Socket (deer) to You!

Short post. I'm surrounded by deer. But this takes the cake.

They eat everything in the garden. So why not start the year with a minimalist post in a post-consumptive world on these very cool deer electrical outlet covers. The idea is that you put your mobile phone on the wall for charging. Antlers for all three types of deer are the perfect shape to hold things, so it is simplicity itself. Made of durable urethane rubber they are unbreakable. You could also use them on light switch covers for keys. The company, nendo, is based in Tokyo and Milano. Sweet.

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Winter is coming and the steam room at my gym is broken

Saw this impeccably designed humidifier on Swiss Miss.

There are few household items uglier than the modern humidifier. I simply refuse to have one in my little 18 century home. But this one, by the Japanese firm Middle Colors is timeless and lovely. Designed by Takashi Hiroshi Tsuboi, it is capable of producing steam for up to ten hours and if you read Japanese, you can buy it here. These colors are luscious.

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Cleaning the DWR Way

Put on your apron. Your Fog apron that is.

I was about to recycle the large DWR catalog this afternoon, decided to look through it. Wow! There are all sorts of cool items for the home. Obviously with the economy going to hell in a hand basket, shopping is . . . perhaps ill-advised. Nevertheless, there are great ideas for the home and super ideas for gifts. The Fog Linen apron, by Japanese designer Yumiko Sekine is a good place to start. The complete collection, which can be seen on the DWR website, is made from linen from Lithuania is said to get softer and more absorbent over time.

I also found this useful little item. The table brush, part of the collection by Swedish designer Iris Hantwerk, is impressive in that it's almost, but not cute. It is so compact. I love things that are perfectly contained. Gotta love the business model too. According to DWR, "they hire and support visually impaired craftspeople" to make these wonderful everyday objects.
So Stop. Do not send this one out to recycle. Take another look.

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My QR Code -- http://tinyurl.com/58fcou

I work a bit for a French company, Baracoda, that makes Bluetooth barcode scanners used in warehousing, hospitality, education, medical institutions and on and on. So codes elicit a bit of excitement in me.

Understandably, my ears perked up when I started reading about QR codes (developed not too much of a surprise, by a Japanese company) being used in retail. You can generate one for your website here at the QR Code Generator. There's a Ralph Lauren ad (below) featuring one in recent New York Mag back cover. The photograph is odd, because I was in the car and it is from an Iphone. It made me wonder if one could "find" or "design" really attractive QR codes. No, perhaps I should finish reading the newspaper.

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Aero Concept's Keiichi Sugano interview

There's a interview today on the wonderful Japanese site PingMag Make with Keiichi Sugano who made a brief case for himself that others are begging for. The product line is called Aero Concept.

A couple of quotes are in order and then check it out for yourself if you're intrigued.

That’s why although I get plenty of orders for the Aero Concept, I turn down requests from big trading firms. For example, the sound it makes when you close the case. I spent half a year working on that. I wanted to get close to the sound of the shutter of a Barnack-era Leica camera. Those guys don’t figure that in to the value of a product. But sound is important.

and

How can I make something as beautiful as possible, how can I make it without any gaps. Thinking about how to solve those problems is a kind of philosophy. When I was still in training, one of my mentors told me to go outside and polish the car. So I was outside polishing it and he came and yelled at me, saying, “What are you doing? That’s not what I call polishing!” Polishing a car is a way to learn about the making of a car. You’ve got to notice that as you polish. “This part is this shape, that part is like that, all because of the thoughts and feelings of the person who made it.”

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