All posts filed under: Things for Decorating

Halloweeny Things: Luxury Chocolate Skulls, Ghosts, and Pills from FIKA

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Handcrafted by master chocolatier Håkan Mårtensson for the Manhattan-based coffee shop chain FIKA, these edible ghoulish skulls, pills, and ghosts are definitely not for handing out to the kiddies tomorrow. FIKA, which was named after the Swedish expression for coffee break, was opened in 2006 by founder and co-owner Lars Åkerlund, who wanted to create a menu heavily inspired by Swedish heritage and flavors but with a modern twist. I just love skulls so I’m a fan of these dark desserts, even when it’s not Halloween. All images courtesy of FIKA.

Iittala’s Ruutu Vase Collection by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec

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Finnish brand Iittala has teamed up with the Paris-based designers (and this year’s London Design Medalists) Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec to design Ruutu, a collection of 10 vases available in five sizes and seven colors. Ruutu, which means diamond or square in Finnish, can be combined to make seamless installations where delicate, watercolor-like palettes and light seem to melt together like molten glass. Like Ittala’s iconic Alvar Aalto collection, Ruutu is created in Iittala’s Finnish factory where each vase takes seven craftsmen 24 hours to produce symmetrical items that still look and feel handmade. Each vase has the designers’ name engraved on the base. The vases will be available for purchase in early 2015. All images courtesy Iittala. A little video where the designers discuss their design:

Showroom Tour: Spin Ceramics, NYC

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Last week I got a tour of the New York City showroom for Spin Ceramics, the Chinese tabletop brand that has built up a cult following around the world since its founding in 2002. Opened since June at 13 Crosby Street, the shop is Spin Ceramics’ first store outside of Asia. The brand works with a collective of eight independent designers to create modern, quirky pieces that are all stamped with the designers individual “chop” identification mark. Based in the Spin’s Shanghai design studio, the designers come up with concepts for plates, chopstick rests, cups, bowls, and other pieces through methods including drawing, digital modeling, throwing on a pottery wheel, or hand molding clay. Although the pieces are all handmade, Managing Partner Clay Cunningham says that the company produces about 250,000 items a year. Prices range from $25 for a napkin ring to $3200 for a large vase. Cunningham, a former banker, fell in love with the products while living in Asia and believes the company will continue to gain fans now that it has …

Gramovox Bluetooth Gramophone

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While this isn’t the first time a gramaphone has been adapted to amplify digital music, this is the first bluetooth-enabled version that I’ve spotted on the market. The Gramovox is not only a piece of home decor and an obvious conversation starter, but a new technology that offers the bold design and vintage sound of a 1920s gramophone to accompany any kind of music on your bluetooth-enabled device.  When sound waves spread up from the wood base and through the S-curve horn (a 3:4 reproduction of the 1920s R3 Magnovox horn) users experience an organic, mid-range, vintage sound. Master metal fabricators have crafted the horns using some of the same manufacturing methods used in the 1920s (the horn is made in China and assembled in Itasca, Illinois). The cone component is spun on a lathe and the neck is stamped out of sheets of steel. Afterward, these parts are hand-welded together, polished, and powder-coated black. The inner cavity of the walnut wood base (which I wish was a bit more elegant than a brick-shape) is CNC-milled to accommodate the horn hole, speaker, and …

Formwork Desk Accessories

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  Designed by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin for Herman Miller‘s Objects program, Formwork is a modular system of containers that can be arranged, stacked, and combined to best organize the gadgets and desk accessories that you need closest at hand. The small and large trays feature cantilevered ledges for easy stacking and access. For the collection’s  large and small boxes, designed for bulkier items, the designers added removable lids and holes that can double as cup holders. The media stand is angled on a silicon base so that it stays in place, not matter how many times you toss your phone on it.  All images courtesy of Herman Miller.

Christian Lacroix Maison’s New Stationery Collection by Libretto Group

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Launched in 2010, the Christian Lacroix “Papier” range of stationary included notebooks, sketch pads, correspondence, and greeting and birthday cards. The newest collection, which applies fresh new graphics and techniques that are truly Lacroix, includes desk boxes, a butterfly paperweight (with its own colorful box), notebooks with stunning endpapers, notecards, and even an animal jigsaw puzzle.