Oh, patents! Blu Dot furniture (1)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Founded in Minneapolis, in 1997, by college friends, architects and sculptor, John Christakos, Maurice Blanks, and Charlie Lazo, Blu Dot seeks to make good design accessible to as many people as possible. Everything that is sold at Blu Dot stores is designed in-house. 

In 2018, the company was awarded the prestigious Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Museum, National Design Award, in the category of Product Design. The company was also granted several US design patents. 

For example, the US Design patent, USD905978S, titled Seating unit, was awarded on Dec. 29th, 2020, to Blu Dot Designer, Scott Smrstick. The patent was then assigned to Blu Dot Design & Manufacturing, Inc., in Minneapolis, MN. 

The patent Figure 1, showing a front upper perspective view of the design, is included below. The two symbolic broken lines, running the length of the design, indicate that all portions of the design are covered, since nothing appears between the broken lines, which conventionally mark boundaries between what is claimed and unclaimed in a patent.

An image of a marketed embodiment of the design, in velvet, is also included below, facing the patent Figure 1. The invented design is designated the Bloke Lounge Chair in stores. 

References
Blu Dot 
https://www.bludot.com/
2018 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award Winners
https://www.cooperhewitt.org/national-design-awards/2018-national-design-awards-winners/ 

Oh, patents! Madeleine Vionnet [1876 - 1975] (2)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

A US design patent, USD82687S, titled Design for a bottle or similar container was awarded to Madeliene Vionnet, on May 17th, 1927. The  Art Deco-style bottle was made of clear glass with flattened metal edges.  

Below, the patent Figure 1, together with a marketed embodiment of the design. 

.              

Reference

Maison Vionnet 

https://www.vionnet.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooPBS18XeWeZo8qIDFq33CNMnhi4Le2XSOQLdP9Iq-Et4bHhWZw

Oh, patents! Madeleine Vionnet [1876-1975] (1)

 Copyright ☺ Françoise Herrmann 

Born in 1876, Madeleine Vionnet was a French fashion designer, credited for having invented bias-cut dresses. These were dresses cut at a 45-degree angle to the fabric’s warp and weft threads, instead of straight along the grain. As a result, Vionnet was able to drape dresses, using the natural stretch of the fabric, which enabled her to create dresses that mold women’s bodies. Indeed, Vionnet was part of a movement in the 1930s that liberated women from the corset, creating figure-hugging garments that flowed, instead of restricting women’s bodies.

Madeleine Vionnet opened her own Fashion House, rue de Rivoli, in Paris, in 1912, which she was forced to close twice: once because of World War I (in 1914), and a second time because of World War II (in 1939). Thus, she was a leading fashion designer during the roaring 20s up to the Great Depression, between both wars. The archives of her work are preserved at the Decorative Arts Museum (Musée des Arts Décoratifs [MAD]), housed in the Marsan Pavillion at The Louvre, in Paris. 

The following French utility patent, FR576334A, titled Perfectionnement dans la confection des robes de dames [Improvements in dressmaking for ladies] was granted on May 10th, 1924. The patent recites an improved process for dressmaking whereby the garment’s pattern, and the fabric’s ornaments or decorations, in this case lamé, are both anticipated and drawn, prior to weaving the fabric.

This improved dressmaking process was intended to resolve several problems with the prior art. First, this improved dressmaking process eliminated the costly and time-consuming process of embroidering lamé, or adding decorations onto the fabric, after it is cut and assembled for each client. Secondly, this improved dressmaking process avoided “mutilating” lamé designs and fabric decorations, pre-woven on a bolt of material, which was then subsequently cut to the neckline, armholes, waist or hip line of a given pattern. In other words, the dressmaking improvement avoided interrupting an existing motif, or wasting fabric to get a pre-existing motif to fit the garment shape and pattern. Finally, the invention would enable garments to be easily adjusted to size and length, without cutting into a pre-existing design. The fabric decoration, lamé, or other embroidery or painting, would be created within the boundaries (collar, arm holes, waistline) of an outlined pattern, prior to weaving, thus transforming the dressmaking end-of-process—garment cutting and assembly— into swift and cost-effective steps.

The patent Figure 2 is included below, together with an image of a marketed dress. The Figure 2 depicts a cut and assembled dress with the ornamental decoration at the top, perfectly fitting the neckline and shoulder assembly points, without interruptions to the ornamental motif.

References

Maison Vionnet 

https://www.vionnet.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooPBS18XeWeZo8qIDFq33CNMnhi4Le2XSOQLdP9Iq-Et4bHhWZw

MAD - Madeleine Vionnet  Puriste de la Mode. Catalogue de l’Exposition du 24 juin 2009, au 1er janvier 2010. Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Pavillon Marsan du Musée du Louvre.

https://madparis.fr/spip.php?page=recherche&lang=fr&recherche=Madeleine+vionnet&x=0&y=0

Vionnet (Instagram)

https://www.instagram.com/vionnet_paris/

Earth Day 2026

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

© NASA - Planet Earth seen by Artemis II astronauts from the Orion spacecraft window on April 6, 2026.

Founded in 1970 by US Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day is observed by 190 nations worldwide. This year’s theme is Our Power, Our Planet. 

Earth Day offers an opportunity to take collective and individual action: to protect the environment, to mitigate climate change, and to promote sustainable practices. Whether it is planting trees, making sustainable fashion choices, reducing plastic consumption, participating in advocacy, cleaning beaches, or donating, every action counts. 

For a list of Earth Day events in your area (worldwide), click here.

References

EarthDay.org

https://www.earthday.org/

Gaylord Nelson, Founder of Earth Day.

https://nelsonearthday.net/

NASA - Artemis II Mission.

https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/

UNEP (April 10, 2026). Humanity’s presence in space is expanding. So, too, are the environmental challenges. United Nations Environmental Protection.

https://tinyurl.com/4b9yzxh8

Oh, patents! Voltpost Air Canvas

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Voltpost also customizes their wrap-around electric-vehicle chargers. The customized versions are designated Voltpost Air Canvas, electric-vehicle chargers. They are second-generation Voltposts, wrapped around the top of lampposts, equipped with mobile-operated charging cables (shown in orange below) that are lowererd and raised from the lampposts' tops.*

Note

* The US utility (US20240198827A1) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WO2024059088A2) patents, respectively recite the Voltpost wraparound EV charger solution, and the mobile-operated charging cable solution, in second-generation Voltpost versions, mounted at the top of the lamppost. 

Reference

Voltpost

www.voltpost.com

Oh, patents! Voltpost EV charger design patent (2)

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The Voltpost wraparound EV charger solution was also awarded the US design patent, USD1089074S1, titled Electric vehicle charging station. The patent covers the ornamental features of the EV charging station invention. This design patent was awarded to Joern Vicari, Jeffrey Borges Jones, Yang Cheng, Yerin Cho, Chiraag M Hebbar and Alejandro Enrique Vallejo, on August 19, 2025. The patent was then assigned to Voltpost Inc., in New York, NY.

 

Below, the extracted patent Figure 3 drawing shows a perspective view of the EV charging station, with the charging cable handle disconnected from the charging station. The broken lines marking the disconnected charging cable indicate that the charging cable is unprotected. An image of the marketed Voltpost EV charging station, located on Howard Street, in San Francisco, appears next the patent Figure 3. The neon yellow charging cable is depicted plugged into an electric vehicle.

Reference
Voltpost

https://www.voltpost.com/

Oh, patents! Voltpost EV charger design patent (1)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The Voltpost wraparound EV charger solution was also awarded US design patents, covering the ornamental features of the invention. For example, the US design patent, USD1055844S1, titled Charging station was awarded to Joern Vicari Joel Rapaport and Jeffrey B. Jones, on December 31, 2024, for the design of the Generation 1 Voltpost EV charger that wraps around the base of a lampost. The patent was then assigned to Voltpost, Inc., in New York, NY.  

Below, the extracted patent Figure 1 drawing shows a perspective view of the Voltpost EV charger. The broken lines marking the charging cable, connected to the wraparound EV charger, indicate that this part of the design is unprotected. An image of the marketed Voltpost charger, Generation 1, appears next to the patent figure drawing. The charging cable on the image appears in neon yellow.

Reference
Voltpost
https://www.voltpost.com/