PopSugar

Sir Rowf: Spoiled Sweet or Spoiled Rotten?

PetSugar — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:00:13 -0800

Would you put Sir Rowf front and center in your home? The Royal Animal Candles ($32–$36) come in a horse, bunny and this dog - appropriately named for his regal appearance - but would your pups be happy looking eye to eye with this waxy invader? (And, definitely, don't let them take a nibble.)

Personally, I think the designs are super detailed but watching the animals melt away (on a two-hour burn time) sounds a bit sad . . . and messy. I can imagine this bust and pillar fitting somebody's wish list, is it yours?

QlockTwo Clock: Totally Geeky or Geek Chic?

GeekSugar — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:45:47 -0700

Forget old, traditional clocks with those lame arms - the QlockTwo (around $1,200) timepiece is breaking all the rules over here. Set in a wooden box with a custom color glass face, this clock uses little lightup words to tell you the time in five-minute increments. Not only does it give you an update every five, but for all you traditionalists who need a more accurate quote, you can check the little (more familiar) clock in the bottom corner.

Need the time my friend? Well, it is five to 11. Says so right there. But you're on your own for the a.m. and p.m. specification.

Geek Out: Which Gadget or Tech Do You Wish You Invented?

GeekSugar — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 13:02:00 -0700

Al Gore wishes he invented the Internet. Most of us wish we created just about anything with a little "i" before the name. Or any of those can't-live-without-them apps. There are an infinite number of devices, operating systems and programs running, cruising and crashing the geek world at any given moment. Which do you wish had your name in the developer's spot?

What Michelle Obama Loves About Design

CasaSugar — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 06:15:56 -0700

On Friday, First Lady Michelle Obama spoke at the 10th annual National Design Awards in DC, a ceremony hosted by the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt Museum to honor designers across various disciplines. Here's what she had to say about design:

What I love about design is the artistic and scientific complexity that also becomes useful. A laptop, a bridge, an outfit. A garden. All drawn from a thousand wells of inspiration and yet grounded in the basic principles of math or science.

Roundup: Joyeux Bastille Day!

CasaSugar — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:00:40 -0700

Happy Bastille Day! While we can be grateful to the French for many things, including croques monsieur, Audrey Tatou, margarine, carbaret, etc., I'd like to applaud la France for pumping out decades of innovative and influential design. Yes, this would include la Tour Eiffel and Impressionism, but today I'm going to focus on furniture and interior accessories. You'll be surprised by how many of your favorite pieces were nés en France. But before we go there, I couldn't resist sharing The Famed and Framed Roosters ($381), a trio of hand-painted roosters, a national emblem of France.

Vitra vegetal chair - $555.00	Vitra algues - $35.00
Tank U Vases By La Tete Au Cube - $71.00	Artifort - oyster chair by pierre paulin for artifort - $1,152.00
Artifort - ribbon chair by pierre paulin for artifort - $3,115.00	Cassina le corbusier lc4 - $2,850.00
Cassina le corbusier lc2 - $3,500.00	philippe starck Louis Ghost Armchair - Set of 2 - $820.00
Fleurs Gourmandes Raspberry by Le Jacquard Francais - $30.00	FLOS Cicatrices De Luxe 3 Pendant Light - $3,575.00
Silver Recamier - $3,249.00	Kartell Mademoiselle Chair Missoni Fabric - $950.00
French Industrial Coffee Table - $579.00	Vintage Gilt Chair - $2,495.00
Cooper's Small Draftsman Stool - $159.00	Vintage Petite Armchair - $695.00
Marais Stool 18 - $180.00	Diptyque Baies (Black Currant & Rose) Candle - $60.00
Kartell bubble club armchair - $680.00	Vitra - cite armchair by jean prouve for vitra - $3,775.00
Vitra - trapeze tables by jean prouve for vitra - $5,560.00	Jean Nouvel Complete Works by Taschen - $700.00

Brilliant or Baffling? Fishtank Toilet

PetSugar — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:30:37 -0700

Seems fans of that fishy bathtub, can get a similar product . . . in a potty. Ha. While this fishtank toilet is still in demo phrase right now, it already raises some questions. Like, where do the swimmers go if you flush too much?!

Instead of the normal handle, users of this invention simply pump enough water with their feet to flush away waste and the fish stay afloat in the remaining water. Now I'm no plumbing expert but then where does the waste go and how do you clean and refill that leftover water?

I guess animal lovers could get a similar effect by installing a normal tank near a normal toilet (or even a picture frame up above), but this model still makes me curious to see how it all goes down once released. If the creation showed up at your local home-improvement store, would you give it a whirl?

Guess Who Dreamt of Building a Grandiose Tree House?

CasaSugar — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 08:30:23 -0700

A celebrated American interior designer, and regular on Oprah, recently told ELLE Decor of his dreams to build a tree house as a kid, saying, "At 11 I was sort of a mad Virgo with grandiose plans for a Palladio-Calatrava-Sawyer/Berson masterpiece. We never made it past attempting to hammer the two-by-fours into the trunk, but we had so much fun trying." It sounds like he started honing his design talent at a young age!

Font Geeks Unite: TypeNuts' Designy iPhone Wallpapers

GeekSugar — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:05:14 -0700

Free iPhone wallpapers are rarely outrageously beautiful, so when I find a collection of them that are, I go nuts with them.

Whereas before my best resource was Poolga, I now have a second option.

TypeNuts also has a reserve of gorgeous, rich, high-res images, and like Poolga, they're totally free.

But that's not even my favorite part: the wallpapers on TypeNuts all share a theme of using type and font-based designs.

I'm an addict, and this only my latest fix.

Can You Discern the Difference Between New and Vintage?

CasaSugar — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:00:37 -0700

Can you tell which wingback chair is an antique, and which is currently for sale in your favorite shop? Do you have an eye for discerning the difference between a real midcentury lamp and its modern update? Put your design savvy to the test with my new game, Old or New Design.
I've handpicked some tricky home accents and furniture pieces that could be either antiques or current on-the-market products. See if you can figure out the difference. It's harder than it looks! Take the challenge now.

Mike and Maaike: Design Meets Tech

GeekSugar — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 05:46:25 -0700

I was shocked to learn that the makers of the pixelated Stolen Jewels from a couple years ago, Mike and Maaike, were also the designers of the T-Mobile G1! After some investigation, I found that the SF-based design pair has designed even more geeky products - and you might be surprised what came from the modern "jewelers."

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