Le Creuset makes my hands-down favorite pots 'n pans in terms of heat distribution and oven-to-table sexiness. The distinctive colors are cheery, easy to spot, and often imitated by lesser manufacturers, but it's well worth investing in some authentic pieces—they'll last forever. Sur la Table has just announced Le Creuset's new line of white cookery, in case you're trying to keep things visually calm in the kitchen or just don't want anything to clash with your goulash. I dig it. 

—BRADLEY LINCOLN

We stopped in at Diana Ostreko’s Amazing Space in Oak Park a couple weeks ago and snagged this great vintage floor lamp—which is made of paper but looks like ceramic—for just $37. It’s about 16 inches wide and throws off great light. Everything in the store—including new and cool accessories from Roost and Global Views—is half off through the end of the month. Ostrenko is closing the store in January but will continue to sell online.

—JAN PARR

My mom loved wrapping presents, especially at Christmastime. She was obsessed with it, and even set up a designated section of the basement, with a folding table and ribbons sorted by color. She would spend days making puffy bows, folding origami tags, and collaging works of art that really were a shame to tear open. She also had a wicked sense of humor, and loved to trick us by putting gifts in inappropriate boxes. She’d tuck a doll for my sis in a power-tool package, my Mork rainbow suspenders in a cigarette carton—that sort of thing, just to see our (momentarily) disappointed faces. She would have slapped her knee silly with these fake boxes that the Onion store sells: “Visor-ganizer—turns your hat into another pocket” and “KleenStride—the personal debris removal system.” They have six Onion-y designs, they’re 12 in. by 9 in. by 4 in., and $7.99 each. Watch out! 

—BRADLEY LINCOLN

Whilst strolling the Boul Mich the other day, the new window displays at Cole Haan caught my eye. They have a new line of leather bar accessories, and they’re swell for the dipso holiday season. These leather wine totes are over-the-top—they also come in shiny red patent leather and the signature C.H. woven pattern. At $98, it’s a pretty classy chassis for your two-buck Chuck, so you might want to just use and reuse yourself when you go to BYOBs or over the river to Grandmother’s house. This leather handled corkscrew ($55) comes with its own carrying case, and the witty set of coasters ($65) is printed with the options olive/twist, straight up/on the rocks, dry/dirty, and stirred/shaken. 

—BRADLEY LINCOLN

Our art director, Megan Duffy Rostan, and I went on an unusual shopping spree today. Our mission was to find great holiday gifts at the 900 North Michigan Shops. We were selecting items for a lunch I will be hosting to promote shopping at the mall. I’ll post our finds later on this blog, but one thing that really impressed us today was Silk Trading Company. We wrote about the company’s “Drapery Out-of-a-Box” collection when it debuted, but neither us of had ever been in the showroom. We loved the teal blue ottoman displayed at the foot of a bed, and really admired the furniture styles, such as the chairs shown here (I don’t care for the striped fabric on the one chair, but the chair itself has great bones). All furniture can be made in any one of the hundreds of fabrics Silk Trading carries.

—JAN PARR

I went down to Grant Park to cheer on a friend who ran the Chicago Marathon last month (way to go, Franklin!), and stopped by the last day of the Wired NextFest since it was right there, in a big ol’ tent. Maybe because the show was in its waning hours, nothing seemed to be working. I busted out my best Marcel Marceau–moves in front of a robot that was supposed to mimic human gestures, but all I got was public humiliation. Plus it was hella hot up in there...color me nonplussed. Then I came across an elegant display of futuristic sculptures, which turned out to be custom serving pieces designed for Grant Achatz’s Alinea restaurant. Did a little research, and discovered they are made by Crucial Detail, a Chicago design studio headed up by Martin Kastner. Kastner’s a Czech who trained as a blacksmith, and he offers these “delivery systems” for sale on his Web site. I’ve never been to Alinea, but I’m guessing that most of its foodie fans are usually celebrating a birthday, popping a big question, or toasting a momentous life event—at any rate, it’s not the sort of resto you’d go to when feeling vaguely peckish. A gift of some of these contraptions would make a great remembrance of the occasion, maybe even paired with the luscious Alinea cookbook that just came out. Shown above (counterclockwise) are: the Antiplate (put a spoon in the middle of it with an amuse bouche, $15), Squid (balance food in the middle of the wires, $35), Bow (hang food off of it, $35), and Sectional (a little pedestal for a bite, $10). After all, if you’re going to the trouble of hollowing out a grape, stuffing it with truffle foam, and balancing it on a frozen bubble of unicorn tears, you don’t want to plop it on Chinet, now do you?

—BRADLEY LINCOLN

Photos from Crucial Detail

There’s a terrifically clever furniture and design show going on right now at the Cultural Center that’s going to put a smile on your face, I guarantee it. Deceptive Design was organized by a collaboration between the Chicago Chapter of the Industrial Designers Society of America and the Chicago Furniture Designers Association, and consists of 18 objects that play with our conceptions of furniture. The trompe l’oeil living room includes a chair (“Caveat Sittor”) with what appears to be a thumbtack sticking up out of the seat, a dresser with drawers that only open from the back, and “Wolf in Sheep’s Lighting”—a sweet little sheep lamp that casts a menacing shadow when it’s turned on. I really liked this adaptable shelving unit by Mark Kinsley that forms art when you fold it flat against the wall, Andrew Peerless’s  “Herd” Table, and Craighton Berman’s “Coil Lamp,” made from an industrial extension cord. The show is up until Jan. 4.. Don’t miss it.

"Herd Table", above left. "Riveli Shelves", above right, "Coil Lamp", right.

—BRADLEY LINCOLN

I stopped by June Blaker’s sparkling River North store to check out my favorite stylista’s fall finds, and was tres impressed with her home accessory offerings. June made a big, arty splash in 1980s Chicago by introducing the cerebral fashions of Comme, Yohji, and others at City (where the CHIC cooking school now stands, visible from the back windows of her new shop) and later her eponymous Wells Street location. She still has a few racks of frocks, but told me that she’s concentrating on home design these days. Loved these thick, creamy Illuminated Candles in shell forms—they’re all wax, but have replaceable votives tucked inside so you can actually use them. The line runs about $75 to $160, and you clean them just like porcelain, with a damp cloth. The dimmable light-up bench/table they’re resting on is pretty sweet too—it’s a $750 Pablo Pardo design.

—BRADLEY LINCOLN

—Gina Bazer

I recently bought a cute Room & Board chair on Craig’s List, and wouldn’t you know it, the seller was a student at Harrington College of Design. Keith had a highly personalized new-construction condo, wallpapered and painted in cheerful, mod colors. Among the things that gave his space character was his modification of the developer’s kitchen. The kitchen was square-shaped but not big enough for a standard island, so Keith ordered one from Seattle-based Kerf Design and plopped it smack in the middle, gaining a little extra storage and a pop of originality. “They will custom-make and ship anything to Chicago and they were really easy to work with,” Keith told me. “The top of our island is actually Boomerang Formica that Formica Company has reissued.” Fun design tips from like-minded strangers. Yet another reason to love Craig’s List.

—Gina Bazer