Benjamin Unterluggauer and John Hayden are both Industrial Design students pursuing their Master’s at Germany’s Muthesius University of Fine Arts and Design. Unterluggaeuer invented this object below, and refined it in collaboration with Hayden:
That’s the Mokit, a 3D-printed connector that allows one to join dowels together. The two outside connectors go into the central hex nut, which is tightened with a small custom wrench.
The duo picture the connectors being used for pop-up or mobile vending applications:
They sell the connectors here.
I also wonder if they’d consider licensing the design to nonprofits in, say, developing nations that have access to a lot of bamboo. I imagine a 3D printer and plenty of spools could accomplish a lot in those situations!
Source: core77