Skip to main content

Cut the Cord: This Wireless Charging Pad Makes Apple Look Ugly

It’s been said that true progress is the ability to simplify. And we believe it. That’s why our de-cluttered sensibilities swooned over Grovemade’s latest release: a gorgeous Wireless Charging Pad that is the best wireless charger we’ve seen in years.

“When designing something to be simple and clean, it’s about the material choices you make,” says Sean Kelly, Lead Product Designer at Grovemade. “With the Wireless Charging Pad, the materials speak to their function and you can remove unnecessary adornments.”

True that.

Grovemade Wireless Charging Pad
Image courtesy of Grovemade Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Wireless Charging Pad features a solid stainless steel base and soft natural cork top available in light and dark finishes, hand-sanded to sit flush in the final design. It holds a 5watt power rating and the candy red power cord wraps cleanly under the doc when not in use. i.e. no excessive cord clutter. (There’s nothing so aesthetically frustrating as a clean tablespace littered with white wires.)

Recommended Videos

We’d now go as far to call Apple, Samsung, and Qi’s wireless charging pads as unsightly (ok, ugly is the real word) in comparison to Grovemade’s charging design.

Grovemade Wireless Charging Pad
Image courtesy of Grovemade Image used with permission by copyright holder

That’s because instead of a plastic-looking, awkward puck, the Wireless Charging Pad is elegant in its use of premium natural materials. The ¼-inch stainless steel base provides the weight the Pad needs to stay in place during use throughout the day, and visually contrasts the soft natural cork top. Cork also creates an ideal resting surface for phones while efficiently conducting a charge, while emitting a visual warmth to your deskspace.

But really, we’re not surprised its Grovemade who innovated such a simplistic yet visually ace wireless charging pad. After all, this Portland-based workshop of designers and craftspeople are behind this Japanese-inspire Minimalist Knife and neat Desk Shelf System. All releases, including the Wireless Charing Pad, share the ethos of clean, handcrafted goods made from natural materials.

Dilly Dilly to that.

Jahla Seppanen
Former Former Digital Trends Contributor, The Manual
Born and raised off-the-grid in New Mexico, Jahla Seppanen is currently a sports, fitness, spirits, and culture writer in…
Don’t ruin your cigars: here’s how to properly season a new humidor
Seasoning secrets every cigar lover could use
faceless man presenting a cigar humidor with cigars inside with gloved hands

If you're a newcomer to the world of cigars or just bought a brand-new humidor, you'll need to season it. And no, I'm not saying to add salt and pepper to it. If you've never heard of it, you might ask, "What is seasoning for a humidor?"

Don't think you need to flavor the box or anything — seasoning is really about getting the wood inside your humidor so as not to rob your cigars of precious moisture. Easy to understand, and getting it done is relatively straightforward as well. The trick is figuring out the "why," and we'll get into that in a bit. But let's first discuss seasoning a humidor.

Read more
The NBA’s ultimate celebration tool: The victory cigar
A look at the players and coaches who smoke to celebrate
Jordan smoking a cigar image on a bag

Sports are synonymous with celebration. After winning the biggest trophy of their lives, athletes want to indulge in the payoff that comes with seeing their dreams realized. Teams go into the locker room, where a waterfall of champagne hits them in the eyes, and swimming goggles seem to be a requirement, lest you walk around on the best night of your life half blind. While drinking is often the activity of choice after winning a championship, the NBA has an alternative symbol of greatness that other sports don't use nearly enough: the victory cigar.

Basketball is a team game, but it's also an individual canvas for solo superstardom. After winning an NBA championship, the coaches and players who sit atop the throne have long smoked a cigar in the locker room, during the parade, or even on the bench before the clock has hit zero. There's nothing quite like a good stogie to signify the ultimate win over the rest of the league, but how did the victory cigar get so ingrained in NBA championship celebrations? We want to take a walk down memory lane and look at some of the historical moments and people who made the cigar what it is within the NBA today.
Red Auerbach's victory cigar on the bench
Red Auerbach: The Story Behind the Victory Cigar + His Disdain of NBA Officials - Red on Roundball

Read more
The best medical shows of all time to binge now
From ER to The Pitt, these are the best medical shows ever made
Noah Wyle in the Pitt

Throughout TV's long history, the medical drama has occupied a somewhat unique place in the landscape. Medical shows are often some of the most reliable on TV precisely because there's so much drama built in to working in a hospital.

Personally, I've found the medical drama to be deeply comforting for years, even if I have no desire to be a doctor myself. Understanding the stress of people in the healthcare profession is fascinating in and of itself.

Read more