The Puma Store is an inspiration to all architects out there with lots of time and energy and access to a supply of old shipping containers. I consider this store to be a sort of dialogue with some of the past stores Ive seen where the designers have stacked 6 units high by one wide. This one answers the gravity challenge by creating a massive cantilever with no visible support. How’d they do that? Look back at some of Rem Koolhaas’ earlier works to remind yourself ho.

This Just In-box: new Puma VS new Nike VS new Adidas – Core77.

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.

The other day, I was working away and my boss rides in on one of these bikes, the OPA Black by Jorg & Olif… or, at least I think it was one of these bikes. I was immediately in love and decided to write about it. For you cyclophiles out there you know this is a Dutch City Bike. For those maybe not that familiar with the cycling this bike is the standard bike that everyone owns in the Netherlands. I don’t think people use anything else because if you did, from what I’ve been told, it would be stolen. The company that makes these bikes, Jorg & Olif, have decided to construct everything down to the last detail of the original Dutch City Bike.

The bike, to be fair to the gear heads, does not go very fast, it’s heavy, and it’s not made for any sort of performance. This means that I do not find it ideal for riding in a hilly city. I think the places where this bike would make a great difference in your life would be if you needed to run to the store close by and you live in a flat area. If that’s the case, then you should buy this bike. It’s built to serve this function. The mud flaps and chain guards will keep your clothes clean, the ride is very upright and comfortable, and the light never needs to be changed (because you make the power). Oh, and By the way, the red is my favorite.

Claus Bjerre creates a witty take on a candle holder. The holder, of course, mimics the form of some plumbing pipe with a valve. The valve, besides looking beautiful in its industrial simplicity, actually serves a purpose in that it is used as the handle for the candle, meaning you will never get hot wax on your hands as you walk through your house with a lit candle. At this point, you’re probably asking yourself,” Is this guy going to say anything intelligent or eye opening about this piece?” The answer is no. The only thing a could think of besides my coveted grunt of approval was that this is just another piece falling into a twenty-first century design mega-trend which I will call creative re-purposing influenced by artists like Marcel Duchamp to the more current green design movement and stores like Etsy. Then again, I could be smoking crack.

This post comes via Moco Loco. It’s a baroque chair re-purposed as a piece of neon art. The chair is striking, straightforward, iconic, classic, and fresh at the same time. The designer Lee Broom, is a baby faced kid, with a big career ahead of him. I’m excited to see what happens next. BTW, Mr. Broom’s website is equally intriguing. It is an absolutely crisp and beautifully subtle site. For you Flash developers out there: This is one that you can copy that won’t make people think, “Christ, not another one of those wizz-bang Flash sites where all the shit moves around.”