Disclaimer: This post has nothing to do with Boston, a little to do with New York, and everything to do with Scandinavian design.

I spent a few days in New York last week for work. During one the evenings I was off I took the subway from my hotel near JFK into Manhattan. I got off in Soho and walked south, into Tribeca. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, just kind of seeing what was going on on a Wednesday night. I happened upon this charming little store called Just Scandinavian.

As you can guess by the name, they sell a wide variety of Scandinavian design items. They are the exclusive US distributor of Josef Frank textiles (photo above). A set of Frank's brightly colored lamp shades would at a touch of color to any boring beige decor.

I fell in love with the Corona Chair, designed by Poul M. Vother in 1961. In it's description on the website, it says "This design is inspired by time-lapsed photographs of solar eclipses." It's available in a variety of colors and fabrics, but I think that orange would great with my dark blue sofas.

Just Scandinavian
161 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013
212-334-2556

Right now, you can save 20-60% off original prices on hundreds of discontinued and close out items during Room & Board's Annual Clearance Sale.

From sofas and chairs to beds and linens, Room & Board has literally hundreds of items available at great prices.

True, there is not R&B around Boston, but some of the brokers at my girlfriend's firm are trying their best to change that. I'm hoping they get one here soon!

Do you remember Oriac Design? It was a Newton-based internet retailer that sold a variety of modern home furniture and accessories. It went out of business earlier this year.

Gregory Scott of ECCERE wrote me to say that ECCERE is now selling what's left of Oriac Design's merchandise. Below, please find the bulk of what he wrote:

ECCERE is a Boston company selling the remaining inventory of Oriac Design, a Newton-based internet retailer which tried and failed to compete with the likes of Hive Modern, Design Within Reach, Topdeq, and Unicahome.

The range of products available include: indoor and outdoor furniture, office chairs, accessories for your kitchen, bath, desk, and closet, indoor and outdoor lighting, carpets and floor coverings, desktop audio, luxury hangers, steel house numbers, and storage units. There's a bit of everything, but in many cases, we have only one of two of a given item remaining.

We have items from a number of premium brands including: Alessi, Artemide, Belux, Blomus, Cascando, David Design, Driade, Emform, Fatboy, FSB, Helit, Heller, Iittala, Kartell, Klenk Collection, Luceplan, Magis, Minox, Mono, Mox, Nanimarquina, Nube Italia, Radius Design, Reisenthel, Rexite, Rowenta, Side by Side, Sitag, Spore, Stelton, Tivoli Audio, Toulemonde Bochart, 24Seven, Vipp, Vitra, Wogg, Woodnotes, and Zack.

We are a verified PayPal merchant, and accept credit cards or cash via PayPal.

We normally ship via FedEx or FedEx Freight, but Boston-area customers or visitors can pick up items in our suburban warehouse.

We are NOT yard sale cheap, but our aim is to provide the lowest delivered pricing on the market. Defintely better than local prices on new items.

I have attached a searchable listing of the current inventory with pricing. Please make sure you can see both the Before and Current sale prices. There is not a website at this time (but it is under construction). The rather long list is ordered by product category, but we suggest you review the whole thing carefully, as it covers a LOT of ground. Some quantities are limited and of course, subject to prior sale. Please tell us if you need more than one of a particular item. All items are new.

Unfortunately, we are NOT yard sale cheap. Typically, the discount is twenty percent or more off rarely discounted retail prices. Please note that all prices are BEFORE shipping. Purchases picked up at the warehouse are subject to Massachusetts state sales tax.

If you do not have an old Oriac catalog, the best source of product pictures and details is the manufacturer. In the majority of cases, the attached inventory list includes a manufacturer website. You could also take a look at either cairo.fr or cairo.de , the websites of Oriac's European affiliates, as they have photos of many items. Please contact us at once if you still cannot find the product information that you need. We do have digital images of most products available on request.

Please contact us by e-mail or phone if you see something that interest you. We look forward to meeting your design needs,

Gregory Scott
Eccere
Boston, MA
617-767-6613

Since he wrote "We are not 'yard sale' cheap" twice, don't expect to steal anything from him, but there are some good deals to be had. If you would like a copy of the inventory list (it really is a long list) email me and I will forward it to you. I will also let you know when the ECCERE website is up.

What a small, well connected world we live in. Just this week, I got an email from Chris Barret, a local (as in he lives about a block from me) design enthusiast. Chris has traveled to many parts of the world, and after finding many quality, handmade products in various countries, has started The Traveled Home.

The Traveled Home features items from Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. I particularly like the bamboo products (a fast growing tree, bamboo is a truly sustainable product), and the Buddha statues (I have a growing interest in Buddhism, so that may explain it). All of the pieces are made by local artisans, so buying a piece from TTH has a more direct impact on promoting a global economy than buying something that was made in a Chinese factory.

Once you're done opening all those gifts your family thought you'd like, get ready to buy something you know you'll like. Once Christmas is over, it's shopping time again.

Starting on December 26 and running through January 28 (right before my birthday, hint-hint), BoConcept is having their Design Sale. They will be taking 20% off all living room chairs. I particularly like the Wing Chair and Ottoman (from $1199 to $419, respectively).

BoConcept®
999 Mass. Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-588-7777
cambridge@boconceptusa.com

I was just checking my site meter stats and noticed a high number of visits coming from decor8. I checked it out, and whadyaknow? Holly made me her Blog of the Week!

Thanks Holly, and hi everybody!

I've seen Holly from Decor8 do some guest blogging on 2Modern before, but I somehow missed her writeup on Modern Boston from last May. It's a very thorough writeup on all things design in Boston, although there are a few updates/corrections that I feel obliged to make:

1. Roche Bobois has moved from the location on Commercial St to the Ritz-Carlton Towers on the corner of Avery and Washington Streets. This doesn't mean you should skip the walk (or cab ride) to Mike's Pastry, of course.
2. The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston has moved to 100 Northern Avenue, on South Boston's waterfront. Actually, the walk to Mike's Pastry is only about 10 minutes from here.
3. Don't forget to add Marimekko to the list of places to visit in Cambridge. It's located at 350 Huron St.
   
4. There's *ahem* another Boston based blog, thankyouverymuch.

I know, I've been slacking. Even this news is a day late: Boston Mayor Tom Menino announced yesterday that he wants to build a new city hall on the South Boston waterfront. It would be built where the Bank of America Pavilion currently sits, near the Seaport World Trade Center and the new Institute of Contemporary Art.

Menino said, "This new building will bring together the city's past and its future, at a site that unites the history of our harbor with the promise of tomorrow's Boston."

What do I think? First, remodeling Downtown Crossing, then the tower in Winthrop Square, and now this. Tom's becoming a visionary in his old age.

If this goes through, the mayor plans on selling the Government Center site to developers. Does this mean the award winning, 40-year old Brutalist structure is going to be torn down? I hope not. I'll admit it, it's myriad levels can make figuring your way around a little more difficult, but it makes for such a visually interesting building.

As for the new building, it will be in a beautiful location that is seeing other various improvement projects over the next few years (and less than a mile from our place). The view of the city skyline would be blocked by the buildings on Boston Fish Pier, though. And getting there (either on the Silver Line) won't be as easy as it is to get to Government Center (Blue, Green, Orange, and Red lines all stop nearby).

Lastly, for the design, I'll wait to at least see the various developers' proposals before I agree with Menino that it'll be "architecturally magnificent".

Too bad I have to work at Crate & Barrel on Thursday night, so I won't be able to make it to Vessel for this. Have fun if you attend, and let me know how it goes!

While waiting for my flight home yesterday (it was delayed 2-1/2 hours), I picked up the December issue of Wallpaper magazine. Wallpaper is a British magazine that concentrates on "International Design, Interiors, Fashion, Travel." Within the issue was an article on three houses across the world that incorporate wood - one of the oldest building materials around - in a truly modern way.

One such house is right next door, in Cambridge. Uni Architects, a small local firm that does architecture, design, and real estate development, built the 1000 sq. ft. XS house by twisting each of the three levels "to create four skylights on each level." By doing this, the house gets plenty of natural light (in fact, probably more than most triple-deckers in Greater Boston) without the need for a lot of windows.

They finished the building in okoume, a specialized plywood typically used in boat building.
"The grain is broad and pronounced, creating the appearance of a huge piece of furniture, and its almost windowless facades intrigue and seduce."

Generate Design, a Montreal-based design shop, has their own Gift Guide, presenting varied gift ideas in 12 categories, from "the girls", "the boys" and "the kids", to "the modernist", the interactivist" and "the difficult".

What's my pick? I'd say I'm either modernist or difficult. From the modernist list, I really like the Table Top Fireplace. In difficult, I'd go for the Laserpod. Not that I'm dropping hints, of course.

Sorry this is coming out a day late. I'm in Philly for my company's holiday party.

Turtle, the boutique in the South End featuring "emerging urban design" is offering you the chance to win a $1,000 shopping spree.

This weekend, participate in the annual South End Stroll by picking up a map at any one of 18 participating retailers. Then earn points by stopping in and checking out each store, and earn bonus points by doing some shopping - which you have to do this time of year anyway, don't you? Collect 15 points and you can be entered to win that shopping spree!

*Turtle's sweetening the deal by offering 25% off nearly everything in the store.

Also, check out local jewelry designer Louise Douglas at Turtle next weekend, December 9 & 10. "Her holiday collection is a sparkly combination of freshwater pearls, gold, fiber optic beads and velvet. Hors d'ouevres will be served."

I love Design Public. They offer some of the best new designs available, and offer probably the best customer service around. For the holidays, they have set up a Gift Center, letting you look through gift ideas by either category (Kids & Baby, Holiday Quick Shop, Sustainable, etc.) or price range. Some of my favorite picks include the three sheets 2 the wind Color Wall Prints ($26-125 in sizes from 12" to 30"x40") and the zid zid kids Mini Poofs ($78).

Also, from now until 12/7, enter code 0212062ee72 (case-sensitive) at checkout and save %5 off your order. Great design, excellent customer service, and discounted prices? Fantastic!

I previously blogged about Adam Leiveille because his house made AT's second annual Color Contest. Unfortunately, he didn't win, but he's gotten past it, and is now onto bigger and better things.

All this month, "Limitations", a collection of Adam's art, will be showing at the Diesel Cafe in Davis Square, Somerville.

Diesel Cafe
257 Elm St.
Somerville, MA 02144
617-629-8717

Gary at Uniform is sacrificing his personal time this holiday season to allow you more time to find just the right thing for that special someone. Here is what he wrote me in an email:

Cuz I know all of us are last minute shoppers and need every minute we can get, Uniform will be open additional hours on Mondays in December! For exact times and dates, please check out the little list below:

4th: 1-7 pm
11th: 1-7pm
18th: 12-7pm

As always, we’re here for you…if you need gift ideas or an awesome shirt to wear to that special holiday party, don’t hesitate to ask. Best wishes for good humor and health

Cheers,
g and the gang

Uniform
511 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02116
617-247-2360

ps - I don't know what's up with Blogger right now, but I will go back and edit in a photo and some links once everything is up and running again.

DWR seems to be bombarding my inbox lately. Today, I learn about the Herman Miller Serious Sale. For two weeks, from tomorrow to December 16, you can save on items from such designers as Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, and George Nelson.

One highlight of the sale is the 2006 Limited Edition Eames Lounge and Ottoman (above), in a Santos Palisander Veneer. "Santos Palisander has a highly varied grain pattern, ensuring that each chair made will be completely unique. Also to celebrate its 50th, each chair made in 2006 will have a medallion set underneath the seat, and will ship with a commemorative book that details the history of the design."

How much can you save? They're not saying. At least not until tomorrow. And, unfortunately, expect the above average shipping prices to apply.

DWR South End
519 Tremont St.
Boston, MA 02116
617-451-7801

or

DWR Cambridge
1030 Massachusetts Ave.
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-576-3690