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.