NYIGF Scouting : Charles and Marie

Many of my hip Chicago clients feature products from Charles and Marie. After visiting their booth at the New York International Gift Fair I was left wanting for more. They offer "curated shopping" -in other words, innovative and opinionated wares from designers around the world.


Some of their more recognizable products include:

Tobi Wong's solar powered "Sun Jar"

AlissiaMT's "InsideOut Champagne Glass Set" from the "InsideOut Collection" of distinctively handsome double-paned glass barware that also keeps drinks cool by distancing ones sweaty mitts from their Cristal.

Phil Cuttanc's "Trophy Hangers" (also feature a moose & a giraffe)

Jonas Damon's "LED Alarm Clock"

Some newly discovered personal favorites:

Tristan Zimmermann's ceramic "Phonofone" which uses only acoustics (no power!) to amplify an iPod's headphones into a speaker.

Tristan Zimmermann's porcelain "Park Planters" series take inspiration from those little bonsai guys, as well as the weird shit that take place in most parks after dark... shown here is a gay couple and a flasher. There is also a mugger, and lost salesman. I love how "drawing inspiration from the bonsai, the Park Planters...elevate the common household plant to the status of full grown tree."

Kyouei Design's "Chandelier Bulb"

The equally avant-garde website, www.charlesandmarie.com, is complete with well-realized blogs, that curated shopping, and a lot of other really fu*king cool shit.

They explain themselves as "the very first lifestyle navigator to provide you with up-to-date, well-organized information on what's going on in the world's most exciting destinations. We also bring you carefully selected, exclusive and limited lifestyle products from around the globe, and our personal network allows you to connect to your friends, make new ones and share your experiences... Charles & Marie will provide you with carefully selected products - not the ordinary stuff you'll find everywhere else, but a huge variety of gems that we've discovered from our world travels. And we've got up-to-date information about the freshest destinations (we've been there), cultural events (we're on the guest list) and superb products from every corner of the globe. This way you can stop reading reviews from people who don't know you or share your taste (even though they think they do) and start discovering a community of friends with more things that bring us together than the ones that keep us apart."

Oh word?!

~ r