Fab Facets | Bold Bowls

If you know Future-ish you know that we have a huge crush on anything with facets. So these handmade bowls by Portland, OR based glass blower Lynn Read, Crystal Dish, easily caught our eye. Completely customizable and available in a variety of colors, they are another perfect gift for the science or design geek in your life (including yourself).

Graphic Grinders

These bottle-shaped salt, pepper, and/or spices grinders offer modern shapes and full functionality when it comes to dispersing the desired tasty accoutrement. The Bottle Grinder Set comes with especially good design in the configuration...the mill is actually at the top of the grinder so no random spice dust on the countertops and tables.

Contemporary Crafty Candles

These contemporary Totem Candles by Grain Design offer both graphic shapes and a touch of traditional woodcraft. Made near Seattle, the candles are made of beeswax and then turned on a lathe to produce the sculpted lines. A little bit of science and nature plus a lot of great design make for the perfect gift for almost anybody.

Fab Facets | Stylish Solid Speaker

Our fetish for facets is never-ending. Our latest find is this snazzy little speaker from Outdoor Technology. The Turtle Shell Bluetooth Speaker offers fantastic sound and rugged good looks...literally. The faceted shell may be all modern but it is also water-resistant, dust-proof, and shock-proof. From patio cocktail parties to glamping in the high Rockies, this speaker lets you bring your favorite tunes to any occasion.

Cocktails and Constants

Manhattans will never be the same...from now on, they'll make you smarter. These cocktail Math Glasses feature mathematical constants and arithmetical formulas that won't let your mind dull for a minute when enjoying your favorite libation. Impress your friends with a toast to/with Pythagoras's constant, Pi, Phi,or Euler's Number.

Science-inspired ABC Blocks

From Acute Angle to Zeolite, the whole alphabet is covered in these Super Nerdy ABC Blocks by Georgia-based designer Tiffany Ard available exclusively at Uncommon Goods. Handcrafted in Michigan from local basswood and printed with non-toxic inks, it is the perfect gift for the toddler (or science- and/or design-enthusiast adult) in your life.

Cork Globe

Being fans of future-shaping science, design, and culture around the world it was love at first site with this little Cork Globe from Uncommon Goods. With a 10" diameter, its the perfect little world to track your travels and even post little pics and reminders of your favorite destinations.

Lustrous Metal Mobile

Being design geeks, we love coming across a great mobile here at Future-ish. This Blowing Leaves Copper Mobile by Jay Jones for Uncommon Goods adds a little science to the moving sculpture with its beautiful casts of ginkgo leaves.

Winebottle Water Garden

Fresh from Idaho and Uncommon Goods comes these super hip little Grow Bottles. Made from re-purposed wine bottles, they offer the perfect little hydroponic world for growing herbs in small spaces. You can get just one or start a collection of all the herbs they offer.

Sipping Science

Would you like cream with your science? Coffee and tea will never be the same. Now you can get smarter with each sip with these Earth Science Cups by designers Jason Snyder and Briana Feola, available at Uncommon Goods. Whether its cross-sections of the earth or aquatic layers of the ocean, these mugs offer a treat for your mouth and your mind.

Cocktails on the Rocks

Want a little geology with that gin and tonic? Designer Anna Rabinowicz and Uncommon Goods can do just that. The Agate Coaster Set features color-enhanced Brazilian agate slices that make for will make for great conversation starters at your next cocktail party.

Shifting Sands

The mini desktop sandbox just evolved. The Meditation Box from Uncommon Goods allows users to serenely create pictures and words that in a field of white sand that is sure to sooth any restless mind. Missouri based designer Jane Riew has elevated personal quiet time to a calming and creative outlet.

Modern Dominos

Danish designers Nina Lee and Ludvig Storm combined great design with a traditional game to one-up the competition. The Pieces N Play Domino Set at DWR is guaranteed to delight design geeks of any age.

See Spectrum | The Present Clock

We're quite sure that The Present Clock should win some sort of international award. This annual clock designed by Scott Thrift offers a new way to appreciate time...slowly, over the course of a full year. Gone or the anxious modern world tied to hours, minutes, and seconds. With The Present Clock, our perception of time is expanded and we get a chance to enjoy the moment.

The Present Clock is a great addition to our See Spectrum collection. It allows us to enjoy and appreciate the full spectrum of the seasons and our lives. We're looking forward to the wrist-watch version...hint, hint.

Mr. Jackdoor Door Wedge

Here at Future-ish we are suckers for little modern wood creatures. So the Mr. Jackdoor Door Wedge has us all twitterpated because it has great form AND function...its a doorstop!

Designed by Philip Crewe for UK retailer Really Well Made, the little bird is made from sustainably sourced Yew and the beeswax polish comes from respected beekeeper Mary Case who has been tending to her beehives for over twenty years. The doorstop functionality is wonderful but what's even better is that Mr. Jackdoor is so cute that it can also simply be a piece of art.

Progress Chic | Bunad Blankets

These colorful wool Bunad Blankets from UK retailer Really Well Made are inspired by patterns from regions in Norway: Setesdal, Nordland, Fusa, Bringeklut, and Sunnmøre. The blankets offer contemporary graphic design but the ‘Bunader’ they take after are actually traditional costumes with roots in rural clothes from the 18th and 19th centuries. Designer Andreas Engesvik worked with century-old Norwegian manufacturer Mandal Veveri to make the Blankets. Another great exampel of what's old is new again.

Kaleidograph

Hours of design fun for kids of all ages. These sets of die-cut cards by Kaleidograph can be mixed and matched to form designs and patterns that mimic the geometry of flowers and crystals in nature.

Some of the card designs date back to the 17th century and yet the final results of card combinations always seem thoroughly modern. The card sets also follow the tradition of education and design toys envisioned by Friedrich Froebel in the 1800s when he defined the original idea of Kindergarten. This educational system, with its design toys, went on to influence modern designers such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Buckminster Fuller, Piet Mondrian, and even design education at the Bauhaus.

Best of all, you can used them as a toy, display favorite designs as artwork, or even use them as stencils for larger design project.

Available at Amazon.com and other retailers. Pictured above are the Flora and Crystal card sets.

Urbio

A dream product for the modern neat freak, the Urbio organizing system offers flexible function with a clean, contemporary vibe. A collaboration between designers Beau Oyler and Jared Aller with the Enlisted Design team, Urbio is an affordable and stylish storage and vertical gardening solution for both modern and rural lifestyles that desire a modern twist.

HexWatch | Contemporary Tumblers

Though it's shape is clearly not a hexagon, we couldn't help but add Sempli's Cupa-Rocks tumbler by Swedish designer Daniele Semeraro to our HexWatch collection since it's silhouette does form a comparably-appealing pentagon.

The simple but bold lines of the tumblers may be a stylish way to enjoy your Scotch, saké, or whiskey, but it's unique form offers functional benefits as well. The shape allows the glassware to roll gently across a flat surface when set down, oxygenating the fine spirit inside. The shape also fits perfectly into the palm of your hand which warms the spirit slightly. Together, these features make the bouquet of your favorite brandy our bourbon even more appealing. Available at Sempli and other retailers.

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ChefSteps Shares Art and Science of Modernist Cuisine

Molecular gastronomy is becoming more and more popular and prevalent everyday. It's one thing to order it at a restaurant or see it on TV, it's a completely different thing to try to make it yourself. The techniques, the tools, and the time involved can all be overwhelming for any budding chef. Luckily, things like the Modernist Cuisine cookbook series are helping us try our hand at these new and innovative culinary methods.

Taking baby steps into the world of molecular gastronomy just got even easier. Seattle-based ChefSteps offers online courses to introduce even the most beginner of chefs to the tools and techniques of exceptional modern cuisine. Lead by Grant Lee Crilly, Ryan Matthew Smith, and Chris Young - several of the original Modern Cuisine team - the website, recipes, classes, and community developed by ChefSteps are both aesthetically appealing and accessible.

We particular love this quote from ChefSteps:

"Cooking is an ancient art and science, an accumulated body of knowledge passed down through generations, which we modify every day."

Here at Future-ish we coined a design style called 'Progress Chic' that references tried and true elements of life and design and then re-imagines them for the present. ChefSteps is a perfect example of this. Where molecular gastronomy offers many Progress Chic moments for food and restaurants broadly, ChefSteps does this for recipe instructions, cooking classes, and videos through it's almost poetic presentation methods.

So throw on your apron or labcoat (both would be appropriate) and get started on the essentials of spherification, sous vide, and whipping siphons!

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