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Posts by Brittany

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Little pencils don’t stand a chance

Swedeshop

New iPhone app brings order to your IKEA shopping trip

Does that say Liljestad or Lillberg? I can’t read my notes. I’m at IKEA and I’m measuring this thing while eying that thing while…ooo! light bulbs, don’t forget light bulbs.

That’s been me on more than one occasion at the blue and yellow behemoth of flat-packed Swedish goodness. But like MJ said, I am not alone. I’ve seen you, my fellow mumbling and fumbling aisle-wanderers—hands full, retracing your steps a few too many times.

Thankfully one among us has done something to make our IKEA experience a little better.

Danilo Campos took his disdain for wee pencils and his talent for iPhone development, and created SwedeShop.

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Form, Function, First Aid

J&J First Aid Kit

Johnson & Johnson’s new First Aid Kit

We’re the first to admit that when an object’s form has been highly prioritized in its design we’re quick to give it some attention, at least long enough to see if it deserves even more. (What can we say? We like pretty.)

So when Harry Allen‘s redesign of Johnson and Johnson’s First Aid Kit kept buzzing our radar recently, we couldn’t help but stop and stare. It’s quite the specimen.

The interest comes on the heels of the kit being named Best of Category for Packaging in this year’s I.D Magazine Annual Design Review. As does happen, an award tends to make a person stop and wonder what makes the winner so special. So we did, and here’s what we think.

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When we say Happy, you say Socks

Colors, patterns and smiles for your feet

Happy Socks

Forget the Prozac and put away the chocolate cake, your disposition is about to be altered by a pair of socks. And if you just can’t shake your apathy—perhaps it’s part of your getup—then a wiggle of your toes will be so ironically jolly.

Happy Socks from Sweden debuted this time last year at Stockholm Fashion Week with their first collection of 100 styles, scholastically titled “Chapter 1”. The launch of Chapter 2 is days away so they’re offering an incredible deal of 10 pairs for half price. Right now.

Red Sock, Blue Sock

Easily the most overlooked and under-appreciated accessory, particularly in a man’s wardrobe, Happy Socks have found a little niche and they’re rocking it.

Made in unisex styles—because what’s the difference between a man or woman’s sock anyway?—the socks are manufactured by a thirty-year-old family-owned company in Turkey. They’re made of combed cotton, for softness and strength, and the seam at the toe is sewn by hand so that it fits smoothly next to your piggies.

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Taste the obsessiveness

TCHO Chocolate

TCHO: A chocolate experience from beta to bliss

The Chocolate Start-up

We first encountered TCHO (pronounced: cho) while attending a conference for web start-ups nearly a year ago. A welcome (and delicious) snack after a morning of presentations, we’d been given a piece of chocolate wrapped in plain brown paper. Stamped on the outside was the company’s name, a marked check-box next to its flavor: fruity, chocolatey or nutty, and across the top, the words “beta batch”.

We were, in fact, beta tasters and TCHO was collecting feedback at their booth outside the auditorium.

An unexpected approach for prepping the launch of a chocolate company—there was nothing unusual about the software analogies or the 1,000+ iterations of chocolate prior to launch to company co-founder Timothy Childs, an internet entrepreneur and former NASA Space Shuttle technologist, or TCHO’s CEO, Louis Rossetto, co-founder of Wired Magazine.

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The grill that’s hot, even when it’s off

Fuego’s new Element grill is compact, affordable and stunning

Holy patio party

Okay urban dwellers, minimalism fans and lovers of all things tightly packaged in a lovely combination of innovation and simplicity, this is your grill.

When Fuego hit the backyard scene three years ago with their high-end visual masterpiece honka-honka grill, heads turned. It’s a beaut, and it’s for outdoor spaces that wouldn’t be caught dead with anything less (at a whopping 3K).

Now Fuego has obliged the rest of us with its debut of the Element, a gas grill that is both smart and stylish in its design and sold at a more accessible price.

Cookin’ with gas

The propane tank sits inside a perforated panel in red, white, stainless steel or dark gray. There are two burners with adjustable settings—one for baking and roasting, the other for standard grilling.

To minimize confusion, there’s one knob—hooray for keeping it simple. And for a complete array of outdoor cooking possibilities, a stone pizza baking surface and a cast iron griddle plate are available separately.

Itty bitty city space

Living in the city, we’re really into features that make the Element a space saver. The grill stands at 3 feet tall and is only 21″ wide. A wood prep tray swings out (on the 01 and 02 models) so you have a place to set your beer down (or cooking tools, whatever). It’s also on casters, so if you need it out of the way, no problem.

For the month of August, Fuego is hosting a contest to win an Element. All you have to do is post a picture showing why you need a grill upgrade. Some pretty great submissions so far—take a look.

Heat things up in your backyard. The Element grill by Fuego starts at $449.

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Throw a party, then throw it all away

Beautiful disposable dishes made from fallen leaves

Feast on This

Every great party creates a great mess. You mingle, you grub, you dance the night away all while the evidence of a successfully hosted shindig piles up around you.

And whether the fact that trillions of disposable plates end up in the trash each year fills you with an Earth-loving lump in your throat or you’re generally apathetic, there’s no denying that the beauty and simplicity of Verterra’s biodegradable (compostable even) dinnerware is a practical solution on so many levels.

Verterra’s bowls, plates and trays are made from four ingredients (if you can call them that)—leaves, steam, heat and pressure. They’re impressively durable and can be baked in the oven, stored in the fridge and used in the microwave.

And they all fall down

Michael Dwork, founder and CEO, came up with the idea on a trip to rural India where vendors were serving food on large pressed leaves. He has since built an inspiring business that provides hundreds of fair-wage jobs in South Asia, where the leaves are sourced.

A completely renewable resource, the leaves simply fall to the ground, are gathered and where they’d usually be burned for removal, are instead used by Verterra.

The natural look

We love that they really do look great, making them that much more appealing to the most discerning party host. They’ve been a hit at weddings, picnics and company soiree’s across the country and are certainly on the shopping list for our next par-tay. Join us, won’t you?

Planning an event for your closest 8 dozen friends? Order Verterra in bulk directly from the manufacturer starting at $75 for 96 plates. Visit the retailers below for smaller quantities.

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A candle by any other name is not this funny

A Scent of Scandal

Irresistible scents with hilarious names by A Scent of Scandal

Sibling Candlry

Scandal founders, brother and sister Ari Solomon and Heather Brancaccio must know a thing or two about candle fans.

For one, we’re impulse shoppers when the price and scent are right—these are both, and smell amazing. With fragrances like fig leaf, early morning dew, black and blueberry and brown sugar it’s hard to resist picking one up for a sniff.

The candles are 100% soy which lasts a long time, holds the scent really well and burns clean which is good for you and the air. They’re also packaged in a simple tin that looks good practically anywhere.

And just to blow our skirts up, their names are so crazy fun, whether you’re buying one for a friend or looking to brighten your own day in an olfactory way, these are sure to make you smile, probably more than once.

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All shapes & sizes allowed

Goorin Bros. Bold Hatmakers is soaked in style

Get off my lawn

Not your grandfather’s hat (although he might’ve worn one), Goorin Bros has been in the business of making bold hats since 1895. They’ve kept their focus on old-world craftsmanship and quality while creating style trends in the here-and-now with their large selection of hats for all comers (men, women & kids).

Not hat-savvy

Check out the illustrated hat glossary, where Goorin gives a bit of history behind each of the 26 styles of hats. (I’ve got a gatsby that’s been my go-to over the past couple of years.)

I’m having a great hair day

There’s a variety of accessories ranging from bags, scarves, wallets and more. It’s not quite as solid a lineup as the hats, but there are some nice pieces if you like the style, just not on your head.

Artist Support

Limited-edition artist-created hats is really where Goorin shines. Pictured above is the Iron Eye (designed by Retna) flat-brim ballcap—the level of detail in the stitching and variety of fabrics make these hats unlike anything else. Limited Edition hats are available in fedora, duckbill and flat-brim ballcap styles.

No need to settle for the same old, with prices ranging from as low as $15 for a beanie to $150+ for the smoothest fedora, Goorin has your next hat ready.

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Fewer steps, better photography

baLens White Balance Lens Cap gives your photos a boost of color fidelity

Scuffed and battered

Before this discovery, the best way to white balance was a gray card. I had to dig it out of my bag, set it up in the environment…basically I had to do too much.

With this piece of kit, I only set my camera to custom white balance, snap a picture with the lens cap on and presto-chango I’ve got a perfect custom white balance profile for the environment in front of me. Taking better pictures quicker and with less effort—let’s celebrate by taking more pictures.

Consistently better

The baLens white balance lens cap not only improves the color accuracy of each of my photos, I’m saved from having to individually color correct afterwards because all of my photos are consistent with one another.

People have warmth

Is portraiture your game? You’ll be happy to hear that the WBLC comes with both a neutral and warm color dome. We don’t want your loved ones and strangers stalked looking sickly.

Support awesome

One of the best things about buying photography stuff is dealing with Photojojo. They’re an incredible bunch of photo geeks who also know a thing or three about running a smooth business and making happy customers. They might even send you candy.

The baLens White Balance Lens Cap is well constructed, with a smooth, not sticky, action on the pincher clip and a satin finish. Interchanging the color domes is intuitive and concise instructions are included. Works with all brands of SLR cameras and is available in a variety of lens sizes.

Give your lenses a hassle-free upgrade with the baLens White Balance Lens Cap, available for $45-$65 at Photojojo.

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You’ve got something on your tie

TieLab handprints original designs on ties

Tieland

Ties have long been an accessory for self-expression. The suited-man’s best opportunity for a little color, a show of style or a profession of love for bass fishing, is often the necktie. And while fashion trends occasionally shake things up in tieland nothing quite compares to a tie that’s one-of-a-kind.

Lady TieLab

Bethany Shorb makes individually hand-printed ties from her one-woman operation in Detroit, the Cyberoptix TieLab Studio. The ties are silkscreened onto microfiber or silk with a water-based ink that is better for the shop, the planet and the life of the tie (even though it’s slower to work with).

We found Bethany’s ties through her Etsy shop, named for her DJing alter-ego, Toybreaker.

It’s in the details

At first find we loved her creativity and wanted to get a TieLab tie in our hands to see it for ourselves.

We were initially impressed when the tie arrived by the attention to detail with the packaging. Wrapped in tissue, tied up with string and a nicely printed tag attached, it could be given as a gift straight out of the mail (though the very cool wooden box pictured is also available).

You can tell the tie is printed with precision with the design going right to the edge. The feel of the ink, is smooth, flexible and doesn’t crease or crack like a plastic-based screenprint would.

No two groomsmen

In addition to the imagination Bethany brings to the graphics on the ties, she also has opened up a whole new world of options for wedding accessories, and we love this idea. TieLab offers custom groomsmen ties of coordinating colors and matching designs, or whatever other creative idea you and Bethany can come up with. So clever.

Individually hand-printed ties by a single superwoman business, starting at $30.

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Grill here or there, grill anywhere

Take the grill to the fun with the fold-up Notebook Grill

To the fireworks, the beach, the campsite

It’s that time of year again—when we don our best red, white and blue ensemble, look back at history, reflect on traditions past and ask ourselves “When was the last time I had a good cookout?”

A great thing about summertime is it’s never too hard, or expensive, to find something fun to do. Good friends, cold beverages and some grilled grub—wherever you are, you’ve got yourself a party.

So butter your buns and shape your patties, we’re taking this cookout on the road.

Portable and compact

When we can associate these two words with something unexpected we get really excited. Add a dose of summer on the brain and this Stainless Steel Notebook Grill at A+R has us lit up like sparklers.

With limited storage space and a world of fun out our window, this grill suits our needs perfectly. It folds to an inch flat, weighs only 9 lbs, has built in handles and can fit in a large messenger bag if we decide to bike to our destination.

Eco tip for charcoal

fans

Instead of the traditional briquettes of yore, look for natural lump charcoal or chemical-free briquettes made from wood that is sustainably harvested.

You too can be a traveling grillmaster. The Stainless Steel Notebook Grill is sold exclusively at A+R out of Venice, CA for $68.

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