Threat Objects: Designer Weapons From Mass Production

Earlier this month, The American Design Club presented an industrial design exhibition called THREAT. The show encouraged designers to experiment with common household objects in the creation of defense weapons that could be used during a break-in. THREAT’s roster, mainly comprised of AmDC designers, came up with more than 50 cleverly combative objects. While some of the designer weapons make use of blunt force, others like the “Defense Rug” by Reed Wilson (above) get their point across with blunt language.

“My entire life I’ve had a great relationship with pizza. Some people love their pets, I love pizza. ” That’s industrial and glass designer, Steph Mantis, on the merits of pizza. So it’s no surprise that for the AmDc THREAT show, she’d encase real pizza slices in transparent glasslike resin. The result is Neapolitan Chinese throwing stars. I smell a sequel to Mystic Pizza…

Mantis also re-purposed her “animal butt magnets” into spikes for this ass-kicking weapon. Fab.com is currently selling two dozen of the THREAT objects, including the “Defense Rug,” the “Ninja Throwing Slices,” and the “AK47” at 10% off. I took my time checking out all of the designers, so there’s only 13 hours left of the sale. Go get ’em!

Daniel Ballou designed an off-label use for the common household chair:

In the movies, jamming a chair under the doorknob can keep a threat away. That idea seldom works in reality. This chair plays on that Hollywood icon of defense, while making it functional. The back structure is steel and has leveling feet (like an extension ladder). A notch in the backrest is at the perfect height to interface with a doorknob, and rubber grips on the feet keep it in place.

More photos of the Who’s There Chair here.

Brooklyn-based product, furniture and pattern designer, Jason Neufeld created this Molotov Cocktail Lamp. I guess it’s safe to say this is a single-use light fixture…

Industrial designer and architect Lara Knutson‘s Glass Grenades.

Industrial designers, chicken-farmers, vintners and boat builders James Minola and Chelsea Green live in a 1901 farmhouse outside of Seattle. As Grain Design, they are “driven by the belief that social values and good business are not mutually exclusive, but are in fact partners”. Their piece for the Threat show speaks to me of the “cut-throat” fashion industry, but I wonder what their “true story” is…?

San Francisco-based artist, Sarah Applebaum makes guns out of layered felt and cork. Check out all the big guns in her objectshop.

Designer Kiel Mead likes re-purposing everyday objects, especially those that are “overtly non-descript”. From driftwood to threat sticks…

These “Boxing Gloves” are also the work of Mead, who happens to be a founder of the AmDC.

Nonlinear is a multi-disciplinary creative studio that “designs for the question of ‘why?’ not ‘what?'”. When it comes to a baseball bat that can also blind a trespasser with its headlight, I think the question is really: “why not?!”

Chen Chen + Kai Tsien Williams are the designers behind the 2011 cold cut coasters! For Threat, they fashioned a new weapon for a classic concept.

Daniel Michalik made these combination wood and cork CorKnuckles. Perhaps you could pin pictures of prospective victims to the cork?

Fort Standard is a contemporary design studio founded by industrial designers, Gregory Buntain and Ian Collings. Their work is “a fusion of craft-based backgrounds and timeless materials paired with progressive design prowess and emerging technologies”. The “Bludgeoning Tools” are composed of assorted geometric shapes cut from marble, granite, glass, copper, brass and steel. The shapes are stacked and secured onto a turned wood handle. Each bludgeoner has a hand stamped date and number and bears the Fort Standard name.

Get your bludgeon on at a discount now at Fab!

Check out the entire gallery of THREAT objects over at Core77.