It's not just designers who have to face the fact that our everyday lives exist in a constant co-dependence with tools of all kinds. Be it the corkscrew, whose function one might still describe as niche, or the smartphone, without which most people – at least it feels like it – can barely survive anymore. Not much happens without tools. More than that: they determine our humanity. This issue is therefore dedicated to these ambivalent helpers, their stories, and their design.

We learn that there isn't really such a thing as a Swiss Army knife, talk to an archaeologist about the ultimate primitive tool, question the idea of standardization inherent in many tools, zoom in a bit, encounter 13 pairs of pliers, and visit the Berlin studio Ertl and Zull. We also introduce ten chainsaws, ask the French product designer Inga Sempé which object she would have liked to design, pose four questions to Artek's CEO Marianne Goebl, and give designer Anja Kaiser space for undisciplined design. All this and much more in form 293 – Tools.

From and with
Uli Mayer-Johanssen • Tim Schütze • Christoph Rauscher • Markus Hieke • Squizzy P • Lisa Baumgarten and Mara Recklies • Dirk Sorge • Hand Axes • Lennart Franz • Eike Walkenhorst • Pliers • Karina Iwe • Weaving Techniques • Discuss with me • Anna Gebala • Clara Keseberg • Ticha Matting • Ertl and Zull • Anja Kaiser • Tatjana Stürmer • Richard Sapper Archive • Marianne Goebl • Felix Kosok • Inga Sempé • Mia Akhavan • Kim Kaborda • Jonas Aaron Lecointe • Thekla Liebmann

You can find the issue HERE.