"I'm amused by awards like these because so many of these projects hand-wave the engineering and physics that would actually be necessary to make it work, or the premise of the technology promoted just doesn't work as advertised. I've worked on projects like that before, where conceptually something seems brilliant, but unfortunately because the person responsible for the genesis of the idea didn't then check with physics to make sure Physics was going to cooperate with their ambitions. I'll admit, it's uncomfortable how often my  "great ideas" don't quite match reality as well as I'd hoped, and how many potential clients have wanted help with their precious concept that's going to rock an industry; only for it to turn out with further examination to be a house of cards. Don't get me wrong, I applaud the idea-work, especially the form development in these, but I'm looking for more delivered design objects—where the engineering and the design BOTH check-out and make the bar. I'm asking this from myself first, and then from others. The TuffBlocks fit in this category of interesting design-object/engineering solution, if they are made of materials that hold up well over time."

"First, let me say it's definitely beautiful, and deserves praise for ingenuity. That said, the designer-to-designer critique part coming out, I'm not sure about the durability/structural integrity—or affordability due to the labor involved in the current iteration. That's a lot of fiddly moving parts.... I'd be curious to see how these age, especially if the wood wasn't fully dried properly first or experiences humidity changes. Bendy-sticks would make it no fun if it won't open/close smoothly. Also, I question the stability/integrity of the piece as-is if someone were to run into it or try sitting on it. Would that end poorly? I'd like to see a structurally sound version you can sit on :-)"

"Repeated flexing is a horrible idea for this—you're going to cause a weak-point and a failure and break your furniture if you un-bend the joint.If you try to flat-pack it while bent, whoopee-doo, it's still not fully space efficient because it won't nest well with it's own pieces or go in a box well, because of the voids inside the rounded-rectangle frames. I agree with Raul Rautenberg, it's a good experimental/conceptual thing, but I'm not buying it as-is."