These prankish Shikisai t-shirts by Noto-Fusai, are created by Noto Hirotsugu and Noto Miyo, a husband-and-wife designer team. Tees are available in adult + kid sizes and there many more designs (be surprised!) to choose from. You’ll be happy to know that they are sold in a few other cities outside Japan, just check the shop list on the website (in English, don’t worry) to see if there’s any near you.

[Update: For my sg friends, the listing of the Museum Shop at the National Museum is old news. Was there 2 days ago but no shirts]

The French company, Antheor has been hand-crafting fine tableware collections for more than a decade with the goal to accentuate the French style of decorating — where “aesthetic pleasure goes hand in hand with eating pleasure“.

Mmm…enjoying a meal served *framed up* like works of art.

I can begin to picture *frames* of nasi lemak, char kway teow, rojak or Hokkien mee (all yummy local favourites here) awaiting to be savoured as grand culinary masterpieces!

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Ladies and gentleman, please put our hands together to welcome these pretty brides and their cute grooms!

This is not a brown paper bag!

The Isabella (Is.a.brella) from Ofess, a Hong Kong company is a must-add to bloomize’s gro.o.owing umbrella collection. The bottle part serves as a reservoir for a wet brella, which is imperative when you have to enter a building dry.

There’s a caveat on the Ofess website about fakes labeled as ‘DECO umbrella’. If you like to get the real thing online, which for some reason is only possible on Japanese websites, goto to Sixem or Amazon jp (select the ‘Click here to see in English’ option on the top right OR read this if you have never tried ordering from Amazon jp but desperately want to).

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Left to right: Hair curler, twist tie, craft wire

After seeing how the multi-tasking Queuger clutched onto a book to hold back falling pages, I was prompted to use my foam hair curler to reenact the same pose. The result?

It worked.

Worked well on the side too.

Inspired by the curler, next I took out a twist tie*, saved from a coil of electrical cable, to perform the same twist. And…

(* which is tougher than regular ones.)

it worked!

So inspired by the twist tie, I tried a long piece of craft wire on a thicker book.

And it worked!

In order to make my discovery slightly more presentable and gentler on paper, I chose the twist tie and had it sandwiched between 2 ribbon strips, then sealed it with fabric glue (though stitches would be better).

I think I should make some more.

As this is merely a simple makeshift bookstand, it’s not intended for a super huge + chunky handbook.

= Botanical Pens + Anemone Pens, by bonboog. Each stalk costs 1050 Yen (about SGD 16.15/USD11.15) in the KOK shop.

Can you imagine everyone having a bouquet of pens on their office desks?!

Whoever is looking for a book stand is going to be overwhelmed…just look at this design galore!

If it’s you, which one will you pick?

Left to right, top to bottom:
Peeramid pillow
Bookarrest
Easy-Read book/document holder
Bookchair
Levo standing book holder
Gimble book holder
FlipKlip treadmill book holder
Bookclip
Foldaway Book Rest

Left to right, top to bottom:
BookGem
Altas ergonomic book/copy holder
BookMate
Paperback Caddy
PhiferReader
BookBuddy – snaps in a 3-ring binder
Paperbax
Book Buddy pillow
Hold-And-Read page holders

I’ll probably choose the BookGem.