THE BEST Living

You never know when you’ll be stuck in an emergency where you need to call for help. Whether you’re lost in the woods, or being attacked by a gang of thugs (or bears), this super loud titanium whistle will draw attention to your precarious situation. Works in wet or dry environments.

Specode’s elegant keychain flashlight resembles a chunky dog tag, and is made from real brass. It packs a 60-lumen CREE XP-G2 LED light source, and is rechargeable via its MicroUSB port. Also available in aluminum.

This useful multitool features a sturdy 440C steel blade that works as a serrated knife, chisel, lever, belt cutter, scraping tool, and more. Its G-10 handle scales provide good grip, and it comes with a matching leather sheath. Measures 6.25″ long overall, with a 1.25″ blade length.

We’re suckers for just about anything in the shape of VW’s iconic Type 2 vans from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. Cedar and Stone Garden’s 5″ x 3″ concrete microbus planters are perfect for growing all your indoor succulent hippie plants. They’re available numerous colors, including tie dye.

Accessory maker Distil Union created this smart organizational system for your money, keys, phone, sunglasses and other everyday items. It uses magnets to attach multiple items together, or to hang them on its wall base station. The components come in a variety of stylish colors too. (Thanks Thong!)

Made from a coarse, unbleached canvas, Rough Enough’s compact gear bag is built for durability. It has a large compartment that can hold small tools, accessories, chargers, knives, and more, and a mesh zippered pouch for pens and other items. It measures 9″ x 4.5″ x 2.5″, and comes in army green, black, or camo.

Woodworker Jonathan Katz-Moses shows off a really cool piece of furniture he built that seems to defy logic and gravity. Its structure was tricky to engineer and build, but the end result is something we’d be thrilled to have in our living room.

Sempli’s leaning glass carafe is designed to infuse spirits with fruits, vegetables, and spices, imbuing them with new depth, flavor, and character. The 13 oz vessel comes with a perforated infusing tube for ingredients, and a rubber stopper. Once infused, simply remove the tube, and decant straight from the bottle.

To stay healthy, it’s critical to remain well hydrated. So you should always carry a nice, full water bottle in your bag if you can. But as Everyday Carry points out, not all bottles are created equal. Their top picks include plastic, stainless steel, and vacuum insulated models in all shapes and sizes.

Artist Ilia Gyrevich makes unique and functional objects by machining metal. In this video, he shows off how he creates his EDC pens from brass rods, as the metal shavings fly forth in a most satisfying manner. You can buy his wares from the MachinedGift Etsy shop.

We dig the slick, technical look of Valtcan’s tactical bolt action pens. They feature a milled titanium body for strength and balance, a tungsten tipped glass breaker, and take a variety of off-the-shelf refills to suit your writing preferences. Choose from silver or black finishes.

Do you or someone you care about really, really love chocolate? Kekao offers monthly subscriptions and gift boxes, each loaded with some of the most delicious craft chocolate bars from around the globe. It’s a great alternative to the ordinary Valentine’s Day heart-shaped box. They also sell individual bars starting around $4.50.

Gearheads, give your keys the proper respect, and hang them on one of ZAAS Designs‘ slick key racks, embellished with the logo of your favorite performance car. Each one is handmade from MDF and acrylic, with a faux carbon fiber wrap, and four aluminum key hooks. Measures 7.75″w x 5.5″ h.

Whether it’s pouring rain outside, or there’s a dusting of snow on the ground, it doesn’t mean a picnic is out of the question. Just toss down Suck UK’s indoor picnic blanket, and bring the outdoors in. It features a realistic print of grass and daisies on one side, and checkered fleece on the other. Measures appx. 55″ x 47″.

Mantis Knives’ long and skinny frame-lock model has a stubby 1-1/2″ drop-point 420 steel blade, but opens to a total length of 6″, providing plenty of grip space on its 6061 aluminum handle. It doubles as a bottle opener as well.

Celebrate your hometown with Neighborwoods‘ laser-engraved wood coasters. Each one is etched with local neighborhood maps for cities around the world, from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., Montreal to Paris. Sold in sets of two or four. Also available on Amazon.

This 3.375″ long pen is perfect for keeping in your pocket all the time. It might be small, but its TC4 titanium body is strong. It has a ceramic ball glass breaker on its rear, and comes in black, grey, or blue finishes.

Roxon’s versatile, yet compact tool offers up six useful features for outdoor cooking: fork, spatula, knife, tongs, bottle opener, and wine corkscrew. It’s made from food-grade 430 stainless steel, and comes with a nylon carrying pouch. Measures about 11″ long when folded.

Streamlight’s clever key-shaped flashlight is perfect for eyeing locks in the dark, or for illuminating other nighttime tasks. It’s got a clean white 35-lumen LED light source, is weather resistant, and has a USB-rechargeable battery built-in.

Keep your beer bottles and cans frosty cold for hours with these cooler shells that wrap around your beverages. They feature double-wall vacuum insulation and a stainless steel body. A removable cap holds bottles securely in place, while cans fit snugly on their own. As a bonus, its cap doubles as a bottle opener.

Maker Chris Salomone loved the idea of river and ocean tables. But he was sick of seeing the same materials – glass and wood – used over and over again. So he made a river table that uses concrete as the land and LEGO pieces as the river.

Larch Wood Canada creates beautiful cutting boards using meticulously-selected sticks of Canadian larch. The end-grain pieces are lined up by pattern, revealing repetitive shapes that occur in nature. They also make custom countertops. See how they’re made here.

Accessory maker Dango bundles its slimline S1 Stealth wallet with their MT03 stainless steel multitool, which combines a money clip with a comb, screwdriver, wrenches, a bottle opener, and a detachable spork. The wallet is made from a durable material called “DTEX,” and holds up to nine cards in its pockets.

Despite being just 2.7″ long, this pocket-size flashlight manages to crank out an impressive 1500 lumens in its maximum power mode. It has a CREE XHP50 LED light source, Firefly, Turbo, Strobe, and stepless dimming modes, and recharges via a USB cable. Available in neutral white or cool white LED color temperatures.