ICFF 2012: Lighting, Lighting, Lighting

The International Contemporary Furniture Fair is back in the city, and I took a look over the weekend. The product that filled my camera lenses more than anything else this go 'round? Desk lamps, pendant lighting, and sconces. Oh, the lighting! Here are some gems I spotted...

UM Project's stunning L.U.M. desk lamps (that polished copper shade is calling my name).

The sexy Osiris Chandelier by Matthew Fairbank Design.

Hello there, Delaney Light Works.

Tokyo, a perfectly proportioned little lighter from Misewell.

TOPAN suspension lighting by Ameico Industries.

Lightweight wood picks from Argentina's Weplight.

Striking work (as always) by Lindsey Adelman.

Iacoli & McAllister. Yes.

 I know, right? All those colored cords! (Pablo Designs. Talk to them about it.)

Wake Me Up Before You Go and Go and Go

Even though I do not personally know my next-door neighbor--as in, I do not even know if said neighbor is a he or a she--I do have a special relationship with him/her. And that relationship is what I like to call "The Big Battle of the Good Morning."

Here's the deal. After a recent and unnecesarily long search for a much-needed new alarm clock--something suitably cute, sized right for my small space, and not too terribly run-of-the-mill (because you know how alarm clocks can get)--I finally found a timekeeper I liked. Finally! The night I brought it home, I set it to wake me for work the following day and went to sleep with a smile. After all, the search was over. A cute new bedside clock was mine!

BUT THIS IS WHERE WE APPROPRIATELY SWITCH TO ALL-CAPS, Y'ALL, BECAUSE THE NEXT MORNING, THIS IS HOW IT WOKE ME UP. LOUD, EVIL, SCREAM-Y, AND "GET-UP-OR-I-WILL-SLAY-YOU-WITH-MY-PAINFUL-BANSHEE-WAIL-SOUND"-Y.

In all my life, I have never been so frightened by something so small and seemingly harmless. Never! I seriously can't believe someone let that moster out of its cage and on to retail shelves where a nice lady like me can just pick it up, pay for it like a decent law-abiding citizen, place it innocently in her very own home, and then subject herself to its horrible, horrible wrath. I say, no! I do not deserve this kind of treatment! I have rights, here!

So apparently does my neighbor.

There is no doubt in my mind that the lady/man next door also hears the beast awaken. For various reasons (insert grimace here), I am 99% sure that his/her bed is, like mine, lined up against the wall we share. In fact, I am pretty sure I've heard him/her physically startle from my alarm a few times--bracing him/herself on that wall, WINCING in pain. This shared experience is clearly just as wretched for him/her as it is for me.

But before you actually start feeling sorry for my neighbor, I want you to just wait right there a tick.

Do you happen to be a fan of 1010 Wins--you know, that awful all-news radio station that has a constant, grating teletype sound playing in the background? No? Me either. But my neighbor is. And so is his/her radio alarm clock, which is the kind that not only gets louder and louder the more time you DON'T turn it off, but is also one that you can set to repeat at the same time every morning....meaning that the alarm next door sounds whether or not my neighbor is even there. Which isn't that often, apparently, because for most of my morning ritual these days, I have the pleasure of grooming myself to the increasing volume of a CHHH-CHHH-CHHH-CHHH-CHHH spewing its hate at me--and my own Satan clock--right through my own damn wall.

It's a full-on war here in Brooklyn, folks. And in the spirit of the holidays, I am raising a white flag (or a red and green one, whatever we're doing right now). I'm again on the hunt for a new clock, and the pics way back up at the start of this post--my longest one ever on a basic product roundup--are on my list. And this time, I am checking it twice. Because if any of those cute alarm clocks sounds like a creature from the pits of hell the morning after I get it home, this soldier is officially moving to a new basecamp.

Here are the sources:

BaseStation for Apple iPhone 4, Led Alarm Clock, Cdock, Authentics Blanc LED Alarm Clock, Jet Travel Clock, Alarm Dock

Design Details from the Real Simple Pop-Up Shop

Since December 8, several of us from Real Simple have been holding court at our pop-up shop in Bryant Park--and needless to say, I've been spending a lot of time there. It's a lot of work, and a real labor of love.

I am taking photos and tweeting away for our promotional handle @RS_Offers right now, and I can't stop shooting pics of several of the props decorating the shop. And while I know that the look of this event is truly a team effort, I do also know which decor touches are oftentimes my favorite: those from stylist Chip Cordelli. Here's a peek at a few of them.

P.S. Come visit us if you're in the NYC area! The shop runs through Tuesday the 13th. Details are here.

Nerd Alert, AKA That Post About My Brother's Tree

So my mom is nuts about Christmas. Specifically, about decorating for Christmas.

As my two younger brothers and I grew up, one of the Christmas traditions she had was to purchase each of us a new ornament each year. The thought was that we would take those ornaments with us to our own homes when we moved out of hers. And if you know anything about the price of ornaments, this is a very generous gesture (I mean, those suckers are not even close to cheap).

Now, if you look back at the ornaments that made up my personal collection, you'd see an array of things: a ceramic Big Bird here, a Clara from "The Nutcracker" there, and an eclectic assortment of items representing different countries, funny situations, movies, and, like, Elvis collectibles (I went through a phase). I would say that my youngest brother Steven's ornaments are much the same.

My brother David's collection, however, took a quite different turn.

Dave, you see, was a true 1980's kid who watched a taped-off-the-TV version of "Return of the Jedi" on our VCR on repeat pretty much every day after school for a good year or two. (20 minutes of the flick "Time Bandits" would play after ROTJ was over, but the tape cut off then, so he'd just rewind and start again.) He was super into Star Wars, and after that, Star Trek, and my mother--and Hallmark--were thrilled about this.

Hallmark, as you may or may not know, has been creating Star Wars and Star Trek ornaments for forever now, and if that ornament beeped, blurted, lit up, swooshed, burped, or declared that it was someone's father, my mom added it to Dave's pile of yearly ornaments. And as time went by, that pile became ridiculously huge and totally ready to take over any galaxy nearby or far, far away.

Dave eventually moved out of our parents' home, and with him, took his pile. It didn't make an appearance again until several years later, when David met another woman who is nuts about Christmas--and who is also clearly nuts about him. You know how I know? Every year since, David has a special tree in their home dedicated soley to his personal collection of Star ornaments that, when the lights are plugged in, ferociously beeps, blurts, dazzles, swooshes, burps, and declares that it's your dad--all at one time.

It is truly an awesome sight. And here are the pics he just sent me of this year's tree. Blame it on the Force. And Hallmark. And also on the ladies who love him.