blobject

Etymology

Blend of blob + object.

Why this word is great

BLOBJECT — [Noun] A designed product characterized by smooth, flowing curves, bright colors, and an absence of sharp edges, or the universe viewed as a single, internally variable entity without discrete parts. A blend of 'blob' (a shapeless mass) and 'object' (a material thing), coined by designer Steven Skov Holt in 1993. Unlike 'artifact' (which carries the weight of history and cultural specificity) or 'entity' (which implies discrete boundaries), a blobject is either a playful defiance of angular rigidity or a cosmic dissolution of separateness. It is the gelatinous swell of a Philippe Starck juicer, the neon undulations of a 1990s iMac, or the physicist’s vision of existence as a single undulating continuum—a reminder that edges are illusions, and even the sharpest distinctions eventually soften.

noun

  1. A designed product, often a household object, distinguished by smooth flowing curves, bright colours, and an absence of sharp edges.
  2. The entire universe viewed as a single entity featuring internal variability but not containing discrete parts.“1. There really is just one concrete particular, viz., the whole universe (the blobject). 2. The blobject has enormous spatiotemporal structural complexity, and enormous local variability, even though it does not have any genuine parts.”