If you’re looking for a line of modern cabinets for your new or existing home, and you want to feel good from an environmental perspective about the purchase you make, than you might want to check out Valcucine cabinets. The Italian cabinet maker is world renowned for their stunning designed high functioning and cabinetry but maybe even more impressive is the companies commitment to environmental stewardship and responsible business practices. At the end of each business year Valcucine does an audit of their business operations from production to shipping and then implements tactics designed to off-set the impact they have had. Of course this corporate responsibility, forward thinking design and fabrication have come with a healthy little price tag—one that puts the product out of reach for most of us who have to work within modest budgets. Recognizing that the market appeal for cabinets of this nature is growing Valcucine has introduced the DeMode (Democratic Modern Design) line, which is infused with much of its design appeal, but less of the whistle and bell features, which allows them to offer the line at a reduced price. The Demode line is still nothing to balk at since they start at around $20,000 but that’s half the price of Valucince’s point of entry for something in their main line of cabinets. I will tell you that if you ever get a chance to take an upclose look at how Valcucine cabinets you’ll be as impressed as I was with the level of innovation and execution that goes into making these cabinets the cream of the cabinet crop.

These Lighthouse Oil Lamps by designer Christian Bjorn for Menu are a Red Dot Design Award Winner. According to Bjorn himself, the lamps burn like a “fantastic bonfire” and excel in windy conditions due to a patented oil burner that will burn fiercely no matter the wind speeds! Available in 4 sizes, starting at $80.

Find them at A+R Store

While not the most exciting find in the world, I have always hated our toilet brush at home.  It is important to keep your toilet clean and improve your bathroom decor.  The Inox Toilet Brush does both.  It is on sale right now at DWR for only $80.  Maybe a lot but just see what they have at Wal-Mart. I think you will change your mind.

As a young boy (roughly 8 or 9 years) I stated developing headaches after long days of reading the blackboard at school, so my mom an dad took me into the eye doctor and I got my first pair of glasses. The selection was limited with the majority of glasses available to me being on the rather unattractive end of the design perspective. Over the next 10 years or so I made my way through what was a very minimal selection of eyewear trying to find the most attractive pair I could. Then about half way though my college education I went in for an eye check-up and was told that my eyes had corrected themselves. I no-longer need to wear the goofy looking pair of glasses I was sporting at the time. As a result I never underwent the phenomenon of  laser corrective eye surgery that swept the Nation in the 90’s and early into the new millennium. As the popularity of this surgical procedure become more and more mainstream it seemed that almost no one was wearing eye-glasses anymore. You might imagine that this would have resulted in an even smaller range of good design choices in the already anemic selection of eyewear available, but nothing could be further from the truth. It appears that the introduction of laser eye surgery has actually infused the eyewear business with an improved focus (full pun intended) on design. Proof of this can be found in the collaboration of German based eyewear manufacturer Mykita and a varierty of Avant Guard and fashion forward design industry stars including Bernard Whillhelm, Herr Von Eden (via Bent Angelo Jensen), Marios Schwab, Romain Kremer and Flash SS2010 M. Mykita was already offering the eyewear industry some of the more stylish lines of spectacles available, but the introduction of the these Limited edition collections show the Berlin based company’s recognition of design as the differentiating factor between themselves and the rest of the now rather competitive eyewear industry.

In the little artists community of Todos Santos located on the southern tip of Baja California Sur, Mexico is this lovely little boutique hotel by the name of Hotelito. The property is private gated atmosphere and features 4 rooms along with a guest house option. Each room offers a color theme and modernist flair. While the town offers some nice cultural options with its artist community, a variety of restaurants along with a great local surf beach and wonderful whale watching opportunities. From what I can tell the resort is more of a romantic getaway than it is a family vacation spot and really would be an ideal location to spend an entire month writing, painting or just chilling while you wait for the coldest part of winter to blow over.

While at IKEA last weekend I ran into the JONISK floor/table lamp and about 2,000 people.  They had a pair set up front and center at the Schaumburg, IL store.  The picture above does not quite give it justice.  I suggest going to the store and see it lit up.  For $49 dollars, you could do much worse than two of these lights.

The entire portrait was made up of roughly 5,000 bottle caps collected over a 5 year period. Some come from as far away as Africa, and most of them from family and friends who despite the uncertainty of their use saved them for me anyway.

Somewhere between my Wisconsin upbringing and my designer training I found that I really enjoyed drinking different beers from around the world. Often times select them based on their labels or bottle caps,  resulting in me starting to save some of the cooler looking bottle cap I would find. Before I new it I had began to amass what I thought was a fairly large collection, and I thought it might be cool do something with them. I laid them out on the table one day and came to the realization that the 350 or so bottle caps I had collect was really rather an unimpressive number. I new I needed way more if I was going to do anything with them, so I began picking up bottle caps at every chance I could get, often leading to strange looks from friends, family and strangers as they watched me shove a collection of bottle caps in my pocket at a neighborhood cookout or family gathering. But before I knew it I had a few dozen friends and family that took notice and were now greeting me with a bag of bottle caps for my collection each I would see them.

Then this past summer I sorted through my now very large collection of bottle caps and grouped them into categories based on color, and decided that now (5 years or so from my first little interesting bottle cap that I set aside) I had a large enough collection to do something. Plus, I had a nice 47″x 47″ pieces of Baltic Birch Plywood lying around that was calling for something to be done with it. I determined that I was going to do a portrait and that a self-portrait probably offered the least risk of offending someone if it didn’t turn out quite the way I had envisioned. So after working on and off  over the past 3 months I finally completed it this past weekend, and I’m very pleased with the result. Of the many art pieces I’ve created over the years, both commercial and private, I found this to strangely be one of the most satisfying. I don’t know if that was because the material had come from so many people and place and each piece had it’s own story, or if it was because there was something incredibly tactile and cathartic about selecting and smashing each bottle cap for just the right place in the piece. Whatever the reason it felt very rewarding and I’m ready to do another—I just need to get some more bottle caps.

We’re half way through winter in the Upper-Midwest and just recently returned to temperatures that don’t begin with a minus in front of them, and I’m beginning to get a little cabin fever. One of the telltale signs of this ungodly condition is the volume of warm weather vacation searches that I’m starting to see appear in my web browser history. So all of this got me thinking about where can a modernist like myself go to enjoy a little sun and fun in the pleasant surroundings of a modern aesthetic.

What I’ve found is that the popularity of the modern design movement hasn’t gone unnoticed among the good people of the hospitality industry. As many new modern styled hotels are cropping up around the sun drenched regions of the world, many more of the old ones are renovating their facilities to offer a simpler more sophisticated design aesthetic. So I’ve decided to feature a couple that have caught my attention over the next few weeks.

The first Hotel that caught my eye was Clarum 101. Located in Guadalajara, Mexico this posh boutique hotel positions itself as an urban retreat that offers visitors access to the city’s cultural hub. based on a couple of inquires on room rates during peak vacation season I was surprised to find that the rooms were fairly reasonable when compared with hotels of this level of style in the U.S.. However, Clarum 101 claims that beyond their refined architecture and modern furnishings it is their superior customer service that makes staying there so remarkable. If you’re looking for a cultural experience and less concerned with surf and sand than this just might be the perfect location for a modern getaway for a couple looking to drink in Mexico’s second largest city.

In this edition of Modern Under $100 the research took all of a couple seconds.  I just looked down at my phone.  When I was at the Apple Store, pouring over all of the cases looking for the perfect one, I came accross the Chilewhich line (really just 2).   Sandy Chilewich is an innovator in the textile industry, especially in the use of vinyl.  With the money left over you could buy a few of her placemats.  These retail just under $40 and can be purchased from Apple’s website or any Apple Store.