Offi designer Heidi Newell was at ICFF showing off the prototype of a new bassinet [due in six months, knock on molded plywood], which I saw and loved, but which I didn't get pictures of. People are so cagey sometimes.
Anyway, MoCo Loco just posted a video interview with Newell which includes a demo of the bed. Basically, the bassinet itself is shaped like an oval Shaker box. Beautifully simple, and [except for their nagging attachment to celibacy, which would doom the baby furniture industry quicker'n it did the Shakers themselves], Shaker influence is always good. But wait--there's more.
There's another, slightly larger bent ply oval for the base, and the bassinet can either nest in it on it's side--so that it rocks gently--or on edge, so that's stable on the ground, looking like a slightly squashed telescope. The prototype is near-black finish, but the production version will be available in natural wood finish.
Either way, the Offi Bassinet is beautiful and definitely an innovative design. How it actually translates into a safety-tested, mass-produced product, of course, is the big challenge. But let's see what six months or so brings. Talking with Heidi, I got the sense that it'll be priced in line with the other, high-end, high-design bassinets out there like the Ooba Nest and the Seimi Finnish Bassinet sold by David Netto, i.e., around $400-500. No word on whether it converts to a minibar or a daybed when its short useful life is done, so it'll probably be a bit of an indulgence for the typical nursery outfitter out there.
ICFF 2006: Offi Bassinet [pix and vid at mocoloco]
