A really great video about one of the world's great designers!

Enzo Mari for Artek: Homage to Autoprogettazione from Anna Vartiainen on Vimeo.

Ice Cube!!

I I just saw this awesome video and had to share it!

Click on this link for an awesome video of Ice Cube talking about the Eames!

Normal Studio, the almighty!

I think our CLI intern has mentioned Normal Studio before on this site, but in case she hasn't, please check out this amazing company/studio.  They have truly amazing design, and a neat story behind the company's origin.  Drool.  I wish their lamp was adaptable for US electric requirements.  
http://www.normalstudio.fr/

A really cool video from Droog

Industrial Facility!

One of the coolest companies on the planet, Industrial Facility, made this cool Dryerhair product for the handmade special in the August issue of Wallpaper magazine. It was designed a little while ago, but I'm kind of disappointed I missed it! I'm not sure if Sam Hecht or Kim Colin is the designer, because the two obviously have very similar styles. What I do know is Sam Hecht used to work with Naoto Fukusawa, who is admired greatly by all of us at CLI.

Which brings us back to the product, Dryerhair; I think it's about time someone designed a very cool and more aesthetically pleasing hair drying apparatus. For a product that is used to make your hair look great, shouldn't the product also embody those same function and virtue?

http://www.industrialfacility.co.uk/if.html

Joo Design

I saw this cool "Tavolino" cushion/table/seat at the ICFF a few weeks ago, and kind of really liked it. The Tavolino comes in two sizes, in various colors and materials. I think it's great for eating or reading in bed. How many times have I wanted a hot chocolate but didn't want to spill it on a couch or bed!? Many! I wonder if they can be used as extra seating?

Check it out here: http://joohongkyu.com/

Another CLI first!

Friends of CLI! I was just browsing through the Milano Furniture Fair stuff, and found this awesome mirror by Rob Gilad! I LOVE this mirror, and I don't think we at CLI have talked much about mirrors since the beginning/founding of Cheese Lovers International!

Check this site out for more of Ron Gilad's cool mirrors, especially IX MORRORS: M7! They are super fun! http://www.dilmos.com/exhibitions/salone2011.html

P.S. Doesn't this mirror sort of remind you of Tom and Jerry?

Cool picnic table

I saw this totally awesome new picnic table on Design Boom the other day, and I thought to myself "I must share this with other CLI people"! So here it is, my friends! A very clever picnic table that can seat people in a couple of different ways. I've often wondered how one can make a picnic table more comfortable, and here is the answer. If I had an outdoor space of some kind, I would definitely "acquire" this beautiful thing. My hat off to both of you, Wouter Nieuwendijk and Jair Straschnow!

http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/14547/wouter-nieuwendijk-and-jair-straschnow-another-picnic-table.html

A cool wall calendar

Although my first love will always be Enzo Mari's Formosa calendar, I really like this DateBlock wall calendar. Unfortunately, I think it's only available in Japan. And since I don't read Japanese, I'm not sure if this does something cool, or if it just looks pretty. But if that's all it does, look pretty it does! I think it is meant to replace the traditional paper calendars used in many offices. No more paper needed! Yay! Anything to save some trees is cool with CLI!

If anyone out there can read this description or can tell us something other than what is written above, please share!

http://dateblock.com/mpage/dbw_w.html

Obsession. Enough said!

Other People's Trash

As the illustrious CLI intern, I had the good fortune to visit Cape Town's Heath Nash Studio. It wasn't quite what I imagined, since it was pretty much a large room full of plastic trash (like containers, bottles, etc.). But even cooler because it was easier for me to imagine the process and amount of work that goes into producing things out of Other People's Trash. While Heath has many light fixtures and tons of other cool stuff that is actually really beautiful, my favorite is the cool soccer ball made electrical wire over a galvanized steel frame. The cool bowl comes in both black and white and green and yellow (the color of South Africa's bafana bafana!).

It's great for putting in some fruits and other stuff. I love mine! Plus, Heath is suuuuper nice and cool.

http://www.heathnash.com/strength.php

A cool clock

Mr.Clock_Hye-yeon.park_Design Product_2010 RCA from hye-yeon.park on Vimeo.

We at CLI are quite taken by Hyeon Park's Mr. Clock. It's sort of a museum peace, and I'm not sure people would really want this in their house, but there are those of us who dare to be bold. Check out the cool video also, and you will see that Mr. Clock's brilliance is in that it is interactive with humans (or other moving objects). I kind of want one, but don't have the space. Perhaps you do, dear CLI reader!

http://www.hyeonpark.com/index.php?/mrclock/mrclock/

A really cool phone!

We at CLI love practical things, and that's why we totally love the new John's Phone by John Doe Amsterdam. There is nothing fancy about this phone, and it has no email, internet, special ring tones, text messaging, etc. Many might wonder why a person would want something with only the most traditional function of a phone, but I find myself thinking "why not"? Sure, it's great to have GPS, facebook and the NY Times accessible at all times, but sometimes it gets to be too much! Don't you agree? Sometimes it's nice to not be sooo connected to the wired world. I'm not sure I am personally ready to give up text messaging, but I would seriously consider it for this phone since it's sooo pretty! Check out all the colors it comes in, and it even has a place for you to physically write down phone numbers! What a novelty nowadays!

http://www.johnsphones.com/

Jörg Boner!

First, let me just say that I love Jörg Boner's product design! He's got really cool products that offer a clean, minimalist aesthetic that really appeals to many of us here at CLI. I've chosen a few of my favorite of his designs, but the one that really caught my eye was his street lamp design. I wish he could make this for inside use instead, as it kind of reminds me of the Manana lamp I love soo much (from Design House Stockholm). Check out Boner's stuff below, or also check out his cool website:

http://joergboner.ch/en/index.html

Design Against the Clock (a cool video!)

Design-loving friends, check out this cool video! You'll have to click on the link below, or just click the title of this blog post!

http://www.gestalten.com/motion/established-sons

Foosball!

Just think, for only $500 you can have this beautiful football table in your very own home! Indeed, instead of paying over $4,000 for something similar, you can play for hours on this super nice Champion Pro table. Another cool thing is that this English company, Made.com, guarantees its quality and craftsmanship. I think Made is worth checking out, since they try their best to help consumers find designer furniture for a very decent price!

http://www.made.com/leisure/the-champion-pro-table-football

Book sharing!!

This cool Spanish lady named Joan Rojeski (I think she's Spanish) designed this cool "Primer B" book-sharing device thing that kind of looks like and acts like a mail box thing, but for books! So, say you have a book you no longer want, but you are too lazy to

1) donate it
2) recycle it
3) ask your friends if they want it
4) give it to someone as a present
5) sell it to a used bookstore

...then this is just the thing for you! Now you can leave your books in your lobby or downstairs area of your apartment building, and leave the book there for your neighbors to take! I actually really like this idea, and think it can be used for other things, like delivery menus, DVD's, CD's and Netflix or something! Or maybe even recipes or a cool poem. Or maybe even a magazine or newspaper! The possibilities are endless, my friend CLI reader!

Actually, I think Joan meant something more like this: "We would pass on books we no longer needed by displaying them in a clear box attached to this mailbox, designed by Joan Rojeski, to catch our neighbours’ attention.

If they see a book they would like, they can knock the neighbour’s door and borrow the book. We remove the desired book and slip it into their box. This encourages interaction between neighbours and the re-use of books."

Anyway, check it out here: http://www.joanrojeski.com/

For those of you with bikes!

Ladies and gentlemen, like most urban dwellers, many of us at CLI have bikes! Bikes are fun to ride, are a good way to exercise and save us from having to walk! Many people in our neighborhood have very cool, stylish bikes that probably cost anywhere from $1,000 to $2,500, or even more! And many of these people dare not leave their bikes outside during the night, inviting some hungry bicycle thief to take what is not theirs!

Luckily, this dude (Chris Brigham) invented this really great Bike Shelf! The Bike Shelf is well-designed, thoughtful and even has storage for books, bike helmets or other things one puts on a shelf. I quite like it. One of our interns who owns a bike, however, is quite anal and doesn't like having dirty bikes in her house, so this wouldn't work for her. But for many others, this is a great invention. They seem to cost around $250 to $300, and you can check them out here:

http://knifeandsaw.wordpress.com/furniture/bike-shelf/

A long hiatus

...and we are back!

Dear CLI Readers:

We are sorry to have abandoned our posts for soo long, but our intern just got married and has been busy preparing for and adjusting to married life! A thousand pardons! To bring CLI back to life, we thought we might inject some humor into your day. Perhaps you are currently at your office suffering from an impossible number of annoyances? Perhaps your boss is hovering over your desk now and breathing down your neck? Or worse yet, could it be that one of your co-workers won't stop blabbering about his/her weekend? We have just the thing for you, if the latter is the case! And they are only $8 each for a set of...I'm not sure, but buy them anyway!




http://www.cooperhewittshop.org/?path=item&topid=3&itemid=328

Canadian bags made from recycled stuff!

Recently while in Toronto, the CLI intern met this cool lady that had a cool bag. Luckily, the lady with the bag was kind enough to tell our intern where her bag was from. Thus, the subject of this post is "Mari Cla Ro" or "Mariclaro" - a Canadian company that makes bags out of 99% recycled material. The materials they use range from used tires to seat belts to leather (I think). Their bags are super duper! We're kind of annoyed at our intern for not buying at least one bag, but not to worry! Etsy sells these bags! You are in luck!

Check them out here:

http://mariclaro.de/ca/bags.html