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.

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.

Stylized State Flowers

Combine gardening, graphic design, and geography and what do you get? The State Flower Collection print by artist Kristen Ley. Inspired by the wildflowers of Texas and a quote from Lady Bird Johnson, "Where flowers bloom so does hope", Ley created the illustrations herself and used the colors form the State flowers themselves to define the colors of the images.

Particle Zoo

We found it! The perfect gift for your science-curious kids or your slightly geeky office mate. Particle Zoo is a line of plush atomic particles that area as cute as they are quirky. Individually they run $11 but you can also get them in sets that range from $20 for two particles to $350 for the full set of 36.

HexWatch | Tom Dixon's Hex Bowls

We seem to find another fabulous bowl around every corner. Our latest crush is the Hex Bowl by Tom Dixon. Available in three sizes, the hand formed solid copper vessel is sealed with a food safe clear lacquer. The bowls are without a doubt thoroughly modern and yet they have an element of ancient metal to them that makes them objects that are both fascinating and functional. Available at YLiving.

SeanChron | Book Review - Information Graphics

It can only be described as a magnum opus of data and design. The new Taschen book by Sandra Rendgen and Julius Wiedemann, Information Graphics is an exceptional addition to the growing selection of data visualization collections. What sets Rendgen and Wiememann's Information Graphics apart is not just its volume of catalogued entries, it is mores the perceptive and insightful narrative that accompanies the finely tuned curation. It is essentially a personally guided tour of some of the most cleaver, creative, and effective infographics spanning decades of information overload.

Here's a sneak peek inside:

The authors set the stage for the book with several essays looking back at how we humans have represented ideas and information since the dawn of human history, from cave paintings and Egyptian hieroglyphs to the Industrial revolution and protest posters. But once through the essays, the march of dynamic graphs, charts, artwork, and data, Data, DATA doesn't stop for another 400+ pages. Many images could be exhibits at any modern art galary, others could inspire whole books of their own. One thing for sure, anyone with a love for data and/or design won't be able to put this book down for a long time.

Make sure to check out our Field Guide to Information Design.