Most are probably aware of how important packaging design is in Japan, and while it’s often gorgeous it can feel a little wasteful in these times. But PingMag has a How-to-Reduce-Packaging Journal up today, showing examples of things going in greener and more bio-degradable directions.

Shown above is Tofu packed in a balloon. Not only does it seem material efficient, but also easy to open since you only have to prick it to have the material shrink away and leave a perfectly round ball. I wouldn’t mind seeing Mozarella and other similar European cheeses packaged like this either.

I was pointed to a post on PingMag (this time I remembered to put it on my feeds, btw) about the aesthetics of RFID tags – the little things that make identifying an object, like a buss pass or shipping container, without physical contact possible – and the creativity in the forms of the antenna bit is quite remarkable considering that it’s something that usually would be hidden inside the object it’s supposed to mark.

But then I thought that if it is cheaper to slap the tag on a visible spot, you could also use the tag as a part of the design. Maybe that’s something that’s already going on? Excuse the stereotyping, but it does seem like an innovative Japanese solution to a problem.

When I saw the Walkstation, I was reminded about an old thought of mine: A recumbent exercise bike with integrated with a workstation. Those recumbent bikes are among the most comfortable ways to burn some calories (I’d get one if it hadn’t been that ones with good movements costs a bit), and unlike the treadmill it would probably still be possible to focus on what you’re trying to get done. And if anyone feels like putting that idea into production, feel free to send me a sample. I have a bit of blubber to spare for a case study.

Luxury Workstations on Born Rich [via Boing Boing Gadgets]

Time to put that “The best…” category to a little more use by appointing Mirra from Herman Miller “The best work chair I have ever seen”.

I love good design, the kind where both aesthetics and functionality are perfect, where the first doesn’t compromise the other. And with the level of complexity involved, achieving those goals in a work chair must be one of the greatest challenges for a designer.

Since I havn’t actually sat on one, I can’t really speak for the functionality aspect, but by the looks of it the designers seem to have thought of just everything that involves comfort, support and adjustability.

And the aesthetics then… it’s perfect. It manages to be eyecatching, but at the same time it is so neutral that I can imagine that chair in just about any environment. And looking closer, it appears that all of it derives from the main aspect of a work chair which is, as mentioned before, functionality.

But it is a chair in the thousand dollar range, and that’s a bit out of my reach. But god knows we (me and my lumbar) could use a proper chair.

For those interested in what’s going on under the hood, I have to mention the moo.fx javascript library. A very nice, lightweight pack for effects (like the collapsible sidebar elements).