One of my all-time favorite crib designs [alright, huge nerd alert for having a list of favorite crib designs. whatryagonnado?] is Denmark's hometown favorite, the Leander Bed, from Stig Leander Nielsen. The molded birch beauty converts from a crib to a real bed, not just one of these daybed compromise jobbers.

If this year's ICFF is any indication, crib designers from around the world have taken note not only of the Leander's form, but also its continued absence from the US market.

Though it's different in key elements of its structure and assembly, and it's got slats all around, Bloom's new Luxo Sleep crib has a very similar profile to the Leander.

What's also interesting is that Svan, the Swedish kid gear company, also introduced a Leander-esque bed at ICFF. It has curved ply ends, which come apart just like the Leander's to become footboards for a toddler bed and the seatback of a little bench. Svan is pushing the convertibility angle pretty far, with a changing table/bassinet and an ottoman, five possible configurations all using the same core components. [Or all possible with a pile of conversion kits, anyway.]

Despite the fact that it was the only new thing in their booth--the various pieces took up the entire booth, in fact--when I asked to take a picture of it, the Svan folks said no, making lame excuses about how they've filed for a patent or something. The reality seems to be that the design is still at least a year from being finalized, and many questions of production, configuration, and pricing are still unanswered. The other reality is, someone else who didn't bother to ask permission will have a picture of the stuff posted online in no time, which is what you should expect if you're showing your product in a giant, media-saturated trade show.

[update: whine a little and ye shall receive. Here are some snaps of the Svan Crib prototype from the fine folks at Svan. -ed.]

Previously: Something is rockin' in Denmark