I love beautiful, elegant and well designed things. I look for objects that are not only aesthetically pleasing but are adroit in their ability to conduct the task at hand with minimal fuss and utmost simplicity. Finding such things that combine all these qualities is very rare, but when I do, I end up saving them for revisiting them at a later date — perhaps to buy and test them out. These are some of the objects that are on my “try them” list. If you have (or anyone you know) have owned them and would like to share your thoughts, please drop me a note.
Products are listed in descending order to match the gallery photos!
1. Manual Coffeemaker (MCM) No. 1 is a simple pour over coffee maker. It just looks better than the traditional pour over coffee makers and gives the feeling of an appliance. It is not cheap — $99 — but look pretty nice on the countertop. I have ordered this, though I rarely make and drink coffee at home. I believe coffee to be a social activity and prefer to visit Sightglass for my daily caffeine and conversation fix.
2. Blue Bottle Moka Pot ($100) is the joint creation of Blue Bottle coffee founder James Freeman and designer Joey Roth (the man behind awesome Ceramic speakers.) This is a complete reinvention of the classic 80-year-old Moka Pot — steel base, cork handle and long ceramic spout — is very different from the beat up, Moka Pot I have and love.
3. Chemex Ottomatic is an expensive ($400) but stunningly beautiful coffee brewers on the market. It is slim, has a glass carafe and sits on a beautiful wooden base. And what more it is supposed to brew a perfect cup at the push of a button. The hot plate keeps the coffee at its optimum temperature (176F-185F.)
4. Leeo Smart Alert nightlight should soon become part of my growing collection of connected devices. Robert Bruner/Ammunition Group have designed this beautiful nightlight that can detect smoke and carbon monoxide alarms/alerts and inform you via the app. On the other hand, I have no qualms paying $99 for a nice nightlight!
5. Nocs NS2 V2 Air Monitors got an enthusiastic thumbs up from Andrew Kim and for me that is good enough of a reason to try them out. You can directly connect your Spotify account to the wireless speakers, or you can send music from you devices via bluetooth or Airplay. Kim, points out that $400-a-pair NS2 speakers are actually smarter about AirPlay connectivity than anything from Apple itself, thanks to some great work by Nocs app team. Many colors, but I would go for the gray.
6. Elevenpl.us Color Case is a good way to give your iPhone 6 some lightweight protection and a little color. For $35, it seems to be one of the most elegant cases for the iPhone on the market. It has seven colors, but my money is on sea blue.
7. Copper Cuff bracelet is totally impractical and totally stunning in its simplicity. Made in Munich, Germany and designed in Berlin, is a luxury but I can’t imagine how delightful the patina is going to look over time.