Play Visions Light Up Wizard Ball
• $7.25
• Amazon.com
Discovered last night at a friend's birthday party, this is the coolest bouncing, light up, trippy plaything for both kids and adults around the house. Good clean fun. :)
Maxwell’s Daily Find
Stuff I find, like for myself and would recommend to a client.
Set of 6 Gigogne glasses, Duralex
• $25
• Brook Farm General Store
I love Duralex and hadn't seen these in a long time. Made for European retailers, these wide mouth Gigogne glasses come in two sizes and are virtually indestructible.
Artists Loft Workstation Desk
• $1200
• Modern50 Vintage Industrial
This is the fun part of diving into Modern 50: finding something unusual like this. "USA, c.1970s. Vintage Industrial Orange and Tan Steel Loft Artist Workstation Desk/Cabinet, with Flat File Drawers. Very Good Condition. Functional, Smooth Drawers." Check out the final pic which has a matching flat file configuration as well.
Organic Winter Ikat Duvet and Shams
• From $24
• West Elm
Spotted this morning and LOVED. My, how WE has changed!
"100% organic cotton in Stone White / Jonquil.
Duvet Cover: Button closure; four interior corner ties keep it in place.
Shams: Envelope closure."
CSYS Task Light
• $899
• Jake Dyson
I saw Jake Dyson's new task lights at Design Junction in London this past week and they are amazing - expensive - but amazing. It moves more freely than any task light I've ever seen and puts out a good warm glow with LED's that will last forever. My fave is the red and silver that will be in stock soon.
"The CSYS Task is a dimmable LED task light which marries the latest technology with sleek design. It is designed with innovative positioning, refined thermal management and electronics systems producing a bright warm white colour with astonishing efficiency. The thermal management heat pipe technology cools the LED’s to ensure peak performance from the LED’s for 37+ years."
Black Chamba Plates
• from $32.50
• Toque Blanche
This is a durable and evergreen showstopper. I first saw a set of Chambaware at a client's house and had to try and find them. Inexpensive, totally non-toxic, washable and bakeable, this extremely dark servingware is stunningly beautiful in an romantic and austere way. Use it at a candlelit supper on a black table cloth in the middle of winter, or with red wine on a midsummer evening.
Better Dog Spotlight
• $375
• Strand Design
This is a very cool light from one of our Design Showcase exhibitors. I particularly like the red bit of metal running up the inside. They say: "The Better Dog Spotlight has an updated design blending powder coated steel with sustainably sourced wood. The lamp is hand-built and assembled, and is given a long lasting oil finish."
Snooze Bed by Ochre
• $6,065-$11,400
• Ochre
Ochre is a unique store here in NYC that started in London. They're romantic, rustic, and aspirational. Perhaps their most signature pieces are from the Snooze collection - bed, chair and footstool - which all carry the same distinctive high backed, sloping shape. They're all favorites. Snooze Bed starts at $6,065 for a queen in COM, and goes up to $11,400 in soft leather. The Snooze chair starts at $4,065 and goes up to $6,190 in leather.
Mixed Black Flor Tile (in our office)
• From $8.00
• Flor Modular Carpet Tiles
What you see is the actual floor of tile that I put into our office about two years ago. I bought four patterns in a black/grey colorway and mixed them up. In my opinion, this is the fun of FLOR and MUCH more interesting than doing one pattern all the way.
Linum Teacup by Nathalie Lahdenmaki
• $40
• Mjolk
I don't find teacups or mugs that I like every day. It's rare. These, by Helsinki based ceramicist Nathalie Lahdenmaki, are handmade with matte exteriors (three colors) and white glazed interiors. Beautiful.
Morris Bar & Counter Stools
• $548
• Anthropologie
Loved by Faith over at The Kitchn and by me as well, I first saw these at the Arch Digest Show in NYC last January. From the super high-end BDDW, these guys are still pricey, but a notch down from their kin. Designed in two sizes by Tyler Hays of BDDW and made with Lostine in Philadelphia, they are "Handcrafted from variegated sycamore and a sturdy sheet of leather, this minimal piece is marked by an arched cutout base and contoured seat."
Brewer Exam Stool
• $141
• Amazon.com
Ok, so I was visiting the doctor last week and fell in love with this exam stool in the nurse's office. I snapped a pic for you. Then I found it online.
If you LOVE the LC8 Swivel Stool by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand (I'll share that with you tomorrow), then you'll love this for a lot less money. This is an diamond in the rough. Imagine it recovered in leather!
Paris Vanilla Roller Shades
• $181
• The Shade Store
I don't believe a window is properly finished unless it has both curtains and a roller shade to filter the sunlight and soften the harsh edges of the frame. For my place I found these really nice roller shades in a woven fabric called Trevira, that has a soft, natural, linen-y look to it. I also chose the off-white "vanilla" color to warm up the room and balance nicely against the China White on my walls and Dove White on the trim. Made to order, they have a solid beaded chain control, came in about one week with free shipping, and I installed them easily myself.
Lord Bodner's Octopus Triptych, in Blue
• $1,350
• Natural Curiosities
Recently blogged by Bethany Seawright, I, too, was mesmerized by this large print and the idea of hanging it in a room, where it would be a show stopper. In fact, I love a lot of the large pieces that Natural Curiosities sells and recommend checking them out, though they are a to-the-trade outfit, so you have to buy elsewhere. This print can be found at Outer Banks Trading Corp and Tonic Home.
The original is a copperplate engraving by Lord Bodner and was published in 1826 in London as part of a series studying creatures of the deep. 60in. × 48in.
Control 4 - Hc-300c Home Controller
• from $159
• Amazon.com
This is a super cool new find that allows you to easily and affordably retrofit your light switches all over your home to make them controllable and programable via an iPad or iPhone. I saw the system being used last week and it seems to me to be the first really easy step towards digitally automating the home - which is a holy grail for me. This controller pairs with light switches that can be purchased individually and I recommend a visit to the Control4 site to get the whole scoop.
Pop Up Sponges
• $15.95
• Williams-Sonoma
This is for spring cleaning month! These old favorites, pop-up sponges, have drawn some criticism, but we think they are one of the nicest sponge choices you can make in the kitchen. They make us feel like we're home, wherever we are. Apparently Chuck Williams discovered these absorbent sponges while traveling in Europe years ago, and he brought them back to Williams-Sonoma where they became an instant customer favorite.
Arbor & Fauna Pillows in Coral
• $195
• Judy Ross Textiles
Judy Ross has some beautiful new designs and fresh colors in her Fall lineup, so I felt it was time to shine a light on her amazing pillows again. A staple in our house, I love these chain stitch New Zealand wool pillows that are embroidered by hand.
Piana Folding Chair by David Chipperfield
• $191.25 (on sale now)
• Design Within Reach
This is a very hot new design from David Chipperfield that was released last year in Milan by Alessi. Incredibly thin when folded and super bright in color, the chair was developed with Italian manufacturer LAMM out of polypropylene and glass fiber and is a great solution for affordable, stylish additional seating.
David Chipperfield says that "After careful research into historic and contemporary folding chairs, the concept for "Piana" focused on a simple, iconic, general-purpose folding chair, easily recognisable as such. The three parts of the chair rotate around a single axis and the finely engineered supporting structure and mechanism are concealed within the moulded components. It folds completely flat and is horizontally stackable".
BDI Format Desk
• $1,199
• Jensen-Lewis
Touring the Jensen-Lewis store last week I really liked this new desk from BDI. BDI has traditionally made audio system consoles and are now moving into high functioning, cord controlling desks. The Format is a good example of a very sleek design with hidden keyboard trays, neoprene drawer surfaces and magnetic panels in front and back to hide surge protectors and cords in the base. You can achieve cord nirvana with only one wire coming out of the desk at floor level to lead to your wall plug.
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