Just In From Night Owl Paper Goods

We just received lots of new wooden cards and journals from Night Owl Paper Goods!



Night Owl Paper Goods are the hand-made creations of Alan Henderson and Jennifer Tatham from Birmingham, Alabama. They site Swedish and American folk artists, and "cute critters and the colossal colors that Mother Nature provides" as the inspiration for their work.

All Night Owl products are printed on eco-friendly sustainably harvested woods.

We love their new "Foxy Fungi" series.

Green Design: Bendant Lamps by Mio

These Bendant Lamps are a perfect example of great eco-design. Not only are they intriguing and modern and thoughtfully designed, but the thought behind Jaime Salm's rendering is to produce them with the most minimal waste during the manufacturing and shipping processes.



The flat-packed design also allows you to manipulate the lamps by bending the extentions up or down or out to create your own unique arrangement. Genius.

A bit about Mio's design culture from their website...

"Our Philosophy

Green = Desire
Addressing both needs and wants requires the merging of responsibility and desire. MIO delivers design solutions that fit our fast paced, innovation-driven culture and economy, while holistically addressing needs and wants.

People = Culture
Accessible design is the result of everyday life informing the creative process. Individuals shape culture through thought and action. Responsible product experiences must embody culture shaped by those individuals in order to thrive.

Context = Relevance
Origin provides users with story, meaning and value. Context builds physical, emotional and intellectual connections between a design and its audience.

Awareness = Intelligence
Products that address every stage of their lifecycle provide customers with built-in environmental choices and functional benefits. This kind of eco-intelligence is sought after not only for its social significance, but also for its practical and aesthetic merits."

Chilewich Swirl Print Placemats

(We are just back from the trade fairs in Atlanta and New York, and we'll have a LOT of new to talk about in the next few weeks.)

The new Chilewich for Spring 2009 arrived this week! We love the new Chilewich Swirl Print Placemats. Sandy Chilewich continues to innovate and re-imagine materials, textures, and color.

Happy Inauguration Day!

We were delighted when we saw this piece on CNN about the luck charms that Barack Obama carries in his pocket. In the segment, he says that the Luck Pocket Pebble is his favorite!



These Luck Pocket Charms were designed by Atlanta artisan Kaycee Binns and are all handmade here at the Metal Morphosis studio. The word "Luck" is also raised in braille on the back of the token; significant, because according to Kaycee, "we did the Braille because we want people to feel the words, not just see them."

TokyoMilk in O Magazine

Oprah is featuring TokyoMilk's Parfumerie Curiositie collection in the January edition of O Magazine.



We love the light and unique and gorgeous fragrance combinations, the vintage graphics, and the typeset labels of these Toyko Milk parfums. We've added 4 new scents this month...Let Them Eat Cake, I Want Candy, Poe's Tobacco, and Contemplation.

Pantone Mugs

We finally received our shipment of the Pantone Mugs from the UK today! We love these as gifts for designers, graphic artists, architects, colorists, or anyone that loves color.

Great New Book From Chronicle

The Backyard Birdsong Guide, the new interactive book from Chronicle Books is amazing! Beautiful pictures of native eastcoast birds and an interctive sound chip that lets you hear their songs page by page as you peruse the book.



There's a nice sampler of some of the birds at the Backyard Birdsongs mini site here...
http://www.chroniclebooks.com/backyardbirdsongs/