In this boundless sea of smartwatches, ZIIIRO still makes analog timepieces look incredibly appealing

ZIIIRO took the world by storm back in 2010 with its series of unconventional watches that had ‘zero’ hands on them. Designed around the philosophy of keeping time visual, the company developed a reputation for making watches that used art to tell the time. Moving gradients helped outline the hours and minutes, as each ZIIIRO watch aimed at being different from the kind of ‘boring’ timepieces that came out of Geneva. In fact, the watches found an incredibly passionate audience on YD, given the unique combination of form, function, and emotion. Today, ZIIIRO comes back with the XS, a smaller range of watches with a 31mm body (as opposed to the company’s 41mm watches). “The XS watch range is a small & refined version of our favorite designs,” says Derick Ip, Head of Business at ZIIIRO. “With a casing of only Ø 31 mm, it’s a better fit for small wrists and also an option if you just prefer an unobtrusive watch – no matter what gender you are.”

Designer: Robert Dabi (ZIIIRO)

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At a compact 31mm size, the XS watches are perfect for people who want to wear something understated and minimalist. ZIIIRO’s watches are known to have a visual impact, but their impact lies in their minimalism, which is what makes the XS such a perfect size for everyone, regardless of how big or small your wrist is. The small size doesn’t compromise on anything, from functionality to legibility. The watches are still eye-catching, easy to read, and are powered by a Japanese Miyota movement, known for their reliability.

Each watch sports a 316L stainless steel body, and pairs with a 16 mm Milanese mesh strap. Keeping in line with the watch’s minimal theme, the XS range also features a recessed crown that sits flush within its body, giving you one of the cleanest silhouettes ever.

The XS series come in two styles with minor variations between them. The Celeste style (above) features a broader hour swatch hovering below the gradient-lined minute hand, while the Horizon (below) has the same design, but with a narrower hour swatch. Both watches exploit the use of color by relying on a transparent rotating disc that serves as the minute hand. The transparent disc comes with a tinted gradient and a single line to denote the minutes. As the minutes pass, the watch face dramatically changes in its visual composition like one of Felipe Pantone’s artworks.

One could argue that the best thing about ZIIIRO’s watches is that it has absolutely ‘zero’ tech inside them. It sticks to analog but makes it interesting enough to be a statement piece. The watch doesn’t spy on you, doesn’t track your data, and doesn’t need charging every alternate day. It’s made with a reliable build, comes in as many as 9 different color options across the Celeste and Horizon styles, and boasts of 5 ATM water resistance.

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The post In this boundless sea of smartwatches, ZIIIRO still makes analog timepieces look incredibly appealing first appeared on Yanko Design.

3D Printing meets traditional Italian glassmaking techniques with this innovative lighting design!

Light fixtures have the potential to give your room the accent piece needed to completely open it up with just the right amount of warm, soft light or bursts of ample, bright light. Designing new and unique light fixtures is no easy feat though and the designers behind HorizON, a suspension lamp with an elliptical form designed and constructed in Italy’s glass-making capital, Murano, took it upon themselves to completely reimagine the future of lighting design.

On the inspiration behind HorizON, the designers say, “HorizON lamp is based on the belief that the industry of the next years won’t only evolve through a constant, technological upgrade of products, but reconsider values such as uniqueness, hand-making, and even ‘imperfection.’” Through HorizON, the creators reconsider design values by transmuting classic, craftsman artistry with 21st-century technological capabilities. HorizON’s final product is comprised of two main parts: a glass bubble crafted through a tried-and-true glassmaking tradition that enwraps its 3D-printed, LED-filled centerpiece.

HorizON’s ultimate glass bubble forms from two separate halves that are individually shaped, ground, and polished by hand in order to resemble two individual, transparent petals. Sculpting the glass petals into their final forms takes upwards of two days to finish. Once the hot glass is shaped and ground into a flower petal, the glassmakers take at least one day for the glass to cool down before polishing it to completion. The glassmaker utilizes CNC-milled molds in order to produce the wavy, dangling glass. CNC-milled molds follow a sculpting process that essentially chisels away at masses of the desired material, which emphasizes both meticulousness through learned craftsmanship and freeform thanks to the human touch. Through this handmade design and construction process, each final piece of artwork is distinct and filled with sought-after imperfections. In between the two glass petals hovers the fixture’s 3D-printed core, which illuminates come night from integrated LED lighting mechanisms.

The bright light emanates from inside golden clouds that meet the outer edges of the 3D-printed core’s semi-transparent, nylon lining. Internal cavities dot the design’s core and offer unique glimmers of light and shadows for your room that change with each manufactured HorizON suspension lamp. Love is in the imperfections with this suspended light fixture design and thankfully, there are as many imperfections as there are reasons for them.

Designers: Arturo Tedeschi, Michael Pryor and Pavlina Vardoulaki


Full Dimension: 460 x 320 mm, Maximum Thickness: 55 mm


LED strip: 3.5 mm/24V/3000K, Lamp’s total weight: 2kg

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Ziiiro’s Horizon tells time using artistic compositions

Yanko Design has, since the very beginning, been a fan of Ziiiro’s watches. Back in 2011, Ziiiro made waves with their watches that flipped classical watch design on its head. Deviating from the hands, numerals, subdials, and just the boring notion that watches needed to have the aforementioned elements, Ziiiro founded the movement that fused time-telling with abstract art, because watch faces and hands are just elements of form and space. They could literally be interpreted in any other way… and Ziiiro’s watches as a result of that creative spark, have looked like time-telling album-art.

The Horizon watch uses a gradient and line to create new compositions that tell time. Keeping the watch’s face circular, and its straps in a solid color, the watch’s body forms a perfect canvas to the face that tells time but tells art too. Without any perceivably functional element on the watch face, numerals either, the watch does a pretty neat job of creating compositions with meaning. The gradient dial tells the hour while the white hand gives you an indication of the minutes. Their orientations form new compositions with every passing minute (although I can’t begin to think how wonderful a second-hand would look too!), forming a watch that’s as abstract as time itself!

Designer: Ziiiro

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Hours on the Horizon

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The latest addition to the ZIIIRO brand’s minimalistic collection of timepieces, the tentatively-named Horizon watch started out as a playful concept. However, public response has been so great that they’re throwing it into production! In classic ZIIIRO fashion, it’s chock full of no-numbers fun!

The design earns its namesake for the straight lines, simple circle and gradient underlayer of its face. The start of the gradient section marks the hour while the line at the center displays the minutes. With a rubber strap that’s just as simple, it’s all you need to tell the time and not much more. The colors of choice? Pure black and white, of course.

Designer: Robert Dabi

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