Every year there’s a rash of bizarre or unusual product designs, inventions and DIY projects that cross our desk. Often these would be easy to dismiss, but some of them wind up becoming gigantic commercial successes. There is, as they say, no accounting for taste. Here are the strangest designs or stories we’ve seen in 2022:

Geometric Scissors with Template Functionality

Former Automotive Designer Creates Combination Bicycle-Paddleboard

The Shadey: A Sun-Blocking Fan for Your Smartphone

Many Don’t Wear Seatbelts Correctly, Leading to Design of New Crotch-Based Airbag

Teenage Engineering Designs…a Beer

Dragon Seats: Heated Player Benches for the NFL

A Voice-Amplifying, Air Purifying Face Mask for Gamers

Industrial Designer Creates Handheld Block of Granite “Without a Predetermined Function”

Audio Cassette Tape Pool Floats

Modified Bicycles Used for Street “Spinning”

Image credit: Thorsten Deckler

The Viral TikTok Channel That Reviews Public Bathroom Sinks

This Army Head-Measuring Device from 1973

Ikea Unveils New Bluetooth Speaker with a Surprising Form

Strange Object: The Vas Wood Diffuser

Can-Crushing Sculptor Designs Shapeshifting Pen

Listen to This Circle Guitar, Which has Mechanically Activated Strings

Bizarre Renaissance-Era Armor Accessory: The Lantern Shield

Holy Cow: Prison Labor Can Include CAD Work

Shockingly Convincing Plastic Lawn Alternatives

A Designey Toilet with a Sliding Lid

A Comforter Modeled After…Udon Noodles

Concept Design for a Nuclear-Powered Flying Cruise Ship

Brilliant Costume Idea: Going as a Low-Poly Version of Someone

An Engineer’s DIY Computers with Alternative Form Factors

The Tricuro Go: A Smartphone-Attached Device that Measures Back Problems

The Nasal Ranger: A Tool for Measuring Odors with Precision

Tactile Toy: A Touchable Tamagotchi

14-Year-Old Nails “I Voted” Sticker Design Contest

We keep thinking next year will be the year that things go back to normal…but we know better.

Source: core77