Thermomix TM6 | Vorwerk
For 50 years, Thermomix has been steadily wowing consumers with the versatility of their combo blender/cooker kitchen appliances. But the France-based brand has outdone themselves with the new space-age TM6 model: the Wi-Fi-connected, digitally powered all-in-one sleek countertop appliance practically replaces most other kitchen appliances, outside of an oven and a toaster, by performing 22 culinary functions (including blend, cook, steam, sous vide, slow cook and more) with the touch of a button and walking the user through 50,000 global recipes step-by-step.
Extinct Animals Ornaments | Moooi
Great news for fans of Moooi’s Menagerie of Extinct Animals designs, this holiday season the lifestyle brand has launched a collection of glass ornaments inspired by museum drawings and created by Vondels, including the Dwarf Rhino, Dodo Pavone, Bearded Leopard, Blushing Sloth, Armoured Boar, and Indigo Macaque.
An indoor potty solution for small dogs, including males who lift their legs, this dog litter box keeps everything contained in one small space in order to protect walls and floors. Created by Montréal-based designer, Alain Courchesne, this product was officially launched on Kickstarter after a very successful prototype reveal at SuperZoo Expo in Las Vegas. It is made with a rubberized drop-in base that keeps the unit securely in place and features custom vertical pee pads held up by an adhesive strip. Its universal design can also be used by female dogs as well as a potty-training device for puppies, a seasonal solution for small breeds who cannot withstand cold weather, or a permanent solution for dogs and/or owners with limited mobility.
Furoshiki Wrapping Cloths | Kate Austin Designs
This Toronto-based designer has a strong ethical focus that drives her colourful home décor and clothing lines, such as fair-trade partnerships to the designs hand-printed by artisans using earth-friendly dyes and recycled water systems, as seen in the new Tabletop Capsule line and Furoshiki Wrapping Cloths that work as sustainable, reusable gift wrapping.
Rawi Carafe | EQ3
Made in Vietnam, these stoneware carafes are available in moss or bronze and are finished with a reactive glaze, giving them a unique depth of colour.
Mixology Collection | Alessi
“Since the outset, the study and production of objects for the preparation of cocktails has been one of Alessi’s specializations,” said Alberto Alessi at the launch of five new mixing kits: North Tide (shown), Our Roots, The Player, Solar Eclipse and Lunar Eclipse, each dedicated to a cocktail created with the consultancy of world-renowned mixologist Oscar Quagliarini. Each collection comes in stainless steel, with a mirror finish or a copper-coloured PVD coating, and equipped with a novel version of the famous American (or “Boston”) shaker designed by Ettore Sottsass in 1979.
Rolz and Stax | Umbra
The Canadian home décor company has re-created a couple game night staples. Rolz, a portable chess and checkers set designed by Matt Carr features a durable, vegan leather board and double-sided, silk-screened resin game pieces. Stax, designed by Sung Wook Park, re-imagines the classic 4-in-a-Row vertical game in brass with frosted playing pieces.
Airound | Acqua di Parma & Poltrona Frau
Designed in collaboration with creative duo GamFratesi, these chic smart home diffusers can be paired with nine Acqua di Parma fragrances, like Luce di Colonia, Buongiorno, and Milano. A handcrafted cover upholstered in Pelle Frau or Cuoio Saddle Extra leather in five shades conceals the mechanism and fragrance capsules, and integrated technology lets users set fragrance and intensity levels manually or via an app.
Firebelly Tea
This new direct-to-consumer brand was created by David Segal, former co-founder of DAVIDsTEA, and Shopify president Harley Finkelstein. Firebelly uses 100 per cent real ingredients and compostable packaging, with no lab flavourings. Accompanying the tea itself is a new line of accessories such as bespoke stackable teacups, striking teapots with non-drip spouts, and innovative stop-infusion travel mugs for hot or iced tea.
Seiren V2 Pro and X | Razer
The lifestyle brand for gamers has launched two new entries into its V2 family of broadcaster microphones, perfect for podcasters and streamers tired of fiddling with those earphone-mic combos that came with their smart phones. High pass filters, analog gain limiters and other features within dynamic and condenser microphones help deliver true to life, natural audio capture with radio-DJ tonal quality.
Upcoming and available titles | Phaidon
It’s always fun to see what Phaidon has up its sleeve when new seasonal catalogues are released. An intriguing collection of forthcoming titles will be published between January and June of 2022 in the categories of architecture, design, and interiors. One that caught our eye is titled Design Emergency (June 2022), in which Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists at the forefront of positive change worldwide.
Available now is Omer Arbel‘s first monograph, a dynamic, highly visual and in-depth study of the celebrated multi-disciplinary artist and designer and captures Arbel’s varied output across sculpture, lighting, industrial design, and architecture (Canadian Interiors reviewed this edition here).
If you are looking for something for that nit-picky bibliophile on your list, or interested in adding a lot of new titles to your studio’s library (possibly to intice staff to come back to the office), look no further than this robust list of new architecture and design titles, curated by our sister publication Canadian Architect.
On the list is Canadian Architecture: Evolving a Cultural Identity, a survey by author Leslie Jen of the country’s most accomplished architectural firms, whose work enhances cities and landscapes across Canada’s geographically varied expanse.
Be sure to listen to our interview with Ms. Jen on the Bevel podcast about the importance of regional vernaculars, how they interconnect to create a national architectural language, and other issues she discovered in researching and writing this book.
Love Stool | Saint Laurent Rive Droite and EO
Based on the famous stool designed by Takeshi Sawada for the Danish design brand EO, Anthony Vaccarello, creative director at Saint Laurent Rive Droite, has redesigned this edition with a tiger print available in yellow and pink.
Drop Incense Holder | hollis + morris
Mischa Couvrette, founder of the brand, has adapted one of the studio’s most popular products, the pebble candle holder, into their first-ever Drop Incense Holder. Drawing inspiration from the brand’s Canadian roots, the Drop Incense Holder resembles the country’s beauty in nature during the snowy season. The ash from the incense “drops” like snow on the polished metal tray, meant to reflect a pond or still body of water in nature.
