Lost Cowboy

There was a time when the label “made in Japan” did not evoke the best of quality. However, pretty much these days, something made in Japan – especially something from traditional sources of well-made goods – is something one looks for. Like the Tajika Haruo Ironworks Scissors I found at Analogue Life.

About Tajika Haruo Ironworks: “Tajika Haruo Ironworks, located in Ono City, northeast of Kobe, has been producing high quality handcrafted scissors and shears for over four generations since its founding in the Showa Period. Produced entirely by hand these versatile scissors are not only for clipping flowers but can be used for a multitude of household tasks.”

I love the Tajika Flower Shears from Tajika Haruo Ironworks available through Analogue Life. Analogue Life curates a wonderful line of Japanese home products and it a fun place to browse.

About Analogue Life: “Analogue Life focuses primarily on contemporary Japanese housewares. Most of the products we carry are handmade by artisans or craftsmen working out of small studios, or small manufacturers, many with long histories and employing techniques perfected over generations.”

Find the Tajika Flower Shears from Analogue Life here.

See all the great products offered by Analogue Life here.

Here’s another one of my finds that is best suited for the 1% and is only but a dream for someone like me – the Canvas Garden Wagon from JANUS et Cie.

I can’t make any reasonable excuse for why I need something like this – as I have a perfectly functioning wheelbarrow and my garden consists of a dozen or so plastic containers on the back porch. But I love this wagon and I want one.

About the Canvas Garden Wagon from JANUS et Cie: “Why shouldn’t useful tools be beautiful as well? The Garden Wagon is functionality at its best – an ultra-light cart that carries ten times its weight and is completely proofed against rust, water and rot. The fade-resistant acrylic canvas also resists damage from the sun, water and abrasion. Nylon wheels are mounted on dustproof bearings and suspended by fiberglass shafts and pneumatic tires. The Garden Wagon brown canvas top is available with or without the JANUS et Cie Topiary logo.”

The Canvas Garden Wagon is only one of the great things found at JANUS et Cie, they certainly know how to curate the best design furnishings found anywhere.

About JANUS et Cie: “For more than 34 years, JANUS et Cie has offered the best in interior and exterior residential, hospitality, contract and site and furnishings…each piece a superior example of design and craftsmanship. Our products add a distinctive look to the world’s finest private and public settings: residences, estates, gardens, country clubs, fine ships, restaurants, hotels, offices, conference rooms, corporate lobbies and campuses, public and government buildings, cafeterias and meeting spaces, parks, libraries, shopping centers, food courts, theme parks, hospitals, museums, and universities.”

Now I will go back to dreaming about the life I was mean to have.

See the Canvas Garden Wagon and all the great items curated by JANUS et Cie here.

Every now and then I come across an old enamel cup and think they are pretty cool. Inevitably there is a chip of some sort on the cup that instead of making it look bad – adds to the coolness factor.

I had thought that this type of enamel cup was a thing of the past. However, I was thrilled to come across the Seamless & Steadfast Enamel Steel Cups from Best Made.

About the Seamless & Steadfast Enamel Steel Cups from Best Made: “Whether you’re sipping Lapsang Souchong or Laphroiag: let the chimes of clinking enamel steel resound. Huzzah! These are the best enamel steel cups available, and they come to us from a 100 year old factory in Poland: a land with a long and celebrated enamelware tradition. Using World War Two era machinery our renowned AXE logo was baked directly into the cup insuring a smooth, long-lasting, and seamless finish. But what truly distinguishes our cups is that the rim and the handle — the two spots that get the most abuse — are reinforced with a double dipping of enamel, making this the most steadfast cup in the land.”

Why do I have a feeling that bourbon would taste particularly good coming out of one of these cups while sitting by the fire this winter.

See the Seamless & Steadfast Enamel Steel Cups and everything else Best made offers here.

Just in time for Thanksgiving next week, I have found the incredibly fun Inflatable Turkey from Annie’s Blue Ribbon General Store.  Add this to the list of things I always wanted but didn’t know they had.

About the Inflatable Turkey from Annie’s Blue Ribbon General Store:  “This Inflatable Turkey looks so delicious you can almost smell the stuffing. But keep the carving knives away, because this bird is strictly for show! Each 16″ long, vinyl turkey is perfect for staging your Holiday table while the real turkey is roasting, or a replacement beach ball to bat around on a sunny day. The Inflatable Turkey Gag comes deflated in a cool illustrated SPAM-like tin.”

I love the idea of using this inflatable bird “for staging your Holiday table” – I have always wanted something like this because the whole turkey never ended up on the table – it is given to rest before carving. But the iconic Thanksgiving table pictures always have the whole turkey with those little white hats on the end of the drumsticks.

Anyway, the Inflatable Turkey is the perfect companion for my inflatable Christmas tree.

Find the Inflatable Turkey from Annie’s Blue Ribbon General Store here.

See all the cool products of Blue Ribbon General Store here.

I love découpage and there is no better purveyor of fine découpage products right now than Ben’s Garden of Oyster Bay, Long Island.  I have purchased a few of his products in the past as gifts and they have been universally well received.

The other day, I was looking around the Ben’s Garden website and was attracted to two découpage trays featuring vintage images of Cape Cod.  I am looking forward to my annual vacation to Wellfleet, MA – on said Cape Cod – and these trays made me want to be there right now.  There are a few weeks left before this vacation – and I don’t want to wish away the balance of summer – so gazing at these great Cape Cod trays will have to hold me over.

About the Cape Cod 8″x 8″ Glass Valet Tray (Above, right) from Ben’s Garden: “This antique map reflects Ben’s unique aesthetic for the charming and unusual. Handcrafted in the traditional, French technique of découpage, the art of carefully cutting and gluing paper images to glass, in our Oyster Bay, NY studio. Each piece is felted to finish the backside and signed by Ben. A folded card explaining the découpage process accompanies each piece.”

The same description can be said for the Vintage Cape Cod 6″x 10″ Glass Tray (Below) which I also love. 

See all the découpage works from Ben’s Garden here.

I love bikes and I love polar bears, so yeah, it makes total sense that I love this Bears on Bikes tee shirt from the L.A.-based design house, Poketo.

About the Bears on Bikes Tee from Poketo: “Cycle around town with these three lovable polar bears. Made with soft and comfy material, this shirt is made for exploring every corner of your favorite street with the same easy-going spirit as these ursine creatures. These three are definitely not your average bears.”

I do a ton of cycling around the hills and woods here in New Hampshire, and I have seen a few bears out and about while on my rides, none riding bikes themselves of course.  But contrary to the belief of some of my friends down south, the bears here are not quite the polar variety – we are pretty far north, but not that far north.  But I love this shirt just the same.

Check out all the cool products (and there are many) of Poketo here.

I have no good reason to invest in high-end swizzle sticks, or swizzle sticks in general for that matter.  However, I am going to try to find a good reason very quickly as I have fallen in love with the Monkey and Palm Swizzle Stick from Patrick Mavros.

About the Monkey and Palm Swizzle Stick from Patrick Mavros: “The lively grey vervet monkey is found throughout the subcontinent. A charming and sociable animal, it has an appealing, velvety-black face and expressive white brows. This monkey has stolen some palm wine and gotten drunk. He swivels dizzily round and round the stick brandishing a coconut and mixing your cocktail at the same time!”

I love the whole monkey motif – were he wearing a fez there would be no question – I would have three in my collection already.  I have to say I love these guys and many of Patrick Mavros’ other extraordinary silver sculptures. 

I also love the ‘See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil’ set of monkey spoons.

See all of the silver sculptures of Patrick Mavros here.

When I was a kid one of my little neighborhood friend’s parents had designed the coolest family room ever.  It was a big open modern space furnished with funky Scandinavian-inspired pieces. The centerpiece of the room was a zebra hide rug.  This was a real zebra hide and I was fascinated by it.  Although it was on the floor, we were not allowed to step on it – just look at it and when no one was looking, stroke the mane or the fur that was smooth one direction and coarse the other.

I was reminded of this little gem recently when I came across this Zebra Hide Towel from Maslin and Co. Which is described as:  “Deluxe zebra hide-shaped beach towel, crafted in 100% cotton. Design is reversible with 100% cotton trimmed edges and measures 54” wide x 70” tall. Finished with leather holster.”  They had me at holster!

About Maslin and Co.:  “Named after Australia’s first nude beach enclave, Maslin & Co is a new collection of well-crafted resort particulars, dedicated to sun worshippers and bon vivants. Debuting for Resort 2011/12, Maslin & Co was conceived as a tribute to the exotic ideals of seventies hedonism and draws design inspiration from the world of nature, the surreal and ultimately, beach vagabond culture. This collection is a new horizon in lifestyle accessories and covetable beach classics for purveyors of pleasure and leisure.”

Seriously this zebra towel is so cool and different.  I bet I would be the only one who shows up later this summer at my annual beach-side vacation on Cape Cod with one of these.  But then again, one of my traveling companions does fancy animal prints.

Find the Zebra Hide Towel and all the products of Maslin and Co. here.

I found these Wine Cork Candles from Vat19 (“purveyors of curiously awesome products“). 

These Cork Candles are a very simple idea that can add some fun to a summer dinner party table.

About the Wine Cork Candles from Vat19: “Put a (candle) cork in it. The next time you kill a bottle of wine, use it as a candle holder for your Wine Cork Candles. These realistic-looking cork candles will certainly make a statement. They may even confuse some of your more tipsy guests that the bottle is on fire (which should liven up the soiree).  Each set of Wine Cork Candles includes four candles. Each candle will burn for approximately 2 hours.”

Find the Wine Cork Candles and other fun “curiously awesome” products from Vat19 here.

I fancy having an old-school English garden party some day.  I would have a tent, little café tables, teas and treats, and Pressés from Belvoir Fruit Farms.  Belvoir Fruit Farms makes specialty drinks, basically enhanced spring water, but something well beyond what you may think of as flavored water or juice.

About The Cordials, Pressés and Fruit Crushes of Belvoir Fruit Farms: “We make naturally delicious Cordials, Pressés and Fruit Crushes at our home in the gorgeous Lincolnshire countryside. Mary Manners, the wife of our founder Lord John Manners, started making cordials in her kitchen in the Seventies by infusing the elderflowers and pressing the fruit grown on the farm. Since then, Belvoir has carried on the same infusing, pressing and cooking of fresh flowers, fruits and spices, which are then blended with local spring water to make our delicious drinks. We never compromise on quality, and choose only the best ingredients. Everything that goes into our drinks is real and natural with nothing artificial at all.”

As someone who does not enjoy wine with dinner, I think the products of Belvoir Fruit Farms may be a nice alternative for a dinner party – and would make a nice hostess gift.  Now only if I can find a local distributor.

See all the Cordials, Pressés and Fruit Crushes of Belvoir Fruit Farms here.