Peter Callesen

Browsing the papercut works by performance and fine artist Peter Callesen is a bit like witnessing a pop-up book artist gone completely mad. The details are stunning, the precision is intense, and I have my suspicions about whether he might actually be a laser cutter dressed up in pants.

tablecloth

This may have debuted two years ago, but it's new to me and too good to leave out.

Go ahead, act carelessly with your stemware, let your babies drink grape juice out of the "big kids" glass, be a klutz for the sake of art! This ingenious tablecloth, shown at the St. Etienne Design Biennial 2006, starts out looking like any generic white table cloth, but then develops a floral pattern when your drink tips. Talk about turning lemons into lemonade! (or red wine, in this case)
Kudos to Madeleine Montaigne. If I cry over spilled milk, they will be tears of joy.

spin

Swedish designer Marie-Louise Hellgren has a knack for whipping up modern designs with a multi-functional flare. Each piece from her perfect little mug collection, called Spin, includes a teak stirrer and a shelved saucer that triples as a cookie (etc.) tray and a lid. We have a winner!

designer dictionary

This leather bound Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary is so gorgeous it could make Scrabble sexy. (I'm speaking of the gold one.)

Jennifer Poon

Ever noticed the abundance of cutesy, bubblegum illustrations that have popped up? These are not those. I love figurative work, and Jennifer Poon certainly has a talent. Her paintings look as if they've emerged from some twenty-first century fairy tale: they have an obvious dark side, yet somehow maintain an innocence. Oh the irony!

magic carpets

Dutch designer Wendy Plomp put packing crates to use as dinner tables for restaurant de Witte Tafel. Hung on the walls and overlapped on the floors are her screenprinted cardboard carpets. Hobo chic!

fire string mountain

I came across this piece by Aili Schmeltz and was stunned. Something about that color and the way it richens at the base. It looks like the work of an eccentric arachnid and I wish I'd thought of it first.