No, We Are Not Above Shameless Self-Promotion and Bragging

We just won a Best of Atlanta 2007 for Best One Stop Gift Shop!

Not bad for a 1 year old, nes pas? Indeed, we are just getting warmed up. Just wait 'til you get a load of us in 2008. We will be focusing on offering more and more great things from independent American designers and right now we are working with design houses in the Netherlands, the UK, France, and Japan to bring you sublime and clever things not readily available in the US.

We want to wish you all the happiest of holidays...and a sincere thank you for your support in our freshman year.

Peace out. :)

The Hillary Nutcracker

Oh come on...no matter where you skew on the political spectrum, this is just plain funny. The Hillary Nutcracker.

We just got a new shipment of these in today.

(Click the photo to see her in action.)

Pictures of You

One thing we were keeping an eye out for during the summer trade fairs was a really great and thoughtfully designed digital photo frame. Every one we came across in the trade; however, was...well...you know...sorta boring and uninspired and devoid of any exceptional design. Oh well...maybe next year.

We do love this Digital Scrapbook by Rag & Bone Bindery. It's one of our favorite gift picks right now.




Like all of Rag & Bone's books and albums,the graphics are gorgeous and they are beautifully handbound. It comes with plenty of photography paper and access to their website for 50 templates.

Our favorite new wall display photo frame treatment this year is the Finette Frame.



We love the ironic design reference of the uber-traditional and baroque frames set against the modern clear surface. It comes with the ribbon and the jumbo bronzy push-pin style wall hook. It was designed by Michelle Ivankovic for Umbra.

We also are digging the mobile effect created by this Dangle Frame designed by Michelle.

Cubicle Christmas Cheer

Well sure, your spreadsheets kick ass and you totally just PWNED Todd down in HR...but couldn't your workspace use a little holiday diversion? Even geeks love Christmas.

The Motherboard Christmas Tree



Decidedly more low-tech, but equally as workspace friendly is this Tree In A Box.

The Claus Porto Soap Gift Box Set

For a limited time, Claus Porto is offering all scents of their luxurious artisan soaps in this stylish silver gift box. We love the everyday luxury of their hefty signature soaps. What a treat this is to be able to gift or sample all of their incredible formulas in a smaller size!

The Claus Porto Soap Gift Box is featured this month on Oprah's O List and in Martha Stewart's Gift Guide in the December 2007 issue.

This from the makers...

The oldest and most prestigious soap making factory in Porto, Portugal, Claus Porto was founded in 1887 by two world renowned chemists: Ferdinand Claus and Georges Schwedder. Together they created the base for what was to become one of the most important soap making factories ever. In the aftermath of WWI the two German founders left Portugal forever and sold the company to one of its executives, Achilles de Brito. Under his expertise and guidance the company flourished and became renowned throughout Europe as the best soap making factory in the world. Soon after, famous fragrance and fashion houses in France, England and Spain came to Porto to have all of their soaps made by Claus Porto. The factory today is still family owned and run by the great grandson of Achilles de Brito. At this 117 year old company, the family continues with the great soap making traditions that were a matter of honor for the original founders.

Jane Jenni Plates

We just received a new shipment of these Jane Jenni Plates. We love the bright graphics on all of these great melamine plates.



Jessica had a clever idea for gifting these for the holidays. She is going to bake cookies and fill them, picking the recipient's personality..."Early Bird", "Sweet Pea", "Top Dog", etc. The recipient will have a fun suprise as they eat the cookies and see their personality revealed on the plate!

The O List For November

Two of our items were just featured on Oprah's "O" List in the November issue of the magazine.

The Lug Travel Pillow & Blanket Set. You almost have to touch them to realize how great and well...cuddly...these fleece accessories are. What a great gift for travelers or anybody that wants to pamper themselves a bit.



The Roger LaBorde Luggage Tags. We love this new signature pattern from them!

The Peace Sign Wreath

Peace on earth.

We just received one of our favorite new items for the holidays...the Peace Sign Wreath.





We think this icon of the peace movement of the 60s and 70s is just as timely today. We like it just as is for the front door, but this peace sign wreath would also be super groovy strung with lights anywhere.

The Come In Go Away Doormat From Suck UK

We love cheeky, especially on Mondays, when it seems most welcome to counteract the Monday blues. That's why we love this new product from the cheeky monkeys at Suck UK.

Even their name is cheeky. We are extending our selection of British imports from this clever design team from the UK. Thoughtful and clever design that also makes you smile? We can't think of a more sublime combination.

We just got in lots more of The Come In Go Away Doormat. It was featured yesterday in The New York Times, so we aren't sure how long these will last.

Art du Jour! Our Favorite 2008 Art Calendars

We now have in all three of the art calendars we have been coveting this year. Every page of these wall calendars begs to be framed and displayed after each month. The Papaya Wall Calendar for 2008 is exquisite. Each page features a different example of Anahata & Gina Katkin's magical "creative abandon" collages.

This year, Snow & Graham is offering a generously sized wall calendar based on a selection of Ebony Snow's most sublime and signature graphic illustations. It's pressed on gorgeous, heavy stock paper. (This one is going up in our office.)



As always, our friends at Cavallini offered a selection of their gorgeous Italian Art Calendars in their signature large format. We think the Natural Wonders Calendar is exceptional. All twelve images are ultimately frame-able!

For The Bibliophile With Style

Every season, the designers at Umbra introduce a handful of ingenious things that fall into the "I wish I had thought of that" category. The Conceal Book Shelf lets you float your book collection gallery-style. We love great books and we love creative and modern ideas for wall decor...so we really dig these Umbra Conceal Book Shelves designed by Miron Lior!

So easy to install, the back cover of the first book slips into grooves at the bottom
of the shelf, creating a floating gallery effect.



We also just received The Flybrary Book Shelves, designed by Satina Turner for Umbra.



Another ingenious design element introduced by Umbra this fall is this Illuzine Floating Magazine Rack. One of these is going up in our office to keep design magazines close at hand for inspiration and stylishly organized.

Tord Boontje Second Shadow Lights

These new Second Shadow lamps by Tord Boontje for Artecnica were introduced at the New York Gift Fair this month. (insert swoon here) For a moment, we forgot we were there to buy for the store and started mentally placing the green one in our house.



For some reason, Tord Boontje's designs have always made us think of set elements from Jean Cocteau films...at once fantastic and surreal, but at the same time sublimely organic and familiar. These new Second Shadow Lights are no exception.

Clocky Is Here!

We couldn't wait to dig into the boxes when we saw these arrive today. Clocky is an ingenious little alarm clock on wheels, designed by MIT student Gauri Nanda. Here's the deal...

When Clocky's alarm starts sounding, he jumps off the nightstand and runs around the room randomly...beeping his little heart out all the way. (You can only hit snooze once.)

Take a look at Clocky in action in this You Tube video...

Our Current Obsession: Thomas Paul Paper

Chiefly known for his organic and contemporary designs in silk twill and linen pillows, Thomas Paul has introduced a line of stationery and desk products, using the same images that are his signature. Thomas is one of the designers that has been setting the pace for sublime home accessories for the past few seasons. We are head over heels with his vision and his knack for combining familiar and iconic objects with unexpected and organic color themes.

We received the full line of the Aqua & Leaf and Chocolate & Orange Thomas Paul Paper goods. We were...for lack of a better word...giddy.

Queen Bee Creations

We sold out of these Truckette bags from Queen Bee Creations before we could talk about them! They are absolutely gorgeous and we love that they are from an independent designer. Not to worry...we have more on the way and they should be back in stock next week.

Each bag is handsewn in Portland, Oregon by a very small workshop of crafters that are passionate about quality and design. This from Rebecca Pearcy, the designer....

The perfect bag for toting around your daily needs. The Truckette is constructed of high-quality waterproof vinyl, has two front pockets underneath flap, an additional layer of vinyl on bottom of bag for reinforcement, adjustable heavy duty seat belt webbing strap, and a silver velvet lined flap that closes with two snaps. Hand made in our studio in Portland, Oregon.

We have added a new style...The Stylus Truckette. It rocks.

The Atlanta Gift Show

The Gift Show at America's Mart here in Atlanta is winding down. We have found some great new goodies.

The new scent diffusers from Voluspa and Archipelago are just beautiful. Look for them sometime in mid September. We were wowed by the gorgeous new glass vases and lamps from Fringe Studios.

Some of our favorite new items from the show...

The great new felt totes from Mixx. Always fun and fresh...their Fall introductions made us smile.

These new tumbled stone coasters from Studio Vertu with the vintage bird renderings are amazing. Their combination of the aqua and the vivid colors of the illustrations is right on. (There will be one less set in the store when these arrive. We're snatching a set up for ourselves immediately.)

This is another one of the stone coaster sets from Studio Vertu. Just look at those strikingly beautiful images! (Yep...our love affair with birds and nests continues.)

The embossed travel journal from Eccolo is simply beautiful. (It makes us want to go to the Amalfi Coast and sit around writing something in it with really bad Italian grammer.)

The hand-carved wooden troughs filled with deliciously scented candle wax from Himalayan Trading Post are earthy and sublime....with a gorgeous Red Currant fragrance. I know...I know...it's not a new concept at all, but they have executed theirs so well that it seems new. Can you say "Freakin' awesome housewarming gift"??? (We can see one of these on the old bamboo butler's table right inside our front door...We're taking one of these home the day they come in too.)

We were most happy to see that the growing Green trend in the industry was especially evident at this show. More and more designers and manufacturers are becoming aware of recyclable and sustainable materials and are using them. This new book from Gibbs Smith is a wonderful and interesting little guide filled with things that everyone can do to be a little kinder to the earth.

Das Vinoglobe

This ingenious little goodie was featured in Sunday's New York Times as the newest "must have" wine accessory. It's the Vinoglobe. We used one during an event here at the store and we were duly impressed. The concept: the glass sphere manipulates the air flow around the wine as you pour and aeriates and decants immediately. It made a significant difference in freshly opened reds.

There's even a groovy little flash demo video at http://www.vinoglobe.com/.

Modern Design Icons And Independent Designers

We can't think of a more adorable and iconic kitchen product than this. It's the Hug Salt & Pepper Set from Mint. We love the thoughtful design...we love the inherent sentiment...and we love the story of the designers who created it.

Mint's very first product was the 'Hug' Salt and Pepper Shaker. Although the three founders of Mint thought it was a beautiful piece of modern design, it seemed as though they were they only ones. After suffering the rejection of several major manufacturers, the team had to reevaluate their plan. They produced the Hug Salt & Pepper Set with their own funds and it quickly became the number one selling item at the Museum of Modern Art's store. Luckily for us, they were confident in their design and it would not be long before those same manufacturers were lamenting the day they ever doubted those fellows from Mint.

Throughout the year, we will be offering more and more product from independent designers. You will see more and more great contemporary handmade items and products from new designers that have chosen to remain independent from the large corporate wholesale entities.

Decatur Art Walk Tonight

The Decatur Arts Alliance is kicking off the weekend with The Decatur Art Walk tonight from 5pm to 10pm. We are featuring new works from local artist Marianne B.

This from the artist...

"Most of my work is acrylic on canvas. The end result is achieved in various stages. Sometimes the live parts of a painting disappear under a thick new layer of paint. The use of transparent paint means the underlying layer remains partially visible. This method of working on canvas can only be felt or surmised by the viewer. This gives the work its tension.

My studio is situated in my modern home and overlooks woods where the wild life is abundant. This is a magical blend of nature and contemporary environment that creates both soothing and stimulating experiences. This may influence or determine the atmosphere in my work, helping me with the choice and mixture of the colors.

My birthplace is in the North of Germany. I lived in the Netherlands and Tanzania (East Africa) before moving to Atlanta in 1993." ~Marianne B

The Full Line of Kobo Candles Is Back In Stock

We have been infatuated with Kobo Candles since the first time we got a whiff of them when they were introduced at the Gift Fair last year. Gorgeous and extraordinary melodies of fragrance notes and beautifully designed packaging. They are made from 100% soy wax and the wicks are organic cotton, so they burn incredibly clean.

The initial shipment of their new Coterie Collection sold out faster than even we would have imagined, but we just got them back in. (We think Kobo's D'Anjou Lychee may actually just be the most incredible candle ever)

Birds @ Home

We signed up for shop class in the 10th grade with the express intent of learning how to make bird houses and bongs, but we never came up with anything this iconic and sublime. We love these birdhouses from Invotis Orange that arrived today.

The Dutch design posse at Invotis Orange is working overtime on other new goodies as well. (They are now being distributed in the states by Fred.)

We just may have a renewed obsession with lime and orange. We'll see about that.

Egglings

Ok, so imagine Marc and me on a cold, slushy February day, schleping through aisle after aisle of mundane and unimaginative poo poo in what they call the "general gift" section of the New York Gift Fair. Then we chanced upon the booth of a Japanese designer that is offering "Egglings" and suddenly we were all smiles for the first time that day.

We unpacked them in the store this afternoon and got the same smiles.

http://store.heliotropehome.com/urbangarden.html

New Music This Week

We have always been fans of Miguel Migs from his work with the OM and Naked Music franchises, but we especially love his new release Those Things. He infuses a little more funk and organic live instruments into the mix along with his signature house beats on this one.

We will have this CD in the store Wednesday, along with the brand new release from Pink Martini and the gorgeous CD from Brazilian chanteuse CeU. (Since Bebel Gilberto's new CD Momento came out 3 weeks ago, we have been crazy about Bossa Nova all over again)

New Line - Studio Avo

The new canvas art from Studio Avo will be in stock mid June and we are really excited to be able to offer this line from Southern California. Studio Avo is a collaboration of more than 25 comtemporary artists from the US, Canada, and Europe. Our selections from the line can currently be seen in the Coming Soon section of our website.

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http://store.heliotropehome.com/stavocaar.html