Archive for the ‘Product Design’ Category

Newer Entries »

Inspirations | Retro cool for the kitchen

Monday, August 14th, 2006

I found the site, Vintage Stoves by Stevan Thomas after browsing through some Stylehive links. This company takes old stoves from the late 1940s-50s and fully restores them to beyond their original glory by not only making the appliance functional again, but also giving them a spiffy new paint job.

If we lived in a 1950s-era bungalow and drank martinis after work and had money to extravagantly spend on a stove, I’d be all over one of these. Currently available restored stoves run between $4200 US to almost $9000 US (not including shipping).

Check out their gallery of recently sold stoves here, and others in their new homes here. These are a few of my favourites:

Their limited edition Satsuma Orange 36″ Wedgewood

A 1951 Western Holly Continental 37

A 1951 O’Keefe and Merritt 850-G:

These stoves just seem to have so much more of a presence than our 1990s era Kenmore. ;)

Tags: , ,
Posted in Inspirations, Product Design | No Comments »

Inspiration | Putting the fun in function

Wednesday, June 21st, 2006

I’ve always had a soft spot for whimsical design — hence why we own a $20+ “Mr. Suicide” bath plug, when the local Canadian Tire will gladly sell you a replacement bath plug for $2.

I re-discovered j-me: original design, via a link from not martha (who linked their clever lemon squeezer/juice catcher today). J-me is the work of two designers and brothers, Mark and Jamie.

In the past, I remembered seeing their key I’ve seen their his and hers key holders:

I like that they won’t be accidentally falling off the wall (available for £12).

These simple coat hooks are good too — especially if they actually encourage the photographee to actually hang up their coat, instead of say, leaving it on the furniture… (available for £5).

They’ve got a small range of products, but each have their functionality with a dash of fun.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Inspirations, Product Design | 1 Comment »

Inspiration | Finnish designers

Wednesday, June 21st, 2006

The poor Finnish designers seem to get much less coverage than their other Scandinavian brethren (like the Swedish and the Danish for instance). There’s a great Finnish design site though dubbed “The Treasures of the Wasteland” that’s worth checking out if your Nokia cellphone isn’t enough exposure to Finnish design for you.

Secco makes products that use materials that might otherwise be discarded, and their products are made on a relatively small scale. Their product categories (such as QWERTY, Nice Mice and PCBeasts all allude to the origins of the materials).

So here’s a few selections from the Secco product line:
The Rub-a-Dub handbag made from a recycled car inner tube.

These Handy bracelets made from old cellphone buttons.

And this really cool silhouette of a saxamaphone player (which can either be a magnet or a pin).

Unfortunately, their online shop is currently being revamped :(, but it’s still worth a look.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Inspirations, Product Design | No Comments »

Inspiration | Benchmark furniture

Tuesday, June 20th, 2006

Here’s another Eric find: Benchmark Furniture — a British company that makes furniture from sustainable-forest European hardwood.

A few years back, we had actually seen “Plank” in person as part of a touring exhibit on British design:

Plank (£475) is simplistic in appearance and a nice study in wood joinery. I’m not completely sold on the look, or its functionality since it rests such a large surface area on the ground for support, but if nothing else it is original and it would be fun to configure.

Also designed by the same designer (Thomas Heatherwick), is a piece I would love to examine in person:

The Twisted Cabinet (£2780) looks so intriguing to me, and I would love to see just how it is put together.

Benchmark’s got plenty of other well-crafted pieces in their collection of wooden furniture.
(Ooh — like this sideboard)

Check out their catalogue for more.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Furniture, Inspirations | No Comments »

Inspiration | Canadian design at Umbra

Tuesday, June 13th, 2006

Everyone knows Umbra for their enormous collection of picture frames (almost 300 different ones). Pretty much if you need a contemporary looking frame, they’ve got something for you.

What you might not have known is that a lot of their design comes out of their design studios in Toronto. Or, that they’ve also got a few nifty things besides photo frames.

I particularly like their Postino mailbox, $77 CAD. It sure beats your standard, black-painted, rusted-out ol’ mailbox.

These Nestle nesting tables are quite nice too, though at $715 CAD, might be a bit pricey until you consider they’re solid oak and made with beautifully put together finger joints (not ugly visible fasteners) — and there’s three of them!

Finally, the Rolly Storage mirror, $220 CAD offers a convenient, hidden place to stash the keys, mail, stuff that you gotta hide because people are coming over right now!

So, if you’re looking for some good ol’ Canadian design (eh!), go and check out Umbra and their full collection of goods.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Furniture, Inspirations, Product Design | 2 Comments »

Inspiration | Sk8r grrl

Monday, June 12th, 2006

Beck Hickey is the designer of some pretty kick-ass bags. They’re for the girl in me who never was co-ordinated enough to be on a skateboard. They’re great because each one is unique and made from recycled skateboards featuring original artwork from some pretty cool artists.

They’re not cheap, but the way I tend to justify these things is by saying that when I’m not using them, then I’ll display them as the most original art ever.



Take a gander at Beck(y) Bags here — bags start at a cool $200 US.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Inspirations, Product Design | No Comments »

Inspiration | Mikro man!

Tuesday, June 6th, 2006

Mikro man sculptures have been around for a while, but they’re so cool, I thought I’d cover them here anyway.


Designed by Sam Buxton, the sculptures are made from a single thin piece of steel. With the right bends, you get the final detailed little Mikro man environment. They were originally designed by Buxton as an innovative little business card that was meant to grab potential employers’ attention. It worked, and then some.

You can buy them at Follow Function and Uncommon Goods, and they start at $15. More complicated Mikro men are quite a bit more, but the Mikro house is pretty darn cool.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Inspirations, Product Design | No Comments »

Inspiration | This little light of mine

Thursday, June 1st, 2006

Mark McKenna is the designer behind the DEK – Designer Emulation Kit.

He’s made this amazing series of miniature LED lamps that are powered off a 9V battery.

Big deal right? Well, he’s taken it a step further by having these miniature lamps pay homage to some well-known designer lighting.


This one is a tribute to Ingo Maurer‘s Lucellino lamp.


While this one is a nod to the Arco lamp by Achille Castiglioni.

At $26-$29US, they’re an affordable little design, and a much cooler desktoy than a Newton’s cradle.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Inspirations, Product Design | No Comments »

Inspiration | ICFF

Thursday, May 18th, 2006

I have to admit it, I’m a sucker for beautiful, contemporary furniture. And, two years ago, Eric and I went to our very first ICFF – International Contemporary Furniture Fair. Held every May in NYC (this year’s starts this Saturday, May 20th), it’s one giant, modern ‘stuff’ heaven. We went to last year’s ICFF too, but unfortunately, this year, we won’t be able to make it.

Sad to say, we’ll be missing some of this year’s new exhibitors — and of those, these ones in particular piqued my interest:

The Pagoda60 lamp from Button Design of BC

Their Pagoda lamps have an Asian-esque look to it, and I guess you could say I’m really into that sort of thing :). I’m also drawn to the Button designs because they’re Canadian and they use Canadian lumber in their products.

Another new exhibtor to this year’s ICFF is Brooklyn-based Brave Space. I know I’ve seen this before, but the tinkling tetris music in my head and the wasted-youth spent playing the game means I just can’t help but mention it here:

I love products that offer versatility and a means for the end user to customize its use. Again, there’s a bit of an Asian feel to how they’ve set up this particular set of Tetris shelving since the configuration is reminiscent of Japanese Tansu chests.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Furniture, Inspirations, Product Design | No Comments »

Newer Entries »