chair. one.

So you're sitting around cogitating about Buckminsterfullerene and you think, I wish I had a chair that would go with the look of my Bucky Ball dome home. No worries, designer Konstantin Grcic has got your back. Although his Chair One is not actually made with the theories of Mr. Fuller in mind, it sure fits in with the Geodesic dome motif. It's built out of a concrete base and a powder coated aluminum frame, which means, bonus....this baby will work both indoors and out. Each one will run you $574. No cushions to speak of, but then again the Chair One doesn't look like it was designed with "comfort" in mind.

moonwalk. carpet.

The designers of Droog know no bounds when it comes to reinventing everyday things. Take their version of carpet, called Moonwalk. It's, well, lumpy and 3-D and fun and alien looking. Like, say, a moonscape (really a reverse moonscape, since the moon tends to have craters, not bumps). Yeah, not really practical, either for walking or cleaning -- I'd love to see how a Roomba would deal with this -- but that's not always the point. Gotta admit, the brown isn't doing it for me though. Yeah, the moon is brown, but I like my carpet colors to be a bit more vibrant. If you're wondering, it's made of "100% wool, soft PU."

cuckoo. clock.

This contemporary version of the age old Cuckoo Clock is not only designed with a modern flare, it's also got some modern convenience built into it. Just like the cuckoo clocks of yore, it's got an annoying bird that pops out every so often to announce the time. But this version comes equipped with a light sensor, so when the room is dark, the bird is silent. The clock itself is a mixture of wood and PVC, and sells for (youch!) $484. Batteries are included, as is a volume control for your new feathered friend.

glassbulbs.

These Glassbulbs from Oooms fall somewhere between interesting and innovative. They're wineglasses filled with lightbulb innards, and the idea is that you use them as bulbs until they burn out, then you remove the guts and you have yourself nice wineglasses. Seems okay if you have a wine bar where lights like this would not look tacky fit in, otherwise not sure where'd you use them. Unfortunately I can also see a lot of wine aficionados getting these as unwanted gifts.

bad. table.

It's pretty gutsy to give your piece of furniture a negative name like "Bad Table" but then again the people at Straight Line Designs seem to have guts to spare. Who else would make a table that's lifting up its leg and peeing on your floor? I don't know how much of a market there is for this kind of, er, creativity, but give them points for trying.

felt. rock. answer.

Todd from Molo sent me this note about felt rocks:

Your curiosity was brought to our attention by a colleague.

What are felt rocks good for?

They have no intended purpose. But, when we first came across them (one of our passions is to understand the factory floor) we couldn’t resist pulling these bits of tumbling industrial waste from a large and loud felting machine. The shop forman was horrified (at both the impending danger and also our fascination with his garbage) and shut the machine down. We scrambled to remove the smoothest cleanest “rocks”. Even hot and soaking wet, the weight of them in our hands and their solidity gave a most satisfying tactile sensation. Now we carefully hand wash and dry them. The whole process is very soothing and as crazy as it sounds they give us peace. When you handle them and reposition them, stack and “create” with them it triggers sensations and imagination. They are curious and abstract; a phenomenon.

So you don’t really do anything with them necessarily but hopefully they do something to you!

dna. art.

Send the designers at DNA 11 a sample of your DNA along with $390-$790, and they'll send you back a piece of art based on your own genetics. Each bit of art is, of course, as unique as you are. You can get your gen art in one of seven color schemes with gimmicky names like "matrix" and "postiv," as well as three sizes. Takes 4-6 weeks to arrive and shipping is included in the price. There is conspicuously no mention of how to send your genetic material in, or what happens to it after they're done assimilating processing it.

windowseat. lounge.

The guys over at Mike and Maaike sent me a link to their Windowseat Lounge. They call it a "room-within-a-room for lobbies and airports or a relaxing sanctuary at home." I say yes for airports and lobbies, but not so much for the home (unless you really dislike your family). You can get a cool matching ottoman for the Windowseat, which would be mighty fine to have the next time I'm stuck between flights.

tag'liatelli

If you're one of those people who's been building a giant rubber-band ball for the last 10 years, you've probably already got yourself a nice ottoman to go with the Tag'Liatelli. Described as either a seat or a piece of sculpture, the Tag looks like it's made of really big rubber-bands, although they're really pieces of QM foam. Each one is hand made by designer Arne Quinze, and you can get them in 24 Pantone colors. At $3,795 apiece, buying one of each color would run just $91,080. But think of the epic rubber-band fights you could have with 23 of your best friends.

felt. rocks.

I'm going to tell you about felt rocks, then I have a question for you. First things first, though. These, um, creations, are formed through an industrial process related to the wool felt buffing pads used to polish optical discs (you know all about those, right?). This apparently involves being continuously packed and hammered while steamed. (Sounds like my first marriage...I tease, I tease.) This leaves you with a felt rock between 4 and 8 inches across made from the purest, highest density natural felted white wool. (I'm taking this all from their promo material, by the way...no real idea what it means.) Each is unique, and you can get them in sets of three.

okay. now. tell. me...
The real reason I went through all that is not so much to tell you about felt rocks (although that stuff about hammering and steaming is pretty cool) but rather to ask you...what in the world are these good for? They're on the Molo site and usually these guys (or girls) make kick ass products that I understand and know what to do with. My only clue here is they show a picture of a young girl playing with some strange object while sitting among some of these rocks. Since all their other stuff is related to design and living, I feel like they're fair game for Funfurde. But what do you do with them???