Any functioning alarm clock can wake you up. But how many welcome you to your new day with a cup of tea? That’s what the Swan Teasmade does. Fill the 600ml reservoir with water the night before, place a tea bag or two in the receptacle, set the alarm and you’re all set. The next morning when the alarm beckons you so will a fresh hot cup of Earl Grey. £60
While mobile devices and laptops compete on the tech catwalk, most power sources have yet to evolve beyond a nasty mess of plugs and cords. While club gear has long left our closet, Vondrous Gal has to admit to being taken by Diffus Design’s disco-esque Solar Handbag: large enough for our “every emergency covered” stash, sleek enough for the hip bar downtown and smart enough to charge the phone. …
Coffee and donuts. Tea and scones. Hot chocolate and cookies. The Face Mug is a creative, if glutinous-looking, way of combining them both. Get two and it looks like your mugs are facing off in a vomit contest. $18
Carrying a bottle opener and two screwdrivers—a Phillips and a flat head—on your key chain might not send a completely unmistakable signal that you are a geek. Remove all doubt by walking around with the Space Intruder Multi-Tool keychain. $20 (on sale at writing for $15)
The island of Bali is full of tropical forests and gorgeous beaches. It is also full of used tires clogging landfills. Fortunately, at least one company is finding a way to make good use of them: Indosole. The company employs local Balinese to cut off the tread of old tires and then to sew them onto sandals. Look at the bottom of a pair of Indosoles and you can literally see the tire tread and sense the years of road wear they’ve had. see more
Zarb. That’s French slag for “bizarre.” It’s also a good adjective for describing the bottle designs for Zarb Champagne. A Zarb bottle may have mini scaffolding climbing up its side or flowers sprouting from its base. It may depict a mermaid swimming amongst bubbles or a close-up of a sweaty bellybutton. It may resemble a ray gun or a fire extinguisher. Each design is the brainchild of the Dutch branding company They, which might have succeeded in its creative mandate a bit too well—Zarb bottles are so vondrous-looking that it is difficult to feel good about opening one and drinking the contents inside.
