Ad Categories: Home and Garden

I stopped into Crosell & Co. in Bucktown the other day and boy is this one chockfull shop. I mean this in a good way. Table linens. Bar accessories. Dinnerware. A small selection of furniture. It’s mainly traditional stuff, but housed in a cute little cottage, it doesn’t feel stuffy. Owner Dianne Crosell, an interior designer, turned me on to a local artist whom she represents: Kelly Rauch, who refurbishes vintage furniture. She uses many techniques, including layering paint, stenciling, waxing, distressing, varnishing, reupholstering, etc. I was very impressed with this chest of drawers. It’s got a sort of quiet-glam quality to it that I find very endearing and it feels more sophisticated than a lot of other painted antique furniture out there.

—Gina Bazer

When I stopped by the River West gallery/furniture showroom Caste (covered in our January/February 2008 issue) on a recent rainy afternoon, Ty Best, the artist behind most of the pieces in there, happened to be hanging out, working. He and co-owner Brad Rowley showed me these great new X-chairs, which called to mind African birthing chairs. The darker, faceted one is walnut that’s been treated with iron oxide to bring out the grain ($3,980) and the one joined by splines is Jamaican Blue Mahoe with a hand-rubbed wax finish ($3,770). The name of the store is Latin for “pure and clean,” not the repressive class system, and these sleek and surprisingly comfortable lounge chairs embody those ideals with aplomb.

—BRADLEY LINCOLN

Imagine how you’d look carrying this into Ravinia:
The Veuve Clicquot Globalight, designed by Karim Rashid, is a portable champagne cooler that features soft LED lighting. It’ll keep your bubbly cold for four hours (no word on whether it automatically ejects a non-Veuve sparkler). Hurry, only 500 were made ($4,000 a pop). We saw it last night at a launch party at the W Hotel. Buy it here. And no, the Clicquot is not included.

—JAN PARR

On a recent visit to Stitch, I was drawn to what I thought was textile art hanging on the wall. In a way, it was. These linen “tea towels” ($48 each) feature limited-edition drawings that artists from around the world submitted to an Australian collective called Third Drawer Down. This organization aims to give lesser-known artists widespread exposure while offering consumers an affordable way to own original art. Sure, the towels can be used to dry dishes, but I love the idea of framing them and hanging them up.

—Gina Bazer

You might remember reading about the Italian-designed Sheer Kitchen in our May/June issue (it’s a spherical all-in-one number that opens up kind of like a spaceship). Now the über-modern German kitchen manufacturer Poggenpohl has teamed up with its fellow country men at the furniture manufacturer Draenert to debut its own version of the presto-change-o cucina: a long, narrow dining table that can be opened lengthwise with the aid of an electrical motor to reveal a “variable functional area” than can house anything from a cutlery tray to a chopping board. Trolleys can be attached to the ends of this table to house the compatible Teppan Yaki grill, or hot or cold containers. Not sure why it’s called a desk (don’t see room for a laptop in the functional area) but love the idea of a totally tricked-out dining room table ’cause it sort of puts the pressure off what’s actually being served for dinner.

—Gina Bazer

Photo courtesy of Poggenpohl