Love these simple, well-designed office products by ANYTHING – a collaboration between Michael Sodeau and Suikosha. While the products have standard functions, the detailing is anything but standard.

Via Kitsune Noir.

How do you prepare yourself to take on the most terrifying villains ever created? With the Shoot The Baddies target practice boards of course. I’m not sure that Goombas are really that scary, but they are definitely squirelly. Olly Moss, an english designer, has some other great work on his site, so check it out.

via Vagueando

Love David Trubridge’s new Iti Kitset Lampshades. Made out of recyclable polypropylene, each lamp comes with a set of geometric parts that fit together to allow you to make different patterns whenever you feel like it. It currently comes in three color combinations: pink/purple, blue/green, and white/gray.

The Campagneplein dormitory by Arons & Gelauff Architects features an artificial climbing wall on one of its facades. It looks like bouldering, leading and top-roping are all possible on the nine-story tall, 87 unit dormitory. I like that the facade has a program, something that would be impossibly difficult to do in the US. Not because of technical problems, but because of liabilities and bureaucracy.

via Eikongraphia

Gerd Arntz was commissioned by Otto Neurath to develop the Isotype visual dictionary, consisting of over 4000 symbols. According to his website, “The idea was to create a series of iconic images that can bridge between languages, are easy to grasp and, when done well, also nice to look at.” Gerd lived in communist Germany and Russia, so it’s interesting to see how that played into his icons.

Thanks, Mike!

Happy 2009 everyone! We wish you all the best and hope that you and your loved ones enjoyed ringing in the new year!

Though it is not Lunar New Year, there is a chinese superstition about the new year and the benefit of walking out into the new year with new shoes and clothes as a way of leaving last year behind and greeting the year anew. In that vein, it would be nice to walk out in a pair of the Gravis line of IVsk8 (for skate) sneakers. The Filter and Lodown are two of their paired-down skate shoes for this season. I like the wingtip-ish toe on the Filter and the leather upper on the Lodown is an uncommon material for a slip-on.