Reading Lamp — bureaudebank.

Engrave your moleskine notebooks with your own artwork, available from Engrave, who can also engrave your laptop.

Wish #7: A planner that isn’t a planner, but more of a to do list and life organizer.

I’m a list-maker. I make lots of to-do lists and love crossing things off my lists. Nothing gives me more satisfaction than completing a list and creating a new one. Currently, they are all over the place; I have about 20 pieces of random paper folded up in my purse. It’s about time I organize these things in one place.

The 3-in-1 Book: to-do, sketch, and notes

http://littleotsu.myshopify.com

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A coloring and idea book for adults! Brilliant.

Thanks, swissmiss!

BookSwim is like Netflix for Books! I’ve been waiting for something like this to get my nerd on.

I got an email this morning from Josh of Vivavi and The Lazy Environmentalist about the launch of his new book: The Lazy Environmentalist: Your Guide to Easy, Stylish, Green Living . I’m always impressed when people write books. I can’t even write an email without being exhausted. Perhaps I am a lazy environmentalist too!

Here is his tiny bio from Amazon: Josh Dorfman is the creator and host of The Lazy Environmentalist, a nationally broadcast radio show on Sirius Satellite Radio’s LIME Network that informs consumers about cutting-edge, eco-friendly products and services. Also the founder of Vivavi, a furniture company that focuses on merging modern style with environmental awareness, Dorfman lives in Brooklyn, New York.

I saw this book over at Inhabitat and I really think it’s very cool:

Design Like You Give a Damn: Architectural Responses to Humanitarian Crises

Amazon says “Edited by Architecture for Humanity, Design Like You Give a Damn is a compendium of innovative projects from around the world that demonstrate the power of design to improve lives. The first book to bring the best of humanitarian architecture and design to the printed page, Design Like You Give a Damn offers a history of the movement toward socially conscious design and showcases more than 80 contemporary solutions to such urgent needs as basic shelter, health care, education, and access to clean water, energy, and sanitation. Featured projects include some sponsored by Architecture for Humanity as well as many others undertaken independently, often against great odds.”

I’m not really going to do a “gift guide” here – there are lots of other sites doing that. However, I would like to post a few items from my favorite online gift stores that might spark some holiday inspiration in you after your Turkey coma wears off. Honestly, I just like getting gift cards! Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving – remember to reflect on what the holiday truly means.

USB heating slippers (these I really want…no joke)

Sesame Letterpress coasters

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I had never heard of Princeton Architectural Press before, but probably because I was never a design or architecture student. Many of you out there may recognize the name. It was brought to my attention that they have a new book out focusing on mid-century modern design and I was excited to get myself a copy to peruse. I also have a few other new books from them that I will be reviewing over the next month or so.

The book, Crafting a Modern World: The Architecture and Design of Antonin and Noemi Raymond [edited by Kurt G. Fl. Helfrich and William Whitaker] is a monster hardcover of 352 pages with over 300 photos. I really love books with pictures, and you really can’t discuss architecture and design without illustrations. As I said before, I’m no expert, so I immediately said Antonin and Noemi Raymond who? If you would have said that too, then this book might be worth a read. Did you know that they were married and worked with such household names as Frank Lloyd Wright and Isamu Noguchi? Me neither.

Japanese architecture has always been a fascination of mine, along with all other things Japanese, and when I learned that the Raymonds lived and worked primarily in Japan, I was thrilled to see how they would fuse the two cultures. Together they designed houses; churches; commercial, government, and school buildings; and recreational centers. The mixture of culture and modernism is evident in their structures, and there is the use of organic materials, exposed wood, concrete, and a Zen-like simplicity.

Other cool books from PA Press:
Drawing From Life: The Journal as Art
D.I.Y.: Design It Yourself (Design Handbooks)
Hotel as Home: The Art of Living on the Road
The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture

1000 New Designs and Where to Find Them: A 21st-Century Sourcebook by Jennifer Hudson. Released on June 1, 2006.

Book Description
Bringing together the best of contemporary design for the home, this is a comprehensive roundup of 1,000 striking and innovative objects produced in the last five years. It covers furniture, storage, lighting, textiles, carpets and rugs, bathrooms, table- and kitchenware, and electronic products. Web addresses of designers and manufacturers are given for every object, along with full captions and color illustrations, making every design easy to source. Captions provide details of materials and dimensions, numerous commentaries give an insight into currently developments in design, and there is also a listing of all the best design stores around the world. Work by the likes of Philippe Starck, Jasper Morrison, Ron Arad, Marcel Wanders, the Campana brothers, Karim Rashid, Ross Lovegrove, Tom Dixon, Michele de Lucchi, and Constantin Boym are featured as well as revealing interviews with thirty top designers.