Awesome Design

Want to make your place really stand out? Try the Subway Series by designer Jeff Mayer of 718 Made In Brooklyn. Available in different colors, sizes and in aluminum or wood frames.

Analog birthday cakes are so 20th century. Get into the new millennium and grab these dot-matrix candle holders that let ’em know the celebrant’s age in digits. Includes 26 candles for age 88.

The perfect bowl for just about everything we eat, the Obol can keep your cereal crunchy, your pie a la mode from pie a la melting, and your cookies at the ready to dip in milk. What’s not to like?

Volker Hübner’s tablet is optimized for designers and artists. With a 15.6″ OLED screen, pressure-sensitive stylus, programmable buttons and scroll wheel, it’s like a Cintiq with a computer built-in.

If you’re gifting a rap or hip hop fan, take it up a notch and pimp it with Rapping Paper. Each sheet contains the lyrics to a classic rap song. Limited selection, but if you like Run DMC, you’re set.

25togo’s Goggles Umbrella lets you see what’s in front of you without the need to tilt your umbrella back. The periscope tip is a neat touch. Comes in bundles of two – one gray, one yellow.

Screw foam peanuts – this is how ballers roll. Use these banknote look-alikes as packaging cushion, as pillow stuffing or for cheap tycoon showers. Reusable, recyclable and biodegradable.

Designer Vó Maria has been working his way through the X-Men cast of characters, giving us the cheapest possible costumes the next time we want to dress up as Wolverine, Magneto or Cyclops.

Slow-motion and dynamic imagery abound in the music video for Woodkid’s single Iron, off of his Iron EP. Also directed by Woodkid aka Yoann Lemoine. Get the music from Amazon or iTunes.

Fabio Milito’s cleverly designed wrapping paper is a clean-lined word jumble that makes a card unnecessary – you can simply circle the most appropriate gift-giving occasion. (Thanks Mark!)

A curvy wood chair that combines a place to read your books along with shelves to store them in. Kindle, Nook and iPad fans will need to fill those cubbies with some other tchotchkes.

This concept lets you break off tiny slivers of soap so you can wash your hands without ever defiling a shared block of soap with your germs. You could just use pump soap, but this looks way cooler.

Like many people, Dave Hakkens has a habit of chewing on his pen. He eventually found a type of candy that doesn’t stick or melt easily and used it to create his edible pen, which also uses edible ink.

Created by Dana Krieger for Seattle’s TEAGUE, this urban bike concept would offer integral LED electric turn signals in the handlebars, a red brake light and TRON-like electroluminescent frame lighting.

You’re looking at the future of vending machines. With a 47-inch touchscreen and a camera, the Acure guesses the gender and age of the customer to help make product recommendations.

This Kickstarter-funded software will let you design your own chair, share it online, and have it digitally fabricated using a service like Ponoko. A physics engine even tests chairs for stability and comfort.

Next time your boss demands copies of that TPS report ASAP, express your apathy by stampling them all together with the latest in stapler-rubber-stamp technology. Take that, evil boss!

This concept writing instrument from Monocomplex measures the distance between two points by drawing a line – straight or curved, the distance would display on an embedded LED display.

Designer Andrew Kim’s stand holds an iPad, iPhone, iPod, and even a stylus all in one compact unit. Made from laser-cut plywood, acrylic and birch, we’d love to see it made into a product.

We can’t tell you the specs for Samir Sadikhov’s GT racer because it doesn’t exist anywhere but on his computer – so let’s just pretend it’s got 1200 horsepower and goes 0-to-60 in 1 second flat.

How can you not love this duo uof East Village apartments, conjoined by a metal slide – so occupants can quickly descend from the office above to the living area below. Up requires stairs.

Seungwoo Kim’s award-winning Universal Plug concept makes it easy to pull out the plug with a single finge without risking damage to the cord. Plus, it’s got a glowing TRON-esque nightlight built in.

Your colleagues will know how you’re feeling every morning with Thabto’s lighthearted Mood Mugs; the double wall insulated porcelain pieces feature simple facial expressions to reflect the mood.