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These braided bike locks were my absolute favorite product at Portland’s Bike Craft event last month. Beautiful hand-crafted design meets utiliarian function in this bike lock that will keep your bike secure and sartorial points up for you style-conscious urban riders. Sorry, the website is in Japanese and I really couldn’t fill you in on many more details. They are available in large selection of colorways as well as customizable.
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These steel bookends are completely devoid of any frills and are made to do one task, and one task only. A perfect fit for the Jasper Morrison Shop, a curated selection of utilitarian, well-made, functional goods. Comes in a powder-coated finish and available in black, yellow, and white.

If the Clap Digital Camera didn’t win you over for its adorable charm, or maybe you weren’t quite convinced by its 30 second limited videos clips, the Fuuvi Bee 8mm Digital Camera may be your answer to a fun and simple retro-styled digital camera. Form takes inspiration from vintage Super 8 cameras, made pocket-sized. The 1.3 million pixel CMOS lens captures “retro” videos of 640×480 resolution or still images at 1280×960 resolution. Records on a microSD and can shoot a continuous 100 minute clip. Available in white or black and is packaged with wrist strap and USB cable.
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I recently spotted this delightful box set at Land Gallery. Put out by mini-notebook maker extraordinaire Scout Books, this box set includes their entire set of Good Ink: American Shorts, ten total, plus two blank notebooks. Each 32 page pocket-sized volume pairs a must-read American Author with a contemporary illustrator. I’m sure you can buy these classics used for a lower price, but keep in mind that purchasing these supports independent publishers, printers and artists. The books included in the set:
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This Clap Digital Camera won’t compete with Hipstamatic or Instagram for its social aspect, but it’ll provide a different kind of vintage vibe to your shutter snapping; spontaneity. Keeping your camera on your necklace on in your front pocket ensures a never missed opportunity to catch that moment from last night’s party. Not having a LCD preview keeps you in the present and not mucking about uploading your photos to the web and tagging your photos. Need I mention that the camera is also just adorable?  It also records movies 30 second movies and functions as a USB drive.
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If you’re on the go and don’t want to put up with an iPhone-based synthesizer, or perhaps you’re an ultralight musician, the Pocket Piano from Critter & Guitari just might be your fix. A handmade pocket synthesizer that packs a vibrato synth, harmonic sweeper, two-octave arpeggiator, octave cascade, mono FM synth, and FM arpeggiator is housed in a sturdy aluminum and hardwood case with built in speaker and a 1/4” output jack. Round wooden keys give it a unique and tactile playing experience. Describing it in words isn’t exactly doing it justice, so I highly advise watching this accompanying video to see and hear some of crazy noise making abilities of this miniature machine.
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With its three broad stripes, the Wipe T-Shirt has an eye-catching appeal to begin with, but there’s also a secret to the design. One of the stripes is actually a strip of microfiber cloth, the go-to remedy for wiping down dirty, finger-printed glasses and gadgets. You may get some strange looks wiping your phone on your chest, but the convenience makes it all worth it.
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These origami-inspired rain fenders keeps your backside dry and are easily removable as the weather drifts between sunny and clear, to dreary and wet, perfect for you fixies and single speeders who want the minimal stream-lined look. For a clearer illustration of how they work, check out their accompanying video.
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Like anyone else, I’m completely charmed by a full and well-organized bookcase. However, having a second stash of go-to or display books has an equally important role in a well decorated home. Finding just-the-right bookends may be a daunting task, but I can’t see too many rooms where these won’t fit it perfectly. The Cork Planter Bookends are made to accommodate small houseplants such as succulents and miniature cacti. The high-density natural cork also serves as a place to pin up notes, making it a perfect desk companion.
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United Kingdom-based designer Jasper Morrison presents a modern spin on the traditional analog alarm clock that’s so striking in its simplicity and aesthetics that it’ll make you want to ditch your cell phone as your alarm clock. A clever manual switch activates the alarm and the status will be clearly displayed on the dial. A gentle squeeze of the clock illuminates the face. Glow-in-the-dark hands displays the time in any light setting. These very user-friendly features coupled with a solid aluminum casing and scratch-resistant glass lens makes for a properly designed and lust-worthy object.
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With a laser cutter and some clever design, wood is made flexible as illustrated by these new Booklets by Snijlab. A hinge is carved into birch plywood to create these beautiful and reusable note-takers. Available in either horizonal or vertical (shown) format. Holds a standard A7 writing block. These notebooks might even be too nice to leave the house!
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It wouldn’t be the end of year without thinking about the next one coming up. Stationery experts Present & Correct present a 2012 minimalist desk calendar that simply lets the numbers do the talking. Measures 6×3.5′ and available in neutral or bright colors.
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The next installment of gift ideas is from our very own Simon Yuen, contributing writer and product developer extraordinaire.

His favorite gifts to give or get, all under $100:

1. Muji Touch Screen Gloves, $24.95 —  So useful!

2. Schoolhouse Electric Ion Lamp, $85.00 — Adds a warm inviting glow to any room in your house.

3. Makedo Freeplay Kit, $50.00 — Creative fun for kids.

4. Leather Seat Wood Stool, $42.00 — I tried this out at the store, pretty comfy. And convenient.

5. Safe at Home Braided Bike Lock, 4,500 yen (tax included) — Just saw these at a craft fair. Can’t speak for the security rating, but wow, gorgeous.

6. Worthy Shorty Mechanical Pencil, $14.00 — Nothing like writing with a big fat piece of  lead.

7. Cut Out Number Calendar, £17.50 — New year’s coming up!

8. Mini-thermin, $29.99 — Minature musical fun.

9. Murrays Art Print, $16.00 — The most memorable Bill Murrays.

10. Topo Bags Daypack, $98.00 — Good ol’ camp-inspired backpack.

Thanks Simon!

I’ll add this to the list of seriously awesome-office-products-that-I-really-don’t-need-but-desperately-want. The devil is in the details, and well, it’s the extremely clever and unique elastic closure that makes this product really stand out.
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Respond to your work mates’ office antics with a well aimed, cross-the-room rubber band shot. The Bandit is a rubber band shooting ruler made that’s 100 percent designed to be a work distraction. Okay, you can measure with it too, but what’s the fun in that?
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