Magnets have long been used as a way of creating temporary connections for products as diverse as flat-pack furniture and bike lights. But now designers are finding increasingly weird and wonderful uses for them, with recent examples including wallpaper, spiky shoes, fluid clocks, and even a hoverboard. See all of our stories about design with magnets »
More about Today we like: magnets
Graduate shows 2015: Taiwan designer Guan-Hao Pan has created a set of condom packages modelled on phallic vegetables, which users can hold to determine the correct girth for their contraceptive sheath (+ slideshow). More about Condom packaging based on different vegetable girths to help choose the correct fit
French artist Charles Pétillon has installed a giant cloud of balloons under the roof of the 19th-century Market Building in London's Covent Garden (+ movie). More about Charles Pétillon fills Covent Garden market with 100,000 white balloons
London Design Festival 2015: London product designer Ariane Prin has launched her debut homeware collection, which includes pots, trays, vases and jewellery boxes with a rusty tinge. More about Ariane Prin mixes metal dust into Rust homeware range
Homeware retailer Vipp has partnered with Danish ceramicist Annemette Kissow to launch a seven-piece breakfast range (+ slideshow). More about Vipp partners with Annemette Kissow to launch first ceramics line
Danish design duo GamFratesi has incorporated patterned cane panels into a collection of steam-bent furniture for Gebrüder Thonet. More about GamFratesi pairs bent wood and rattan for Gebrüder Thonet furniture line
Designer and researcher Neri Oxman and her Mediated Matter group at MIT Media Lab have developed a technique for 3D-printing molten glass, meaning that transparent glass objects can be printed for the first time (+ movie). More about Neri Oxman's new glass printing technique could lead to 3D-printed glass building facades
Danish designer Cecilie Manz has partnered with 145-year-old Danish furniture brand Rud Rasmussen to reimagine the hotel mini-bar. More about Cecilie Manz designs canvas and wood version of a hotel mini-bar
This clock by Dutch designer Zelf Koelman spells out the time with magnetic fluid under the control of electromagnets (+ movie). More about Zelf Koelman's Ferrolic clock uses magnetic ferrofluid to tell the time
Pomo summer: for the 30th anniversary of his 9093 kettle, the late Michael Graves created a special edition for Italian design brand Alessi that replaces the bird-shaped whistle with a dragon. More about Alessi celebrates Michael Graves' 9093 kettle anniversary with dragon-shaped whistle
A 3D-printed bionic hand designed by prosthetics startup Open Bionics is the recipient of the 2015 UK James Dyson Award for design engineering innovation. More about 3D-printed robotic hand wins 2015 UK James Dyson Award
Canadian company CycleLabs has launched a smart device for bicycles that is designed to help navigate and track routes, and prevent theft (+ movie). More about SmartHalo bicycle accessory combines navigation, activity tracking and alarm system
Transport for London is seeking a designer and supplier to introduce a "new generation" of bicycles to the city's public hire network. More about Transport for London calls for "Boris Bikes" redesign
Maison&Objet 2015: French technology retailer Orée is launching a ballpoint pen that can digitally record and store notes and sketches made in a companion notebook (+ slideshow). More about Orée launches copper Stylograph ballpoint that digitally records handwitten notes
Pomo summer: Montreal designers Marie-Pier Guilmain and Maud Beauchamp of MPGMB have created a trio of stacked pedestals influenced by the work of Memphis Group founder Ettore Sottsass (+ slideshow). More about MPGMB creates pedestals inspired by work of Postmodern master Ettore Sottsass
Pomo summer: Memphis Group designer Martine Bedin's Super Lamp can be trailed along like a dog on a leash, demonstrating the collective's playful style. This next article in our summer series on Postmodernism tells the story behind one of Memphis' most comical products. More about Postmodern design: Super Lamp by Martine Bedin
Australian design brand Page Thirty Three has released a range of homeware, including objects that owners are encouraged to "complete" themselves. More about Page Thirty Three launches customisable Tactile Equations homeware collection
Future Makers: today we're launching a new collaboration with Autodesk exploring the future of making things. In the first movie in the series, Dutch designer Anouk Wipprecht tells us about the digital tools she used to create a collection of interactive 3D-printed dresses for Audi. More about Anouk Wipprecht integrates parking sensors and headlights into 3D-printed fashion collection
British designer Kris Lamba has folded a 20-metre-long piece of carbon fibre into a chair that facilitates different sitting positions (+ slideshow). More about Kris Lamba's RV1 Carbon Chair is made from a single carbon-fibre sheet
Music: found footage and animation come together to form provocative anti-establishment imagery in Earl Sweatshirt's Off Top music video, directed by Taylor Johnson (+ movie). More about Earl Sweatshirt's Off Top music video combines chaotic animation and found footage