Hasta La Ideas

The number one flash sales site TouchOfModern is back again this year, with the intention of making shopping for gifts a much easier and rewarding experience for you. In this five-part series we have compiled a compelling shortlist of five ideas of what you can gift to someone you love, based on their personality. That is not all, state your choice from the list and TouchOfModern will go out of their way to get you that gift and present it to you! Details inside.

To Win

• Go through “Five Ideas For The Fitness Freak” below and tell us which gift will you buy for the fitness freak in your life and why?

Rules

• To enter you must be a TouchOfModern member.
• Become an Instant Member HERE.
• All new members will receive $5 in ToMo credit that expires within three days of a new account activation!
• Already a member? Jump right ahead to the comments!
• To participate, leave your comment below.
• Contest Closes: 6th Dec, midnight PST.

Five Ideas For The Fitness Freak

Nike Fuel Band

Jawbone Up

Fit Bit

Misfit

Bodybugg

–
Yanko Design
Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
Shop CKIE – We are more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the CKIE store by Yanko Design!
(TouchOfModern 5 Days of Giveaways: Day 4- Gift Ideas For The Fitness Freak was originally posted on Yanko Design)

Related posts:

1. TouchOfModern 5 Days of Giveaways: Day 1- Gift Ideas For The Techie
2. TouchOfModern 5 Days of Giveaways: Day 2- Gift Ideas For The Connoisseur
3. TouchOfModern 5 Days of Giveaways: Day 3 – Gift Ideas For The Foodie

The number one flash sales site TouchOfModern is back again this year, with the intention of making shopping for gifts a much easier and rewarding experience for you. In this five-part series we have compiled a compelling shortlist of five ideas of what you can gift to someone you love, based on their personality. That is not all, state your choice from the list and TouchOfModern will go out of their way to get you that gift and present it to you! Details inside.

To Win

• Go through “Five Unique Drinkware Products” listed below and tell us which gift will you buy and why?

Rules

• To enter you must be a TouchOfModern member.
• Become an Instant Member HERE.
• All new members will receive $5 in ToMo credit that expires within three days of a new account activation!
• Already a member? Jump right ahead to the comments!
• To participate, leave your comment below.
• Contest Closes: 4th Dec, midnight PST.

Five Unique Drinkware Products

2 Cognac Glasses by Rikke Hagen

Kickstarter WineHive

Bayberk 6-piece Flask Set

Ego Together Whiskey Glasses

Sempli Wine Decanter and Two Wine Glasses

–
Yanko Design
Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
Shop CKIE – We are more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the CKIE store by Yanko Design!
(TouchOfModern 5 Days of Giveaways: Day 2- Gift Ideas For The Connoisseur was originally posted on Yanko Design)

Related posts:

1. TouchOfModern 5 Days of Giveaways: Day 1- Gift Ideas For The Techie
2. 5-Days of TouchOfModern Giveaways – Day 1
3. 5-Days of TouchOfModern Giveaways – Day 2

One of the reasons why I love what I do is reporting on stories that start from humble roots and grow on to immense fame. One such story is that of Romanian designer of Antonio Meze. The idea of designing classy earphones aside, his vision of creating a meaningful product that can be passed down to generations, has completely resonated with me. With launch of his brand’s new Meze 11 DECO Earbuds around the bend (8th December), I managed to get us a sneak peek, and of course chatted him up for some interesting bytes.

Me:

If you met a beautiful girl, how will you introduce yourself?

A.Meze:

I would not introduce myself but engage her in some interesting conversation first. Introductions are too formal and awkward and threatening.

Me:

I read on your page the quote: Fashion fades, only style remains the same; explain this to us.

A.Meze:

It’s a quote from Coco Chanel and it inspired me while I was developing the Meze brand. I am fed up as a designer to work on projects of products that are designed to sell. Products are not supposed to just sell. They are meant to have a life. To acquire meaning for the user. To be passed or gifted as a symbolic and value carrying item. Imagine gifting a loved one or passing down the generations a badly made object that will stop working or look bad with aging. I want to make things that work well and age with dignity.

Me:

Do you discuss your work with others?

A.Meze:

I did, but not as much as I probably should have. It just felt right from the beginning. I designed many products throughout the last 7-8 years so I kind of trusted my senses. And I was very excited about what I felt that the Meze headphones brand could become. So you could say it was risky, but I really enjoyed the process, and still do. And that alone is already rewarding.

Me:

From your collection of headphones, if you had to pick two…then which would they be?

A.Meze:

Although I have a good range of products now, I’d like to focus on the Meze11DECO and the Meze11Classics. As you know Meze11DECO is launching on 8th December this year. So it’s the culmination of a lot of sweat, blood and tears.This phrase I thought up: “Perfection doesn’t exist: but it’s something to aim for” really defines how the 11DECO came to be.

Meze 11 DECO earbuds are inspired by the DECO style which represented at it’s time the luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress. The current generation of music lovers has an established musical identity and these earbuds highlight the role that the headphones play as iconic item. Ever wondered why austic instruments use wood? The beech wood body produces a balanced, natural sound. [ Buy it Here ]

The already known Meze 11 Classics earphones embody the classical values of clarity, balance and harmony. It’s simple and elegant handcrafted ebony wood enclosure delivers crisp but warm natural sound and a microphone on the braided textile cord make this an ideal hi-fi sound system and gadget for today’s big city lifestyle. [ Buy it Here ]

Me:

You are running a business as well as designing, how difficult is that?

A.Meze:

It takes all of my time and this has been so for the last 2-3 years. But I enjoy both the design side and business side as well as the travelling involved. I wish I can focus more on the designing side. The Meze team is constantly growing by hiring new talented people.

Me:

What makes your headphones stand apart from the rest of the ones out there?

A.Meze:

I am trying to enrich my creations with meaning and I am doing this by the choice of components, shapes, materials, finishes. I didn’t start with a price target but with the aim to make earphones and headphones as well as they can be made: I have the belief that if you really are passionate about something, you will eventually get to do it very well. And if you do something really well you will eventually sell it. Seems like a natural thing. We take our time in carefully designing each component and detail until we are truly satisfied.

Footnotes:

The 11DECO is the result of the in-house work of Romanian designer Antonio Meze. The Meze brand has already established itself as a niche headphones brand that creates stylish collections of headphones. The first one, called the Classics is already complete while the DECO collection that just launched will feature one more over head headphone that will be launched mid 2014.

Designer: Antonio Meze [ Buy it Here ]

–
Yanko Design
Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
Shop CKIE – We are more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the CKIE store by Yanko Design!
(When Sound Met Style – Wood Earphones and Headphones by Meze was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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It’s that time of the year when you get the jitters and start hunting high and low for the perfect gift. Allow me to put you out of your despair, and give you the heads-up on a product that appeals to all ages (young and old) across the board. Sphero. My Superhero! Yes, it’s that kinda thing that appeals to the gamer, the techie robotic kind, the shy, the friendly, the design freak, the outdoorsy and the indoors. In short…everyone! This sophisticated and programmable robot is the buzz-word for today!

At its core, Sphero is a robotic ball that you can drive around using your smartphone or tablet. But that’s just the beginning. Since there are millions of ways you can use the Sphero, it’s a guarantee that you won’t get tired or bored of it. Interestingly, you can use it as a muse for your pets! What I like most about it is that you can get creative with the way you use it.

For example, you can build an obstacle course using the ramps that come included in the box or play a high-tech version of golf using the Sphero Golf app. The possibilities are endless. Top of my head, I can think of taking it to the pool with me, play tag with it, innovate with awesome augmented reality games like Sharky The Beaver or indulge in tabletop games like ColorGrab.

Sphero travels easily and gives you over an hour of non-stop play. Its deigned creatively with cable free induction charging. You can use iOS and Android systems to control the play and the system comes with 25 free games and apps available for download.

To make the Sphero more durable and fun, there is a special Nubby cover designed. It essentially converts the Sphero into the ultimate off-road robot, giving strategic advantage navigating over gravel, water, and concrete. Nubby also protects against scratches and scuffs. Here’s the fun part of it all, Orbotix has a limited edition version called Sphero 2.0 Revealed that is sold exclusively at Apple Stores.

As a special gesture, when you buy a Sphero from the online store, you can get a free Nubby cover with your purchase!

• Use the coupon code “YANKONUBBY” during checkout at store.gosphero.com

Learn More about the Sphero here.

Designer: Orbotix [ Buy Now ]

–
Yanko Design
Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
Shop CKIE – We are more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the CKIE store by Yanko Design!
(Sphero, My Super Hero was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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Some months ago I was sent a 321 Water bottle with a note from one of YD’s staff – “this was in the Hunger Games movie!” And it’s true. The bottle was featured in the control room scene of said movie so I thought hey, if it’s good enough for those dystopian dictators with amazing fashion sense, then it’s good enough for me. Hit the jump for the review.

The 321 Water bottle has two unique things working for it – both are design related. One – the bottle design itself looks other worldly. Founder and designer Gretha Oost hit the nail on the head when she created an object that makes people scratch their heads and ask “what is it?” That happened on many occasions as passersby peeked into my office after catching a glimpse of this 9″ tall bottle that almost optically glows blue when filled with water. “It’s a water bottle with a built-in filter” I would answer.

How does it work? Here’s the second unique thing. Think of a coffee press. You fill the bottle with tap water, then slowly press the filtering stem down into the water. It’s a tight fit but any resistance is key to understanding that questionable tap water is being forced through the hydropal activated carbon impregnated polymer filter. The result is tasteless and odorless filtered tap water that all but took 20 seconds to fill and filter – not to mention how utterly cool it looks.

Although there are other filtering water bottles on the market, this is the first one I’ve seen where you proactively filter the water first before drinking it (not including water jugs). Most others filter as you drink. I’m not saying one is better than the other but if you prefer to drink normally as opposed to sucking the water through a filter, then you’ll want the 321 Water bottle.

The bottle itself is made from BPA free plastic and holds 17 oz of water. It comes with one filtering tablet that’ll last you 100 refills. So if you’re drinking the recommended amount of water per day, you’re probably going to need two filtering tablets per month. The tablets come in packs of six at $40 USD. That comes out to about $6.67 per tablet which breaks down to each bottle of water costing you $0.06.

Would I recommend it? Yes. Aside from the costs, the design more than delivered on its promise. It was hard to remember when 100 refills were up but the general rule is to change the tablet every 2.5 weeks. Water always tasted great and 6 months later, people still ask me about the design. Overall it’s more than enough to justify the initial $35 USD investment. It’s extremely easy to clean and in case you’re wondering, fits perfectly in cup holders. Go get you one!

Designer: Gretha Oost, Buy it here

–
Yanko Design
Timeless Designs – Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
Shop CKIE – We are more than just concepts. See what’s hot at the CKIE store by Yanko Design!
(321 Water Filtering Bottle Review was originally posted on Yanko Design)

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