embryo glo pillow

over at embryo there are some really cool and clever ideas coming out of the mind of ian walton. the first has received a bit of press already as it has what appears to be a very gentle solution to the problem of waking up. some time ago i posted about the “clocky” a radio that goes through the morning beeping ritual but which if you aren’t fast enough, leaps away from its resting place and compels you to hunt it down as it hides, beeping all the time.

i got to thinking that perhaps that’s funny but not if you were the person dragging your sorry self around in the half darkness vainly searching for the kill switch. that’s why i think that you’ll agree, this next product has infinitely more appeal, addressing as it does the real needs of people at that most vulnerable time of day.

the glo pillow wakens you very gently in the form of a glowing light from inside the pillow. in much the same way as the sun gradually and gently awakens you (as compared to the evil digital squawk box a metre and a half from my head!), so the glo pillow slowly brings you into awareness of the day becoming.


the glo pillow came out of a design competition hosted annually by the royal society of art which awarded the designers of the glo pillow with their ideal standard designers award in 2006.

if you’re interested in the thinking of other up-and-coming designers then you should wander over to the rsa website and scout through the lists of designers and projects. if you’d like to have a closer look at the glo-pillow and learn more about this fledgling product then pop over to the glo pillow page.