Products We Love

Blockitecture Young builders (and even mature ones) can configure a new skyline daily with Blockitecture or Garden City, a series of blocks to inspire budding architects. But these aren’t your typical rectangular shapes. They have multiple cuts and more than eight corners. The blocks require a thoughtful mind to attempt homemade skyscrapers that stand tall, with buildings jutting out into cliff hangers. Garden City, which is designer James Paulius’ expansion of Blockitecture, not only adds greenery, but also new planes and triangles.

FLUXO The new FLUXO light offers LED smart lighting with a twist: It focuses on exactly the spot you want light. Using a matching mobile app, FLUXO owners can direct the light’s beam by scrubbing the direction with a finger. Scrub harder and the light gets brighter. At full power, the lamp has 300 LEDs to light up a room. Or just opt for more subtle mood lighting, with up lights in blue or fuchsia. Added smartness includes sensors to detect when you’ve left the room and FLUXO turns itself off.

Moiré Side Tables Moiré Side Tables from New York City’s Bower design studio offer a chic spot to set a cup or potted plant. But they can also spruce up a room in need of something clever. The two half-moon pieces have walnut slats on top of a colorful molded wood base. Moiré tables are at a different height so one tucks under the other for a variety of configurations.

Vinkel Mirror Ever look into a mirror and see something unexpected? The Vinkel Mirror, created by German designers Nikolaus Kayser and Nicole Losos, offers a different perspective in one mirror made of two pieces. The two mirror halves are set at different heights and slope upward toward each other. The result is two perspectives on whatever is reflected.

Themis Mono Themis Mono is anything but singular. The 12-inch colorful polygon is a dodecahedron, a 12-sided geometric shape. Graphic designer Clara Von Zweigbergk added the 12-sided piece to her Themis Mobile collection, which includes mobiles with a variety of multi-sided polygons. Each side of these wood free paper products has a different color, handpicked by the artist. Sound like fun? Even better, Themis arrives flat and the recipient gets to fold and fold to create 3D shapes.

DecksPad by Focused Skateboard Woodworks A coffee table you can skateboard on? Indeed, says Danilo Nedic, a Rotterdam-based designer and co-founder of Focused Skateboard Woodworks with fellow designer Jeroen Dekker. The company salvages broken and worn-out skateboards by slicing off pieces against the grain, which exposes colorful layers of plywood. Glued and smoothed onto a frame, skateboards get a new life as a fine-looking piece of furniture with an even better story. DecksPad, inspired by the stubby manual pads at skate parks, is strong enough for manual tricks, but meant for supporting a cup of espresso.

Ca.Mia The wonderful thing about air mattresses is they can fold away so quickly and compactly, you forget how ugly they are. But why must such sleeping spots be ugly? Designer Denis Santachiara figured out how to make the boring bed an attraction with Ca.Mia. As the mattress inflates, it takes the shape of a small house with a gable roof. Guests get privacy. Hosts get something nicer to look at. Plus, it comes in a chartreuse-like shade!

SeeNote It’s official. The Internet is now in sticky notes. The great thing about this new breed of sticky notes is there is no waste! The 3.5-inch square SeeNote still attaches to a wall. But messages on the e-paper screen change digitally using a smartphone app. Weather reports, task lists, reminders, a light switch connected to your Internet of Things light bulbs—essentially, it helps you remember the things a yellow sticky note once did.

Stahl Firepit Leave fire pits made from dirt and large rocks to camping. The Stahl Firepit is a solid look for any modern back yard. And it’s made of solid steel but with a twist. Each piece is separate—it’s not welded, making the strategically laser-cut pieces easy to take apart and put together when necessary. And while it’s difficult to compete with the natural elements of dirt and rocks, Stahl kept it free of artificial treatments by intentionally avoiding powder coating. Let it weather gracefully, says the Portland company. It’ll look better with age.

IKEA KRYDDA For those who long to grow vegetables year round, let’s hope IKEA brings KRYDDA/VÄXER series to the U.S. very soon. The new indoor-gardening products include everything you need sans the seeds, power, and water. Users start with soaking spongy “starter plugs” in water. Add the seed and watch it germinate in a few days. When some greenery pops up, the plant is transferred to a tabletop greenhouse, complete with controlled lighting and water reservoir. Don’t forget to water and—just like gardening outdoors in the summer here—get ready to harvest fresh vegetables for dinner.

Bang & Olufsen Beoplay A1 Portable speakers are a tough sell to any audiophile. But Bang & Olufsen took great care to craft the high-design Beoplay A1 Bluetooth speaker to have the sound quality one expects from this Danish company. Inside, the audio technology delivers 2x140 Watts at peak power, plus it offers an audible range from 60 to 24,000 Hz. On the outside, Danish designer Cecilie Manz used the round aluminum grill to protect the precious drivers inside. Splash and dust resistant, Beoplay A1 is designed to take its fair share of bumps and scrapes while still protecting the delicate drivers and electronics inside. The company even cleverly uses durability in its marketing: “Every scratch tells a story.”