23 products so frustratingly flawed, they'll make you laugh

We've all purchased products that, by seemingly obvious design flaws, failed to satisfy our expectations. But those ill-fated purchases were not nearly as hilarious as the imagined creations from an artist out of Athens, Greece.

Katerina Kamprani, an architect and 3D modeler, has been designing faux products for years, each with such frustratingly awful design flaws, they're outright sadistic. Take a look through the gallery above and you'll see what we mean. A watering can that sprays back into the bucket, open-toed rain boots, and an impossibly stubborn fork are just a few of Katerina's counter-intuitive ideas for your home. The humor might not hit you immediately, but when you try to imagine using the product for its intended purpose, you'll realize how it just won't ever work.

The idea for The Uncomfortable, as Katerina calls her humorous art project, came to her unexpectedly.

"The idea unexpectedly in my mind. One day before I leave work, I started sketching out a very difficult to access WC. After that, I started thinking about faulty objects and laughing out loud, and this continued for many years. In better thought, there were many factors that led me thinking like that. The most crucial one is that I had some lessons on design and learned a lot about interactions and user experience. Also, I am fascinated by the design of everyday simple objects and I wanted a reason to explore that."

Though some of the concepts look shockingly close to real life products, Katerina assures us that-- thankfully--the majority of the Uncomfortable products are merely 3D renderings.

"In order to make an uncomfortable image, I first choose the object. It has to be simple in its functionality, I try to avoid complex systems and objects. Then I analyze every little step in the user interaction and I try to sabotage discretely one of these steps. Then I render the objects in a very clean environment, just like a product photoshoot. The goal is to make the viewer believe this is an actual product and make him simulate the interaction with the object in his mind."

While Katerina does not yet earn money off of her imaginary products, she has opened up an online store for her fans to purchase fully-functioning household products stamped with the ironic artwork.

"I started the project just for fun and I had no expectations, especially on the financial level! ... Just a few days ago I had my first sale! I have been doing this since the end of 2009, so making money out if this would be very, very exciting."

In the future, the Athens-based artist hopes to create some real prototypes, first beginning with the watering can. Her dream is to see all of the Uncomfortable products come to life, and to see people try to use them.

What are your ideas for an ironically terrible product? Let us know in the comments below.