Collectable Confectionery

This lovely Portuguese confectionery brand Boa Boca Gourmet won a Red dot for exceptional packaging. They were on display at the Portugal Brands exhibition at Salone 2009.

Homage to Mondrian

Italian Cappellini launhced this geometric cabinet called Homage to Mondrian at Salone this week by Shiro Kuramata evoking the colour palette of the Dutch artist.

Light of my Life

The biennial lighting fair Euroluce 2009 was where the big lights were this week. It's a side-kick to Milan's Salone del Mobile and the Italian brand Foscarini's installation designed by Vicente Garcia Jimenez was a cavernous, kalaedoscopic affair.

A new light that launched at Foscarini's Euroluce stand called Tress by Marc Sadler looms in the foreground.

Tress comes in pendant, desk and upright form. The first production run has already sold out. It's all woven loveliness.

Bathroom Basics

No excuses to be dirty now that Italian Patricia Urquiola has brought out this lovely rustic tub teak shelfed tub for the Agape. Called the "Vieques", it was originally built for a luxury hotel in Vieques, Sao Paolo. This is the domestic version. Was displayed for the first time at the Via Durini store this week as part of the I Salone.

Twee as F***k

Jaunty Brit celeb chef Jamie Oliver has recently opened a chain of food shops called Recipease. It sells products that are as twee as Oliver himself but are also good-looking to boot -courtesy of good branding by Pearlfisher and Williams Murray Hamm. There's loads of other nice stuff on his site too at jamieoliver.com.

The Knife

No wonder magazines love Scandinavian style. Even their daily rituals are imbued with good taste. Swedes spread their butter or cod-roe laden Kalles with these traditional butter knifes that epitomise the Scandi Aesthetic. Buy one in Vavknuten

Salone preview

Established and Sons have JUST released a picture of Matali Crasset's Open Room No. 1, this is still a prototype and they have got seven days to put together the final version for Salone next week. It also might come with a rug. There is an integrated light, shelves and filing cabinets that can be arranged accordingly.

The Wave

The Wave is a sandstone formation on the slopes of the Coyote Buttes in the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness, located in northern portion of the U.S. state of Arizona, just south of the Utah-Arizona border about halfway between Kanab, Utah and Page, Arizona.

Via we are super famous
more images from Flickr

Leave the light on for me..

Great pendant lights from Japanese Pacific furniture service. I love the unintentional Labour & Wait edge mixed with the feel of a retro water jug.

Leica Editions

German Leica M8 cameras have recently undergone stylish makeovers with the "White", "Safari" and collaboration edition with astronomically expensive French leather goods doyenne Hermes

Only 500 units of "Safari" are in production so get ebaying. The colour was inspired by the olive green paint used on the M cameras supplied by Leitz to the Bundeswehr (Germany army) in the sixties and the originaly hard to find Leica R3 Safari.

Hermes x Leica

Clinical "White" Leica

Library Chair

Love these 2009 Library chairs by Japanese Misawa Naoya. Available in four colours and made for beech they are perfect for swotting up on.

Bottled wine gets canned

Are you an oenomaniac partial to a tipple on the go. Swedes Jonas Forsman and Jens Andersson have come up with a more mobile, light-weight solution than glugging straight from the bottle. Called simply, "wine can", it won the Swedish Aluminium Packaging Design Award in 2005. Via Ramos Creative

Oil rig

Originally launched in the early twenties. Kiehls have just re-released their classic essential oils. Coriander 1946,tangy Grapefruit 1976, Vanilla 1968, as well as Musk 1921. Love the cardboard packaging.

Cloud 9

Cloud sponge from Studio Leung Studio Leung guarantees April showers.

Dog's get social networking sites

One Uk-based black retriever- Madhu Sqeauky - slipped the net and put up her profile on facebook. Other dogs are not so lucky and continue their existence in social antarctica. Not any more. They can log on to Australian dogtree, (just enter your zip code to see what canine counterpart lives closest to you) or Doggyspace

Young pug, Grizzly, was lonely for love before he logged on. Now he's hot stuff! (see below)

Grizzly and his female harem.(he's in the middle)

Getting fruity..

Fruit juice packaging designed by Naoto Fukasawa. The outside imitates the fruit skin, it has to be said the kiwi juice carton looks realistically hairy. Via Toxel

Saucy strawberry

Kiwi juice could do with a wax

Banana au lait (no joke)

Woof Woof, Oink oink

La Maison de Lola is the result of Lisbon-based Portuguese duo Iolanda Mealha (Lola for short) and Álvaro Ramos. They've just launched cushions (I want the daschund doggy one) to add to their core collection of soft toys like Ms. Oink.

Ms. Oink's made of wool tweed and felt. The La Maison de Lola says that this female hog "likes nothing better than hit the shops for the latest trends, oink on her mobile with her friends and dip in her pool...she has a soft spot for antiques, and can frequently be seen in markets searching for that perfect little something."

Flight of fancy

Boarding Pass Shiraz 2005 from South Australia by R Wines and distributed by Grateful Palate Imports. Get ready for take off, especially if you drink too much of the stuff! Via Notcot

Popcorn for the gourmand

Hand-made by San-Francisco based husband and wife team Jean and Andy Arnold 479° Popcorn is the trad cinema snack gone posh. 479 stands for the perfect popcorn popping temperature and the brand's gourmet flavours include Fleur de Sel Caramel, Ginger Sesame Caramel, Black Truffle + Aged White Cheddar, Madras Coconut Curry + Cashew and Alderwood Smoked Sea Salt.

Performance Couture

British artist Kirstie MacLeod makes her début at Dubai Art Fair. The collective name for Kirstie's couture performance dresses is Dreaming Dresses, she also accepts bespoke commissions and designs and hand-stitches gowns for any occasion. Wear this to the Crillon ball and you will outshine all and any debutnate. She did a brilliant performance piece at the Viktor & Rolf show at the Barbican last year too.

This dress is 10 metres wide and was completely hand-made.

There wasn't much room in Kirstie's flat when these dresses were being made!