I love this book by Alex Ostrowski – The Happiest Book, my favorite part being that only one copy exists. From Alex:

In one way or another we are all looking for happiness. Some people even say that man’s sole purpose for existence is to hunt down and capture this intangible and elusive treasure. In 2006 researchers at The University of Leicester concluded that Denmark is the happiest country in the world – this was good enough for me. In March 2008 I made the decision to visit happiness, and embarked upon a pilgrimage to find it. My experiences are presented in this book.

Only one copy exists.

Via Swissmiss.

Harry White’s Numbers Jug – an interesting measuring cup.

Banksy went to New Orleans recently to “battle with the Gray Ghost, a notorious vigilante who’s been systematically painting over any graffiti he can find with the same shade of gray paint since 1997″. While there he did a bunch of great work – I love the site specificity of each drawing.

Benjamin Hubert sent over his new product lines, set to debut at 100% Futures in London in a few weeks. My favorite is his Labware lamp series which are inspired by laboratory beakers, and showcase the purity of glass blowing through the range of large, geometric glass lamps. Furthering the laboratory idea, each lamp comes with a Portuguese bark topped cork.

The Diamond Chair seems inspired by the Eames’ fiberglass shell chairs, but has the surprising detail of an upholstered fabric seat.

Benjamin used thin walled concrete to make his Heavy Lights. I like the playful practicality of the ceramic Yumbrella bowl and banana tree

You can get with this, or you can get with that. Clarks Originals are back in the mainstream again but these two are harder to find. The Akasha (left) and Point Taken (right) are each pimpin in their own special way. The two can be found on the Clarks Japan website but not the US one. So unless you live across the ocean, you may have a hard time finding a pair around here.

I saw Letterpress Delicacies on Creature Comforts this morning and love their work – slightly off-beat letterpress goods that are affordable with most items priced at $3.25.

I’m finally cleaning out my inbox and found an email from James at Nerve.com that got buried in the emails accumulated during our vacation to Seattle – Nerve put out a design issue at the end of July that’s worth taking a look at – my favorite articles are Unbasic Blak – a collection of home furnishings (in black, duh), and the evolution of the limousine. Apparently, in the early 1900s, any car that had an enclosed passenger compartment was considered the ultimate status symbol, especially when you consider the fact that at the time there were only 8,000 registered cars. Check out the rest of the Design Issue here.

The Frozen Smiles and Fossiliced novelty ice cube trays from Fred & Friends would bring a smile to anyone’s face, no matter how much of a depressed alcoholic they may or may not be. They look really fun but I wish the trays were larger to make more ice cubes.

Who says architectural grilles have to be ugly or boring? 0112 and 0104 are part of the hyper grilles line by Milgo Bufkin in Brooklyn, NY. Mathematics determine the repeating/changing patterns and varying degrees of openness in the series. Perhaps not for every one’s walls, but they might make nice trivet’s too.

I’m digging Tiina Hakala’s Stor chair – love the idea of stuffing unsightly things underneath my chair – I need that! Too bad this is just a conceptual piece – I hope she finds a manufacturer!