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.

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.

Finally! I’ve gotten around to this post. It is a rare pleasure to get tips from my friends in town. Yes, I get tips about products from my cyberspace friends and from my PR friends, but rarely do I get any great leads on well designed products from the people that I see on a weekly basis. Those people usually don’t like to admit their product obsessions to me. What is this product? A toothbrush with a mission. The Radius toothbrush has been designed to be the OXO of the oral hygiene world. The toothbrushes feature ergonomic designed handled custom taylored for either right handed or left handed people.

It’s very rare that I look at a product and just say to myself “Awwww, you are so cute!”, but I must admit that I did this when I saw the carafe and jacket by Eva Solo. The object is a simple glass carafe that is quite wide at the base and tapers up. Surrounding the carafe is a thermal jacket made of black neoprene that zips up. It looks like a little Fonzie from Happy Days if Fonzie were an inanimate glass object. The jacket obviously keeps your hands cool and the liquid inside warm, and that’s all there is to it. The broader discovery for me is Eva Solo’s product line. This Danish company has created dozens of highly functional, refines, and beautiful everyday objects for the home. I was particularly impressed with their kitchen utensils. Definitely have a look if you like to cook and collect ingenious kitchen gadgets.

A couple of weeks ago, Dosh sent me an anoucment to me. I spent some time on the site, and I must admit that I really like the wallet. The designers of the product have developed a clear and compelling site to promote their product which I think on its own might have been overlooked. What Dosh has done here is create a well designed wallet where they thought of a number of things that are often neglected in wallets such as water resistance or where you might put your keys. OK, so it’s a wallet, WTF? I’ll tell you WTF. What’s even more compelling than the wallet is their imagery of the wallet. The website features images of the wallet under a faucet. It’s a brilliant way to make the idea stick. Now you know your money and cards will be safe if you can run it under a faucet. The wallet immediately establishes its credibility, aesthetics, and key differentiating feature in one simple picture. I give Dosh an A+, and I hope their sales are brisk.

Nani Marquina, an awesome rug making company, has just developed the Bicicleta Rug. This rug is special because it brings two of my life’s interests together: bicycling and design. If you didn’t know already, I attempt to ride my bicycle to work each day, and I’ve been doing that for nearly ten years. In that time, I’ve probably worn out just enough tire tubes to make one of these rugs. Oh, and if you haven’t figured it out yet, the Bicicleta rug is made of recycled tire tubes. I must admit, I have not felt this rug yet, but I’m really anxious to be near it and put my feet on it. As much as I like the concept of using recycled bicycle tires as a rug material, I still can’t get that grease and rubber smell out of my head when I change a tire. There is something also about the texture of the tube that, for me, does not lend itself to touching. That’s why I’m thinking when get a better feel for the rug in person I will be able to put those concerns to rest and just enjoy.

The Lounge Chair by the Millegomme (Italian for ‘thousand chairs) Collective is just one of dozens of fascinating creations fade out of old tires. The way Millegomme works is to bring social awareness to the problem of used tires by staging events throughout the world where they gather communities together to make useful objects out of these old tires with just a few tools. To me, the work that the Millegomme Collective does is invaluable because it engages children and adults into the creative act of making things out of their old tires rather than just preaching at them that the tires are an environmental problem. The lounge chair is one of my favorite creations. It looks comfortable, and stable, and somewhat refined. Mind you, participants have only a few hours to make their creations. What I see the future of this project being is taking a few key designs bubbling to the surface (such as this chair), and turning them into mass manufactured products…which is generally a better alternative to sitting in a landfill.

MKS Design is a small firm is comprised of Adam Simha. His work is mostly what I would call musings in steel. The knives for, instance don’t necessarily feel like something Adam set out to do. I would guess that they just happened. They are made of extremely high-quality steel and have somewhat unique shapes. But the handle really sets the knife apart from the competition. The handle is a modern day equivalent of the bicycle grip used on an old Schwinn Cruiser. I personally prefer handles that are sort of deep and integrated into the steel, but these knives look really cool!

Kyouei, a Japanese lighting design duo, has created an ingenious, stand-alone light with great possibilities for parties. It’s called the Balloon Lamp. It’s comprised of a plastic shaft to house the LED light source, a flat lithium battery, and a hook to hang the light. You can choose any balloon you like for the light to work within. The product becomes even more striking when you hook several of these together as seen on their site. The light is available at The Conduit Group, however, for 25 bucks a pop you may be wanting to contact the designers directly because the mechanism to control the lamp is quite simple.

Areaware is a New York based design collective whose focus is on the design of everyday objects. Harry Allen, in particular is an extremely talented individual who is probably more well known for his interior design work which include several high profile retail interiors. And although Mr. Allen has had great success in product design, he has reserved to produce the Reality line of housewares (including the Pig Bank) under it’s own brand. My guess is Target might not be quite that forward thinking as to have a gold plated resin pig that was cast from the corpse selling in their stores. Mr. Allen has produced a number of such products, but this one is striking to me because I can’t help but wonder how he got the pig corpse to stand in such an upright and natural position. It’s really impressive when you think about it.