And thus begins the posts from the all the Swedish shopping i couldn't resist that led to an inevitable Rimowa purchase... It was really quite bizarre trying to explain to the US immigration fellow what i did and why i was declaring things like toys, a watering can, a bird feeder, a suitcase and more randomness on my customs form... somehow all of this leads to him telling me about how he's retiring soon and looking to redecorate his house and chatting about products (with a huge line waiting behind me! Oh! The guilt!)

So firstly, the watering can i found at my favorite, Design Torget. I was smitten. So simple. So iconic. So multipurpose. (Come on, get creative... imagine serving drinks from it? crazy cocktail serving contraption for shots straight into your mouth?) Part of the Born in Sweden collection, this is the Watering Can designed by Pascal Charmolu. It was apparently a nominee for the Årets Sak Design Award 2008. A simple stainless steel cylinder with a rubber hose attached to the bottom... and a magnet holds the hose to the cylinder to stop the flow... and simply playing with gravity you can adjust the water flow and strength... It's so fun! And can also make for a gorgeous vase as it sits on the shelf... Of course i bought the vibrant red. See more pics of the details and awesome packaging on the next page!

p.s.
how awesome is the silhouette of the watering can?

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Tags: gifts - plants - shopping - stockholm - sweden - water

I'm extra giddy about this one ~ my old grad school friends from the Domus/Milan days ~ Jenny Lemieux and Leo Corrales ~ you may remember them as Toronto based Hero Design Lab which did the playful NotConcept series with NOTCOT a while back... have their first series of products Hero 365 showing at ICFF 09!!! Their first two products are the RC-1 Rain Collector and the DR-1 Clothes Dryer. With these "Extraordinary resource saving objects for everyday life" ~ they have taken simple ways to save energy and water, revamped some traditional concept, and made them beautifully functional. Take a look at more pics of these pieces on the next page!

p.s.
And on living vicariously ~ having never had a booth of my own, it's been so fun to share in their excitement watching people react to their products after seeing sketches and the progress on these pieces over the last few months ~ hearing their stories of the drive to NY from Toronto with their booth components ~ and seeing how beautifully it all came together! Also ~ because of them, i got to meet Dan Funderburgh!!! (He stopped by and was chatting with them about the product while i was there! And i got all excited!)

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Tags: furniture - gifts - green - HERO-Design-Lab - icff - shopping - water

Quickly, move past the fugliness, i'm really hoping that's just how it feels in the product shots, and that in your hand its smaller and less bloated seeming (4.08 x 2.63 x 1.92 in./103.6 x 66.9 x 48.8mm) .... ANYHOW, moving along, firstly, it's about time Canon has an everything-proof camera ~ the new Canon D10 waterproof to 33ft, freezeproof, and shockproof! We've had those little pentax optio waterproofs of various generations around for random adventures for some time now, but i've always preferred Canon... And thank goodness you can "customize" the casing and swap off that turquoisey faceplate... perhaps that's their brilliant way to convince most to buy the accessory kit? BUT, the real feature i wanted to show you... did you see the way the various strap options attach to the body? I'm really curious to see how that feels in person and how it works exactly... glad to see Canon branching out with the design details, with the crazy weather we seem to be having all over the world these days this sounds like the perfect "have on you at all times" camera. See the detail shots on the next page!

p.s.
Canon, why no HD video?

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Tags: camera - fire - gifts - photography - shopping - technology - water

UPDATE: a winner has been chosen and emailed! Thank you for all of your entries!

Jimmyjane launches their new Form 6 massager and you can win it! Just leave an amusing comment as to why you need this $185 designer massager more than anyone else, and i'll pick someone to send to the nice folks at jimmyjane once i have free time in Paris this week (hopping a flight at 3:30 today!).

This new Jimmyjane Form 6 massager is now completely waterproof, completely re-engineered with super subtle protruding buttons making the massager completely seamless/handle-less, and the gorgeous carrying case also acts as its storage/travel case and charger all in one! The original Form 6 picked up an IDEA award from BusinessWeed and the Industrial Designers Society of America, and honestly, i think this one far surpasses the original in design. So see a full unboxing and closeups of the details to this gorgeous new design on the next page, and don't forget to leave a comment to WIN IT!

p.s.
Unexpected excerpt from the press release, "FORM 6 has been embraced as the gold standard by the sexual wellbeing market, where it is the product of choice for leading retailers and sex columnists. It has also been a crossover hit, performing as the best-selling premium handheld vibrating massager in top retailers for therapeutic massagers in the US, tripling their sales expectations."

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Tags: gifts - massage - sex - shopping - technology - toys - water

Super Soaker "the original high performance blaster" Bottle Shot!!! Finally a fabulous upcycling use for all those empty water bottles you have, but are not supposed to have anymore. I am now up in SF (just drove up yesterday, hence the digital silence), and on the way up stopped by a target in the middle of nearly no where when i got tired... and couldn't resist this 5$ Super Soaker Bottle Shot! You can attach any bottle to it up to 2 liters (i'm dying to go find a gorgeous 2 liter bottle to try). Awesome thing, great water pressure (just used it to wash linhchi's windows while hanging out of them, and some hipsters totally stopped and watched which was awkward once i noticed) - shoots up to 20 ft, but we have yet to measure that... and unfortunately it doesn't pressure up like the old super soakers, so when you pump, it shoots! The only downfall is it is a little leaky around the pump - i tried to take it apart, but its 5$, plastic, and seems to be glued together... so we might hack it up.

On random ideas... why are there no designer water guns? We should have a competition, or just a friendly water gun design themed week/month/etc ~ i bet even modding some super soakers, we could make some incredible things... that lead to a designer water fight? Anyhow, i digress, see the pics of the awesome little water gun that can be expanded to have so much ammo on the next page!

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Tags: gifts - green - guns - kids - shopping - toys - water

The show stealer at GLOW yesterday was hands down, Usman Haque's Primal Source. Ask anyone who went what the best thing they saw was and odds are they will say "that giant fountain projection thing".

On so many levels, this was an incredible art installation ~ a GIANT screen of water that with rear projection, set up such that the dark night sky served as the perfect backdrop for the perfectly clear visualizations - but it's not just about watching, the group interaction element was there too: a series of microphones against the fence encourage the audience to participate by screaming into them in order to directly alter the visualizations. It was the only piece that truly sucked everyone into it, and kept them there for ages. Kids of all ages were absolutely mesmerized. And yes, i admit, it was one of the first things i was drawn to, even from up at the park - and i went back multiple times in that 12 hour window... and there were ALWAYS crowds at the piece... even at 5am. See images of Usman Haque's Primal Source from all angles on the next page ~ as well as a video to give you the full effect of how awesome this was to behold in person!

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Tags: art - events - glow - processing - projection - technology - water

Activate Drinks... the packaging grabbed me when i heard about this a few weeks back, and i couldn't resist giving them a spin in person... a 4 pack of these Activate Drinks showed up today, and while it feels gimmicky, the graphic design on the bottle/site/case are nice and clean... and the cap was fun to play with!

Basically, they claim that vitamins lose their potency in water over time - so to keep things fresh, the vitamins are stored in the cap. When ready, you twist the blue part of the cap, releasing what looks like Tang/Crystal Light into the water, give it a bit of a shake, and *poof* you've made your own Vitamin Water. So far i only tasted the Orange one, and yes it was a bit like tang... I even made a quick little video for you on the next page to take a look at how it works, and pics of the cap before and after breaking, so you can see exactly how it holds/releases the powder.

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Tags: drinks - packaging - review - water

Also part of the GE Ecomagination ad campaign is 'Fishing', an adorably sweet desalination advert where "Chaos breaks out aboard a Norwegian boat when its fishermen start harvesting bottles of fresh water straight from the sea." The music is really a nice touch on this ad spot. Embedded after the jump!

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Tags: advertising - bottled water - fishing - video - water

A new entry in the bottled water market, Y Water, comes fresh out of Venice Beach ~ has a playful bottle designed by Yves Behar ~ and can be built into crazy structures... oh, and they are also targeted at kids, and are organic, low calorie drinks chock full of vitamins and minerals! "Y Water's attention-getting names—Muscle Water, Bone Water, Immune Water, and Brain Water—communicate the idea that the ingredients are the building blocks of healthier bodies." And there's the green angle too: bottles are 100% recyclable and 100% reusable as a creative developmental aid... And perhaps just as fun, are the crazy illustrations all over the Y Water site. See images of all after the jump!

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Tags: drinks - gifts - kids - packaging - shopping - toys - water