flying.saucer

The Flying Saucer Bowl Set by Museum of Robots is a modern take on retro design. The piece looks too perfect when assembled to actually utilize as a bowl but the sculpture adds character to the kitchen and pays homage to the world of robots. Available for $300 on AllModern.com, the piece was designed by Richard and Vicki Küng. The pair own both Museum of Robots -- a modern housewares company -- and Küng Design, which specializes in design for the web.

three.dimensional

The holiday season is coming up and vacations/celebrations equal new big-budget films. With Hollywood doing better this year than last and 3D movies proving wildly successful, it was inevitable that designers would take advantage of the opportunity. Found from a WSJ video, you can now look great while watching a movie (when no one -- absolutely no single person -- is looking at you). Designers are coming out with their own high-end 3D glasses that range from Armani Exchange's $58 aviators (available in December) to Gucci's $225 (better?) aviators (also available in December). Oakley falls somewhere in-between with their $120 rendition of their popular Gascan sunglasses (which normally run $90 for non-polarized). Not featured are Calvin Klein's 3D sunglasses with styles distinctive for both women and men, and Oakley's special edition Tron sunglasses for the upcoming movie premiere on December 17th. Unfortunately, your ticket price will still include a premium for the cheap plastic glasses you don't take but maybe in the future the charge will be separate, thereby adding justification to the splurge.

fire.extinguisher

Owning beautiful means protecting beautiful things but fire is more threatening than it's surface. Pull out the fire extinguisher and it's bound to ruin your goods but the HalGuard Fire Extinguishers, according to Uncrate.com, "employ Halotron 1, an electrically non-conductive "clean" extinguishing agent that rapidly turns into a gas, so they're safe for parts and wiring, pose no risk of electric shock, and leave no nasty residue to clean up." Available in red and chrome for $125 - $170, the extinguishers can be delivered hand-wrapped for an additional $5.

xxi.century

The National Museum of the XXI Century Arts by Zaha Hadid is an arts attraction unto itself. Based in Rome, the museum is Italy’s first national public museum of comtemporary arts and features a vast openness walled by concrete and glass. Straight sharp edges and intriguing intersecting lines create anticipation for the art it's built to hold. From Zaha Hadid Architects:

Here we are weaving a dense texture of interior and exterior spaces. It’s an intriguing mixture of permanent, temporary and commercial galleries, irrigating a large urban field with linear display surfaces. It could be a library; there are so many buildings that are not standing next to, but are intertwined and superimposed over one another.

Found on Dezeen -- an online design magazine -- the website also features a mini-assembly of Hadid's previous works. Check it out online until your next visit to Roma.

doll.house

A Doll's House for Clementine was designed by TDO Architecture and commissioned by Wallpaper*. The house was designed vertically to accommodate easy interaction at all levels and the home effectively creates a "mini modernist world." When closed, the doll house becomes a gently luminescent lamp which counteracts the space lost for an unusually large toy. While not available for sale, the doll house gives an interesting base concept for the design of future creations.

tweeze.me

The tweezers below were created by Dr Jesper Sørensen and Markus Spingler of S&T at the request of Wallpaper* Magazine. The snazzy tool features a "half-carat sapphire embedded in one end" and basically does what tweezers do -- tweeze -- no more, no less.

champagne.bubbly

The Porche Design Studio seems random in their creations but perfect in execution. I once featured their modern lighters but the Veuve Clicquot's Vertical Limit cannot be missed. Designed by Porche Design Studio and found on multiple blogs including Luxist, the cellars are born from a pairing of Veuve Clicquot and the design team. All 15 cellars go for $70,000 but each comes with vintage bottles of celebration.