All posts filed under: Things for Sleeping

OstrichPillow Hood

If you’ve ever wondered if ostriches really bury their heads in the sand when they are scared, the answer is, sadly, no.  According to the San Diego Zoo, when an ostrich senses danger and can’t run away, it merely flops to the ground and remains still. The newest member of the OstrichPillow family of products, the OstrichPillow Hood, might not help you avoid danger, but it does help keep your head and neck cozy while looking cool. You might be familiar with the first product in the OstrichPillow line, a soft helmet with holes for your hands to let folks more easily nap in public. For those who want some privacy, but don’t feel like wearing a giant pillow on their head, there is now the OstrichPillow Hood. Available in one size and two colors — Ocean Green and Night Black — the cotton/poly/spandex hood works as a modern Riding Hood-type accessory to any work out or casual outfit. I imagine it can also be used in open offices when you want to show your …

Pup & Kit Pet Furniture

The Toronto-based modern pet furniture company Pup & Kit broke some barriers for animal-kind last March when they became the first pet-related company to exhibit at the Architectural Digest Home show in New York City. The company, founded in 2013 by Leslie Hemming, was invited to exhibit within the shows MADE section featuring bespoke products from across North America.   Pup & Kit offers several kinds of pet beds for both cats and dogs of all sizes, all handmade-to-order by local craftspeople in Toronto. The solid wood pieces are made of oak, walnut, or maple with an all-natural soy-based foam insert, and can be customized with a variety of fabric options made of outdoor Sunbrella fabrics. The Missy Cave, above, can even double as an modern end table, that is, if its tenant doesn’t mind.       All images courtesy Pup & Kit.

Sense Sleep Tracker

The Sense sleep tracker from Hello, which begins shipping to consumers next month, raised an astounding $2.4 million on Kickstarter in August to become the 6th most funded tech campaign in the crowdfunding site’s history. Taking a different approach to “wearables” that can only track your sleep patterns when they are on your body, Sense is intended to fade into the background and let you just focus on the task at hand — sleeping. The design of the polycarbonate shell was inspired by architecture, in fact Sense resembles a little egg that would have rolled out of Beijing’s iconic “birds nest” Olympic stadium. Sense comes with a little device called a Sleep Pill that attaches to your pillow and invisibly tracks your sleep movements at night. In case you were wondering, the manufacturer says that the unit “absolutely does not” track movements related to sex. The unit’s high-precision sensors are so sensitive, however, they are able to identify noise (from snores in your bedroom to car alarms on the street); pick up on light disturbances; monitor temperature and humidity conditions; and even see particulates in …

The Alarming Clock

The Alarming Clock, created by Scottish designers Natalie Duckett and Lee Murray, is a reinvention of the typical alarm clock. When the morning alarm is programmed, the evening alarm is automatically set to signal nine hours ahead to remind you when it’s time to start unwinding for bed. The clock’s face remains hidden on the base of the alarm so all you see is a little wooden box with a beak in the middle. Handcrafted from natural oak, the Alarming Clock has passed CE safety testing. In place of the typical (and dreaded) electric buzz, the alarm signal is mechanically created to imitate the sound of a woodpecker tapping against a tree. Placing the small wooden “beak” against different surfaces or objects (say a glass of water, a book cover, or a metal box) alters the sound. To shut off the alarm you simply touch the top, and when no alarm is required, you just remove the beak and the alarm is silenced. The clocks are currently only available in Europe with a 4 to 8 week lead time, but if there is …