place."
"Elevate an otherwise arbitrary moment to super awesome status. Time Since Launch is a single-use, long-scale launch clock. Use this timepiece to mark the beginning of your epoch. It could begin when you get married, have a baby, quit smoking, launch a rocket, or on an ordinary Tuesday morning.
"Time Since Launch consists of only essential electrical components to mitigate potential failure points. Mounted on a matte black PCB with gold plated traces, Time Since Launch has two chips, a few passive electronic components (resistors, diodes, and capacitors), two 6-digit LCDs, and batteries. Suspended in a durable borosilicate glass tube and sealed with gaskets and aluminum end-caps, two LCDs show days, hours, minutes, and seconds since Launch.
"To launch, pull the stainless-steel launch pin to initiate the timer. This action burns that instant into the chip's silicon, making that moment yours forever. You can only do this once! This timepiece is built to count for 2,738 years."
"The Muncher packs a punch with ten functionalities. Made from aerospace-grade titanium, The Muncher weighs just 0.7 ounces / 20 grams. The ideal companion on any trip where weight and space are a consideration. The Muncher's versatility makes it a must for every adventurer and traveler, be it camping in your back yard to backpacking around the world.
"The meticulously engineered tip of the spork makes it an all-purpose eating utensil. Flip it around and you have a serrated butter knife ready to use for spreading or cutting. Both spork and butter knife are highly polished for an easy to clean finish. The Muncher's versatility makes it a must for every adventurer and traveler, be it camping in your back yard to backpacking around the world.
"In the middle of the utensil, you will find a bottle opener which also functions as a handy potato peeler. Next to this is a can opener and chord cutter. The end of the utensil can be used in a variety of ways, be it as a flat head screwdriver, pry-bar for opening lids, or even a box cutter for opening food packaging.
"A hypalon pouch keeps the utensil safely stowed away. Its carabiner allows it to be attached almost anywhere for safekeeping. The pouch stores a ferrocerium fire starting flint that can be used in conjunction with the angled edge of the can opener to create a spark to get your fire going wherever in the wilderness you might be. LIGHT, OPEN, EAT—The Muncher has got you covered."
"A compact, minimalist, and lightweight multi utensil for camping, BBQ, and backpacking. The Splitter is made of two separate titanium utensils, 1 spatula, and 1 long spork, when joined together, turn into a set of tongs. It's the pinnacle of outdoor utensils, made from the highest quality materials available.
"The joining mechanism for the tongs is a small stainless steel pin fixed to the spatula that inserts into a keyhole slot in the spork's end. The tongs use the titanium materials flex to operate at the perfect force. The spatula has a chamfered edge that allows it to get under the fiddliest of food morsels. It also features a serrated corner edge that allows it to cut into and check if food is cooked through whilst cooking. The long spork is perfect for getting into deep food packets and can be used as both an eating and serving utensil. When joined together into tongs, the spatula can still be used to get under food, and then the spork grips down onto the items to grasp them firmly. Its functionality makes it great for picking up all kinds of food.
"Titanium is one of the most beneficial metals to recycle because it can be reused again and again with virtually no loss of quality. It is cheaper and less environmentally dangerous to recycle titanium components into new materials than it is to mine fresh titanium from the earth."
"The LARQ Bottle is the world's first self-cleaning water bottle and water purification system. It uses UV-C LED light to eliminate up to 99.9999% of bio-contaminants from your water and bottle. Eradicate harmful & odor-causing germs at the touch of a button for pure water in 60 seconds.
"Intelligently turns on every 2 hours to keep your water and bottle fresh. 5-7+ refills per day. Double-wall insulation keeps water cold for 24 hours and hot for 12. Includes MicroUSB connector for the rechargeable lithium-polymer battery. 12-month manufacturer warranty."
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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Kickstarter Projects That Made It Into the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum Store
Kickstarter “sales” should never be a measure of success and some of these are gimmicky, but overall a lot better than I expected, though as usual with the platform, overly hipster-ified and a bit obvious.