If these designy little cable labels don’t make you smile – I shall eat my hat. These adorable organizational items, called The Mark Brothers, are there to help you in sorting your various cordage. Fun and practical, they are the ingenius cable management solution for your home office, TV or music system. And with these labels in place, you might actually be less frustrated about having to fiddle with your cables. The Mark Brothers make a neat gift as well. Available here.
As you have probably noticed, I am fascinated by trash cans. And my quest for finding the best possible one never ends. This next item is approaching an ideal. A clever eco-friendly trash can, called Urbano, allows you to store and reuse all those plastic bags that you collect from shopping in a neat and organized way. Simply loop trash bags around the cut-out sides and push them all the way down, creating a visual of stacked handles all along the side. When ready to use one – just move it up and hook the handles so it doesn’t fall on itself. Simple and brilliant! Will make you feel less eco guilty at the shops too… Available at Uncommon Goods.
Garbage is a prose of life, but its proper disposal is essential if we want anything poetic to happen. Especially in a small space where air circulation is fast and merciless. I particularly loathe the idea of a garbage bin in its traditional form. It seems that no matter how neat you are or how durable are the liners, every so often there comes a dreaded day when you have to clean the bin (eww!). Wouldn’t it be lovely if the bin just disappeared after serving its purpose? This is the idea behind this product. Aptly called Vanishing Bin, the unusual garbage receptacle by Beza Project is comprised of several nesting paper bins. Once you fill one – throw it away along with your garbage and go to the next one. The piece is made from durable eco paper and can be used with organic waste and recyclables alike. It also promotes frequent garbage disposal, which is another bonus in a small space.
It is not a proper modern shop if a cashier doesn’t make you feel guilty for needing a bag. Even if you have 50 items or more. But luckily now you can ease your conscience and reuse those eco-unfriendly petroleum products in style. Easy Garbage by Spanish design duo Javier Taberner Gomez-Ferrer and Nacho Poveda Lorenzo from Obj.studio can accomodate a plastic bag of any size and turn it into a functional trash receptacle. With no walls and just a metal linear structure, it’s an eco-friendly alternative to traditional chunky dustbins. The structure can be carried around or hung from a wall by the handles and will adapt to any room of the house.
(via Inhabitat)
This little yet capacious trash bin by Australia based designer Jon Liow is a great thing to have if you are a cooking enthusiast. Small enough for your counter and roomy, thanks to its flexible frame, the Flex bin promotes neat cooking preparation, easy disposal of chopping board debris, and is willing to take anything else you may want to throw at (into) it. It is easy to clean and compatible with a wide variety of bag sizes.
Cordage clutter is the price we pay for cool gadgetry. But this nasty side of technical advancement doesn’t have to be so hideous. There are products out there, made specifically to help us take our wires and cords under control. This neat solution from Danish designer Søren Refsgaard is called Great Balls Of Wire (witty!) and designed to hold up to five feet of excess wire inside. Refsgaard explains: ‘I chose the round shape because it fits almost all interior surroundings — both lying on the floor and hanging from a table lamp on a shelf.’ His first prototype was made out of a tennis ball. In its current version the ball is 2.7-inch in diameter and comes in nine colors.
The grilling season is upon us. And if you live in a tiny city apartment with limited outdoor space – you need a plan. This elegant solution by Johan Ridderstrale and Mats Broberg, designed for Röshults, might help. The sleek charcoal table grill is easy enough to put together – it only consists of one removable zincked charcoal holder, an ash catcher, and a chromed cooking grate. The piece measures 35 x 35 x 14 cm, which makes it suitable for even the tiniest of balconies. And when the summer is over – it can be easily stored away. The table grill can be powder-coated in silver, antracit and white.
This cool dishrack from Black + Blum is perfect for small kitchens, for it can be folded flat when not in use. Inspired by architectural forms, High & Dry dishrack is both beautiful and functional. It holds an amazing for its size amount of dishes. All thanks to a clever design, allowing to store plates and glassware using the same set of spikes. The draining tray has a folding spout, so you can choose whether excess water drains or not. Smart stuff!.. Available here in Europe and here in the US.
Apparently what’s bad for us can be good for our plants. For one – they thrive on cigarette ashes. French designer Frantz Brougere took this knowledge and put it in design use. His Cindy ashtray not only provides a free-standing place for cigarette butts, it also helps plants grow (monsieur Brougere wouldn’t be the first frenchman who defends smoking). The ashtray is easy on the eyes as well, it looks like an elegant planter. So, next time you send your guests outside with their cigs – let them grow some green.
We all have something to conceal, have we not? Valuables, personal correspondence, bad habits, embarrassing sentimentals… The Secret Stash project by Yi-Ting Cheng will show us how to conceal in style. Hiding our things in plain sight by utilizing stereotypes and visual camouflage – is the general idea behind these pieces. Here is what designer has to say about this beautiful minimalist collection: “We make judgments based mainly on our experiences and what we see. This dependency on visual information can create large blind spots. Thus, usual stereotypes of how we perceive solid, transparency and lighting are employed in this project to play with notions of ‘solid and void’, and ‘true and false’.”
HT Mocoloco
