We know, selling scented candles online is quite a difficult task, as scent and the internet doesn’t really go together, but Jonathan’s Destination Candles are simply too good to skip, so we’ll try to be as descriptive as possible.
All of his candles come in superbly stylish etched brown glass containers and are individually boxed, making them perfect as gifts. So here we go:
Savor the sublime charm of ‘Aix en Provence’ amidst soft floral, soothing lavender and smooth white amber & musk. This combination reminded us of a warm summer day in the hills surrounding beautiful Aix, with Lavender everywhere and a soft and refreshing wind blowing.
‘Southampton Garden’ and its elusive Ivy notes paired with nostalgic summer florals remind us of an elegant picnic near a lake, with beautiful food, children playing in the grass and a lot of fun towards the end of summer. It is a beautiful candle for late afternoons on a lazy Sunday.
‘Shelter Island Ocean’ is our current favorite. Fresh ocean notes, sea moss and sand grains, combined with hints of sage makes it feel like a gorgeous day on the beach. Early in the morning, it’s not hot yet and promises to be a great day in the sand and surf!
And lastly there’s ‘Palm Beach’. Just like the original, it’s a delicious mix of sparkling citrus, juicy lychee fruit and white rose petals. It makes us feel like a sun-filled afternoon with our friends at a beautiful pool, cocktail in hand…
So many choices, such great candles!
Price: $38 / 30€

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Oh when it comes to placemats we are picky! We adore our Pop Up Placemats, and our vintage linen, but there isn’t much modern that we really like!
But when we came across this set of four felted place mats, we had to add them as a Soupe, they are simply adorable! Designed by Gabrielle Lewin, these placemats are not just easy to handle – just clean with cold water – but are also super pretty on the table. They are just the right blend of casual and elegant, so no matter what the occasion, they will look great on your table!
Dinner is served!
Price: $24 / 18€

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And once again our favorite commuter mug is back in stock. You constantly buy all of the pieces we are stocking making it sell out on a regular basis, but a new shipment just arrived today, so you can start all over again and get as many as you like, we have plenty!
‘I’m Not A Papercup’ doesn’t really need any explanation now, does it? It’s the ubiquitous coffee mug that we have most likely all had in our hands, but this time it is made of double walled porcelain and the plastic lid is replaced by reusable silicone. It is the perfect accessory for every tea lover, because it is made out of porcelain, so no aluminum to stain the flavor of your subtle teas. So much fun and such good news for the environment. Why use a throw away cup that will only end up in landfill, when you can use this over and over and over again? It is truly the perfect solution for all you commuting coffee and tea lovers out there! Any thing else? Oh right, dimensions: 3.5″ (9 cm) diameter; 6″ (15 cm) tall.
Price: $20 / 18€

Here at the C&M HQ, we like a good cocktail and there is always a reason to mix something up. But when it comes to the measuring part, that’s when we realize why some people are mix masters and we are only beginners, nothing more.
But with Josh Owen’s Jigger Cube, we can now slowly nudge our way into the realm of the mix masters, as there is no easier tool to create the perfect drink. It’s a breeze to go through even the hardest of combinations for the most complex concotions, as every side holds a different amount needed for any recipe, just turn the cube and add the booze. At 3″x 3″x 3″ (7,5 x 7,5 x 7,5 cm) there’s also no smaller tool, as the 6 sides of the cube provide the most space effective combination possible. And because it is cast Aluminum it also feels great in your hand.
Now, let’s get back to that question: Shaken or stirred?
Price: $25 / 19€ plus shipping

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Sometimes it takes time to develop a great product. The latter is definitely true for Mark McKenna’s Betty Lou lamp which took over 1000 hours to develop. But the result is simply stunning both visually and from a technological stand point.
Visually it looks like a large Riedel wine glass with a large glass dome and a small silver or gold ‘flashlight’ providing the illumination through a handful of high intensity LED lights and a reflective base in the ‘glass’. Simply gorgeous!
Technologically it is a real stunner, all you need to do is insert the charging funnel and set the ‘flashlight’ on top, and voila, it’s done, it’s charging away, so the next time you turn them on, you’ll have an easy 7 hours of continuos illumination.
Unlike your Riedel glasses, Betty Lou is made out of Polycarbonate, so it’s a lot safer than glass, but it looks identical. It’s simply a very uncomplicated and elegant lamp, perfect for any dinner setting.
Colors: Gold, Silver
Price: $260 / 190€ plus shipping

Technorati Tags: Charles & Marie, decoration, design, lighting, Modern living, Soupe du Jour

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The AK-47, also called the Kalashnikov after its inventor, is one of the most successful industrial products of all time. Since its introduction in 1947, an estimated 80 million AK-47s have been built. Its success is based not only on its resourceful construction, but also its affordable production, dependability, functionality and high demand. The AK-47 is one of the icons of the twentieth century, but it is also a deadly weapon.
For a new art project, the designer Martin Postler has investigated the history, the aesthetics and the lethal seductiveness of the Kalashnikov. He has freed the AK-47 from its terrible capacity to injure and kill by deconstructing it into a paper model construction set. When putting the detailed model together, the builder is automatically confronted with the Kalashnikov and its significance – both historical and personal. At the end of the construction process each person can decide if they would like to hang their own AK-47 on the wall, paint it, customize it with stickers or simply burn it. Then ultimately this AK-47 thankfully remains a piece of paper.
Some words of advice:
Not recommended for people under age 18. Recommended for experienced crafters only. Construction time depends on handcrafting abilities, it takes a while, that much is clear. Does not contain glue and cutter.
And lastly: If you’re gonna play with guns, use paper one
IMPORTANT: This week will feature brand new products from the fair, so they won’t ship until next week when all the designers return to their offices!
Price: $35 / 25€ plus shipping

Technorati Tags: Charles & Marie, design, Soupe du Jour, toys, Tragically hip

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Here’s another one straight from the NY gift fair: Alphabet Ice Trays. Really nothing much that we have to say about those, they are pretty self explanatory, made out of black silicone, pretty much everything can be turned into letters here… The set includes three trays for the entire alphabet!
IMPORTANT: This week will feature brand new products from the fair, so they won’t ship until next week when all the designers return to their offices!
Price: $30 / 21€ plus shipping

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Fresh from the NY Gift Show comes this beautiful modern teapot by the good guys over at Vincent Reardon. Made locally here in the US by Boehm Porcelain, this version of the teapot caught our eye because of its unusual three-legged stance. Well, turns out that you can simply slide a votive candle underneath to keep it warm, no trivet or stand needed, so we like that. But even better, just tilt the teapot forward and start pouring, you don’t even have to lift it from its base, its unusual stance makes it easy to tilt and the ergonomic handle is placed in just the right angle, for a super easy use! Sweet! Currently only available in white, but we’ll update you when the black version comes out!
IMPORTANT: This week will feature brand new products from the fair, so they won’t ship until next week when all the designers return to their offices!
Price: $150 / 110€ plus shipping

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Remember the PopMats we brought you last February? Well, it just so happens that we were speaking to Liam for the past months about some holiday scenery Pop Mats and as if we knew it, here they are. Now granted, it’s throbbing summer here in the big city, but as we are planning to bring you a daily Soupe directly from the fair this week, we thought it’s a good way to start the week off. If you don’t know them, here’s a little intro:
Easy: pop-out placemats. Think of them, as placemats with a name card built in, cool, no? We simply adore them! They are made out of a beautiful, fiber rich paper, 13″ x 17″ (33 x 43 cm) in size and they are available in a wonderful cream color and a soft, warm white.
Three variations are available: The Deer, the Fire Place and lastly the Table Setting and all have a designated space to put the name. A set comes with 10 place mats and all you have to do is pop them out and fold them up, done, that’s it.
Not quite actually, you still have to conjure up a fab dinner to go alongside these fab placemats!
We know that you’re probably not thinking about the holidays yet, but you know that it is never to early to start preparing, it’ll be here faster than you think!
IMPORTANT: This week will feature brand new products from the fair, so they won’t ship until next week when all the designers return to their offices!
Price: $25 / 18€ plus shipping

Technorati Tags: accessories, Charles & Marie, decoration, Modern living, Soupe du Jour

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There’s really not much that we can say with this unusual USB stick. We had to chuckle when we first saw it, a 2 GB USB stick – works on Macs and PCs equally well – shaped like one big, very big nail, looking like you just jammed the latter into your computer…
Pretty funny!
Price: $37 / 25€ plus shipping

Technorati Tags: accessories, Charles & Marie, gadget hip, Soupe du Jour, Tragically hip, USB stick

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How do you take yours?
This question is now finally easy to answer. Color chips on the side show exactly how you take your coffee or tea. No more guess work just look at the color chip and once the color matches the chip, you are done!
Fabulous!
Price: $20 / 14€ plus shipping

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So we are in the middle of summer and we thought it would be a great idea to remind you of one of the quintessential summer additions we have in stock.
When you travel you naturally take your camera. You snap away, a couple pics here, some there and then one of all of you. Ooops. So you find something to balance your camera on – it’s a wee bit too tall. Or it’s too low. It might also be too crooked, or too … fill in the blank. You most certainly know what we are talking about. Been there, done that. Well who hasn’t?
Today’s Soupe provides a solution to the issue that’s probably as old as the camera itself: What to use as a tripod when you don’t lug a tripod around? It’s easy, this little Bottle Cap Tripod slides onto the vast majority of national and international water caps, the universal adaptor fits onto pretty much every camera and the little hinge allows the little baby to swivel gently. That’s it you are done. Whether it’s the family picture, that special night shot or anything else that requires a tripod, the solution is in your pocket from now on.
Anything else left to explain? We think not… Genius!
Price: $10 / 10€ plus shipping

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We told you yesterday how much we like smart and witty designs here at C&M and today’s Soupe might not appear like such a product at first, but surely is…
Designed by Tobias Wong – who most recently was in charge of this years 100% Design show in Shanghai – it is a remote controlled switch in a beautiful Lucite box with magnetic closure. It is a beautiful piece that seemingly has no function, but simply open the box, flip the switch and voila: whatever you plugged in is now on or off.
It works beautifully for up to 100 feet (30 m), if you want to control anything further away we are afraid that you have to get up and flip that switch manually…
Price: $150 / 115€ plus shipping

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We like smart and witty designs – you should know that by now – and we really like Shahar Peleg’s smart thinking on the XO.
Really simple and really well done the XO is a Tic Tac Toe game and yes, you might argue that there are a ton of them out there, but this one is special as it is played on a mirrored surface and the X and O are only half of what they should be. Why? Well, you are playing it on a mirror surface, hence no need for the other half.
Yup, pretty smart.
Price: $40 / 30€ plus shipping

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A lot of you seemed to have missed this little fella, so here it is again for all of you who missed the Soupe from last week:
Sometimes having an office in SoMA is helpful, especially when you have to head over to the San Francisco Gift Fair where we spent a couple of hours yesterday. Trust us, it was – how should we put this – awful? That pretty much sums it up, at some point we were ready to just run out, but the rule says, you can’t leave until you haven’t seen even the most remote corner. So there we were trotting along when we stumbled upon this little beauty. Lo and behold in the furthest corner, tucked away was Pinky Tree.
At first we were chuckling, then we had a closer look, well we were sort of urged by Valerie, one of the owners to see what it was all about, then we started smiling, placed our order and here it is. Probably the worlds smallest living plant phone charm, keychain accessory, Tamagotchi, call it what you want that we ever saw. What is it? It’s a teeny weeny cactus in a teeny weeny glass jar. Sitting in real soil, with little holes in the bottom so you can water it once a month and see it grow.
Pretty hilarious was what we thought, but in fact those little guys really do grow if dealt with properly, Succulents and Cacti only need very little water and at that size they need even less. And if treated properly they can really grow up to become, well, grown up Cacti… We saw Valerie’s little friend and she had hers for a year now and is getting ready to take it out and plant it into a pot because it pretty much doesn’t fit in the little tube anymore.
Need we say more? Nah, that should suffice. Well maybe we’ll just tell you that you can’t get them anywhere else online in the US except here…
Colors: Pearlito, Pilly, Smoothy, Sphera
Price: $11 / 10€ plus shipping

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We are sure that you know how much we adore the LampLamp – click here if you don’t know it already – it is a witty addition to our curated shopping section and a favorite of yours for a long time as well.
We have received countless emails asking for the base we displayed the LampLamp in but it wasn’t available for the longest time. Well, the longest time is finally over and they are shipping from Japan as we speak!
And to make it easy for all of you, we are shipping this as a set and are including a LampLamp in it, this way you can show it off in all its beauty!
Colors: Black, White
Price: $68 / 58€

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We first met Nobu from 100% Design in London at the event with the same name almost 2 years ago and have been thrilled to carry his fantastic products since then. Our particular favorite is the Cherry Blossom glass, so imagine how excited we were to learn that he has launched a new size for Sake being the sake lovers that we are.
A couple words about this fab glass. It basically turns the notion of annoying condensation rings on its head, and make them something to look forward to. Every time you lift your glass a beautiful Cherry Blossom, the Sakura Flower appears and subtely changes its shape. The glass subtely develops its shape from the top where ist perfectly round and then slowly starts to completely change. From the side nothing is really visible, But once you lift it from a table top, voilà there it is… This is an amazing quality glass, the base feels thick and heavy, yet the walls are nice and thin giving off a crisp chime when toasted.
This is a set of two glasses per box (and it is also a very pretty box…), and each glass holds 80 cl or 2.7 floz (basically enough for a nice sip of Sake!)
Price: $48 / 32€

Technorati Tags: Charles & Marie, contraptions, Epicurean Delight, glassware, Modern living, Soupe du Jour

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Our favorite commuter mug is finally back in stock. This piece de resistance regularly sells out – so we have asked our supplier to just keep them coming on a monthly basis now, that should keep you all satisfied! And don’t worry, you don’t have to check back, we’ll let you know when it gets back in!
‘I’m Not A Papercup’ doesn’t really need any explanation now, does it? It’s the ubiquitous coffee mug that we have most likely all had in our hands, but this time it is made of double walled porcelain and the plastic lid is replaced by reusable silicone. It is the perfect accessory for every tea lover, because it is made out of porcelain, so no aluminum to stain the flavor of your subtle teas. So much fun and such good news for the environment. Why use a throw away cup that will only end up in landfill, when you can use this over and over and over again? It is truly the perfect solution for all you commuting coffee and tea lovers out there!
Any thing else? Oh right, dimensions: 3.5″ (9 cm) diameter; 6″ (15 cm) tall.
Price: $20 / 18€

Rejoice! Our favorite cups are back in town! I’m Not A Papercup and the 2 Carat Cup just arrived and you are the first to know and we’ll bring them to you back to back!
So here’s to a great way to start the day - a graceful porcelain cup that adorns you with a sparkling solitaire diamond ring when you pick it up!
But wait, that’s not all, here’s the best part - The 2-Carat Cup is packed in an elegant oversize jewelry box, so when you present it as a gift, all you see is the ring! A great cup, a terrific gift, a charming social expression — this one’s got it all. White porcelain with gold or platinum glaze and clear sparkling Swarovski crystal, individually boxed with removable wrapper.
Color: Gold, Platinum
Price: $18 / 12€

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This is how we like to start the week off here at the C&M HQ, brand spanking new products as SDJ’s – yummy! You all know Alissia’s iconic InsideOut Collection already, the famed champagne flutes, the handy Martini glasses and the elegant Liqueur glasses, well here’s number four, taking cues from the shot glasses from around the world, the latest addition to the collection.
AlissiaMT should be known to all of you design aficionados out there for her wonderful collection of ‘diamond’ rings and her unique nested appetizer plates ‘A Handful of Plates’. The InsideOut Collection of barware turns the common knowledge of what a drinking glass should look like on its head. In AMT’s collection of barware, the well-known and oftentimes iconic shapes of glasses are hidden behind a neutral and discreet outer shape, unassuming and simple. But once you pour the drink, the glass’ inner identity appears creating an unusual and highly fascinating effect.
Besides the visual beauty, there is another extremely convincing argument: your drink simply doesn’t warm as fast as it would in a normal glass as you are not touching it at all and if you really want it cold, chill the glasses in the freezer and create an amazing visual presentation…
The glasses are all mouth blown, are 1.5″ wide and 4.75″ high (4 x 12 cm) and come in a set of 2.
Fabulous!
Price: $48 / 40€ plus shipping

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