Yesterday I wrote about some concept Shuriken LED Lamps that were a dangerous but cool way to light your home. So in keeping with that trend, here’s a coat hook that looks like someone has simply stabbed a knife into the wall. They’re made of polyurethane and steel plates and are actually safe and easy to install since they just screw into the wall like a regular coat hook.
The Knife Hooks were designed by Tianyi Chang of TC Studio but can actually be pre-ordered from Bouf.com for about $50 per hook. And if you want more than one you better act fast since there will be a limited batch of just 50 hooks come early May. Of course you can save yourself a lot of money by just stabbing a real knife into your wall, which could also serve as a great way to relieve stress.
Growing up I was fascinated with shuriken or ‘ninja stars’ as much as the next kid. I think it was partly because G.I. Joe made Snake Eyes out to be such a cool character, and partly because they were so hard to come by. I remember everyone having a friend of a friend who was rumored to sneak a couple into their suitcase during a trip, but I never actually saw one. As you grow up though, you realize how dangerous a sharpened metal star really is. I mean, just look what happened to Butters in the South Park episode ‘Good Times With Weapons’. But there’s still some small, irresponsible part of me that thinks these shuriken LED lamps are pretty cool looking. While I doubt the installation process would be as easy as just throwing them at the wall, the effect of these sticking out all the over place would be well worth the necessary drywall repairs when you redecorate someday.
Unfortunately the lamps, which were designed by Stanislav Katz, are only a design concept and aren’t actually available for sale. But I do like the title on his website, “In Soviet Latvia, Design Makes You!”
I’m pretty sure this unique lamp isn’t going to appeal to the average homeowner. Designed and hand-made by enPieza! Studio, the Colgao table lamp is made to look like someone who’s hanging from a noose. It’s kind of morbid, but the lightbulb for a head idea almost makes it seem like this poor chap had a brilliant idea, just before they kicked the stool out from under his legs.
As far as I can tell it’s a one-off piece, and isn’t available for sale. So if you want one for yourself, you’ll have to break out the hot glue and pipe cleaners. And maybe some electrical wiring.
Japan Trend Shop is now selling a black tissue box that comes complete with… wait for it… black tissues! Apparently items like black cotton swabs and black toothpaste are catching on in Japan, since black has a clean and sophisticated feeling to it. All I know is that they look a lot cooler than the flower pattern box currently sitting in my bathroom. Time to grab the Sharpie!
According to the Spiddlement blog who’s actually had a chance to try them out, they feel just like regular tissues but have a faint smell of dye when you blow your nose. Definitely a small price to pay for staying hip.
I would be tempted to pick up a box, but Japan Trend Shop actually requires you to buy 20 for $149!
While this Celebrity Scale allows you to see your weight compared to famous people, what if you’re more obsessed with height than pounds? In that case you’ll want to mount one of these ‘Who Tall Are You?’ charts on the wall which allows you to compare your own stature to a wide range of celebrities. At the bottom you’ll find such notables as Gary Coleman, Linda Hunt and Mary Lou Retton, while the top includes David Prowse (aka Darth Vader), Michael Jordan and even David Hasselhoff.
While I’m not sure where you can find the mirror version, the Who Tall Are You? website does provide a list of retailers, and it seems the standard paper wall charts run about $8.
I’m not entirely sure why PANTONE has decided to enter the USB flash drive market. The company is already well respected in the print world, and as far as I’m concerned, selling to professionals who are willing to pay $125 for a book of colors is where the real money is. But while you can order one of their flash drives based on a specific PANTONE color, I’m surprised the palette you have to choose from is limited to just 14 colors. It just seems to me that a company like PANTONE would allow you to choose any of the 1,000+ colors they offer. Maybe if you ask really, really nice they’ll accommodate specific requests.
At least the drives are reasonably priced, with the 512MB model coming in at $10.99 and the 4GB at $34.99. And since the housing is made of aluminum, they even offer free laser engraving with your name, 2-line message or a logo.
I think I’ve only ever seen one of Nokia’s Prism phones in the wild, and given their unique design, you’d think they’d be easy to spot. So I’m kind of surprised to see the company introducing new models in the Prism line. I guess somewhere the phones must be popular. The Nokia 7070 clamshell has the distinctive diamond-cut angles that gives the Prism phones their name, and while it’s not exactly cutting edge in terms of technology, the $80 price tag is sure to appeal to plenty of consumers.
It features a 1.8 inch 128×160 pixel TFT display, colored accent lighting on the outside, MP3 and polyphonic ringtones, a whopping 11MB of storage for downloads, 3D animated menus running on the Symbian Series 40 UI, quad band GSM, a 2.5mm headphone jack and even a voice recorder. If you run with a gadget-minded crowd it’s not going to impress anyone, but if your friends are all about style, it could turn a few heads.
I was under the impression the world no longer needed basic, stand-alone calculators but it seems I was gravely mistaken. This ‘Jet Calculator’ from LEXON is clearly made to appeal to the design-minded consumer who also doesn’t have access to a cellphone, PDA, computer or mathematically-gifted idiot-savant. Made from aluminum alloy (and boring plastic keys with a crappy ‘LCD’ font) the calculator comes in a silver or gold finish and features a pretty useless sliding screen design.
Both the silver and gold models will be available in Korea in April for about $42 and $53 respectively.
I could never see myself buying a coffee table that was just a coffee table. But I could definitely see myself buying a coffee table that was embedded with a collection of drums and other percussion instruments. The Musical Rumba Series tables are hand built by artist Tor Clausen in his Olympia, Washington studio, and each one comes with a collection of interchangeable and rearrangeable percussion inserts. Why you’d want a table you can drum on is kind of hard to explain, so I recommend checking out this video of it in action. (That was all it took to sell me on the idea.)
The tables come in 2×2, 2×4, 3×3 and 4×4 configurations and can include various combinations of the of the 12 different percussion modules like snare drums, chimes, cow bells, high hats and even a cymbal crash. Since the tables are all hand made they range in price from $800 for the 2×2 configuration up to $2,900 for the 4×4 and require half the total price as a deposit.
If you hand someone a gift wrapped in newspaper and twine, they’re going to figure out you picked it up at the gas station 10 minutes before you got to their house. But if you hand someone the same gift that looks like it was wrapped by Martha Stewart, they’ll cherish that deodorizing air freshener until the day they die. But since very few of us have Martha’s skills (or dedicated army of gift wrappers) Hallmark has made things a bit easier by introducing adhesive gift wrap.
The underside of the wrapping paper is covered with a low-tack adhesive which is probably similar to what Post-It Notes use. So if you can leave a note telling your co-worker to stop stealing your lunch, you can wrap a gift like a professional. The sticky side also makes it a lot easier to wrap non-box shaped items like bowling balls, golf clubs or even puppies. And while I think it’s a clever idea, it’s still not as fast as my own wrapping system which involves a can of spray paint and a well ventilated room.
The adhesive gift wrap will be available exclusively from Hallmark for about $5 a roll.
Related Tags: Design, Household, Unusual
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By Andrew Liszewski
By Andrew Liszewski
