Wow, who at the NY Times T Magazine offices is having a baby? Because almost the entire Winter Design & Living issue is devoted to kid- and family-related design. Some highlights:
- Fred Bernstein's got a piece about how it's alright to raise your kids in a minimalist home, though as a rationalization tool, it would probably work for any kind of design obsessive seeking to spawn.
- Alice Rawsthorn explores the innovative, highly intuitive modernist kid designs of the imperious British architect Erno Goldfinger. She mentions the alphabet toy, his daughter's dollhouse, the flexible nursery--but WTF, people? Can't you get any other photo than the golden closeup of the puzzle that is #1-200 of Goldfinger's Google Images results? I've been looking for Goldfinger toy pictures for a freakin' year with no success, but [at the moment, at least], I'm not the freakin' New York Times. What up?
- Alexandra Jacobs has another installment in the Times' multiyear investigation of kids' menus and the Chicken Finger Industrial Complex. She also writes her son is "too spirited" to fly with yet. Flying's like swimming, it takes practice!
- Nickelodeon reinventor Geraldine Laybourne's grandchild has an Oeuf crib.
- Driade's publicist sure earned her retainer this month. The product spreads feature two of Naoto Fukasawa's recent kid designs--his 2005 dishware set and his 2006 fleece-on-foam Anyo chair [above].
- Meanwhile, things look pretty cozy between Knoll and the Miami baby retail powerhouse Genius Jones. Especially considering that GJ basically goaded Knoll into launching Knoll Kids by creating its own, high-quality, mini-Mies Barcelona chair knockoff a few years ago.
- Finally get to see at least one image of the Stella McCartney for Baby Gap stuff: an $88 leopard sweater. Mhmm.
- Which reminds me, where are the plain wool kids sweaters these days that don't cost >$80? Because we are not finding them.
There's a story: Minimii, a Danish company, is launching a dollhouse version of Arne Jacobsen's actual 1928 house. Looks pretty sweet, plastic and steel laminate for magnetized walls, and a whole slew of dollhouse-sized designer furniture. It's basically a less-colorful, throwback reincarnation of the Bozart Kaleidoscope House concept, maybe starting around $550. The only catch I can see is that they announced in February; their pictures are still the prototype, they're taking pre-orders, and they promise an "early Christmas 09" delivery. Which is like right now. I'd suggest having some backup gifts lined up.
If you'd like to see more of the Stella McCartney stuff, you can go straight to the horse's mouth, that is to say, the Gap website. There's some fairly nice stuff but we are priced right out of this collection. Or pretty much anything that has the word "collection" anywhere in the description.
Re the $550 dollhouse, does that come with a financing option, or does my kid need to put her vintage DreamHouse on short sale to cover it?
Old Navy has plain sweaters for kids for under $20. Generally I buy online (can return in the store if need be), and if there is a price change within 2 weeks they will credit you over the phone. I read their weekly e-mails and call as needed.