Emily Pendant by Daniel Becker

Daniel Becker's "Emily" Pendant suspends so gracefully, even with its jutting wooden cues that seem carelessly arranged. Its wispy steel wires, milky diffusers and glossy black shades can float over my dining table whenever it wants! Call me.

Check out www.danielbecker.eu for more of his beautiful sophisticated designs. Plus "Emily" comes in single drop pendants too.

Light List 3, and Other Beautiful Things Around the Globe

After over two months of traveling around the globus (italy, greece, israel, egypt, japan and a quick stint in the united arab emirates) I snapped a good few lights that I wanted to share with you that I was, in fact, VERY excited about. Traveling through 5 countries that boast tremendous amounts of historical sites made each and every moment of contemporary lighting and design even more bright and aesthetically pleasing. It's been way too long since I've blogged at NWNS, so here it is: "Light List 3, and Other Beautiful Things Around the Globe":

(BEWARE OF BAD PHOTOGRAPHY!)

I've decided (but am too afraid to say out loud i.e. offline) that I really dislike Nelson's Bubble Lamps (probably because of the IKEA copies that make it into every dorm room in America) ... but I really liked these identical, clustered, and randomly leveled upside-down-table-lamp pendant lamps spotted in Pisa, Italy. They didn't lean.

In Florence, Italy (but pretty much everywhere), these way oversized ceiling lamps covered in dark coloured tulle are never hanging by themselves and are always magnificent.

This seems to mimmic those retro point-in-every-direction ceiling lamps, but with a suction-cup-ball twist. Rome, Italy.

Murano, Italy is famous for its glass making, and if you've been to Venice's Doge's Palace, or, in fact, any roofed location in the vicinity, you WILL see a Murano Glass Chandelier, and there is nothing really contemporary about any of them ... except this one, with its white on white action. Its the vintage and the now hanging from one Venetian ceiling.

Well, these two are a bit ugly, but perhaps if they hung in a sleeker cafe, and perhaps with a couple more globes working, they would have been ok? Murano, Italy

In Jerusalem, Israel these ice cube pendants remind me of the ceiling lamp in the Tony Owen Partners designed "Moebius House" ... just square.

And in Tokyo, Japan, another as-if-randomly-placed set of ceiling lamps that remind of transparent wire-woven balloons. Perfect.

And a couple other quick snaps of great design...

Philip Stark designs the Asahi Brewery Headquarters in Tokyo, Japan.

The fantastic interior of the Abu Dhabi International Airport. A little bit claustrophobic despite its grandeur.

The coolest watch I saw the whole trip. In Florence, Italy.

A reflection of my self, mouth watering at some new colourful Alessi products.

This beautiful moment of great design was, in fact... a BANK. I would pay, to have you guys store my money. Florence, Italy.

VENINI ... a name I knew nothing about, but now is everything I want. Fell in love with a $500 hour glass that only lasts 12 minutes. Didn't buy it. Murano, Italy.

Elbow Designs: Light List Two

Today I'm excited about the part of everyone's body that will never look youthful: elbows. And lights!

Here are some original designs:

And one more inspired by a lighting fixture that can be seen through the windows (gasp) of a new house built on the street where I grew up - but more on that next time.

Battle of the Bandz

Today I'm excited about: elastic bands.

I am so baffled to learn that the newest craze trickling west from New York doesn't rely on touch sensitivity and all day batteries. It doesn't allow for removable covers that express the way I feel or dress, nor does its longevity rely on how many times a day I've logged online to feed it cyber-food. What is it? An elastic band. That's right! And I've already bought a box of 12. "Bands" (or Bandz, or Silly Bandz, or Zanybandz, or, the list of knock offs go on...) remind of old-school pogs and slap bracelets, and are definitely a reaction of the late 80's / early 90's splash of neon colour that has found its way into todays skinny jeans and jansport backpacks. They are colourful, collectable and wearable, and so they successfully work as a fad: colourful so that everyone can clearly see the ones you have, collectable so everyone wants the exact ones you have, and wearable so that everyone who doesn't know what they are, will enquire, and ... during my mere two days of wearing, they have.

But what do these coloured silicone bracelets do? Not all that much really. Lets be honest. They don't smack on my wrist and make me look tough for however many slaps I can do in a minute. No, but when not worn (which just kills me by the way), these bandz do magically re-shape into the sillouette of an object in a huge variety of different categories: dinosaurs, animals, rock band, fairytale or my personal favourite - mystery - which is just a loose mixture of random shapes that I feel makes the game a little more interesting. The categories are really quite numerous, and although they haven't gone risque (just yet), they have become controversial. This blog lists some bandz-y's top ten list of silliest looking shapes which include a bikini top, a bone, and a cat - all of which (the blog claims) fail to look realistic. Some of the people on this blog are quite angry about it too. Yup.

You can get alphabet bandz to spell out your name illegibly on your arm, you can get religious iconography bandz in order to show the world how you feel about god, or you can get the peace, love and harmony bandz just so you can wear your "heart" on your sleeve. (puke.) BUT!!! Where can you get a set of these bent up bandz that, when worn, look like someone's chewed up hair elastics? Walgreens of course. For the $2.99 experience, I'd say it's worth telling your future kids the story of bandz. If you have kids, I'm not so sure it's important.

Recycled Design

Today I'm excited about: wallets, pin-boards, stacks of purple tables.

Lets face it. There are plenty of design companies out there working tirelessly to come up with green and sustainable ways to build their products. It's the big thing right now, and so it should be. Here is a little tiny survey on brand new recycled design that I'm excited about today.

In a month it will be my one year wedding anniversary to my amazing wife, who (thank G-D) either; puts up with, or agrees with my anal design aesthetic at home. That date will also mark one year since I received one of my most beloved gifts from my wife - my Narwhal. The Narwhal Company had a very simple idea: re-use beautiful vintage fabrics of ties found at thrift stores and turn them into mens wallets. From your token fathers day tie to its one-year-later fathers day wallet, no one thought to put two and two together before these guys. It makes sense, it's green, and every single wallet is different. Not only can you peruse their well designed online store to pick your favourite, and then one refresh later notice it immediately erased from the site and mailed to your door... but it also fulfills my yearning for the thinnest wallet ever. Sure, I'm a thin guy with only a thin tie - but even though it doesn't rhyme, Narwhal's thin wallets are made from beautifully patterned silk (!) and so they allow room for all the cards you never need, paper money and more, without making it uncomfortable to sit down on that favourite perspex chair of yours. There's nothing like knowing you own great design, but there's absolutely nothing like knowing you're the only one on the planet that owns it.

Umbra is a fantastic design company well known in dorm rooms across america for their conveniently priced rubbish bins. A few steps into their huge pink Toronto flagship store will convince you that there is way more going on for Umbra than two-way swinging trash lids in any colour imaginable. Umbra has also come up with some simple, recycled design that challenges its superior and doesn't leave multiple holes after I realize that I didn't pin my to-do list up straight enough - I love my recycled paper "Pulp Bulletin Board"!

Although too loud for my two bedroom apartment, Isabel Quiroga's "Superused: Table and a Cabinet" might work in your home if you love you some recycled table on table action. This aesthetic of throwing together old furniture in the hopes that its new configuration might lead to an aesthetically pleasing and somewhat Rococo rendition of IKEA's attractively priced TV storage units is popping up in design studios all over. I think it's brilliant, and I want one, when I have a bigger place.

Some recycled design is fantastic, and some miss the mark. Some prove better than their ridiculously priced infamous originals (see below left - brought to you by Design Without Reach) and some just make me laugh (see below right - brought to you by Rodrigo Piwonka).

Floor Lamps We Love: Light List One

Today I'm excited about: lamps that start at the floor.

I'm not going to try and tell you that this is a list of my all time favourite lamps, but lets just say that this is list number one of lights that excite me. Today's light list feature those that start at the floor. This month, Dwell magazine came out with an article on "Pendant Lamps We Love", so this is NWNS' "Floor Lamps We Love".

You may have noticed the token makes-a-room-look-expensive-and-magazine-ready-lamp: Flos Arco Lamp? Well, this is the better looking and more affordable rip-off that's still too expensive: The Arc Floor Lamp from Chiasso. Not wanting to spend almost $3000 on the original, you can have the Chiasso in your home $448 later.



For the same price, the beautiful (and my pick, definitely): Shower Mega Floor Lamp by BoConcept.



And, of course, CB2 makes an excellent rendition, with their $199 (!!!!) iPod white: Bauhaus Arc Lamp.



Another BIG favourite of mine, is the Luxo Great-1. Remember Jac Jacobsen’s iconic Luxo L-1 Desk Lamp which, since the 1930's, has sat on every desk or workspace on the planet, and the beginning of each Pixar film? You know - the one armed, fully adjustable, spring spined, white lamp that was ever-so practical (and cute on screen)? Well, for it's 70th anniversary, the Great-1 was built. Same light, only 14 feet high. Remarkably looking, and remarkably priced ($9500). You will fall in love. Even if you never thought you could feel anything for incandescent lighting. You will.



Sorry for the terribly cheesy photo, equipped with its overly dramatic female model and makes-a-room-look-expensive-and-magazine-ready-chair. Go see it at your local DWR. Worth. It.

Way to Be Transparent

Today I'm excited about; tiny succulents, things that you can see through.

I love transparency in design. Now, I don't mean the transparency design of 1998, with its tacky see through g-shock watches and calculators showing their naked mother boards. I'm talking about transparency that provides space, and light, and a sterile cleanliness you just want to pocket.




Today I'm incredibly excited about Lítill's interpretation of desk top - hard to kill - indoor plants: Modern Terrariums. These never identical, magical realms of tiny succulents, are housed by hand blown glass that remind of sad, tired, purses you never want to pick up. Their thin glass walls somehow don't provide that ship-in-a-bottle-from-a-garage-sale feel, but rather, this ethereal fauna space that seems static but is alive. Shipped with precise set up and up keep instructions for anywhere between $150 - $800, these beautiful lítill worlds of frigid plants are to die for. squeal.

So, to shout out to my favourite, affordable design store, CB2, Crate & Barrel's trendier and a little less upper east side younger brother ... a spot light on three objects that I could stare at for hours at length; a cup, an hour glass and a set of acrylic office accessories you'd not dare purchase for anyone else.







Then, of course there is Philippe Starck for Kartell and his Lou Lou Ghost chairs for $135 a pop - I WANT!!



... and for poops and giggles, this transparent toaster by Kancept, which is currently under works (said a blog from '06) - actually, it makes a lot of sense.