Z-bar is quickly becoming the lamp of choice by architects wanting to add a bit more style to their drawing board. I should know. I’ an architect and I have one at work. I ‘ve asked other architects. They too have purchased one. I think it goes over well because it’s "green" sleek, simple, and most importantly for poor architects, inexpensive. The one criticism is it’s not easy to draw under this light because the LEDs make multiple shadows which induce headaches.

Z-BAR High Power Red by Koncept

Alright. I’ve fallen for it. The Swiss Army brand has moved into shoes and I’m in. The shoes, lead by Established Brands, have been expertly produced with the expected simplicity, ease of use, and signature red color that is important to give it that Swiss Army feel. I grew up owning a Swiss Army knife, and I never thought much of it except that it was just so damn cool. And it’s this sort of child like deep mental bond that pulls me in to the lust for these shoes. What makes these shoes cool if you took the logo off? Well, their still light weight, well made, rugged, and thoughtfully designed, but quite frankly, if they had a Payless logo on them then I wouldn’t be writing about them.

Perch, a furniture concept by Simon Dennehy, is one of those aha! ideas that you wonder why you have not seen this concept sooner. The Perch system is comprised of a table and a chair that have been expertly contoured to meet a massively lacking area of furniture design. There is an endless host of useful features in this concept:

• The seat flexes to encourage leg movement
• The frames of the chairs are not only light and simple to operate but also stackable
• The desk is the centerpiece of a clip on shelf system that could accompany a student from desk to desk
• The desk and seat are adjusted with a very simple and easy to use mechanism

Quite frankly, this system makes me wonder really how much school children really matter. I remember when I was in school, my back and butt hurting nearly every day from sitting in the ubiquitous awful school chair. Yet, Mr. Dennehy’s concept, although brilliantly simple, should have been implemented much, much sooner than 2008.

I wanted to give a quick shout out to my friends over at 66 degrees who have got exclusive distribution of a new table by African designers, Tsai Design. The table is due out this Thursday, and Hey, it’s not the iPhone, but it’s a damn nice design by one of South Africa’s more talented and prolific modern designers. Give it a look.

This Sunday, I attended BKLYN Designs in the Dumbo Neighborhood of Brooklyn and was impressed with the level of craft by the offerings. Over the next few days, I hope to feature a few of the most exciting small companies I observed.

Today, I’d like to mention Vexell. Vexell’s furniture, as was the case of many of the exhibitors, is predomintated by exquisite metal fabrication juxtaposed with fine wood joinery. Their work is quite modern and yet not cold as you might see in sleek European furniture companies. Probably my favorite pieces they exhibited were from the BK series which brings together hand tooled steel bars with the rish red color of padauk. They also make fabulous chairs cut from single sheets of steel as well. But I really don’t do their work justice given that I’ve got fifteen posts I’d like to do today, so definitely check them out at Vexell.com.

Like so many other products on DesignCrack.com, there is not much you need to say beyond your immediate visceral reaction to clever products such as this tape dispenser. Yep. It’s a tape dispenser in the form of that all important audio media device: the cassette tape. The design is so damn cute. And at twenty five bucks, your cleverness expressed in this product won’t break the bank and pays tribute to a bygone era.