Ida Torres

An orange Croc big enough for a dog to sleep inside is an excellent way to test your commitment to the brand. Crocs and BARK's Snore Mode Dog Bed keeps the rounded toe, perforated upper, and heel strap, then enlarges the whole arrangement into pet furniture. I admire the willingness to let a shoe become the loudest object in the living room.

The roof of M Residence looks like someone took a cookie cutter to a terracotta-colored slab. Seven irregular openings break up its square outline, revealing courtyards tucked inside. Designed by Athens-based MOLD Architects, the completed house sits in Lia on the Greek island of Serifos, overlooking the Aegean Sea. The aerial view is striking, but those holes have a more useful job.

A chess piece has a job to do before any strategy enters the picture: you need to recognize it, pick it up, and put it down. That sounds obvious until a sculptural set makes those simple actions feel secondary to its appearance. I'm all for a beautiful board on the coffee table, but I'd rather not solve a little identification puzzle before making an already questionable move.

The little rectangular blade gives RAY away. Without it, Marija Kucurski's stingray-shaped design could pass for a small sculpture, all sweeping fins and a curling tail. It's actually a concept for a 3D print scraper, a tool meant to help release stubborn plastic from a printer's build surface. Presented through renderings on Render Weekly, it gives an unglamorous workshop accessory a silhouette I'd happily leave out on the bench.

One of the things that I'd like to explore more in 2027 is taking more photos of the things around me and the things I'll be experiencing in the new year. I'm still not good enough to warrant getting a DSLR camera, but I would be willing to try out digital cameras where I can experiment and play around with filters and textures while also being able to make the photos live outside of my camera roll.

One of the reasons I have more plastic glasses at home is that I'm clumsy. I can't count the number of pieces of nicer glassware I've had to throw away after dropping them. Every once in a while, you do want to have some nicer-looking drinkware when you have company over, but practicality always wins over aesthetics, at least in my household. What if you could have both, though?

Keeping a newborn warm is a medical necessity, not simply a matter of comfort. In hospitals with unreliable electricity, a power outage can interrupt the equipment meant to provide that warmth. Keeping those devices clean and working adds another challenge when replacement parts are difficult to get. It's easy to admire sophisticated medical technology, but I'm more interested in a basic question here: how well does it work when the hospital can't count on the infrastructure around it?

The picture's taken, but the moment isn't over until someone checks it, requests another, and decides the first one was better. That little approval loop is the problem Flashback's One75 is trying to sidestep. Available to preorder for $179, the digital point-and-shoot removes the photo preview and borrows the rituals of a film camera. I like the premise: taking a picture shouldn't always require an immediate verdict.

Stopping for a few minutes shouldn't always require buying a coffee. Yet a walk through a neighborhood can offer plenty of places to spend money and surprisingly few places to simply sit. I have a soft spot for design that takes that small inconvenience seriously. A bench might not sound like an ambitious architectural assignment, but giving people somewhere to pause is a worthwhile starting point.

A camp chair has to justify every ounce before it earns a place in a backpack. Somewhere to sit is appealing; another bulky thing to carry, less so. I like designs that take that tradeoff seriously without looking purely utilitarian. Nike ACG and Helinox's Chair Zero LT makes its lightweight construction the visual attraction, pairing an exposed orange frame with a translucent seat. You can see how little material is involved before you ever pick it up.