Tag Archives: bespoke

How Dave Kindig’s 1953 Corvette ‘TwelveAir’ Sets a New Standard for Custom Car Design

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Dave Kindig and his team at Kindig-It Design have once again redefined custom car building with their latest creation, the 1953 Corvette “TwelveAir.” Recently crowned the Ridler Award winner at the 2024 Detroit Autorama, this Corvette is more than a reimagination—it’s a ground-up custom build that transforms a classic icon using modern design and cutting-edge technology. Every detail, from the engine bay to the leather-wrapped interior, reflects a perfect balance of craftsmanship and innovation.

Designer: Dave Kindig + Kindig-It Design

Starting Fresh with Every Part

At first glance, the TwelveAir may evoke memories of the iconic 1953 Corvette, but no original parts from that car were used. Kindig’s team built every inch of this vehicle by hand or fabricated it specifically for this project. Beginning with hand-drawn sketches and quickly moving into CAD modeling, the car’s design took shape with precision and a creative vision.

What makes this build even more remarkable is the five-year process during which Kindig’s team kept everything hidden from view. They built a special room around their CNC machines to maintain secrecy, ensuring no one saw the car before its debut at the Autorama.

The car was constructed from scratch, including the suspension system and the engine bay—two areas where performance and design came together perfectly. The hand-formed aluminum body nods to the past, while modern tools like CAD and 3D printing allowed the team to experiment and refine every element before finalizing the build. In doing so, the TwelveAir became an utterly bespoke creation designed to push the boundaries of custom automotive engineering.

Craftsmanship Enhanced by Technology

The TwelveAir’s striking design is a product of traditional craftsmanship and technological innovation. CAD software and 3D printing allowed Kindig’s team to prototype critical parts like the engine components and suspension arms before they moved into final fabrication. These tools made testing for fit and function easier, reducing wasted materials and allowing more time to focus on the car’s performance and aesthetics.

Take the engine bay, for example. The polished chrome engine covers, accented with sleek, scooped air intakes, form a visually stunning centerpiece. The engraved “TwelveAir” script on the engine block, combined with perfectly machined parts, reflects a level of precision only achievable through the blend of advanced tech and craftsmanship. The engine bay doesn’t overwhelm with excess—it strikes a balance between mechanical prowess and refined design, creating a lasting visual impact.

The suspension system is another perfect example of design merging with function. Inspired by the precision seen in Formula 1 and IndyCar designs, the suspension features a single horizontally mounted spring, which keeps the car’s stance low and aggressive while ensuring peak performance. The polished chrome suspension components hide beneath sleek, purpose-built panels, preserving the clean and minimal appearance while enhancing the car’s rigidity. This results in a visually appealing vehicle optimized for real-world performance.

 

The Art of Form and Function

The TwelveAir’s exterior grabs attention, but the engineering beneath the surface is just as impressive. Hidden within the car’s structure, the suspension system allows the bold body lines to remain uninterrupted. This design choice wasn’t merely about aesthetics—it also improves the car’s overall handling and strength, making it capable of harnessing the 650-horsepower V-12 engine.

Speaking of the engine, it’s a V-12 LS-based powerhouse sourced from Race Cast Engineering. With 650 horsepower, it’s more than capable of delivering high performance, especially given the car’s lightweight aluminum body. What’s remarkable is how the engine’s visual presence complements the entire design. The sleek covers and exposed components don’t dominate the build but instead, harmonize with the car’s overall aesthetic. The “TwelveAir” logo engraved on the engine block acts as a subtle but effective nod to the car’s bespoke nature.

Each element in the car works in concert. The balance of performance and aesthetics is key. Everything from the engine placement to the suspension components reinforces this philosophy, ensuring the car goes beyond being a showpiece—this is a fully functional, high-performance machine.

A Luxury-Driven Interior

Inside the TwelveAir, the attention to detail is even more apparent. The interior, wrapped in rich sienna-colored leather, exudes sophistication and craftsmanship. The thin-spoked steering wheel, accented by chrome, offers a perfect blend of retro influence and modern design. The dashboard maintains a clean, minimalistic layout with smooth curves, polished metal finishes, and understated dials that don’t distract from the car’s interior flow.

The chrome accents, carefully placed throughout the cabin, contrast beautifully with the soft leather, creating a tactile sense of luxury without overwhelming the senses. The balance between warmth and sharpness in the materials elevates the car’s design, making the interior feel futuristic and timeless.

The console and gear lever are simple, elegant, and integrated seamlessly into the overall design. Chrome touches along the gear shift area provide a subtle yet striking contrast against the leather. Every aspect of the interior has been designed with precision and thought, ensuring that form doesn’t overtake function.

The door panels, with smooth orange leather seamlessly flowing from the exterior, showcase how carefully the designers considered every transition in the car. Even the most minor details, like the chrome trim on the door, are purposeful and consistent with the overall aesthetic. Everything from the color choices to the material feels bespoke and intentionally crafted.

A Bold Color Palette

One of TwelveAir’s most striking features is its bold use of color. The deep metallic red of the exterior grabs attention instantly. The rich and reflective paint enhances the car’s dramatic shape, creating a sense of movement even when the car is stationary. Chrome accents break up the color, providing sharp contrasts that highlight the body’s sleek lines.

The interior’s orange leather feels both bold and luxurious. Its warmth contrasts sharply with the deep red exterior, creating a cohesive visual experience that flows naturally from outside to inside. The orange, rather than being overpowering, complements the modern design language, while the chrome details and high-polished finishes add refinement.

Pushing Custom Car Design Forward

Dave Kindig’s 1953 Corvette “TwelveAir” represents a new level of what’s possible in custom car design. By integrating traditional craftsmanship with modern technology, Kindig has created a car that transforms the classic Corvette into something forward-thinking. Every inch of the TwelveAir reflects thoughtful design, precise engineering, and attention to detail that few custom builds achieve.

This car is a complete transformation, built from the ground up. Using tools like CAD modeling and 3D printing alongside traditional hand-forming techniques, Kindig shows how the future of custom cars blends artistry and technology. The TwelveAir sets a new standard for Corvettes and the entire custom car industry, perfectly balancing function and design.

With the TwelveAir, Kindig has crafted a vision of the future of automotive design. It’s a bold, beautiful, and groundbreaking example of what’s possible when you refuse to be limited by tradition.

The post How Dave Kindig’s 1953 Corvette ‘TwelveAir’ Sets a New Standard for Custom Car Design first appeared on Yanko Design.

Wood-encased computer adds a striking vintage touch to modern technology

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The aesthetics of modern and futuristic technologies often revolve around hard metallic surfaces, straight lines and edges, and an almost inorganic characteristic, as if all the opposite qualities are considered antiquated or even medieval. Of course, design trends come and go and sometimes even come back, as proven by the retro craze that has gripped many industries, especially consumer electronics. Duality has always existed in many facets of human existence, but that doesn’t mean those seemingly contrary elements cannot work together. In fact, contrast is an important factor in creating a beautiful composition, and this combination of a desktop computer and natural wood offers one such expression that creates a unique atmosphere around what would normally be a nondescript machine, combining past and present, natural and artificial in a harmonious blend.

Designer: Keegan McNamara

They may be called “personal computers,” but the desktops and laptops of today sometimes feel more impersonal than paper notebooks and stationery. Part of it is due to the very design of these products, adhering to a language often considered sharp, harsh, cold, and distant. There is no shortage of attempts to soften that image, either with customization options or skins that give the semblance of more natural and organic materials like wood.

The Limited Edition Apollo Collection, however, is no faux wood. Utilizing genuine Walnut, Cherry, or Maple, these bespoke computers enclose three important parts of the device to create a striking visual that beautifully contrasts the straight-edged aesthetic of modern technology with the more organic shapes found in nature. It makes the PC not only truly personal but also personable, making it an art object as much as it is an electrical appliance.

The Apollo Collection computers come in three parts, with the keyboard housing the computer itself. A portable screen connects to the keyboard via a cable, while the third part, a magnetic screen stand, completes the configuration for a more typical desktop computer. If typical desktop computers came housed in wood, that is. Each part is made to order by hand, and it utilizes custom circuitry and a bespoke operating system to truly give the computer a unique feel.

Beyond the wooden materials, the design also adds details that not only enhance the computing experience but also add a bit of humanity to the use of the computer via more tactile feedback. Unsurprisingly, the keyboard utilizes mechanical switches, but there are also physical dials for adjusting the volume and brightness of the computer. The exact specs of the computer are, at the moment, not completely known, but the limited edition bespoke design’s true appeal won’t be in its computing power but in its ability to create a new kind of relationship between man and machine.

The post Wood-encased computer adds a striking vintage touch to modern technology first appeared on Yanko Design.

Samsung Bespoke smart refrigerators helps you truly own your kitchen

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Most people would probably claim their rooms or the living room as their headquarters inside a house, but those who love cooking or preparing meals for the family will lay claim to the kitchen as their kingdom. There is no shortage of kitchen appliances and products that are designed to help make people’s lives easier, but few among these are also designed to appeal to their personal aesthetic tastes. It’s easier to get that kind of more personalized touch when it comes to kitchen tools and utensils, not so much for large appliances that are mass-produced to cater to the general public. That’s where bespoke products come in, and Samsung’s latest line of smart refrigerators try to fill this niche with appliances that not only look smart but are also pretty smart internally as well.

Designer: Samsung

While many refrigerators already look stylish and, at times, luxurious, not everyone will have the same tastes in aesthetics. Even more varied are the kitchen designs that people try to make, designs that make many refrigerators and oven stick out like a sore thumb. Samsung’s Bespoke Home lineup has been giving homeowners more options to leave their visual imprint in their homes, and this year’s new members expand that roster with refrigerators that offer not only more flexibility but also more functionality.

It might still seem like a strange feature, but Samsung’s screen-toting Family Hub definitely has its fans. The new Bespoke 4-Door Flex with Family Hub+ supersizes that display to a large 32-inch Full HD screen, empowering experiences like a large canvas for family photos, a spacious dashboard for managing your smart home, and even a convenient screen for watching videos while you’re busy cooking.

The new Bespoke Side-by-Side and Bespoke Top-Mounted Freezer Refrigerators embrace the dominant minimalist design trend to seamlessly blend with the rest of your kitchen interior. Buyers can pick their preferred color or front panel materials, including glass and stainless steel, to truly personalize the appearance of this smart appliance. The Side-by-Side fridge features Samsung’s new Auto Open Door tech that conveniently releases the door with just a tap on the recessed handle.

The Samsung Bespoke Infinite Line Refrigerator offers a bit of modular flexibility, letting buyers choose from fridge, freezer, or wine cellar models. Whichever combination is chose, the bespoke fridge bears a timeless design that uses simple lines and hiqh-quality materials, bringing a touch of class to your kitchen. And to match is premium exterior appearance, the refrigerator’s interior is refined with Black Metal Cooling that creates a visual illusion of depth while helping keep food fresher at the same time.

Accompanying these new refrigerators is a Bespoke AI Oven whose minimalist design belies its intelligence. With an internal camera and a powerful AI, the oven can detect and alert you when food is about to be burned, though you could also just let the oven decide the cooking time and method depending on the dish inside. In addition to keeping the food inside safe, the oven also helps keep people safe with a Push to Open door that replaces the traditional handle that isn’t just safer to use but also looks more refined and more streamlined.

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Samsung Bespoke experience allows creative self-expression to flow anywhere in the world

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Samsung Global Bespoke Campaign E

In a world where mass production is the norm, getting bespoke items is deemed a luxury. That is true in many industries, but there are good reasons for the premium prices; one, you are receiving tailor-made products for your needs and preferences. There also lies a uniqueness to an item or service that you can say is solely yours. Bespoke is more than just a buzzword as companies have seen its value and how it gives a competitive edge. Samsung has tapped into this category with the Bespoke line that is expected to enrich consumers’ lives through creative design and by working with artists and designers to showcase their designs. Global participation has also been encouraged among consumers because the brand knows collaboration works.

Designer: Samsung

Samsung Global Bespoke Campaign A

Samsung Global Bespoke Campaign B

Samsung’s Bespoke experience is extended to the customers’ end by allowing them to develop designs that will show their personality. Samsung Bespoke has now become a creative collaboration, offering a safe place for self-expression for artists and consumers. In recent years, Samsung has collaborated with famous designers in its native country, like space and strategy designers Jong Kim and Teo Yang, furniture designer Seungji Mun, and interior designer Hasuk Jang. You may remember them for their previous designs focused on appliances’ customizable and adaptable features. Last year, Samsung tried asking non-Korean designers such as American artist Andy Rementer and French illustrator Thibaud Hérem to design bespoke refrigerators. Alex Proba also designed limited-edition Bespoke refrigerator panels with different colors and shapes at the beginning of this year.

Samsung Global Bespoke Campaign

The Bespoke design language continues to evolve as more creatives are being tapped to contribute to the artistry. Most of the designs available offer a cultural representation of some of the counties where the Samsung Bespoke line is available. Limited edition panels with the Union Jack flag were released to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee milestone of Queen Elizabeth II. For American Independence Day, Samsung released a version of the 4-Door Flex refrigerator with the American flag. We also remember that contest that launched in 2019 in South Korea that called for consumers to try designing their refrigerators. Over a thousand entries were submitted, but only three big winners were invited to the Milan Furniture Fair to showcase their work. We can expect more iterations to be introduced as Samsung continues expanding the program and listening to the customers.

Samsung Global Bespoke Campaign H

Some other similar events followed, like those in Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam last year. This 2022, a contest in the U.A.E were also launched while more local artists in other markets were being commissioned. Samsung was seen collaborating with a few interior design firms and furniture retailers to design Bespoke products. The Bespoke Be You design competition and other design contests have also been launched to gather new designs. The #InspireByTheNation contest in the U.A.E. celebrated the nation and reflected different cultural identifiers like architecture, food, and landscape— drawing experts and influencers in the region to select the event winners.

Samsung Global Bespoke Campaign D

In North America, the MyBespoke offering allows people to design their own refrigerator panels, specifically for the Bespoke French Door refrigerator. Beyond aesthetics, Samsung has been stretching the limits of the business by improving its technologies. There was the Bespoke Creator AI color recommendation service that launched last year. It analyzes photos of the consumers’ homes and provides recommendations for products that may fit them. Appliances need not be dull, and that is how Samsung’s innovation benefits the market—offer products you can call your own. We believe this customizable design experience can turn more traditional home appliances into statement pieces.

Samsung Global Bespoke Campaign Counter Depth

Samsung Global Bespoke Campaign C

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Samsung’s bespoke series is the inspiration behind these ergonomic, thoughtful stylus designs

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Working from our computers strains more than just our eyes. Sitting for long periods at a time, typing, dragging, and clicking the mousepad often results in finger and hand cramps. Products like smartpens and assistive keyboards are specially designed to take some of the stress off our hands, leading to streamlined and more productive workdays. Korean designer Jo Yoon unveiled their smartpen product idea called Bespoke, conceptualized using Samsung’s Bespoke appliance’s design language.

Draped in a velvety aluminum finish, Bespoke smartpens come in a few different color schemes, spanning from blush yellows to matte blacks. Paired with an accompanying smart notepad, users can write with the Bespoke smartpens on the attached notepad which translates the written text to the computer screen.

Instead of typing from the same hand position throughout the workday, Bespoke smartpens break up the monotony of computer work by bringing a more tactile, ergonomic typing tool. Along the body of each pen, an action button works as a clicker and on/off control.

Taking Bespoke’s ergonomic usability one step further, each smartpen gradually tapers towards its bottom to fit more comfortably in each user’s grip. Yoon also outfitted each smartpen with silicone grips to ensure convenient use throughout the workday without any slippage resulting from palm sweat.

In addition to the smartpen and notepad, Joon conceptualized a Bespoke charger that resembles an inkwell for when the workday slips into overtime. Each charging base comes with its own wire to plug into your computer or laptop, ensuring no power is lost during use, however, the actual charging sink is wireless.

Designer: Yoon Jo

Three small LED lights indicate how much charge remains in each charging sink.

The charging base is wireless.

Samsung’s Bespoke Design Contest reveals the three winning refrigerator designs from over 1,500 submissions!

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The top three winning refrigerator designs of Samsung’s Bespoke Design Contest have been revealed after over 1,500 custom designs were submitted.

Samsung household appliances have been trusted by homeowners for years. In an effort to make their collection of refrigerators more unique to their consumers’ tastes and to reflect the appliance’s standard of dependability, Samsung hosted their Bespoke Design Contest with Wallpaper* Magazine. Between July 7 and August 4, 2021, 1,581 designs were submitted to the contest, a number narrowed down to three one-of-a-kind designs that were voted on by the public.

The contest’s top 50 designs were hand-selected by a panel of judges comprised of Wallpaper* editor-in-chief Sarah Douglas, Senior Vice President and Head of Design for Samsung Digital Appliances Harry Choi, Senior Vice President and Head of Samsung Design Europe, Felix Heck, interior designer Kelly Hoppen CBE, and artist Yinka Ilori. Following their announcement, Samsung invited their followers to vote for the contest’s top 15 designs by “liking” their posts on Samsung Bespoke’s Instagram.

At the top of the podium, Rita Louis’s “Lost Landscape” looks to walks in nature for inspiration. Taking cues from the subtle nuances of natural landscapes, Louis bedecked her off-white modular refrigerator system with splatters and thick brushstrokes of royal blue paint. Lauded for its “artistic, light and inspiring,” personality, “Lost Landscape” was voted for with enthusiasm from Samsung, Wallpaper*, and the general public.

Right beside Rita Louis’s creation, “Foodie” by Weronika Slifierz takes a different approach to custom design. Borrowing the color scheme of popular illustrations from the ‘90s, Slifierz coated her refrigerator in cartoons of food imagery. Sushi, watermelon, avocados, ramen, and a good ole’ carton of OJ grace the double doors of Slifierz’s refrigerator, serving to wet the tastebuds before a good, healthy meal, which Slifierz believes we should all indulge in every day.

“Nestled,” from Ioana Sabau was inspired by the company that food brings. Describing this, Sabau explains, “food brings people together, and…the time we spend in the kitchen can be [time spent] connecting with each other.” Noting the project’s particular use of abstract colors, Heck remarks, “The colors, the scale, the symmetry, and the cute, cartoony abstraction create a uniqueness and beauty that make me feel positive [about] this beautiful little love story.”

Designer: Samsung Bespoke Design Contest

The 1976 Apple computer-I can now get a custom made bespoke, midcentury luxury case it deserves!

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It’s hard to imagine Steve Jobs selling his Volkswagen Type 2 Microbus to help fund and produce friend, Steve Wozniack’s hand-built and custom-designed Apple Computer-I back in 1976, but that’s how the story goes. The Apple Computer-I, more casually called Apple-I, is a desktop computer that’s hardly in circulation today due to its discontinuation with Apple-II’s debut. Wozniak and Jobs first sold Apple-1 as only a bare board, a single-etched and silkscreened circuit board, with no electronic parts so that consumers could build their own computers, only needing an additional television set and keyboard. Today, Sweden-based designer, Love Hultén builds his own re-interpretation of Apple-1, or rather a midcentury display case to cradle the old tech relic, and calls it Aple.

Aple is a bespoke, made-to-order, battery-operated display cabinet that encases original, ‘Woz-built,’ Apple motherboards from 1976 or later. Unlike Apple-I’s consumer products, Hultén’s display case comes equipped with a fully integrated keyboard and monitor protection framing that’s hand-constructed out of either black walnut or old growth teak wood. The wooden monitor housing perches above the display cabinet on an angled mount carved from the same wood as the rest of the case. On the display case’s right side, a pull out drawer reveals the motherboard’s circuitry. Mostly enclosed, Apple-I’s circuit board can be magnified by looking through the case’s plexiglass dome, resembling a crystal ball cut in half, which Love Hultén might have included to evoke 1970s era mysticism. The backside of Hultén’s Aple unveils a retro, standard switchboard that deepens the product’s tribute to the technology of yesterday, eliciting curiosity for all the functions and hidden features to be unlocked.

The development and story of Apple-I are just as exciting today as years ago and Love Hultén is giving the tech giant’s initial success a brand new stage. Love Hultén is known for taking timely products, like tropical-themed synth players and portable, arcade-period gaming consoles, and turning them into artfully funky displays that give the designs of yesterday a timeless fit for today. Be sure to check out the rest of Love Hultén’s work and hey, if you ever find yourself with one of the six operating Apple-1’s in circulation today, send it over to Hultén for a modern-day facelift, he knows what to do.

Designer: Love Hultén

The JW-EX watch is sheer mechanical joy for the analog-lover

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Every part of every watch of the JW-EX series was custom-designed to titillate your senses. The JW-EX watch obsesses over the magic of mechanical movements so much, that it’s literally called EX, or short for exaggeration.

Designed out of a love of complex mechanical movements and complications, Jason Chan of Jason Watches designed the JW-EX, the ultimate homage to spinning wheels, rotating gears, actuating springs, and multiple intricately shaped and assembled metal pieces dancing together in absolute synchronicity to depict the movement of time.

Not a single part of the JW-EX is pre-made. Every single bit of the JW-EX is made bespoke, giving you a watch that is unique in every right, from its construction to even the time-telling experience, because the JW-EX reinvents that too. Using the color red to denote the time, guiding you through the process of reading it, the JW-EX splits time into its fragments. Hours, minutes, and seconds sit at different locations on the watch, unlike traditional timepieces that use the concentric dial-and-hands method. Giving minutes the priority (because that’s what you tend to focus on the most) the watch puts the minutes counter right on top. To its bottom right sits an hour gauge, while the bottom left lies a rotating seconds disc that also lets you take a peek at the watch’s tourbillion right on the front.

The JW-EX uses a specially developed movement called the JW-7100 custom developed for the watch itself. It allows the JW-EX to be as brilliantly exaggerated, eccentric, and extra as it is, allowing hours, minutes, and seconds to all work in their independent zones, while also giving you a taste of the mechanical action in the seconds window as you tell the time. The JW-7100 comes with an 80 hour power reserve, and 5 ATM of water resistance. With 21 jewels, and an incredibly precise and intricate movement (visible from both the front and exhibition back) Jason believes it’s virtually impossible to own a movement this unique and bespoke at its competitive price tag, thanks to the disruptive power of crowdfunding.

The JW-EX comes in a 46mm wide 316L Stainless Steel case, with 4 Sapphire crystals covering the three displays on the front and the exhibition window on the back. Designed to pay an homage to the pre-electronic era of mechanical glory, the watch comes in a vintage-inspired almost-steampunk design with a steam-engine style gauge, and plate-pieces that sit on top of the steel body, almost as if they were riveted in place. The crown’s shifted to the 6 o’clock position, to exaggerating the watch’s bespoke, unique design, while the 1 year international warranty stands as a testament to Chan’s commitment to building and delivering timepieces of the highest quality!

Designer: Jason Chan (Jason Watches)

Samsung’s customizable refrigerator comes in nine colors and eight sizes

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Samsung wants to capitalize on consumers who value personal tastes and experiences, and they plan to do so with refrigerators. Yesterday, Samsung revealed Project PRISM, or what it's calling a "new era of customized home appliances." The first produc...