First-Class Furniture
No longer do dead planes have to rot forgotten in airplane graveyards. The aviation lovers at California-based Motoart have rescued and repurposed tons of vintage plane parts, creating chairs from ejection seats, desks and tables from wings, couches from float tanks, and sculptures from propellers. Check out the website. Editor Bidrawn nearly had an aneurism when he saw it.
Prices vary
motoart.com
Wake Up!
Yes, real men drink black coffee, but we at ec like to think of ourselves as sensitive European types, so we stick to our dainty espressos and cappuccinos. With the impending economic collapse, however, an at-home espresso maker is no-brainer money saver. Cuisinart's EM 200 has the perfect combination of affordability, looks, sturdy build-quality, and power. Not to mention it makes an espresso so tasty it could make even a real man cry.
$200
cuisinart.com
Wood Is The New Plastic
Wooden frames!? Sunglasses haven't seen a revolutionary new material like this since the plastic Wayfarers of the early '50s. Shwood's eye-catching (pun intended) frames are handmade in Portland, Ore., and then paired with Italian-made Carl Zeiss lenses. Pick a model-the Canby or the Govy-then choose from a variety of fancy-pants woods, including maple, zebrawood, and wenge. The only thing more surprising than their aesthetic awesomeness is their affordability.
$95
shwoodshop.com
Represent, Fool
Rep your hometown with one of these fine-looking typographic neighborhood maps-available for a bunch of major cities. Ork Posters ditches the traditional vintage look of most city maps, and instead goes for a modern, understated design sure to spice up your drab domicile. A map that doubles as a piece of art. Cartography never looked so good.
$22
orkposters.com
Now Boarding
This is an oversized steamer trunk armoire replica. It's also a desk. It's also totally sweet. Oh, you want more? This beauty has a handmade solid wood frame wrapped in distressed vintage cigar leather, and is pieced together using more than 3,000 hand-hammered brass nails. It boasts a pull-down desktop, lots of drawers and cubbies, wheels for mobility, and it can even be closed for privacy and/or storage.
$4,000
restorationhardware.com
Is That A Wood Case In Your Pocket...?
If you own an iPod or iPhone, you know there's a mind-numbingly huge number of protective cases out there. With Vers cases (available for the iPhone and newer iPods) you get three things. They look stunning. They're super durable-according to Vers, wood is "nature's carbon fiber." And since the cases are made of wood, they're completely sustainable. Man, we feel like Ed Begley Jr. after writing that.
$35-40
versaudio.com