buildings. of. disaster.

Over on the Moss site I found some very strange "artwork" for your house called Buildings of Disaster. Like any other disaster, I find myself both fascinated and horrified by these. Fascinated that someone would make them, yet...horrified that someone would make them.

why?
The obvious question is, why? The answer is "Souvenirs are important cultural objects which can store and communicate memories, emotions and desires. Buildings of Disaster are miniature replicas of famous structures where some tragic or terrible events happened to take place. The images of burning or exploded buildings make a different, populist history of architecture, one based on emotional involvement rather than scholarly appreciation. In a media-saturated time, world disasters stand as people’s measure of history, and the sites of tragic events often become involuntary tourists destinations."



but. why?
Even if I bought all that, it still doesn't explain why you'd memorialize the O.J. car chase. It's not exactly a disaster or a building. But it is $95, like the rest.

boy. girl. boy. boy. girl. girl. duvets.

Over at Fitzsu I found these duvet covers and pillow shams with the outlines of boys and girls on them. You can match the duvet to suit your lifestyle, with options including boy-girl, boy-boy, girl-girl and, for those of you who are unattached, single boy and single girl.

down. under. covers.
The duvets and shams are 100% cotton with a 250 thread count, and come special ordered from Australia. Fitzsu says they're "slightly smaller than American sized comforters but functional." They're only available in grey on white, though. Cost is $180-$276.

aw. shucks.
Not only are there options for almost every lifestyle, in an "aw, shucks" moment of ingenuity the designers created two versions of the boy-girl model, one with the girl on the left and the other with the girl on the right, so you can get the perfect match for you and your mate. G'day!

looking. for. funky. dressers. etc.

I've been looking around for funky dressers, chests and nightstands to complement the funky decor of a bedroom, and I haven't come across too much. If anyone can point me to some cool stuff, I'd appreciate it. You can reply to this post or send me e-mail at the address on the right. I'm particularly interested in stuff that has a curvy/organic shape, but would love to look at anything funky you know about (even hard-edged stuff).

terra. by. nucleo.

What's a lawn chair? Dictionary.com defines it as a "chair left outside for use on a lawn or in a garden." The designers at Nucleo have a different take on it, though. Their definition is a chair made out of your lawn. Called the Terra, of course.

grow. your. own.
The Terra starts out as a cardboard form in the shape of a chair. Fill the form with dirt, then fill the dirt with grass seeds, then add water, then wait. Pretty soon you'll have a lawn chair.

cost. plus. materials.
The Terra is pretty cheap, too. The form costs just $115, although you have to provide your own dirt and seed. As a bonus, you don't have to worry about bringing the chair inside for the winter. On the other hand, you've got to figure out how to mow it.

loch. ness. desk.

The Loch Ness by Bram Boo is a funky "storage element" with a removable chunk and an odd overhanging lip. Odd, that is, until you take the chunk out and sit on it in front of the lip, and then you realize the chunk is a stool and the lip is a desk. Mr. Boo is quite clever, no?

naming. names.
I'm assuming the Loch Ness is so named because it kind of vaguely looks like the Loch Ness monster if the Loch Ness monster were made of coated MDF planks. I have no idea why Bram Boo is so named, but I keep thinking his (or her?) name is Bamboo. Sorry about that Bam...er, Bram.

where.
I found the Loch Ness on the wonderful Architonic site. (Sorry, I don't see an easy way to link directly to the desk.) No info on pricing or availability.

gravity.

The Gravity from Front is a concept design (at least, I think it's just a concept) for an interactive lamp that reacts to your presence. When you're not in the room, it lays down and goes to sleep. When you enter, it wakes up, stands and turns on to give you light.

creepy. and. cute.
The Gravity is equal parts cute and creepy. Cute because it's sort of like a pet that's happy to see you when you come home. Creepy because it's a lamp that moves by itself! No idea if they're actually going to make this or how much it will cost if they do. Or how they keep the lightbulb from smashing when it hits the ground.

lampadina.

The Lampadina is a simple, elegant light that deserves a simple, elegant description. The base is an aluminum audio tape reel that works as both a cord wrap and (via the holes) a wall mount. The base is fitted with a basic bulb socket that comes in black, purple or orange. Topping it all off is an oversized bulb with a round, frosted patch to reduce glare. The pieces work together to create a design that's both dramatic and understated.

details.
The Lampadina was designed by Achille Castiglioni and runs about $75. There is a nice tribute page to Castiglioni here that includes this amazing rotary phone prototype.

meditation. pod.

The Meditation Pod from Edra is an interesting idea that to my mind suffers from a serious flaw. First, the idea: Create a three-leaf clover design that looks good in the center of the room and "whose ample proportions allow for the freest interpretation of the word 'comfort.'"

okay. but.
Now the flaw: Look at the woman in this picture. She's not quite sitting down and she's not quite lying down and she definitely doesn't look comfortable. Unless your freest interpretation of the word comfort is "uncomfortable," I just don't think this works.

style.
Of course it looks cool and maybe that's all that matters when it comes to meditation, which doesn't strike me as the most comfortable thing in the world to begin with. I mean, if you're going to be uncomfortable while you meditate, at least now you can do it in style.

ak. rocker.

I was in Best Buy the other day and I came across what looked like a car seat attached to big plastic rails, and I'm thinking, "Okay, I'm not usually interested in car seats, but I have to know what this is." So I asked a Best Buy guy who told me, of course it wasn't a car seat. How could you put that in your car? "Good point, Best Buy guy. So what is it?" A rocking chair, he says. So now I'm thinking, "Oh, right, of course, a rocking chair. Um, wait. Why would anyone want a rocking chair that looks like a car seat?"

ah. ha!
Turns out there's an answer: playing video games. Of course, you don't need something that looks like a car seat to play video games, but it is kind of cool looking and fits the motif for race games and fighter games. And it's low to the ground, so you get a good gamer's eye vantage of your TV. And it rocks so you can, um, rock. Well, I don't need to rock when I play games, but it can't hurt to have that feature.

unusual. attributes.
Not that I'm complaining, but the rocker has some other unusual attributes. Like "Grip-Zone teeth for gripping the ground on sand, snow or dirt." (Did I mention the chair is indoor/outdoor?) Not sure how much use this is. Even if you're playing a snowboarding game, I don't think you'd want to actually play it in snow. The chair can also rock all the way back, which, if you did that would mean you'd be looking at the ceiling. Other than falling backward in chagrin when I die, I don't see how useful this is, either.

size. cost.
The chair is modestly priced at $79 and seems like it's pretty sturdy. I also saw someone selling a pair of red AK Rockers on eBay for a $60 starting bid, so maybe you can get them cheaper. The only real problem I see is that they're large and don't fold up, so not sure where you'd store them. They don't seem like the kind of thing you'd leave out in the living room. Since they're indoor/outdoor, I guess you could always store them outside...

sofa. one.

Sofa One is yet another amazing design for people like me who want their furniture to multitask. In fact, designer Karim Rashid created the sofa specifically so he could get more work done. Which is a good thing, because I’d like to see more designs by Rashid.

bits. and. pieces.
The most interesting thing about Sofa One is that it has a chunk carved out of it. You can use the chunk either as a leaning-against cushion if you want to lounge around or as a sitting-on cushion if you want to work. The chunk is also next to a cut-out bit in the back that will work as an arm rest when you're using the chunk in leaning-against mode (though it seems to have no benefit in sitting-on mode). Finally, there's another cut-out bit in the bottom of the couch for convenient storage.




furry. fabric.
One of the more intriguing aspects of Sofa One is this note on the Robb Report site: "The piece…is available in Rashid's favorite furry white fabric." Do tell! And also tell us, Rashid, when we can expect to see Sofa Two.

particulars.
You can get Sofa One in either a right- or left-facing version, and in many many fabrics and colors. It starts at about $3,000 and goes up from there.

yet. another. gmail. post.

It turns out Funfurde readers are so nice, they've been causing trouble (in a good way). In response to the gmail invitation thread, some FF readers have been giving invites to other readers, and the result is that I've sent out a bunch of invitations to readers who have already been invited by someone. Which is great for the person getting invited, but it means a gmail invite goes to waste since I can't get them back (or at least haven't, yet).

So right now I have six more invites but am not sure who needs them and who doesn't. Which is a lengthy way of saying, if you want an invite, please e-mail me at funfurde [at] gmail [dot] com. This way I know you haven't already gotten one from someone else. Apologies for the confusion, but also thanks to FF readers for being so generous.

more. free. gmail. invites.

Gmail just gave me more free gmail invites, so if you want one, reply to this note with your e-mail address. First come, first served. (Everyone who replied to the Monday, Aug. 30, post should have received an invite by now.)

hf02.

I usually don't cover things if they've been blogged somewhere else, but since you may not have seen Erasable Ink yet, and since the HF02 sink from Thoms & Nilsson is outrageous, I think I have to do it this time. So, behold the HF02.

water. water. everywhere.
The HF02 was designed to let you "capture the joy that water can bring," which it's already done for me and I haven't even seen it in action yet. You turn the water on with those lever looking things on top, it comes out the slide deal, then splishes into the slanted basin. Then (this is so cool!) you tilt the basin to drain the water into the curly bit! I think the two metal bars are towel racks, but I'm not sure. It sounds cool just describing it, doesn't it?

prototype?
I can't find the HF02 for sale on the Web so I'm assuming this is a prototype? If that's true, I have only one thing to say: Thoms and Nilsson, stop goofing around on the Web and start building these for real!

sticksound.

I bet you think the Sticksound is a joystick, don't you? As if! No, this clever little beast is actually an FM radio.

control.
Well, I guess technically it's a joystick, because you control the radio station search and volume with the stick part. (Which, I must say, gets a high rating on the cool-o-meter.) But it's not, you know, a gaming joystick.

details.
The Sticksound runs on 2 AAA batteries and has an antenna under the stand. Why the stick isn't the antenna I don't know. And somewhere in there is an on/off switch and a little blue LED to let you know if it's on or off. It costs about $50, which is way too much for an FM radio, but maybe not too much for a joystick radio.