MIXEDMATERIAL

Six of the Best: CB2 Summer 2010

CB2 is the 'urban' little cousin of the US interiors giant that is Crate and Barrel. Offering modern design for the home, successful CB2 furniture and accessory shopping involves going for the little gems and simple pieces in metal and glass that their design team does so well and avoiding the misguided forays into ethno-exotica. After all, if you want a Himalayan Singing Bowl, you should probably go and get it from the Himalayas so you've got a story to go with it. If, on the other hand, you want some great stuff that's either quirky or classic for summer 2010 - including these rather odd little ring/finger plates - then take a trip to CB2 and stock up from the Mixed Material Six of the Best.

Above: Finger Food Plate, $9.95 for 10

Buy It Now: Closely Separated Vase

A vase is often a frilly and feminine thing, but not so in the case of this fractured vessel by Michael Geertsen. Created for Muuto, the vase is called 'Closely Separated' and it creates just the right balance between hard modernity and human crafting, as it is created by hand by throwing traditional shapes likes cups and bowls on a potter's wheel which are then reassembled to create a chimeric container. Available with a tin glaze in white or yellow, the vase costs £79 from the Conran Shop.

Go: French Cancan by Jean Marc Gady

Running until May 19th, 'French Cancan' by Jean Marc Gady at Gallery R'Pure is a design exhibition showcasing household accessories. Featuring lighting, vases and great plates (after the jump) the small show highlights the witty yet practical work of this innovative designer.

Gallery R'Pure, 3 East 19th St, New York

Six of the Best: Modern Magnets

If you want things to stick up but not stay stuck, then you know that a magnet on metal is the way to go. You could settle for the classic coloured letters but these days you can do better; here are six of the best. Leading the pack are some cute and lifelike 3D birdies from Kikkerland. Click through for the rest, which includes cockroaches, jewels and what looks like a geometry lesson.

Box of 8 handpainted feather and foam bird magnets, $21 from Kikkerland.

Coming Up: Let There Be 'Tress' Light

Mixing a hi-tech finish with traditional technique, Marc Sadler inspires with this craft-meets-spacecraft lamp that plays with light and shadow.

'Tress' light by Marc Sadler for Foscarini. 

Buy it Now: Harry Allen Piggy Bank

I need somewhere new to put the little spare money that I have. The banks just aren't getting any better and under the mattress was a good option until I went Tempur Pedic; my mattress is now so heavy (and comfortable) that I'd never be able to lift it up and get my hands on my cash. A piggy bank is the only way to go for now and there's no better one than this example by Harry Allen. Cast from a real life dead pig, this is a piggy bank for grown ups. It's available in white (shown here) and pink for £83.19 and in gold and chrome from £150. I like the white option best, which leaves me with a bit of cash to fill the little oinker. Available from Opus Interiors.

Buy It Now: Sandwich Sponge

Mixed Material is going cheap and disposable for the Buy It Now this week, with a Sandwich Sponge from the Moma Store. Priced at $10, the sponge is designed by Jaewon Yang and Hyung Jeong Lee and is offered for a limited time as part of the Destination Seoul featured selection from the Moma Store. Why not get a whole loaf of them and make sponge sandwiches to see you through your spring clean?

Six of the Best: Wall Clocks

There's still a bit of time before the clocks change - 8th March in the US and 29th March in the UK - but why not put a new perspective on the remaining dark winter nights with a great clock? Count away the hours before you're going have to start doing something with your evenings again and take your pick from a luxury watch face or twisted fonts from British design talent, or go international with a bit of whimsy or a modern design classic. 

Font Clock by Sebastian Wrong for Established and Sons. £459 from Icone.

BUY IT NOW: Jacqui Chanarin B-10 (Iceberg) Sculpture

While the rest of the world valiantly carries on functioning through winter weather, Britain inexplicably grinds to a halt after a bit of snow. But, for a moment, let's celebrate iciness and revel in the wondrousness of this limited edition porcelain iceberg sculpture by Jacqui Chanarin. It's pretty tiny in comparison to regular icebergs (11.5 cm tall) but that means it will fit anywhere that you care to display it. The sculpture itself is expertly crafted and fuses precision and wit to create a timeless piece that may well last longer than any real icebergs. Invest now.

B-10 Iceberg Sculpture by Jacqui Chanarin, available in a limited edition of 200; £200 from Eyestorm.   

Sitting in sin

If ubiquity were one of the seven deadly sins, then the Arne Jacobson Series Seven chair would unfortunately be guilty. As a classic of original modern design, it has unwittingly spawned myriad knock off versions that have drawn heavy 'inspiration' from the original and which now populate otherwise empty buy to let city centre apartments. It takes some wit to look afresh at the Series Seven . Thomas Staffeldt (aka Johnny Slogan) has done exactly that in creating these designs that cast seven different versions of the chair as one of each of the seven deadly sins for a project named Sagiglia. 

Gluttony is shown here: more legs = more food! Read on to see the other six.