Design Life Now: National Design Triennial 2006 Catalogue

Like a yearbook of U.S. design over the past three years, Design Life Now includes all the designs that likely caught your eye recently (and those you missed) that are in Cooper-Hewitt's third National Design Triennial. For those who can't make it to the show in NYC (it closes 29 July 2007), the catalogue is an ideal way to experience the 87 stunning, inspiring and …

Butter Bell Crock

A recent well-loved addition to my own kitchen, a butter bell is a ceramic dish with a simple ingenious design that keeps butter at the perfect consistency for spreading while also preventing it from turning rancid. The bell-shaped lid holds about a stick of butter and stores away into the crock creating a vacuum seal when filled with a bit of water and keeping the …

Bears by Kent Rogowski

Like a slightly twisted version of something Hallmark might produce, NYC photographer Kent Rogowski's new book, simply titled Bears, is a series of portraits featuring teddybears that have been turned inside out and re-stuffed shot "Avedon-style" (as the book's publisher Sara Rosen put it) . The effect—bears that are distorted, lumpy and totally bizarre looking—is as creepy as it is compelling. Rife with nostalgia and …