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modern-twist

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Farm to Table placemat.

 

I was drawn to the modern-twist booth at this winter’s New York Gift Fair by their unique collection of food-grade, hand-screened silicone placemats. Based in the San Francisco/Oakland area, modern-twist makes a range of products, from bracelets to coasters, in a manner that allows them to be both a socially and environmentally conscious company. Free of BPA, latex, and chemicals, their products are good enough to literally eat off. The line of  12” x 16” KIDZ mats, starting at $17 each, are filled with child-friendly scenes by contributing artists that can be doodled on with washable or dry erase markers and wiped clean again with a damp cloth. Adults can have fun too, with a line of silky smooth silicone place mats in subtle geometric and floral designs. Other product designs from modern-twist include trivets, coasters, wine glass markers, jewelry boxes, pillows, and a line of silicone bracelets that will appeal to kids of all ages.

Day at the Pond placemat with markers.

KIDZ placemats.

Kyoto placemat in aubergine.

Meadow Round placemat, black and white.

Bandz bracelets.

Bandz bracelets.

Hide Box.

Hide Box.

Moleskine Messages Collection

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For the price of a fancy greeting card you can now send friends and family a mini-Moleskine notebook filled with your poems, drawings, or other artistic expressions. New from Moleskine this month, the Messages Collection includes Postal Notebooks and Note Cards made of colored cardboard covers, a Singer sewn binding, and thick paper pages. Postal Notebooks feature an envelope-shaped notebook, ready-to-mail, with eight blank pages; the foldable flaps turn it into an envelope that can be sealed and mailed. When the letter arrives, the recipient can rip off the flaps and the card becomes a notebook keepsake. The Note Cards come with a separate envelope and covered book with four plain inner pages. Both versions come in six muted colors and two sizes (3.5” x 5.5” and 4.5″ x 6 3/4″). A fun, affordable way to make up for that e-card you sent your mom last year … a day late. $3.95-$7.95.

Takeya Flash Chill Iced Tea Maker

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With a simple Japanese aesthetic and impressive functionality, Takeya’s Flash Chill Tea Maker was one of five finalists in the Kitchenware category in the Innovation Awards at last week’s International Home & Housewares Show. With the Flash Chill, you can brew, chill, serve, and store iced tea in one pitcher in just a few minutes, saving time, space, and hassle.

While sampling some different tea flavors at the Takeya booth at the Home & Housewares show in Chicago last weekend, I got a demo of how the maker works. First, you fill the pitcher halfway with hot water, brew the tea in the tea infuser (using either tea bags or loose-leaf tea) and twist off the infuser and remove it with an “infuser holder” which keeps it from dripping on the counter. You then top off the tea with ice, twist the lid airtight and shake to flash chill the tea in under 30 seconds. I felt the container when it was hot from brewing and then again after it was chilled — I was surprised how quickly it worked. A two-toned “thermo jacket” (with a trendy chartreuse lining) zips up to keep the tea colder for longer and absorb condensation.

The dishwasher safe and shatterproof pitcher is made of BPA-free and FDA-approved AcraGlass (a glass-like acrylic) and is stain, cloud, and odor proof. The airtight lid not only prevents leaks, but allows the pitcher to be stored in a refrigerator on its side, a handy feature for those of us with smaller fridge footprints. $21.99 – $29.99.

Heath Ceramics Summer Collection

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Tray and tumbler set. Photo credit Jeffery Cross.

It’s beginning to warm up here in the New York City area, and people can get a little carried away that winter is finally over. Once the temperature hits 60 degrees Fahrenheit, suddenly every other person on the street is walking around half-dressed. I think some men buy special calendars that announce it’s the Official First Shirtless Day of the year because, as if all at once, all you see is chest hair and bad tattoos.

Launching in April in limited quantities, Heath Ceramic‘s new collection of tabletop pieces is also eager for the summer to arrive. Along with a fresh color palette including California Poppy, Grapefruit, and Birch, the collection revisits the company’s previous experiments with exposing the natural clay body texture of their designs. Like those fancy bakery cookies that have their ends dipped in chocolate, these luscious glazes are tempting enough to bite into. Clay is exposed at defined points on many pieces, either towards the neck of a vase or base of a bowl. In the collection, matte glazes also continue over the edge or rim of many pieces, lifting the eye with a burst of saturated color. A new desk accessory set that includes containers with screen-printed cork stoppers helps you continue your summer indulgences while at work, even once winter arrives again. Just try to keep your shirt on, okay? Prices range from $25 (bud vase) to $300 (salad bowl and table runner set).

Bowl and board set. Photo: Jeffery Cross.

Bud vases. Photo: Jeffery Cross.

 

The new desk accessory set includes containers with screen-printed cork stoppers. Photo: Jeffery Cross

Freedom Of Creation Necklaces

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Cobble Necklace by Louis Filosa.

FOC Talents is a global online network of talented, young designers that send in Computer Aided Designs twice a year in response to a design brief from the Amsterdam-based product development company Freedom Of Creation (FOC). The best designs are then produced through a 3D printing technique and commercialized by FOC. For the 2011 summer challenge, held in cooperation with Welsh designer Ross Lovegrove, designers were instructed to interpret Lovegrove’s vision of “organic essentialism” into a necklace design. The jury selected the Cobble Necklace by American designer Louis Filosa, a hollow, pebble-shaped, totem-like pendant available in red or gray.

Says Lovegrove about the design of the Cobble Necklace:

I find erosion a fantastic provider of form and it could be a metaphor for infinite form. What I also like about this work is the contained object which has an almost tribal quality and something more contemporary in the way it is worn…I like its strength and wearability almost as if emotions can crawl inside and live there…

The second place winner was the Park necklace by Pekka Salokannel, a Finnish designer who works full-time on 3D printed designs. Inspired by the concept of parks, the necklace is double-faced with a different texture on each side, giving the wearer an option to fit their mood.

Kudos to FOC for holding a program that promotes good design, and congrats to the winners on getting their concepts produced by a top class manufacturer. The Cobble Necklace is now available in red or grey sparkle color in the FOC online store for €98.32 (excl. VAT) and the Park necklace is for sale on the site for €232.78 (excl. VAT).

Cobble Necklace by Louis Filosa.

Cobble Necklace by Louis Filosa.

Cobble Necklace by Louis Filosa.

Park Necklace by Pekka Salokannel.

Park Necklace by Pekka Salokannel.

Eau Good Water Bottle

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You can design the most stunning reusable water bottle in the world, but if people don’t like the taste of their tap water, they aren’t going to use it. Black + Blum’s new eau good bottle comes with a chunk of organic binchotan active charcoal that you can lock in place in a nook in the blow-molded bottle. After an activation time of six to eight hours, the charcoal improves the flavor of tap water by reducing chlorine, balancing pH, and adding minerals. The charcoal can be used for up to six months and then be recycled for other uses (replacement charcoal sticks can be purchased separately). Packaged in an unbleached graphic box, the bottle holds 27 fluid ounces and comes with a natural cork stopper. Available in April for $20.00 USD.