Trust James Dyson to come up with the bladeless fan.  Dyson, designer extraordinaire and the inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaners, has come up with a different method of blowing air to your face.

Using a turbo-charged motor, pressurized air is forced through a narrow aperture and accelerated along the ring-like structure. This creates a jet stream that sucks in the air from all around the fan and multiplies the air flow, hence the name “Air Multiplier”.

Without blades, the air flow doesn’t have the usual choppy effect and travels smoothly to fan your face.  The minimalist ring structure also results in a sculptural effect - a beautiful addition to any tabletop.  Take a look at the Dyson Air Multiplier at their website.

Got a little time on your hands? Then you, too, could spend a week attaching 20,000 Lego pieces to a kitchen island to create an playful look for your kitchen.

That’s what the Parisian design team Munchausen—Simon Pillard and Phillipe Rosetti— did, working with an IKEA base in their own kitchen.

See the details here:

http://www.thecoolhunter.net/article/detail/1628/lego-kitchen

When thinking about the waste we humans create, think about Halloween: all those synthetic costumes used once, never again worn, come November 1st tossed on the trashheap of over-indulgence. And they’re often not designed with as much panache as you yourself could put in them.

It’s time for Halloween to go green. And so much cheaper, and more fun, too, to make your own costume—whether it’s a simple white sheet with eye holes cut out, or a papier mache mask, or a kitty-cat suit using your own yoga clothes. Get the kids involved in making their own costumes, and let them compete to see who can make the greenest! And it’s even more fun as Inhabitat is having a contest for green Halloween costumes, which you can enter here:

http://greenhalloween.inhabitat.com

If you enter, send in a photo of yourself to us, and we’ll post it here, too.

By the way, Inhabitat is definitely worth checking out whether you’re busy making a green costume or not. It’s a site devoted to the dovetailing of great design and sustainability, started by New York City designer Jill Fehrenbacher. They have really cool news about really cool designs help save the planet, like this rocking chair.

http://www.inhabitat.com/

Mark your calendars: on Tuesday, November 10, the Internatioanl Furnishings and Design Association is hosting its annual Rising Stars Interior Design Cocktail/Networking Reception and awards ceremony. It be held at 7 W. 34th Street, 11th Floor, starting at 5:30 p.m.
New York designer Jamie Drake will exchange ideas with this year’s honorees, John Wiley, Sara Story and Shawn Henderson.

For details, go to

http://www.7wnewyork.com/market_information/designerdays.cfm

The Vipp Collection at Design Within Reach

Ever since first laying eyes on a Vipp refuse can, I was in love. The Danish company’s cans are unmatched in their combination of aesthetic appeal with functionality - sharp lines and neutral colors with an easy-to-clean finish and a wide rubber foot pedal. It helps that they have been hand-constructed from quality materials since the company’s inception in 1939.

This month, Vipp is once again teaming up with DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS) and Design Within Reach for CAN IT!!!, an effort to raise awareness and funds. They have asked a group of significant artists, designers, entertainers, and celebrities to transform Vipp bins into art objects, with amazing, and amazingly varied, results.

The final bins are on display at the DWR Tools for Living Store at 142 Wooster Street in Manhattan until October 28th, and are available for advance bidding. On the 28th, the celebration gala and final auction hosted by DWR, Vipp, and DIFFA will take place at the DWR flagship store at 110 Greene Street, with proceeds going to DIFFA’s important work. Bidders will be invited to this otherwise private event.

I had a chance to visit the DWR Tools for Living store last night, and was truly impressed with the bins and the store (which I learned from delightful salesman Steve has only been open a little over a year). If you are in the area, I recommend a visit!

Here are some of my (somewhat biased) favorites:

Jes Gordon

Avi Adler and John Baldessari

David Rockwell

Cole Garett and Yves Behar

All images ©Vipp via If Its Hip, Its Here. More information and images are available there.

One of the companies to fall under the wheels of the economic collapse last year was Shabby Chic, the company that pioneered the look of homey femininity with an elegant touch that reached its popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

But the company has sprung back to life, thanks to a new investor, and possibly thanks to the very economic blow-out that forced it to shut down. The look—infinitely comforting without sacrificing sophistication—was most popular when the economy of the 1980s was in serious trouble. So it may be perfect timing to bring out those distressed white dressers and faux-crystal chandeliers.

As it happens, the Room of the Month on Designer Monthly takes a look at a room done in this style; you can see photos and read about it here:
http://www.sheffield.edu/designermonthly/rooms/room-of-the-month1009.html

We found the article on the New York Times today—the photo below is from the article, and is taken by Art Streiber of Shabby Chic. You can read the article here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/garden/15shabby.html

Time Out New York’s latest issue features an Interior Design theme.  The basic idea is that people are looking to either decorate their new apartments or redecorate their existing shelters, but most of them are on a budget.

Design on the Cheap features various articles about real New Yorkers who have managed to put together a few design ideas on a limited budget.  To view some of their ideas, and even steal them for your own home or apartment, check out the Time Out website.

Image from Time Out New York

In addition, the magazine is featuring 5 up and coming designers who are willing to gain real world experience by working for free.  Flip through the various designers as well as their concepts.  If you see anything you like, the email addresses to contact them and set up an appointment.  To check out the student designers, click here.

This Interior Design series is a great source of information for anyone, whether you live in New York or not.

When a good friend asked me for advice on her October wedding color scheme a few weeks ago, the answer in my mind was obvious - her endearment of choice, honey! It struck me as the perfect shade for everything from her  golden jewelry to the flowers to the natural beeswax candles on her altar.

Rich golden hues are perfect for a Fall event, as they rule nature’s color palette for the season - the harvest moon, freshly baled hay, ripe squash and pumpkins, apple cider, maple syrup and honey, and, of course, the changing of the leaves from green to gold, red, and brown.

Its no surprise that Pantone predicted the “warm, subdued”

would be an important color for fashion and design in their prescient 2009 Fall Color Report.

Martha Stewart Weddings also paid a gorgeous homage to the “Perfect Palette” of Honey & Wheat in the Fall 2009 issue. You can check out the rest of the images in that story by clicking on the photo below.

Trendsetter Grace of Design*Sponge also warmed up to this palette in a recent “Under $100″ round-up. Click on the image to visit the original listing and find the source of all these items.

Traditional and cosy, these golden shades are never-fail options for Fall, and we cannot help but gravitate to them as the temperature cools and the sunlight fades.

That said, it’s nice to veer from the expected. Do you think you have a better idea for a perfect Fall palette? You should enter the October Design Challenge - the winner gets a fabulous decorating book, a t-shirt, and the glory of sharing their good taste in a community of taste-makers.

You’re just about to drop off to sleep in your darkened bedroom, when you’re stuck by a sudden need for just one more sip of delicious tap-water. And, no longer a six-year-old, you can’t just call for Mommy. You reach for the cup on your night stand, knocking it over into the lamp, setting the bed on fire… well, okay, maybe it’s not that disastrous.

But wouldn’t it be really, really cool if you had a cup that was also a night light?

Now you can.  Just by taking a look here:

http://www.litecup.com

The premier design center in New York, the D&D, has just started today their own blog called Go Design Go. The D&D building is 18 floors full of furniture, lighting, and accessories showrooms.

Their blog will reflect the latest product offerings as well as trends, events, and designer information.  Take a peek at Go Design Go.