Rubber bands work well enough for holding rolled up piles of paper, bundling pens, and shooting straight out of rubber band machine guns. And when something works that well, few people find the need to change them. But there will still be those few people. One of those people, apparently, just designed these Cubic Rubber Bands.
Created by Japanese design studio Nendo, it turns the normally two-dimensional rubber band into a three-dimensional object. Seriously. Not only does it have full cubic corners and sides, thing will stand in full form like a dice when set down on the table instead of crumple into a skinny bundle like those elastic bands we’re usually familiar with.
While the Cubic Rubber Band’s design definitely makes it stand out, the novel appearance isn’t all it’s about. Instead, the blocky design makes it easier to pick up, apart from maintaining a stronger grip on rolled-up documents, bundled pens, and whatever other objects you use it to bind together. Granted, it doesn’t look like you can shoot it by turning a ruler into a gun, but we’re sure trigger-happy dudes with a little time in their hands can find ways to make it fly through the air and land snappily on someone’s face all the same. Mankind — we kind of make these things happen.
The Cubic Rubber Band will be available in Japan beginning February and internationally starting April. Price is unspecified.