When I first saw this I actually uttered “oh I do like this” out loud. You may laugh, but just you wait. I give you… ‘Papervore‘.
It’s so simple, yet mechanically industrial. Effortlessly cumbersome, yet you know you want one.
I mean for a start, who doesn’t get junk mail? We all do, and what better way to recycle it than with your living room centre piece.
Pigeontail Design studio is offering ‘Papervore’ as “part-coffee table, part-paper shredder”. And not just your typical electronic, CD shredding, bank card tearing, multi-directional cross bladed shredder either, you hand crank this one. The crank is a lovely touch, winding your mail through the teeth, imagine the satisfaction actually being involved as an integral part of the process that obliterates any piece of scrap paper. The powder coated aluminum top and mahogany shelf underneath simply enhance the overall image no end.
On a much deeper level, the tactile feedback for the user must be fantastic too. Tiny vibrations and sensations as you crunch it through, the thicker the mail the more stimulating the feedback for the user. Making the user enjoy being part of the process, that’s good design.
The fact that it’s is largely transparent is perhaps a subconscious nod to the “Dyson generation” that we are. Core to all of Dyson’s designs (apart from their wonderful cyclone technology) is a transparent vessel which stores the dirt. Being able to see it demonstrates what a great product it is, almost showing off (even just to yourself) “look how much work I’ve done” by sucking up all this dirt. Similarly here, this means that your shredding is measureable, it is quantitative. Boasting about how much junk mail you get, or how much recycling you do, people are naturally competitive and will want to compare and fill theirs up first.
Watch it shred it all its (stop motion) glory
Coffee mug eyes optional.
But remember, this is only for junk. To those of you who are ultra competitive don’t get carried away and stick your credit card bill in there, you probably need to pay that.
Hat tip to Design Taxi for the original find on this.
Inspirational Geek 