The Hippest Gifts In Every Category For Everybody This Holiday Season.

Let me be your personal shopper this Holiday Season. Seriously.

I have spent the past several years creating specific shopping lists on the community shopcasting website This Next. The lists I have painstakingly compiled include images of the items, a description and a link to purchase, making it very easy for you to find and buy the perfect gift for just about anyone this holiday season.

My Christmas Gift To You.
You can benefit from the fact that I've already scoured the online (and offline) stores for the hippest items in tons of specific categories. The coolest products for designers, kids, pets, friends, fish-lovers, art-lovers, buddha-lovers, dog-lovers, gun-lovers, tattoo-lovers, graffiti-lovers, luxury lovers, casual acquaintances, signficant others and more. Home decor and furniture, technology and gadgets, piggy banks and jewelry... whatever you need, if it's hip, it's here.



From $10 items to $100,000 items, from trendy items to classic items, there's a total of 4,643 items to choose from, starting with the hippest holiday home decor.

Here's how it works. Click on the category below that interests you and you'll be taken to that list of items. Click on the name of the item that interests you and the screen will change to display that item. Lower down on that page it says : shop for this 'here' and you just click on that! Easy, peasy.

• MODERN CHRISTMAS DECOR (wreaths, trees, ornaments, etc) -205 items

Now, for the selections of gifts:

• PANTONE AND PANTONE-INSPIRED PRODUCTS (great for designers) -30 items

• SALUTING DESIGN: An Army Of Military Inspired Items - 35 items

• AQUARIUMS THAT ROCK: the coolest fish tanks - 40 items

• BUDDHA BOUNTY: All Things Buddha - 76 items

• MODERN DOLLHOUSES & ARCHITECTURAL MODELS - 44 items

• THE COOLEST WAYS TO WARM UP (candles, radiators, towel racks) - 131 items

• THE DISH ON DISHES (hip dinnerware and tableware) - 229 items

• EARTH-FRIENDLY AND ECO/ GREEN PRODUCTS - 87 items

• DIVINE DAMASK (home decor and products with damask patterns) - 72 items

• TAG, YOU'RE IT! (Graffiti inspired and related products) - 74 items

• WOOD WONDERLAND (wood furniture, toys and more) - 156 items

• GREAT GIFTS FOR GEEKS - 20 items

• REALLY ROMANTIC GIFTS -104 items

• FOR THE HIP BABY OR CHILD - 250 ITEMS

• LIST FOR LEGO LOVERS (Lego® everything) -50 items

• LIGHTEN UP (The best lighting and lamps) - 160 items

• MONDRIAN MADNESS (products inspired by Piet Mondrian) - 46 items

• ALVAR AALTO INSPIRED ITEMS - 14 items

• CHAIRS THAT ROCK (modern rocking chairs) - 56 items

• OBSCENELY DECADENT GIFTS (luxury products)- 60 items

• DEATH BECOMES YOU (over 160 things with Skulls) - 164 items

• FANCY FRIGGEN FLOORING AND RADICAL RUGS -163 items

• OUTDOOR ITEMS (from furniture to birdhouses) - 142 items

• HEDGEHOG HEYDAY (items inspired by Hedgehogs) - 33 items

• IF IT'S HIP & STICKS TO THE WALL (art and more home decor) - 180 items

• READY, SET...GLOW! (illuminated items and furniture) - 77 items

• CONTEMPORARY ART I WISH I COULD AFFORD - 117 items

• THE HIPPEST ANIMAL/PET STUFF (for both people and their pets) - 203 items

• TECHNOLOGY THAT ROCKS - 215 items

• TATTOO YOU. AND THIS. AND THAT. (tons of tattoo-related products) - 77 items

• HIP JEWELRY FOR MEN AND WOMEN - 216 items

• MODERN PIGGY BANKS OR MONEY BOXES - 65 items

• DIY STUFF FOR FRUSTRATED ARTISTS - 96 items

• PUT THAT DOWN, THAT'S MY GRANDMA! (modern cremation urns) - 27 items

• SHOP OR I'LL SHOOT! (gun-shaped products of all kinds) - 71 items

and lastly, many of the items that have been featured in this blog :

• IF IT'S HIP IT'S HERE - A list of items that celebrate design, functionality and art. Things to appreciate and admire. - 2056 items


Now, you have no excuse not to have found the perfect, or at the least the hippest, gift.

The Best Halloween Costume Ever! Banksy's Flower Thrower Comes To Life.

The Design Director of San Franscisco's Y Studios, Pittsburgh born George Schnakenberg III, gets my vote for the best Halloween costume I've seen in years. With ample design skills and impressive execution, George turned one of stencil street artist Banksy's most famous works, The Flower Thrower, into a full costume designed to emulate the 2D image.


above: George created the flat looking outfit by creating black and white shadows on his pants, hoodie, bandana and gloves.


The original artwork by Banksy:

Matching the prop:


Throughout the Halloween evening, George had photos of himself taken with various friends and in various environments (please note, I have cropped and adjusted the lighting and levels on some of these images for greater visibility):





George even made up his face to emulate the stencil art:

and managed to eat:


Nice work George!
You've set the bar really high and I can't wait to see what you do next Halloween.

all images courtesy of George Schnakenberg III

Urban Camouflage By Aaron Larney.

Recent graduate from Central Saint Martins with First Class Honours in BA Graphic Design, Aaron Larney has some fun projects in his portfolio.

His Urban Camouflage: Graffiti and Notice Board projects are photos in which the subject completely blends in with the backgrounds. Created along with the help of artists Matt Child and "Dosah", one features a complete boiler suit which is barely visible against the tagged outdoor wall and the other is a hooded jacket obscured by ads and editorials making it magically disappear into the notice board in front of which it stands.

Urban Camouflage: Graffiti




Urban Camouflage: Noticeboard



Aaron Larney

Hair Dryers That Will Blow Your Mind From Ferrari, 2Much, Barbie, Ed Hardy and More.

Seems like lately everything utilitarian is getting into "design" and hair care tools are no exception. Blow Dryers from high-end salon brands like BaByliss, T3, Conair and even custom ones by designers are hitting the market.

The first one I'm sharing with you is more about what's inside the dryer than the look of it.

Hair Dryer engine made with actual Ferrari parts:



In 2010, a unique collaboration between BaByliss and Ferrari brought together the technological and engineering expertise of these two industry giants. The result puts the world's first Ferrari-inspired high performance engine into a professional hair appliance.


above left image courtesy of ModernSalon

Designed for maximum airflow, minimum weight, low vibration, extended life and turbo-speed power, the Ferrari engine makes this BaBylissPRO the ultimate drying machine, and creates a brand new category in styling: the performance luxury dryer.

Ferrari and BaByliss, both noted for speed, power and performance, are recognized and respected around the world. As a sponsor of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Championship, BaByliss is proud to lend its support to the greatest name in racing.

The BaByliss®PRO VOLARE comes in two sizes –a medium and a compact one- and in two colours –in black and in the worldwide original FERRARI red colour- and is the world’s first professional luxury hair dryer driven by a FERRARI engine.

The V1 - Ferrari designed engine Hair Dryers:


The V2 - Ferrari designed engine Hair Dryers:



The following hair dryers have all jumped on the Graffiti and Tattoo inspired bandwagon.

Custom Graffiti Hair Dryer
This custom hair dryer by Patrik Blundell of 2much was exclusively made for Millenium Hair Design and is embellished with Graffiti:




Ed Hardy Geisha Hair Dryer:


Dragon and Koi hair Dryers by Hair Religion:



The TS 2 Vintage Hair Dryer:


The following are simply hair dryers worth noting.

The Special Edition T3 Barbie Hair Dryer:

The T3 Barbie hair Dryer is available exclusively at Bloomingdales.

For when you're really packing heat, The 357 Magum hair dryer:


above images courtesy of this etsy listing.
There's also a similar hair dryer with various colored handles called the Western hair dryer.

And of course, there's a Swarovski Crystal Clad hair dryer by 77th and Park. The 1871 watt Ionic hair dryer comes in 3 color variations and comes in an alligator bag:




Not quite as blingy, and certainly not nearly as expensive is the Conair 213L Limited Edition Swarovski Crystal Infiniti Dryer:




Of course there are hundreds of interesting concept designs for hair dryers, but I wanted to you to see the actual produced ones.