Beyond Smart: A Quest For The Humane by Arash Eskafi

Arash Eskafi - Beyond Smart from Konstfack on Vimeo.

For his graduation project, Konstfack Industrial Design student Arash Eskafi imagined a world in which 'smart' products have taken on human-like behaviours and tendencies: carpets wiggle when walked on and fruit bowls tilt towards their owner to offer them a snack when they get home.

Lifelike reactions are increasingly being built into technology and homewares. For more examples, Homebuildlife subscribers can see our graduate show trend report, Appliances & Electronics.

Flowering Transition by Marcin Rusak

For his graduation project, Royal College of Art student Marcin Rusak created an installation exploring flowers, including a vase made of petals and a series of scents comparing the strong smell of flowers from a garden to the weaker scents of those sold at a florist or a supermarket.

Alchemical jewellery by Sofie Boons

Jewellery and scent designer Sofie Boons has developed a collection of scent objects that disperse or preserve fragrance in innovative ways.

Desktop Fireworks by Tomomi Sayuda

Royal College of Art Design Products graduate Tomomi Sayuda has created a range of stationery that bursts into celebration when its user presses a button.

Dark materials: Project Nox by Felicity Taylor

On show at Central Saint Martins' Material Futures graduation show this week, Felicity Taylor's Project Nox explores the experience of darkness through touch, fragrance, sound and surface.

Water Shapes: new ideas for the ice lolly

Staged by Vittorio Venezia and Fab Lab Palermo and hosted by Italian design academy ABADIR (Arts Between Architecture Design & Interdisciplinary Research), the Water Shapes design workshop presented inventive new ideas for the ice lolly, defined simply as a "form supported by a stick".

The Phytophiler: observant plant pots by Dossofiorito

Verona-based design studio Dossofiorito showed a series of terracotta plant pots called The Phytophiler at SaloneSatellite this month.

The range of pots have embedded components such as mirrors and lenses which aim to explore our relationship with plants through interactivity and observation.

Heal's unveils new textile collaborations

British retailer Heal's has joined forces with three emerging textiles designers to create a range of printed scatter cushions.

Live from Milan: a new take on Memphis at Satellite

Malmö-based studio Swedish Ninja exhibited a graphic yet feminine collection at this year's edition of Salone Satellite. Maria Gustavsson's furniture mixes colour and materials in playful shapes that bring Postmodernism to mind. Marble is used alongside hand-stitched leather and lacquered wood, while neutral greys and powdered pastels are associated with brighter and deeper shades such as coral pink and smoked green.

Konstfack Collective

Design students Konstfack Collective showed a pared-back, architecturally influenced collection of furniture at Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair this month, providing one of the highlights of the show.

Heal's Modern Craft Market

Open for two weeks, ending this Sunday, Heal's Modern Craft Market is showcasing the best in contemporary craft in a selling exhibition with prices that start at around £20.

Rendez-Wood? New concepts for wood by Icelandic design students

Gone Baking

Rendez-Wood?, a project by third year Product Design students at the Iceland Academy of the Arts, explores the current value of Icelandic wood and its possibilities as a production material in the near future.

Lazy Bytes exhibition: the new remote control

EPFL+ECAL Lab invited four of the world's most prestigious design schools to re-invent the remote control. For once, the main purpose is not just performance and functionality but also the aesthetic and experience of the object. 

The projects by ECAL, ENSCI-Les Ateliers, Royal College of Art and Parsons School include concepts such as the combination of hand-writing and digital control, or the transformation of everyday objects into remotes. Most ideas are currently undergoing tests to be turned into marketable products.

Top five Design Academy Eindhoven graduation projects

Daniel Costa

Our pick of the top five graduation projects from the prestigious Design Academy Eindhoven this year ranges from furniture inspired by sweets to thoughtful cat baskets and furry concrete surfaces.

Apsis table lamp by Zak Stratfold

Graduate designer Zak Stratfold has designed Apsis, a beech wood rotating table lamp with a storage tray made of Portuguese limestone at its base.

Up-and-coming designers showcased at La Rinascente

Adobe desk tools in terracotta by Ilaria Innocenti

Eleven SaloneSatellite 2013 participants have been selected from over 700 designers under the age of 35 to be have their work sold at department store La Rinascente's Design Supermarket in Milan in the run-up to Christmas.

Phillip Henderson Studio at 100% Design

Phillip Henderson Studio exhibited four pieces from its collection of bespoke wooden furniture at 100% Design last week.

x3 by Zak Stratfold

Bucks New University graduate Zak Stratfold has designed a magnifying lens that emphasises treasured possessions.

Tableware and lighting by Máire Condron

Graduate designer Máire Condron has designed a range of containers and pendant lighting made from lathe-turned wood and cork.

Fish tank cabinet by Dobromila Kruszynska

Graduate designer Dobromila Kruszynska has made a luxurious fish tank inspired by a 16th century Queen Anne display cabinet. Made of ash and glass, the cabinet is illuminated by waterproof coloured LEDs that can be changed with a remote control.