Unnecessary Inventions

Weird Tech & Useless Gadgets

A crowdfunding platform devoted to original open hardware, where independent engineers launch the kind of oddball device no mass manufacturer would greenlight. Projects range from strange keyboards to niche radios and scientific instruments.

Weird Tech & Useless Gadgets

A Czech workshop that revived the manufacture of Nixie tubes, the glowing cold-cathode digits abandoned in the 1970s, and builds handmade clocks around them. Each tube is made by hand in a restored castle.

Weird Tech & Useless Gadgets

A Calgary electronics outfit selling DIY kits and robot parts, including the Useless Machine kit whose only function is to switch itself off. The catalogue mixes serious components with deliberately pointless builds.

Weird Tech & Useless Gadgets

The product studio of Simone Giertz, the inventor known online for deliberately terrible robots. Yetch sells the ideas that actually work, described as unique solutions to everyday problems, including the Every Day Calendar.

Weird Tech & Useless Gadgets

Builds officially licensed arcade cabinets at roughly three-quarter scale so a real Pac-Man or Street Fighter machine fits in a living room. Also makes countercade and head-to-head table versions.

Indie Makers & Small Studios

A Brooklyn and Columbus gift and home-accessories brand that works with independent designers to produce charming, slightly odd objects. Its balancing blocks and puzzle objects are fixtures in museum shops.