A car key doesn’t have to advertise its electronics with a shiny shell and conspicuous buttons. Natural Objet is a design concept for smart keys. Its rounded body takes the shape of a pebble and adds a grainy finish, aiming to make something you carry every day feel less like a miniature remote control.

The case keeps the original key inside, so this isn’t a replacement remote or an extra layer of smart technology. Instead, it changes the surface your thumb meets. Irregular curved cuts across the front outline the lock, unlock, remote-start, and horn buttons, interrupting the shell just enough to define each control without bringing back the bold, emblem-like pattern of an uncovered Hyundai key.

Designer: Eunsu Lee

That understated front hides a practical material problem. The button areas need to move, even though the case needs to hold its shape. In testing materials, ABS versions resisted pressing too much, while softer materials didn’t deliver the intended finish. Polycarbonate became the compromise, with repeated changes to the internal contact points intended to improve how each press reaches the key.

The custom coating carries that stone association. It’s intended to recreate a sandy sensation rather than the smoothness you might expect from molded plastic. A rounded edge can suggest a pebble, but a textured surface asks you to notice it with your fingers, too. That could make it easier to distinguish from other smooth objects in a bag before you see the buttons.

Metal breaks up the textured body at the back, where a die-cast zinc-alloy section meets the shell along a sloping edge. The design uses an interlocking connection rather than a merely attached decorative piece, intended to improve durability. A loop extends beyond the top for carrying accessories, giving the otherwise quiet object a small flash of shine when it hangs from a bag.

Warm gray, deep black, and earthy brown keep the palette close to sand, volcanic rock, and soil. A matching wrist loop continues the color beyond the shell, giving you somewhere to hold the key while carrying it between the house and car. Hanging from a handbag, the case could read as an accessory in its own right, rather than exposed automotive equipment.

The packaging gives you a similar sequence of surfaces before the case ever reaches your pocket. A translucent sleeve softens the outline of the object inside, then slides away from a folding kraft box. Its paper texture continues the material theme without copying the case’s coating. The contrast between hazy wrapping and rougher paper prepares you for the mix of surfaces underneath.

Keeping everything visually quiet has a practical consequence. The subtle symbols have less contrast than the original dark buttons, potentially making a quick glance less useful. Their curved borders would have to do more of the work when finding a control by touch. That’s where the pebble idea meets its test, somewhere between enjoying the surface and pressing the right button.

The post Natural Objet Concept Gives a Car Key a Stone-Like Cover first appeared on Yanko Design.

The folio case for smartphones remains an entirely boomer product offering. Having a case with a flap that covers your screen and needs to be folded open like a book to answer calls or use your phone is an innately ‘old-soul’ experience. The flap protects your screen but it also obscures it. Fold the flap to the back and it reveals your screen but blocks your camera. It isn’t for millennials or Gen-Z phone owners, but for anyone who wears reading glasses, this folio style case is as addictive as their generation’s Candy Crush habit. With Apple launching the iPhone Duo just yesterday, Nomad developed a similar folio style case for the Apple foldable.

Nomad’s Folio case for the Duo is a strange little thing. While most folio cases turn candybar phones into bifolds, Nomad’s case sort of turns it into a trifold, if you will… or a bifold with a partition. The case is a single-piece leather and plastic design, created to wrap your phone not just from the back but also the front. The front flap magnetically snaps to your phone’s outer display, and lets you open your phone in two ways – firstly, by just disengaging the flap to see the outer screen, but also by disengaging the flap and outer screen together to see the inner screen… and like any good folio case, the flap’s inside packs a card-holder for your payment, ID, and access cards so you don’t need a MagSafe wallet ruining your iPhone Duo’s design.

Designer: Nomad

Like all of Nomad’s leather cases, this one’s made from Horween leather, crafted from a single piece of hide that’s been tanned, bent, crimped, and buffed to absolute beauty. The leather gracefully wraps around the edges, keeping the buttons exposed and accessible, while also covering the hinge in a way that creates that bifold feeling. The leather then transitions upwards ever so slightly before cutting off to a plastic lip around the camera bump, cushioning your phone’s precious shooters from accidental drops and bumps.

On the inside, the leather’s reinforced by a microfiber layer that protects the iPhone’s glass panels from damage. Sure, Apple touts Ceramic Shield on both the front and back, but nothing breaks your heart faster than seeing a cut or a scratch running down the glass body from abrasive action caused by objects in your pocket or even your table. Meanwhile, a slot on the front stores two cards from the looks of it, so your iPhone Duo doubles as a card holder beyond what Apple Pay already lets you do.

Like all good leather cases, this one’s designed to age gracefully with time. Chances are, if you’re an iPhone Duo buyer, you will probably use this phone as your ride or die for another 2 years. In that time, Nomad says the case will patina gorgeously with time, aging uniquely based on how you use the phone. Luckily, the case isn’t too expensive. Priced at $129, you can grab the Nomad iPhone Duo Traditional Folio in one of three colors – Saddle, Rustic Brown, and Black, with global shipping starting November 14th.

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The post Nomad’s Leather Folio Turns Your iPhone Duo Into A $1999 Bifold Wallet first appeared on Yanko Design.