Global Domination
If you’ve ever trekked out to the local shopping mall to buy a globe (the map of the world kind, not the light bulb kind *insert ‘screw-in’ joke here*), you’ll know that it’s very difficult to find one that doesn’t look like it was designed by your grandparents.

Danish company, Atmosphere Globemakers, have an intimidatingly stylish range of - you guessed it - globes. These things aren’t your average dust collectors though. Atmosphere have utilised some pretty big names in Danish design to come up with a range of products that you’ll feel proud to have on your mantle piece.

Check out the Globe Lamp. That, my friend, is one stylish son of a bitch.

Ja-panning for gold
If you’re looking for cool new products, take a trip to Japan. Those guys are in a league of their own, and if there’s one thing the Japanese know how to do, it’s design small stuff.

No surprise then that it’s a Japanese designer, Naho Matsuno, who has answered the call of apartment-dwelling inner city design nuts everywhere with a series of compact nesting stools which pack down to a useable furniture cube.

These things tick a lot of the boxes that we talked about in design 101. Clean, simple, functional and beautiful.

Watch it!
Have you noticed that cassette tapes have become cool again?

And this is kind of odd, because any child of the 80s knows that tapes were just plain annoying. Fast-forward this. Rewind that. The frustrating game of "am-I-at-the-song-I-want" roulette. Not to mention the crap sound quality.

But for the nostalgic folk amongst us, the good people at Asos present the imaginatively titled Cassette Face Watch. This is actually a pretty cool piece of gear that would go great with those flouro sneakers and boombox shaped mp3 player. Oldskool.

Aesop style
Admit it. You’ve never heard the words "beauty store" and "great design" in the same sentence. And why would you?

For many people the idea of walking into a beauty boutique is akin to stabbing ones self in the ear with a pencil. The bright white lights, the lady with the slightly orange glow jabbing perfume samples at you. No thanks.
 
Well fear not, design lovers. Those clever devils at Aesop have turned shopping for moisturiser into a cultural experience. Showcasing the design handy work of March Studios’ Rodney Eggleston, the recently opened Aesop store in Rundle Mall, Adelaide, is thick with good design. The North Melbourne, and Melbourne city stores are nothing to be sneezed at either.

Check out the images in the gallery above. A picture says a thousand words, etc.

- By Sam Allan.