Dutch designer Chris Kabel has created key fobs from found objects and glowing curtains reminiscent of the Northern Lights for the Fogo Island Inn hotel on an isolated Canadian island (+ slideshow). More about Chris Kabel casts found objects in bronze for Fogo Island hotel key fobs
Amsterdam studio BCXSY has launched a crowdfunding campaign to produce its plush toys with body parts that can be interchanged using magnets (+ slideshow). More about BCXSY's Mixed Animals magnetic soft toys launch on Kickstarter
New York 2014: American magazine Sight Unseen asked designers to add bold prints to fashion and furniture designs using digital customisation company Print All Over Me. More about Sight Unseen commissions Memphis-influenced print collection
Milan 2014: a swinging birdcage seat, lamps that branch out like a tree and a table designed for playing marbles feature in this collection of Fairytale Furniture by Dutch design studio Ontwerpduo. More about Ontwerpduo bases Fairytale Furniture collection on fantasy stories
Dezeen promotion: Creative program producers Cut&Paste have teamed up with Intel and HP to run a new product design contest called LaunchBox, with over £14,000 in prizes to be won for potential crowdfunding projects. More about Cut&Paste and HP launch contest for pre-crowdfunded product campaigns
London designer Dominic Wilcox has created a giant pair of audio binoculars that allows users to "listen" to – rather than see – places around Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England (+ slideshow). More about Binaudios by Dominic Wilcox encourage users to "listen to the city"
News: British car brand Jaguar Land Rover is working with researchers at MIT to develop technology for its vehicles, including controls operated by tracking where the driver is looking (+ slideshow). More about Land Rover developing sight-activated controls for future vehicles
News: Google has revealed footage of a self-driving vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals, announcing that it expects to roll out its first pilot scheme on public roads in "the next couple of years". More about Google unveils driverless car prototype
Paris designer Jean-Sébastien Lagrange has collaborated with bookbinder Anne-Lise Courchay to create a lamp rolled from a single sheet of a folded parchment. More about Jean-Sébastien Lagrange rolls parchment into a lampshade
South Korean designer Il Hoon Roh has created a chair by intertwining carbon fibre strings into a pattern designed to resemble the branches of trees (+ slideshow). More about Il Hoon Roh weaves carbon fibre string into curved armchair
Japanese studio Nendo has designed a collection of furniture and homeware for Danish brand BoConcept, which includes a seat that appears to hug itself and accessories with patterns based on origami. More about Nendo designs Fusion furniture and homeware collection for BoConcept
News: Italian design brands lack the innovation and marketing flair of their northern European rivals, according to the head of new Milan-based furniture brand Discipline. More about "There's not much innovation" in Italian furniture design says Discipline's Renato Preti
Threads of silk resembling strands of hair form the upper of these shoes by German designers Nicole Goymann and Christoph John. More about Nicole Goymann and Christoph John create shoes from deconstructed silkworm cocoons
New York 2014: to celebrate New York design week, the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum commissioned designer Joe Doucet to create a limited edition collection of "snap fit" marble tables. More about Joe Doucet designs flat-pack marble furniture for New York's Cooper-Hewitt museum
BMW's MINI brand has teamed up with Italian bespoke sports-car design company Touring Superleggera to create the MINI Superleggera Vision (+ slideshow). More about MINI and Touring Superleggera unveil open-top concept car
Feature: the warmth of brass has made it "metal of choice" for today's designers, who showed products in the material on both sides of the Atlantic this month, finds Dezeen style editor Dan Howarth. More about "Nostalgic comfort" brings brass back into contemporary design
Catalan designer Eugeni Quitllet has used plexiglass to create the backrests for wooden chairs in this collection for Italian brand Alias. More about Eugeni Quitllet joins plexiglass backrests to Tabu chairs for Alias
Clerkenwell Design Week 2014: British design brand Another Country has collaborated with New York studio Workstead to produce a lighting collection formed from reconfigurable metal rods. More about Workstead bolts together metal rods to form lighting for Another Country
Clerkenwell Design Week 2014: Stockholm architect and designer Hanieh Heidarabadi has created a brass pendant lamp with the intention that people will 3D-print their own shades. More about Shades for Make Lamp by Hanieh Heidarabadi can be custom 3D-printed
Plinths filled with tropical trees and plants were designed by Swiss studio Big-Game, to showcase the finalists of a design prototype competition in Paris organised by fashion house Hermès. More about Big-Game designs indoor oasis for Parisian Prix Emile Hermès exhibition