Spot Cool Stuff: Design

Fingerprint Rings

Spot Cool Stuff — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:35:55 +0000

Here’s a creative idea that’s part artsy, part CSI and all cool: fingerprint rings. That is, a ring with a fingerprint implanted into the metal.

Each person’s fingerprint is unique. So incorporating the fingerprint of your special someone on an engagement ring or wedding band is a way of making the jewelry equally as unique. (Insert a pun about fingerprint rings possessing a “personal touch” here.)

For such an unusual sounding idea, a surprising number of jewelers offer fingerprint rings. Here’s a rundown of our four favorites:

brent & jess

Master Jewelers Brent and Jessica Williams might be the world’s foremost experts on fingerprint rings. The husband and wife team have been making fingerprint rings by hand in their studio on the coast of Maine since the early 2000s.

In that time, the brent & jess company have sold finger rings in a wide variety of styles. The couple have crafted rings with the fingerprint on the interior of the band, on the exterior and even on a ring with the fingerprint on both the interior and exterior (which allows for two prints on a single ring). That large selection makes brent & jess the first place to look if you have a specific ring in mind. And if they don’t have want you want they’ll custom design your ring for you in either gold, platinum and palladium.

Three other reasons why Spot Cool Stuff are huge fans for brent & jess:

• They use an unusual production method—one they developed themselves—that “stamps” the fingerprint on the ring. Many other fingerprint rings use an artist’s rendering of a fingerprint, not the print itself.

• They purchase their raw materials from suppliers who are environmentally responsible and use at least half recycled material.

• Fingerprint rings from brent & jess are extremely reasonably priced; most are in the US$200~300 range.

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Fluid Forms

Fluid Forms, a wonderful little company in Austria, specializes in personalized design products. Their fingerprint rings have the print on the interior of the band, usually engraved in high-contrast black silver.

When deciding on a fingerprint ring, choosing an interior versus exterior location for the print is a key choice. When it is on the interior, the fingerprint isn’t visible while wearing the ring, of course. Some people prefer that hidden symbolism. Others want the ring’s most distinctive feature, the fingerprint, to be visible front and center.

The rings from Fluid Forms are so beautiful, even sans fingerprint, that we don’t mind the print being “hidden.” Fluid Forms make their rings by constructing a wax mold and then casting that in silver. As a result, the fingerprint that ends up on the ring is an accurate replica, as with the rings from brent & jess (above). Unlike the rings from brent & jess, those from Fluid Forms are expensive: €1,068.

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Andrew English

The fingerprints on the rings by British jeweler Andrew English are hand drawn. So they aren’t completely identical to the original fingerprint. But then in an increasingly biometric world that might be a good thing. (Viz: the fingerprint-secured external hard drive we previously reviewed).

Andrew English produces fingerprint wedding rings in white, yellow and rose gold, as well as platinum. For each, the fingerprint has a brushed metal look that’s more subtle than, say, the Fluid Forms rings (above).

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Rock My World

Jewelry caster and designer Jackie Kaufman makes wonderfully earthy-looking fingerprint rings in her studio in Florida and then sells them through her Rock My World Etsy store. That earthy, organic look is partly a result of Kaufman’s style and partly because she uses completely recycled silver to make her jewelry. Old silver is melted down and then poured into a wax mold (that includes the fingerprint). No solder is used. As a result, a Rock My World ring is not only cool-looking but also eco-friendly.

Kaufman’s heart band (the one pictured below) might be Spot Cool Stuff’s single favorite fingerprint ring. There’s no setting for a stone, but we love how the fingerprint appears around almost the entire exterior of the ring. From a distance, the fingerprint looks like a rough pattern. It isn’t until you see the ring up close that you can tell what it is.

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published: 8 Feb 2012

2 Cool London Bookshelf Staircases

Spot Cool Stuff — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:11:14 +0000

Spot Cool Stuff loves books. And we love creative staircases. So it isn’t surprising that we’re drawn to cool stuff at the confluence of both.

Here’s a look at two unusual architectural designs that combine stairs with bookshelves. Has it happens, both are located in London. And neither has an owner that’s about to move their book collection to an Amazon Kindle anytime soon.

Levitate Architects Bookshelf Staircase

Private home, North London

Necessity breeds innovation, they say. And that’s exactly how this cool bookshelf came about.

The owners of a small 70 square meter (753 sq. foot) tow house in London needed more livable interior space. Together with their design firm, Levitate Architects, they decided to turn the attic space into a loft bedroom.

But how to maximize the space leading up to the bedroom? For that, they designed a stairwell that could double as a mini-library. As is obvious from the photos, the stairs themselves are the bookshelves. Harder to see is how the unusual shape and staggering of the stairs make them comfortable for sitting on. The stairs are designed for people to curl up with a book for a prolonged time; there’s even a skylight directly above the stairs to provide ample natural light for reading.

The most impressive architecture feat of this staircase is one not visible in the photos. This home is in a 1898 Victorian building and the old floor was not able to accommodate the weight the staircase would have placed upon it. So the entire staircase, books and all, literally hangs from a steel bar built into the foundation of the home!

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‘Ark’ Bookshelf Tower

Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The bookshelf-staircase reviewed above is in a private home. The huge advantage of this staircase—the ‘Ark’ Bookshelf Tower—is that you can go see it for yourself. It’s located inside the Victoria and Albert Museum in the Cromwell Gardens area of London.

The goal of the people who built the Bookshelf Tower—a design team from Rintala Eggertsson Architects—was to create a “liveable bookshelf.” No, there’s not a built-in bed, bath or kitchen. But the spacious two-story structure feels like the sort of inviting, cozy space one wants to crawl into. The 6,000 books that sit on the shelves are all pointed inwards, creating the look of a uniform white wall from the outside; colorful spines greet people inside the tower.

The ‘Ark” Bookshelf Tower, not incidentally, is part of the well-worth seeing exhibition at the V&A Museum that’s all about small spaces. Check the museum’s listing of current exhibits to see if it will be showing during your visit.

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published: 3 Feb 2012

Cool—and Functional—Kitchenware from Architec

Spot Cool Stuff — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:30:49 +0000

Durable, environmentally friendly and cool looking. Those are the first three adjectives that come to mind when we think of Architec Housewares, one of Spot Cool Stuff’s favorite designers of cookware.

What Architec’s hot pads, cutting boards and mixing bowls are best known for, though, are their non-slip properties. For cooks who have suffered our share of burns, cuts and spills this is no small thing.

A look at our three favorite Architec items:

Silicone HotGrip

Architec’s HotGrips are so flexible and squishy that they provide almost the same tactile experience as grabbing a hot pan with your bare hands. Except, of course, your hands won’t bet burned when using a HotGrip—they can safely be used to grip items up to 600° F (315° C). HotGrips are dishwaher safe and make for good, nonskid tabletop trivets too.

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Gripper Cutting Boards

From the top it looks like an average (if especially colorful) cutting board. From the bottom Architec’s Gripper looks a little like a flat over-sized LEGO piece. That’s because the underneath of these boards are covered in nonskid grippers that will keep the board in place even while you are cutting at an angle or when the board is placed on a wet surface. The Gripper is made from an odor-proof material that can go right from the countertop to the dishwasher.

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Architec Prep & Mixing Bowls

Plastic, glass or ceramic mixing bowls? Some cooks feel strongly towards one. The advantage of plastic bowls: they are light in weight and easily molded in the manufacturing process and so often tend to include extra features like handles and spouts. The key is to get a bowl made of a melamine plastic. Nonmelamine bowls tend to absorb stains and odors. And what cook wants the cream dessert they are whipping up today to taste of the fish marinade they mixed up last night?

Architec designs our favorite plastic mixing bowls. They are made from a durable dishwasher and freezer safe melamine. The bowls are weighted on the bottom and have a base lined with a slip-proof material, making these bowls perfect for kids—or adults with the clumsiness of kids.

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updated: 11 Dec 2011

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The Moses-Inspired Trench Bridge

Spot Cool Stuff — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:32:15 +0000

When at water level, you can’t really see the bridge that crosses a moat to the 17th-century Fort de Roovere. View it from a bit of elevation, though, and the bridge isn’t only visible but looks rather puzzling. That’s because the bridge—near the coastal town of Halsteren, Holland—doesn’t span over the water. And it doesn’t skim along the surface of the water. Instead, the bridge goes through the water.

Looking at the bridge head on, the effect is quite striking. The water appears to part Red Sea-like. No wonder locals have nicknamed it the “Moses Bridge.”

Officially, the bridge is named the Loopgraafbrug, which translates from Dutch as “trench bridge.” The one at Fort de Roovere may be the only permanent trench bridge in the world.

Typically, building a trench bridge isn’t a reasonable option. First, it only works if you are crossing a body of water that isn’t moving. Second, the water must not only be shallow but also have a relatively consistent depth. Even then, building a trench bridge isn’t nearly as efficient or practical as a traditional one.

Nevertheless, the local architectural firm charged with designing the bridge, Ro&Ad Architects, decided on their non-traditional design as a nod to history. The moat that the bridge crosses was originally built to protect Fort de Roovere from attacks from the Germans or French. Building a standard above-water span would subtract from the defensive look of the moat. A sunken bridge, however, would be nearly invisible from a distance and would keep the look of the moat area unmarred.

The Loopgraafbrug was chosen as a finalist for the 2011 Dutch Design Awards. The eventual winner was an adaptation of a concrete bunker that, ironically, also looks like it was parted in half by Moses.

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published: 1 Dec 2011

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THE Art Museum Book

Spot Cool Stuff — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:25:04 +0000

If you could curate the ultimate art museum with an unlimited budget what works of art would you choose to display?

A team of over 100 editors, art historians and archeologists spent more than a decade tackling that very question. The result of their collective research is displayed in an epic volume titled, appropriately, The Art Museum.

Read the rest on our book review blog

Hidden Animal Bowls & Tea Cups

Spot Cool Stuff — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:31:06 +0000

Spot Cool Stuff previously reviewed three unusual and creative cereal bowls for kids. The idea in that review was to feature bowls that were affordable, unbreakable and fun. Hidden Animal Bowls fell miserably short of that first criteria and failed to meet the second. But, oh, how they excel at the third. Each bowl has an animal shape that appears when filled with liquid. But if you find that the price tag puts you off—and it will—then check out some alternative Hidden Animal Tea Cups.

Bernardaud Hidden Animal Bowls

An empty Hidden Animal Bowl, from French artist Geraldine De Beco for Bernardaud, is not much to look at; the base of bowl is scraggly and the interior is vaguely rippled. But pour liquid in and a silhouette of an animal appears, magic-like. There are a variety of bright bowls colors and three animals to choose from: a bird, cat and wolf.

Kids will love using these bowls. Parents won’t let kids anywhere near them once they see the price: €240 (US$330). Yes, that’s per bowl!

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imm Living Hidden Animal Teacups

Hidden Animal Tea Cups, by Canadian designer Ange-line Tetrault, each have a little animal sculpture (either a fox, bear or owl) attatched to the bottom of the interior. These cups aren’t as subtle at hiding their beasts as are Bernardaud’s bowls (above). But then they cost 1/15th the price.

The maker of these teacups, imm Living, has several other household accoutrements that incorporate animals into their design, including a dove bottle opener, bird juicer and deer antler key holder.

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published: 21 Oct 2011

Some Cool Animal Travel Ideas:
Eat With Giraffes
Drink With Cats
Swim With Whale Sharks
Bathe With Monkeys

Cool Gifts for Architecture Lovers

Spot Cool Stuff — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:43:51 +0000

You don’t need to be an architect to love cool architecture. Urban planning and building design is an interdisciplinary passion, attracting the likes of art enthusiasts, engineers, history buffs, designers and travelers. Chances are that at least one person on your gift shopping is among those.

With that in mind, here’s our roundup of seven inexpensive—and one not-so-much—gifts for architecture enthusiasts. For this review we specifically excluded architecture magazines and books (of which there are a huge and excellent variety to choose from). We also nixed items used by working architects in their craft, like drafting tables or home design software.

Floorplan Pattern Dishes & Mugs

The Floorplan Collection, from the cool and abstractly-named design outlet shop Fishs Eddy, provide the blueprint for an architecturally-themed eating nook. We’re partial to the coffee mugs and dishwasher/microwave-save serving plates, but the collection also includes napkins, coasters, dish towels and tote bags. Every item in the collection features a black-line drawing of an urban abode, from luxury penthouse to student studios.

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LEGO Architecture Sets

You needn’t be a kid to love the sets in the LEGO Architecture series. Each one includes the plastic building pieces needed to construct one vaguely-to-scale LEGO version of a famous building or structure.

Long-time Spot Cool Stuff fans may remember when we reviewed LEGO’s cool architect-themed series soon after it was introduced. Then there were only two sets available: New York City’s Guggenheim Museum and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Falling Water. Happily, LEGO has come out with several more since, including London Bridge, Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate and the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building; more LEGO-ized architectural landmarks are on the way.

While a single LEGO Architecture set is fun, having more than one allows you to create strange hybrid buildings, mad scientist-like. An Eiffel Brandenburg Bridge, any one? And, of course, all the pieces included in the LEGO Architecture sets are compatible with all other standard LEGO pieces too. (Tip: You can save money by purchasing an eight building bundle rather than purchasing individual sets separately.)

Also, if you love LEGOs, check out our list of 12 cool LEGO-themed products, including LEGO watches and LEGO wedding rings.

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Cheat Sheet Placemats

The cotton and machine washable Cheat Sheet Placemats would appeal to those who flunked finishing school as well as those with an interest in architecture. The soup spoon goes here, the champagne glass goes there, all layed out on the placemat blueprint-like. €17

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Cafepress Architecture T-Shirts

The online store Cafepress has all sorts of cool printed stuff. No surprise then that the site offers some superbly creative architecture-themed t-shirts. We especially like the Draftsman t-shirt (pictured, right), though the Eat, Sleep, Architecture t-shirt is both more subtle and humorous.

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Zenblocks

Is it a toy? A sculpture? A stress relieving device? A conversation piece? The cool thing about Zenblocks is that they are all of those rolled into one. The blocks, made of sustainably harvested wood, seem as if they were carved at random. In fact, the angles are such that they fit together with surprising ease and variety. Form them into an arch. Stack them one atop another. Arrange them for inspiration—or procrastination. $25

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Moleskine Notebooks

Good, study notebooks surprisingly difficult to find. Triply so when looking for notebooks with pages sans lines. Moleskine Notebooks are the best around. Spot Cool Stuff never travels without one and we know many an artsy type who always have one handy to sketch a scene or jot down an idea. Moleskines are available in a variety of styles and sizes, in both hardcover and paperback. And even if your giftee always has one, a good notebook is something difficult to have too many of.

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May 28th Architecture Watches

Most people who like wearing watches already have one. That makes them a risky gift to choose. But, oh, how cool-looking are the architecture watches from Latvian designer Agni Tilla. At the time of writing there are eight designs to choose from, though old ones go and new ones arrive with some frequency. Best of all, these watches’ quality and WOW-factor far exceed their $39 price.

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Architectonic Menorah

At $1,125 it’s way too expensive for a typical gift, but it was too cool to leave off our architecture gift list. Besides, how many architecturally-themed Hanukkah gifts are there to choose from?

The Architectonic Menorah was designed by architect Richard Meier to both look appealing and carry symbolic meaning. Each pewter candle holder is an abstract representation of a significant time of Jewish hardship, like their expulsion from Egypt or the Nazi holocaust. The menorah is sold by the Jewish Museum, both online and at their New York City location.

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published: 15 Oct 2011

Google Earth Carpets

Spot Cool Stuff — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:04:32 +0000

Humans, being wing-less creatures, are used to seeing our world from ground level. Even in the jet age, we are surprised when we view the planet from overhead.

Munich-based designer David Hanauer sought to take advantage of that element of surprised when he created his World Wide carpets. The floor pieces all use graphics taken from directly from Google Earth.

Hanauer came up with the idea for Google Earth-themed carpets when studying the urban settlement patterns of Las Vegas. The way the Las Vegas suburbs looked in satellite photos struck him as being surreal, almost artistic.

One scene in particular reminded Hanauer of a Persian carpet. So he took that image and placed it into the quadrants of a carpet. The exact same image is used four times, inverted and rotated, to create a center of focus, in keeping with the conventions of Persian carpet design. (Check out this carpet in the first image, below.)

Other cartological carpets followed this one. Many featured scenes from the area around Vegas and Las Angles. But for some Hanauer went further afield, as with his Scandinavian Arctic Woodland carpet. (Last pic, below.) In each case the carpet uses an image taken directly from Google Earth. On some carpets you can even see the Google Earth watermark.

Hanauer’s original Las Vegas carpet is on sale at a boutique store in Germany for €400. Others are available for purchase directly from Hanauer via his website.

If you are seeking something Hanauer-designed but are looking for a smaller item or less expensive purchase, consider getting one of his reversible magnetic frames; they’re sold at New York’s Museum of Modern Art—or on Amazon for $27.

published: 23 Sept 2011

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One note: The carpet in the header photo is Hanauer-inspired but not Hanauer-designed. It too was created using Google Earth and can be found today at Sacramento International Airport.