Another cool company

Kerf Design is a super cool company that mostly designs kitchen and bathroom cabinets, but they have also designed other things. I particularly like their free-standing storage pieces. Kerf is a bit retro-looking (sort of reminds me of The Brady Bunch), but something about them also strike me as timeless. I quite like their use of color and simple, yet fun aesthetic. I hope you like it, too!

Oh, and if you want to have them design a kitchen for you and you feel like building it yourself, they can flat ship entire cabinets to you! How neat.

Check them out here: http://kerfdesign.com/index.html

Something I wish I had (for reals!)

Like most people in the world, we at CLI are big soccer fans. (Football and futbol!) This is why we totally love this cool RS#2 Football table by the Spanish company RS Barcelona. According to their website, the tables are "made in high-quality materials, such as steel with a polyester paint finish. Or like weather resistant stainless steel (model RS#2 inox). And it’s the details which make the difference, such as the rubber-soled levellers, or the ashtrays and glass-holders for the four players."

The only question we have is why do the tables have to cost $4,600?? Come on! But if you have that kind of dough, head over to the Conran Shop in Manhattan or their website. I am too annoyed to post Conran's online address because I think the RS#2 should cost at most $2,000. Maybe IKEA should make one?!

http://www.rs-barcelona.com/producto.php?name=RSprod2

A desk/console/dj deck for your small apartment or office (or whatever)

I kind of want to get something like this "Ledge" sometime in the future. It's pretty handy for those of us (guilty!) with little space for a desk. Lately I've taken to using a lounge chair as my de facto "office space" due to my inability to walk very much these days. (Your poor loyal CLI intern has a broken toe!) I think the price is a little high for me, but it's certainly not exceedingly excessive. Or maybe it is. I don't know. But I like it. The Ledge comes in red and wood veneer. Check it out here:

http://urbancase.com/pages/redledge.html

Cool Germans!

I like this German designer named Stephanie Jasny. She has this awesome shelving system called "Zac" that I'm really digging lately. They are made of solid oak and steel sheets that come in red, orange, yellow, and white powder coatings. It always amazes me how something soo simple can be soo striking. Well done, Stephanie. Das is gut!

http://www.stephaniejasny.com/Web-Site/NEWS-ENGLISH.html

UM PROJECT -- very cool!

I saw this cool side table/coffee table, awesome chair and kid bed advertised at ICFF last week, and I totally am digging these after the fact. I should have admired the "U.M.O." and "Ray Chair" and "Crib" a little more in person, but what can you do? I guess one could just go over to their store in UM PROJECT store in Brooklyn -- 810 Humboldt Street.

I don't know how much these Brooklyn-made, environmentally friendly pieces of art cost, but if you are interested, contact the people in their website! http://www.umproject.com/

The coolest table!

Timber Out of the Box from julian kyhl on Vimeo.

This is one of the funnest and coolest tables I've seen in a while. Appropriately called "Timber" by Justin Kyhl, I think it is pure genius. I'll have to find out more about Justin, but in the meantime, check out his website: http://www.juliankyhl.dk/index.php/timber.html

A true British beauty

Friends of CLI!

I am soo happy to report that yours truly is now the proud owner of a classic British masterpiece! Yes, you read that right -- I now own a red Anglepoise 1227 lamp! Designed by the British George Carwardine in 1932!! Can you believe that? They don't make them like they used to! Oh, and the Anglepoise is also Pixar's mascot!

Check out this awesomeness. These cool lamps are sold in red, black, blue, chrome and cream in the USA for around $250. Yours truly was clever enough to acquire one for $100! Don't ask me how...

http://www.anglepoise.com/Anglepoise_Original1227.aspx

Singaporean coolness

It's strange how little we know about Asian designers. That, my friends, is about to change! While at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York, your loyal intern at CLI came upon something quite extraordinary. "You Twit" by Poon Yew Wai and Lee Yoon Sheng is perhaps the coolest, most interesting bookshelf I have seen for a long time. I don't know much about Poon, but if you are ever in Singapore, you must check out their cool Oon store! Even their name is cool. I'm sure it means something in Chinese or something?

http://weareoon.com/welcome.php?view=furniture&case=you-twit

Cool lighting

One of the hardest things to find, in my view, is really cool lighting. While my first love will always be the Pendant Light by Jean Prouve, the patron saint of design, I really like this cool Pedrera lighting series by Gubi. I think it might have something to do with the perforated metal, which is timeless, or the way light goes through these Pedrera master pieces.

It is really hard to measure up to Prouve's work, but Pedrera by the Spanish designer Barba Corsini is really close! I'm not sure where or how to buy these cool lights, but try Gubi's site on the world wide web. They have an office in Copenhagen.

http://www.gubi.dk/

Here's hoping books don't become extinct!

It would be a shame for us to completely cease the production of books and paper; If we did so, what shameful fate would befall on the beautiful bookshelves and storage units of the world? Yes, books use paper, and paper comes from trees, and trees make oxygen and clean the air. But we can make books using only recycled paper, or even out of bamboo, can't we?

Anyway, I digress yet again. I really like this cool Hive H2Shelving System by the self-taught artist and desiger, Chris Ferebee of 521 Design. It's made of bent aluminum with walnut face veneers. Totally beautiful! Each module can be bought separately and configured however one sees it fit. And they are made in Denmark.

Check it out here: http://521design.typepad.com/521_design/furniture_projects/index.html

Another reason to drink Coca Cola

I think I prefer Pepsi, but Coca Cola is looking kind of cool these days. The company has teamed up with the eco-cool Emeco to make the "111 Navy Chair" (aptly named because the chair is made out 111 recycled PET soda bottles. The chairs come in several colors, such as red, dark grey, lime green and white.

From the website: "The 111 Navy Chair® will retail for about half the price of the aluminum 1006 Navy Chair. You can buy it now, and we will start shipping in June. Find a worldwide dealer below. If you don't see your country in the list, please email us at coca-cola@emeco.net." This means the price will be about $200 or so! Not bad at all!!

Get one! Get one! http://emecowithcoke.com/

The Dutch....again!!

Apparently this cool Dutch furniture company called Pastoe has an office/store in Utretch, The Netherlands. GDIT! If only we had known this before -- we could have sent our lovely intern to scoop out the store for our dear readers!

If you happen to be traveling to Utretch soon, please check out Vincent Van Duysen's new Totem shelves! They are free standing, so not sure if they should be called shelves or something else. But what we can call them is cool, because that's what they are! You can stack them and turn them, and you can have just one unit or up to 6 or so. What's very interesting about these Totems is that they come in different colors, and that Vincent is an architect!

Chem them out here under "cupboards" and you will not be sorry: http://www.pastoe.com/en/9-collection/7-cupboards/26-totem/pr

Suddenly trash doesn't seem soo bad!

We really like this cool trash can/dust bin by Lufdesign. The connection between dual usage products and aesthetics is getting better and better. Even the colors are neat! Lufdesign has other cool small gadget-type things, so check them out!

http://lufdesign.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-10-07T07%3A11%3A00%2B09%3A00&max-results=5

Brooklyn people rule!

Check out this really cute and functional bookshelf called "Hold Me Tight" by Colleen and Eric Whiteley (aka Colleen & Eric). This shelf, I believe, debuted at BKLYN Design this year. It's fun to find cool Brooklyn designers because, lets face it, Brooklyn is a great place.

Anyway, the clever thing about Hold Me Tight is that there's a little lever on the bottom of the shelf that moves back and forth so that your books won't fall over. It's really annoying when books fall over -- happens to me all the time.


Check it out here: http://colleenanderic.com/product/hold-tight

Human-powered paper shredder!

If you are like me, you are tired of having to tear your hundreds of weekly credit card applications into pieces to avoid identity theft! If, like me, you also don't really like those loud and kind of ugly electronic shredders, then we have found just the thing for you!

IDEA (by Yuen'to) had created this cool "Bye Bye Handy Shredder" -- and it comes in several really cute colors. You put a page or two inside the shredder and than hand crank it, and PRESTO! All your papers are shred into tiny indecipherable pieces!

Sadly, they are mostly on sale in Japan and Asia, but you might be able to find one in a cool modern museum gift shop (like we did in the Philadelphia Museum of Art). They cost around $40 to $50, and best of all, use no energy other than your own human arm! And they look cool, too!

Check it out here!

http://www.idea-in.com/yuento/product/byebyehandyshredder/index_en.html

Design duo that really rules!

Check out the Eugenio Gargioni and Paola Traversa of Eugadesign's cool "Pasodoble" desk! I totally love it. It's probably ridiculously expensive, but one can still admire from afar!

Pasodoble, I think, means something like double use something? I guess I could look this up on google translator, but I'm kind of in a hurry. Sorry!

http://www.eugadesign.it/sito/home.html

Art gallery turned furniture designer

I love Jorg Schellmann's furniture! Some might think his stuff is too cold or uncomfortable, but I disagree. Plus, who doesn't love punched aluminum? You must, MUST check out his cool website, and also his art, too! He obviously has good taste.

This particular "Aluminum Bookshelf" costs only 6,500 euro (around $8,800)! Sheesh!

http://www.schellmannfurniture.com/indexSF.htm

P.S. If you want to go to links featured on Cheese Lovers International, simply click on the title of our beloved posts!

I wish it was winter!

If it was winter*, I could use this really cool heater by Plus Minus Zero's very own Naoto Fukusawa. Naota is such a great designer, there are no words to describe his clean genius. I'm not sure if Plus Minus Zero sells items in the US, but they do in many other parts of the world (mostly Japan and Europe).

The heater is especially cool because it has a timer function, in case you accidentally forget to turn it off. How clever. Japanese design is always clever. It comes in blue and green also and costs around $270 online.

Check it out here: http://en.plusminuszero.jp/#/collection/ and click on 4th Collection. If you really want this heater, I would do a google search for places that ship to the US!

*By the way, I don't really wish it was winter. That would make me insane, clinically.

Diesel??

The world has indeed changed dramatically since the onset of globalization, and brandification is indeed a strong and growing as a movement. As an example, the clothing company Diesel is partnering with the Italian Foscarini and now entering the home accessories and furniture side of design. That's kind of exciting! Check out these cool lamps, and more on their website.

http://diesel.foscarini.com/prodotti.php?cat=4&prd=126&id=126&lang=en

Eastpak?

Many moons ago, when this loyal CLI intern was in college, the world was learning about and experiencing the first and very obvious signs of "globalization." Today, I am happy to report a new cultural phenomenon known to "some" as "brandunionization." This concept refers to the confluence of multiple label/actors converging and collaborating on joint production projects. What I really mean to say is that the famous back pack maker, Eastpak, has joined forces with two designers to make an interesting couch that also functions as a back pack of sorts. And better than describing with words, how about you just take a gander at the "BUILT TO RESI(S)T" couch by Quinz and Milan, with Eastpak. (I wonder if these Eastpak cubes can be used separately as travel bags?)

http://www.eastpak.com/quinzeandmilan/