I am not sure exactly how functional the Homo sapiens Kitchen Stone is, but it looks like a good idea to me. Part grinder, sharpener, chopper, and assorted other -er’s, the stone is a primitive tool that looks like something that early man really used. Designed by Marie Garnier.

I came across one of these Bumper Issue bags from Crumpler yesterday and I was really impressed by the build quality. It feels like a nice balance between durable and lightweight. It carries about 450 cubes and has an spot for a hydration bladder and the tube comes straight through the shoulder strap. The back is mesh padded for sweat evaporation. And even though it’s small, it’s still got compression straps in case you don’t have anything to pack with you but don’t want the shape flapping around. It’s hard to see in the pictures, but there are even reflector tabs stitched behind the clips for the compression straps. The bag is full of these very well-thought details.

Spotted these gorgeous pencil sharpeners by Torsten Neeland over at Omami.ru. Love the simplicity of the shape and the height of the sharpener.

Torsten has some pretty nice product designs in his portfolio, including gorgeous walnut veneer salad cutlery for Donna Karan Home (below) – another exercise in simplicity of form. The thinness of the veneer reinforces the sculptural form of the cutlery.

Finally, hello funky rug (below), which actually looks more like a plaster relief, but in reality was fabricated with some special weaving technique that allows for a 3D surface.

It seems like everyone is getting into the headphones game and the newest ones I’ve seen are the Domepiece from Matix. Who can argue with simplicity of black, gold and a single cable? I’d rather have that than yellow, purple, red, green, orange, cats, skulls, etc.

Jorine Oosterhoff just released a new new line of coat hooks (called the ZOO) for Puhlmann. The coat hooks are available in a variety of colors, but my favorite is the white version.

The Shark watch from Freestyle is super classic and comes with a lifetime warranty. So even if it’s not indestructible, you can get a new one if your old one pops a gasket. And there are a lot of colorways to choose from – the digital camo is a great version.

Every once in a while I see one of those wooden balance bikes that toddlers use to learn how to balance on a bike before they move up to one with pedals. It seems like a really smart idea and when we have kids, they will definitely have one. But why have a plain old boring unfinished wood bike? Part of being a kid is pretending you are using something way out of your league – like a knight rider big wheel.

Kiddimoto makes wooden balance bikes in all sorts of styles – superbikes, choppers, scooters, and scramblers. They are real moto fans it shows in the products. Check out the different shapes, they will make you smile if you imagine yourself as a kid riding them around in the driveway.

Two great projects from one of my new favorite blogs, For Print Only. FPO showcases their favorite printed projects and provides a breakdown of each project – price, printing specifications, time to produce, etc. It’s a great resource – check it out!

The first project (above) is the San Francisco Center for the Book’s Small Plates edition, Rabbitpox. The book was both written and illustrated by Allison Weiner. Only 100 books were made – I believe it was entirely letterpressed and was saddle-stitched with rabbit fur thread and housed in a handmade box. More specs here.

The second project (below) is a brochure made for Eco-Urban Homes, designed by Toky. It comes with series of individual cards, each which has been laser cut to create an interlocking house of cards. The cover was routed from bamboo and the whole brochure is bound together by a custom rubber band. More specs here.

Commissioned by the city of New York and designed by Fuseproject, the new helmet ‘caps’ are meant to make helmets more customized, more fashionable, and less conspicuous. I think it’s a great idea except for the fact that they almost become more conspicuous because of the added bulk of the ‘caps’ and the bright colors used. And I would rather not wear something that looks like a diaper on my helmet.

If you’re going to go for one with flare, why not check out the Watts helmet by Bern (below). It’s way slicker and they are designed and tested by riders. The shell comes in lots of solids, graphics, and color blocks, it has an integral visor, plus there are lots of options like knit liners and audio hook-ups.

NYC helmet via Wired

The MSR E-Wing Ultralight Shelter is a more sophisticated version of an improvised poncho shelter. Small, lightweight and able to be configured in multiple ways and locations, the E-Wing could save your life some day. Because the E-Wing doubles as a poncho, it could be used for a lot more than just a shelter. See the US Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76 for more poncho uses and shelter types.

And I recommend any worst-case minds out there to get a copy of the survival manual – better to know it and not need it than to need it and not know it. As it is the Army’s manual, it is all terrestrial information. If you end up lost at sea, you are out of luck.