One of my New Years resolutions was to no longer sleep with my iPhone next to my bed.  No more checking emails as soon as my eyes open.  No more sending off late night emails that could wait until morning.  So our “charging station” got moved to the other side of the room, which meant we lost the other function of our phone–the alarm clock.  For the last couple weeks we have been using the classic Braun Travel Clock, my husband’s from growing up, but it lacked a snooze button.

So the hunt began.  Our requirements were simple–well designed, slim profile and a snooze button.  We scoured blogs for “best alarm clocks,” “modern alarm clocks,” etc… to no avail.  Then, on a rainy Saturday afternoon we popped into Moss and came across what I am now deeming the perfect alarm clock.

Designed by Jasper Morrison for Swiss brand Punkt, the AC 01 is everything we were looking for and more.  I love how simple and intuitive the controls are and in addition to a snooze function, glow-in-the-dark hands and dial, it also has an led light that illuminates with a simple push of a button.  You can buy one online here.

It has taken me a couple weeks to catch up on the daunting stack of magazines that awaited me after being out of the country for six weeks.  I am finally caught up, which means that I just read about this beauty – the Nest Learning Thermostat.

Designed by Tony Fadell, formerly of Apple and designer of the original iPod, the Nest is the thermostat we all never knew we needed.  Using software that analyzes and tracks your usage patterns over time, it will program itself in a week to understand your heating and cooling needs.  It also has built in sensors that keep track of whether or not you’re at home and a wi-fi connection that monitors the weather outside so that it can intelligently understand how the changing temperatures affect your usage behavior.

Aside from the gorgeous minimalist design, what I love about the Nest is that it solves a serious problem.  In Fadell’s research, he discovered that 10 million thermostats are sold every year, yet only 6% of programmable ones are actually programmed.  He also discovered that the heating and cooling of our homes accounts for 50% of our energy bills.  Considering this impact, it makes sense to really look at creating design solutions for every day items like thermostats.  As Fadell says, and which I am 100% guilty of, “instead of programming their thermostats, most people have given up and treat it like a light switch.”  According to Nest, you’ll save 20 – 30% a month on your electric bill, which means that it can easily pay for itself in about a year. Unfortunately, the Nest isn’t compatible with my building’s system so I can’t test it out myself.  You can check here to see if yours is.

*Via Fast Company

Created by the architect duo Naruse-Inokama, IE-Tags are beautiful post-its shaped like little houses. Ie, meaning house in Japanese, these beauties are made of recycled wood from construction sites and would certainly spiff up any desk area.

via Fast Company

While visiting one of my favorite local spots Marlow and Sons, this beautiful packaging caught my eye.  Created by Diana Mercer, (who runs an art studio in Boulder, Colorado) Clementine Art is a line of art supplies that contains only natural ingredients and are all certified non-toxic.  I love the fact that her modeling dough is colored by turmeric, spinach and carmine and her crayons are made up of a combination of beeswax and kosher soy wax.  To top it off, the packaging is composed of 80% post consumer recycled and reusable materials.

I’m loving these colorful wooden blocks. Inspired by the art of rock balancing, each set contains ten blocks that are handmade in Brooklyn, NY from repurposed hardwood  that has been collected from local furniture shops.

Available from Poketo

via Swiss Miss

Monique Péan, a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs, started taking design classes in her free time before realizing her passion was really in jewelry.  In 2006, she launched her line and has since been recognized by everyone from Michelle Obama to Vogue and most recently, Fast Company.

While all of her pieces are exquisite and sustainable, I found this necklace to be particularly stunning.  The piece is constructed out of fossilized walrus ivory and woolly-mammoth bone that is carved by hand and then finished with 18-karat rose gold, white diamonds and smoky topaz.

You can see their list of stockists here.

This really is the. perfect. striped. shirt.  Created by Julia Leach, the former creative director of Kate Spade, Chance celebrates form and function.

Chance sees the nautical striped shirt as the personal fashion paper clip–”every drawer has one.”  Honoring timeless style that can travel the world whether in a small fishing village on the coast of France or in your backyard picking blackberries, the striped shirt is a quintessential staple.  As seen in the time line on the Chance website, the striped shirt has history.  From the French Navy to Picasso, James Dean, Mick Jagger and Hunter S. Thompson, I think it’s safe to say, stripes have always been, and will continue to be, “in.”