If you were a good boy or girl this year, maybe Santa will deposit one of these cool new products in your stocking.
Happy Holidays fromall of us at Canadian Interiors!
SPEAKER SYSTEM
The BeoPlay A9 active speaker system by Bang & Olufsen, officially launched in Canada in October, features a 2.1 bass reflex loudspeaker system that combines five dedicated speaker units and amps with timeless design to create a complete sound solution. BeoPlay A9 features a fine-tuned DSP (digital signal processor) algorithm that makes ones music collection come alive and deliver surprisingly rich bass tones which are cultivated and cool with the patented Adaptive Bass Linearization technology.
Turning the party dial up – or down – has never been easier. Swipe a hand across the touch sensor to control volume, or mute the system by simply resting a hand on top of it. Additionally, you can select tracks and adjust volume with your smartphone or tablet.
BeoPlay A9 packs two ¾-inch tweeters and two 3-inch midrange units, all four driven by separate 80-watt class D amplifiers, to deliver sparkling highs and spaciously defined middle tones. An imposing 8-inch bass unit, powered by no less than 160 watts from its own class D amplifier, lays down authoritative and tightly controlled oomph through the bass reflex construction hidden behind the unit. Three pre-set sound modes for wall, corner or freestanding positions optimize acoustic performance depending on how you choose to fit BeoPlay A9 into your home.
The BeoPlay A9 can be placed either on the floor or hung on the wall. Screw in the wooden legs to place it on the floor right where you need it, or use the wall bracket to add a circular canvass alongside the rest of the art in your home. Solid wood legs are available in oak, beech or teak. Fabric covers are available in silver, white, black, red, green, and brown.
Prices begin at $2,999. www.beoplay.com
OPERA HOUSE WALLPAPER
Innovative New York design company Trove has partnered with Anthropologie to introduce a limited run of two patterns: Opera House Wallpaper (Fuoco through Trove, in colorway 001) and Zoolite Fossil Wallpaper (Otium through Trove, in colorway 003). Available online-only, the designs are printed on a special pre-pasted substrate to allow for easy consumer application and retail for $398 per roll.
Opera House Wallpaper/Fuoco (pictured), a classic Trove pattern, displays scenes of an audience from the Venice Opera House. Zoolite Fossil Wallpaper/Otium, from Trove’s award-winning Spring 2012 Collection, features original photos of found objects used in an artistic and purposeful fashion.
Available through www.anthropologie.com
SHEET METAL CLOCKS
Super stylish and über-contemporary, these unique steel clocks are available through ContemporaryLab, a multi-disciplinary design company set up to promote design graduates across the UK and Europe. ContemporaryLab Ltd is the brand name of 50 design graduates who work in all materials, from jewellery to furniture and everything in between. The Family of designers, showcase and sell their work in the online shop, as well as provide work opportunities for the collective in the form of corporate and private commissions.
The Acerito Clock line designed by Michael Siney is made from a single piece of laser cut steel with an untreated steel finish that reveals machine marks and scratches. Dimensions: 15cm x 10cm x 3cm and available in Silver/Red, Silver/Blue or Silver/Green
The clocks range in price from £40 to £250.
COAT PEGS
Also from ContemporaryLab, Coat Eggs attempt to correct the problem of coats being left with a point indented in them by sharp metal coat hooks. The rounded off shape stops this from happening. Designed by Daniel Schofield, the Coat Eggs are a fun take on the traditional coat peg and are made from solid Beech, available in boxes of half dozen and are designed and “laid” in Yorkshire, England.
http://contemporarylab.com/coat-eggs
COASTERS
FLUID Coasters and Trays by Think Fabricate, a multidisciplinary design studio based in Brooklyn, are great for every day serving or entertaining, and are environmentally friendly. An elegantly simple serving tray can double as a cutting board and becomes special through interesting material selection and a signature cut-out derived from historical imagery.
Available in sustainable Richlite and Plyboo.
CONCRETE ACCESSORIES
For the last 10 years, the Budapest headquartered IVANKA brand has been constantly exploring the boundaries of concrete as a raw material: their products ranging from furniture and objects to loudspeakers, facade panelling, jewellery. Their latest and most innovative line, unveiled at Paris Fashion Week this year, is a pret-a-porter and accessories collection based on concrete, aptly named Concrete Genezis.
www.ivanka.hu / www.shopivanka.com
DESIGN BOOK
A book about design for kids of all ages who love design, D.E.S.I.G.N, by Ewa Solarz (published by Cocobooks / ISBN 978-1-877467-83-7), is a review of 69 of the most innovative household items from the past 150 years — from the classic to the craziest.
The illustrations are quirky, every page is full of bold colours, and there are diagrams showing you how each object works or is supposed to be used. There is a handy key at the beginning of the book showing you what each of the symbols mean throughout the book. These symbols on each page tell you what the object is made of, what it can be used for and which country the designer/inventor is from. There’s also an index in the back to help you find your favourite objects.
D.E.S.I.G.N. is a book that you can come back to again and again, and discover something new each time. It’s the perfect book for those inquisitive children, especially boys, who want to know how things work, and adults will love it just as much as children.
UMBRELLAS WITH ATTITUDE
It may be winter now, but that means spring is just around the corner. This means rain. This also means umbrellas. Vancouver-based (appropriately) Cheeky Umbrella’s Spring 2013 line includes 36 new umbrellas, including one with a “cheeky” statement written on it that says ‘Rain or shine, I drink wine,’ a rich blue umbrella with Indian-inspired mandala artwork, a deep red umbrella with a bold poppies print, and a line of compact umbrellas with a cute silver umbrella charm on the zippered case. Some past products will remain in the line-up by popular demand, including those with statements ‘When does it start raining men?’ and ‘This is shopping weather’.
Founder Jen Zurowski got her start designing and marketing umbrellas for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, and used her experience to start what she hopes will become Canada’s
most respected umbrella company. “We’re very clear with what we want to achieve – we want to fill the streets on rainy days with better umbrellas. Even a $20 umbrella should look great and be able to stand up to the elements.”
Today, Cheeky Umbrella’s retail line of umbrellas includes Long, Compact, Golf and Kids umbrellas, and is sold in over 150 retailers across North America. The company also provides custom umbrellas for corporate clients by adding logos and artwork to existing inventory, or by manufacturing customized umbrellas.
INTERIORS PRODUCTS
Cult British design brand Mini Moderns has created Concert, a new collection for Southbank Centre. Featuring line drawings of musical instruments, the design was conceived to represent the immense variety of musical performance that is staged at Southbank Centre, a complex of artistic venues in London, on the South Bank of the River Thames between County Hall and Waterloo Bridge. It comprises three main buildings (the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Hayward Gallery), and is Europe’s largest centre for the arts.
The Concert collection includes wallpaper in two colourways – Chalkhill Blue and Concrete — along with cushions, canvas tote bags, stationery, and bone china mugs, all manufactured in the U.K.